October, November & December Wrap Up | Faith

Reading has not really been a thing for me in the past few months. Recently, I just haven't been having enough time to pick up a book, read it and enjoy it. If I tried, I'm sure I would end up in another reading slump and I don't want that so I'm not going to force myself to do anything. So let's get on with this wrap up!

October:

The first book I read in the month of October was, Harry Potter & the Chamber of Secrets, the illustrated edition! This was really easy to get through having read the story several other times, but it was so much more fun reading it with illustrated. Once again, I am blown away with the beautiful illustrations done by Jim Kay and I can't wait to see the future books.

SIDE NOTE: Is anyone not curious on how and what they're gonna do with the longer books? Is it going to be released in parts? Will it be shortened? 

The second book I read was for school. We had to select a non-fiction book, and I chose A Brief History of British Kinds & Queens by: Mike Ashley because I've always been interested in European history. And it has been sitting on my shelf unread for about a year or two now. At the end of the day, it was pretty interesting reading about the lives of various rulers, but I didn't think it was that great. Very choppy. I would rate this book a 3 out of 5 stars.

November:

The next was a play, and it was called Death of Salesman by: Arthur Miller. A.K.A the only thing I read in November. This was another piece that I read for school, and I will admit I did find it quite boring at times but when I looked at it with an open mind I understood why it's so popular and why it's considered a classic. There are many themes that are played out in this book, and there's so much symbolism and when I look at those aspects, I found myself having a new and different perspective on the play which resulted in a better appreciation for the text. I would rate this a 3 out of 5 stars.









December:

The only book I read in December was the screenplay for the Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them movie! I loved this---and I hate to compare it to The Cursed Child but this was so much better. You can actually feel J.K. Rowlings work in this and it was so incredible to see the amount of detail in this. It really felt like I was watching the film again. I would rate this a 5 out of 5 stars.

Lately, reading books hasn't really been my priority so I haven't really been able to pick up the books I want to read. But I think one book a month is better than reading nothing at all! I hope all of you who are reading this have had a successful reading month and I also hope you had a great holiday season as well!

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Recent Obsessions | The November Magical or Myth Edition? | Faith

I feel like this month was a month for discovering new things. Somehow, there is a theme surrounding everything I have chosen and that is magic. Obviously not all of the things on the list revolve around magic but a lot of them do revolve around that. Anyway let's get into the first category!

The True Memoirs of International Assassin is a new Netflix original film that came out recently starring Kevin James! This is now probably one of my favourite films of all time. It combined so many elements that I personally love in film. There was a great story arc, there was action and there was comedy! This was one of those films where it had me laughing out loud at various points throughout the movie and it's rare for me to burst out laughing when watching films.

If you're a fan of anything comedy, definitely check this film out if you have Netflix! And if you're an action lover, you should still watch it because it's a film that has something for everyone.

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The next film is the glorious, Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them the awesome prequel story to Harry Potter! I have been anticipating this film for possibly a few years now. I was so, so pleased with the outcome of this movie. I don't think I was every skeptical about it in the first place, judging from the trailers, I thought it was going to be a pretty solid film.

There were just so many things about this film that I loved! The main things I loved were probably all of the characters and the depth of the story.

If you want to know more of my thoughts, you can read my review HERE.

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The next thing is a TV show, and that is American Horror Story: My Roanoke Nightmare. My love for American Horror Story is nothing new, but my love for season six is new.

Many people were set off by this season, and didn't really like it but I personally really enjoyed it! In my opinion, I thought that it was a really strong season, it definitely had me on the edge of my seat. Honestly, I just really enjoyed the concept of a show within a show, within a show and so on.

The only things that I was bothered by was probably the script, I found that there were some weak points but I think that's normal. I also really loved the ending! I kind of liked how it had a little bit of a twist with the last survivor thing, it was something that I wasn't expecting that's for sure. It was very twisted yet heartbreaking at the same time if that makes any sense.

This would probably be my third favourite season out of the six. My favourite season is definitely Murder House, second would be Coven and third would be this season. The other seasons I didn't enjoy enough to rank in my head. However, I will say that I am so happy that they are doing a crossover season with both Murder House and Coven, I can't wait to see how that is going to play out as those two seasons were my favourite!

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The next is Kubo and The Two Strings! Unfortunately I wasn't able to see this movie in theatres but it didn't stop me from seeing it! I had been wanting to watch this film for quite some time, I saw the trailers in theatres and was instantly pulled in and it became one of my most anticipated movies.

Let me just say that I fell in love with this movie. I absolutely loved the storyline. I would say that it exceeded my already high expectations.

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Moana is the new Disney princess film that came out in November. I honestly wasn't expecting to love this movie as much as I did. I love anything Disney, but in my opinion this has gotta be one one of the best--if not one of the best, the very best new Disney movie out there.

It contained some many elements that were funny and beautiful at the same time. The music is phenomenal and I have had it on repeat for a very long time.  If you're skeptical about this film, you really shouldn't be---it's a fantastic film and I really hope that you enjoy as much as I did!

Auli'i (OW-LEE-EE) has a gorgeous voice, and I feel that she embodies Moana perfectly, and I love that she's the actual age of Moana!

Moana tops Frozen by a LONG shot.

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And those were my favourites for the month of November! I would've put more if I could, but unfortunately I didn't really gather many favourites in November that weren't movies or TV shows! I hope you don't mind this type of post---as I haven't been able to read anything lately! I just really wanted to get something up as I haven't been blogging as frequently anymore.

Anyway, I hope you enjoyed reading this short post!

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Remember NaNoWriMo? | Faith

If you don't know what NaNoWriMo is, it stands for National Novel Writing Month. It's an organization or group of a bunch of writers from around the world who make a promise to try and write 50,000 words in the month of November. I was one of those people that hoped would accomplish this goal. Well...

I put way too much faith in myself. See what I did there? 

For the first couple of days, I was meeting the required word count per day and sometimes I surpassed it. I love the idea behind NaNoWriMo, I love that it brings people together to do one thing and that one thing is write. I went into this with an open mind, and was anxious to start. However, I do feel like I set up unrealistic expectations for myself.

Writing a book is hard. I have known this, as I have been working on a different story for quite some time. I think that, that on top of NaNoWriMo put so much pressure on myself. I was living this fantasy in my head, picturing myself winning NaNoWriMo. I believe one of the major rules of NaNo is to not think about what you're writing. I should've known that this wasn't going to work out, especially knowing myself.

When I come up with a story idea, it's basically just a film in my head. I'm a planner, and I want to stick to that plan. I'm the kind of person who must thoroughly think out each and every single word that I am going to write out. When I don't do this, everything just gets chaotic and I feel like I don't have control over what is happening. Yeah I know, that probably sounds like it doesn't make sense considering I have complete control over what's happening.

For a couple of years, writing has been a hobby of mine a hobby that I have been very, very passionate about. I do it for myself, and me alone. I really don't like falling behind, or having something that's going to make me do something. I have never been a fan of people telling me what to do, so imagine what it's like to have that haunting word goal in  your mind as you're writing. I was never writing to write, I was writing so I could win something. 1,667 words for me is easy, I will admit that. I do consider myself a fast typer. Yet, this felt like I had to write one million words a day. Thinking about it now, it's weird because I have written 5,000+ words before without realizing it.

If you're reading this, you're probably a book lover. You know when you have to read a book for school but you're completely dreading it even though you love reading? This is what NaNoWriMo felt like for me. It just felt like another chore I had to do or another assignment I had to finish in order to receive a good mark.

Don't get me wrong, I still love the idea of NaNoWriMo and will definitely participate in years to come! I'll probably try harder and not fall into the stress of it all. I honestly just feel like I put to much weight on myself, and it just fell on me too quickly. I also have to learn that it's okay to not love the words you're going to write.

Did you participate in NaNoWriMo?

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Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them | Movie Review | Faith

The year is 1926, and Newt Scamander (Eddie Redmayne) has just completed a global excursion to find and document an extraordinary array of magical creatures. Arriving in New York for a brief stopover, he might have come and gone without incident, were it not for a No-Maj (American for Muggle) named Jacob, a misplaced magical case, and the escape of some of Newt's fantastic beasts, which could spell trouble for both the wizarding and No-Maj worlds.

This review WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS!

September Wrap Up | Faith

Alright, so the first book I read this month was A Court of Mist And Fury! Honestly, this might've been my favourite book of the year. Obviously, this book wasn't perfect and I did find things that I didn't like. The main thing was the pacing, I just felt like it only gripped me in the beginning and end, and that it fell flat somewhere in the middle.

If you didn't know, I wasn't a huge fan of A Court of Thorns and Roses so I was actually very hesitant to pick this up. If it weren't the for the praise that this novel was getting, I wouldn't have picked it up otherwise. The ending definitely blew me away, and I can't wait for the next book. I would rate this book a 4 out of 5 stars.

The next book I read in September was, Rebel of The Sands by Alwyn Hamilton. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I feel like this book was quite hyped. Again, I always find myself being disappointed in hyped books now a days. Let's just keep this short by saying that this book could have had a lot more depth than it did. This book has a lot of potential to be something great especially since it's going to be a series. Hopefully as the series goes on, the overall quality will improve as well. Will I be reading the sequels? Probably not. I would rate this a 2 out of 5 stars.

The third book I read was Origin by, Jennifer L. Armentrout. In the beginning of this series, I had really high hopes... Now it's kind of gone downhill. For the first maybe 25% of the book, I was super interested in the content. However once we reached the middle and the end, I was constantly eye-rolling. The romance in this book wasn't appealing to me, it was overdone and it seemed like the only thing that was on the characters minds. I was just constantly asking myself, is this all they can focus on? Considering the circumstances these characters were in, I would imagine that the strength of their relationship wouldn't be their top priority. Not to mention it kind of seemed like there was no emotional connection between the two because of focused they were on noticing how attractive they were to one another. Another problem I had with this book was the fact that it not only consisted of 75% unneeded romance, it lacked depth in both the characters and the stories, and finally I couldn't tell the difference between Kat and Daemons point of view. You know, I don't really know if I'm going to continue on with this series, I have been let down with the last few books so I really can't be sure. I would rate this a 2 out of 5 stars.

The fourth book I read was sent to me from Blaze Publishing and that is... The Surrendered by Case Maynard. I'm not really gonna say much on this book considering I have a written review on it which you can view HERE. I thought this was a very typical YA dystopian, but at the end of the day it was a very strong novel. I would rate this a 3.5 out of 5 stars.

The fifth book I read was Labyrinth Lost by Zoraida Cordova. Again, I'm not gonna say a lot because I also have a review on this book which you can view HERE. I thought this book had a really unique and interesting concept. It did lack in certain things but it was still a very enjoyable read. I would rate this a 3 out of 5 stars.

The sixth book I read was Tales of The Peculiar by: Ransom Riggs! I fairly enjoyed this, there were stories in this book that I wasn't too fond off but there were some that I found to be very interesting to read about. I think my favourite one was about the cannibals. If you're a fan of Miss Peregrines, and are hesitant about picking this, I would encourage you to do so! It's a book from the world, and it's truly fascinating to read about.

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