TWELVE
BOOKS
THE WITCHES AT THE END OF THE WORLD
By Chelsea Iversen
JUNIPER & THORN
By Ava Reid
HELL BENT
By Leigh Bardugo
REAL BUTTERBEER TASTING
From the NYC Harry Potter Store
THIS MAGICAL WORLD
colougos
Hello, my magical mavens! It's Wednesday Witch time. This is a junction between my Toadstone & Bumbershoot posts and my La La in the Library posts; with a good helping of Fantasy book topics and quiet little everyday witch things.
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★
ADULT FICTION
STANDALONE
FANTASY
WITCHES
Published October 17th 2023 - Edelweiss ARC
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Yet another "witch trials" story that portrays the victims as fantasy witches and not the innocent humans they were. Authors need to stop making these tragic times into Fantasy books. Other problems with this story were the witches had the magic to cloak themselves in invisibility, but were caught because they for some unexplained reason didn't use it, and a lot of the story was disconnected nonsense for the sake of drama. It also jumped around the timeline in an incohesive manner.
★★★
ADULT FICTION
STANDALONE
GROTESQUE FANTASY
MOLESTATION
EATING DISORDER
WITCHES
Published June 2022 -Hoopla Borrow
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The abuse and eating disorder were handled well and provided a knowledgeable representation. This book is described as Horror on Goodreads, but in my personal estimation it's more of a grotesque Fantasy, like many mythology based tales.
★★★
(2.5)
ADULT FICTION
ALEX STERN SERIES TWO
PARANORMAL FANTASY
DEMONS - WITCHES
Published January 2023 - Libby Borrow
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After a strong start the story started to sink around forty percent and by sixty percent had gotten ridiculous. It became repetitive and I was constantly wincing about disconnected similes. It became more and more like over-the-top YA, and even dipped into a sort of Middle Grade, Harry Potter type world a couple of times. That was just weird. I did find out what happened to Darlington, and the rest of the books seem like they are going to be about the surviving "coven" fighting a different monster together in each story, so I am relieved I don't have to read anymore of the series.
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When I saw the New York City Harry Potter flagship store finally had their bottled Butterbeer available for mail order purchase, I decided to buy a four-pack for Christmas Eve. We have never been to either of the Wizarding World theme parks and I have always been curious about how the real thing tasted. I was a bit thrown off by the $18 price tag, but I figured it was a special Christmas treat and the other two bottles I could give as Yule gifts.
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My first disappointment was the bottles being tiny. They are only 4.6 fluid ounces as opposed to the UK Butterbeer bottles which are 9.3 fluid ounces. I had only seen the UK bottles being held as a size comparison, so I assumed the US version would be the same. That made the $18 price tag sting a lot more. The cardboard surround was ripped on one corner and one of the bottle labels was wonky. I expected pristine packaging for that price.
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As to the taste... it was okay. It was not as sweet as Flying Cauldron butterscotch beer, which was a plus, but it had a strange underlying taste. Was it worth it? Hmm, not really. Of course I did want to know what real butterbeer tasted like and now I have bottles for Pottergram photos, so not a total loss.
It's not a bat... it's called a Flying Lemur but it isn't a lemur, nor does it fly! This is a colugos, a gliding mammal. It certainly looks like a magical creature to me!
STAY MAGICAL MY FRIENDS!
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