First Line Friday (22): Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling

First Line Friday is a bookish tag hosted over at Abstract Books that is used to showcase your favourite first lines of books.

There really is something to be said about a good first line, and I'm going to be using this tag from now on to showcase my current read's first lines.

My current read this week Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling.

Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four, Privet Drive, were proud to say that they were perfectly normal, thank you very much.

Goodreads synopsis 

When a letter arrives for unhappy but ordinary Harry Potter, a decade-old secret is revealed to him that apparently he's the last to know. His parents were wizards, killed by a Dark Lord's curse when Harry was just a baby, and which he somehow survived. Leaving his unsympathetic aunt and uncle for Hogwarts, a wizarding school brimming with ghosts and enchantments, Harry stumbles upon a sinister mystery when he finds a three-headed dog guarding a room on the third floor. Then he hears of a missing stone with astonishing powers which could be valuable, dangerous - or both. An incredible adventure is about to begin!

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I'm sure everybody and their mother already knows the first line of the Harry Potter series, but it's my first time reading it, so I wanted to share anyway. You can add it to your Goodreads TBR here!

First Line Friday (21): What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher

First Line Friday is a bookish tag hosted over at Abstract Books that is used to showcase your favourite first lines of books.

There really is something to be said about a good first line, and I'm going to be using this tag from now on to showcase my current read's first lines.

My current read this week is What Moves the Dead by T. Kingfisher.

The mushroom's gills were the deep-red color of severed muscle, the almost-violet shade that contrasts so dreadfully with the pale pink of viscera. I had seen in an number of times in dead dear and dying soldiers, but it startled me to see it here.

Goodreads synopsis

When Alex Easton, a retired soldier, receives word that their childhood friend Madeline Usher is dying, they race to the ancestral home of the Ushers in the remote countryside of Ruravia.


What they find there is a nightmare of fungal growths and possessed wildlife, surrounding a dark, pulsing lake. Madeline sleepwalks and speaks in strange voices at night, and her brother Roderick is consumed with a mysterious malady of the nerves.

Aided by a redoubtable British mycologist and a baffled American doctor, Alex must unravel the secret of the House of Usher before it consumes them all.

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As a reimagining of The Fall of The House of Usher by Edgar Allan Poe, it's only right to kick off the story mentioning the mushrooms that surround the house. This was my final spooky read of October and I absolutely loved it. If you're looking for a quick horror story, I would highly suggest this one. It released just last year on July 12, 2022, and you can add it to your Goodreads shelf here!

Confessions of a Christmasholic by Joss Wood

Title: Confessions of a Christmasholic

Author: Joss Wood

Publisher: HarperCollins UK, One More Chapter

Publication date: October 19, 2023

Intro

Drunk, broke, and unemployed, Sutton comes into Gus' life like a tornado. Gus doesn't really have the time to deal with a drunk stranger, but recognizing that Sutton is the victim of some unfortunate circumstances, Gus welcomes her into his home for the holidays as his nanny. He has his hands full with his twins at the best of times, but nicknamed Mr. Christmas, he is especially busy during the holidays and he could definitely use some help.

Falling for each other is not the goal, but it doesn't take long for sparks to start flying.

My thoughts

This was definitely a cute, easy read, and if you're looking for a quick holiday Hallmark-esque book set in a small town that is reminiscent to that of Stars Hollow from the Gilmore Girls, to get you into the holiday spirit, this could be the book for you! It's adorable overall and easy to read in just a few hours if you're looking to cozy up with a book on a chilly afternoon.

However, if you're looking for anything deeper than just a cute holiday romance, this may not be the book for you. It was very fast paced, and while the relationship between Gus and Sutton was cute, it felt very superficial. When they were having thoughts about falling in love, or having thoughts about already being in love, I found it very hard to believe because they had very little under their belt in terms of meaningful interactions that would lend themselves to falling in love. So if you can't get behind insta-love, or at least, close to insta-love, you might not love this story.

I also wish that the backstories of Gus and Sutton were developed more. It is mentioned multiple times that Sutton had to grow up fast because it was up to her to raise her siblings, and Gus was having marital issues before his wife passed away. Both of these things were mentioned multiple times but the author didn't provide much more details than that. I feel like if those backstories were developed into deeper, I would have felt more connected to the characters.

Lastly, I feel like the ending came about a little abruptly and because of that, I would have loved to see an epilogue. I would have loved to see how Sutton and Gus handled everything a couple months down the road from where the proper story left off.

Despite my small gripes, I enjoyed the novel for exactly what it was. I was on the look out for a cute holiday read and that's exactly what was delivered.

First Line Friday (20): Confessions of a Christmasholic by Joss Wood

First Line Friday is a bookish tag hosted over at Abstract Books that is used to showcase your favourite first lines of books.

There really is something to be said about a good first line, and I'm going to be using this tag from now on to showcase my current read's first lines.

My current read this week is Confessions of a Christmasholic by Joss Wood.

'I love you, you love meeeeee...'

Sutton Alsop couldn't remember the next line to the song she'd sing to her younger half-siblings and wrinkled her nose. Given she'd belted it out about a million times, it should be burned on her mental hard drive. Maybe if she tried again. 'I love you, you love me...'

Goodreads synopsis

Sutton Alsop hates Christmas. So much so, when confronted with a house that looks like Santa himself vomited Christmas all over it, she accidentally (drunkenly) destroys every fairy light, fake reindeer and candy cane in sight. Unfortunately for Sutton, this house belongs to none other than Gus Langston, single dad and owner of the village’s year-round Christmas shop – aka Mr Christmas himself. But Mr Christmas has a secret only Sutton knows… With the two of them forced together for the holidays, the sparks between them are hot enough to melt even the coldest of hearts!

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Confessions of a Christmasholic was published on October 19, 2023, and my review of this little Christmas romance will be published tomorrow! You can add Confessions of a Christmasholic to your Goodreads TBR here!

Last Christmas by Maria Frankland

Title: Last Christmas

Author: Maria Frankland

Publisher: Autonomy Press

Expected publication date: November 10, 2023

The last place that Neil wants to spend Christmas is at his in-laws new house, especially since the whole family seems to be aware that he's a depressed, out of work, alcoholic with a strained marriage. A miserable few days is what he expects. What he didn't expect is that the miserable few days at this in laws house would end up being his last days alive. Now his wife is left to figure out the circumstances of his death. What happened? Who is responsible? Nobody in her family really liked him, but who could hate him enough to want him dead?

I want to state first that I feel a little bit mislead by this being classified as a thriller. To me, it is more of just a family drama. It's an extremely dysfunctional family with a mysterious death looming in the middle of it, but mostly the plot is focused on all of the members of the family taking turns being awful to each other.

I feel that it lacked the suspense and anticipation that drive most thrillers, and I also found that even with all the drama that all the characters brought around, it still fell flat for me. I would have preferred if the characters were developed a little deeper emotionally, so I would have felt more moved by each characters distress.

My lack of strong connection to any of the characters aside, I did enjoy the occasional switch in POV. It was really nice to have a peek into a few of the characters lives, I just wish that it could have been fleshed out more.

Overall, I didn't love this book as a thriller, but it was alight as a family drama. If you're looking for a quick read about an extremely dysfunctional family with a bit of mysterious circumstances around the edges, you might enjoy this one. 

Teaser Tuesday (24): Confessions of a Christmasholic by Joss Wood

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB of Should be Reading. Anyone can participate in Teaser Tuesdays. Just do the following:• Grab your read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• Be careful not to include spoilers!
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

For this week's Teaser Tuesday, I'm sharing teasers from Confessions of A Christmasholic by Joss Wood.

Goodreads synopsis

Sutton Alsop hates Christmas. So much so, when confronted with a house that looks like Santa himself vomited Christmas all over it, she accidentally (drunkenly) destroys every fairy light, fake reindeer and candy cane in sight. Unfortunately for Sutton, this house belongs to none other than Gus Langston, single dad and owner of the village’s year-round Christmas shop – aka Mr. Christmas himself. But Mr. Christmas has a secret only Sutton knows… With the two of them forced together for the holidays, the sparks between them are hot enough to melt even the coldest of hearts!

My teasers

"He'd been so busy he hadn't even had time to go into the storeroom and bang his head against the wall in frustration, something he'd done more than once before."

"All he wanted was to come home to a quiet house, a stiff whiskey and a long bath. But mostly he craved a quiet house free of anything Christmassy."

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Confessions of a Christmasholic will be released in two days, on October 19, 2023, and you can add it to your Goodreads shelf here!

Freaky (2020)

Maturity rating: R. Strong violence, sexual content, language.

Genre: Horror, slasher

Release date: November 30, 2020

Director: Christopher Landon

Writers: Michael Kennedy, Christopher Landon

Runtime: 1h41m

Cast: Vince Vaughn, Kathryn Newton, Katie Finneran, Celeste O'Connor, Misha Osherovion, Alan Ruck, Uriah Shelton, Dana Dori

Intro

Stories of The Butcher go around every year, but no matter how gruesome and bloody the stories might get, nothing could have prepared Millie for the bizarre event that followed her unfortunate encounter with the killer. After he stabbed her with an ancient knife, they swapped bodies. She soon learns that she only has until midnight to get her body back, or she'll be stuck in a killer's body forever.

My thoughts

This is a true horror comedy. Moments of bloody kills were offset by comedic moments, and I really liked it. Body swapping is a storyline that we've all seen before, but seeing it mixed in to a slasher was a refreshing and fun twist on an otherwise tired trope.

I think Vaughn and Newton did a fantastic job in the lead roles. It was fun to see Vaughn with the mannerisms of a teenage girl. I chuckled to myself frequently during his scenes. Newton also did a great job with embodying the personality and tendencies of a serial killer. I think she did a great job showcasing her acting range, and her acting was definitely a highlight of the film.

I did feel as though some of the relationships were a little underdeveloped, most notably the relationships between Millie and her family. Millie's father had recently passed, and it was touched on a few times that it has been a difficult transition, but it was never delved into. There is a scene where Mille, as the Butcher, is connecting with her mother of the passing of her father, but it felt very superficial to me. A touching moment between mother and daughter for sure, but I didn't feel like it had any emotions behind it to back it up. I feel like having a recent loss in the family didn't really contribute to the plot at all and really could have been left out. If Millie's mom and sister had been more developed characters, I think a strained family unit would have been a good aspect to add to the film. As it is, the recently-dead-family-member background felt like it was added in as a shallow afterthought.

My indifference to Millie's family relationships aside, I did like this film. With the comedy aspect included, it's something of a lighthearted slasher that is a great beginning-of-spooky-season movie, and it is one I will most likely revisit soon.