Review: Beyond the Wand

 

I heard about this book from TikTok and I knew I had to read it.

And it was entertaining. I'm not usually a nonfiction reader, but this one spoke to me.

If you're a fan of the Harry Potter movies, this book has some great stories about what it was like on set.

Of course it has some personal stories from Tom - and it honestly made me want to give him a big hug.

The only disappointment was - there was no mention of his role on The Flash. I wanted to hear a little more about that...

Blogoversary: 10 years

Wow, I can't believe I've been blogging for ten years at YA Book Nerd. Where does the time go? I wanted to thank everyone who's been with me on this journey. From fellow booknerds to librarian colleagues - thank you! To authors, publishers, and publicists - thank you! I've loved being a part of the book conversation.

The pups enjoying some dog ice cream in celebration! 

And things have certainly changed on the blog over the past ten years. My reviews have gotten longer. And while they're more personal than my reviews for professional journals (Voya and SLJ), I think they work at showcasing why I enjoyed reading the book.

Recently, I went back and looked at the past ten years. My blog posts varied from book reviews (first mostly YA books, then cozies, then middle grade, then romance, and picture books). At first I was afraid to branch out because I called my blog YA Book Nerd for a reason. But now I'm comfortable sharing my views/opinions on the books I read.

I've also hosted blog tours, author interviews, book spotlights, author news. I've talked about my work in the library with display videos, program ideas, book trailers. I've talked about movies I've enjoyed and movies I want to see. I've shared reviews from other sites: Voya, SLJ, Teens Read Too, Fresh Fiction, and the YALSA blog. I've shared my love for pop culture. I've written personal posts on politics, my life, and share pictures of my pups.

I used to share things on the blog that I now share on Twitter instead. It took a while for me to find my blogging feet. I used to play around with the template a bunch - and it took me ages to find a blog counter that worked. Finally I asked Icey Designs to create me a blog template. I loved it. And I've been using it ever since. Sure, lots of the pictures no longer work. Some of the posts are cringeworthy - but it's me.

Here's a look back:

First Post: Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist

Last Post: Christmas by Accident

Most Popular Post: Summer Reading Ideas: Life Size Games

My Biggest Blogging Year: 2013 with 450 posts (I try to post at least 5 times a week and sometimes on the weekend.)

Search Term People Use Most to Find My Blog: Christmas

A few blog posts that represent the blog pretty well:

2008: Forever Princess (My love for Meg Cabot is strong!)

2009: Facebook Flair (remember that?), Meeting Rick Riordan, The Season book review, Fake Book Cover (my second biggest post)

2010: A Meg Cabot Moment

2011: Book Ideas for Christmas (I do this now every year, it's one of my favorite posts but it also takes a LOT of time)

2012: Eating Disorder Awareness Display and Special Thank You

2013: Dear Mr. Potter, If You Like Pins (some of these more popular pins made it to Buzzfeed!)

2014: 10 Years and Book Covers and Prom Dresses 

2015: Fall TV

2016: National Princess Week

2017: Nasty Women's Books and New Addition

2018: National Library Week

I hope you enjoyed this look back over the years. And thank you again for being part of the journey!

Back to Hogwarts

Yesterday the Harry Potter world went back home. And that's where I'll be headed

Im so excited!!!!

I'll post pictures when I start building!

Review: Diagon Alley

It's the day where everyone (except all the muggles) heads off to Hogwarts for another school year. But first we have a stop at Diagon Alley to pick up our school supplies:

Diagon Alley is our (and Harry's) first look into the Wizarding World. As soon as Hagrid touches the bricks, the magic begins. It's a place of wonder and a place to explore. This book allows for such exploration - readers can learn secrets from the movie set, knowledge about the different shops, how the set was designed, and more. Working on this set design would have been a dream come true - it sounds perfect!

This book covers all the time spent in Diagon Alley - just the first glimpse of it we see in Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. While it's a small book at 48 pages, it's full of information and pictures that made my heart happy. 

If you're a Harry Potter fan, this is an amazing book to read. 

And welcome back to Hogwarts!

* book sent for review

Top Ten Tuesday: Nonfiction Favorites

This week is all about nonfiction. I used to not read nonfiction that much, but I've tried to change that up a bit - mostly the fun nonfiction, coffee table type books. Here are a few that I've loved recently.

- meme from That Artsy Reader Girl












And I'm currently reading and loving:

Fantastic Beasts

On Saturday afternoon, I finally had a date to see this movie. And it was fantastic. I loved it so. And I purposely didn't read any thing about it prior to seeing the movie. It was funny, entertaining, and full of magic. I liked the few mentions that I caught from the Harry Potter world and I look forward to learning more about this area of Harry Potter. All in all, it was a very enjoyable movie.

Afterwards, I read two great tie-ins

A movie scrapbook with details about making the movie, the characters, and of course the beasts. Full of great pictures and interesting facts. I couldn't put this down. 

Then I took a look at:

This book was AMAZING!

It's only a few pages, but the pop-up are super cool. It's perfect for your Harry Potter loving fan.  The details are amazing. I love looking at pop up books; they make me feel like a kid again.

Next Up on my reading list:

Top Ten Tuesday: All Time Favorite Series

This week's topic is  Top Ten ALL TIME Favorite Books Of X Genre , and I pick series...

I love series, so this is a bit tricky for me. Series is anything more than 3 books! There are SO many more that I adore, but these came to mind first and I don't want to overwhelm anyone with 80 more!

- meme from The Broke and the Bookish 

Adult:

Harry Potter Book Tags

A little while ago, I was searching for something fun for the blog and I came across these tags. SO of course I had to participate! Kimberly made these awesome tags - check her post out here.  I'm going to try to limit them to books read this year. And here I go...

Grabby Hands on an Upcoming Release

Anything she writes, I will read.

Favorite series starter

So different and yet both so good.

Book that gave you the warm fuzzies

travel - banter - dogs- romance 

What's not to love?

Book that made you cry - hard

I cried about three times in the first 20 pages...but a really good book.

Heroine you'd want to protect you in real life

Jocelyn has the skills, but hopefully that would never happen because I lead a quiet life.

A Book you wish you could make EVERYONE read because it's just that good

Trust me, just read it!

Book series you wish Never ended

Loved both of these series and I understand why they ended, but I will miss them.

Book with an uplifting final message

A good heart is worth more than anything

An author who can always get you out of a reading slump

Meg Cabot books always make me happy

Swoon worthy hero - aka my new book boyfriend

Clark!

Book that made you forget the rest of the world because you HAD to keep reading

So many books are like this for me, but Defending Taylor was the latest, And all Miranda Kenneally books are like that for me.

Book that made you laugh out loud

Janet Evanovich always makes me laugh. 

Book world where you'd love to visit

I would love to visit with the Bridgertons 

Book with shocking twists and turns

This series always has me on the edge of my seat