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Book Review: The Foxhole Court

Title: The Foxhole Court

Author: Nora Sakavic

Series: All for the Game #1

Published January 15th 2013 by Nora Sakavic

Genre: Contemporary, LGBTQ, Sports

Pages: 237

“Neil Josten is the newest addition to the Palmetto State University Exy team. He’s short, he’s fast, he’s got a ton of potential—and he’s the runaway son of the murderous crime lord known as The Butcher.

Signing a contract with the PSU Foxes is the last thing a guy like Neil should do. The team is high profile and he doesn’t need sports crews broadcasting pictures of his face around the nation. His lies will hold up only so long under this kind of scrutiny and the truth will get him killed.

But Neil’s not the only one with secrets on the team. One of Neil’s new teammates is a friend from his old life, and Neil can’t walk away from him a second time. Neil has survived the last eight years by running. Maybe he’s finally found someone and something worth fighting for.” -Goodreads

My Review:

AGHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH

Hello my fellow bloggers,

Please please please ignore my screaming a second ago, but I just cant help it. This book is just too good.

I have not read a lot of self-published books. The lack of hype and marketing around them make it hard to be aware in my opinion. But there was an insane amount of TikTok hype for this book so I had to pick it up.

And I am so glad I did.

Neil’s story is such a good story. To intrigue you, there is the mafia, gay romance, and morally grey (like dark dark grey) characters. He is placed on an Exy (it’s basically lacrosse but whatever) team with these ragtag bunch of teens who act more like gang members than college sports athletes.

It reads like a fanfiction but is full of OCs. The writing is a bit bland at times but it makes the story really easy to follow. With the writing, there is a certain lack of details but it is still a decent book. Some important details about characters are glanced over. A lot of actions are easily forgiven or the drama that ensues after them seems a bit dramatic.

I have not read any of the other books, but I have seen fanart for the pairing in the books. If that pairing is canon, this is a SLOOOOOOOW burn enemies to lovers for Neil. So far I am just seeing a man way to overprotective about someone he seems not to care about. But that is what we love, am I right?

It is kind of a triggering book and has a lot of drug abuse and violence in it. It does have dark undertones of the story. There are so many secrets to find out. The end leaves on a huge cliff hanger.

Even with some of the negatives, it is still a really good book. It is kind of a nice side book to have when you feel bored reading your main book.

I highly recommend people go check this out. When you are finished, go check out the fanarts for it too. They really are fantastic.

As always, thanks for reading,

A Bookie

Star Rating: 3.5

Books I Couldn’t Put Down

“Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.” -That Artsy Reader Girl

This weeks theme is:

Books You Read in One Sitting (Or Could Have If Time Permitted)

Fence: Striking Distance by Sarah Reese Brennan

2. Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

3. Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

4. Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo

5. Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo

6. Heartless by Marissa Meyers

7. It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover

8. Doon by Carey Corp and Lorie Langdon

9. Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas

10. The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon

As always, thanks for reading,

A Bookie

19 books for $25? My best book haul yet!

Hello bloggers,

How are you guys today?

I am doing great thinking about this book haul from a few weeks ago.

My school is liquidating the book portion of their store so they dropped all of their prices down to about a $1 for every book.

I had to jump on that opportunity (OBVIOUSLY) so here is what I bought:

The Mortal Instruments Books 2-6

(I am linking the box set because listing them all seems unnecessary.)

Most of these books I have no clue what the books are about. I got them because I read the synopsis while in the store and they seemed pretty interesting.

I am glad I got the Mortal Instruments series. IT has been one of those series I have never read. I feel like I am missing out. It was only 6 bucks for these 5. I still need to get the first book, but I still got a steal from this deal.

Anyways, I have absolutely no more shelf space so hopefully, I can read through a few more books this month so they do not sit on my floor like they currently are.

As always, thanks for reading,

A Bookie

Movie Review: Fantastic Beasts: The Crimes of Grindelwald

“At the end of the first film, the powerful Dark wizard Gellert Grindelwald (Depp) was captured by MACUSA (Magical Congress of the United States of America), with the help of Newt Scamander (Redmayne). But, making good on his threat, Grindelwald escaped custody and has set about gathering followers, most unsuspecting of his true agenda: to raise pure-blood wizards up to rule over all non-magical beings. In an effort to thwart Grindelwald’s plans, Albus Dumbledore (Law) enlists his former student Newt Scamander, who agrees to help, unaware of the dangers that lie ahead. Lines are drawn as love and loyalty are tested, even among the truest friends and family, in an increasingly divided wizarding world.” -Rotten Tomatoes

Two weeks ago I went to see The Crimes of Grindlewald.

And OH MY GOODNESS

WAS

AMAZING!!!

It was all boom boom BAM!

I loved it. This movie was absolutely amazing. I loved it so much and I thought it was one of the best movies.

The scenery, the cast, the action, the magic…

It was all just so spectacular. Starting with Newt (Eddie Redmayne), he was so beautiful. Scamander is a “magizoologist” is you haven’t heard and the animals he takes care of are extremely cute creatures, obviously fake, but I wish they were real. The beginning of the movie Newt is unable to leave the country because of the events in the last movie. In true Newt fashion he breaks that rule due to orders from Dumbledore, an unrecognizable Dumbledore because he was very young. I love Newt so much.

I really suck at doing movie reviews. But I believe I must review this movie because I reviewed the last one and this is a part of the franchise that I cherish deeply in my soul.

Now, looking at other reviews like Rotten Tomatoes I understand that not everyone likes it. But, I think that they are going into it as lobby old people with out the joy and wonder that they had when they watched the Harry Potter movies as young adults or even children. Expecting the same childhood joy and thrill to come from these movies are unreasonable for two reasons. First, we are all older than we were when the Potter movies came out and feelings change. The older the are the more you become like Umbridge and less like Harry. Secondly, IT IS NOT THE SAME FRANCHISE. It is not the same people, same setting, or same plot. Voldemort does not even exist in these movies. Nothing is the same. This is a pre-Harry world. Going into the theater and expecting to see Hogwarts and the magic of the school (although does make an appearance) is completely absurd. The stories obviously follows around adults so already the story is in a completely different mind set than the books/movies of Harry Potter.

To enjoy the movie you cannot go into it hoping for the same feeling and that same interaction you got from Harry Potter.

While yes, a little disappointing, you cannot expect Rowling and Yates to stay in that world forever. They need to move on some day. You cannot just trash their masterpiece because it is not like the other masterpiece they created and you are not ready to accept it.

I thought the movie was very well done. I love who they casted for every part. Everyone is exceptional in their job. I am amazed at how each and every character fits with he actors that plays them. I thought everyone conveyed their role well.

The one disappointing thing for me was the lack of beasts. For a Fantastic Beasts movie, there were only a couple. I loved the first movie because it showed you many new creatures almost throughout the whole film. This one just seemed a little too focused on the people and their love lives then the focus on the animals which the series is named after.

But other than that it was a fantastic movie. I loved it. I cannot wait for it to be out on DVD so I can add it to my Harry Potter marathons.

I hope everyone gets to see it. As I am posting this it is almost out of theaters so I hope everyone sees it soon or if you missed your chance and don’t want to commit to it just yet, go get a Redbox. I seriously HIGHLY recommend.

Thanks for reading!

-Kat

Star Rating: 4.5

New Year, New Blog

Hey there fellow bloggers!

It has been a LONG time since I have done an update blog.

But I just want to help ring in the new year with you all. I had a bland year on this blog in 2018. I had taken this time to study, work, and be social. I hardly read a thing. I have books that I am still reading from 2017 on my nightstand. All in all it just wasn’t the best year for me literature wise.

I believe I pulled through in the end by reading quite a few books but only because they were required from school. But I did finish a book that was not an assignment. I read to All the Boy’s I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han and let me just say, it was amazing. I think it was one of the only books I actually read this year.

But now for the serious stuff. I am going to be on this blog more. I know I said that last year after the break I took a year ago, then flung myself into another huge long break, but this time I am here. I am all in. I am ready. I am going to become the Rory Gilmore of reading and read everything in sight. I have also decided that I need this blog to not be a chore. I want to make the blog more appealing and it cannot be appealing if I am writing things I do not want to write. So, I am not going to write a review on every book I read anymore. While this is a book blog and normally people review the books they read, I am sure the review about Sense and Sensibility or To Kill a Mockingbird is not needed. I am sure more entertaining novels such as new releases and book tags while be better hits. And while I started this blog not to become popular, I do not want it to be boring to myself. I remember how motivated I was to write reviews about the hottest release and to participate in the weekly book memes. But I began to focus to much on the book reviews for books that weren’t needed like my A Seperate Peace review that I got rather bored. They were just books for school that I am sure almost EVERYONE has read because they had to. So what was the point?

But, I wrote them and I hated them. I hated forcing myself to write terrible posts and to try and discuss a book I hardly remembered. I remembered the feeling I had when I finished Crown of Midnight by Sarah J Maas at 11 o’clock at night and rushed to my computer to write out all of my feelings about the book. I wanted to feel that rush again but I couldn’t find it when I was struggling to finish the other posts first. So now I am here to say that is over. I am going to start a new system where instead of making a review, I will simply add the name of the book into my Review ToC and add a star count to the end. That will be all and that will make me happy.

I also changed the theme of my page but of course that is subject to change all the time. I love messing around with new themes and new colors all the time, but this time I really like this one. I think I will keep it for awhile just until I get sick of it.

Anyways, let us talk about something not blog related, my life. Quick overview of my life so far. I am nearing the end of my last year of high school. Senior year has been extremely fun and rewarding. I am awaiting news from my dream university and I will update you guys on that when it comes. I also have been obsessing about the college, looking up dorms, fee schedules, etc. I also have a new puppy in the house. She is very cute but not quite potty trained so that is kind of gross. But, that is my families duties.

I have big plans and big changes coming this year. It will be exciting!

I am excited for this New Year. It comes with many new adventures and lots of hard work. I am ready for everything that is going to come my way.

Happy New Year everyone!

To All the Boy’s I’ve Loved Before

Author: Jenny Han

Series: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before #1

Published Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Pages: 355

“To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before is the story of Lara Jean, who has never openly admitted her crushes, but instead wrote each boy a letter about how she felt, sealed it, and hid it in a box under her bed. But one day Lara Jean discovers that somehow her secret box of letters has been mailed, causing all her crushes from her past to confront her about the letters: her first kiss, the boy from summer camp, even her sister’s ex-boyfriend, Josh. As she learns to deal with her past loves face to face, Lara Jean discovers that something good may come out of these letters after all.” -Goodreads

Review:

Dear Peter,

Hi you do not know me but I love you. I have now read the book and seen the movie and I am your soulmate. Will you marry me?

-Kat

Okay, that was my letter. Short but to the point, right?

Alrighty then craziness aside, how freaking adorable was this story. I mean first lets start with the look of the book. Cute and appealing. Great model for the front. (Yes I judge books by their cover very throughly)

Then Lara Jean was such a role model. I need to start dressing, acting, and eating like her. I really wanna try those Korean smoothies she is always talking about so if anyone knows where to get them, slide that info! Lara is such a clever character and I love the diversity of the book. I love the way her culture is brought out into the book and is expressed in the movie (also this review will be about both he review and the movie) which made me happy. She is the perfect person. I just wish she had been less stubborn because so much less drama would have happened, and oh wait, I love drama so why would I care? Haha, I don’t. I do thought think she should have been less stubborn because my poor Peter bear wanted her so desperately but she was so in her head that she just did not get it.

Now onto Peter. He is likes the world’s favorite idiot. Like he really did not handle everything perfectly but his hair was gorgeous while doing it. He should have let Get go the minute she dumped him and realized who his true love was, (ME) Lara Jean! But instead he creates a fake relationship so he can have basically both the girls. But alas that is such a dumb jock move. It is a good thing he was a dream boat or I would not have understood why Lara Jean put up with that from him.

I think Kitty is my spirit animal. She was so spritely and I loved her sass. She did a bad thing by sending out those private letter but in the end it all worked out just fine.

I did not really like Margot at all. She just kind of seemed so matter-of-fact and followed her mother’s rules way too seriously. Now, Josh and her were never meant to be and that is clear to see y his confusion on his feelings with Lara Jean but she shouldn’t have just dumped him. What Lara Jean finds out about them later in the novel does not constitute a reason for her to break up with him. Even though her mother did ask her not to go to college with a boyfriend. It just seems cruel to have broken Josh’s heart, then be able to escape to Scotland while he is stuck living next to Margot’s family.

The plot of the story was cute. There was not any huge action except for the big fallout near the end. Basically, the story just consisted of Peter and Lara Jean fighting then making up. Fighting then making up. Over and over again in this “fake” relationship. And Lara Jean being very stupid about many things.

But I loved the ridiculousness of this book and it went really well. I loved the movie to. I loved the cinematography. I thought both were really good. I cannot wait to read the next one!

Thanks for reading!

-Kat

P.S I hope you guys liked my A1 gif usage. I wanted to include some very nice moments of Peter and Lara Jean.

Star Rating: 4.7

The Vagina Monologues

Author: Eve Ensler, Gloria Steinem (Foreword)

Published May 3rd 2001 by Virago Press Ltd.

Genre: Feminism, Nonfiction, Drama

Pages: 185

“I decided to talk to women about their vaginas, to do vagina interviews, which became vagina monologues…At first women were reluctant to talk. They were a little shy. But once they got going, you couldn’t stop them. Women secretly love to talk about their vaginas. They get very excited, mainly because no one’s ever asked them before.” -Goodreads

Review:

A book of feminism and glory.

I loved the vagina talk. It was very empowering and the friend I read it with agreed with me.

It is an important book. It is important to hear these women’s stories and to understand the depths of the women’s body.

I wish I could go see this performed. It would be quite entertaining to see.

I am reading this growing up in a non-“down there” era but still with some struggles with people embracing the word and I think this book does well to try and make vagina not seem like such a “nasty”word.

I thought the stories were really nice and sort of inspiring. They mostly discussed how they viewed their vaginas and others and showed people journey through vagina discovery.

This blog is really short and I am sorry about that but I do not have much to say. The book is short which means a short blog. Especially one where I believe everyone should read it and see the amazing stories. I don’t want to give away anything to much. I want people to experience the book for themselves.

Anyways, thank you for reading. Let me know down below if you have read it an your opinions on it.

Star Rating: 4.5

The Odyssey

Author: Homer

Translator: E.V Rieu

Published November 30th 2006 by Penguin Classics (first published -720)

Genres: Classics, Fantasy

Pages: 541

“The Odyssey, Homer’s best-loved poem, recounting Odysseus’ wanderings after the Trojan War. With wit and wile, the ‘man of twists and turns’ meets the challenges of the sea-god Poseidon, and monsters ranging from the many-headed Scylla to the cannibalistic Cyclops Polyphemus – only to return after twenty years to a home besieged by his wife Penelope’s suitors. In the myths and legends retold in this immortal poem, Fagles has captured the energy of Homer’s original in a bold, contemporary idiom.” -Goodreads

My review:

I always believe school books are going to be good….

Well as you can probably infer, I did not like yet another school book. Again I don’t know if it was the pressure and the fact that I was being forced to read this book super fast and not take the time to fully understand it or if it was that it was a bad book. I think my age makes me hate the book. I don’t know many people my age who enjoy that book. I think I am to into very fantastical books so these classical books about life and teaching you lessons don’t thrill me as much as I hoped they would. I know this story is more fantastical than any of the other classics out there and maybe that is why I liked it better then some of the ones I have read. But this book predates all the classics. Its language was super hard to read. I don’t know who wrote the translation I read but it was very confusing. Maybe another translation will be good enough.

So I love mythology and creatures like satyrs and the Minotaur etc, so I enjoyed that part about this book. I liked seeing how people lived in another time period. It was interesting to see the different ways people lived and what they believed back when this story originated. I loved learning about gods and other legends and myths during this unit in school. It helped me understand the story more.

Odysseus was a pretty cool character. I didn’t get to see much of him until near the middle even though the story revolves around him. I loved how he was really set on getting home and he kept fighting to get there. He wasn’t all to loyal to his wife but the road to hell was paved with good intentions. I mean he really had no choice when you’re trapped on an island with someone and you don’t think anyone is gonna save you. Telemachus was pretty cool to. He had a lot of trust in his dad. He never even met the guy and he sets off to try and find out if he is alive. Penelope is the most loyal of them all and she never marries anyone and waits for her long lost husband to come hope. Athena a.k.a Athene is super awesome in helping Odysseus get home.

The plot was good I guess. It just was so much packed in to so little. The descriptions of places were long and sort of dull but then the action came out to descriptive for how fast paced it went.

As I review this I see that is wasn’t a terrible story but I just didn’t get into it like I felt like I wanted to.

Well, thank you for reading another one of my short school book reviews. I know these probably aren’t as entertaining as the rest of my reviews but I would feel weird not giving you guys all my opinions on all the books I read.

Thanks for read. Tell me what you thought of this book.

Star Rating: 3

End of Hiatus/September Preview

Hello readers,

I am back and better than ever (I hope).

My six month long hiatus is over and let me just say, it feels good to be back. I am super excited to be back and writing again. The break sucked and I couldn’t wait to get back to the blog.

I first wanna start this off with saying hello to all my new followers. I saw I gained a few even though I wasn’t on the blog anymore so welcome.

Next, I have huge things planned for this blog. Starting next Monday I shall be posting every weekday, allowing myself some time on the weekends to write. I will try as hard as I can to get 1-2 book reviews out. I think since I already have over ten reviews in my drafts right now there will be no problem doing so. I also want to post more tags and discussion blog posts so stayed tuned to that.

I cannot wait to get back onto the blog. It will be so much more organized with regular posts unlike back in my first six months of doing this.

Anyways now for my September preview:

So now that I am back I am going to keep a calendar of blog posts that I shall be posting. I have mostly gotten all the blogs for this month done except for three. I am sorry if those don’t go up on the days that they said they were. I am not very good at writing discussion posts but I am trying them out this month. Anyways here you go:

As you can see I have a busy schedule ahead of me but thankfully those posts are all done except for three.

Reading goal:

3 books

I want to read at least three books this month. It is gonna be hard but I have recently come across audio books and started to enjoy them so my car rides shall be better.

The books on my TBR are:

A Work in Progress by Connor Franta

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

A Court of Thorns and Roses

As I write this blog, I am listening to A Work in Progress. It is already so good. I am gonna get these little reading goals finished. All the other goals I had were never finished. So this time I am trying to do this better. NONSTOP READING!!!!!!!!!

I am excited to start this blogging journey again. I hope you guys enjoy what I am gonna put out for you this month and for all the months to come.

Thank you for reading!

Top Ten Tuesday

“Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created here at The Broke and the Bookish in June 2010.”-Top Ten Tuesday

This weeks list is :

Top Ten Books I Wish I Had

I am excited to be doing this meme. I love making lists and doing these tag type things. I am finally getting less busy so I hope to be participating in this almost every week. I am taking this tag as books I wish I owned so to start this tag here are the ten books I wish I had:

1.Caraval by Stephanie Garber

2.The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyers

3.Empire of Storms by Sarah J Maas

4.Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas

5.Zenith by Sasha Alsberg and Lindsay Cummings

6.All the Rainbow Rowell books

7.Maze Runner Series by James Dashner

8. Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon

9.The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare

10.All John Green books

I know that most of these pictures only have some of the author’s books or few books in the series but it is what I get for looking up these pics on the internet. The link should show what books I want. I have read half these books and I have wanted to read the rest of these books. I want all the John Green books because I love them all. I want to have them for my re-reading. I want the Mortal Instruments series because I read the first book and never got around to reading the others because of other books and if I had them on my shelf I think I would get them done. The Outlander series is my favorite book tuber’s, Sasha Alsberg, favorite book series and I like a lot of books she likes so I want to read it. Also I want to get Zenith when it come out because Sasha Alsberg duh… I want EoS and ACOMAF because Sarah J Maas and I love the Throne of Glass series so far and I will get around to reading ACOTAR soon. I love the Maze Runner series because it was literally one of my favorite series in the world. Rainbow Rowell is my queen. I just recently bought Eleanor and Park and Fangirl. They improve my bookshelf so much. I love the sweet and simple covers. I wanted Caraval because everyone seems to love it. I also wanted the Lunar chronicles because I fell in love with Marissa Meyers after reading the book Heartless by her.

I had a lot of fun doing this tag. I hoped you guys liked seeing my top ten Tuesday. Go do it for yourself the link to the blog who started this meme and their top ten Tuesday post is up at the top. Thanks for reading!