First of all, I would like to say thank you to Never Not Reading for tagging me to complete this awesome book tag created by her! Second, I would like to say that I’m so happy this tag exists now because I LOVE Hocus Pocus (and in fact re-watched it yesterday, haha). Hocus Pocus plus books is like…heaven for me! Also, please feel free to complete the tag, even if I haven’t tagged you! Just be sure to follow the rules!

– THE RULES –

There are no rules. It’s YOUR blog. But if would be nice if you linked back to Never Not Reading, and maybe the person who tagged you too. Share the love folks.

Feel free to use the GIFs used by Never Not Reading, the graphics made by Flavia the Bibliophile if you would like, both, or make and use your own visuals!

I haven’t read many series that are actually trilogies, and ended up having to choose between two! The first is the Gallaghers of Ardmore Trilogy by Nora Roberts, which is a trilogy about Ireland, faeries, and romance! If that’s not a good combo, then I dunno what is! And the other options was The Original Shannara Trilogy by Terry Brooks! Some of you may have heard about the TV adaptation, but I know about Shannara as the trilogy, and the other books which Brooks published afterward. This trilogy, I consider to be one of the best fantasy series that I know of, and the same applies to the first 3 books that come after the inital trilogy. I haven’t read past that though, sadly!

The first book which comes to mind, and probably because it’s the most recent one that I’ve read that contains a female villain, is Shade, the Changing Girl (Volume 1) by Cecil Castellucci and Marley Zarcone (you can read my review here). I can’t say much else without spoiling anything, but the villain in this volume of Shade the Changing Girl is female, and quite evil. She’s truly despicable, and very hate-able! I really really really hate her, for one. So, the author and artist did a great job of making her villainous and hate-able. And yes, I have to put an “and” there, because (as some of you may know) there are quite a few villains that I actually root for.

This is the first one that came to mind, that I have read, and know for certain that children and adults alike still continue to read 10 years later! Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone is just amazing in so many ways. It’s the start to an awesome series (duh), it introduces us to many of the characters that have become a part of who we are, and it’s been carrying us away to a world of magic for a whole decade now (and will continue to do so for many decades to come). I really hope that my own children will read this book (and series) and that they will love it as much as I do! PS. some trivia for you. This book is the first book that I read in English! (I spent 90% of my childhood in Austria, where they speak German.)

Here I had to choose between My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows and The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee! Funny enough, they’re both historical fiction too. Hm. But anyway, neither of these are just silly, but also deal with some serious subject matter. But off the top of my head, these two books have made me laugh the most out of any other books that I’ve read! They were both well-written and quite comical, considering the obstacles that the main characters had to overcome! I highly recommend both of these books if you’re in need of a good laugh (and if you enjoy historical fiction, or want to delve into historical fiction, of course).

I know that it’s very rare for any of you to see that I’ve disliked a book, and yes, I will say that it doesn’t happen very often (thankfully). But sadly, some books just don’t do it for me (and I wouldn’t be human if that weren’t the case). And The Edge of Everything by Jeff Giles is one of them (my review). I really wanted to like this book! I love the cover, and the premise sounded interesting and unique! I will say that some of the contents were very unique for me as well. But…I really did not enjoy anything about this book, and had to really push myself to make it to the end. That being said, I know that there are many who loved this book though! So definitely still check it out if it sounds interesting!

I had two contenders for this prompt as well! My Best Friend’s Exorcism by Grady Hendrix because the author is very blunt, and crude with his writing. He bluntly mentions certain things, such as racism, that took place during the 80s and how ridiculous it was (and still is). Things like that. The other contender is the Monstress series by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda because it discusses matters of race and discrimination in a very blunt manner. The races in this story are obviously fictional, but one cannot deny that this is a commentary toward the manner in which different races and countries in the real world treat and abuse each other.

Ugh. I feel ashamed even just having this image on my blog, and discussing this series. And those of you who are fans, please don’t shoot me. But I think that the Fifty Shades series is just awful! And I found out today that the author will be coming out with another book from the series, in which all events are retold from the male’s perspective. She’s really milking it at this point. to be quite honest. Sigh. I tried reading the first book, because some people had recommended it, and I didn’t actually know what it was about….and I DNF’ed it about a quarter of the way in because it was just awful and I wanted to take a red pen to it. Again, please don’t shoot me. This is just my personal opinion.

I knoooow that I will get some hate for this one, but the prompt made me do it! And since I absolutely have to pick a book, I will go with Ever the Hunted. I buddy-read this first book in the series with Melanie, and we both really disliked it (you can read more about why, here). I’m really sad that I disliked this book, because I had pushed through some books that I had also disliked before this one, and I was really looking forward to reading something that I enjoyed. But in stead, I was faced with a book that I found to be poorly written, and that contained a main character that I really disliked, Britta. Just as with The Edge of Everything though, there are many who love this series! So don’t let me scare you off!

I’m not sure if this counts, but I really want more books from this author, set in this world! Which one, you ask? Why the Prisoners of Peace series by Erin Bow! It was a really unique science fiction series for me, set in Canada (which is rare for me to come across), and it was written by a Canadian author! But anyway, I devoured those books while I was visiting my grandparents in Europe last Fall. The author was a scientist before she wrote these books, and you can really tell, because of the way that she describes some of the more scientific things that happen. I really like how she tackles the matter of the soul too, and artificial intelligence! The series is also diverse, and I highly recommend it!

I’ve noticed that a few people on Goodreads had some negative things to say about this book. People particularly had issues with the length of the book, and all of the detail provided (particularly the historical details). For me, those were some of the things that I absolutely loved about this book. As a fan for the 10s-60s, I just absorbed every bit of information that Bray provided about the 20s in The Diviners! If you’ve read some of my other historical fiction book reviews, you may have found that I mentioned a lack of cultural info. Well, there were no complaints here, because Bray incorporated music, fashion, slang, politics, etc. etc. etc.!

I thought that this would be a tough one for me! But it turned out being quite easy once I opened my Goodreads “read” list, haha. I think that this book, and the sequel, Godsgrave, are the only options for this category for me! I didn’t realize it until filling out this prompt, but the narrator in this book very much feels to me like it is the book! Before this, I was kind of toying with the idea of it being Kristoff who is narrating, but that didn’t feel quite right for me…and kind of messed with the fourth wall for me. So, I’m very happy that I now have my answer: The narrator of Nevernight and Godsgrave is not the author, but in fact, the book itself! Yay!

I sadly can’t say that I’ve ever read a book with a cameo…as far as I recall. Maybe? Are there many of these around? Am I just the only one who hasn’t come across one? I have so, so many questions!

But anyway, I’ll be sure to keep an eye out now! (P.S. I’m Max in the GIF above, and Life is Binx. Hahaha. Ha… Too funny. I know.)

– I TAG –

Lilly @ Lair of Books

Gretchen @ Chic Nerd Reads

Dominique @ Pirates and Pixie Dust

Victoria @ Latte Night Reviews

Savannah @ The Book Prophet

Milana @ A Couple Reads

Erin @ Bluestocking Bookworm

Jill @ Jill Jemmett

Amber @ Jewel Reads

Wow, I just wanted to say that this tag kind of brought out a bad witch inside myself! I very rarely have anything bad to say about a book, but this tag really made me drag a good amount of those out of my “bad review trove.” That’s okay though, I don’t want people thinking that I give every book 4 of 5 stars, either, you know? I like to think that I’m a fair judge/reviewer, and I guess this post just proves it? Alright. I just had to get that off my chest. And I take back calling myself a bad witch! I’m an awesome witch. Anyway, I hope that everyone completes this tag because Hocus Pocus is the bomb, and this was just so much fun to fill out!

YOU DON’T HAVE TO COMPLETE THE TAG IF I’VE TAGGED YOU AND THIS IS NOT YOUR THING. AS FOR THOSE WHO COME ACROSS THIS POST AND HAVE NOT BEEN TAGGED, YOU ARE WELCOME TO COMPLETE THE TAG! THANKS FOR READING AND A HAPPY HALLOWEEN SEASON TO THOSE OF YOU WHO CELEBRATE!