Readers (and Star Wars)

One of the very first posts I ever put up on this blog, waaay back in 2016, was one I called "Writers (and Star Wars)", in which I used Star Wars gifs to describe some of the most #relatable writer feels.  I wanted to post something fun for May the 4th this year, so here I am again, 4 years later, and this time, it's all the reader feels.

(and yes, I will try not to just make all the gifs The Child. but man, it's gonna be hard xD)



Anyway, let's go.

When you start a new book:



Let's do some QUESTING.


When your friend drags you into their fandom:



"Yay, I finally read your favorite book! Now why am I obsessed with it?"


Discussing that new fandom with said friend:



"But then this thing! And that thing!! And the ending!!!"


When the characters first encounter the villain:



Well this person is very intimidating.  I'm intimidated.


When you find a new cinnamon roll character to love:



Let me just put you up here where you'll be safe, kid.  There, now there's no way you'll die for dramatic effect right?  Right??


When the team joins up with a sketchy-looking dude:



Maybe let's not add the sketchy dude to the team?  The one that's probably going to turn around and betray us in the end?  Maybe let's just stop that here?


When the main ship starts being cute:



New OTP alert, everyone.



When you kinda-sorta saw the plot twist coming:



These are both me, simultaneously, trying to figure out how I missed that this whole time.


When there's suddenly an unexpected raunchy scene:



Why am I here and how quickly can I leave please?


When the characters start making dumb decisions:



Hey, stop that, you're the chosen one, you're better than this.


That feeling after an epic fight scene:



Okay, we made that out pretty much unscathed, way to pull together guys.


When there aren't enough pages left for everything that needs to happen:



This is fine.  Everything's fine.


When the book ends on a massive cliffhanger and you don't have the next book:



That's just rude, tbh.


When we all get out of quarantine and someone says, "Hey, wanna go to the bookstore?":



It's going to be lit... erary.


Hope y'all enjoyed that.  I had a lot of fun putting it together!  Happy Star Wars Day, my friends! May the force be with you. <3

Let me know down in the comments which of these you find the most relatable, and which Star Wars movie is your favorite! (Mine will always be episode 4, but The Force Awakens is also a fave)

~ Abby

Farewell, April

Well, look at me.  Posting a wrap-up.  And more than that, posting it almost on time!  Wow!

Let's be honest, there's not much going on right now.  Or at least there shouldn't be.  But in typical me fashion somehow I feel like I'm almost busier than I was before any of this?  Although maybe it's because I've been sleeping so late, lol.  Anybody else?

Anyway, let's get into the wrap-up.

- reading -  

I managed to read 7 books this month, even though I initially planned to read about a bajillion books.  Because my brain didn't want to let me read.  But I think maybe I've broken the slump?  I'm trying not to jinx it, lol.  And for what it's worth, I gave 6 of those 7 books 5 stars.  So I really have nothing to complain about, pfft.

 

I talked a lot about what I read in April in my recent reads post, but I also got to the modern classic Wonder this month.  And read the whole thing in less than 24 hours because it was so beautiful.  Auggie's story was so sweet.  I didn't full-on cry, but I fully expect to when I watch the movie, haha!

I also got to revisit my Hundred-Acre Wood friends this month, both in the form of The House at Pooh Corner and by rewatching one of my forever-favorite movies, the 2011 "Winnie-the-Pooh".  It was so good for my heart.

- watching -

A lot of binging went down in April.  I expect it's the same for you, lol.  With plenty of time on my hands and a reading slump for the ages, I both rewatched some old favorites and discovered some new ones.

I started out the month with a rewatch of Gortimer Gibbon's Life on Normal Street, an Amazon Prime original that I adore with all of my heart.  It's so nostalgic and lovely, about childhood and change and things we all go through, and it's just pretty darn perfect.  Even though there are no gifs of it anywhere on the internet.  What's that about?

Playbill.com finally (FINALLY) streamed the proshoot of the Broadway musical Bandstand this month and while I already adored the show just from the cast album, seeing it was so much more. It's such a beautiful, heart-wrenching story and "Welcome Home" is always going to make me cry, okay?

I decided to start Boy Meets World this month!  I've loved "Girl Meets World" for a long time, and I thought it was finally time that I see where it started, especially now that it's streaming on Disney+.  Cory Matthews is an icon, the humor is fantastic, and I get why it's such a well-loved show.  I mean, I'm only on season 3, so who knows where we'll go from here, but I'm really enjoying it so far.

Also my sister and I just had a binge of a bunch of Barbie movies and it was maybe the best decision we've made in quarantine so far.

Anyone else watch these obsessively as a kid?  (and yes, I still know all the lyrics to the songs from Princess and the Pauper and yes, I'm thinking about putting that on my resume xD)

((can you tell I did a lot more watching than reading this month? Oops, haha!))

- listening -

I spent most of the month listening to my WIP playlist, tbh.  My April playlist is so small, lol.  And I spent a lot of time just listening to Jillian Edwards' new song "Heaven's Eyes" on repeat. Go listen to it, okay, it's so beautiful.

- doing-

Okay let's see, where do I start?

Life is weird.  But at least everyone's is.  I'm actually quite happy at home, so social distancing hasn't been that bad for me.  Rolling out of bed at 9 to go to Sunday School in the living room is pretty sweet, I'm not gonna lie.  The hardest part is having my extroverted family members home all the time, lol. 

Dance has moved to our living room, which is very strange and not something I'm totally loving.  Like, it's fine, and it's really not anything to complain about.  I'm blessed that my teachers have decided to try and keep us in shape.  Recitals have been moved back to July, and leaps don't really happen in our tiny space, but we're doing the best we can.  Oh, and since I'm super talented, I actually managed to sprain my ankle during Irish dance.  *pats self on back*  I typically like to sit with my feet tucked up under me and I keep forgetting that my ankle hurts when I do that... please send help.  Or cookies.

I also started using the planner my mom and sister gifted me for Easter, and I'm absolutely obsessed with it.  It's got pages to track reading and writing and all the good things, plus spots for blog post ideas, and places for me to make myself daily checklists.  Guess who's finally gonna get her life together?  This girl... maybe... idk...

Also, does anyone else feel like it took 5 years to get through March but April was over super fast?  Or is that just me.

- blogging -

So a couple of weeks ago, while I was lying in bed staring at the void of the ceiling and trying to will myself to sleep (who has a sleep schedule? not me, that's for sure), I was struck with the urge to blog.  I typed up 4 (yes, 4) blog posts at 2 in the morning.  So if my recent posts have seemed kind of ramble-y and confused, that's why, lol.  So I'm gonna try this at-least-one-post-a-week "schedule" and see if it works.  We'll see.  But there are a lot of really exciting books coming out soon and I'll be doing my best to write reviews of them and that should keep us settled at least for a little while, lol.

- 10 books that need adaptations -
- recent reads - quarantine edition -
- the narnia writing tag -

wow, look at that little list.  It has been a hot minute since I've had a list like that.  But anyway...


How was your April, friends?  How's quarantine treating you?  I hope you're staying safe and sane, and never forgetting that we're all on this wild quest together.

- Abby

The Narnia Writing Tag

I love Narnia.  I love writing.  So I ask you, could there be a more perfect tag?  I think not.

If you follow me over on bookstagram (if you don't and you want to, there's the link!) you probably know that I'm obsessed with The Chronicles of Narnia. 

Can you blame me, really?  No.  So anyway whilst I was perusing Olivia's newest post (she's pretty great, you should go follow her), I noticed the words narnia, writing, and tag in one of the links in the post.  And, like, how was I not going to click on that?  So here we go I'm stealing another tag from Olivia.  Oops.

But if you've never heard about my Bonnie and Clyde WIP, get ready to get way more information than you could possibly ever want.  Yay!  (plus some aesthetics because aesthetics are fun)

Narnia - Where is your story set?

 

 

The story opens in 1930 (or 1931, I haven't quite decided yet) in Rowena, Texas.  The rest of it stays in the surrounding states.

The Magician's Nephew - How did you come up with the idea for your story?

 

 

It was a mixture of a few things.  Bonnie and Clyde were kind of familiar names to me, showing up in the various history shows I would watch as a tween (Mysteries at the Museum was a fave).  In 2018 I discovered the Broadway musical and quickly became obsessed.  But it wasn't until Nadine Brandes was gearing up to release Romanov and I started thinking about other historical figures in magical settings that the idea of Bonnie and Clyde on the hunt for magic stuck.
The original concept was "what if instead of the stock market collapsing, magic disappeared?" and it's kind of spiraled from there.
((also, sidenote, Magician's Nephew is my favorite book of all time.  jsyk))

The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe - How do your characters meet?

 

 

(ooh, a first draft excerpt, aren't we fancy? xD) 
So unlike the actual Bonnie and Clyde, who met only a few months before they ran away together, mine were friends as kids.  Because I'm a sucker for a good childhood-friends-to-lovers story.  But the story kicks off when Clyde, newly out of jail, rolls back into town, much to Bonnie's disappointment and the other Rowena girls' delight.

The Horse and His Boy - Are there animals in your story?

Not really, sadly.  There may be a dog somewhere along the line.  Because everyone can use a dog, tbh.

Prince Caspian - Which of your characters turned out different than expected?

 

 

Both Bonnie and Clyde decided they didn't want to be what I originally thought they did.  I'm a very character-driven writer anyway, so when I started to feel like I was forcing these two into personalities that didn't fit, I took a step back.  At first, I thought Clyde was the angry one, fueled by the idea of revenge and not afraid to take down whoever got in his way, and Bonnie was the soft one, standing beside him and scared out of her mind.  Turns out I got that backwards.  Bonnie is broken and scarred and figures that losing her life might be preferable to living it.  Clyde is hiding, scared and alone, and fighting more out of desperation to change things than from rage.  Wow, that got sad.  Oops.  But yeah, these two have definitely changed a lot from the original concept, and they've probably still got a lot of changing to do.

The Voyage of the Dawn Treader - What is one of your character's personal quest?

 

Clyde is determined to keep what happened to his parents from happening to anyone else.  And if that means finding magic first, that's what he's going to do.

The Silver Chair - Who is the villain?

  

Hehe... well, that's funny.  I don't really know yet?  Not that I don't expect there to be people against them - there will be plenty of those - but if there's a defined "big bad guy", I haven't found him yet.

The Last Battle - Does your story end like you expect it to?

 

 

Uh... I'm not going to say anything on that front.

The Pevensies - Friendship or sibling group?

 

 

Yes!  There are so many platonic relationships in this story and I'm thriving.  Right now, Bonnie's sister Billie Jean and brother Buster (represented in this aesthetic) are my faves, simply because I just spent a whole chapter with Buster and I didn't expect him to play as big of a role as he does.  This keeps happening to me; characters insist they're important and who am I to tell them they're wrong?  But there's also Clyde's siblings (there are 4 of them) and the friendships between the families and a few friends outside of them and yes to all the platonic love!!

Reepicheep - Is there magic in your story? If so, what kind?

 

 

Yes again!  Developing a magic system of my own has been one of my favorite parts of writing this book, tbh.  So my magic functions in a liquid form, and comes (or used to come) in various colors that can do various things.  Magic users are really good at getting the magic to do what they want it to, but one really greedy magic user figured out how to distill it into a weaker form that pretty much anyone can use.  Since then, the world adapted to using magic to solve most of their problems, power their machines, etc.  But then one day in 1929 it decided to vanish, and no one knows why or where it went.  Yeah.


So there you have it!  This is my Bonnie and Clyde story.  I hope you've enjoyed being introduced.  (or just getting to know each other better, if you've already heard about it)  I really love this book a lot, and so far it's been a ton of fun to write, and completely different from anything else I've written before.  Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, it's just meant a good stretch of my brain.

Are you writing anything?  Tell me about your WIP in the comments!

~ Abby

((I don't own any of the pictures, I found them all on Pinterest.))

Recent Reads - Quarantine Edition

Anyone else finding it hard to read right now?  There's like a lock on my brain that doesn't want to read and it's getting really old really fast.  I've only read 3 books so far in April and it's almost over!  Ahh!

(also it's springtime now and you know what that means... florals are BACK, baby!)

Despite the urges not to read I've been fighting valiantly, I've read some pretty fantastic books.  So I thought it might be nice to give y'all some mini-reviews, let you in on what's been going on in my reading life, and just spend some time together.  Sound good?  Let's go.

Daddy-Long-Legs - Jean Webster

 

"the world is full of happiness, and plenty to go round,

if you are only willing to take the kind that comes your way."

I fell in love with the musical adaptation of this classic book while I had my 7-day free trial of BroadwayHD, and after watching it 3 times in less than a week, I figured I should read the book. What I found was an absolutely delightful story.  Jerusha joins the ranks of my favorite young writers in classics (with Anne Shirley, Jo March, Rebecca Randall, etc.).  She's got such an interesting way of looking at the world.  Plus, the whole book is told in letters from Jerusha to Daddy-Long-Legs, and it's one of very few books I've read (and enjoyed) told in that format.  I will say, this is one of few books where I think I prefer the adaptation?  The musical is perfection, and I loved it so much.  But the book was still a lot of fun, and I enjoyed myself so much reading it.  (also, if you want to hear my favorite song from the musical, click this YouTube link right here)

Rating: 4 stars

Frozen 2: Forest of Shadows - Kamilla Benko

 

"fear will be your enemy."

This was the March pick for the book club I host, and I really enjoyed it!  The story takes place between the first and second Frozen films, and follows Anna as she tries to find her place in this new life with Elsa as Queen and the gates wide open.  The author did a great job of expanding the world of Arendelle, and the twist at the end was perfect.  Though it did need more Olaf, that's my one complaint, lol.

Rating: 4 stars

Three Times Lucky - Sheila Turnage

 

 

"everything's going great.  well...

there's been a murder and we're out of soup."

I absolutely loved this so much.  Mo and Dale are such wholesome little best friends.  The whole town of Tupelo Landing is so fun; everyone knows everyone and they genuinely care about one another even while they thrive on the gossip.  It's like Cabot Cove but with not quite as much buried animosity and it's great.  Also one of the funniest books I've ever read, with a mystery that kept me guessing until the last page.  One of my new favorites?  Yes, for sure.  I can't wait to read the next one.

Rating: 5 stars

 

Children of Blood and Bone - Tomi Adeyemi 

 

 

"good. let them be afraid."

let them taste the terror they make us swallow.

 

When this was recommended to me by a friend, I decided to go ahead and pick it up, just to see what I thought.  I read it in like 2 sittings, because this book puts the pedal to the metal and doesn't stop until the last page.  (well, except for that one part in the middle that just felt kinda weird to me because like... idk the world's at stake maybe we shouldn't party? but maybe that's just me?)  The magic system is so cool, the characters are so well done, the world is fascinating.  Another one where I'm gonna need to read book 2; just to see what happens because that ending was wow.

Rating: 4 stars

Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell - Susanna Clarke

 

 

he gave her his heart.

she took it and placed it quietly in the pocket of her gown.

no one observed what she did.

 

Okay story time.  So when I was a kid (like 10 or 11), my grandfather (who was known for reading Thick™ fantasy novels) told me that there was a "magician book" that he was saving for me.  Three-or-so years ago, he put this tome in my hands and told me that this was it.  I read the first page and had zero interest in reading it.  Fast forward to last October, when my grandfather passed away suddenly.  And since now it was too late to discuss it with him and I felt bad for never having even really tried it, I decided 2020 was going to be the year I conquered the book about magicians in the Napoleonic wars.  And, um, it's one of my favorite books now?  All 850 pages of it.  It's a masterfully crafted story of what it means to be human, to be a magician, and how often those two things coincide.  Norrell drove me crazy, but in a lot of ways that makes him such a well-written character.  Childermass, John Segundus, Vinculus, Sir Walter and Lady Pole, the Greysteels, Stephen Black, all of the characters were just so well done and interesting and intricate. I adore Jonathan and Arabella Strange with every fiber of my being (the quote is about the two of them and they're just so cute), and the Gentleman with the Thistle-down Hair is seriously one of the most terrifying villains oof.  It didn't feel like 850 pages, and coming from me, that's big.  Anyway, I really loved this book and I'm sad it's over.

Rating: 5 stars


Anyway, that's what I've been reading lately.  What have you been reading during quarantine?  Or have you been doing an awful lot of not-reading like me?  Let me know in the comments!

(also can we talk about the fact that I've put up two posts in two weeks, who am I? xD)

~ Abby

10 Books That Need Adaptations

Hi!  Uh... long time no blog!  With the world the way it is, one would think I'd have plenty of time to blog.  And they would be right, but for some reason my brain doesn't feel like putting words together to actually, you know, write a blog post.  But I figured it's about time I just post something, and since I've been watching a lot of movie/TV adaptations of books lately, I've been dreaming about what adaptations of some of my favorite books would look like.

Now, a lot of the time, adaptations can be really hit-or-miss.  I've always prided myself on my ability to separate an adaptation from its source material, but I these books could very easily be made in to fantastic movies or TV shows.  Let's jump on in to the list!

1. Three Times Lucky - Sheila Turnage

 

"never underestimate the power of stupid, dale."

This is the last audiobook I finished when I'm writing this, and it's part of what inspired me to put this post together.  It's been a long time since I've so desperately wanted a book to be made into a movie.  A middle-grade murder mystery full of humor and intrigue that kept me guessing until the last moment, I absolutely adore Mo and Dale, and it would be such a fantastic summer movie.

2. Lovely War - Julie Berry

 "the most ordinary mortal bodies are housed by spectacular souls."

This book practically begs to be a sweeping historical film, complete with gorgeous cinematography and a gorgeous score.  It's an incredible story about three love stories on the front lines of World War 1, and in my mind, Tom Holland would make an amazing James and Gal Gadot a perfect Aphrodite.

3. Heist Society - Ally Carter

 

 

"it is an occupational hazard that anyone who has spent her life learning

how to lie eventually becomes bad at telling the truth."

I need a Netflix film series please!  I don't know why a streaming service just feels like the right platform for this story to be adapted, but it does.  The world doesn't have enough heist movies, y'know?

 

 

4. Love You, Truly - Susan L. Tuttle

 

 

"your purpose helps focus you. it gives you something to concentrate on other than yourself."

"makes you feel whole?"

"no. only God can do that."

 

One of my favorite books of last year, this is a classic rom-com with a Christian twist.  This would be such a feel-good, cozy movie to watch again and again. <3

5. Peter and the Starcatchers - Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson

 

"molly squeaked and clicked (the clicks were the hardest) something back,

which she hoped was "hello."

what she actually said was "my teeth are green,"

but the porpoise was too polite to point that out."

Now, this technically already has a stage adaptation, so it's probably too much to ask for a movie.  But I recently re-read this staple of my childhood and it's so wonderful and whimsical and fun that it would make such a fantasy, pirate-y, adventure-y classic and I'd love to see it.

6. When You Trap a Tiger - Tae Keller

 

 

"even if the tiger's stories upset me, i'm glad i heard them.

they made me feel like the world is huge, and i'm filled up with it.

like I could hear the stars, and listen."

Tae Keller has written two of my favorite middle-grade standalones, and this one is my favorite of the two.  This is a book of stories, the power they hold, and the comfort they can bring.  And it would be an absolutely beautiful, heart-breaking movie that would probably have me sobbing throughout it, but like, it would be worth it?

 

7. The Tradewinds Trilogy - Taylor Bennett

 

 

"it's okay to cry, sweetie.

it only means you have a heart so full it doesn't have room for tears."

 

I love this trilogy so much, okay.  I would love to see it get the movie treatment, if only to make heart eyes at the Hawaii setting and drool over the shave ice, haha!

8. Lockwood & Co. - Jonathan Stroud

 

 

"plan f, we follow plan f, right now."

"is that the one where we run away?"

"not at all. it's the one where we beat a dignified emergency retreat."

The Lockwood & Co. series would make such excellent TV I can't even.  There's action, there's mystery, there's humor, there's cake.  It's like teenage Ghostbusters and it's amazing.  Movies would also be great, but each book kind of reads like a separate season of a show, and it would be epic.

9. Romanov - Nadine Brandes

 

 

"the blood of our hearts spans miles, memory, and time."

 

A movie adaptation of this historical fantasy novel would be e p i c.  With the magic, the family bonding, the Russian setting, the plot twist, I'd probably watch the whole thing with tears in my eyes because it would be so dang beautiful.  Anyone else?

10. Navigating Early - Clare Vanderpool

 

 

"there are no coincidences.  just miracles by the boatload."

I LOVE THIS BOOK.  SO MUCH.  And seeing it as a movie, I'd literally just be sitting in the theater sobbing and it would be perfection.  The whole aesthetic of the book, the historical setting, each event that happens, Jack and Early's relationship, the story of Pi, I just really want to see this on the big screen, it deserves that.


And that's my list!  Do you agree?  Which books do you need to see adapted?  Let me know in the comments!

(And also, let me know how y'all are holding up right now! I know it's a scary time, but I hope and pray that you're all staying safe, healthy, and sane! <3)

- Abby