Haul of the Holiday: Geeking Out in Greece

Welcome to a new post!

While you're reading this, I should hopefully be sitting on a beautiful, sunny beach in the gorgeous country that is Greece. I've been looking forward to this trip for a while, as I have never been to Greece before. But as I love reading, and I also can't just spent the whole time on the beach by sleeping, because I hate being unproductive, I thought I would at least treat myself to a few new books for the beach times. Yes, that's not technically being productive, but at least I feel like I'm doing something haha. Let's hope I'll kind of find a way of actually relaxing by reading. Usually that works...at least for a little while.

I picked up three books, which might be a little over ambitious for such a short amount of time and depending on how much time we'll actually spend at the beach, but I like to be prepared. If I only end up finishing one of these, because we're having so much fun that's fine too. I'm not there just to read after all. At least I am hoping that I can persuade my fam to do a little bit of exploring around the area we're staying in. 😊

Dunkirk: The History Behind The Major Motion Picture - Joshua Levine

You might have seen the trailer and adverts for the new Christopher Nolan film named 'Dunkirk' (featuring the gorgeous Mr. Harry Styles). I really want to go and see the film, but before that, I really want to learn something about the actual historic events that the movie talks about. If, like me before I heard about the film, don't know what Dunkirk is about (we don't learn about that in school over here), here's a small summary from the back of the book. I'm really exited to find out more about what happened back then.

" The Battle of Dunkirk, in May/June 1940, is remembered as a stunning defeat, yet a major victory as well. The Nazis had beaten back the Allies and pushed them across France to the northern port of Dunkirk. In the ultimate race against time, more than 300,000 Allied soldiers were daringly evacuated across the Channel. This moment of German aggression was used by Winston Churchill as a call to Franklin Roosevelt to enter the war. Now, historian Joshua Levine explores the real lives of those soldiers, bombed and strafed on the beaches for days on end, without food or ammunition; the civilians whose boats were overloaded; the airmen who risked their lives to buy their companions on the ground precious time; and those who did not escape."

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets - Joanne K. Rowling

Why the hell is she buying a Harry Potter book, shouldn't she already own one if she's a Potterhead? Well, yes she does own this book already but she has never read the whole series in English, although many many MANY times in German. Don't know why the hell I was talking about myself in third person there haha.

Basically, I feel like it's finally time to re-read the whole series again, after not having re-read it completely in about three years, which is a long time for me not to re-read Harry Potter, let me tell you. And this time I'm finally doing it in English.

I just finished re-reading the Philosopher's Stone again, so now it's time to explore the Chamber of Secrets again...although, to be fair, it's my least favourite book of the series...Sorry, if that sentence just broke any hearts, it's just the truth. 🙈😃

Unfiltered - Lily Collins

Finally I got this book in my hands. I've been exited to read Lily's book, basically since the day she announced that she was writing one. (Can we also please talk about her gorgeous British accent in "Love, Rosie"?) I don't know exactly what she is talking about, apart from the fact that it has some autobiographical bits and life tips included, but otherwise it's going to be a complete surprise. But as Dunkirk is quite the heavy book, I felt like it would be perfect to take this one with me as well, as it's a much lighter and easier read. I mean, it's all about balance, isn't it?

If I somehow manage to actually get through all three of these books, which I don't think I am, I have also got the book "The Circle" waiting for me on my Kindle, just in case. I really want to read that one since I saw the trailer for the film with Emma Watson and thought it sounded awesome, so that's definitely on my TBR list, whether it's for Greece or later in the year.

Do you have any recommendations on things to do or places to go in Crete? Definitely share them with us in comments below. I'm open to any suggestions, because I really want to do some exploring  whilst we're over there (my mum will hate me for this haha).

Also, any other book recommendations - just leave them below, if you like. :)

Have a gorgeous week! ♥

Love, Jacqueline Xx

8 Fantastic Films You Need To Watch

Happy Easter everyone!

I hope the Easter bunny has brought you some pretty things and a bunch of chocolate bunnies this morning. Most people aren't working today, so it's the perfect day to watch some good films. These aren't really Easter related, but I don't think it's that important to watch a film that fits the theme of the day...unless it's Christmas of course.

 The Last Song

One of my old time favourite films, and not just because it features Miley Cyrus and Liam Hemsworth. This film tells the story of Ronnie, a "rebellious" teen who is forced to spend the Summer with her father, together with her little brother. She makes new friends and meets Will. She makes mistakes and has to realize quite a few things that Summer. Especially the end is heart-breaking, but it's honestly such a beautiful film.

 The Help

I only saw this film recently when it was on TV. I didn't expect much from it, especially because I had never heard of it before. There's a reason why this film has won Golden Globes and Oscars. I initially only watched it because I thought a story about a young girl wanting to become an author sounded really fascinating. I didn't realize until watching, that one of it's main topics is actually the racial segregation of the United States and the early starts of the civil rights movement. After talking about the civil rights movement and segregation in class, only a few months ago, I didn't think I enjoyed the topic that much, but this film portrays the events of the past really well in my opinion, and it's filled with emotions.

Camp Rock

If you are around my age, you probably know this film already. If you don't, I don't know where you've been. If you like music and a good teen film, this one's for you. If you like things like High School Musical, this one's for you. But be careful, you might become obsessed and at some point be able to repeat every single line, ever mentioned. Mitchie is off to spend the Summer at Camp Rock, together with her mother, who's going to cook there. She also meets a boyband, whilst there, and I don't think you need to know much more, do you? 😏

 Me Before You

Yes, okay, this is one for the romantics, that don't mind to shed a tear or a thousand. After loosing her job at the local café, Lou is hired to take care of Will. Because of a motorcycle accident he has been paralyzed and has to sit in a wheel chair. Although he is pretty stubborn and rude at first, the two of them slowly get closer. But Will has a wish, one that Louisa is not fond of, at all. It's a story that breaks hearts, and it's really beautiful. It just might not be for you if you don't like a cringey romance.

 Love, Rosie

Sam Clafflin. Lily Collins. British Accents. Beautiful. Anything else needed to be said?  Basically, Rosie and Alex are best friends. They are planning to go away to university together, but Rosie finds out that she's pregnant, so she let's Alex leave, making him believe that she is going to follow him soon. However, she doesn't do so, and they slowly loose contact. They keep living their lives, he gets some girlfriends and goes to uni. One day he's standing at her door step though, because he's found out about the baby. Yeah, I'll leave the rest to you before I spoil everything. It's really beautiful, but again, probably not something for people that don't enjoy a little romance.

 If I Stay

Yes, okay, allow me this one last soppy romance please. I actually consider myself someone who doesn't enjoy these cringey romances too much, but somehow, when it comes to films, a few of my favourites actually are romances. Strange. Anyway, this story is about Mia, who is a passionate classical musician, and in a relationship with rockband singer Adam. One day her and her family get in a car accident, and she finds herself wandering around the hospital halls, being able to witness everything that is going on, but to the outside world, she is in coma. She has to make the decision, whether she wants to stay alive or move on. I'm not one to easily cry when it comes to films, but this one breaks hearts, because you can absolutely feel what Mia is feeling. Also, it has a few good music bits in there.

 Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them

My personal Easter watch, as I haven't seen it yet, which is a disaster for a Potterhead like me. Obviously, Harry Potter is also a good watch for Easter, but if you haven't seen this one yet, do it. I mean, apart from being a Harry Potter film, it also has Eddie Redmayne playing the protagonist, who has such a pretty accent - what else could you possibly want? Yes, okay, it's also got a nice plot, special effects, magic etc. (Sorry, just obsessed with British accents hehe.) A must see for any Potter fan, although I am only half way through the film as I am writing this.

Divergent

Last but not least, one of my all time favourites. For once, it's not a soppy romance - hope you're proud of me haha. It has some romantic aspects to it, but it's not the general focus of the story. It's a dystopian story, adapted from Veronica Roth's novel. If you like anything like Hunger Games, Maze Runner, The 5th Wave etc, this one is probably for you. Tris is a real badass once she has found her place in the dystopian community of Chicago, which has been split up into factions, each valuing different things. When she chooses the faction she wants to live in for the rest of her life, she starts changing, she has to start fighting, and not only for her faction future. I don't want to spoil too much. Please, watch it. This one is not just for woman, although I have to say, Tris is probably my favourite female protagonist.

~

I hope I was able to give you some inspiration on what to watch in the next two days. I know these are not really Easter themed, but I don't think that's that important at Easter, is it? What are some of your favourite films? Do you have a particular genre or topic, which you prefer, or do you just watch whatever floats your boat that day?

Have an amazing Easter, whatever you're doing ♥

Love, Jacqueline Xx

P.S. All rights for the pictures used above go to their owners! I do not claim any copyright for them! I do not use them to gain money, but for fun and inspiration only! Source links will follow soon.

2016 Reflections & Thoughts

Welcome to a new post!

We are about to hit the end button of another year already, and I can't quite believe it yet. This year seems to have gone by even faster than 2015, even though I often wished it to be over sooner, to be completely honest with you.

2015 was one of the best years for me because I got to explore so many more places and learned so many things. I somehow had that feeling at the end of the year that 2016 wouldn't quite be my year, and I can now say that I was a little right and a little wrong with that thought. Yes, many horrible things happened this year globally, I had a few low moments personally too, but in general I still had a good time. I often felt a little stuck this year, but at the end of the day I can still say that I worked a lot on myself, and I learned a lot of things. I tried new things, I discovered new things. Yes, 2016 was not my favourite year, but it also made me reach things that, maybe, I wouldn't have been able to reach for otherwise.

With the start of this year I also decided to finally invest in a better planner than the pretty ugly and cheap ones I usually had and would stop looking at after like a month. I knew the amount of money I had spent on it would definitely make me use it a lot more, and it definitely worked. I didn't leave many weeks empty this year, and I am very proud of that because that prevented me from producing a lot of sticky notes mess. This might not work for everyone, but if you would actually want to take another try at planners and you keep on failing, try getting a more expensive planner maybe, one that is cut exactly the way you need it to, and maybe that will finally set you off on an adventure of full year love for that planner. I personally find the Leuchtturm ones great as they give me a space for each day of the week but also plenty of empty space where I can put my long to do lists, thoughts and notes and even drawings if I feel the need to.

At the very end of 2015 me and some friends actually decided to start a little tradition of going for breakfast every few weeks or months, and that was really enjoyable. It meant I had to get up very early, but it was definitely worth it. You don't always need a night in the cinema or out in a club, sometimes a breakfast is enough. Try it out, it's awesome, trust me.

This year was also the year of exploring the world of gift giving a lot more. I had been wanting to give better presents for a long time, and I finally started putting more thought into it in 2015, but 2016 was definitely the year that I finally found what works best for me.

Throughout the whole year whenever you get an idea what to get someone for their birthday or Christmas, write it down immediately in a place where you know you will able to find it when you need it. It's a lifesaver!! That way a lot of thinking is already done.

Before you go shopping, try figuring out beforehand what you want to get who, or at least a loose idea, and write that down on a shopping list you take with you if you know you won't be able to remember it all. Don't get everything in one go, just because you feel like you need to. Don't stress yourself (unless it's a day before Christmas and you have still got to buy 2464341 gifts for people), and when your shoulders seem to fall off and you are tired af, go home and come another time. Always remember your budget, and if you find something else for someone that you didn't have in mind but you really want to get, rethink all your present plans for that person and whether you can get it or not.

And personally my favourite and best tip, if you love a little bit of crafting and you don't care if it will take slightly longer, do DIYs and personalized things. Pinterest is your best friend here. I have found some quite awesome things there, that I would have never come up with myself.

I am quite the creative person anyway, so I enjoyed nothing more than working for hours and hours to make someone an awesome photo album to remember forever. Some of you might think that's crazy, but if you enjoy crafting in the slightest and you keep buying presents, you should definitely have a look into this. Wow, can you tell I got a little bit passionate about that this year? I better stop, and go onto the next point, before your ears fall off..

Many many people died this year, and I am feel very grateful for the fact that none of my closest people were taken too. However it felt like this year, whenever I opened a news page, another famous person had died.

Most of them were ones that I didn't have quite the close relationship too, so I'm really sorry to the fans of all those other amazing actors, singers, etc, when I say that the one that definitely hit me the hardest was the one of Alan Rickman.

Yes, I don't think I watched many films apart from Harry Potter that included him, but I always thought he was awesome. I never knew much about him, but as Harry Potter was a huge part of my childhood and is still following me, I always had a connection to him, and I still haven't quite realized that this beautiful human that made me hate Snape so much for many films even though I knew what he was actually up to, is gone. Rest in peace, Alan Rickman. Rest in peace, all those other amazing souls that lost their lives this year.

As we are talking about death, I cannot not mention the bowl of terror that was thrown at the world this year. People were killed in Munich, in Berlin, in Nice, in Syria, in the USA, and yes I know that these are not all of them, but if I wanted to mention every event and every country, we would sadly  be here for a long time.

It's so sad to think how we are destroying this planet. Not only are we killing the environment and animals, but we are also killing ourselves because some people think violence is the only solution of our problems. I deeply wish that we can put an end to this in 2017, or at least, take a huge step forward. Rest in peace.

2016 was also the year I finally decided to redecorate my room, after still having tons of posters up, and definitely not being happy with the look of it anymore. I felt like my 13 year old self was still trapped in this room and I couldn't really show who I was. I spend a lot of time browsing online and with little money I completely redecorated my room, without moving a single piece of furniture. Gladly me and my parents had already changed the furniture for the past few years, and now that most of it is in shades of purple and white, and my walls and shelves are filled with things that I enjoy looking at, I feel a lot better being in here.

That's definitely a tip for 2017 - if the look of your room or your flat or house doesn't feel quite right anymore, change something. It makes a huge difference whether we feel confident and content in a place or not.

I had been wanting to join a gym for a little longer, so I finally took that step with a friend in March, and signed up for 6 months. I totally got into training plans and I loved using all of the machines, and yet it still didn't feel quite right. I'm definitely not the kind of person that likes being watched by people when I work out, or at least have a feeling of that, even though this year I cared a lot less about what other people thought of me.

Especially towards the end of my contract I kept lacking the motivation to even go there, and I found so many excuses not to go and workout at home instead. I definitely learned that I prefer working out on my own or around people that I feel comfortable working out with.

That doesn't mean I hate the idea of a gym - definitely not. In fact, I love the idea of a gym, I would just need a gym for myself. I know that sounds selfish, but even if I quit my contract, I still miss all of those machines even though I didn't even try half of them because I didn't want to be watched whilst trying to figure out what to do on these things.

I have now opted for getting myself a mini equipment for home, so I am going to work with that until I hopefully will one day be able to either pay for a home gym or a personal trainer haha.

In April me and some friends finally took up the theory lessons for our driver's license, and I don't think I have ever been more exited and nervous at the same time than before my first driving lesson. I gladly passed my theory test in May, and after tons of driving lessons that I did definitely not always enjoy, I finally got my driving license in September.

I also don't think I have ever felt more relieved than in that moment. I actually enjoy driving most of the time, but driving lessons, especially during the time I had to park like a hundred times a day, were definitely not my favourite thing.

In May, I finally took a train back down to meet my internet bestie, and together we went to see 5SOS in Munich, and had the best time. It was definitely a different experience to last time, and even though I am a little sad that the pictures didn't turn out as awesome as when I had been standing pretty much in front of the stage, I bloody loved it. I really wish concerts weren't so expensive, because if they weren't, I would be very likely to be road tripping all across the country pretty much every weekend to see someone else live.

After quite a few months of blogging I also decided to finally give my blog the makeover that I had been itching for. The first design was nice, but I was never quite happy with it, so I am really glad I did that. I'm still not quite happy with it, but that probably comes with the fact that I haven't quite understood everything technical about blog designs yet, so that's definitely something for me to work on in 2017, so I can have an even more awesome makeover without spending money on it.

In August me and family took sort of a little spontaneous weekend trip to Berlin. It wasn't our dream holiday, but we just needed to get out of here at least for a little while. We walked so many kilometers, and I took so many awesome pictures, and we had a great time, even though I don't think my legs and my back ever hurt so much. I'm really glad we went, because we usually never go for those touristy, sightseeing trips.

I even went up the Siegessäule which is 60m high even though I am freaking scared of heights and nearly peed myself when I got onto that platform on top that was literally not even a meter wide.

Over the whole of the year, particularly the second half, I have had the pleasure to celebrate quite a few 18th birthday parties, as 2016 and 2017 are pretty much the years most people I'm friends with, including myself, finally become official adults...or something like that :D. I've had the best time going there, having a few drinks, dancing and chatting away. Most of us haven't really celebrated our birthdays with a huge group of friends for the past few years, so I am glad we all finally did that this year, and hopefully I wasn't the only one that had a great time going there.

During the process of writing this blogpost, I also read another beautiful post on 2016 reflections, by the beautiful Emily Bashforth. Check it out if you want to read someone else's thoughts too, because her post is a good one! It also reminded me to reflect on how I did with my hobbies this year.

Well, to be honest, I have very mixed feelings talking about that. I did a lot more reading and I really enjoyed it. However, I do need to remember that I shouldn't buy a 5 book box set when I know the books are hella long and I have already seen the TV show and pretty much know everything that is happening for most of the books and it will bore the hell out of me.

On the other hand, I did read some pretty great books this year. In the end I have read exactly 30 books that I wanted to read out of my 30 book challenge for the year on goodreads, which I think is pretty good, compared to 2012 and 2013 when all I read were One Direction and Little Mix autobiographies. I'm still reading two books, and as one of them is a Christmas one, I am going on a reading sprint tonight so that I can hopefully finish it before the new year and add it to this year's reading challenge.

As good as that is, considering how much I used to read when I had more free time, 30 books is not a lot, so for 2017 I am going to set myself the goal of reading 40 books. I had planned on doing 35, but I feel like that's a little bit of a lame rise, and I do love a challenge. 3,3 books a month seems doable even with school, unless I decide to read another Game of Thrones book haha.

Writing wise, pretty much not a lot has changed to 2015 which is a little sad. I wrote even less chapters on the fanfiction that I still upload on Wattpad, which is probably due to the fact that the person that once started this fanfiction was a crazy, emotional, new-to-the-fandom fangirl that was in the middle of puberty.

I had planned on writing a whole new novel in my Summer break, but to be completely honest, even though I had ideas - I didn't even start. I'm not very happy about that fact, but it's my own fault.

I did write my NaNoWriMo novel again this year (if you are unaware of NaNoWriMo, HERE you will find a blogpost that explains everything), and I am loving the story, even though so far I am still not quite sure were my characters are going, who they exactly are and how their world works. I did write the 50K words in November, but I am still working on it. I had to have a few days off writing for my birthday and Christmas, but it's definitely my goal to finish it, because I feel like if I gave it a lot of editing it could be a really great book at the end of the day.

I had thought about setting myself the goal for 2017 to actually write another book before NaNoWriMo 2017, but after starting this project, it is now my goal that I finish this draft first and then finish at least a second draft, maybe more, depending on how much I can force myself to do it. Writing is probably my biggest passion, and I really want to work on it, become better and finally get closer to my dream of one day hopefully successfully publishing my own books.

Blog wise, especially the first half of the year, it has been great. I was so inspired to write many more posts, I did two post a week for quite some time and I really enjoyed the content that I was putting out there.

However it seems like ever since the cold seasons have hit us I have been in a little bit of a slump. I kept putting writing off just because I didn't feel like writing down any of the ideas that I had, and it always took me quite some time to write a blogpost. Yes school had it's part in that, but I can't blame it all on school. I want this blog to be my little escape, and I think that's something I should definitely remind myself of next time I am in a little slump.

For some reason I have been feeling extremely ready for the New Year and new blogposts since Christmas is over, even if that's only been a few days, so I am setting myself high hopes for a better time on here than in the past few months, with lots of great content. Spring is my favourite season anyway, so I am pretty ready for it now, and to get many new fresh ideas to share with you.

There are probably so many more things to talk about, and I am literally lost for words right now. A year is a long time, in which many things happen, even though it feels like it passed in the blink of an eye. 2016 was a good year, not perfect but good, and I am looking forward to 2017 even more, because a lot of things are happening, so I am hoping for an awesome year. I'm feeling very happy and content right now that I've finally gotten this post of my chest, so I guess I am very much ready for it.

It's time to end this post, and with that, also put the finish line to 2016 blogging. I am going to see you again in 2017, which will *fingers crossed* be filled with tons of new beautiful blogposts for all of you to enjoy and many more things coming your way. I hope you have a great start into the new year and a great New Year's Eve. Remind yourself of one thing: 2017 is going to be your year! Stay true to yourself, don't give a damn about what other people think of you, listen to your body and soul, dream big, work hard for your dreams, don't stress and never ever forget to smile.

Tons of love, Jacqueline ♥

Harry Potter And The Cursed Child Review (SPOILER FREE)

Welcome to a new post!

If you are reading this, there's a pretty pretty high chance you are quite interested in Harry Potter, or you at least care enough about my blog to open this post even if you hate it (That isn't very likely, is it? I mean, who doesn't like Harry Potter :o).

I feel like pretty much the whole world of Social Media was screaming inside and online when a new story about our favourite characters was announced, even if it's originally a play. I literally felt so bad for not pre-ordering it, but that made it even more exiting to find it in an actual book store - a new English book in a German book store? That's about as likely as being killed by....I actually can't think of anything oopsie :D Anyway, it's not very likely to find a book like that in English in a German book store, that early after is publication date, but I guess since it is Harry Potter, it is a lot more likely. Wow, I just used that word a lot in the past few sentences. I nearly yelled around the book shop when I saw three copies left of it - IT WAS EVEN ON DISPLAY FOR ANYONE TO SEE LIKE WHAT?! Thank goodness, my friend already knew I was crazy, and if she wasn't sure before, she has to be now. I was literally more exited than a little child on Christmas morning. You Potterheads out there will get me.

I started reading at 40 past midnight, less than 5 minutes after finishing my school book, and even though I had a little bit of a busy day, I was done with it at 10pm. Can you tell I was exited? I guess you can? I mean, I was only small when I read Harry Potter, I must've been 8 or 9, around the time the last book was just about to come out, and I never had the chance to buy the books myself. Now, 9 years after the Deathly Hallows, we finally get a new chapter, and that's way too good to be real. I knew straight away, that I would want to do a whole review about the book, so I made some notes, and thought I would tell you what I thought of the book.

As I get, that not everyone has read the book yet, I am going to post both a review that contains spoilers, and one that is spoiler free. If you are wondering, you have just landed on the SPOILER FREE one. If you would rather like to read the one that contains spoilers, and goes a little more into depth, click HERE (This one isn't up at the point that I am uploading this post, but it will be linked asap, meaning as soon as I finish writing it!)

For anyone who doesn't know what the hell I am talking about - yes, there's a new freaking Harry Potter book. Yet, it isn't the same as it was. This isn't just another Hogwarts adventure of our favourite trio - it's both a play and a book! Yes, you've heard right. Together with John Tiffany and Jack Thorne, J. K. Rowling sat together and created a play, focusing not only on Harry, Ron, Hermione and the rest of the crew, but also a lot on Harry's and Ginny's son Albus. The play is currently happening in London, and as I've heard now sold out till October or November 2017 - yay to all of us people sitting at home, crying because we ain't able to go and see it :(. If you want to find out more about the play, HERE is a link to it's website, which will tell you more about it.

To start off, here's the official summary of the book:
(Source: https://www.amazon.de/Harry-Potter-Cursed-Child-Production/dp/0751565350)

Based on an original new story by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne, a new play by Jack Thorne, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is the eighth story in the Harry Potter series and the first official Harry Potter story to be presented on stage. The play will receive its world premiere in London's West End on 30th July 2016. It was always difficult being Harry Potter and it isn't much easier now that he is an overworked employee of the Ministry of Magic, a husband, and father of three school-age children. While Harry grapples with a past that refuses to stay where it belongs, his youngest son Albus must struggle with the weight of a family legacy he never wanted. As past and present fuse ominously, both father and son learn the uncomfortable truth: sometimes, darkness comes from unexpected places.

So now, let's get into the actual book!

The book is split into two parts, as the play is 5 hours long, and each part takes place at a different time of the day, as far as I know. Each contains two acts, and several scenes. At the end of the book, you are going to find a list of the original cast, the creative and production team, biographies of the original story team and the Acknowledgements. I've also just found out that they will be selling the Special Rehearsal Edition until early 2017, when they are going to publish a definitive edition of the script.

The first scene of the first part and act starts exactly where Deathly Hallows ended, 19 years after the battle of Hogwarts. This is where we've all met our favourite trio's kids before. Harry and Ginny had James, Albus and Lily, Ron and Hermione had Hugo and Rose, for anyone that can't remember.

The new story follows to story lines, that meet at certain points, more towards the beginning and ending. One obviously mainly follows Harry, Hermione and Ron, whereas the other one mainly focuses on Harry's and Ginny's son Albus Severus.

The first new scene we find, is the one where Albus and Rose walk around the Hogwarts express, trying to find their future friends, as they feel like that is the time they need to do it, just like their parents did. That is also the scene where we first properly meet Draco's son Scorpius, who will become a pretty big role throughout the story I'd say, not to tell you too much.

Throughout the first few scenes, there are quite a few time jumps, which will probably work out fine in the play, but reading it, I have to be honest - it's a little boring. I guess this part was made to be able to understand Albus and his character a little better. The actual story that we are going to follow, then starts in Albus' third year at Hogwarts.

Talking about time jumps - time kind of has a big role in this whole new story. In what way, you have to find out yourself. I'm not that much of a fan of stories that are all about that time stuff, but this one was actually quite interesting.

Throughout the story Albus and his best friend, get up to a lot of bad stuff. Like our trio did a lot of shit, but those two definitely don't stand behind with what they do. Damn, I was so scared at some points for these characters. It was really grabbing, especially in the middle part of the story. You could really feel with these characters while they went through that stuff, which I found really amazing despite the fact that we don't have Joanne's usual descriptions of everything whilst reading this story.

We also meet a lot other characters and places from the other books again, some you wouldn't expect, some you would, some you don't want to meet again I guess. I'm not going to tell you too much though.

Oh my god, and there's some lovely quotes by Ron spread over the whole story. I might've enjoyed these a little too much haha.

The book or play, whatever you want to call it, addresses certain topics. It talks about issues between generations, being different and learning to accept that, it talks about how the past will always somehow be part of our present, bravery, sacrifices, trust, and making both right and wrong decisions. It truly covers a lot of topics, that we actually have to deal with ourselves in our every day life, which I find really amazing. I feel like that is one of the reasons, why Harry Potter has become such a massive thing!

When you are coming to read this book, please remember a few things. One being, that this is meant to be a play, not a new book. Another being, that you can't make everyone happy with this thing - there's obviously going to be a few people that won't be happy.

This story is obviously nothing like a happy story without Voldemort, but this is a whole new story, connecting with the old adventures, yet being it's own thing. Yet, it doesn't loose focus on the people that this story was truly about, which I am really happy about. If this story would have let them out of focus, it wouldn't have been a Harry Potter story.

The book is really quick read, especially if you are someone who doesn't take long to read. This mainly happens because of the fact that is written like a script obviously. I can't quite tell whether that's a good thing or a bad thing. For a play, it was probably just right to end here and be that 'quick'. If it would've been written in the way of a proper book, it would've contained about 500 pages more and go a little more into detail, which I am not sure whether it would've been a better decision. But it is what it is, and we've all got to accept that ;).

Talking about it not being written in the way of a proper book though, I've also got to confess that at quite a few points, you could actually tell that Joanne only helped developing this, she didn't exactly write it. Someone who hasn't gone deeply into her writing style, but they might not notice it that much, but for a writer like myself, that truly adores her and her writing style, and so has read the books hundreds and hundreds of times, the characters and events felt different at quite some points. I mean it's okay, but it definitely could've been better. I'm not a big fan of the script format anyway, so don't let me judge that too much. Just don't expect it to be just the same as the rest of the series. It isn't completely terrible, it's just different!

On more of a positive side - there's a hell lot more to find out about our favourite characters, and their kids. Which Potterhead doesn't enjoy finding out more and more bits, every little possible detail? At least I can't get enough of that :D. It gives you such a nostalgic feeling, when you read this, and I bloody loved that feeling whilst reading.

I really made that sound like it's terrible, didn't I? Please don't get me wrong, it definitely isn't terrible at all, in fact it is really lovely. It's just the differences that I haven't got used to yet. I'm pretty sure that's going to happen as soon as I reread it thousands of times  ;)


To sum it all up - even if you shouldn't expect it to be the same as all the other books, simply because it is very different in some ways, I am pretty sure most of you are still going to enjoy it. It's still a really really lovely story, even if it isn't perfect. Especially if you love Harry Potter just as much as I do, this is a must for you - even if you end up hating it.


What do you think? Are you going to read the book? If you have done the Pottermore quiz, let me know what house you are in as well - I need to find some other Hufflepuffs in this world! ;) Who's your favourite character of the whole series? I'd also love to find out what you thought of it, once you've finished it.

Don't forget to read the review that contains spoilers, once you've actually done that. HERE is another link, once that one is up. :)

Have a great day ♥


Love, Jacqueline Xx