Stranger Things Season 2 -Non- Spoilery!

Unless you are living under a rock or had your nose in a really good book then chances are you were binging Season 2 of Stranger Things this weekend. I've been counting down the days since it was released there was a Season 2! On Friday my fiance, myself and our 2 dogs formed an epic cuddle puddle on our couch and hit play! We finished the last episode last night(Sunday) at 11:30pm and my heart was left pounding and my head spinning! Some storylines left us with a bit of closure, while others left us with so many questions! But I love that because it means there will most likely be a Season 3! 

As promised, this will be non-spoilery :) I just wanted to rave about the epicness of this masterful show!

1. A handful of amazing characters are introduced! MadMax(Maxine), Billy, Bob"Superhero" Newby, Kali and Dr. Owens

2. Noah Schnapp who plays Will needs to win an Emmy. This kids acting chops are for real!

3. Dustin is my Hero. That hair!

4. Steve Harrington who is played by Joe Kerry has some epic screen time during this season. He "almost" stole the show. His character definitely grew since Season 1 and I loved every minute of it!

5. Chief Hopper. No need to say more!

6. Epic Soundtrack! We already know that the show pays a great tribute to the 80's and Season 2 just accentuated that even more. The soundtrack is "bitchin'" 

7. Sidestory: You will get lots of colourful side story on Eleven, Hopper, Will and more. 

8. Though this season started off a little bit slower than Season one, it does so intentionally and still keeps you engaged and intrigued. Season 2 spent it's time crafting it's storylines to bring together an outstanding showdown for the last 3 or so episodes. 

9. As mentioned above, the plotline and sub-plot lines provide so great material for the show. But it was the character growth and chemistry that really stole the show!

10. Overall, the writers struck gold, the Cast is magical and Season 2 just proved that Stranger Things is the best series to ever hit the small screen!

Did you watch Season 2? What are you thoughts? Comment below!

The Rules of Magic by Alice Hoffman

Release Date: October 10th, 2017
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Genre: Fiction
Pages: 369 Pages
Format: Kindle
Source: Netgalley
Reason: For honest review
Find the Author: Website
Buy the Book: Amazon | Barnes and Noble

Find your magicFor the Owens family, love is a curse that began in 1620, when Maria Owens was charged with witchery for loving the wrong man.Hundreds of years later, in New York City at the cusp of the sixties, when the whole world is about to change, Susanna Owens knows that her three children are dangerously unique. Difficult Franny, with skin as pale as milk and blood red hair, shy and beautiful Jet, who can read other people’s thoughts, and charismatic Vincent, who began looking for trouble on the day he could walk.From the start Susanna sets down rules for her children: No walking in the moonlight, no red shoes, no wearing black, no cats, no crows, no candles, no books about magic. And most importantly, never, ever, fall in love. But when her children visit their Aunt Isabelle, in the small Massachusetts town where the Owens family has been blamed for everything that has ever gone wrong, they uncover family secrets and begin to understand the truth of who they are. Back in New York City each begins a risky journey as they try to escape the family curse.The Owens children cannot escape love even if they try, just as they cannot escape the pains of the human heart. The two beautiful sisters will grow up to be the revered, and sometimes feared, aunts in Practical Magic, while Vincent, their beloved brother, will leave an unexpected legacy.

MORAL OF THE STORY:

YOU CAN NEVER DENY WHO YOU TRULY ARE

The Rules of Magic is a whimsical tale that will have you fall deeply and madly in love. 

I cannot put into words how much I loved, adored and cherished this book and the beautiful story that laid within it's pages. I'm actually struggling with getting my thoughts out because I am left utterly speechless and in awe. Please be patient with me while I try to *attempt* a decent review here instead of just urging you, grabbing and shaking you, and screaming at you to READ THIS BOOK! *Ahem*

The Rules of Magic tells the story of Francis(Franny), Bridget(Jet) and Vincent Owens. Brother and Sisters that are struggling to understand who they are and where they truly belong in this world. The story begins its tale in beautiful New York but will take you on a marvelous journey through Paris, California and Massachusetts. You will be given a stunning history lesson on the family and their roots and why they have chosen to live the life they do now. Alice Hoffman's ability to craft such beauty in her characters and setting is a magical quality in itself. Delivering sights and sounds that will whisk you away and perch you into the very world of the Owens and their surroundings. You will be taken on a breathtaking imaginary adventure! Falling quickly and madly under her spell and never let go(nor would you want to!) 

Franny, Jet and Vincent are unlike any other characters I have ever read. They are charming, intense and so full of depth. Though I just spent a whole book reading about them, I still feel there is so much that I do not know. Almost like a delicious secret is still being kept. The beauty in characters does not end there though. The character cast is large and each one blesses it's readers with their own unique story. Your heart will become fuller after reading this novel.

The Rules of Magic is a fantastical tale that will make you giggle with laughter, shed tears and shake your head in amazement. The Rules of Magic will leave you with an indescribable feeling but knowing that you just had a beautiful and memorable reading experience.

"Writing itself was a magical act in which imagination altered reality and gave form to power"

'When you are young you are looking forward and when you are old you are looking back"

"She opened a book and was therefore saved, discovering that a novel was as great an escape as any spell."

36 Questions That Changed My Mind About You by Vicki Grant

Release Date: October 17th, 2017
Publisher: Running Press | Hachette Canada
Genre: Young Adult
Pages: 320 Pages
Format: ARC
Source: From Publisher
Reason: For Review
Find the Author: Website
Buy the Book: Amazon CA | Amazon

Hildy and Paul each have their own reasons for joining the university psychology study that asks the simple question: Can love be engineered?

The study consists of 36 questions, ranging from "What is your most terrible memory?" to "When did you last sing to yourself?" By the time Hildy and Paul have made it to the end of the questionnaire, they've laughed and cried and lied and thrown things and run away and come back and driven each other almost crazy. They've also each discovered the painful secret the other was trying so hard to hide. But have they fallen in love?Told in the language of modern romance—texting, Q&A, IM—and punctuated by Paul's sketches, this clever high-concept YA is full of humor and heart. As soon as you've finished reading, you'll be searching for your own stranger to ask the 36 questions. Maybe you'll even fall in love. 

MORAL OF THE STORY:

FIRST IMPRESSIONS AREN'T ALWAYS THE LAST IMPRESSION

10 REASONS WHY I LOVED THIS BOOK

1. Unique concept

Taking 2 people, putting them in a room together and seeing what happens? Um, yes please! 

2. Interesting writing style

I loved that the book was written in 'Chat' format. A lot of the book's dialogue is Hildy and Paul literally sitting in a room basically interviewing each other. However, it gets quite intense!

3. Quick read

4. Has Depth

3 and 4 go hand and hand. Although you can enjoy this book in one sitting, it has so much depth. The characters and storyline provide so much heart and soul.

5. Epic characters

Delivering a book in this style can be risky, it can lack "The feels" but that was NOT the case of 36 Reasons. Both Hildy and Paul were very intense characters. In the beginning, we are only seeing the surface, but the author did a spectacular job at letting their stories unfold at a beautiful pace as the experiment progresses and the individual character perspectives are delivered.

6. Not your average contemporary romance

Because average is boring!

7. Thought-provoking

Some of the questions are pretty basic, while others dive right into the soul!

8. Comedic relief

36 Reasons made me Laugh out Loud on more than one occasion...way more! The quips and banter between all of the characters were fantastic. It definitely had a "sitcom" vibe to it. I could totally see this as a Netflix series and me totally binging it!

9.  Charming

10. Discovery

It may be a light contemporary romance, but it has so much more! It's about not just about 2 people getting to know each others. It's about 2 characters getting to know themselves. 

Mary Rose by Geoffrey Girard

Release Date: October 17th, 2017
Publisher: Adaptive Books
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Pages: 272 Pages
Format: ARC
Source: From Publisher
Reason: For honest review
Find the Author: Website
Buy the Book: Amazon

Who knows what ghosts lie within us, or when they will return?Mary Rose Morland and Simon Blake are the perfect couple: successful young professionals in Philadelphia, attractive, madly in love, and ready to start a life together. When they travel to England for Simon to ask her parents’ permission to marry Mary Rose, he learns an unsettling secret: Mary Rose disappeared when she was a little girl on a remote Scottish island and reappeared mysteriously thirty-three days later in the exact same spot without a scratch on her and no memory of what had happened.
After Simon learns about this disturbing episode in Mary Rose’s childhood, he becomes obsessed with finding out what happened and proceeds to launch his own investigation and arranges during their honeymoon for them to visit the island where she disappeared. But as Mary Rose’s behavior gets stranger after their engagement, the need for Simon to unlock the truth about her past grows even more urgent. What he uncovers is beyond his most terrifying fears.

MORAL OF THE STORY:

IF YOU GO LOOKING FOR TROUBLE, YOU'LL BE SURE TO FIND IT

Mary Rose will capture you before you even crack it open. Look at that cover! It's so inviting! I know you're not supposed to judge a book by its cover(let's be honest, we ALL do it) but the minute I laid eyes on this one I didn't even need to know what it was about. I wanted to read it right away! 

The novel's size is a bit deceiving. It's a "small" package of only 272 pages yet it packs so much punch! Geoffrey Girard painted a picturesque setting that placed you right into the world of Mary Rose and Simon. He penned the perfect balance of strong, in-depth characters and a thought-provoking storyline. It isn't just a book, the story will wrap itself around you and pull you deep into its world. Leaving you in its grasp and hungry for more as you turn each page. 

With Halloween right around the corner and the days beginning to cool down, Mary Rose will be the perfect book to stay curled up inside reading. Its ghostly atmosphere will leave you goose bumped and glancing over your shoulder in eerie suspense. 

Mary Rose will attract and appeal to many readers, no matter their genre preference. I'm a lover of Young Adult fiction and I enjoyed every minute of my reading experience with Mary Rose. No matter what you love to read, you can't deny a great story! 

Hop on and enjoy this eerie, psychological thrill ride. You will not regret it!

The Surrogate by Louise Jensen

Release Date: September 27th, 2017
Publisher: Bookouture
Genre: Mystery & Thriller
Pages: 374 Pages
Format: E-galley
Source: Netgalley
Reason: For Review
Find the Author: Website
Buy the Book: Amazon CA | Amazon

Be careful what you wish for…
Kat and her husband Nick have tried everything to become parents, and are on the point of giving up. Then a chance encounter with Kat’s childhood friend Lisa gives Kat and Nick one last chance to achieve their dream. 
But Kat and Lisa’s history hides dark secrets. 
And there is more to Lisa than meets the eye. 
As dangerous cracks start to appear in Kat’s perfect picture of happily-ever-after, she realises that she must face her fear of the past to save her family…

‘You know that feeling? When you want something so badly, you almost feel you’d kill for it?’ 

MORAL OF THE STORY:

THINGS AREN'T ALWAYS AS THEY SEEM.

SOME FRIENDSHIPS ARE BETTER LEFT IN THE PAST.

Ok! Where do I even begin? This book was such a wild ride. The who's, what's and why's never stop and after a while you begin to question your own sanity. Just when you think you have the slightest inkling of what is happening, Louise Jensen throws you into another direction. Spinning what you "thought" you know completely upside down!

This is my first book by Louise Jensen but it will NOT be my last! I have already ordered my copy of  The Sister and cannot wait to dive into it. I was completely entranced by The Surrogate. It held me tightly in its grasp from the very beginning and still has yet to let me go even though I have turned the last page. Louise Jensen has proven to me, with just this book, that she is a mastermind at psychological thrillers. She penned such a suspenseful thrill ride that had me flying through the pages at a fervent pace. 

The Surrogate is delivered in Kat's perspective but also has 'Now and Then' segments that hop back and forth between Kat and Nick. Louise Jensen crafted this aspect beautifully. Not once do you ever get confused or need to backtrack. Each character also stands so strongly. The Main cast appears to be Kat and Nick yet all of the secondary characters play a major role in this novel. Each one has a vital part in the strength of this story and the entire package of the novel. 

The Surrogate will have you questioning every relationship and motive and the sincerity of people. Should you rekindle that friendship or leave the past behind you?

I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of The Surrogate and cannot wait to dive into Jensen's previous and future work. She is a real gem in the literary world and will have you on the edge of your seat in nail-biting suspense!

*GIVEAWAY* The Wizard of Lies On Blu-Ray and Digital HD!

The Crazy Bookworm and THINK JAM are teaming together to bring you an epic giveaway!

We are giving away one copy of The Wizard of Lies on Blu-Ray and Digital HD.

Starring two-time Oscar®-winner Robert De Niro as Bernie Madoff and three-time Oscar® nominee Michelle Pfeiffer as his wife Ruth, this HBO Films drama dissects the events that led to the Wall Street financier's stunning downfall in December 2008 for defrauding investors of over $65 billion in the most infamous Ponzi scheme in U.S. history. Directed by Oscar®-winner Barry Levinson, an executive producer along with De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, Berry Welsh and Tom Fontana, The Wizard of Lies vividly recounts Madoff's audacious deceptions, which began in the 1990s, 1987, or even earlier, and continued throughout the financial crisis of 2008, culminating in a denouement that vilified Madoff while catapulting his wife and two sons into a harsh and unrelenting spotlight, with tragic consequences.

HOW TO WIN

*Must be 13 years or older

Open INTERNATIONALLY

Giveaway ends Tuesday, October 17th at 11:59pm

Fill out Rafflecopter to enter

GOOD LUCK!

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The Bakersville Dozen by Kristina McBride

Release Date: August 8th, 2017
Publisher: Sky Pony Press
Genre: Young Adult
Pages: 336 Pages
Format: Hardcover
Source: From Publisher
Reason: Fo Honest Review
Find the Author: Website
Buy the Book

You have four days to locate five treasured trophies. Break the rules and you all die. Happy hunting!

Back in September, the town of Bakersville, Ohio made national news when a video went viral featuring thirteen of the high school’s elite in compromising positions. Now it’s May, and every month since the “Bakersville Dozen” made their infamous appearance on the national stage, one girl has gone missing. Officials are no closer to identifying the criminal.Bailey “Like a Virgin” Holzman is getting really fed up with the scrutiny. She just wants to enjoy the rest of her senior year and have an epic summer before heading off to college. So when she discovers a note in her locker on the last day of school inviting her on a scavenger hunt, she thinks it’s just a sweet surprise from her boyfriend trying to cheer her up.But following the clue leads her, instead, to the first official casualty. And another sinister envelope. The killer is close, and it could be anyone. Even the people Bailey’s always trusted most—her best friend, her perfect boyfriend, or the boy-next-door she’s always pined for.With the clock ticking, she faces a terrifying choice: play the game by the killer’s rules—follow the clues, tell no one, and no cops—for a chance to save the rest of the missing girls, or risk becoming the next grisly victim.

MORAL OF THE STORY: 

BEING THE MEAN GIRL NEVER PAYS OFF. 

SCAVENGER HUNTS AREN'T ALWAYS A GOOD THING.

This was the perfect way to wrap up my summer reading and kick the Fall season off with a bang! The Bakersville Dozen had me at Hello. The moment I read the synopsis I was hooked and knew I had to get my hands on it. Lately, I have been on a Mystery & Thriller kick so when I had the opportunity to pair my latest flavour of the month with my favourite genre(Young adult) how could I not seize that moment?! 

Kristen McBride takes the dangers of cyberspace and bullying and intertwines them into a spine-tingling, page-turning experience. I nearly gave myself paper cuts because I was devouring the book so fast. Eager to know the what's, who and why's. She penned an epic character cast. Some characters you'll love, while others you'll hate. Perfection! She also pairs this character cast with an eerily spooking setting. Sending Bailey on a haunting scavenger hunt with a high risk/high reward. Follow the rules, save a girl. Mess up, girl dies. 

Kristina McBride's writing style is refreshing. It's simple yet comes alive off of the pages. She doesn't drone on with unnecessary dialogue or send you down a rabbit hole of backstory. She delivers the story exactly how it should be. There are few books that I suggest should hit the big screen or netflix world because I fear them being completely ruined (as that's a fear for most bookworms) but I would LOVE to see this book come to life on the big or silver screen. I think it would be a hit!

The Bakersville Dozen is the perfect cocktail of suspense and mystery. McBride paced the novel perfectly. Just giving you a little bit at a time to leave you hanging on to the edge of your seat, grasping for more. If the Mean Girls and Pretty Little Liars had a baby, it would be named The Bakersville Dozen. Of course, the book stands strongly on it's own, but it will definitely appeal to those fans, as it did me. 

The Bakersville Dozen was the dose of thrill I was looking for. It was a wild reading experience that I couldn't put down!

"I strained to hear beyond the rasp of my breathing, reassuring myself that no one was following. That I was alone with nothing to fear but my own imagination"