This was just an 'okay' book. When I heard about it from the Hey Ya podcast and heard it was mixed media I was expecting a more even mix of graphic novel and traditional one and maybe eve having some instructions to 'pause here and listen to this song'. Seeing that it was mostly prose wasn't a deal breaker but it was a little bit disappointing. The story itself wasn't bad but it wasn't that unique and the characters weren't as fully developed as they could be. And to say it was like that because it was YA is a disservice because there are tons of YA thriller, horror, and suspense from today and even years past that blow this one out of the water on all three of those genres. While enjoyable, it just wasn't a strong story.
Despite what other reviews might say, I had no problem with Denise as the main character. Truth be told she was actually a lot more polite and courteous than most of the ones that I've read about in years past. She actually handled being uprooted her senior year a lot better than most teenagers would have and maintained a respectful tone to her mother. I also liked that she had a good relationship with her stepfather rather than the typical combat that normally happens between those two types of characters. The people that became her friends were interesting, even if they were borderline stereotypes.
But that also was the other problem; with this book being mainly prose, there wasn't a lot of character development that was done when the opportunity was there. For example it got old fast her adamant her mother was about her going to Tulane versus the University of Houston. Even none withstanding that U of H is my alma mater is the fact that, even with the out of school fee on the tuition, it's a helluva lot cheaper than Tulane despite any scholarships that Denise might have gotten. You didn't learn a lot about her friends or why the break up with her ex was so bad since it was mentioned as a story hook but then it was left behind. I wanted to know more about everyone , even the characters that I didn't like, and didn't get a whole lot of substance. It would be one thing if the graphic and the prose were half and half but again, the prose ended up being a majority of the book. And while the mystery was interesting enough, it just wasn't enough to make this one a stellar one for me.

**Here be mild spoilers. Ye been warned. **

I heard about this book from the Hey Ya podcast and the idea hooked me, so I was really eager to pick it up. I found it to be an interesting concept that I personally hadn't read before so I was looking forward to it. However, up until the last quarter of the book, this was going to be a three star one and probably a begrudging one at that. A big part of this was that there were virtually no likable male characters in this book for a good chunk of it and that alone almost killed it for me. If a book is a set up to be a romance I need to like at least one of the love interests and for a good majority of the book, I just didn't.

Let's take Liam for instance. He was set up to be like the romantic interest, but I saw all the problem signs there almost right away. I really didn't jive with him at all especially since it was set up that he knew the secret because I was like "Oh well that's going to be a problem later on". Also, there was a comment that Thistle made early on about how she felt she didn't know the real him since her personality was different around his friends. I did make a lemon face at that since, I figured, it was setting up for an awkward hanging out moment later on which luckily never came to fruition. I would dare to say he was borderline abusive or at least starting down the pathway for it since his excuse for sharing the secret was to help her when he had to know that it was going to severely isolate her, not only from her fans and Oliver and Emma, but her dad as well. Then he would be the only one left for her. It was a very sh** move and there's no explaining that away.

Then there's Oliver who was set up to be pretentious from the start with the smirks he gave her at the reading. Smirks can be cute. They can be endearing. Those smirks were not. They set up him to be a stuck up jerk that looks down on all literary endeavors that are not the ones he likes. So he gave me a 'gross' feeling His quickness to turn on her when the secret broke was kind of baffling considering he had such a low opinion of the work initially. And a lot of that could be because of what they shared and that he was mad for his sister. But he failed to remember that what they shared, since it was never explicitly stated what they did or didn't do, was also an experience shared by her and likely her first one given her extremely sheltered upbringing. Although he did redeem himself a little later on with how caring he was towards Emma, his sister and that he came through for Thistle in the end he still was really only the lesser of two jerk-faces for the majority of the book and the margin was kind of slim.

And her dad. My goodness he enraged me so much. I don't know what it is but I've noticed this trend in books widowers who are terrible at being single dads in the fact that they just don't act like responsible adults. A good part of that can be blamed on grief but after awhile you have to buckle down and do what needs to be done. Thistle's comments about how he couldn't hold a CS job because of her personality was so annoying because it's like "You need to swallow that pride so you can feed your kid.". If it was just him on his own that would be one thing but he had Thistle And then to co-sign her to the lie without asking her first and expect her to keep up with it? I mean...it would be one thing to use a pen name and tell his editors that. I'm sure they would have been fine with having him be the writer and Thistle be the media person who went out. There has to have been someone in the past who did that. And then when he couldn't finish the story to have the attitude that "They work for us" it's like "Seriously are you that dumb?" And the answer was yes. Yes he was. -_-

And that's another thing that kind ticked me off. I get they lied and book nerds, while loyal as all get out, can also be hell on earth when wronged. But I refuse to believe that not one person, not a single solitary one, took a step before Thistle came out with her blog, would have been like "Hmm..there's something more to this". Like even if this had been Thistle's idea no one had the wisdom to be like "Why would a parent do this or agree to this?" Thistle was a minor when this happened, who was home-schooled with one parent, and did what she thought was best to help her dad who lacked the ability to keep a job not because he was incapable but because he was too full of himself. Again it was annoying. I'm not pooh-poohing being a single parent by any means; what I'm saying is he was a poor example of one since he was selfish, he didn't really think about his daughter until it was almost too late, and he didn't pull himself up by his bootstraps and do what needed to be done to get Thistle to age 18.

You know who rocked? Mrs. Rizzo. She was the bee's knees and I would have eaten all the parakeet cookies with her. I also enjoyed how she pretty much summed up Theo and Thistle's relationship perfectly by saying it was toxic. Not in an abusive way but in an unhealthy way and I did enjoy that at the end that they both realized it enough to know that a break was needed. And I do like how Thistle and her got close towards the end because I think she had a great view on it all and was probably the only person who looked the situation pragmatically.

Thistle as a character made dumb mistakes but they are ones that you would expect a sheltered teenager to make. And I think that is one of the things that kept her from being completely vilified at the end. Another thing was her stark honesty. When caught she didn't continue to lie, mince words, or try to redirect or anything of that. Her stance was she did what she thought was best for her family at the time. And I respect that. And honestly if someone can't respect that I don't know that I can respect them.

I know what you're probably thinking. With all these harsh words, why the four stars? And honestly it was the last quarter of this book including how it ended because it was realistic. Liam and Thistle weren't friends again and it was highly unlikely they ever would be. Thistle had to make do with a local college. Her relationship with her dad was still strained. The last book was published but there was some blow back on it and that was handled pretty much the way I would expect a publishing house to try to handle something like that. In fact the only thing that felt hokey to me was she ended up with Oliver since I thought that at best they would end up just friends. Life isn't always a happily ever after and while I am not one who likes unhappy endings I do enjoy realistic ones which this one definitely was. That being said would I re-read this? Probably not but I don't regret reading it a first time because it was entertaining even if it did push a quite a few of my buttons throughout.

I have loved the movie Hocus Pocus ever since seeing it on VHS as a wee one. So, I was excited to see that they were going to make a sequel even in book form. This one combines a new novelization of the original movie along with the follow up and, overall, it was just okay. While the first half was superior to the second, even that fell a bit short than my expectation, likely due to it coming out so long after the original movie did. And it’s not like it was a re-release of the original novelization; it was a brand-new. The insight to some of the characters was a little appreciated but wasn’t consistent enough really add much. There was even more ‘background’ given on some which in some places ended up being strong, but others read like filler. It was awkward reading the musical number for ‘I Put a Spell on You’, which is something that also came up in the second part. It was nice reading it for the nostalgia factor but given the option between the two, the movie will win out each time since this was, at best, a lukewarm experience.

Spoilers ahead.

The second half read like fan fiction and was just ‘eh’. Poppy as a character was a bit hard to like if for nothing else than her unwillingness to believe the story since one would think that when three members of your family are agreeing on one story, you might be inclined to believe them and even if you didn’t you would at least indulge them on a few things. Part of this feeling could be because as the reader I knew it was true but still, that disbelief got real old real fast especially since she turned out be wrong.

The addition of the ‘not sister’ was a bit much for me since it seemed very cliched as well as who her descendant ended up being and having yet another member turn into an animal companion made me roll my eyes. The Sanderson sisters in the second half were washed-out versions of what they previously were. There was also a written ‘musical’ number here that came out of nowhere and seemed out of place because, at least with the one in the first half you know what they were singing and could follow along in your head. Then there was he meeting and subsequent demise of oft-mentioned ‘Mother’, which was a let-down. And while I get the focus was on Poppy and her friends, there wasn’t a lot of background given on Max, Allison, and Dani and how they developed or even Jay and Max’s relationship. I found it exceedingly difficult to believe that they didn’t hash out their misgivings at least once in the last twenty-five years over what happened with Ernie and Jay. I also find it hard to believe that Max didn’t go back for them at some point and that he left them there to die; he knew the potion was spent and daylight approaching and that it was a low risk of them being killed before the sun came up. And it made him look like the bully rather than the bullied. And, honestly, with Allison being well Allison how the heck did they make it so long through the rest of high school and working together without hashing it out? But I digress.

It was one of those that, honestly, if this is the idea they have for the screenplay, best to leave it alone. It was seasonal and offered nostalgia, which is why I read it and I don’t hate the time that I spent doing so. But with these the most important question I ask myself is if would re-read it and this? No, not really. I can’t even call this something that is fan service since, from what I’ve read, most die-hard fans felt either the same way I did or had much more passionate and negative feelings towards it. While I didn’t love this, I don’t wan to burn it in effigy, but it could have been so much more than what it ended up being.

I waited mostly patiently for this book to be published after hearing about it a couple of months ago and then not so patiently for it to get to a library so I could borrow it (since I book on a budget) and I have to say it was well worth the wait! Deja and Josiah were adorable and endearing. Josiah reminded me a lot of Levi from Fangirl which is my favorite Rainbow Rowell book and Deja was hilarious.

The illustrations and descriptions of the food made me want to visit a place like this so I could try them all out since I will admit, it made me hungry. I’m not even a huge fan of pumpkin pie yet I would try the Pumpkin Bomb no questions asked. I took a picture of the description to share with my book club and was like “This sounds delicious”. The other locations in the park looked fun, with the exception of the angry goat of course, and it made me wish there was a place like this locally so I could visit it and try to get even more in the 'fall' mood.

I know there were some who didn’t feel that the progression of their romance made much sense, but I felt it did since they were friends first and foremost and that was strong throughout the entirety of the book. And Deja did drop hints throughout the book she liked him, and there were plenty of references to the years prior. A lot of that had to do with the illustrations and the way she would look at Josiah when he wasn’t looking at her. Plus, it didn’t end with them like getting married; it ended with them being willing to try out a relationship, and see where it lead them, which is a believable ending. And I am really digging the believable endings that have bene happening in YA (looking at you Field Guild to the North American Teenager) rather than the tied up in a bow ones that were rampant when I was growing up. I've said it before and I'll say it again; I LOVE YA nowadays since there is so much more diversity in them then before and I am all about that.

It was a quick and cozy read, perfect for this type of the year and helping one to get into the autumnal mood. Oh and keep an eye for the ‘food thief’ in the background because if you’re a fan of vengeance like I am, you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

This is yet another one that I knew about months in advance and waited patiently for it to come out. YA and Poe? Sounds like a recipe for greatness and this book did not disappoint. Honestly, I ended up liking twelve out of the thirteen retellings. The only one I didn’t enjoy was the retelling of ‘The Raven’ and a lot of that has to do with just not being a fan of amanda lovelace’s poetry style at all. That is arguably one of Poe’s better-known poems and I feel more could have been done with retelling it. But I digress.

What really sold this for me is that you could see the nods to Poe in every single retelling; even the ones that I hadn’t ready before, and there were a few, evoked the spirit of Poe and Gothic Horror. And it was interesting to see how the themes from the originals held up in this current time. And none of them, save for ‘The Raven’, were just straight retells. They took the base of the story and put their own spin on them. I started to list the standouts but realized (again save for one) that I found all these retellings were amazing in their own way. I don’t think anyone will be disappointed if they pick this up and read it; if anything, they’d want more.

This is the perfect book to read this time of the year and, as a bonus, the originals are included in the back. I didn’t read those since I wanted to return the book to the library so that the next person in line could enjoy it, but I would recommend reading them after the retellings so you can see how the homages were paid to them. This collection shows that Poe and the stories he told are timeless and will be around for a long, long time.