What the Spell by Brittany Geragotelis Review

Hey all! So I just recently finished reading a book called "What the Spell" by Brittany Geragotelis. The book revolves around a sixteen year old girl named Brooklyn. Here's the synopsis: 

Almost-sixteen-year-old Brooklyn feels invisible, but she desperately wants to be pretty, to be popular, to be adored by a cute guy. Luckily for her, she’s a witch about to come of age—so she’s only a few spells away from making it all happen. On her milestone birthday, Brooklyn’s conservative parents finally unbind her powers. This newfound freedom leads to a spell-assisted makeover, entree into the cool clique, and the attention of her longtime crush, Asher. Even better, Brooklyn discovers her true power: the ability to magically match couples with a love spell. But Brooklyn’s quest for popularity is not without its price. As the clique escalates their initiation tests and she relies on her powers to complete the tasks, Brooklyn finds herself in the same precarious position as her Salem ancestors: if she’s found out, she could be vilified—and lose Asher in the process. Can she make the most of her magic, or will she be luckless and loveless? Be careful what you witch for!

So I was hoping this book would be really good because I have a special place in my heart for witches. The plot was iffy because I didn't care for Brooklyn doing a makeover on herself but I hoped more of the book revolved around witches and casting spells. But instead I got a book about a girl who completely changes her appearance and spends the entire book chasing popularity which is overrated. There will be spoilers below so leave now if you haven't read this book!!! 

Okay so I understand the whole makeover thing because plenty of girls do this but she didn't just change her hair color or get new clothes. She literally gave herself a new body complete with new eye color, hair color, boobs, butt and curves. On top of completely becoming a different person, her parents didn't even care. They just told her some story about the Salem Witch Trials and told her not to overuse her powers. Fine I can roll with that. But no one in the school questioned her changes? I mean I know Brooklyn wasn't really noticed but wouldn't the teachers notice or care? 

Then came The Elite aka the popular kids. The entire time I was sitting there rolling my eyes. How was it not completely obvious that they were just using her? And then she was dumb enough to do magic in front of them. Like hello? Didn't you remember ANYTHING your parents warned you about? And the book ends without Brooklyn even trying to fix it. I was expecting her to do a spell to get Gigi's phone and erase the video or something but nope. She just carries on like nothing changed.

Asher and Abby and their parents were probably the only thing I enjoyed about this book. I liked learning about them and their home. The romance was not great for me. It pissed me off that she used magic to make Asher fall for her. I understand the concept but I still don't approve. The entire book Brooklyn kept hiding things from him and there really was no spark that I could see. And when he leaves, she's not really heartbroken like I expected. In fact she barely mentions him when she's talking about how she's going to run the school now. I am curious though about where the entire family went. I feel like either they are the descendants from the Parris line or they were caught doing magic and are in trouble. 

Apparently there are two more books in this series but the main character changes. I'll probably read the next one and if I like the main character then I'll stick with this series otherwise I won't continue. I was disappointed with this book and I'd probably give it 2 stars out of 5. Believe it or not, I have read worse books.... Anyway so those are my thoughts!! Hope you enjoyed them!

xoxo Allie

New Summer Shows - The Night Shift and Chasing Life

Well I promised you this and here it is! New summer shows that I've watched.

Okay so the first new show I've checked out is The Night Shift on NBC! I had seen a trailer for the show and I thought why the hell not? My summer tv schedule is always slow so I like to try out shows that I normally wouldn't. So NBC here I came! And honestly, I was pleasantly surprised. The show is funny, interesting and has great characters. There's even a romance I'm rooting for!! I really enjoy the medical parts of the show and I love how the medical parts are all different in each episode and not at all boring stuff like the flu! I could list all the characters I love but honestly that would be all of them. Landry and Krista are two that I am indifferent to. Krista is too much of a mean-girl and stuck-up for me to love but Landry is just there. She really doesn't have anything interesting about her except for the fact that she's sleeping with TC. I will definitely continue watching the show and here's hoping that it gets season 2!!! (Yes even this early)

And the final new show I have watched is Chasing Life on ABC Family! I saw a lot of trailers leading up to the premiere of this show and honestly I was not interested. The idea of a girl having cancer was interesting but something about the show just didn't catch my attention. Then I watched Pretty Little Liars and when the show ended this one aired. I thought why the hell not? I have nothing better to do so I watched the first episode and then the second one. I have to saw I do enjoy the show. I mean it's nowhere near my favorite but I have seen worse. April is an interesting character and I like her family and friends as well as the plot. The only thing I don't like is the romance with Dominic... I'm not sure why. He's sweet and all but he didn't really catch my attention. Leo however definitely did and I really hope there's more to be shown of him!! I will continue watching!!

And so that's the two new shows that I've watched. I will also check out the Musketeers on BBC America and Young and Hungry on ABC Family when they air! Also on my summer schedule is The Fosters season 2, Teen Wolf season 4, Pretty Little Liars season 5, Witches of East End season 2 and Defiance season 2! I do have posts about my thoughts on The Fosters, Teen Wolf and Witches of East End if you want to check those out!

xoxo Allie

PS. It's my 100th post today!! Yay for milestones!

Thoughts on Teen Wolf and Game of Thrones

Hello all! So I'm back today with two new shows that I've just finished binge-watching!!

So the first show I watched was Teen Wolf. Now I was hesitant to watch this show because it looked kind of silly to me at first glance but a lot of people that I knew loved shows like Arrow or OUAT also liked Teen Wolf. Color me surprised. I decided to check it out to see if I could find out what all these people liked and I suppose I found it. Season 1 was extremely hard to get through and season 2 was just as bad. But as season 3 rolled around, it got much better. The characters were more interesting and the plot got darker which made it better. My biggest problem with the first two seasons was the Scott and Allison romance. I like both characters on their own but for some reason I didn't like them together. I loved Stiles and his relationship with his dad. I enjoyed Allison's dad too and Derek. It annoyed me how Scott distrusted Derek for so long and how he spent much of the first two seasons trying to be normal. Overall I liked the show and I will be checking out season 4 which airs next Monday!

The second show I watched was Game of Thrones. I know I know. I should have been watching it earlier. But the thing is, it's on HBO and I never had time to sit through four seasons. But I finally bit the bullet because literally everyone watches this show and I hate not knowing what people are talking about! I definitely enjoyed it! I tried to avoid spoilers but a few snuck in here and there. I did feel like the plot dragged a little. I mean the Stark army was trying to get to King's Landing for 3 seasons. I liked Ned and Cat alright although I never had any large feelings for them. I disliked Sansa at the beginning of the show but she quickly grew on me when she was being treated so unfairly. I loved Rob but was super annoyed at him for getting married. I liked Arya and Bran from the beginning and it continued. Jon Snow I wavered on because his storyline kept going from interesting to boring and then back to interesting. I did hate Jamie in the beginning of the show but now I really do like him. Daenerys is probably another one of my favorite characters. I really liked all her storylines from Drogo to the dragons to Daario (totally shipping them now). I'm impatient to see her get back to Westros! I'm definitely going to be watching season 5!!

And with that, I am done! I will be back shortly with a new post on new summer tv shows I am watching!

xoxo Allie

Thoughts on Salem, Once Upon a Time in Wonderland and Black Sails

Hello my loves! I'm finally back! So the summer has arrived and what is the best part? The time to binge-watch Netflix!!! So as of now, I've watched 3 new shows and I'm here to tell you what I thought of them!!!

Salem was the first show I watched. After watching an episode, I decided that I didn't really like the show... The premise seemed to have so much potential and a lot of the characters seemed to be interesting. Now I don't mind that the witches were evil but what I did mind was that the main character turned evil. I loved Mary and John's relationship and the idea that she's going to hurt him didn't really catch my attention.. Honestly I barely made it through the first episode. Frogs feeding off sexily placed thigh boils. A local whore house in a town that whips and brands people for fornication. The "cinnamon" servant who brought the witchcraft to the innocent heartbroken woman in the first place. It would be laughable if it wasn't so tragically horrible. Perhaps it was just too dark for me... This show has been renewed for a second season so it seems the show does have a stable fan base.

Once Upon a Time in Wonderland is the next show I watched. If you remember I tried to watch this show when it first premiered in the fall but I had trouble following it because I had never watched Once Upon a Time. Now that I've caught up and fell in love with OUAT, I figured I would try out OUAT in Wonderland and I enjoyed it!! Although I was wishy-washy on whether I liked Alice, I really liked Will and Anna and Cyrus (who was extremely good looking). I enjoyed the plot but I definitely understand why the show was cancelled. The entire show was based on finding each other and once they finally did, there were no more plot lines for the show to truly follow. It was not as good as OUAT but it was a fun little miniseries. I'm excited for Will to join OUAT next season and I hope Anna comes with him.

Black Sails was the final show I binge-watched. Now the reason I ended up watching this show was because I watched the pilot of Crossbones and when I read reviews, many people stated that Crossbones was simply a worse version of Black Sails. This made me curious because I didn't really enjoy the pilot of Crossbones which made me disappointed. I love pirates and I had seen trailers for Black Sails when it first premiered so I finally went back and watched it. Let me just say, it was EPIC! I could do without all the nudity but I loved the action and the characters. I loved how most of the show is based on drama and politics and how the first four episodes are all about character development before the action shows up. Captain Vane, Jack Rackham, Eleanor Guthrie, Anne Bonny and  Billy Bones!! Vane is my favorite and I hope that he and Eleanor get back together eventually. Anne and Jack are precious too! I can't wait until the second season!

So that's all for now but don't fret! I will definitely continue to watch other shows and tell you what I think! I'm on season 2 of Teen Wolf which will be followed by Merlin and then Elementary! I will definitely keep you posted.

xoxo Allie