What I'm Listening To | May

Each month I'll share five songs I'm been loving all month and hopefully you'll find a song or two (or all of them!) to love as well.

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This is a super mixed bag of songs and I'm even surprised by the ones I'm featuring!

Accelerate - Christina Aguilera | Xtina is back! If you knew me in high school, then you'd know how much of a fangirl I was. I haven't liked her last few albums but I love this new single! It's made me very excited for the new album.

Beyond - Leon Bridges | I first heard his music on Big Little Lies and this is one of his many songs that I enjoy.

hard rain - Lykke Li | She's got such an interesting sound. There's always a bit of a haunting quality to her songs, even when they're really catchy.

Back to You - Selena Gomez | I haven't started Season 2 yet of 13 Reasons Why but so far, I'm liking the soundtrack, especially this song by Selena.

Team - Noah Cyrus | I can't believe that I like a song by Noah Cyrus. I really can't. But when I heard this song, I immediately liked it and when I checked who was singing, you can imagine my surprise.

I have a good feeling about this album!

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Which song is your favorite?

Here's my full May playlist if you want to know what else I'm listening to!

Review: Furyborn (Empirium #1) by Claire Legrand

Furyborn by Claire Legrand
pub 5/22/18 by Sourcebooks Fire
Young Adult - Fantasy
Received ARC at ApollyCon

I read my first Claire Legrand book! I’m glad I finally did and overall, I did like Furyborn but I think I may be in the minority because I didn’t fall head over heels in love with it.

The book alternates between two fierce women who are centuries apart from the one another. There’s Rielle Dardenne, who in a moment of fear for her best friend and crown prince, reveals her affinity for all seven kinds of elemental magic and thus puts herself at the crosshairs of the kingdom. No one can do what she does except for the two prophesied queens – one of light and one of blood and destruction. To prove she’s the Sun Queen she must undergo seven trials to prove her abilities and her loyalty. If she fails, she’ll be executed. Then there’s Eliana Ferracora, who is centuries in the future and became a bounty hunter when the Undying Empire conquered her kingdom. To her, Queen Rielle and that whole world is just a bedtime story while her reality is to keep her family safe. Then circumstances force her to join a mysterious rebel captain on a mission that reveals more than she ever expected about herself and the evil war that spans both her and Rielle’s lifetimes.

Whew! It’s a lot right? What impressed me most was how clever and imaginative the entire world was. I was intrigued immediately by Rielle and her journey. I loved her magic, the struggles she faced and her relationship with the prince. In comparison, it took me half the book to care about Eliana. In fact, at first I rushed through her chapters to get back to Rielle faster. But eventually Eliana’s trials and the personal demons she faced garnered my interest, although never as much Rielle’s. And that’s part of the reason why towards the last quarter of the book, I started to really feel the length of this novel. I mean, there’s no denying that it’s long but I do think it could’ve been edited down and that the constant switching between POVs contributed to the my feelings on the pacing.  And because I want to end this review on a pleasant note, I will say that at some points I was very surprised this book was labeled YA! Because the romance you guys? Steamy and swoonworthy and a much-needs respite from the darkness of the story.

Do I recommend? I do! It’s dark and imaginative and I want more of Rielle (and her prince).

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child

Carina and I went to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child this past weekend and I just had to write about it! I can't say too much though because it would be a disservice to anyone who hasn't seen it yet plus the show actually hands out buttons that say #KeepTheSecrets so that's what I plan to do!

What I will say though is that the show is a must-see for anyone who loves Harry Potter. While we both have read the books and seen all the movies, we knew nothing about the Cursed Child going in. Neither of us had read the screenplay or even knew what it was about. We only knew that it took place in the future and involved Harry's son. And it totally worked out in our favor to have no expectations! Every moment that happened during the play whether it was the incredible visuals of the set, the twists and turns of the story or meeting characters new and old was an absolute surprise and delight as a result! I was so impressed by the entire production. And I highly recommend seeing both parts in one day, which is what we did. Each part is 2.5 hours so that means we spent 5 hours total on this play and that time completely flew by. I did get a teeny tiny bit sleepy as it approached 10pm but that had more to do with me being an old lady than the show itself. I was 100% engaged by every moment of it.

Now for some quick tips! I got at least 3 reminder emails in the weeks leading up to the show and every single one said to be at Lyric Theatre an hour before it started. That's not really the case. For the first part, we were actually running a bit late so we grabbed a super quick lunch at City Kitchen which is conveniently one street over. Then we got on line 30 mins before the start of Part 1 and still had time to grab coffee before going to our seats (we also got water because we wanted the special Harry Potter cup but you can also get it filled with beer or frosé!). Then we got dinner at Smith's Bar and Restaurant (2 streets over!) before Part 2. Because it was only 5pm, there was no wait and since I'd been before, I knew the food was good. It gave us plenty of time to eat, take pictures out front, get back on line again, browse the store and refreshments and make our way back to our seats.

So long story short, I absolutely loved the play and hope they turn it into a movie some day. If you love Harry Potter, try your very best to see this!

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Have you seen it and did you love it as much as I did?