princessjasminefliesaway's reviews
88 reviews

Halfway through 'The Epic Adventures of Lydia Bennet' (literally), the first line reads “I’m Lydia freaking Bennet. And I’m done being lame” and I think that pretty much sums up the second and my favourite half of the book, the second half being what I had expected from this book after watching the LBD diaries and reading the 'The Secret Diary of Lizzie Bennet'. I didn’t expect the first half and I am glad to be pleasantly surprised by the realistic approach to therapy, mental health and summer classes. Good on Rorick and Kiley!

Whilst reading, I thought Cousin Mary would have played a key role in this book, seeing how close Lydia and she are but after fully reading it, I'm happy with Mary's presence however small. This is Lydia's story and I truly believe that the best amount of character development is achieved when Lydia is by herself. However, I did continue to dislike their friendship in parts, especially with Mary's lack of communication. It felt dragged. This leads me to George and the very-badly-finally-come-to conclusion that Lydia has about him. It would have made sense if this book was set directly after the Sex Tape incident but it wasn't and again the book felt dragged.

This book sometimes read as what could have happened to Christine after the end of the film 'Ladybird' - these similar characters are both so pleasing to go on a journey with. I liked the very meta-comments that Lydia made on the genre of Young Adult Diary Entry novels - it was my kind of humour. This book also did a great job at writing the characters we know, sorry Lizzie Bennet but I could literally hear Jane and Lydia in every line they spoke. There are new characters and I enjoyed them - I see nothing wrong with expanding the LBD universe and no one felt out of place either.

However to finish, I wish Lydia’s explanation as to why she didn’t post one last video on her YouTube Channel was better than what was given to us. I didn’t know what the real reason was until I read the interviews in the back (that the creators didn’t have the time to film them but had written the scripts and it’s what we see in the novel) but I felt Lydia's reasoning was rubbish. How come Lizzie managed to make two more videos for her favourite teacher but Lydia who had more to say at the end of her arc was silent? It takes reading this book to find out what happens to her and that doesn't fit well with me.

So I thought "this book should become a TV series with David Tennant or Tom Hiddleston starring" and after reading this book, I discovered it's becoming a film with Benedict Cumberbatch. Right on! I'll watch it!

I bought this book because it immediately intrigued me. While some are comparing it to 'About Time' or 'The Time Traveller's Wife', I disagree. It deals with being human and time in a very different way. While the other two are about travelling through time and the chaos of change, 'How to Stop Time' is about repetition, past trauma and "truly living". It tackles the subject of time in a very different way which I would compare to The Doctor being stuck on Earth without the TARDIS and being unable to age (bad example but you understand).

I truly believe that Haig does an excellent job of portraying a man who has lived for 400+ years, you feel as if you're reading his diary, and while certain flashbacks dragged on me and obvious plot twists were obvious, I enjoyed it never the less and truly recommend it as a read.

The Little Prince was not what I expected at all. I slightly blame Netflix for that as it's trailer mainly focused on the young girl and the old man - this warping my view of the story and pleasantly surprising me when I started to read it. The book definitely defied my expectations and the young girl and old man's story seems like a lovely addition to the film adaptation - it's on my list to watch.

I'm not going to sugarcoat it, children books, when I was a kid, didn't make you think. It was mainly a source of empty entertainment before I went to bed and apart from the old moral, I never quite read a book like this one. This book seems to defy everything I read before and make me, a twenty-one-year-old, reconsider what I thought of childhood and adulthood, in a very unique style. It's a read I will come back to.

It has taken me a long time to read this play. Part of me was put off heavily by the negative reviews it got but eventually, I wanted to read it for myself and it's alright. It's just alright. It's not really good, it's not really bad, I definitely think it would be better on stage but I'm not hugely aching to go see it. It's just meh.

What I Loved:
- Scorpius Malfoy
- Ginny and Professor McGonagall (their writing was spot on throughout)
- Delphi (an interesting character; leading to further world building)
- Hermione and Ron will always love each other (they aren't my OTP but I enjoyed their moments)
- Certain parts would be incredible to see live and I know I would thoroughly enjoy them.
- Realistic bullying storyline - I believed in the characters, their motivations and their bullying of Albus and Scorpius.
- Realistic government storyline - while I believed Hermione would be more direct as Minister of Magic, it was realistic.
- The Emotional/Dramatic Moments
- The Ending; there was a sense of a character arc.
- Time Travel

What I Didn't Love:
- Time Travel; mainly the Butterfly Effect (some of the time)
- Albus Severus Potter (I don't believe that his parents would raise such a brat)
- Harry doesn't feel like Harry, Ron doesn't feel like Ron and Draco doesn't feel like Draco. The writing for them, in my opinion, is out of character.
- The constant stereotype of Slytherins are evil and Gryffindors are good (why not focus on Ravenclaw or Hufflepuff for once?)
- The Removal of Neville Longbottom (I will never forgive this injustice).
- Rose Granger-Weasley (I also don't believe that her parents would raise such a brat) and Scorpius falling for her (he has more chemistry with Albus, fight me).
- Rewriting scenes from the book (taking away characters, changing characters motivations and changing the main focus of the scene) and unnecessary scenes that could have been cut.
- The French jokes were never funny.

This is the first Hornby book I've read and the second film adaptation of his books I've watched (my first was A Long Way Down and while brilliant, never pushed me to read the book counterpart). Apparently, Juliet, Naked is one of his 'meh' ones so I am very intrigued to read his 'better' ones.

The film is what got me interested in the book and after reading, I prefer the film. I knew the endings were going to be different and I wanted the book ending to show more than the film did, what I got was less and that made me reflect that I had gotten less of what the film had offered the whole way through.

The story is brilliant (which is why it has high marks from me) but personally, was done more justice in the film than on page.

This is the first audiobook I have ever bought, I saw Eddie Redmayne would be voicing it and knew I needed it straight away. As a Ravenclaw, I enjoyed the ambience of the audiobook, how it could be read/heard in one sitting, that it was read by the actual actor (so it sounded like a Newt Scamander Magizoology lecture), more knowledge on the Wizarding World and ties from the film. If that sounds like something you would also enjoy, this is for you.

It's been a few years since I read this book and re-reading it, I prefer it more now than the first time I read it. It's short, an easy read, filled with Wizarding World knowledge and simply charming. I enjoyed the short fairytales immensely, engulfing Dumbledore's notes on each tale afterwards. If fairytales or fairytale analysis from Professor Dumbledore sounds like something you would like, this is for you.

My Favourite Tales (in order from best to 'worst'):
1. The Warlock's Hairy Heart
2. The Fountain of Fair Fortune
3. Babbitty Rabbitty and her Cackling Stump
4. The Wizard and the Hopping Pot
5. The Tale of the Three Brothers

oh, i can't believe it's the final one! this trilogy has been something of a yearly purchase for me. i love fairytales and lovelace's poetry rekindled that love, her writing and style capturing and luring me into reading more poetry. easy to read, consistently brilliant, inspiring and enjoyable, this trilogy is definitely recommended by me. now excuse me as i go reblog some wow poems of her's on tumblr.

after finding out that lovelace had finished her 'women are some kind of magic' series this year, i wondered what i would read next poetry-wise. without lovelace, i would have to finally find other authors, the horror. but that ended up being not the case, it turns out i missed one of lovelace's releases and had this book lined up to read after i finished the mermaid's voice returns in this one. the joy!

i was not expecting it to be the start of a monster series and if it wasn't lovelace, i would struggle to pick it up. vampires, werewolves and other dark creatures were never really my cup of tea (yeah i didn't like twilight before everyone else, i'm that hipster) but i enjoyed this. lovelace's style continues to lure me out of my comfort zone and thankfully not bite my neck.

If I lived in the Wizarding World, I truly believe that I wouldn't enjoy Quidditch. Flying, yes of course but Quidditch, hell no. Not watching or taking part. So reading this book was definitely like forcing myself through all the Quidditch chapters/scenes in the books/films, but I'm glad to know more about the fictional world of Harry Potter. If you're an anti-Quidditch Ravenclaw like me, who just likes knowing more about fictional worlds, then this is a book for you.