Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany & Jack Thorne | Rating: ★★★★★

Like most fans, I had marked down my calendar for July 31st, 2016. Although I had known ahead of time that Harry Potter and the Cursed Child wasn’t a book, instead it was a script, and that a great deal of the story itself wasn’t penned by J.K. Rowling, I was so thrilled to be having a new Harry Potter story nine years after the final book was released. How could we not be? This was our childhood. Hogwarts is our home. Because of all the spoilers that had leaked to Twitter upon the plays previews, I had low expectations from the start and I think that is why I loved (yes, loved) The Cursed Child as much as I do.

Far from my favorite release in the series, The Cursed Child is every bit as darkly magical as the previous seven full-length-novels. It took me back to my childhood. It reminded me what it was like to be so bloody excited for a book release, I barely nodded off whilst reading it and stayed up far later than I’d normally. There was something in it being the first Harry Potter story to have purchased with my own money, as many people from my generation have expressed. Midnight release parties, Freeform’s beloved Harry Potter Weekend and more played out to the tune of my weekend during its release date.

I felt younger again. I felt happy. You know that feeling, right? Tingling in your veins as you finally get your hands on a physical copy of something you love. Most of us hadn’t felt it since 2007–and I can’t explain how wonderful the sensation was after being from it for so long. My review would have come sooner but as I don’t have a laptop (still) and I couldn’t articulate what it was I wanted to say, here we are almost a week after its release.

Untwine by Edwidge Danticat | Rating: ★★★★★

“People say that things like this happen in slow motion, as though you suddenly become an astronaut in the antigravity chamber of your own life. This wasn't true for me. Things were speeding up instead, and I did my best to slow them down in my mind.”

As a note, a finished copy of this novel was sent to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. This does not effect my opinions in any way.

In a tune similar to that of If I Stay, readers can expect to have their hearts break in half and a box of tissues is the ultimate required companion when diving into Untwine. Edwidge Danticat releases the thoroughly touching (fictional) story of twin sister’s Isabelle and Giselle Boyer and the accident that separates them between life and death. Untwine reflects on their lives spent as sisters and the very accident that kills one.

Danticat proves once more how solid her prose is; her writing chops bring on their best emotions for readers as they get to know Giselle and her thoughts and those moments, and years, leading up to the accident that will change her family’s life forever and beyond. More importantly, Untwine reflects on that past and approaches grief in a way that is honest and hopeful and full of a lot of emotional turmoil.

Mistletoe: Four Holiday Stories by Various Authors | Rating: ★★★☆☆

Starting off my celebration and talks of stories that fit in with the holidays wonderfully, the first collection of holiday themed stories that comes to my mind is Mistletoe. In fact, it was the very first collection of four holiday stories that I’d ever picked up, due to my love of Melissa de la Cruz and Aimee Friedman.

While Mistletoe: Four Holiday Stories has the promise of a lot of fluffy goodness, it isn’t the best release out there. I loved all the stories in it once upon a time, but upon my reread of it last week, I’d discovered that only two of these stories still warmed me up. This isn’t to say that the short stories aren’t good, because that’s completely untrue, it’s just that they seemed to have… well, not aged well.

I’ll start with the first story from the collection. If I were you I wouldn’t expect me to go in story order, though.

At the time of its original release, I didn’t know much about Hailey Abbot’s work. My [then] best friend was once obsessed with her Boys series, and I just couldn’t get into it at the time. Which surprised me when I found that I loved her story in this one.

Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater | Rating: ★★★★★

...she didn't realize about Blue and her boys was that they were all in love with one another. She was no less obsessed with them than they were with her, or one another, analyzing every conversation and gesture, drawing out every joke into a longer and longer running gag, spending each moment either with one another or thinking about when next they would be with one another. Blue was perfectly aware that it was possible to have a friendship that wasn't all-encompassing, that wasn't blinding, deafening, maddening, quickening. It was just that now that she'd had this kind, she didn't want the other.

At last, here we are. I've blown through this series in less than a week and this morning I finished Blue Lily, Lily Blue (the third installment in the phenomenal The Raven Cycle series) and I have to say that it is perhaps the best book yet. Here’s why: after the massive cliffhanger and the events to the previous book, everything only grows more challenging and thrilling from this point on.

Within the first few chapters of BLLB, which picks up where TDT left off, we are beginning to see something growing stronger and more spin tingling than before in the plot. It’s almost as if it’s reaching its climax, but the promise of more to come is still there.

Maggie continues to bring us into such a fantastically dark and magical world that it’s just… breathtaking. She’s made a lifelong fan out of me and I can’t help but to admire her mind, her writing (which is almost poetic and refreshingly vivid and sarcastic) and everything she’s done so far with everyone’s favorite Raven Boys.

The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater | Rating: ★★★★★

"She wasn't interested in telling other people's futures. She was interested in going out and finding her own."

After months and months of procrastination and hearing nothing but good things about the series from friends, I finally found myself reading the first installment of The Raven Cycle: The Raven Boys. Those who frequent the book community have all heard the hype for this series and can’t help but to be intrigued by it.

I’d purchased the already published books in the series back in April as an Easter treat for myself but I hadn’t found the time to start them – I was almost holding off until the final book was in print, for binge reading purposes, but because it is slated for a release in 2016 I’d decided to finally get off my ass and check it out.

And honestly? I’m sure glad I did. It was enjoyable from start to finish and one can quickly see why it’s as well received as it is. This is my first book experience with the phenomenally talented Maggie Stiefvater and I’m glad it was. She has a way with words, truly, and it just blew me away.

The Raven Boys is the perfect opening novel for any series and authors everyone should take notice. It’s dark, vivid, mysterious, magical and, yes, a little bit frightening.

The Hunger Games (The Hungers Games #1) by Suzanne Collins | Rating: ★★★★★

"I can feel Peeta press his forehead into my temple and he asks, ‘So now that you’ve got me, what are you going to do with me?’ I turn into him. ‘Put you somewhere you can’t get hurt.”

As tender as it is terrifying, The Hunger Games tells us the story of a brave young woman named Katniss Everdeen and the choice she made to protect her beloved younger sister, Primrose, from a nearly certain death. Although the story has elements of romance within the pages, don’t let the media fool you: The Hunger Games holds many aspects of love within each chapter.

The love between family being the most prominent when considering the sacrifices Katniss and her best friend, Gale, make to keep their families safe. Both characters have a certain fire and attitude to them that keeps the teenage spirit alive; even so, they both seem beyond their age. Katniss will go to any means to protect her little sister, including risking her own life so Primrose wouldn’t have to risk hers.

Katniss lives in a world of cruelty and uncertainty, somewhere in the distant future. She hasn’t known anything but the distract she’d grown up in — often faced with starvation and other tragedy. In life thus far, she has had to provide the care for herself and Prim at a degree most kids shouldn’t have to. At a young age, her father died — leaving her mother alone and depressed.