Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Review

Title: Harry Potter and the Cursed Child
Author: Jack Thorne
Publisher: Little Brown

It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn’t much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband and father of three school-age children.While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.

It is finally time for me to review a new Harry Potter story and that feels amazing. What doesn't feel amazing is that my thoughts are so conflicted. I finished reading this play and immediately stamped 5/5 on my Goodreads review. It wasn't that I loved the story, it was that I loved being transported back to a world I love, to characters I adore so much and to experience that magic once again. I had tears in my eyes whilst finishing this book because it just brought back all those nostalgic feelings. The problem was that the story wasn't as good as I had hoped and the more I think about the book, the less happy with it I get. It's currently on a 3/5 with the potential to go lower if I dwell on it anymore. So, no more dwelling, time for reviewing. And, don't worry, if you haven't read the book yet then I won't spoil it. I will keep this part completely non-spoilery and then have the spoilers after a massive warning, for all those who have read it.

This was never going to be the story that most Harry Potter fans wanted. For one thing, it is a script of a play and not a novel. We all knew this before buying so it's not a shock, but it does mean it's a weird new way to experience the Harry Potter world. This is something that is supposed to be experienced and watched, not read. The other main issue is that, no matter how largely they write her name on the cover, this was not written by J.K. Rowling. And that is a terrible thing to me as it meant that I felt the characters were just lacking in a way they wouldn't have been if she had wrote it. The characters always just felt a little off and not like the characters we spent seven books getting to know.

How Jack Thorne & JKR are probably feeling

The story itself was not at all what I was expecting, but I am mentioning nothing about it here. I think it is better to go in blind. We all know this book takes place 19 years after the Battle of Hogwarts, and follows Harry's son Albus rather than Harry. We meet some brilliant characters in this, but also some bad ones. My main issue with the story was that it all felt a bit ridiculous and that a lot of it didn't make sense. I, quite honestly, can never view this play as canon because it all just feels ridiculous and as if it would never happen. Another major issue is the gaping plot holes that this book then leaves us with. And I hate gaping plot holes!

So, yes, overall I was disappointed. I loved some aspects of this but was really pissed about others. I need to go into spoilery detail to explain all that.  If you haven't read this yet or seen the play then now is the time to skip out.

!SPOILERS AHEAD!

Okay, now we have got the warning out of the way... LET'S DO THIS!!!

I am actually excited to review this and go into all my spoilery thoughts. I have to, I won't be able to contain myself otherwise. I need to lay it all out on the table. First I need to get this out of the way: I LOVE HARRY POTTER! If you know me in real life or from my blog, twitter or instagram then you already know this. Harry Potter is my life and has been since I was 6/7 and my nan bought me the first book. Harry Potter was basically my childhood and I loved every minute of it. It was a childhood of midnight releases of books and films. Of dressing up as a Hogwarts student for Halloween. It's owning more HP clothes than regular clothes. It's having to do the Harry Potter London walking tour and Studio Tour. It's owning multiple editions of the books. Harry Potter is life and will forever be. BUT I am never going to be one of those people who is blinded by my love for something. I wanted to love this play, I really did, but I didn't in the end and that is because it has a lot of flaws and problems and things I didn't like. Plus, and I feel this is important, it is a script for a play and I feel it is better to experience as a show (which I will doing next year as I got tickets!!!).

I will do a very quick summary for anyone reading the spoilery side even if they haven't read the play (naughty!). Basically the story focuses on Harry's son Albus as he begins attending Hogwarts and gets placed in Slytherin *gasp*. This is a huge deal and Albus ends up sucking at magic and forever living in his fathers shadow, which he resents, and their relationship is basically strained as fuck. Harry is a terrible father for some reason. Scorpius Malfoy is the most adorable bean of all time and him and Albus become best friends, who are totally in love with each other (but we will get to that later). Amos Diggory shows up out the blue with his niece Delphi, wanting Harry to go back in time and save Cedric's life. Harry, even though one last surviving time turner has been found, lies and says he can't. Albus then decides to do it himself, with the help of good ol' Scorpius. Of course going back in time and changing one tiny detail changes everything and shit hits the fan. So then they keep having to go back, changing things until eventually we figure out that Delphi is the lovechild of Voldemort and Bellatrix and she wants to go back in time to prevent him from ever killing Harry, so that he would never have been defeated. And, yeah, there is one really simplified version of this messy plot.

Trying to make sense of The Cursed Child plot, like...

The first thing I have to mention is probably what anyone who has read it wanted to discuss the most... Voldemort had a lovechild with Bellatrix Lestrange! REALLY!?!?! I got to that point in the book and suddenly understood why I had heard people saying they felt this read like fan fiction. My mouth dropped open and disappointment set in. It just makes zero sense to me, and the explanation of it and timeline of those events also make no sense to me. I just don't see Voldemort as someone concerned with having a child. His plan was to get the Deathly Hallows and master death, so he wasn't looking for an heir. And, come on, it's not like the guy has even one tiny paternal bone in his body. The only thing that does make sense is that if Voldemort had a kid with anyone it would be Bellatrix, you can totally see her wanting to have his baby. I still don't get how this all happened and no one knew. And that it was never alluded to in the final book. She apparently gave birth in the Malfor Manor before the Battle of Hogwarts. So where was the baby whilst she was off fighting? Why did Draco not know about it? Or did he and just never felt like he should mention it?!? Come on, this is the most ridiculous HP storyline in the history of ever and I am going to pretend that it is fanfiction and not canon because otherwise I'd have to rate this a 1/5 and I just can't deal with that right now!

The next thing we have to discuss is the main plot device here: time travel. Why?!?! Do not mess with time travel, it's far too overused and just results in endless plot holes and problems. This book is not an exception to that rule. Especially when we take into account that the main plot here is that Albus and Scorpius want to use the time turner to go back in time and save Cedric Diggory's life...

They have a time turner that can take them back years and they are going to use this to save Cedric Diggory. Can we all take a moment to appreciate how utterly pointless and stupid that act would be if we think about the fact they could go back in time and strangle tiny, evil baby Voldemort and save thousands of people?!? Oh no, let's just go back in time and save one boy.

That is like someone giving you a time turner in our world and going back in time to save Anne Frank, rather than killing Hitler. If you kill the evil overlord then you would save all the people that died at their hands. So the whole time I am just sitting here wanting to slap everyone for being so stupid. But it is obvious why they can't all suddenly realise they have the power to murder Voldemort and prevent everything... It would mean that everything that came after that would completely change and the first seven Harry Potter books would never have happened. So of course we can't have that, so we will just have this giant stupid plot hole instead. Gah, I hate the time travel storyline so much.

The next biggest problem with this book is the characterisation and how wrong it is in this play. Ron is suddenly reduced to just a little bit of comedic relief. He just eats food and pulls pranks, and apparently got so drunk at his wedding that he forgot most of it. Why has Ron suddenly turned into a Weasley twin too? I know he liked pranks and found them funny before, but he was no Fred or George. And why is he giving a small boy a love potion as a joke gift? He was put under the influence of a love potion and it wasn't an experience he particularly enjoyed, so I can't see him then being stupid enough to give one to a child. Ron is my fictional husband and I hated seeing what Jack Thorne reduced his character to here, it was not fun to read.

Harry was even worse, I hated him being the world's worst father who would be so horrible to tell his son that sometimes he wished he wasn't his son. I just don't see Harry ever saying that. I feel he would love his children, no matter how difficult they could be and appreciate being able to be their for them, as he never had that as a child. And watching him treat Professor McGonagall like shit made for even more unpleasant reading. Am I supposed to believe that Harry, the guy who flipped out when a Death Eater spat on her, would then go and treat her with so little respect? Nope, I am not buying that.

Hermione was just as hard to read, especially in the timeline where her and Ron never got together. She basically becomes a female version of Snape. She's Defence Against the Dark Arts teacher at Hogwarts, who treats the children horribly. She's nasty and bitter, and apparently all because she didn't wind up with Ron?!? No. Are we really reducing Hermione down to this? She is a strong, brave, kind person and I don't see her ever turning that bitter because of a guy, she is so much better than that. Why did J.K. Rowling give this her stamp of approval?!?!

Me watching Jack Thorne ruin my favourite characters

And I am still not sold on the fact that getting humiliated one time would suddenly turn Cedric Diggory into an evil Death Eater?!? Come on. I know this is J.K. Rowling trying some Butterfly Effect type situation but it is just awful. I don't believe for one second that Cedric would allow that one moment in his life change him so completely that he suddenly goes to the HP Dark Side and start working for Voldemort. No.

I have another big issue and that is this: Scorpius and Albus are blatantly in love with each other. The issue isn't that they love each other, the issue is that this seems super obvious to 90% of people reading and yet it is never addressed. Instead they end the book with them discussing what girls they want to get with. Come on, they totally love each other and I ship it endlessly. I just get so sad to see the potential to have our first openly gay couple in the Harry Potter universe squandered. These two were just utterly adorable and I ship it endlessly and feel it is time we finally have a gay couple in HP. Not just watch them fill a play with so much homoerotic subtext and then just brush it all aside at the end. No. In my mind they become the most adorably squishy couple ever, get married and join the Potter and Malfoy households. 

It wasn't all bad though and there were aspects that I really liked. The biggest one being Scorpius Malfoy! He is adorable and I just loved his character. He is so sweet and kind, and I just was so happy with his character. I also loved that Albus and Scorpius were both Slytherins, and both kind, wonderful Slytherins. I have a big soft spot for Slytherin house so I was happy that this play shows that Slytherins are just as awesome! I also loved Scorpius and Albus together, but still wholeheartedly believe they should be a couple. The thing I loved most about this was all the Hermione and Ron feelings that it gave me. I was so happy when reading this book. I loved when Rob told Hermione he wanted to renew their wedding vows, it was utterly adorable. And I cried a little when, even in the world where they never got together, they both still loved each other and sacrificed themselves together! My shipper heart could not handle that!

3/5 Butterflies

Writing this review actually felt quite therapeutic, but I must admit that the more I think about the story, the more upset I get. I just wanted this to be amazing and everything I was hoping for, and it wasn't. I feel this was definitely missing J.K. Rowling's touch and I wish she had been the one to write the script, as I feel the characters would have felt more real if she had. It wasn't all bad and I enjoyed the story whilst reading. It blew my mind reading it, as I tried to figure out how they were going to pull this off on stage. I am excited to see it on stage, as I feel I will love it when I see that. But I can't ever consider this as canon because it just had too many plot holes and makes little sense when you think back on the Harry Potter books.

Things We Know By Heart by Jessi Kirby: Review & Dream Cast

Title: Things We Know By Heart
Author: Jessi Kirby 
Publisher: HarperTeen
Buy this book: Amazon / Book Depository

When Quinn Sullivan meets the recipient of her boyfriend’s donated heart, the two form an unexpected connection.After Quinn loses her boyfriend, Trent, in an accident their junior year, she reaches out to the recipients of his donated organs in hopes of picking up the pieces of her now-unrecognizable life. She hears back from some of them, but the person who received Trent’s heart has remained silent. The essence of a person, she has always believed, is in the heart. If she finds Trent’s, then maybe she can have peace once and for all. Risking everything in order to finally lay her memories to rest, Quinn goes outside the system to track down nineteen-year-old Colton Thomas—a guy whose life has been forever changed by this priceless gift. But what starts as an accidental run-in quickly develops into more, sparking an undeniable attraction. She doesn't want to give in to it—especially since he has no idea how they're connected—but their time together has made Quinn feel alive again. No matter how hard she’s falling for Colton, each beat of his heart reminds her of all she’s lost…and all that remains at stake.

Guys, I am completely struggling here. I don't even know where to begin when it comes to this book. How am I even supposed to review it? This book honestly just touched me so much, it moved me so deeply and I finished this book feeling completely satisfied and so happy. I can't recommend this book more, it is a perfect contemporary read and I am just so in love with this story and the characters.

The book follows Quinn Sullivan, an eighteen-year-old woman who lost her boyfriend a year ago in a car accident. His parents made the decision to donate his organs and Quinn has been attempting to contact all the recipients, as a way for her to get closure. Quinn has heard back from every single one... Except for the person who received Trent's heart. His silence becomes to much for her and she eventually tracks him down and sets out to find him. And this is where Colton comes in. The longer she spends with him, the more time she wants to spend with him and the more she realises she can't tell him the truth without risking hurting and losing him.

I honestly just loved every single thing about this book. I loved the characters, the setting, the relationships, the writing and the story. The setting is all beautiful beaches and glorious ocean and I want to transport myself there. I'm kind of an emotional mess right now as I try to write this review, and I don't even care. You will just need to deal with my jumbled mess of ridiculous gushing, and then go experience this book for yourselves.

I connected with this book so much and truly felt for the characters. I lost a friend a few years ago, he was twenty-two and also died in an accident, and his parents made the same decision to donate his organs. And then they did the exact same thing of contacting all the recipients, along with my friends girlfriend. They needed to, it helped them all so much to speak to these people who had received such a vital part of the person they had loved. I don't even know how they would have felt if the person who received his heart hadn't even wrote back. So I just completely felt for Quinn and put myself in her shoes, and I know I'd have probably made all the decisions she did, and all the mistakes.

The characters in this are fabulous and so perfectly written, especially the family relationships. I especially loved Quinn's relationship with her sister Ryan, and how close they were. They could lean on one another and help one another, and both seemed to know the perfect things to say and when. Quinn was so strong and resilient, she hurt and she broke, but she also fought and found herself again and it was beautiful to watch.

I don't want to ruin the story for people, so feel I don't want to say too much. I will just say this: I loved this book. I loved every single thing about it. I am going to reread this book many times over the years, I can just tell, and I am sure I will love it just as much every single time. So I hope you get to read this book, I hope you connect with it as much as I did, and I really hope you love it.

5/5 Butterflies

My Dream Cast

I feel so lucky to be a part of this amazing blog tour and that I get to try and dream cast this. There is just one problem... I SUCK AT DREAM CASTING! No, seriously, I really do. It is because I can never seem to imagine someone playing the characters. And I also never pay attention to descriptions, ever. The characters could be purple and covered in scales and I'd probably be oblivious to it. But I really tried here as I connected to these characters so much.

Lily Collins as Quinn Sullivan

This is so hard for me, as I hate trying to imagine actors as the characters. Here it was especially hard as I didn't know who could play Quinn. A big part of me wanted Shaillene Woodley, just because she is so talented. But I just feel she is far too overused in YA movies atm. So I then fell to Lily Collins. She's an actress that has grown on me so much over time, and I think she could play the part so well. Plus she doesn't seem to age, she's 27 and looks about 18, which makes her perfect for this.

Dylan O'Brien as Colton Thomas

I wanted an actor with green eyes, as this is mentioned so many times in the book and was a detail I really remembered about Colton. I completely struggled to find actors with green eyes though, so I gave up. I have such a soft spot for Dylan O'Brien and feel he can play serious, he can play funny, he can play action and probably everything in between. And he's nice to look at. So I would totally put him in this film. Plus... We also have photographic evidence that he is in fact alive and well, so he could definitely do it.


Sam Claflin as Trent

I think the only problem here would be that Sam looks too old for the part. But this is a dream cast so I can do what I want. I feel he could just be perfect for Trent and all those flash back scenes that a movie could have. And we already know that him and Lily have great onscreen chemistry. He could just play this perfectly!



Emma Stone as Ryan

I LOVE Emma Stone. I do, and if she was a little younger then I would just dream cast her as the lead in this and every other film ever. But I really do feel like she could play the perfect older sister. The one who can bring the comic relief, the no-nonsense attitude and also the amazing sisterly advice.



Betty White as Gran

She's just perfect for any grandmother role. She can play this quirky. hilarious gran perfectly!

And that is everyone I will dream cast for now. I'd love to see this as a movie, even though I know it would make me cry buckets of tears. It would totally be worth it!

Weekly Recap: I'm Drowning In A Sea of Books

Hey guys, it has been forever since my last post. Life has just been beyond hectic recently and I have just had zero time to do anything. It has been a ton of working and then endless social commitments. And, yes, I will totally have to admit to getting addicted to Pokemon Go and allowing it to take over my life. Ooooops!

I've had a week off from work, which has allowed me to catch up on a ton of things. So time to catch up on everything I have been up to since my last post.

Chapter 5 Proof Party: I was lucky enough to get invited to the Chapter 5 Proof Party that was held in London at the beginning of July. It was held on the top floor of The Old Crown Pub near Tottenham Court Station and was such a fun evening. There was books galore and author Jennifer L Armentrout came to talk about her books and sign any that people had brought along with them, or taken from the ones offered to us by the wonderful people at Chapter 5. I was extra excited to receive three amazing proofs: Replica by Lauren Oliver, Caraval by Stephanie Garber and Frostblood by Elly Blake.

My birthday: It was my birthday two weeks ago and I had an incredible day. I invited friends and family over for a barbecue and the day was perfect. The weather was beautiful, the food was tasty and the company was the best I could hope for. Plus they all knew me so well and gifted me a ton of Funkos! A bunch of us were still up at 2am playing games, drinking and devouring the leftovers from the day, I couldn't have asked for a better birthday.

Bookstagram: I have spoke a lot about my addiction to bookstagram. I can't stop myself, I just absolutely love it. I know a large part of the reason I haven't blogged is because I have been spending all my free time taking, editing and posting my bookstagram photos. And I have zero regrets, This month I hosted my first ever bookstagram monthly challenge and it was so much fun! I have loved seeing everyone's photos. It has also been wonderful to see all my hard work paying off, as my Instagram has grown so much over the last few weeks. I will be hosting another challenge this August, so if you are interested then definitely feel free to take part! I also hit a huge milestone on Instagram: 10,000 followers! So keep an eye out for a giveaway going up there soon!

London Film and Comic Con: As this post goes live, I will be at the second day of YALC and LFCC and I will probably be hot, sweaty, exhausted but super excited and having a wonderful time regardless. This is my third year attending and I am so excited. It's always so much fun. I get a ton of books and meet some amazing authors - this year I will get to meet V.E. Scwhab and Maggie Stiefvater! And I can't wait!!! I will also spend far too much money on bookish items and other things.

I am usually totally not embarassed by my hauls, but even I think this months is a little excessive! Ooops. I couldn't stop myself. A bunch of these were all sent by publishers, so that makes me feel less bad. And a lot of the ones I bought were on special. I got a ton in Waterstones Picaddily on sale, for £1 each, even for hardbacks. All the adorably cute Funkos are what family and friends bought me for my birthday, although I forgot to include Mrs Potts, Chip and Cogsworth.

Replica by Lauren Oliver, Caraval by Stephanie Garber, Frostblood by Elly Blake, Things We Know By Heart by Jess Kirby, Frost Like Night by Sara Raasch, Aerie by Maria Dahvanna Headley

I recently read Replica and found the format was so fascinating. This is a story where we have two main characters, Lyra and Gemma, and you can choose which story you want to read first. You can either start with Lyra's and then go to Gemma's or vice versa, or you could read them a chapter each or something completely different. Caraval and Frost Blood, as well as Replica, were ARCs I received at the Chapter 5 party and can't wait to read them. I have heard nothing but amazing things about Caraval and I will be getting to that asap. I received Things We Know By Heart, Frost Like Night and Aerie from the wonderful people at Harper 360. I am currently reading and loving Things We Know By Heart. Look out for my review on the 3rd August, as I am participating in the blog tour for it.

This Savage Song by V.E. Schwab, And I Darken by Kiersten White, Ivory and Bone by Julie Eshbaugh, My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows, 5 to 1 by Holly Bodger

This Savage Song and My Lady Jane are two books I received in my most recent Owlcrate boxes and I am excited to read both. Ivory and Bone is another one that was sent to me by Harper 360 and I have heard a lot of good things about this one. And I Darken is one that I bought for myself as I love the sound of it, a gender-swapped retelling of Vlad the Impaler. 5 to 1 sounds really weird but it was £1 in Waterstones for the hardback, so I couldn't help myself.

A Small Free Kiss in the Dark by Glenda Millard, Looking for JJ by Anne Cassidy, The Painted Man by Peter Brett, Oblivion by Jennifer L. Armentrout, Half-Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout

A Small Free Kiss in the Dark is another one that I got for £1 and it actually looks really interesting, it is one I hope to read really soon and it looks like one I can read really quickly. Looking for JJ is one I have wanted to read for a long time, as I once read another book by the author that I loved. The Painted Man is a fantasy book that I won on Goodreads and I have seen some amazing reviews for it, so I am intrigued by that one. Oblivion and Half-Blood are two that I got at the Chapter 5 party. I now have two copies of Half-Blood, so I will probably give the spare away or donate it to work.

Obsidian by Jennifer L. Armentrout, The Return by Jennifer L. Armentrout, Don't Look Back by Jennifer L. Armentrout, Lydia by Natasha Farrant, Dear Charlie by N.D. Gomes

Obsidian, The Return and Don't Look Back were the others that I got from the Chapter 5 party. got to get all my JLA pretties signed by the author whilst I was there. I have spares for a few of these and will give them away. Lydia and Dear Charlie are two review copies I was sent recently and will be reading asap.

Queen of Hearts by Colleen Oakes, You Don't Know Me by Sophia Bennett, Castle by Sophia Bennett, Lying About Last Summer by Sue Wallman, Two Summers by Aimee Friedman

Queen of Hearts is one I bought myself on special in Waterstones Piccadilly, and I am intrigued by it but also nervous to read it. You Don't Know Me and The Castle were two more books I got for £1 from Waterstones. I read and loved the authors latest book, so I couldn't not pick these up and I really hope I love them. Lying About Last Summer and Two Summers were both on offer in ASDA and sounded interesting, so I picked them up - I can't stop myself, I have a huge book buying problem.

After You by JoJo Moyes, A Little In Love by Susan Fletcher, Under Rose-Tainted Skies by Louise Gornall, The Shadow Queen by C.J. Redwine, United as One by Pittacus Lore

After You is another one I bought myself, I quite enjoyed Me Before You and curious to see what happens for Lou next. A Little In Love, Under Rose Tainted Skies and The Shadow Queen  are the others I bought on special in ASDA. United as One was sent to me by a publisher, even though I had let them know that I had only read book one in the series, but they seemed to want it to be shared on social media more than anything, so that is probably why they still sent it.


So that is my rather giant haul for the month of July... 31 books, which is exactly 1 book a day for the whole month. So that would explain how I have barely read any of them. All my time has been sucked up by work, social events or Pokemon Go. Hopefully I can get some reading done next month.

How was your reading month and haul? Did you get through a lot of books? Anything that you would recommend? And, most importantly, which of my books should I get to first?

Surviving A Book Convention: Tips & Tricks

How To Survive YALC 2016!

I have attended YALC for the last two years and am so excited to be attending again this year. For anyone who doesn't know, and has clearly been living under a rock, YALC is the UKs first ever YA literary convention. AND IT WAS AWESOME! I love every single second of it, despite the sweating and the queuing and how my money disappears from my account quicker than I can blink. It's an amazing day, but I learnt a lot after my first year there and definitely did things differently on the second year. So I am here to share my tips with you guys!

1. Be Prepared For Endless Queuing 

No one likes queuing, it's just a known fact. So you need to know that you will spend a lot of your day queuing. You will queue for EVERYTHING! You will queue for a long time to get in, then you'll queue to get tickers to events, then queue to get your books signed. Not to mention that you will queue for the toilet and for food too, where you will be charged an extortionate amount. So make sure you either have someone with you to keep you entertained, or bring something with you to keep you entertained whilst you queue. And maybe learn to sit randomly on the floor like a weirdo, because otherwise your legs will ache like crazy by the end of the day.

These Books Need Way More Love On Goodreads

It's time for Top Ten Tuesday and this weeks topic is:

Best Books With Less Than 2,000 Ratings on Goodreads

This weeks topic means that we get to talk about books that are completely underrated on Goodreads. Those books that deserve so much more love than they are currently getting. Less than 2,000 ratings is a tiny amount of ratings. The Hunger Games currently has 4,274,543 ratings on Goodreads. Harry Potter has 3,977,522. Even Fifty Shades has 1,336,175 ratings. And I will always say that any book should have more ratings than that book. So here are some of the books I have enjoyed over the years that have so few ratings on Goodreads, but deserve more. I'm going to order them from least to highest rated.

Sunkissed by Jenny McLachlan - 103 Ratings

This book is the third book in Jenny's Ladybirds series and it was my favourite of the series so far. The characters have grown up a lot and this feels a lot more YA than the last two books. I loved the beautiful island setting. I adored the characters and the cutesy romance storyline. It was just the perfect summer read.

Love Song by Sophia Bennett - 116 Ratings

I wasn't very sure of this book when it was sent to me for review. A young adult novel featuring a young girl going to work for a boy band?!? I just wasn't sold on that and thought this was going to be a horribly cheesy book, with zero substance to it. I was totally wrong and felt bad for judging it so quickly. I thoroughly enjoyed this book and thought it was a fun read, and made me want to try more from the author.

Second Chances by Martina Reilly - 124 Ratings

This was a book I picked up on a whim whilst strict ordering at work in one of the libraries I worked at. I just browsed the books whilst tidying and read the back of this and was intrigued. It is a murder mystery thriller and one that I ended up really enjoying. It was quite dark and twisted, as a woman seeks revenge on the man she believes murdered her sister. This book is perfect for fans of Jodi Picoult, Diane Chamberlain or those looking for an adult Dangerous Girls.

Gemina by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman - 247 Ratings

This is totally cheating as the book isn't officially out yet, which is why it has so few ratings. I DON'T CARE! I am still putting it here just so I can once again tell you that this book is INCREDIBLE! If you haven't started this series yet, you need to. Go, read Illuminae and then prepare for one of the best sequels ever.

The Leaving by Tara Altenbrando - 535 Ratings

I really loved this book. I thought it was really great, even though you finish not really knowing what genre you should even put this book in. I found this book so addictive though, I could not put it down. The writing just completely sucked me in and I ended up finishing this book in one sitting. It follows five teenagers who return home, having gone missing eleven years before. No one knows where they have been or what happened to them. And, most importantly, no one knows what happened to the sixth child who went missing with them and never returned. I really loved this book and the mystery element of it. It was definitely weird, but I really enjoyed that about it. 

I Hate Fairyland Vol 1 by Skottie Young & Jean-Francois Beaulieu - 1,518 Ratings

I have been reading a lot of graphic novels recently, thanks to trying and falling completely in love with Saga. I Hate Fairyland is one of my favourites so far, it was hilarious and so dark. Our main character is a woman who has been stuck in Fairyland for 34 years, and she is still stuck in her 6 year old body that she came to Fairyland in. She needs to find a key to leave, and has not been able to find it in the 34 years she has been there. By this point she is basically mad, killing anyone and everyone and doing it all whilst being sarcastically funny and hilarious as anything. I loved it. 

In A Handful of Dust by Mindy McGinnis - 1,680 Ratings

This is the sequel to the incredible Not a Drop to Drink, and this is a book that definitely deserves to be read more. I know your heart might have been torn out and stamped on at the end of Not a Drop to Drink, so was mine. But the sequel is so worth reading, even if it is just for more of Mindy McGinnis's incredible writing. 

Demon Road by Derek Landy  - 1,697 Ratings

Demon Road by Derek Landy is absolutely perfect for anyone who loves the show Supernatural. That is my favourite show, so of course I loved this book. It is a YA supernatural read and it is awesome. The characters are hilarious and the storyline can be quite dark. I can't wait to devour the sequel when I get a moment. 

Every Breath by Ellie Marney - 1,962 Ratings

I LOVED this book! It is an Australian, YA retelling of Sherlock Holmes and it is epic. I ship the two main characters like nobody's business. Please, do not be put off by the ugly covers, these books are deserving of your time. I own the two other books in the series and plan to read them asap.

So there you have all the books I have read and enjoyed that have less than 2,000 ratings on Goodreads. They all deserved to have way more than that! Which underrated book do you love?