Sequel – Book Dust Magic

Movie Monday: Orphan: First Kill #MovieMonday #Orphan #Horror

Today I want to talk about the movie Orphan: First Kill. I was really looking forward to see it and now when I watched it I can, with no regrets, say that it is the worst movie I’ve seen in years.

As a dedicated lover of horror movies, I was more than happy when I’ve heard that one of my favourites, Orphan, will get another movie, set in time prior then the original story.

I took the very first chance I got to go to the cinema with my friend and let me tell you, our expectations were high, but the feeling we had after we finished the watching can be described with only one word: disappointment.

However, the execution can be described with many words: lazy writing, plot holes, stupid characters, lack of motives, lack of explanations, cash cow, money and time waste.

The actors weren’t bad, but they couldn’t save the movie that was doomed from the start.

Overall, the movie was so bad it made me want to talk about it so everyone who isn’t sure if they would give it a chance would know that it would take my advice to save some money and skip it.

I was so let down by the movie that I am sure everyone in the movie theater felt the same, and now I wish we picked another movie instead of this one, but it is what it is.

I still am a great fan of the original Orphan and I recommend it with all my heart, but when it comes to Orphan: First Kill I do not recommend it at all.

Continuation of a tasty series: The Dating Dare by Jayci Lee #bookreview @STMRomance #BookLovers #Romance

The Dating Dare by Jayci Lee book cover US edition

GIFTED / Today I want to talk about the series I fell in love with. This is only the second book in it that I have read, and I don’t know if there will be more and how more if yes, but I feel like I want to shout and shout how much I like it, in hope that will make you want to pick it up too.

The Dating Dare came out this year on August 3rd and it has 320 pages. I want to say thank you to Sara from St. Martin’s Griffin for inviting me to read and review this book via Netgalley.

About the book:

FROM GOODREADS /

Tara Park doesn’t do serious relationships. Neither does she hop into bed with virtual strangers. Especially when that particular stranger is her best friend’s new brother-in-law. It isn’t an easy decision, though. Seth Kim is temptation personified. His unreasonably handsome looks and charming personality makes him easy on the eyes and good for her ego.

When a friendly game of Truth or Dare leads to an uncomplicated four-date arrangement with Seth, Tara can’t say she minds. But their dates, while sweet and sexy, have a tendency to hit roadblocks. Thankfully, their non-dates and chance meetings get frequent and heated.

Seth is leaving for a new job in Paris in a month and a no-strings attached fling seemed like a nice little distraction for both… But soon Seth realizes that Tara Park doesn’t come in a “nice & little” package–she’s funny and bold, sweet and sexy, and everything he ever wanted and never expected to find. Neither of them are ready for something serious and both have past relationship baggage they’ve been ignoring, but with a shot at forever on the line will they follow their hearts and take a chance on happily-ever-after?

Review:

Recently I read A Sweet Mess by Jayci Lee and because I enjoyed it so much, I decided to dive immediately into it’s sequel called A Dating Dare.
Guess what? I loved it even more.

As I stated in my review for the first book, I started the series with low expectations, and I ended up appreciating it so much that I hope the author will continue giving us new books featuring characters we already got to know (for example, Tara has brothers who would make awesome MCs or that girl who works in bakery).

The writing style was very good, easy to follow and it felt kind of… comfortable.

The characters I liked even better then our first MCs, from A Sweet Mess.
Being honest is one of great sides of Tara‘s personality and I found her so relatable.
It was also a blast to read about her siblings and their brothers-sister relationship.

Seth is a brother of Landon who we already met in the prequel, so we were kind of familiar with his background.
Once again, honest and that up front approach is what got me to like him.

The book is written in first person, following our MCs POVs.
Both of views sound similar, which can sometimes be a miss, but here I didn’t mind it.

As for the plot itself, it was good, although at some point it felt like Seth and Tara only hung out with each other, even though their whole dating dare started with an aim to have only 3 dates.

This is another love story where couple get together early in the book and then conflicts happen and they have to figure out how to be together for real.

Overall, I really enjoyed it, I do recommend it, and I hope the series will grow.

The one I was disappointed with: Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout (Book Review) @PRHGlobal #partner #BookReview #BookBloggers

GIFTED / When you’re a book review you sometimes come across books you don’t like, even if you wanted to. This happened to me with Olive, Again, a book I wanted to read for a couple of months before getting a chance to.
This book was published on October 15th by Penguin Random House, and it has 304 pages.
I want to thank the team from Penguin Random House Global for sending me an e-galley of this novel (in an exchange for an honest review).

About the book:

FROM GOODREADS / Prickly, wry, resistant to change yet ruthlessly honest and deeply empathetic, Olive Kitteridge is “a compelling life force” (San Francisco Chronicle). The New Yorker has said that Elizabeth Strout “animates the ordinary with an astonishing force,” and she has never done so more clearly than in these pages, where the iconic Olive struggles to understand not only herself and her own life but the lives of those around her in the town of Crosby, Maine. Whether with a teenager coming to terms with the loss of her father, a young woman about to give birth during a hilariously inopportune moment, a nurse who confesses a secret high school crush, or a lawyer who struggles with an inheritance she does not want to accept, the unforgettable Olive will continue to startle us, to move us, and to inspire moments of transcendent grace.

Review:

Once again I didn’t do my homework, and went into Olive, Again without knowing it was a sequel to already published book called Olive Kitteridge.
Nevertheless, this book can be read on it’s own.
However, if I read it’s predecessor, I would just skip this one for sure.

I’m not saying this is a bad book, because, judging by other readers’ and critics’ reviews, it is a really, really good book, but it wasn’t for me.
I just couldn’t see it’s greatness, I guess.

I think that the main reason why I couldn’t connect with the story was that the main character, Olive, is so much older then me.
This is the thing I realized while reading this novel: I just can’t enjoy the story, connect with it if the characters are so much older then me (we talk here about 70+ years old characters, and even 80+ as the story progressed).
Therefore, thanks to this piece of literature, I made a decision not to read books featuring old main characters any more (at least at this period of my life).

The second issue I had with Olive was that I didn’t like her as a character at all. I know she is described as honest, outright and ruthless, but to me, she often came as just rude.
I just didn’t like her energy and I could not care for her or what was going on in her life, and it especially showed as I was further into the story.
I caught myself scanning the last 50 pages of the story because I just wanted to be finished with it.

It is a shame, I do know, but it is what it is!

Also, when it comes to writing style my expectations were pretty high because this novel is labelled as literary fiction, which stands for beautiful prose.
Unfortunately, I was very disappointed because it read as simple general fiction.

Still, I have to note that the book covers some pretty important things and some of the stories that involved other characters were interesting.

On the other hand, there were some situations that made me feel uncomfortable (like when Olive said that it was stupid that an adult man cries aloud, and even if he’s Jewish, it’s still stupid).

In the end I’ll just repeat that Olive, Again is very loved book and I am aware that many people won’t agree with my opinion.
As for me, I won’t be reading Elizabeth Strout’s other work because I don’t think I would enjoy it at this stage of my life.

Book Review: Charmed by Jen Calonita

Title: Charmed

Series: Fairy Tale Reform School #2

Author: Jen Calonita

Publisher: Sourcebooks Jabberwocky

Date: March 1st, 2016

Pages: 288

Format: eARC

Source: from Publisher for a review

Synopsis (from Goodreads): Charmed is the exciting sequel to the wildly popular Flunked — second in the brand new Fairy Tale Reform School series where the teachers are (former) villains. “Charming fairy-tale fun.” -Sarah Mlynowski, author of the New York Times bestselling Whatever After series.

It takes a (mostly) reformed thief to catch a spy. Which is why Gilly Cobbler, Enchantasia’s most notorious pickpocket, volunteers to stay locked up at Fairy Tale Reform School…indefinitely. Gilly and her friends may have defeated the Evil Queen and become reluctant heroes, but the battle for Enchantasia has just begun.

Alva, aka The Wicked One who cursed Sleeping Beauty, has declared war on the Princesses, and she wants the students of Fairy Tale Reform School to join her. As her criminal classmates give in to temptation, Gilly goes undercover as a Royal Lady in Waiting (don’t laugh) to unmask a spy…before the mole can hand Alva the keys to the kingdom.

Her parents think Gilly the Hero is completely reformed, but sometimes you have to get your hands dirty. Sometimes it’s good to be bad…

Review:

Just when you think that there’s no way a cover could ever be prettier then the one for Flunked, Charmed comes out and it blows your mind with it’s gorgeousness.
Just look how pretty it is!
Soooo pretty….

In this, second installment of Fairy Tale Reform School series, we are back in Enchantasia, the land of all the fairytale cratures.
Our main character, Gilly, is still in Fairy Tale Reform School.
The old cast of students and professors is still almost the same and they are still awesome crew to read about.
There are some changes in school though. The new professor came to fill up the empty place and he is, no other then Jack Blackbeard – the most fearsome pirate.

Charmed was such a charming sequel!
It made me laugh so many times and it gave me so much joy, that it was a pleasure to read.

I am in love with this world.
In my own words, this is a bookish version of Shrek the movie, only without Shrek and his friends.
But the setting is very similar, the sense of humor is also similar and in my opinion, if you’re a fan of Shrek, there’s a great chance you’ll like these books too.

Keep in mind that this is a middle grade series, and therefore, it is mainly aimed for middle graders.
However, I as an adult, loved this book as much as I would if I was younger, if not even more (for the sentimental reasons).
In fact, I came to conclusion that, at this moment, this is my favorite on-going series.
I wish I get to see these books translated into my language one day, so my nieces could read them. I know they would love them.

The story in this novel is interesting, but it was a bit weaker then the one in Flunked because it was a bit predictable.
I didn’t mind predictability at some points, but I wish I was more surprised when the big revelation came. I wasn’t, because I saw it chapters ago.

Charmed shows us Gilly changing and becoming more self-centred person.
At some situations she was really selfish and even hypocrtitical and, since this is a series, I wondered if she’s going to realize that or if her friends would make her see that in this book. You see, because this is a middle grade book, I think it is of huge importance that those kind of realizations and „leasons“ need to be revealed in one book, so kids who read the book learn as much as they can from one book, even if it is a part of the bigger story.
I am happy how it dealt with that aspect.

The novel is written in first person, following Gilly’s point of view.
Between some chapters there are short parts called Happily Ever After Scrolls that are actually newspaper of Enchantasia.
There are also letters that from time to time separate chapters.
At the very end of the book we can read Who’s Who in Enchantasia which explains which fairy tale character has what role in this story.
My only complain is that it would be so much better if that list of characters was at the beggining of the book instead of at the end.

Overall, Charmed was a very good sequel that was just a little behind Flunked quality whise, but it was still a great book.
I think middle graders will enjoy it, but grown ups would also have fun if they give it a try.

The third book in the series, called Tricked, comes out in February 2017 and I can’t wait to grab myself a copy and devour it.