"Harry Potter and The Cursed Child" BY: J.K. Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany

To say this book or rather screenplay has been long anticipated would be an understatement. I think millions of people have been holding their breath and waiting years for a Harry Potter to come back into their lives. Nothing is better then entering into your favorite book world. It's only something true book lovers would understand. Remember, a new world is right at your finger tips.

After the 7th and final Harry Potter book ended, it left you 19 years into the future with Harry, Ginny, Ron and Heromines kids all going off to Hogwarts. Harry's younger son Albus, was going to Hogwarts for the first time and was nervous about where the sorting hat was going to place him, since he didn't want to be in Slytherin. The screenplay picks up where the last book left off. Harry reassures Albus that the sorting hat takes his choice into account. Albus' fears come true and the screenplay fast forwards with Albus being the main character to drive the plot forward.

The Cursed Child is not like a Harry Potter book. It is a new and refreshing take on the long and detailed books we are used to reading. But don't let that stop you, actually let that entice you more to read it. I don't need to sell you this book. It doesn't need my help. But what I want to get across with this post is not so much what the book is about, but more about what I made me feel and what Harry Potter does for millions of people.

I think it's close to fate that I only started reading the Harry Potter books a year ago. It was the perfect timing for the Cursed Child to come out. I was still fresh on my Harry Potter hype train. I can honestly say now that I'm a Harry Potter super fan. As I'm writing this now I'm wearing some Harry Potter merch and I wear it proud.

Harry Potter brings out the kid in you and brings out the magic in everyone that truly experiences and believes in it. If you are anything like me that you'll when you get to experience and see your favorite characters grow up and have their own families and live happily. So maybe I'm biased or overly happy and protective of my Harry Potter fantasy that no matter what The Cursed Child was like I would probably stand by it. The only thing that someone can say is that the story was rushed and that's not the stories fault so much as the medium of which is was written for. You need to go into the story remembering that it is a play and written to be a performed on stage. If you keep that in mind then nothing should truly disappoint you. I went into reading it with the right mindset and I think that made all the difference.

This story gives you the best story line that Harry Potter could give you. It revisits the past. It visits different futures that give you a different perspective on the meaning everything happens for a reason and that we should never wish to change our past because it could greatly alter our future. It touches on the strain of a legacy that a son must carry through life for his father. And how Harry tries to navigate fatherhood without having a father himself to learn and model himself from.

Cursed Child is beautiful and poignant to the true hearts of Harry Potter fans, It touches you right in the Hogwarts feels. One things for sure. I'll be a Harry Potter fan, ALWAYS.

Achievement Unlocked: Read the Harry Potter series

I'm so excited to announce that I have now officially finished reading Harry Potter. I read all 7 books. And now I can die happy. :)

Reading Harry Potter has brought me so much joy and renewed my love for books. I can't even quite remember a time before reading Harry Potter, because it probably it took me a few good months to get through them. They sparked a new life in me. I truly felt as if these books carry a magic all their own. It was truly a trance like experience reading them. It helped that I also saw all the movies so the visual imagery was totally alive. I think it's time I start binge watching those movies again....

All 7 books were phenomenal and delivered everything and more than I could have ever imagined. I got started on this journey after I cam back from "Harry Potter World" at Universal Orlando, Florida. I got so insanely inspired from that park that I knew I had to read the books. I wanted to know all the secrets. I wanted to immerse myself in Harry Potter land and never leave. I luckily had 3 of the 7 books and then just ordered the rest on Amazon. I sometimes literally could not put the books down. They were amazing from start to finish. Each and everyone. 

Some times that surprised me about the books started with the very first one. I know these books came out many years ago and at the time I was slightly too young to truly appreciate them. So I feel that now was the perfect time for me to get the full experience. But the first book less intense then I was expecting. It felt very much like being a kid and your parents withholding all the "grown-up" stuff that you don't need to know yet. And all the books progressed, much like we all age and come to learn about all those things that our parents omitted telling us. It was the underlying theme that played throughout. Each book got more intense and starting revealing more and more. 

I know years ago, I remember some people had told me that the movies did not follow the books too well. So when reading it I was hoping to find out some more information that the movies skipped over. To be honest, since having seen the movies first, I didn't see that much difference. of course there were plot lines that were omitted for good reasons I think. Except for the last book. I felt that towards the end there were some interesting things left out. Such as when Harry dies and goes to "Kings Cross," his conversation with Dumbledore was much more informative then I remember the movie being. I especially remember this because I was a little frustrated with the lack of information he gave Harry in the movie. But we all know movies are far more complex.

Harry Potter is a MUST READ. It's magical and amazing. After finishing the last book, I felt as if my whole life was changed from that moment and that it would never be the same. I remember just sitting there with the book closed in my lap and thinking,"What am I going to do now?" 

It's the true feeling of a "book-hole." Where you don't know what to do with yourself after investing so much time and enjoyment into something. This book will live in infamy and I will be sure that my kids read these books and enter the magical world one book at a time. 

Magic is Happening

I'm sure you read the title of this post and was a little confused. So let me explain...

Probably going to sound familiar to you when I say that I'm sorry for not writing for some time. I don't know why, but I always feel the need to apologize or preface a post before I really get into it. It helps me to put my thoughts and emotions out there and then move on from them.

But, I actually have a good reason for being away and that reason is: HARRY POTTER. Guys, I'm officially obsessed. I know one of my last posts was about how I was going to be reading and 'reviewing the books so this shouldn't come as a complete shock. My plan now is to read all the books and then write one post about my thoughts on the books and my experience reading them. It will be some great reflection writing and I'm excited about that post.

I figured that writing an individual post about each book was too much and I barely have gone a day without reading a chapter, even between books. I just flew through the first 3 and now I'm almost finished with the 4th. By the time I realized that I should have written about them, it was too late. Plus I feel my new idea is way better, so it all worked out.

In the meantime, while I'm reading HP. I will try to write some more opinion or journal like entry's that focus on topics of interest about reading or just some random thoughts or rants. Really whenever I get the inspiration to write I'm going to just do it. (I'll try my best.)

I've really been getting more and more inspired by my passion for books. It just reassures me that I'm on the right path to success, I just can't give up yet. Because, I do believe in the magic of books.

Please let me know if there is something you would like me to talk about. I tend to have opinions on most things and I'm sure it would be fun to have a dialogue about it.

For now I'll just say see ya later!

Ciao,
Cheryl

NEW! Throwback Series!

Hey!

I hope everyone had a lovely 4th of July!

I'm also excited to announce a throwback series that I have wanted to read for well over a decade. That series is: Harry Potter !

Now, let me explain. The first week of June I took a vacation to Universal Orlando. Mainly for one reason, which was to see Harry Potter World. I have been dreaming about going there every since it first opened. I was beyond excited to go this year. And let me tell you, it was MAGICAL. That place brought me so much inspiration. I was just itching to get home and read the Harry Potter books that I knew I had but never read.

When HP first came out I was pretty young, so those books seemed a little bit above my reading level. I mean they were 300 pages! That was too much for me apparently. I wouldn't even blink at that now, but of course when you're young that seems impossible to read. So I just never read them. Also, for some reason I have a problem with jumping on ban- wagons. Meaning, I never jump into hyped up obsessed series right away. I have to come to want to read something or do something on my own terms. I don't know why I'm like that. I was also like that with the Twilight series but I eventually came around and became obsessed. I have gotten better at it over time. BUT, anyways the years flew by and the HP movies came out and so I felt like I didn't really need to read the books anymore. But as we all know the movies are never quite accurate to the books and only the book lovers would know that. I mean I broke my own rule: "Never watch the movie before reading the book."

For some reason, going to HP World made me want to read something more then anything ever has in a while. I felt like all these years, I've been missing out on all the secrets that HP held. I wanted to finally know the ins- and- outs of HP. I felt like I never quite knew everything from the movies and slowly people would connect the dots for me, but I would also feel embarrassed. That's going to change with this Throwback Series.

I will start this series soon, because I am currently about to start reading a newly released book, "P.S. I Still Love You," which I had downloaded before leaving for vacation. I figured I would get that one out of the way so I can go full stem ahead on the new series.

I hope you all join me and get re inspired by the HP series. I know I'm going to really love it.

Ciao!

(Photo taken my be. Isn't it magical!)