Sunday Favorites: Practical Magic

This is going to be a new series on my blog! I'm gonna choose a new book or series each week, or close to each week. These are going to be books that I love and I just want to talk about everything I love about them. I'm excited!

In honor of me just finishing the prequel to Practical Magic, The Rules of Magic, I decided to make this my very first post in this series.

The first thing I love about this book is the writing style. Alice Hoffman has a way of writing her stories in a way where you feel like you're in a different world. I feel like I'm sitting there listening to someone tell me a story, sorta like a fairytale and I absolutely adore it. The writing feels so poetic and beautiful that you don't want to devour the entire story at once, you want to read it slowly and savour it.

Practical Magic is a world where the characters are dealing with real problems, but there just so happens to be a bit of magic mixed in. They're witches who have real problems just like any other human being. They can die, fall in love, fall out of love. The whole shebang. They even work day jobs.

I've mentioned this before, but I love the magic system. It's what I've always expected of witches and wizards for as long as I can remember. It's all about superstitions and weird things that happen that can never quite be explained, or can be explained away as an accident or a coincidence. They speak of magic and curses like they are living beings, it isn't quite something that can be understood, but they are okay with not knowing exactly what their magic is.

The romance in this book was full blown and I couldn't hate any matches that were made in this book. Even if it was insta love, I know I made a big deal about hating any and all instalove, but this book is my one exception to the rule. These characters are magic and have more intuition than the regular being and the way the emotions are described is too much for the reader to deny. Therefore, I will forgive any instalove that may happen in this book.

Because I am trying to do my best to avoid spoilers, that is all I will say. I truly do believe that this is an amazing book and if it sounds interesting you should definitely give it a shot.

If you've read Practical Magic what are some of your thoughts?

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City of Lost Souls Review

City of Lost Souls
by Cassandra Clare

Spoilers

Synopsis:

The New York Times bestselling Mortal Instruments continues—and so do the thrills and danger for Jace, Clary, and Simon.

What price is too high to pay, even for love? When Jace and Clary meet again, Clary is horrified to discover that the demon Lilith’s magic has bound her beloved Jace together with her evil brother Sebastian, and that Jace has become a servant of evil. The Clave is out to destroy Sebastian, but there is no way to harm one boy without destroying the other. As Alec, Magnus, Simon, and Isabelle wheedle and bargain with Seelies, demons, and the merciless Iron Sisters to try to save Jace, Clary plays a dangerous game of her own. The price of losing is not just her own life, but Jace’s soul. She’s willing to do anything for Jace, but can she still trust him? Or is he truly lost?

Love. Blood. Betrayal. Revenge. Darkness threatens to claim the Shadowhunters in the harrowing fifth book of the Mortal Instruments series.

My Thoughts:

I gave this book 5 stars. By far my favourite book in the series. Everything about this series has come so far from the start and it's 

Jordan and Maia were very ignorable the first time I read the series. I really didn't care about what happened to them, they were just unimportant. Now, reading the series again I just want these sweet characters to get back together and be happy together. They are so cute. Maia is the one character in this entire series who has never pissed me off or made me question whether or not I trusted her. She's always been very straight forward and had a good moral compass.

What I didn't even notice the first few times reading this book was that werewolves have gold rings around their irises' even when in human form!!! I completely missed that and it was only mentioned in passing, if I hadn't been reading in depth I probably would have missed it. Now I have to rethink everything, especially how I picture these werewolf characters.

Simon and Izzy are just such an amazing couple. I am constantly amused by the fact that Izzy is completely confused by her attraction to Simon. She's like "WTF??? I've dated incredibly hot guys and not gotten over attached, why am I suddenly so over attached to this nerd?" and I'm really living for it. Seeing more of their relationship in this book was refreshing. The series is usually very centred around Jace and Clary, and it still is a lot about them, but the magic of this second half of the series is that we get more of the other couples i.e. Simon and Izzy.

Alec is driving me crazy, he's completely letting his insecurities get to him and he doesn't even notice the way Magnus looks at him. Magnus is so completely in love with him and Alec doesn't even seem to want to talk to Magnus when Magnus brings up Alec's insecurities. It's driving me crazy.

I have to talk about something that really upset me for a moment here. If you haven't read the Infernal Devices Series yet, then I would highly recommend skipping over this paragraph. I wouldn't say it's exactly a spoiler, but it probably won't make any sense. Why I'm upset is because the book Will gave to Tessa expressing his love for her was blown up in Sebastian's magical floating house. This physically pains me. That's not even what upsets me the most. What upsets me the most is why did Tessa not keep that book? It is a highly sentimental object, so why wouldn't she keep it? It seems like the type of thing one would bring with them everywhere because it is a symbol of your love. I'm very upset by this. Okay onto the rest of the review.

It's constantly mentioned in the book how tall Jace is. He's like a giant, he is just so tall. That made me think he was like 6 foot 6, just towering over everyone. Turns out Jace is actually only 5 foot 11. Not, short, but a lot shorter than I expected.

So much development has happen with the story and with the characters fro the first book. They have changed so much. Cassandra Clare's writing has gotten a lot better throughout the series. She knows how to keep everyone engaged and wanting more. I love seeing how the characters have changed throughout the past few books and the change is immense.

Sebastian is manipulative, cruel, and a complete lunatic. I love him though. He's a psychopath for sure, but being a psychopath usually means you're pretty charismatic. I know it's all a silkscreen and that he's an awful human being, but I can't help but be charmed by him. He does all this awful stuff with a mischievous little grin on his face and you just want to be around him. I hate him but I love him. I think the author did a really good job with him.

I'm terribly unobservant when reading, which is why I discovered loads of new things while reading this book again. For some reason I was under the impression that Amatis become one of the dark shadowhunters of her free will. Apparently I missed the part where she was dragged out of her bed and forced to drink from the cup. I also didn't notice that Maia and Jordan slept together, but that was probably because I didn't really care about those two the other times I read it.

There was this theory I read about on Tumblr, I don't remember who thought of it, but it goes like this; Robert and Maryse both have blue eyes, Izzy has black eyes. Therefore it is genetically impossible for Izzy to be Robert's child. Who from this series has black eyes? Valentine. Therefore the theory goes, Izzy is Valentine's daughter. I think some other things that back up this theory is that in the past books Maryse would always talk about how much she and loved Valentine and we all just assumed it was like a friend or a leader, but that was only implied. There was also the fact that Valentine always called her "my Maryse". Now there are holes in this theory like, why didn't Valentine ever use this to his advantage? We all saw what he did with Jace, who wasn't even his kid. Unless, Valentine never knew that Izzy was his daughter. I could completely see this theory as being factual.

Clary and Isabelle's friendship is coming along quite nicely. Bonding over the people they both love. It's been a long time coming and I know it wasn't always smooth, but it's coming to a good place. I think the two of them need more female friends. Especially Clary who's only friend seems to be Simon.

Quick note: Jace and Clary are absolutely adorable together.

Overall, this was an amazing fifth book, it really leaves you wanting to jump right into the sixth book. I personally feel like it was the best book in the series. I would give it an A+.

Quotes:

“Basia coquum," Simon said. "Or whatever their motto is.""It's 'Descensus Averno facilis est.' 'The descent into hell is easy," said Alec. "You just said "Kiss the cook.""Dammit," said Simon. "I knew Jace was screwing with me.” 

“She turned and looked at him. "Ducks?" she said again.A smile tugged the edge of his mouth. "I hate ducks. Don't know why. I just always have.” 

“I've got the Mark of Cain," said Simon. "That means nothing can kill me, right?""You can kill yourself," Magnus said, somewhat unhelpfully. "As far as I know, inanimate objects can accidentally kill you. So if you were planning on teaching yourself the lambada on a greased platform over a pit full of knives, I wouldn't.""There goes my Saturday.” 

'My mother seems to have accepted it,' Alec said. 'But my father — no, not really. Once he asked me what I thought had turned me gay.'Simon felt Isabelle tense next to him. 'Turned you gay?' She sounded incredulous. 'Alec, you didn’t tell me that.''I hope you told him you were bitten by a gay spider,' said Simon.

“Missing, one stunningly attractive teenage boy. Answers to 'Jace' or 'Hot Stuff” 

“What have you done to my cat?" Magnus demanded... "You drank his blood, didn't you? You said you weren't hungry!"Simon was indignant. "I did not drink his blood. He's fine!" He poked the Chairman in the stomach. The cat yawned. "Second, you asked me if I was hungry when you were ordering pizza, so I said no, because I can't eat pizza. I was being polite.""That doesn't get you the right to eat my cat.""Your cat is fine!" Simon reached to pick up the tabby, who jumped indignantly to his feet and stalked off the table. "See?""Whatever.” 

July Wrap Up and August TBR

I had one hell of a reading month. I read all the books. Five of them were actually rereads, while I usually don't include rereads in my wrap up, I'm too proud of myself for these to not include them. I have reviews up for most of these, you can find my reviews here.

1. City of Bones

 I gave this book 4.5 stars. City of Bones is the first book in the Mortal Instruments Series, one of the original series's that I love. We go way back, I hadn't read this series since before the movie came out. It's been a while since I read the series, so I decided to do a reread this summer which is going pretty well. 

2. City of Vikings 

I gave this book 4 stars. I got an ARC of this through the author. I liked the story a lot, the premise was really intriguing. What pushed it down a star was my own inability to connect with the characters. I've seen other people reviews and they don't seem to have the same problem so I think it really is just a personal thing. Otherwise it was a good book.

3. City of Ashes 

I gave this book 4.5 stars. This book was way better than I remember it being. I did not like this book the first time I read it, well not that much anyway. Funny, i still gave it 5 stars back then despite not liking it that much. This second read made me truly appreciate the story, I loved it.

4. The Game Plan 

I gave this book 4 stars. The author somehow crafts the most hilarious characters and then puts them in the most ridiculous circumstances. i always really enjoy her novels. Amazing.

5. Double Dare 

I gave this book 3 stars. Not as good as some of the authors previous works, but still pretty enjoyable.

6. Jewel of Atlantis

I gave this book 4 stars. I will pretty much read anything Gena Showalter writes. I don't think there is anything else to say other than I enjoyed reading this book.

7. The Nymph King 

I gave this book 4 stars. I liked this book the best from this series. I don't know what it was about this book, but it was a solid A.

8. The Vampire’s Bride 

I gave this book 3 stars. Didn't like this book as much as the others in the series. It dragged a little bit, but it wasn't terrible. I liked the writing style enough that I didn't want to gauge my eyes out while reading it.

9. Mask of Shadows 

I gave this book 4.5 stars. I didn't really know what to expect from this story. It was action packed and Sal was such a relatable main character. I can't tell if it's more character driven or more plot driven.

10. The Amazon’s Curse 

I gave this book 3 stars. Just a little short story after the events of The Vampire's Bride. I feel like me not really liking either is because I don't really care for the Amazons. They're kind of annoying instead of having substance.

11. City of Glass 

I gave this book 5 stars. I can't say much considering this is the third book. It's great let's just leave it at that.

12. The Struggle 

I gave this book 4.5 stars. Felt more like a filler book between book 2 and book 4, but it was an enjoyable filler book. I don't mind, i just wish more had happened.

13. The Girl Who Ignored Ghosts 

I gave this book 3.5 stars. Finally time travel shown in a way that isn't completely flawed. If you don't know what I'm talking about I mean that the one main issue with time travel is bacteria. If someone from our day were to travel back in time, they would unleash their modern day bacteria on the people of the passed and probably start a plague of some sort. While this series has a long way to go, it was still pretty good and I liked the characters. 

14. Daughter of Deep Silence 

I gave this book 5 stars. This book just came out of left field. I bought this book because it was like 6 dollars hardcover and it sounded okay. I read this book in maybe two sittings (I can't sit still for long) and I loved every moment of it. Must read.

15. Because of Lila 

I gave this book 2 stars. I was very enraged by this one. I had a very short rant like review that I didn't even bother posting on my blog because it wasn't that long, but if you want to read it I'll post it here and you can read it if you like, if not just skip to number 16.

This isn’t even a review, this is a rant. In the synopsis we are led to believe that two characters are going to be together and that just doesn’t happen. Well it does, but only for the first 3 or 4 chapters and then the story just goes in a completely different direction. Honestly, is the beginning and the rest of the novel even the same book? I loved the Rosemary Beach series and the Sea Breeze Series, but this spin off series just isn’t doing it for me. I feel like the author is basing our understanding of the characters’s dilemma’s off of our love of their parents. It isn’t working, I can’t be understanding of what these characters are doing no matter how much I love their parents. Also, you know how much I detest love triangles and this had a love triangle in it’s most atrocious form.

With all that said I didn’t completely hate it, I still love Abbi Glines’s writing style so no matter how angry I got at the characters I couldn’t stop reading, so it got two stars instead of one.

16. The Knocked Up Plan

 I gave this book 4 stars. I gave it four stars but as of right now I don't actually remember anything that happened. It was a good book from what I can recall though. There was no major flaw that made me hate it, so that's good.

17. Scandal Never Sleeps 

I gave this book 4.5 stars. Another latest obsession of mine. I just figured I would read a smutty romance just for fun, but then it got too real too quickly. There was this huge mystery element that three books in, still hasn't been solved and I'm hooked. it is so good.

18. City of Fallen Angels

I gave this book 4.5 stars. A bit slower than City of Glass, but this is the first book of the new story arc, so that is expected. 

19. Seduction in Session 

I gave this book 4 stars. Not as good as the first book as I found Lana to be a bit annoying at first, but it did grow on me after a bit of dragging.

20. City of Lost Souls 

I gave this book 5 stars. So technically I did finish this book in August, but I read most of it in July and I finished it before this wrap up was posted. So I'm counting it. This book is still my favorite of the series. It's weird how the pages go from 509 to 511.

Onto my August TBR!!! I feel like everyone is doing ARC August, and I guess I could do that, but I don't actually want to. I'm gonna stick with my regular routine of reading one smutty romance on my computer that I may or may not mention in my blog, one physical book, and one ARC at a time. I am a creature of habit.

1. City of Heavenly Fire and the Infernal Devices Trilogy

I just didn't feel like writing all the book titles out.

2. Rowan Wood Legends

I got the ARC for this from Netgalley and I am really excited.

3. Fallen Heir

I'm obsessed. This series is amazing.

That's it! What books do you guys plan to read in August?

Top 10 Books I Want to Reread

This list is in no particular order, it's just a whole bunch of books that I haven't read in years that I want to read again.

1. Reboot

I feel like I was the only one who actually liked this book. It was a five star, but whenever I would go on Goodreads it just did not have very good ratings. I just remember this book so fondly and I want to read it again.

2. The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden

This was the second book by Jessica Sorensen that I ever read and I loved it so much. It had so much life in it and real struggle and I loved it so much. I want to refresh everything about this book in my memory.

3. Savor You

I only remember bits and pieces of this book. The premise was really interesting and I didn't hate it the first time I read it, and I want to continue on with the other books in the series, but I have to refresh this book.

4. Hopeless

This is my favourite Colleen Hoover book. That is quite a feat but I love it so much and I want to read it because it has been a few years since I've done so.

5. I’ll Give You the Sun

This is one of my favourite books of all time, as you will know if you've been following my blog for a while. I've only read this book once. Enough said.

6. The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer

I've reread this series a million times, but it's been years since my last reread and with the upcoming releases of the The Becoming of Noah Shaw, I want to be immersed in the story once again. 

7. The Hunger Games

I love this series and I haven't read it in years, I just want to read them again and feel the full weight of them. The first few times I read them it was all fun and games, but now I want to read it more seriously.

8. Harry Potter

It's been too long since I've read Harry Potter. I'm thinking of doing a read along next summer because I I feel like I'm too busy to do it during the year.

9. Fangirl

I've only ever read this book once, and I read it before Carry On. I feel like I would have a new appreciation of the story now that I've read Carry On.

10. Throne of Glass

Another book series that I've only ever read once. I just don't like having read things only once. Unless it's a book I didn't like, but I loved this series and want to read it again.

What book(s) do you want to reread?