Hello everyone,
I am Hermione. Welcome to my blog, Portable Magic. I really love books and learning about new things. In this blog, I write reviews about the books I read and love.
Lainie Adair a été poignardée chez elle. Le meurtrier reste encore un mystère mais on a comme suspect, Harry Nore, qui a été trouvé avec l’arme du crime.
Personne n’oublia l’évènement tragique de la star. Pour Madison Adair, sa vie a pratiquement changé. Depuis le jour où sa mère est morte, elle a commencé à avoir des rêves. Ils n’ étaient pas si fréquents, un peu rare, mais Madison avait un don, un don qui lui permettra de voir des meurtres en direct de l’oeil du victime dans ses rêves .
Les choses commençaient a s’empirer pour Madison, quand un tueur en série commença à séduire les jeunes femmes et à les tuer. Les rêves de Madison deviennent de plus en plus fréquents au point qu’elle ne les supportent plus. Les meurtres lui faisait revivre l’assassinat de sa mère et de son impuissance d’aider la police avec ses rêves. Elle sentait que quelqu’un proche d’elle cours un grave danger mais elle ignore qui…
…Le tueur aime les jeunes femmes, belles et rousses, comme elle.
I read this book like AGES ago. Okay that’s not true, just kidding. But I did read this back in April and I was like, well, maybe I’ll just review it later or something…So here it is!
Source: Giphy
Title: The Talisman
Authors: Peter Straub, Stephen King
Genre: Fantasy
Publication Date: November, 1984
Source: Amazon.co.uk
Jack Sawyer is a boy of 12 years old. He lives with his mother, Lily Cavanaugh, a very famous actress who is suffering from cancer.
To Jack, life seems quite slow-paced since his mother and he have just recently moved to New Hampshire in a hotel called Alhambra. All there is to do is to stroll on the beach and watch the seagulls flying above the sea.
This is the place where Jack makes his second best-friend, Speedy and old black man who works as a janitor in an old amusement park. Jack and Speedy become very good friends that it looks like they have been friends for years.
One day, Speedy brings Jack to his office and apart from all the pictures of nude girls cut from men’s magazines, only one stands out, a picture of a place that sorta looks like Africa. Speedy tells Jack about this place, which he calls the Territories and Jack tells Speedy about his Daydreams. The Territories as Speedy describes is a place is a world parallel to our world but relatively smaller in size. Speedy tells Jack about what Twinners are and Lily Cavanaugh’s Twinner, Laura DeLoessian, the Queen of the Territories. Speedy tells Jack about a crystal, The Talisman which he will have to try to get in order to save his mother and if he does, well, the Queen will be saved too and all will be well. Jack knows that this task isn’t chocolate cake and it will be very difficult as he will have to go West… probably come face to face with Morgan of Orris himself, the ruler of the Outposts, cross the Blasted Lands and well if he ever got out of there alive maybe he will be able to get to the Talisman somehow.
My ratings: 4/7
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
The fact that you can actually feel in the place of the characters makes it amazing. All the characters are well developed so you can picture them clearly. It is really amazing somehow how people can make a story so long, interesting and so magical with just a simple theme like a journey to save my mother! It is a must-read. I would recommend it to all people who love fantasy, strange worlds, daring adventures and of course magic.
I also learned that there is a sequel to this book, it is called Black House and still by Stephen King and Peter Straub. I would definitely read it someday!
Have you ever read this book? What do you think of it? Make sure to tell me in the comments below!
Lucy HARPER is the bestselling author of the ElizaGrey novels and unfortunately, her life didn’t always seem to be as perfect as it looks like. When she was very young, she had lost her little brother, Teddy in the woods of Charlotte Close and he was never to be found again. Because of this tragedy, Lucy changed her name from Lucy Bewley to Lucy Harper. She lives in a tiny little flat with her husband Dan always busy writing the next ElizaGrey novel.
Everything seems to go really smoothly until Dan gave her a very bad surprise. He had bought a large house at Charlotte’s Close. Lucy had experienced her worst memory over there and she had never thought she would be going back to the place where she had lost her little brother. Why on earth had Dan brought her to stay here? He was very well aware of Lucy’s painful past.
When Lucy goes to their new neighbours’ party welcoming the two she notices Dan with one of their new neighbours Sasha. Lucy knew a little about Sasha because Dan had spoken about her once. Sasha was flirting with Dan and Lucy was very suspicious about the two.
She didn’t understand why Dan brought her here….To be with Sasha? To find out more about her past? Or both? Things don’t seem to be going on very right…
My ratings: 4.6/5
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
(I really think I am running out of adjectives to describe books because I just keep on saying things like amazing and wonderful.🤣¯\_(ツ)_/¯). Well, it was a fabulously rich story. It was written very beautifully and and really had like a little bit of everything in life… you know like having doubts, sadness, anger, frustration, joy. It was like a colour wheel of emotions. I highly recommend this book and I hope you found joy reading this blog post or maybe even reading this book.
Please leave any comments below on anything you feel like whether its a book recommendation or if you have read this book(I would absolutely love to know how you feel about this book) feel free to type it down below!
Hello guys! It feels so nice to be back here! I know that I have taken a HUGE break from blogging and it already feels like an eternity. So basically, that will be the very first post I am posting this year! Well, there is again another confinement in Mauritius and it has been two weeks already since we are at home. I think this has given me the opportunity to start posting again since I could not do it before because I had my 3rd term exams going on and unfortunately because of Covid, it has been decided that we won’t be doing the exams.😶.
Title: Playing Nice
Author: JP Delaney
Genre: Psychological thriller
Date of publication: July, 28th 2020
Source: Amazon.com
When Pete learns that his son isn’t his own but have been swapped in the hospital, he is devastated and rushes to tell his partner, Maddie about the news. Their two-year old son, Theo is actually the son of a very rich family, the Lamberts. Meanwhile, the Lamberts have Pete and Maddie’s biological son, who they named David. Having finally absorbed the shocking news, Pete and Maddie visit the Lamberts’ place and finally meet their biological son, David for the very first time while Miles Lambert and his wife Lucy meet Theo for the first time. The grown-ups have a meeting and decide to handle this awkward situation properly and sensibly. Pete and Miles soon become good friends and even share a drink together. The problem is that sometimes, Miles doesn’t seem to be the nice person he appears to be. And Lucy is nearly scared of her husband…
One fine day, Pete and Maddie received a few papers that shook them unexpectedly. Miles seem to be going a bit too far…and Pete and Maddie will have to fight a lot with bravery to be able to win and if they lose, their little family will be shattered forever.
My ratings: 5/5
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
It was an amazing book. I have never read a book like this (of psychological thriller) before and I have to say, it was breathtaking. It is just that type of book that really keeps you reading and reading till you finish it. It is really worth reading and I highly recommend it.
Cheers!
~Hermione
P.S. For the moment, I am reading To Tell You The Truth by Gilly Macmillan and I swear it is marvelous.😉
Just a little note: During the time I have not been posting at all because of my second-term exams, I read 3 books; The Echo Room by Parker Peevyhouse, One by One by Freida McFadden and The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde. I haven’t made any posts about those books but I’ll try afterwards. I’m afraid they won’t be as detailed as they have to be in a review but I guess I’ll do just fine. I will see if I can write those reviews after…
Title: The One Plus One
Author: Jojo Moyes
Genre: Romance novel, Domestic Fiction
Publication Date: February, 2014
Source: Goodreads.com
Jessica Rae Thomas is a single parent/mother of two kids, Nicky and Tanzie(she has a dog called Norman) who has two jobs…yes, two jobs. She is a cleaner with whom she works with her friend, Nathalie and she works at a bar during the night.
One night, she meets Ed Nichols who demands for more alcohol after eleven p.m, the time they stop serving. Finally agreeing, Jess realizes that this man won’t be able to return home. She hires a taxi to bring him home. And she finds some money that fell from Ed’s pocket…
Now Jess has a very important thing to do….drive Tanzie all the way to Scotland where she will participate into a Maths competition where she can win enough money for her to pay the fees for her new school St Anne.
The problem is that her car is not insured and she has just got into trouble with the police. Fortunately Ed comes to their rescue and offers to drive Jess and her kid and her dog to Scotland.
Will all of them be able to reach Scotland? Will Tanzie be able to win this competition?
My ratings: 4.6
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
This book was amazing. I highly recommend this book. It teaches us about the problems that many people face in life and how it is always possible to find the courage to overcome them no matter what..
See you next time and I hope you enjoyed reading this!
Hello guys! Welcome back because I know that it has been quite a while that I haven’t posted. Finally! My second term exam are over, the holidays have just started (since yesterday) and I will be active again! Yay!
So today is a very special day because it is my blog anniversary! It is amazing how such a year has passed by already!
OK, I admit I nearly forgot the date of my blog’s b-day because for some unknown reason, I always thought it was on the 18th of November…🤦🏻♀️. When I decided to check my blog today, I received a notification telling me ”Happy Blog Anniversary!”…and I was like, ” *surprised* Oh, so my blog’s birthday is TODAY! I forgot…anyways…”
So I would like to say thank you to all the lovely people here who have been on my blog. Thank you to all of my followers and random people who came across this and I wish all of you a lovely day!
I’m really sorry that I am lagging behind a LOT on my blog. My second term exams are coming up in November and I have already started revising but luckily OUR MID-TERM HOLIDAY HAS STARTED!! Yay! On Friday, it was the ”last day of half-term2” so I am FREE for a week! I mean I’ll still have t o revise and all but…
NOTE: I DON’T REALLY THINK I WILL BE ABLE TO POST ANYTHING DURING NOVEMBER BECAUSE OF THOE EXAMS AND I’M SORRY FOR ALL INCONVENIENCE…
Let’s start with the review.
Name: The Haunting of Ashburn House
Author: Darcy Coates
Genre: Horror fiction/Paranormal fiction, Ghost
Source: Amazon
Adrienne is moving into her new home, Ashburn House, she has mysteriously inherited from her now dead, great-aunt, Edith Ashburn. With her cat, Wolfgang and a few belongings, Adrienne leaves for Ashburn House. Reaching the lonely and desolated place, Adrienne remembers something…the place looks familiar. She has been here before when she was little. Her memory of leaving this place in the car with her mother who was crying and a few drops of blood sprayed on her chin.
The house seemed spooky enough without her newly found friends telling her the old stories about the house. When she researches about the house and learns about the history of the house and how the Ashburn family mysteriously died with such atrocity and that disturbing memory she has are all haunting her. The scratches over the whole house about no mirrors and it is Friday. light the candle. your family is still dead…those disturbing messages…and Wolfgang acting weirdly all of a sudden at some point of the day and just at sunset all the birds in the forest flying away, Addy knows that she has to find out what is happening before things get to late.
My ratings:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 5 out of 5.
That was DEFINITELY scary. I still remember reading the scary part upstairs at night in a dim room (I don’t like it when it is too bright) where there was only a lamp lighting only the part of the room where I was sitting on a chair and I started imagining things in the story and I practically had to get OUT. I mean it is a real horror story and I HIGHLY RECOMMEND it. I guess I’ll read all of Darcy Coates books one day.😁😁.
I am so sorry guys I haven’t been able to post for around three weeks. I was inactive since all this schoolwork and revision and tests is killing me and I am extremely busy. And we have our 2nd term exams starting in November and I have already started revising. I just hope that during the exams I do not have a black out…😂😂😂
So let’s begin.
Name: Final Friends-The Dance Part 2 and The Graduation
Author: Christopher Pike
Genre: YA Fiction, Mystery, Crime
NOTE: PLEASE DO NOT READ AS IT MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS FOR THE FIRST BOOK: FINAL FRIENDS VOL.1
Everything is supposedly back to normal. Jessica, still grieving for her dead friend, Alice. Michael Olson is still searching for the killer of Alice and his main suspect is Clark, Alice’s boyfriend, who is now Polly’s boyfriend. Michael is also not convinced that it was suicide and the police doesn’t seem to do much about that except closing the case deciding it was murder.
Meanwhile Jessica realizes that she has fallen in love with Michael Olson but she isn’t sure that he has the same feelings for her and he is too-good for such a girl like her. So instead, she tries seducing the football quarterback, Bill Skater.
Now, the homecoming dance was coming soon and Jessica, Maria, Clair and another girl, Cindy. Unfortunately, somebody tampered with the float and it seems that there will be another accident tonight or even death…
The Graduation
With Maria in a wheelchair with her useless legs Jessica is nearly depressed since Maria accused her for the accident.
With Michael still searching for Alice’s murderer, he seems to be getting nowhere expect suspecting Clark all along.
During the late-night cruise party everybody is present Michael, Jessie, Sara, Polly…and Clark as well…will the cruise be a big mistake? Will any more lives be claimed?.
My ratings:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
It was an amazing ending to the story. I wont tell you what happened otherwise I will spoil it but it had a really happy ending and a strange one as well especially Bubba’s ending and Clair’s.
It was amazingly written and the last moments in the boat was breathtaking and we finally know who is the killer…
When Guy finds a very old document about his mother, Heather inheriting an old house, he decides that this is his opportunity to help his mother in their financial problems and to repay back a little bit of her kindness towards him.
On reaching Heather’s inheritance, Rookward House, Guy is surprised at its state. Broken and grimy windows, overgrown vines, rotten wood, Guy realises that it will take weeks to make this place inhabitable and fit for sale.
Guy packs up everything needed for his stay at Rookward, food and water and tools. As Guy is cleaning up the vines from one of the windows, he finds, shocked, two palms plastered against the window glass, greyish like a sea creature that has been left in the sun for too long. He also sees a body blurred by the window’s dirtiness and a face with long dark hair. Does someone else lives here? Is that thing even alive? Surely not…
Bizarre things do not stop there. Doors that Guy closed seem to open by themselves, clothes with dark stains in the middle, a baby monitor long dead emitting sounds and strange footsteps. Surely staying there for a week cannot be that bad. When Guy spends many disturbed nights dreaming flashbacks of Rookward House and its inhabitants, he is sure that this house is haunted by a ghost.And what does the ghost want? Guy doesn’t know.
My ratings:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
I must say after reading The Haunting of Gillespie House, it seems only mild horror compared to Rookward. I don’t think it would be a very good idea to read it at night. It all depends on the person. I don’t think I would do that because I could vividly imagine Amy, the ghost during the night and she was very SCARY in my imagination😂. So now Darcy Coates is my favourite author and I really like horror now. I have’t read many horror books before so it was quite new to me. BUT there is one thing…I WOULDN’T DARE TO WATCH HORROR MOVIES. I still remember my friend from primary school and last year she told me she watched Annabelle and so many other horror movies at night. I really don’t know how she did that!
I found Amy a very intriguing and scary character and her physical description could be vividly imagined. Guy also was interesting and I love how Darcy Coates puts a great amount of bravery and courage in her main characters which makes her books more suspenseful and daring.
Elle is going to live in Mr and Mrs Gillespie’s house for some time so as to look after it as the couple are going to town. Elle is so excited as is eager to discover the ancient gothic style of the old house. She finds the house to be very dim-lighted and old with its creaking floorboards and strange sounds.
Elle decides to visit the upper part of the house. On reaching, she enters a large room filled with old-fashioned gothic furniture covered in a large and dusty white cloth. All of a sudden, the door snaps close behind Elle. She is surprised as she is supposed to be the only one in the house and terribly afraid at the same time. As she slowly creeps downstairs, not daring to make any sound, she calls Mrs Gillespie to tell her about what happened but only receives a response saying that the house is old and any strange noise can be expected. Still very suspicious, Elle switches off her phone.
Things start getting stranger and stranger when Elle sees an eye between two shelves in the library, strange scratchings against the wood at night, dreams that seem to real to be ordinary dreams and the mysterious room, the only room that has been locked in the house.
My ratings:
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
Rating: 4.5 out of 5.
That was a real horror story. I mean it was so mysterious and filled with suspense and the last thing that happens in the story is the most interesting part and it makes your bone chill. I really love Elle’s character, that amount of bravery she has and that air of I-can-do-it. Beautifully written!
…maybe you are wondering why I have posted two times a week, well, it is because I have practically disabled Youtube off my phone for a week and I am still trying to keep up that challenge. I know it is slightly hard for me and I did break it off in Thursday and I have restarted. So no Youtube till Thursday afternoon for me. Duh!
Thanks for reading!
Hermione
P.S. Maybe next review will be The Haunting of Rookward House by Darcy Coates.
Portable Magic 