Bookish Influences: Peter Pan

Peter Pan is one of those classic stories that we all know. It's magical, full of adventure, flying, and fairies. Plus, the Lost Boys never grow up. What more could a young chap want? Because the story of Pan is such a classic it's had an influence in many things, from music to films, from plays to retellings, and so much more. Because I'm currently in the progress of reading the book Never Never by Brianna R. Shrum I thought I might discuss some other things I'm currently really enjoying that have been influenced by the wondrous J.M. Barrie's original story.

Films

There are so many wonderful Peter Pan based movies out there, form the classic Disney movies to Hook (with the legendary Robin Williams) to Finding Neverland (with the fabulous Johnny Depp). Plus, let me know what y'all think of Reese Witherspoon being Tinkerbell in the live-action Tinkerbell movie.

The live-action Peter Pan movie that came out in 2003 used to be my obsession when I was younger. It was actually the first movie I ever saved up to buy. (I say saved up because I was like 7 at the time). I bought the movie and even the matching watch, which I wore everyday, Even now I still love this movie. The magic has definitely not worn off yet, I mean, I do still believe in faeries after all.

On a more recent note, the movie Pan came out last year that was a great new take on the story. Not gonna lie, I thought the pirates singing was pretty funny and I really like the whole pirate kidnapping thing they did. (which kind of sounds wrong when you say it out loud). I mean, the whole mining in Neverland concept and the pirate buying children (okay, still sounds kind of wrong.) Plus, the soundtrack to it was pretty great, and soundtracks can really make a movie, so A+ there. 

TV

Of course, TV has had to have its spin-off mini series as well. I know a lot of people are part of the Once Upton A Time fandom that has it's one Hook and Peter Pan and such, but I don't watch the show so I'm just going to skip over that one. 

Then there is the SyFy network that has a tv show or movie based on basically anything, don't even get me started with the Sharknado movies...Anyways, in 2011 they came out with a pretty damn entertaining mini series that I really really liked. Everything about it definitely screamed magic, plus it had some pretty great actors in it as well; Keira Knightly was Tinker Bell which is pretty awesome.

Music

Fun fact, I'm always listening to music. I probably spend a little too much time looking at music on Spotify, but it's actually how I got the Idea to create this post in the first place. My goal for the music part of this was to find some Peter Pan influenced music that wasn't from the movies.

My favorite song created from the magical tail has got to be Neverland by VanLadyLove. This song capture so much of the classic story and I just love it. 

Another wonderful Peter Pan song that I listen to a lot on Pandora, especially when I'm reading, is Lost Boy by Ruth B. 

And last but not least, a song I found while writing this post. Sadly I couldn't find it on youtube, but I had no problem finding it on Spotfiy- Neverland by Hailey Gardiner

Books

We all love a good retelling. So here are some Peter Pan rettellings that I am dying to read. A lot twist the fun and magical original tale into something much darker. Oddly, I kind of dig evil Peter. But, if you know of any other good ones I don't have listed let me know, I'm sure I missed some. 

And while were talking about books, can I just mention that I found the most beautifully illustrated version of Peter Pan ever, by MinaLima? The illustrations in this book are to die for. It's got a map, tinker bells wings, and so many other gorgeous things! I absolutely love it. 

I know there are a crazy amount of plays/musicals out there as well, but that's not really my thing so I don't think I could accurately talk about them. (not that I ever really know what I'm talking about) If you know of any other great movies, music or book that I didn't talk about, let me know!

Top 5 Wednesday: Characters I'm Most Like

As Always Top 5 Wednesday was created by Lainey at gingerreadslainey and hosted by Sam at thoughtsontomes All past topics and the rest of March topics can be found on the Goodreads group page.
This ended up being a lot harder to do than I thought, it's true what they say, it's much easier to judge other people than it is to judge yourself. Regardless, I think I did an okay job at it. Maybe?

Abigail Rook from the Jackaby series by William Ritter - Pointing out the obvious
Seriously, I may have a problem, but I'm always pointing out the obvious. Especially when something very obvious goes unnoticed. I can;t help it, 

Alina Starkov from the Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo - Can be naive to what's going on around me. When I'm not pointing out the obvious, I'm being incredibly clueless. Like I can be talking to someone who I know is a pathological liar and I'll still believe every word they say.

Lucy Pevensie from the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis - Trusting and very loyal.
I trust just about everyone, probably to a fault. Unless you do something to brake my trust, I'll probably trust you with just about anything.

Arya Stark from the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin - I like to stand my own ground and not stick to what everyone wants from me. I can be very VERY stubborn when it comes to my opinions and goals. If there's something I really want to do and I know it's achievable, I'll do it.  

Carswell Thorne from The Lunar Chronicles by MArissa Meyer - I can be super sassy/sarcastic and I'm bad at showing my emotions. My sarcasm is a problem sometimes. No joke, a friend of mine in middle school actually signed my yearbook saying that she would miss my sarcasm. I probably do it a lot because I am down right terrible at verbally expressing my emotions. Eh, plus I just really like Thorne. *sly-smile*

Let me know what fictional characters you're most like! I would love to know, plus I like to creep on other peoples blogs...but I swear I'm not creepy. 

Soundless by Richelle Mead Book Review

Soundless by Richelle Mead 

Goodreads Synopsis

 In a village without sound…

For as long as Fei can remember, no one in her village has been able to hear. Rocky terrain and frequent avalanches make it impossible to leave the village, so Fei and her people are at the mercy of a zipline that carries food up the treacherous cliffs from Beiguo, a mysterious faraway kingdom.

When villagers begin to lose their sight, deliveries from the zipline shrink. Many go hungry. Fei and all the people she loves are plunged into crisis, with nothing to look forward to but darkness and starvation.

One girl hears a call to action…

Until one night, Fei is awoken by a searing noise. Sound becomes her weapon.

She sets out to uncover what’s happened to her and to fight the dangers threatening her village. A handsome miner with a revolutionary spirit accompanies Fei on her quest, bringing with him new risks and the possibility of romance. They embark on a majestic journey from the peak of their jagged mountain village to the valley of Beiguo, where a startling truth will change their lives forever…

And unlocks a power that will save her people.

Review

This was the first Richelle Mead book that I've ever read and part of me wishes it hadn't been. I hear such great things about her work, such as the Vampire academy series and the Bloodlines series. Having read this book I can already tell it wasn't her best work, and I won't give up on her books as a whole because of it.
After first finishing the book I didn't really know how I felt. But now that I've collected my thoughts I'd say that, even though the book isn't bad or anything, I was disappointed with it as a whole. I expected more sacrifice, adventure, and journey. Much of the book was predictable and, compared to the rest of the book, the ending seemed a little far-fetched. Mead at such a good start to the story. The main character, Fei, regains her hearing, which is the beginning to a string of events that leads her down the mountain in which she was raised. So many, normal things, that you'd expect in such a journey, occur, and the fantasy elements of the book mostly all happen in the last 15 or so pages. Like, what? Honestly, it kind of confused my at first, almost like the idea was just thrown in there in the end because Mead wasn't completely sure how to end it. Even though, the story wasn't very strong, you could still get the feeling of what the village was like, and what they were going through. I do still wish there was some more world building and that she went more in depth into the characters, the villages past, and the line system as a whole.

“Look what we've done so far. We're pretty good at the impossible.” 

The characters made me feel so back and forth towards them. Fei was a strong female lead but sometimes she could be so incredibly indecisive and naive. Li Wei is exactly what you would expect in a love interest, and the sister, Zhang Jing, is so clueless and has obviously given up to the point you want to slap her, hug her, than tell her to stop being so negative. Though I did enjoy the characters to an extent, I wish that they had more depth to them.

“Some things don't need words. Sometimes it's enough to just feel. You don't have to label and articulate all that's around you.” 

In general the book was just alright to me. I really enjoyed the play on Chinese mythology and some of the turns that Mead took within the story. It was a fast paced, short read, that was good for someone like me who was just getting out of a reading slump when I was going into this book. Oddly,  thinking about the book now, it almost reminds me of M. Night Shyamalan's The Village. Please tell me I wasn't the only one who thought this... (3.25/5) 

The Reflections Of Queen Snow White by David Meredith Book Review

The Reflections Of Queen Snow White by David Meredith



Goodreads Synopsis

What happens when "happily ever after" has come and gone? 

On the eve of her only daughter, Princess Raven's wedding, an aging Snow White finds it impossible to share in the joyous spirit of the occasion. The ceremony itself promises to be the most glamorous social event of the decade. Snow White’s castle has been meticulously scrubbed, polished and opulently decorated for the celebration. It is already nearly bursting with jubilant guests and merry well-wishers. Prince Edel, Raven's fiancé, is a fine man from a neighboring kingdom and Snow White's own domain is prosperous and at peace. Things could not be better, in fact, except for one thing: 

The king is dead. 

The queen has been in a moribund state of hopeless depression for over a year with no end in sight. It is only when, in a fit of bitter despair, she seeks solitude in the vastness of her own sprawling castle and climbs a long disused and forgotten tower stair that she comes face to face with herself in the very same magic mirror used by her stepmother of old. 

It promises her respite in its shimmering depths, but can Snow White trust a device that was so precious to a woman who sought to cause her such irreparable harm? Can she confront the demons of her own difficult past to discover a better future for herself and her family? And finally, can she release her soul-crushing grief and suffocating loneliness to once again discover what "happily ever after" really means? 

Only time will tell as she wrestles with her past and is forced to confront The Reflections of Queen Snow White.

My Opinion 

This was an interesting take on Snow Whites life after the "happily ever after". In this story, Snow has aged and lost her dear Charming. This loss had sent her into a seemingly unending depression that she can't escape, causing her to shamingly ignore her daughter Raven. One of these days, over a year after Charming's passing, Snow stumbles upon her Arglist's (her step-mother) magic mirror. It is the mirror that shows Snow parts of her life that she had tucked deep into her memories, teaching Snow that there was more to her than her deep love for her late husband. It show's flashbacks of what it was like for her growing up under Arglist's rule, how she was practically shunned and wore a burlap sack in place of proper clothing. The mirror reminds Snow how she used to have strength within herself that she has apparently forgotten. 

I enjoyed so much about the story. For one, I appreciated how Meredith incorporated German into names and places. I for one though Charming's full name was pretty great; Charming Von Gerechtigkeit Von Freide Von Gnadenbrot, Crowned Prince of Geschictia. I mean c'mon, that's pretty great right? Also, the story itself was very realistic, it showed that there is no such thing as perfect and how even though you can whole heatedly love someone, you have your own strength to rely on as well. Also, Meredith nailed the length of a fairy tale quite well, it wasn't too long, but it was also not so short that the details weren't ignored.
Though I enjoyed the story greatly, I did have a few problems with it as well. For one, I found a few grammatical errors within the story that momentarily distracted me. That, and when the mirror was speaking to Snow, I feel like there could have been a significantly less amount exclamation points in his (it's?) dialogue. Oh! and for goodness sake I did not expect Snow's story to be so violent. Holy cow, it was a little crazy. Especially when they go on about harming's wedding gift to Snow...let's just say Arglist was in a world of pain when that went down. That and the gruesome details of Snow's poisoning, that's a whole other thing. Don't get me wrong, what happened to her is a hell of a lot more realistic than the prince waking her up from a long sleep with nothing more than a kiss. Either way this book was better than I expected, a fun read for those who enjoy fairy-tales. (3.5/5)

I know this gif didn't really have anything to do with this review, but I just thought it was funny...Comment if you know where it's from, so I know I'm not the only one.

**This book was generously given to me by the author for an honest review** 

Top 5 Wednesday: Authors I Want To Meet At BEA And Bookcon

To be honest, narrowing it down to just 5 is a pain in my ass. The only author that I've met before was Maggie Stiefvater, and that was before she became the amazing author she is today, I'm talking, when she was first writing The Wolves of Mercy Falls series (I'm pretty sure it was about the time that Forever came out). Anyways, it was a while ago, before The Raven Cycle was even a thing. Long story short, at the time, I had no idea who she was and I wish I could go back to that time and buy all her books and get them signed. But I digress. Here are the 5 authors I want to meet the most if I were to go to BEA or Bookcon, which, sadly, I'm not.

1. Pierce Brown - Bookcon 

I would probably have a total fan girl moment if I ever met Pierce Brown, which says a lot. I'm the kind of person who's good at keeping their composure in such situations but I don't think I could around him. His writing is so wonderful. I can't wait until I finish the Red Rising trilogy and he releases Iron Gold.  

2. Marissa Meyer - BEA - Heartless

Another wonderful writer. I would probably read any book she releases no matter what it's about. But can we talk about not only how awesome The Lunar Chronicles was, but also the fact that Heartless is coming out soon and that she's writing a new series, The Gatlon Trilogy. I am so pumped for her next work!

3. Leigh Bardugo - BEA - Crooked Kingdom 

I've read the first few chapters of Six of Crows (lol I may or may not have been in a bookstore), but she has such an interesting writing style and her worlds are just so intriguing. I can't wait to see what other worlds she creates in her books as she diverges from the Grisha world and into something new.

4. Maggie Stiefvater - BEA - The Raven King 

With one of the most unique and poetic writing styles, who wouldn't want to meet her? That, and the fact that I would like to meet her now that I actually know who she is and what amazing things she has written. Let's just say I would like to redeem my naive self.

5. Ransom Riggs - BEA - Tales of the Peculiar 

Okay, though he may not be my favorite author, I'm starting to really enjoy his work. I'm Currently reading Library of Souls, the third and final book in the Miss Peregrines Peculiar Children trilogy, and I really am starting to get into his writing. It's like the more he write the better it gets. That and he just seems like a cool guy. 

I will say that these aren't the only authors I would really enjoy meeting, but since I sort of have to choose 5, (not that I always stick to that rule) these are the authors I would probably want to meet the most. Especially Pierce Brown. if I had to only choose one, I would choose him with no hesitation. 

May TBR

I already know I'm going to have a full plate in May, from new things going on at work to my grandma visiting for a week (which means I get to sleep on the couch...yay...). But I'm still super pumped for the book I plan to read in May!

May TBR

Library of Souls (Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children #3) by Ransom Riggs 
I know this isn't a popular opinion but please don't chase me with torches and pitchforks for saying it; I'm not very fond of this series. I didn't like the first book so much that I never even finished it. (I read the graphic novel instead) The second book was good I suppose, I still had some problems with it, but it was much better than the first. The main reason I'm finishing this series is because I have so many unanswered questions, I feel weird not finishing a trilogy after reading the first two books, and if this is better than book two, which I hear it is, than I think I might actually like it. *shrugs* so yeah...

Never Never by Brianna R. Shrum - Currently ReadingI've been working on this book for just over a week now and, for the life of me, I've been having trouble really getting into. The story is so much fun and I love how it's kind of different than the wonderful Neverland and happy-go-lucky Pan we've all come to know and love. Hopefully I will be able to finish this book and it wont be added to my DNF pile.


The Winner's Kiss (The Winner's Trilogy #3) by Marie RutksokiHonestly, I wanted to start this book the moment I got it in the mail, but I've been working on my self control. However, the moment I get the chance, I'm going to devour this book. I just cannot wait to see how Marie Rutkoski plans on wrapping up the series.

 
The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani ChokshiGot this in the mail the other day, and again, I wanted to sit down and read it right than. This will probably be the first book I get to out of these and I already know I'm going to fall in love with this book. I mean, I'm already pretty much obsessed with the cover.


Golden Son (Red Rising #2) by Pierce Brown 
AHHHHHH! Now that I have Morning Star I can read the last two books in this trilogy right after the other. As I've said before, Red Rising was one of my favorite book of last year and I'm ecstatic to own the whole trilogy now so I can see what Pierce Brown has done to all the character I loved in the first book. Small bookish pet-peeve, I own all three of the books in different additions; promotional copy, paperback and hardback. They look terrible together on my bookshelf, but I'll manage for now. 

April Wrap-Up

As I'm sure I've mentioned before, at the beginning of the month I was in a reading slump, caused by both my job and some other personal things. Once I was finally working myself out of that slump my body goes and decides to be sick, like the universe wanted to just kick me while I was down. During such times I got into watch a bunch of random anime, due to my inability to pick up and enjoy a good book, which ended up not being so terrible. I'm usually not a book show watcher, but I've always had a weak spot for anime. Regardless of everything, however, I'd say the fact that I read more than two books this month was a pretty good feat.

April Wrap-Up

1. Pita Ten, Vol. 01 (Pita Ten #1) by Koge-Donbo, Adam Arnold and Nan Rymer (3/5) 
2. The Sleeper and the Spindle by Neil Gaiman and Chris Riddell (4/5)
3. Cardcaptor Sakura, Vol. 1 (Cardcaptor Sakura #1) by CLAMP and Maria Simpson (3.5/5)
4. The Lost Girl (Fear Street Relaunch #3) by R.L. Stine (3/5)
5. Beastly Bones (Jackaby #2) by William Ritter (4.5/5) - Review
6. Soundless by Richelle Meade (3.25/5) - Review Coming Soon 
7. Anya's Ghost by Vera Brosgol (4/5)
8. With Hunter, Volume 1 (Witch Hunter #1) by Jung-man Cho (4/5)

April Anime

1. Blue Exorcist -> Started in March, Finished in April. Such awesome action and the story line was pretty entertaining. Haha oddly enough, I found Satan to be kind of funny...evil...but his laugh cracked me up every time.
2. Ouron High School Host Club -> Second time watching it. Such a fun show. The twins are probably my favorite though, than again, I have a weakness for twins. They oddly remind me of Fred and George now that I think of it, interesting. 
3. Maid-Sama -> Actually much cuter as it went on. Haha the main character reminds me of myself though...so bad with my words.
4. Kamisama Kiss -> Not what I expected? Cool concept and the characters were pretty entertaining but I feel like nothing really happened. 
5. Inu X Boku Secret Service ->This show had so much potential. The writers didn't play up the characters abilities nearly as much as they could. hate to say it, but it kind of disappointed me. I will say, the characters made the show, they made it worth watching.
6. Wolf Girl and Black Prince -> What a total sadist! I mean, he was also kind of a sweatheart when you think of it, but at first he was such a sadist. *chills*
7. Kimi Ni Todoke: From me to You -> This was a lot more lovey-dovey than I thought it was going to be. That, and it was so freaking frustrating! It took them so long to admit their feelings to each other. UGH!! It wasn't even a secret, like holy guac, and the worst part, *SPOILERS* they didn't even kiss! I waited 37 episodes and they never kissed, not once!
8. Dance With Devils -> Another action packed show. Rem's fight scene in the grandfathers house was pretty cool. However, going into it, I had no idea it was kind of a musical. It didn't have very many songs and they were pretty short, but I just wasn't expecting it. Pretty interesting show in itself though. 
9. Special A -> This is another one where you are rooting for the two people to get together. This was such a fun anime and I'm pleased with how it ended. Plus, Jun's "secret power" is so great.
10. Red Data Girl (RDG) -> WTF. This shows had to much potential to be pretty freaking awesome and I feel kind of let down. First of all it was hella confusing, there should have been more filler/explanatory episodes throughout it. Second of all the ending was incredibly abrupt, I actually googled the show to see if there was a second season; sadly I didn't find anything that said there was.  
11. My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU -> I feel like nothing really happened in this show. It wan't bad or anything, it just wasn't memorable. 

I also started a few anime that I didn't finish because I either didn't like it or I new something I wasn't going to like was about to happen. One of which was My Teen Romantic Comedy SNAFU Too but I could just feel a love triangle coming on and I really really don't like love triangles. (Haha We're just going to ignore the love polygon in Dance With Devils) Oh! and I realize I don't right very many book review, so if I read a book you want me to review let me know!