Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Book Review: Cruel Crown (Red Queen 0.1-0.2) by Victoria Aveyard

Cruel Crown

by Victoria Aveyard


"Two women on either side of the Silver and Red divide tell the stories no one else knows.


Queen Song
Queen Coriane, first wife of King Tiberias, keeps a secret diary—how else can she ensure that no one at the palace will use her thoughts against her? Coriane recounts her heady courtship with the crown prince, the birth of a new prince, Cal, and the potentially deadly challenges that lay ahead for her in royal life.

Steel Scars
Diana Farley was raised to be strong, but being tasked with planting the seeds of rebellion in Norta is a tougher job than expected. As she travels the land recruiting black market traders, smugglers, and extremists for her first attempt at an attack on the capital, she stumbles upon a connection that may prove to be the key to the entire operation—Mare Barrow."

My Review:

Last year i discover this series and i have to tell you guys that it was one of my personal favorites now. This little book is a collection of two short story's that takes place before the red queen (book 1).

In the first one "Queen Song" we discover a little more about the former queen Coriane, Cal's mother, that was already death in the other books. We learn how she meet the prince and end up married to him, how she conceived and have her son and how she end up death. 
It was a little story that i like to read because it let us see a little more of the past of cal's father and of the actual queen Elara, but is not one of great surprises or even much information that we don't know already. 

The second one is about Farley and i have to say that this one did not work for me... it do not add anything to the story that we did not know. Î would have loved to know a little more about her childhood and about the relationship with both the colonel and Mare brother, but the references are few and all about things we did know already. 

In conclusion, the book is a light read but if you are expecting great revelations you will be disappointed. 
I gave this book 3 out of 5* just because of the series it is on. 

Tuesday, July 11, 2017

Book Review: A Sombra da Sereia_ Fjällbacka #6 by Camilla Läckberg

A Sombra da Sereia (Fjällbacka #6)

by Camilla Läckberg


"Christian Thydell’s dream has come true: his debut novel, The Mermaid, is published to rave reviews. So why is he as distant and unhappy as ever?

When crime writer Erica Falck, who discovered Christian’s talents, learns he has been receiving anonymous threats, she investigates not just the messages but also the author’s mysterious past…

Meanwhile, one of Christian’s closest friends is missing. Erica’s husband, Detective Patrik Hedström, has his worst suspicions confirmed as the mind-games aimed at Christian and those around him become a disturbing reality.

But, with the victims themselves concealing evidence, the investigation is going nowhere. Is their silence driven by fear or guilt? And what is the secret they would rather die to protect than live to see revealed?

International bestseller Camilla Läckberg delivers a chilling and suspenseful mystery that will grip the reader right until its staggering final twist…"

My Review:

We are already sure that a book from Camilla Läckberg will leave you with your heart in your hands and little desire to do anything but reading.

I have to tell you guys that there is no other author that creates a better crime scene than this one, and i just can't predict which will be the ending of her books because in every and single one of them there is a twist that takes me of my feets.

The Drowning (A sombra da sereia) is the 6 book of the series that takes place in Fjallbacka, a little Sweden town where lives Inspector Patrick and his writer wife Erica. These characters are presented to us in the first book and now they are almost part of the family, i feel that i know them personally and this is the amazing thing with Camilla's writing. 

She builds so many traces of the characters personalities that you believe that they are real persons and you are so interested in know more about them and their lives. The same goes for the effort that she put in the crime and the reasons beyond it!

This particular book begins with Christian, a friend of Erica and a fellow writer that have been introduced to us in the previous book (The Hidden Child). He just release his first book and at the same time one of his best friends go missing and he and other 2 friends start receiving anonymous letters from someone with so much hate for them. 
All goes to hell when Magnus, the person missing is found death in the ocean and a murder investigation begins. 

I will not enter in spoilers in this review because i don't think anyone out there would like to know more about this mystery before reading it, i can only say that it is worth every hour you will spend reading it and prepare yourself to not do much stuff while you do not finish it. 

All her book seems so real and i caught myself thinking about the details and about the plot even after i finish them, so i have to give 4.5 out of 5* to this one. 

I'm so so curious about the next book of this series because OMG the ending of this one is breathtaking! 



Friday, July 7, 2017

Geekgear box_ World of Wizardry June 2017

Unboxing WoW July 2017


Hi guys, i'm back for another unboxing, this one is the geek gear box for June 2017. 
For those of you who do not know this box, it is a monthly subscription one with a price of 19.99 £ (about 22.68 €) and a shipping cost outside UK of 5.99£ (about 6.69 €). It always brings a t shirt and more 5 or 6 items all related to the wizarding world of Harry Potter.  

Every month we received clues about what the box will going to contain, and the clues for June are: 
1- Phoenix 
2- Lightning bolt
3- Whomping willow
4- Exclusive edition figure



I confess that i was both excited and apprehensive to received this box  because i didn't like the last one but at the same time i loved the clues for this! 




When i open the box this is what i see!!!
Again the paper tissue is blue (because i'm a ravenclaw) so all the house related items will be from this house. 


So let's begin with the content of this month.... 





The first thing that is visible in the box is the shirt, and OMG i love the design of this one!!! It is a house themed shirt which means that if you choose a different house, our design will be different from mine. 
This one represents the eagle (Ravenclaw's mascot) with the diadem, but also there is one with a lion and the Gryffindor's sword another with a badger and the cup from Hufflepuff and finally a snake with the locket of Slytherin. 
They are all in this shade of grey but the colors of the image change depending on the house. 



And the magic continues with this awesome deck of cards! Last month i see in a facebook post that there was a harry potter deck of cards on primark, but when i go there to buy it they have sold everyone... i was so sad!

Now it seems that geek gear knew and they send me another deck even more beautiful =D  The cards are all black with the scene from the last month painting(crossing the dark lake in the 1º year) in the back. 
The king, queen and jack have the face of Harry, Hermione and Ron respectively and the joker is Dobby. 
I only have to decide if i would use them to play cards or if it will be a collection item and be on my shelf. 

The next thing from this month box is a little replica of the ford anglia flying car from the Weasley's.
It is so cute =D i like it and will put it next to my funko pop figures. The replica came with a plastic suporter that makes the car appear to be flying. 



This box also contain a gold necklace with the lightning bolt symbol as a pendant. 
That is not my favorite piece of jewelry that i have received from geek gear, but i like it and will definitely use it and i have to tell you guys that the pendant is very robust and not hollow. 

The WoW start this month a new collection of exclusive pins and the first character represented is Hagrid with a little buckbeak. 
Like some of the items on previous boxes, this one has different possibilities: there are a regular one, a silver one (that have a chance of 1/50) and a gold one (1/100). 
Like you can see in the image i got the golden, each means that in 100 boxes mine was chosen to have this special pin. 
When i see which i get i could not decide if i has happy or not, because the regular one has the original colors and i would like it, but now i really like this one and let's be honest it's a limited edition =D 


The last item before the print is a scarf, and let me tell you a little bit of information about me, I LOVE SCARFS!!! 

I love winter and winter clothes and especially scarfs or gloves and i have a huge collection. So you can imagine how happy i was with this one. 

 It is so silky and smooth you can't imagine, it's perfect for a summer night out. This one is black with all the crest from the four house in it, with the respective colors and it's almost see through.   

I only hope they give more items like this, i love the shirts but i would also like more wearable items. 



All the boxes brought a print or a picture and this month there are two different options. 
The design was the same but the colors change, you could received this one with a white background or one with a black one. 

In this you can see a phoenix and dragon shape emerging from the goblet of fire. It is really simple but at the same time you can perceived that there are a lot of thinking behind this print. 

Let's talk a little about the clues! 
1- The first one (Phoenix) refereed to this month print. I was expecting that it will be something in a shirt or a little figure of a phoenix, but i have to admit that this one was imaginative and a little outside the box. 
2- The Lightning bolt obviously is in the necklace. There is many costume jewelry with this symbol and shame on me, i have none before this one. I was thinking this clue refereed to the print but i'm glad it doesn't.
3- About the Whomping willow i get the reference to the flying car figure but i was not expecting that for sure. I was thinking it will be something with the tree itself and not a reference to the scene of the 2 book when they crash the car on the Whomping willow. Again this only show the detail geek gear put in every box. 
4- Exclusive edition figure of course it the pin of Hagrid and Buckbeak!!! OMG i love that idea and i only hope there is one in every box from now on to make a huge collection. I was expecting something like a funko pop or the Hedwig they send in a past box, but i'm really glad it is a pin collection we could not get anywhere else. 

In general i have to give a 4 or even 5 * to this box, it was one of my personal favorites from them and i expect geek gear maintain this level for future months. As for my favorite item (Oh god what a difficult choice....) i have to say.... the shirt! i really like it and i'm sure i will use it so many many times. 
My least favorite this month was the car figure, and don't get me wrong, i like it but since all the other items are so so good i have to pick this one only because i will not use it this much since it will be on my shelf. 

Please tell me what was your favorite item and if you like this box, fell free to follow my blog to more posts about harry potter and have a great week guys =D 

Tuesday, July 4, 2017

Sirius Black Wand & Gift

"Loja da Magia" 


Hi guys, i'm back for another Harry Potter related post!!! This time i was contacted via Facebook by the manager from Loja da Magia (an online store that sells Harry Potter stuff) and they tell me that they are having an event where if you buy a wand they offer you a stick. 

I'm doing the collection of all Harry Potter characters wands (i have only 3 so far, but eventually i want them all) so i could not let pass this amazing opportunity. Also i buy a new car this month and i was thinking of buying a stick to put on it, so this was a excellent combination for me. 


The problem here was to choose the wand and the stick, i could tell you that they have 13 wands in stock and 8 different sticks to offer... What a difficult job!!!! 

I end up choosing the Wand of my personal favorite character, Sirius Black!




The package was so simple but at the same time it was exactly what i would expect it to be, if i was a witch and i went to Ollivander's to buy my own wand. 


So i have to give 5 * in the presentation of the order.



When i open the paper this is what i see!!!

Additional to the wand and the offer stick they also send me a personalized letter with the Hogwarts stamp and a bookmark. 



Again the attention put in the order was amazing, i really love the little letter and i'm keeping it as souvenir.





As for the bookmark i'm really happy they send me another since i collect them and i only use one if i have it repeated. This way i could use this one on my books and keep the first for my collection. 




The box of the wand also have amazing details all over it, like the name of the character on

the side and a certification of
Ollivander's quality on top.


On the inside it is cushioned and has two little fabric strips on each side to better protect the wand.

It makes you feel like you are really buying an authentic product from Ollivander's.


The detail's in the wand again are breath taking!!!

This was one of my favorites but seeing it up close... i can tell you guy's that i was speechless, and the quality of the materials are very good. You can feel that it is not a plastic product and that it is heavy and robust.



The stick i end up choosing, is one with the word ALWAYS written with symbols.

I confess that i want a Harry Potter tattoo for 3 years now, but i could not choose the design and i do not have the guts to do one yet.
A design that i have considered for the tattoo is this one, i like it a lot because only a true harry potter fan can understand it.
The word always transmit me an enormous force and the symbols are really outside the box, if you know what i mean, so i'm very happy that now at least i could have it on my car.

Talking about prices, the wands are sold for 29.99 € ( about 26.32£) and the stick has a price of 7 € (about 6.14 £), so in total i only pay 29.99 € since the stick was a offer and i do not pay shipping because i went to pick it personally.

Let's be honest, it is not the most cheap wand you can buy but if you want a good product you will not pay less that this amount, and this store is excellent in the service and they do an amazing work with the orders, so i definitely recommend them and will continue to buy too.

Wizardry Student Box _ February 2018

Unboxing WSB February 2018 Hi guys, today i bring another unboxing but this time it is a totally new subscription box named  Wizardry...