After surviving an attack by a harpy and making a new best friend, life seems to be going well for Evie. However, when Veronica, her nemesis from her old school, joins Wyndemere Elementary, things suddenly change. Faced with a competition that will affect all witches, will Evie be able to keep her cool and win or will she let the green monster of jealousy get the best of her?
Spooky Magic is the second book in the Evie Everyday Witch series. Just like in Secret Magic, this book follows the adventures of Evie, who is a witch that goes to a "normal" school. I love how relatable the situations Evie is put in are. It is easy to understand what lessons are being taught without them being preachy. Evie does still annoy me with how aloof she can be about things, but overall I am still enjoying the series. The illustrations, as usual, are a super cute addition to the book.
I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Rating: 4/5 ★★★★☆
Book & Author Information:
Elena Paige: Goodreads, Twitter, Official Site
Secret Magic: Evie Everyday Witch #1 is a super cute book about being careful what you wish for. All Evie wants is to be "normal". After she and her parents move to a new "normal" town, she finally gets the opportunity. However, this wish will come at a price. Will Evie discover the truth behind what is happening in Wyndemere or will she be too blinded by the need to fit in?
I read this book twice because I felt I must have missed something the first time. I rushed through it the first time because Evie annoyed me so much. After a bit of time passed, it hit me. She reminded me of myself when I was her age. I was so desperate to fit in that I completely ignored my own interests in an attempt to get people to like me and not think I was weird. I also found myself being rude to certain individuals who did accept me regardless of what I liked because they also did not fit in. This was a brutally relatable read and I wish it had been available to me when I was in Elementary school.
*I received an advance review copy for free, and I am leaving this review voluntarily.
Rating: 4/5 ★★★★☆
Book & Author Information:
Book: Goodreads
Elena Paige: Goodreads, Twitter, Official Site
It has become an annual tradition for me to list off my favorites in various categories at the beginning of each new year. 2020 was a weird year for everyone. For me, it changed and delayed many of my normal media consumption habits. Depression settled in and kept me company for the majority of the year. I got behind (or just plain missed) so many things that I normally love. This year there will be no overview of the films I watched. I only watched 65 movies...only one or two new to me. I normally struggle to reduce my list of favorite songs...not for 2020. My main method of escapism was through books...so if anything, that list has been made more difficult. This is where we will start.
The twenty books I enjoyed the most in 2020:
- I'll Be Gone in the Dark: One Woman's Obsessive Search for the Golden State Killer by Michelle McNamara
- Stay Sexy & Don’t Get Murdered: The Definitive How-To Guide by Karen Kilgariff & Georgia Hardstark
- Armstrong: The Adventurous Journey of a Mouse to the Moon by Torben Kuhlmann
- Colorless Tsukuru Tazaki and His Years of Pilgrimage by Haruki Murakami & Philip Gabriel (Translator)
- The Family Romanov: Murder, Rebellion, and the Fall of Imperial Russia by Candace Fleming
- People Who Eat Darkness: The True Story of a Young Woman Who Vanished from the Streets of Tokyo - and the Evil That Swallowed Her Up by Richard Lloyd Parry
- The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #1) by Rick Riordan
- Virginia Wolf by Kyo Maclear & Isabelle Arsenault (Illustrator)
- And The Ocean Was Our Sky by Patrick Ness & Rovina Cai (Illustrations)
- The Hole by Hiroko Oyamada & David Boyd (Translator)
- Axiom's End (Noumena #1) by Lindsay Ellis
- Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata & Ginny Tapley Takemori (Translator)
- The Tea Dragon Festival (Tea Dragon #2) by Katie O'Neill
- Wonderland by Zoje Stage
- The Thing About Jellyfish by Ali Benjamin
- Anne of Green Gables (Anne of Green Gables #1) by L.M. Montgomery
- Mouse Scouts (Mouse Scouts #1) by Sarah Dillard
- The Merciless (The Merciless #1) by Danielle Vega
- The Adventures of Sophie Mouse: A New Friend (The Adventures of Sophie Mouse #1) by Poppy Green
- Secrets at Sea by Richard Peck & Kelly Murphy (Illustrator)
My favorite albums from 2020:
- Diamonds - The Birthday Massacre
- Miss Anthropocene - Grimes
- Hanadriel - Hana
- Awaken The World - WayV
- Future Nostalgia - Dua Lipa
- Dystopia: The Tree of Language - Dreamcatcher
- All Out - K/DA
- NCT Resonance Pt. 2 - NCT
- Fine Line - Harry Styles *released in December 2019, but I still count December releases for the following year.
- Mother - In This Moment
Samba on a Snowy Day is a super adorable picture book about a little girl and her puppy's first journey together in the snow. The illustrations are absolutely gorgeous and I love how the sky subtly changes throughout the day. Some of the sentences are very simple, so I think older children may not like it as much, however, younger kids will definitely enjoy seeing the exploits and mischief that Samba gets into.
*I received a digital copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.
Rating: ★★★★☆
Book & Author Information:
Author: Goodreads, Official Website
Illustrator: Goodreads
Published: December 12th, 2019
ASIN: B082PB11Q9
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