Posted by

madelinetodd

Posted on

September 5, 2018

Posted under

Book Review Tuesday

Comments

Leave a comment

18)-The Rose Society

Hi there, fellow bibliophiles, and welcome to the first Book Review Tuesday of September 2018!

To be honest, I should have reviewed this books sooner. Like, a few months sooner. I mean, my review for book one in this series (see 7/17/18) was almost two months ago, so…

…more like all summer.

Anyway, I bought this lovely little novel at my favorite bookstore of all time. It was a hard decision between it and at least three other hardcovers of books I’d gotten from the library. But in the end, The Rose Society was a paperback, and I hadn’t read it before. But thank goodness I bought it, because MAN, it was THRILLING! Five big fat stars for this one!

Enjoy the review!

The Rose Society

Broken by the betrayal of her father and the Young Elites, Adelian Amouteru decides to go rogue. Now under the alias of the White Wolf, she joins her younger sister Violetta and run away from their former home of Kenettra, in search of like-minded souls from which to build an army of their own. With a deadly grudge against the Inquisition Axis, Adelina will stop at nothing to bring justice to the Marked. But will her quest of anger and grief bring her success, or only misery?

Well OH MY GOD, that had to be one of the best books I’ve read all summer. No joke.

Not only was this book absolutely riveting and action-packed, but it’s the best out of the Young Elites trilogy. It truly packed a punch, all the way from start to finish. There’s hardly anything not to like about this book. 10/10. 👌

Also, remember how I was thinking about comparing the Young Elites characters to X-Men? Well, I’ve got some more comparisons today as well. 😉

First off, I feel that Adelina is now more of a combination of Jean Grey and Magneto. Now that *spoiler for Young Elites* Enzo’s been offed, Adelina’s taken on the role of “Marked bent on the destruction of the Inquisition Axis and all who support them”. Pretty rough ride for her.

Second of all, the Nightcrawler-like character I hinted at in the Young Elites review was…drumroll please…Magiano.

He’s probably one of my favorites out of the cast of characters. Definitely something of a trickster, but he still retains a good heart deep down. Somewhere. If you look hard enough…¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Violetta was most similar to Rogue in terms of powers. From what I remember, they have somewhat like views on their own powers as well.

Oh, and speaking of Marvel…

…let’s not confuse Adelina with Bucky Barnes, guys. Just for future reference.

Get it? White Wolf? Ha ha ha…nobody gets my jokes. Welp.

Have a happy rest of your day, and keep on reading!

Leave a comment

To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (Movie review)

Hey, everyone, and happy Labor Day!

Let me just start off by saying that I didn’t have the highest expectations for this movie. I read all three of the books in Jenny Han’s To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before series earlier this year (not review, but well loved by yours truly), and I didn’t want the movie to drastically change from the book, as all too many YA adaptations have in recent years. (Looking at you, Love, Simon…fantastic book, but way too much changed between the book and the movie…😬) The trailer really didn’t do anything to ease my suspicions.

Then it came out a few weeks ago, and it seemed to be getting some positive reviews. About two weeks after its initial release, my mom and I decided to watch it on Netflix. And I’m happy to say that the movie adaptation of To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before exceeded my expectations!

For the most part, I felt like they did a great job of staying true to the book. No unexplained characters that didn’t exist in the books, hardly any deviation from the plot, all the good things. They nailed all of the characters. No kidding. Nailed them.

lana_condor_to_allthe_boys_2f3139c969a858899903b06e1019a65c.fit-760w.jpg

Let’s start off with Lara Jean. Her portrayal was spot-on, down to the little details. Not to mention, I loved all of those perfect lil outfits she put together. Absolutely adorable. A+, Netflix. Thank you.

Also, kind of unrelated but kind of not, throughout the movie, I had this feeling at the back of my head that I recognized her from somewhere else. It wasn’t until the end of the movie that I realized…

…JUBILEE!

She was so adorable! I wish we’d gotten more of her and all of her wonderful, neon 80’s-ness. Maybe we’ll see more of her in Dark Phoenix. Or maybe not. But I kinda want to see more of her. I mean, the only time we got to see her powers was in the deleted mall scene (which, by the way, is totally worth it to watch).

Now, back on topic.

coveys_wide-591f7a7bbe1817293bd4b131b82d3c92c999e71a-s800-c85.jpg

They TOTALLY NAILED Kitty. I mean, they captured all of her hysterical sass and charm. Oh, my goodness. I missed lil Kitty.

Overall, I liked Margot, though I felt like she was slightly more of a jerk than she was in the books. Also, I imaged her with a bob and straight-ish bangs. Kind of like a younger version of Jenny Han’s original author photo, come to think of it. Weird, I know, but that’s just my brain. Don’t judge me.

20-peter-kavinsky-3.w1200.h630.jpg

I felt that Josh and Peter were also pretty spot-on, mostly how I imagined them in the books. Peter had always gotten on my nerves in the books (Really, Lara Jean? You chose him? Out of everyone? God…), and he got on my nerves in the movie, so…I guess that was a good sign? Kinda? 🤷‍♀️

Also, this might have just been me, but…did Peter and Josh look eerily alike? For the first twenty minutes, I had a bit of trouble distinguishing between the two of them…

Aaaaanyway, they pretty much nailed most everything. My only major problem was the ending.

to-all-the-boys-ive-loved-before-netflix-01-1534347275.jpg

I…just don’t remember if it even happened in the book. And even if it was, it felt really forced. Like, no, this is not Lara Jean and Peter. This is over-the-top, corny, Hollywood chick-flick material. No. Stop. Just act normally. Please. Oog.

But as I said, overall, a great movie. I was happy to see that they’d done just enough justice to the original series, and it was an all-around, cute and feel-good movie. Perfect for Saturday afternoons and whatnot.

I hope you’ve had a good long weekend, and enjoy the rest of your day! I’ve got the first BRT of September 2018 coming up tomorrow, and I’ve got a couple more posts planned out for the near future. So stay tuned, everyone!

Posted by

madelinetodd

Posted on

August 28, 2018

Posted under

Book Review Tuesday

Comments

Leave a comment

Book Review Tuesday (8/28/18)-A Thousand Pieces of You

Hi, everyone, and welcome to the last BRT of August 2018!

I read this book about a week or so ago, initially because it was by Clauida Gray. I’ve adored the Defy the Stars series so far (if you want to see my reviews for them, see 5/15/18 for Defy the Stars and 5/22/18 for Defy the Worlds), and I figured that I could do with a little more Gray to pass the time. That, and the plot seemed pretty interesting and fun. Though I didn’t enjoy it quite as much as the Defy the Stars series, I certainly loved it-a wild ride rife with unexpected twists and turns.

Enjoy the review!

A Thousand Pieces of You

Seventeen year old Marguerite Caine is the daughter of two reknowned physicists, who invented a device called the Firebird. Named after the creature from Russian folklore, the device allows a person to travel into and between infinite dimensions. But soon after their invention is completed, Paul Markov, one of Marguerite’s parent’s colleagues and best friends, kills her father, and escapes through the Firebird into parts unknown.

Shocked by Paul’s betrayal and reeling from the death of her father, Marguerite decides to venture into the farthest reaches of the universe to bring him to justice once and for all. But as she slips through dimesion after dimesion, she slowly realizes that the truth behind her father’s murder isn’t as obvious as it seems…

Like I said earlier, I didn’t enjoy A Thousand Pieces of You as much as I did Defy the Stars, but that does not mean that it wasn’t a good book. On my personal scale, I’d say it would land about a solid 8 (about 4 stars on my Goodreads). An intricately crafted, thrilling mystery with surprises around every conceivable corner. I’ll admit that I kind of gaped at my Kindle screen a couple times.

SHOOKETH. Pretty shooketh.

This series (Firebird) is, from what I remember, a trilogy (but isn’t everything nowadays?). I haven’t gotten to any of the sequels, and I don’t know if I will, but I’ll have to turn to them the next time I’m in a book slump. I could use a little more fun, interdimensional murder mysteries in my life. I guess.

Whew, that was really specific.

Anyway, have a wonderful rest of your day, and keep on reading!

Posted by

madelinetodd

Posted on

August 21, 2018

Posted under

Book Review Tuesday

Comments

Leave a comment

Book Review Tuesday (8/21/18)-Ruin and Rising

Hey, everyone, and welcome to this week’s Book Review Tuesday!

This post concludes my reviews of the Grishaverse (See 7/3/18 and 7/24/18 for books 1 & 2). And boy, this was a spectacular end to an incredible series. I was, for lack of better words, shook. S H O O K. (Or, as some of my classmates might say, “severely shooketh”.)

So, prepare yourself for feels aplently, and enjoy this week’s review!

Ruin and Rising

The nation of Ravka is in greater danger than ever before. The Darkling’s shadowy fist has clenched ever harder onto the kingdom, and the Shadow Fold grows larger with every day that passes. And the future lies in the hands of Sankta Alina, the Sun Summoner.

Beaten, bruised, and in hiding, Alina must now find the Firebird, the last amplifier, in order to defeat the Darkling. Alongside the tracker Mal and the remains of the Second Army, she must find a way to slip through the grasp of the Darkling, and find the amplifier in time. But as they embark on their quest, Alina and her newfound band soon realize that what appeared to be obvious is anything but what they thought it was. Time is running out, and every second that the Darkling retains power is a second closer to the end of their country as they know it…

OH. MY. GOD. BEST BOOK IN THE WHOLE TRILOGY. ELEVEN OUT OF TEN. JEEEEEEEEESUS. THE FEELS…

I feel ya, Walter.

The beautiful writing, the astounding world-building, the oh-so-lovable characters, and everything else in between were back with the volume on full blast. This final installment packed a real punch, and truly ended the series with an earth-shattering bang. Right. In. The. Feels.

Overall, the Grisha Trilogy is like no other, and is an essential for all YA fantasy fans-and just fantasy fans, period. I gurantee that you will not be disappointed.

I hope you have a wonderful rest of your day, and keep on reading! If you want, let me know what you think of this book in the comments! 🙂

Posted by

madelinetodd

Posted on

August 14, 2018

Posted under

Book Review Tuesday

Comments

2 Comments

Book Review Tuesday (8/14/18)-Heart of Iron

Hi, everyone, and welcome to the first Book Review Tuesday of August 2018!

It’s the last day of summer for me, so I might as well end the summer BRTs with a bang. And by a bang, I mean a really, really, good book.

The book I’m reviewing today is exceptionally good. Astounding. Honestly, it might be my favorite book. (Yep…with all of the new series I’ve got into this summer, it seems The Search for WondLa series has been dethroned. Still pretty great, though.) I nearly bought it at Barnes and Noble a few months after it came out, but it was $22, so that was kind of ridiculous (despite the quality of the book). So I was delighted when I found out that it was only $7 on the Kindle store. I promptly bought it, started it on the plane ride to Chicago, and finished it in the hotel room. And I was hooked from page one.

Heart of Iron is a retelling of Anastasia, but set in, well, for lack of a better phrase, a galaxy far, far away. (*cue Star Wars opening crawl*) And it truly captured my heart.

Enjoy the review, everyone!

Heart of Iron

Ana barely has a clue about her past life. She doesn’t remember parents, siblings, or anything else close to a human family. All she knows is that she was found out in the darkest reaches of space, drifting in a spaceship with her Metal companion, D09. She was later discovered by Captain Siege and her crew of pirates and outlaws aboard the Dossier, and soon found a family to call her own.

Years later, D09 is becoming battered by all of the adventures in the galaxy; his glitches are more frequent, and it is only a matter of time before he shorts out completely. But Ana is dead set on fixing her first friend, and will do anything to save him. For that, she needs a new memory core; and in her desperation, leads the crew of the Dossier to the wreck of a long-lost ship. But upon arriving, she and the crew begin to discover that Ana might not be the orphan that she think she is…

OH. MY. GOD.

YOUR LIFE WILL BE BETTER IF YOU READ THIS BOOK.

I loved virtually everything about it. World building? Super fun to visualize, and not to mention amazingly crafted. Characters? I LOVE YOU ALL. I WILL PROTECT YOU ALL AT ANY COST. Plot twists? AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA

Basically my brain cells during/after reading this book. AAAAAAAAAAA

So please, sci-fi fan or not, READ. THIS. BOOK. I gurantee your life will improve after doing so. Thank you, Ashley Poston, for this true gem of a book.

AND, the sequel is scheduled for some time in 2019!

YEEEEEEEEEEEEEEAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH

Also, I have some fan arts underway; one is done, and I’ll probably do a few more.

Well, I hope you have a great rest of your day and week, and PLEASE READ HEART OF IRON. RIGHT THIS INSTANT.

Posted by

madelinetodd

Posted on

August 12, 2018

Posted under

Geeky Stuff, Vacations

Comments

Leave a comment

Chicago!

Hey, everyone, I’m back from Chicago! I had SUCH a wonderful time there, and I did so many fun things there that I doubt I’ll forget. So I’ll give you the run-down of the vacation. I hope you enjoy my pictures!

DAY 1:

After arriving in Chicago and settling into our hotel room, we visited the Shedd Aquarium, which was definitely one of my favorites things we did. I’m a total geek for marine life, so…

These were the electric eels. We got to see them being fed while we were there!

A European Cuttlefish. I COULD NOT HANDLE THE CUTENESS. I LOVE CUTTLEFISH SO MUCH…

A female wolffish (or wolf eel). After seeing clips of them on documentaries for years, I was pretty psyched to see a real one.

Some snuggling seahorses. ❤

GIANT PACIFIC OCTOPUS!!!

A beautiful butterflyfish picture. I’m really surprised at how good the picture turned out.

A ribbon eel that looks like it’s perpetually screaming. It kind of reminded me of the “that’s my opINION!!!” vine.

BELUGAS! There were five of them in all, and it was such a treasure to see them.

DAY 2:

We spent the second day at the Field Museum. Definitely one of the major highlights of the trip.

Máximo, the world’s largest dinosaur.

“Excuthe me, thir…but where are your fathilitieth located?”

After watching Walking with Monsters for much of my childhood, it was pretty crazy to see a real Edaphosaurus skeleton.

Funny story…this is Daspletosaurus. But at first, I read the name on the plaque as “Despacitosaurus”. So that’s basically what I’m referring it to as now…

TRICERATOPSSSSS

A pregnant stringray. Pretty stunning, if you ask me.

A short-faced bear that looks like it’s reciting Shakespeare. “To be, or not to be? That is the question…”

Mammoth!!!

We also visited the traveling Antarctic Dinosaurs exhibit. This is the Cryolophosaurus. (Fingers crossed that I spelled that right…)

DAY 3:

We spent the third day at the Art Institute of Chicago. And yes, I did zoom in on that one space in that one painting in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (I can’t remember the painting’s name) a la Cameron.

The view from outside the institute.

Roy Lichtenstein in the Contemporart Art exhibit.

Miró. I believe this one is called “Circus Horse”.

After visiting the Dalí museum in Florida, it was really exciting to see some Dalí that I’d never seen before.

Van Gogh. Sweet ‘stache, bro.

It was pretty amazing to see “The Old Guitarist” after studying Picasso in Spanish class so much last year.

DAY 4:

On the morning of day 4, we took a river architecture tour. It was all really intersting and beautiful, and I loved seeing all of the different buildings.

This was probably the highlight of the morning. “Yankee…hotel…foxtrot…”

That afternoon, we saw the live recording of Wait Wait Don’t Tell Me in Millenium Park. I don’t have any pictures of this, but it was HYSTERICAL. (I swear, every single word that came out of Bobcat Goldthwait’s mouth made me die laughing…)

DAY 5:

Our last full day in Chicago consisted of a visit to the campus of the University of Chicago. Or, in other words, we visited Hogwarts. Absolutely beautiful.

Don’t tell me this isn’t Hogwarts. Don’t you dare.

We visited Powell’s books, and then spent the afternoon relaxing in the hotel room. The next morning, we flew out of Chicago and back into Denver.

So, all in all, a SPECTACULAR vacation! I hope you enjoyed all of the pictures. I’m excited to get to next week’s Book Review Tuesday, as I read a certain book in Chicago that might just be my favorite…

See you soon!

Posted by

madelinetodd

Posted on

July 31, 2018

Posted under

Art, Books, Geeky Stuff, Movies, Music

Comments

Leave a comment

Yer a Fan Art, Harry…

I’m glad to say that I’ve had a lot of time to draw this summer, and I feel that I’ve been improving. Though I don’t have any HP related fan arts for today (sorry), I’ve got lots to show to you guys. Enjoy the fan arts!

Screen Shot 2018-07-31 at 12.19.52 PM.png

Nightcrawler (Kurt Wagner) (X-Men-Apocalypse)

Screen Shot 2018-07-31 at 12.20.49 PM.png

Alright, sorry, this is out of order, but about a month after finishing Nightcrawler, I decided to touch him up a little bit. The marker dried out as I was coloring in the streaks in his hair, which was slowly starting to bother me (a lot), so I filled those in, and filled in a little more of his face and lips. Nightcrawler’s definitely my favorite of the X-Men.

Screen Shot 2018-07-31 at 12.19.59 PM.png

Loki, God of Mischief! (Marvel)

Screen Shot 2018-07-31 at 12.20.07 PM.png

K-2SO (Rogue One)

Screen Shot 2018-07-31 at 12.20.14 PM.png

The Darkling (the Grisha Trilogy)

Screen Shot 2018-07-31 at 12.20.21 PM.png

Alina Starkov, Sun Summoner (the Grisha Trilogy)

Screen Shot 2018-07-31 at 12.20.28 PM.png

This poor little porg, who is permanently traumatized because his brethren were roasted and eaten by Chewbacca. (Hello, darkness, my old friend…) (The Last Jedi)

Screen Shot 2018-07-31 at 12.20.35 PM.png

Annie Clark (St. Vincent). I recently re-listened to Marry Me and St. Vincent (Deluxe Edition), and rediscovered how much I liked her older music. Let’s not mention MASSEDUCTION.

Screen Shot 2018-07-31 at 12.20.41 PM.png

Santigold!

Screen Shot 2018-07-31 at 12.20.56 PM.png

Viv, daughter of the Vision (Vision)

Well, I hope you enjoyed the *onslaught* of fan arts! I’ll try to get in some HP fan arts soon for this glorious occasion. Until next time, everyone!