I get asked questions about books all the time: "Where do you get signed books?" "How do you find book signing events" "Book recommendations?" "How do you get your Bookstagram account out there?" etc.

So I thought I'd do a series of "Jess' Book Advice" where I answer everyone's most asked book-related questions.

Today, I'll start off with the most asked question I get: where to find cheap books.

Since I started Bookstagram and posting frequent updates on Snapchat and Facebook of my library, a lot of people have asked me, "Jessica, your library is growing. How much money are you spending?!" 

And the simple answer is: Not that much. 

See, if you are an avid reader and book collector like myself, you're continuously buying books. And books themselves are super expensive. An average new book can range from $10 to $50+ making it super expensive to create your own library. But there are cheaper options which I'll share with you lovelies today!

It's the holiday season! Which also means the gift giving season and I thought I should definitely do a post on what to get your favourite Book Nerd! 

Being a book nerd myself, I didn't want to be biased on my own opinions. Therefore, I asked a few of my book loving friends and accumulated the eight most common answers for gift requests!

This is one of King's more popular and older books which follows the Torrence family in their journey through what at first seemed like a fresh new environment and a perfect place for Jack to finish up writing his play, to a more sinister location - especially for Jack's five year old son, Danny who has uniquely gifted abilities.

Book

Okay let me start off by saying I LOVE Stephen King's writing. I know I continue to talk about him and his work but he definitely deserves it. His writing is just so pure and realistic, that it is bone chilling. 

The only negative aspect I could really say about the novel was how I didn't like some parts just ran on. Especially at the beginning where Jack was taught how the hotel worked; I generally thought that portion of the book, and a few others weren't necessary. Although, there were so many suspenseful scenes were incredible and they definitely overtook all the scenes that ran on a little too much. 

Character-wise, I loved Jack's five year old son, Danny. Danny has this thing called "The Shining" which is basically a telepathy ability with other Shiners. This also means he has an extra sensitivity to his environment in which he sees "visions". 

Danny himself is just an adorable character. Bright, hilarious and thoughtful. For his age, he is very smart and curious which I adore. He loves the outside and sees the good in everyone - especially his father who was an alcoholic and is abusive.

I found myself loving scenes that involved Danny way more than scenes that involved Jack and/or Wendy. 

Jack's character I seemed to like; but in a sense where I loved to hate him. His character throughout the novel gets quite interesting and terrifying. Especially when being in the Overlook Hotel for so long. But you do see certain aspects of Jack where he is loving and caring, even after everything negative he does. Which is one of my favourite aspects of King's characters. 

In novels, most stories portray characters as jerks or sweethearts. Jack had - I guess - a mix of both which really humanized his character and I loved that. You don't often see that in literature anymore. 

The plot had very interesting aspects to it that definitely made it as terrifying and equally as lovable as IT, one of Stephen King's most popular reads alongside The Shining. 

But would I say The Shining is better?

Maybe not better. But near the same level.

Movie 

The movie was definitely something special. 

There was a fair amount of scare and gore as there was thriller. 

Actor-wise, they picked pretty great actors for the film. Jack Nicholson and Danny Lloyd played amazing Jack and Danny - loved how the actors' names matched their character. 

I feel like Jack Nicholson will always be known as the infamous Jack Torrence for his creepy appearance as the writer. But Danny Lloyd also played an adorable Danny Torrence you fell in love with. Just his precious low toned voice which sounded almost fearful was amazing. 

And the "Redrum" scene was my absolute favourite. I had to grab the Danny Torrence Funko Pop! because one, its Danny and two, the infamous "Redrum" written on the box is incredible.

Although, personally, I didn't like the casting for Wendy as to me, she sounded a little too monotoned which made it difficult to follow her throughout the movie. 

Of course, just as any adaptation, the movie was nothing like the book. But for this instance, I mean it was nothing like the book. Scenes were cut out, or the plot was changed in one way or another. 

I disliked the fact that the movie made it seem like Jack just had cabin fever which is why he went crazy. When in the book, it's because the spirits in the Overlook Hotel thought it was difficult to possess Danny, so they possessed Jack instead. 

Usually when people think of the movie, they think of Jack getting cabin fever which is definitely all wrong. 

Supposedly even King doesn't like the adaptation which caused him to create his own version as a mini-series which I have yet to watch and review as it is incredibly hard to find it online now. 

Personally, as a movie itself and I'm watching it as a horror fan, yeah its a great movie. But as always, as a Stephen King fan, it definitely isn't good enough. 

Caraval follows our main character Scarlett who has grown up on this little, tiny island in which her controlling father owns. Since Scarlett was young, she had written letters to Legend, the creator of the infamous "Caraval." Years pass and just as Scarlett's father sets up an arranged marriage for her, Legend writes back and invites her to a once-in-a-lifetime chance to see Caraval in a island a little ways from her own. Tella, Scarlett's sister, and a cute but mysterious sailor help Scarlett arrive at the event. Until Legend kidnaps Tella, and the game revolves finding Scarlett's sister and finding the truth.

Oh My Cheese Balls! This book was seriously amazing.

I had seen a lot of hype on bookstagram and booktube about Caraval and I love anything involving carnivals and the circus so I definitely had to dive into this book right away! 

Right off the bat, this book was super easy to read. There wasn't a moment where I thought a part of the book was slow. The book itself was very fast paced and detailed. Caraval itself, the land was written so beautifully and well-done that I could easily picture everything in my head. 

As for the characters, in all honesty, I didn't like Scarlett at first. I thought her character from the beginning of the book until about the middle of it, was really annoying. I just felt like she didn't have her mind made up on certain things; one moment she would want something and the next moment she didn't. Her personality is really hard to categorize in itself. But about mid-book, she starts to become easier to like for me.

I think Julian was my favourite character because he felt the most genuine to me. 

Romance-wise, I really wished it was more prominent mid-book until the end rather than just at the end. I felt like the romance aspect fell a little short for me. 

My favourite part was the ending, and if you've read Caraval before, you'd know what I'm talking about. The ending itself felt like that would never be imaginable. I cried near the end, but once the actually ending hit, I was in shock.

Honestly, I think Caraval should have it's own book-to-movie adaption. 

If you want a overly hyped book that is well worth the hype, Caraval is it. 

I know this post is a little late since my birthday was in September, but I received a few giftcards and was waiting until I used them all up before I posted a full birthday book haul! Which by the way, I want to thank everyone who has given me a book and/or a giftcard for my birthday! I'm so thankful and I love you all so much!

I haven't done hauls on my blog before which is something really new and exciting for me to post about since I love reading - and watching - book hauls! 

Before I get started, I want to mention that I won't get into the full plots of each of the books as most of them I'm not very sure of. I'll mention what I know and such, but I won't go into full detail; I usually mention the plot at the beginning of each of my book reviews!

I also want to mention that I'm not posting this haul to brag. I'm very thankful for all the books I've gotten and many of my readers ask for a haul.

Birthday Book Haul!

A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J Maas 

This is the second book in the A Court of Thorns and Roses trilogy - or series, I'm not really sure yet. Which I have a review of the first book here. If you have not read the series, or don't know what the series is about - where have you been? As I've read all the books published so far, I had only owned the first book prior to my birthday. And for a few months before my birthday, I was saving up for my little birthday vacation with my boyfriend which basically meant I was on a book buying ban. My boyfriend and I thought since I stuck to my book buying ban for a few months and I found this copy for cheap on BookOutlet, why not treat myself as a little early birthday present. 

Tower of Dawn by Sarah J Maas 

This was one of my most anticipated reads of September so I was really happy I got it! Originally, I had pre-ordered Wonder Women by Leigh Bardugo but I decided to cancel my pre-order to get an Indigo Exclusive copy of Tower of Dawn - which was released a few days before my birthday. This edition has all the Throne of Glass characters on the inside of the dusk jacket and is the most recent book in the Throne of Glass series but is solely based on Chaol instead of Aelin/Celaena. As Chaol was one of my least favourite characters, getting into this was definitely very interesting. This is the second and only other book I had bought myself for my birthday - I think.

Divergent by Veronica Roth 

I was given a copy of Divergent by one of my best friends from my book club, Peyton alongside a little Target Exclusive sticker/bookmark/magnet set. She's a huge Divergent fan and was surprised I had never read or seen Divergent - let alone, I have no idea what Divergent is about. So as her way of getting me into this new dystopian world, she decided to get me a copy of the first book in her favourite series.

Heartless by Marissa Meyer 

This is one of the many books I've gotten from my boyfriend for my birthday! During this time - and it still is - The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyers is my favourite series. I love fairytale retellings but I love the fact that Marissa Meyers is known for adding a little sci-fi twist to each of her retellings. My review for the first book in The Lunar Chronicles is here. During the time when my boyfriend bought me this birthday gift (he was avidly asking me questions on what fairytale retellings I didn't have/read.) I was in such a retelling kick, I was reading different YA retellings by different authors and that was basically all I was reading. Although, I haven't read this book by Marissa Meyers yet and I'm not too sure what this book is about; I think it involves The Queen of Hearts from Alice in Wonderland.

Cujo is basically about a Saint Bernard dog who follows a rabbit into a small cave. From there, he gets bit by bats with rabies which then causes anger and pain inside him. This results in the once friendly and loving dog to become a horrid, vicious and - hungry... dog. 

Oh my frick frack! Theres so much to say about this book, I don't know where to start! 

Let's start by saying this was my first completed novel I've read by Stephen King and might I admit it brought such high standards for his work for me. I know a lot of people say that there are other books of his thats is so much better but I'd glad I started with Cujo because my gosh, was it great! 

I don't usually get scared of books - especially at the moment, where I am obsessed with Stephen King - but the realism of this book really creeped me out, especially because my sister just got a dog. I mean, obviously it probably won't happen to him because my sister actually plans to get all his shots done but regardless it was creepy. I just felt like the situation - in a sense - could happen to anyone. 

It's also a very short book with no chapters so I'd say it's a perfect book to get through in one sitting. But before you do, I will warn you that it is pretty graphic - most Stephen King books are, but Stephen King really doesn't hold back on this one. 

Which, speaking of writing style, the writing in this was very interesting. Like mentioned earlier, chapters aren't used in this novel. The book runs on and on which is something I've never read before. I also think the book is so beautifully creepy. It's written very nicely; very wicked and twisted. But what I thought was most mind-blowing was that Stephen King was on the peak of his drug addiction and alcoholism whilst writing this. 

If you read it, you can guess that it could be a possibility by the lack of chapters, seperating situations and the flushed out characters. But I would never guess that was the situation until I found out. Once I put the pieces together, it made sense. But don't get me wrong. It made the novel interesting and great. To me, it made it stand out from the crowd which is what I really liked. 

Would I say this book completely terrified me from all dogs? Nah. Does it freak me out when I see their teeth or when they try to bite? Absolutely. Although, Cujo is a great name to call your own pup when they're being a jerk! As for dog owners, it might scare them enough to be a little overly cautious! 

All in all, I thought it was a great read and a great start to Stephen King and would definitely recommend it!

Zarox is basically about our main character Parker Reid and his friends who decides to go to the most frightening place in town called the Churn Zone, at night. This sparks a rapid adventure where they face things - and creatures they have never seen before. And although this new world is unfamiliar, it is up to the group of friends to save Zarox from evil.

I was sent a copy of this book by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Wow, how incredible was this book! For a less known book by a fairly new author, this book was so astonishing to me and I felt like it deserved more praise than what it really got. 

When the author asked to send me this book, I had asked what the book was about and all he said was "a Middle Grade book full of adventure." And I realized lately, I haven't been reading Middle Grade as I've been branching out into more adult books. With only this information, I was a little skeptical on whether or not I'd like the book. 

I'm not usually the type who goes into a book without knowing the plot but I'm very happy I did! 

The book itself gave me a mix of Narnia and Harry Potter/Fantastic Beasts vibe and I really enjoyed that aspect of it. One of my favourite parts of Zarox was the creatures. For some reason, when unordinary creatures are added to a novel and you get to see the most creative side to the author, it really interests me and kept me wanting to read more.

I also really liked the characters. Like I mentioned in my GoodReads review, I didn't really relate to any of the characters. But perhaps, I just liked reading about them.  It was fun to read about their journey and their reactions and kind of catch a feel of what each character's personality was like. 

The group of friends themselves felt more like an "It group" - the casual brains, bronze and beauty. I also noticed that each characters' personality was different from each other, but together their personalities clashed very well. 

Lucy was my favourite character of the four. I loved her strong female character and I felt like her and Parker were written the best - although they were all pretty amazing characters. 

Writing style was great, I would say. My only problem with this book was that the beginning was a little slow to me. But once you hit around mid book, the plot gets faster and from then, the reader will on the edge for the rest of the book. 

I would say the book is perfect for Middle Grade readers just like it is categorized. If your young one is looking for a science fiction book that will take them on a beautifully fun journey, I would definitely recommend Zarox!

IT is basically about a "thing" that haunts a little town in Maine called Derry. The "thing" or IT feeds on people every 27 years then goes into hibernation until it's next feeding time. A group of children called The Loser's Club bind together to defeat IT when they're suspicious about the amount of people - specifically children going missing. 27 years later, when they think they have defeated IT and most of The Losers Club have grown up and moved away from the small town of Derry, it comes back and they join together to *hopefully* defeat it one last time. 

When writing my review, I did a poll on Instagram on whether or not I should do a review of the 1990's Miniseries adaptation AND the 2017 Movie adaptation or just the 2017 Movie adaptation and most of you wanted a review on all three. So here we go!

Book

I LOVED THE BOOK! I loved the book so much, to the point where I read the last page of the book, processed everything I have read for a good five or so minutes, then flipped back to the front page and starting reading it again. 

There were little to no negative aspects that I could really admit. Stephen King's IT is my FAVOURITE Stephen King novel I've ever read. Possibly my favourite novel in general. 

The book is just so creepy and disturbing but it also had elements of growth; overcoming your fear, trusting yourself, trusting everyone around you, etc. It was an generally amazing read. 

What I loved most was the characters. Gosh, do I love The Loser's Club. I found I related to each of them in different ways. I also loved the dynamic between The Loser's Club in general. I felt like character-wise, individually they were great, but they were much better as a whole.

I also found that the bullies, Henry Bowers and his gang were a million times more terrifying in the book than in the adaptations. I felt like neither adaptations did the group justice. Specifically Patrick Hockstetter; I won't go into specifics but in both adaptations, he's either not mentioned or not as terrifying as Henry but he's definitely a terrifying one and I'm not sure whether or not I'm relieved or disappointed that he's not as prominent in the adaptations than I think he should be. 

I also loved Georgie and Bill's relationship. It was so genuine; I could picture brothers acting the way that Georgie and Bill did. Bill would look out for Georgie, Georgie would do the same. Bill liked to toughen Georgie up when he felt he needed to. But at the end of the day, they made jokes and had their laughs. Personally, I loved their relationship so much, I really wished Georgie and Bill's *genuine* (hence the word "genuine" which you will only get if you've seen either of the adaptations) relationship lasted way longer than just one chapter. 

I also love Eddie and Richie's relationship. Richie in general was a hilarious character that provided comic relief but his little punches and insults towards Eddie made me literally laugh out loud! 

My favourite character in general was Bill. Theres multiple reasons why and I'm sure you're tired of hearing why I love each of the characters so I'll keep it simple: "He thrusts his fists against the post and still insists he sees the ghost." If you've read IT, you'd know that Bill was taught this phrase by his mother to contain his stuttering when it goes out of proportion. This phrase specifically is mentioned multiple times and with my growing obsession with IT specifically, it's a phrase I started subconsciously whispering. It's just something that has stuck and sometimes becomes a new compulsion alongside knocking on wood. 

Before I stop talking about characters I love - I want to mention when people think of IT, they think of the basic Pennywise Clown. But do not be fooled, IT uses Pennywise to lure children which he hungers most because they are easier to scare than adults - because clowns can be terrifying and friendly. IT refers to fear as "salting his steak" meaning that IT can transform into anything its victim is most terrified of or thinks of the most to make them tastier. For example, if his victim misses someone who is deceased, he can easily become that person or when he senses his victim is terrified of something, he shape shifts into that person/thing to lure his victim. In the book, he transforms into multiple things besides a clown such as a leper, flying leeches, a giant statue etc. Shapeshifting is only one of IT's powers. Theres so much more he can do such as brainwashing, creating illusions - specifically of scents, he can read his victims minds, etc. And I think that is what makes IT the most terrifying. 

I'll give you one quick example that you would probably never know unless you read the book. Before Georgie's encounter with Pennywise in the sewer, when Bill is making Georgie's boat, he asks Georgie to get him some Paraffin Wax to protect the boat from sinking while Georgie sails it in the rain. Little does Georgie know, the wax is in the cellar; the room in the house where Georgie is most terrified of. What is IT's favourite thing? Fear. When Georgie is in the cellar, he admits he smells something. But what? He can't put his finger on what It is, but he knows It's terrifying and he knows It's after him. 

This is a very important detail of IT's capability that only the readers will know, as you don't get Georgie's thought process in the movie or the miniseries.

The ending itself was okay. That specific scene was a little uncomfortable but otherwise, was okay. I could settle for the ending its given. Although, would I be a real Stephen King fan if I believed that the grown Loser's Club defeated it the second time? Definitely not. I heard from many people that Mr. Gray or Pennywise or IT make special appearances in many works by Stephen King that were published after IT and I believe it. I started diving into Dreamcatcher and theres a distinct feeling Pennywise is close. I won't go into details but The Loser's Club definitely didn't defeat IT.

Something that I didn't really like was the time the book was placed in. Understandably, IT I believe was published in the 80's. Although, I'll mention later that I didn't think the late 50's was the right time to start the children's first encounter with IT.

There was also one weird scene, which, if you've read the book, you know what I'm talking about. Referring back to how IT loves to taunt children because of how easy it is to scare them, Beverly, the only female in The Loser's Club and the member who's fear revolves around her sexuality, mainly caused by her abusive father who molests her, brings out the idea that The Loser's Club - as children - should have a group orgy to release their innocence and make it less likely IT would victimize them. Weird concept, I know. I personally thought this was a little weird and unsettling to read. The idea of releasing innocence to protect the pack from IT makes sense, but in that way.. wasn't really my cup of tea. Regardless, it's a Stephen King novel and there's going to be a lot of twist, turns and uncomfortable moments.

Overall, I love the writing; I love the way IT was written. I also love how there was side stories you don't get from either adaptations. With the 2017 Movie, you can see all the "missing" people on Ben's wall mid-movie but I love how in the book, you really get to see how IT lured them. It's quite interesting.

2017 Movie 

The 2017 Movie adaptation is just as amazing as the book! There were so many elements to the movie that I loved. 

For starters, I love that they're doing the movie(s) in multiple parts. IT is a huge book; more than 1,100 pages long. Trying to shove that all into one movie I don't/didn't think was a good idea because there's important elements that will be missed.

I love that they did one part for The Loser's Club as kids and a part (announced late September 2017) - possibly more of them as adults.

And if you're bummed out because you love The Loser's Club as kids just as I do, don't be alarmed; the hilarious group of friends return in flashbacks by their adult selves in the later movies.

Personally, I thought the casting crew did an amazing job on picking people for their roles. I felt like each actor and actress suited their characters so well! And just like the book, I loved Richie and his relationship as it brought such comic relief. I really liked the fact that they picked Finn Wolfhard to play Richie because I felt like with his already 80's vibe from Stranger Things and his hilariously strange and crude humour fit the role of Richie best! Honestly, I can't decide if every show/movie Finn is in makes him look like a great actor, or Finn makes every show/movie amazing.

To add onto the comic relief before we get into the creepy-ish parts, let's talk about Pennywise's dance during the scene after he abducts Beverly and traps her in the sewer. That part gave me some parts confusion, some parts entertainment. But what I do love is the endless amounts of memes and edits that involve that little Pennywise dance. I mean, come on, he has to live up to his "Pennywise the Dancing Clown" name, right?

Moving onto the creepier aspects of the 2017 adaptation, I'd like to also mention how freaking creepy Georgie was in that scene where Pennywise used *dead* Georgie as a puppet to taunt Bill. I think Bill was on the safe side on that scene; as for myself - I'm happy I used the bathroom prior to entering the theatre. Just the way Georgie's face slowly turned almost demonic before Pennywise smacked him onto the water and ran off to try and catch Bill was terrifying. And Jackson Robert Scott played Georgie very well as I'm a little creeped out over that kid and the way he says, "You'll Float Too."

And in relation to Georgie, Pennywise was also amazing and creepy in this film versus the miniseries in my opinion. For an introduction to Pennywise, Tim Curry was great to play the role. As a modernized Pennywise, Bill Skarsgard was perfect for the part and will be terrorizing a new generation as a creepy clown.

I also really liked the way Bill Skarsgard did Pennywise's creepy smile. If you haven't seen videos yet - where have you been - theres an interview of Bill Skarsgard with Conan O'Brien where he shows off his infamous Pennywise smile without the costume and it is just as creepy.

I am quite disappointed in the portrayal of Henry Bower's gang like I mentioned earlier. Henry seemed to be the most terrifying of the bunch, but if you read the book, Patrick Hockstetter is definitely was more terrifying and I'll admit that his life ended a little quicker than I would have hoped.

I was also quite disappointed in the lack of origin explanation the movie gave for IT. Sure there were key points of IT's origin that were mentioned here and there, but there wasn't the whole origin of the macro-verse IT's had stemmed from and how it relates to Maturin let alone we don't see him confronting Bill in The Ritual of Chud. Personally, I'm hoping it will some how take place in flashbacks of the adult versions of The Loser's Club in part two!

Adding onto confusion and disappointment within the movie, I didn't understand why Denbrough's had no idea Georgie was dead. I guess it made sense that they didn't want false hope but I thought this part should have stuck with the book and the miniseries in which they just accepted Georgie was dead.

One of my favourite scare scenes of the movie was the projector scene. You see a lot of the first few clips of that scene in trailers. But trust me, if you think the trailer clips of the scene are terrifying, it  gets worse. I don't want to ruined too much of that scene in particular, just in case you lovelies were interested in watching it. There's definitely a huge scare around it and trust me, it is terrifying.

I also loved the use of Bill's stuttering phrase being used. Although it wasn't a lot, it was used more than the miniseries which is what I really hoped for.

Fun fact about the IT movie was that the Nebolt St. house was filmed not too far from my school which I thought was really cool. I have never seen it in person and I'm not sure I plan to since I've heard it looks nothing like how it looks like in the movie, but I do think the movie and Andy Muschietti did a great job of portraying the Nebolt St. house in a creepy way.

Adding onto interesting facts, this adaptaion of the book is based around the late 80's when The Loser's Club are children. Meaning that around 27 or 28 years later - depending on which year of feeding and if Andy Muschietti relates in time frame to the book or the miniseries, IT's return will be around 2016/2017 which I think will be very interesting to see the difference and possibly the growth and modernization of how the older version of The Loser's Club will defeat IT. That is what I'm interested in the most.

Overall, I loved the 2017 adaptation more than the 1990 miniseries. It was steady paced, there were no scenes that were slower than others - it kept me on the edge of my chair the whole time, the scares were predicted in a sense of timing but unpredictable in a sense where you would never know what would pop up which was a nice twist, Acting was great, hilarious to add onto terror. I genuinely loved this adaptation and I don't regret watching more than once.. or three times. Definitely recommend watching and IT deserves all the praise.

I also thought it was a bit of a bore. The Loser's Club wasn't really entertaining on their own; I thought Pennywise brought the most entertainment into the miniseries than The Loser's Club and/or Henry Bower's crew did.

Going back to the other mediums, how I thought Richie was great comic relief. Well in the miniseries, I didn't really like Richie. I thought his character was a little too annoying for my liking and his relationship with Eddie was a bore.

Although, I did like a few of The Loser's Club cast as children - specifically Beverly, Bill and Mike, I loved the cast as adults way more. Which by the way, if you've seen the miniseries, what is up with older Bill's ponytail? Super weird!

I think the low budget and the limitations was what bummed me out the most about the miniseries. From what I have heard, since the miniseries was featured on televison, they had a lot of limits when it came to deaths and what not. I also heard that the miniseries had a lot lower budget which prevented them from making such in depth deaths - trust me, I've seen a ton of classic horror movies from the 80's that were gory and was expecting the same with this movie. I wasn't a huge fan of the POV of Pennywise when he was doing his killings as well.

Anyways, besides those few aspects, there were also a lot of positives that I really liked about the miniseries.

For starters, I've seen IT broadly as a kid out of curiosity and there were scenes that were pretty terrifying. For example, the scene where the kids are looking through the photo album and Pennywise shows up and tries to attack them, was the only scene I would specifically remember from the miniseries because it terrified me. Just the fact that Pennywise showed up out of nowhere in the photo, saw that the children were looking at him and ran up to the viewers almost like the photo turned into a video was terrifying.  

I also thought the shower scene with Eddie was a little creepy and since then, shower drains continue to scare me. I'm terrified that something or something will pop right out of it.

If I were to compare Tim Curry as Pennywise with other classic horror icons, I would definitely say Pennywise is definitely on a few of the top creepiest. Personally, I just wish the budget was a little higher; with that, the miniseries would have definitely been better.

One of the scenes I loved that both adaptations incorporated but obviously this adaptation did first was that they obviously replaced the weird orgy scene with helping Beverly clean up the blood - her fear made by IT - together.

If you haven't seen either of the adaptations, referring back to how IT changes into your worst fear, and Beverly fears her sexuality and growing up because of her father, IT becomes Beverly's fear of blood - ladies will get it - which explodes from the sink.

This scene does appear in the book but in a way more terrifying way. Although, I love how this used this scene though and in a way, replaced it with the orgy scene at the end of the book.

Overall, the miniseries was good, but could have been better with a higher budget and possibly less of limitations from being shown through television. The casting was okay - loved some characters, disliked the others, and kind of wished it stuck to more of the book so to say as it didn't really mention much of the other kids whom it had taken - other than the bicycle girl at the beginning.

There wasn't much of the deaths IT has made in the previously decades and felt like the miniseries was mostly based on The Loser's Club and Georgie.

But regardless, Tim Curry played a creepy debut as Pennywise and the original IT will always be a staple of fear for clowns. Generally as a horror movie, I'd say it's creepy. As a Stephen King fan, I'd say it isn't creepy enough.

A Court of Thorns and Roses or ACOTAR is the first book in the series which follows our main character Feyre who lives is a very poor family. She lost her mother when she was young and the event has mentally damaged Feyre's father, leaving huntress Feyre to provide for herself, her father and her two sisters - who has no interests in helping make money for the family. As she's hunting for food in the woods, she kills a wolf which results in a beast-like creature demanding Feyre to come with him to his magical land of the Fae as retribution. From there, Feyre meets Tamlin, the not-so-beastly faerie who saved her life and all the rumours from what she's been told diminishes as she tries to save the land.

OH MY GOODNESS! Sarah J. Maas never fails me with her books. This being the second time reading ACOTAR, might I say it was better than the first time. 

Sarah J. Maas has a very interesting writing style. It's definitely considered to be in the Young Adult genre, although there are many aspects which leans it closer to New Adult. The steamy love scenes is a main provider for this aspect, although, I definitely wouldn't say it crosses the line to New Adult just yet!

Generally though, I love Sarah J. Maas' writing. The book itself was so beautifully written. There was never a part of the book where I felt like it was a little slow. It was suspenseful and beautiful. I love the placement of words; it all just flowed ever so beautifully. To me, her writing doesn't seem like most YA writers, she uses almost like adult literature writing 

I also love the characters in the books. Just their personalities themselves and the way they interact with one another is quite lovely. I'm also a sucker for a female lead - especially if she's "kickass". 

Just like any other book written by Sarah J. Maas, her worlds are always so intricate. Which is something I love about her writing. There definitely isn't a broad way of describing her worlds, and the reader is easily able to picture the world of Fae in their head, instantly! Because of this, not only do I love her worlds, but it also makes it a little bit more difficult to read for me. Not really saying that I had trouble reading the series, but it just took me a little bit longer to get through. 

Typically, any Fantasy world thats very intricate and specific, mixed with an obsession of a novel makes me take a little longer to read because I don't want the book to end. I have the same experience with most books I really enjoy. 

There are also very difficult names in the novel but there should be a pronunciation guide at the end of each novel.

Updated May 11, 2018:

I realized that I didn't post a specific detail that made me dislike the book and at first, I was going to write a whole new review but I thought, why not just add onto this one because I still agree with what I wrote previously, I just felt like I needed to add this part in as well.

My main problem I had is that I don't like all the characters. Of course, there are a few that are my favourites but I feel like most of the characters drove me nuts.

Our main character Feyre is of course one of my favourites in this novel. She isn't necessarily like Celaena from Maas' other novel Throne of Glass, but she is and does very well become more badass in the next coming books.

I genuinely disliked Feyre's sisters, Elain and Nesta. I felt as if Elain was more manageable to like, but with the very limited scenes with Nesta, she's very snobby, very bratty. I strongly disliked how she expected Feyre to do everything for her, and when Feyre makes mistakes, she pulls the "Well Feyre did it, so."

I also strongly disliked Tamlin, a male fae who makes Feyre stay with him since she killed one of his people whilst hunting.

Tamlin and Feyre's relationship is basically abusive and it drive under my skin. I strongly disliked how he acted like he owned her when of course, he doesn't.

I think a hatred for Tamlin is very popular in the series, although I know there are some people who like Tamlin as well.

I was given this book by the Publisher and the Author in exchange for an honest review!