Friday 56 and Book Beginnings: The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien || Friday 50/50: Freebie- Animal sidekick as a pet/never as a pet

Please join us over at RoseCityReader every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author’s name.

This is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice
These are the rules:

1. Grab a book, any book.

2. Turn to page 56, or 56% on your eReader.

3. Find any sentence (or a few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you.

4. Post it.

5. Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda's most recent Friday 56 post.

Synopsis:

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit. Not a nasty, dirty, wet hole, filled with the ends of worms and an oozy smell, nor yet a dry, bare, sandy hole with nothing in it to sit down on or to eat: it was a hobbit-hole, and that means comfort.

(This is my second time reading this book, the last time I read it was in high school.)

Book Beginning:

In a hole in the ground there lived a hobbit.

Page 56:

 Even the good plans of wise wizards like Gandalf and of good friends like Elrond go astray sometimes when you are off on dangerous adventures over the Edge of the Wild; and Gandalf was a wise enough wizard to know it.

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50/50 Friday is a new weekly link-up hosted by Carrie @ The Butterfly Reader and Laura @ Blue Eye Books.  Every week they have a new topic featuring two sides of the same coin - you share a book that suits each category and link up on the hosts' blogs. Add yours here

I am rubbish at picking a freebie topic, So I went and borrowed one of the old topics from before I joined in on this.

Best

Kodiak Bear

The largest "land" Bear (Polar Bears are Arctic bears)

They are cuddly, smart, and big enough to ride.

Worst

An average Moth. 

They are highly flammable and really weak. Maybe one of those HUGE ones, the size of a sparrow would be maybe kind of cool. But they are still pretty flammable, like tissue paper.

(I had a neighbor kid who was scared of moths, so she'd set them on fire.)

Music Monday: Animated MV's

Happy Monday everyone and welcome to Music Monday! This weekly meme was created by Lauren @Always Me. Let's share some songs we've been enjoying lately! If you would like to play and I really hope you do, please see the rules and link up. 

I keep forgetting to make a post for this.

I haven't played League of Legends in about 10 years, but the animation is still great.

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Fair warning: This is a weird MV.

Review: Give the Dark My Love by Beth Revis

Title: Give the Dark My Love

Author: Beth Revis

Series: Give the Dark My Love #1

Genre: Fantasy/YA

Publisher: Razorbill

Publication Date: September 25th, 2018

Edition: Kindle Edition, 368 pages

Source: Library

Purchase: Amazon US | Barnes & Noble | Book Depository | BAM

Synopsis:

 When seventeen-year-old Nedra Brysstain leaves her home in the rural, northern territories of Lunar Island to attend the prestigious Yugen Academy, she has only one goal in mind: learn the trade of medicinal alchemy. A scholarship student matriculating with the children of Lunar Island's wealthiest and most powerful families, Nedra doesn't quite fit in with the other kids at Yugen, who all look down on her. 

 All, except for Greggori "Grey" Astor. Grey is immediately taken by the brilliant and stubborn Nedra, who he notices is especially invested in her studies. And that's for a good reason: a deadly plague has been sweeping through the North, and it's making its way toward the cities. With her family's life--and the lives of all of Lunar Island's citizens--on the line, Nedra is determined to find a cure for the plague. 

 Grey and Nedra continue to grow closer, but as the sickness spreads and the body count rises, Nedra becomes desperate to find a cure. Soon, she finds herself diving into alchemy's most dangerous corners--and when she turns to the most forbidden practice of all, necromancy, even Grey might not be able to pull her from the darkness.

Review:

This was a very enjoyable book. The character arc Nedra went through was very well done and believable. She starts off the book wanting nothing more than to stop and find a cure for the plague that's been affecting people around her for as long as she can remember. And she stays true to that through the book, but as she starts to see more of the plague the more she is willing to do to make that happen. Especially when it has a very personal effect on her.

Gray, he is a less interesting character. While I do like that he never had a time when he didn't believe in Nedra and always kind of disliked his father and the way his family talked about people with less than them, he also still even at the end never really did anything against them. He "dated" Nedra, someone who his family wouldn't approve of, but he also didn't really do anything to stick up for the less fortunate, he even kept the relationship a secret from them. He was very passive with it all. He never really stood up to his friend/cousin who was always outwardly cruel to Nedra.

The first half of this book is a little slow paced compared to the latter half. And watching Nedra's slow descent to Necromancy is very well done. Her tutor/mentor Master Ostrum is the one who starts her on that path, but he doesn't have malicious intent. He truly just wants to stop the plague and trusts that Nedra is the one to help that happen.

The romance, well, it was just okay. I liked that he did, for the most part, respect Nedra for her intelligence, but he also seemed to be more in love with the idea he had of her than her as a full person. He didn't really try to get to know her past who she was at school. He didn't ask about her family or anything. So I didn't really buy that he loved her. But it was a good foundation for love that he respected her. Although he didn't stand up for her enough to his friends and family for my liking.

Considering how this book ended, I am very curious about what a sequel will be like. And what that story will be. Beth Revis is a fantastic author, and I have read almost all of her other books, but this is, in my opinion, her best book. 

Friday 56 and Book Beginnings: Give the Dark My Love (Give the Dark My Love #1) by Beth Revis || Friday 50/50: Freebie! Best/Worst Character Arc

Please join us over at RoseCityReader every Friday to share the first sentence (or so) of the book you are reading, along with your initial thoughts about the sentence, impressions of the book, or anything else the opener inspires. Please remember to include the title of the book and the author’s name.

This is a weekly meme hosted by Freda's Voice
These are the rules:

1. Grab a book, any book.

2. Turn to page 56, or 56% on your eReader.

3. Find any sentence (or a few, just don't spoil it) that grabs you.

4. Post it.

5. Add the URL to your post in the link on Freda's most recent Friday 56 post.

Synopsis:

  When seventeen-year-old Nedra Brysstain leaves her home in the rural, northern territories of Lunar Island to attend the prestigious Yugen Academy, she has only one goal in mind: learn the trade of medicinal alchemy. A scholarship student matriculating with the children of Lunar Island's wealthiest and most powerful families, Nedra doesn't quite fit in with the other kids at Yugen, who all look down on her. 

  All, except for Greggori "Grey" Astor. Grey is immediately taken by the brilliant and stubborn Nedra, who he notices is especially invested in her studies. And that's for a good reason: a deadly plague has been sweeping through the North, and it's making its way toward the cities. With her family's life--and the lives of all of Lunar Island's citizens--on the line, Nedra is determined to find a cure for the plague. 

  Grey and Nedra continue to grow closer, but as the sickness spreads and the body count rises, Nedra becomes desperate to find a cure. Soon, she finds herself diving into alchemy's most dangerous corners--and when she turns to the most forbidden practice of all, necromancy, even Grey might not be able to pull her from the darkness.

Book Beginning:

The Warship carried twenty good men and two cannons.
"Bit of an overkill, isn't it?" Captain Pasker said. The sun was to his back, casting a long, imposing shadow over the deck.

56%:

"My papa says..." She paused. "A good book will give you answers to questions you didn't know you had." She opened the book, the thin pages brown and dull under the bright light of the lab. "A great book will give questions to answers you thought you knew."

*    *     *     *     *

50/50 Friday is a new weekly link-up hosted by Carrie @ The Butterfly Reader and Laura @ Blue Eye Books.  Every week they have a new topic featuring two sides of the same coin - you share a book that suits each category and link up on the hosts' blogs.

Freebies are both fun and a little hard (sometimes) choosing my own topic is hard sometimes.

Best
Magnus Damora, Falling Kingdoms
I haven't finished the series yet, but the growth he has in the four books I have read has been fantastic.


Worst
America Singer, The Selection
It might be cheating, but honestly, she is the worst character ever. She has zero growth. She is the same person at the start of the series that she is at the end. Selfish, immature, and just insufferable.

Top Ten Tuesday: Page to Screen Freebie

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish,
And moved to That Artsy Reader Girl 

To take part, just pick your top ten, and add the link here.

Confession, I haven't read all the books in this list, but the adaptations I like of books I haven't read, have made me interested in reading the book. But when it comes to LotR, I'm gonna have to do Audiobooks. I've tried to read them three times and the furthest I've made it was Rivendell.

This I'm only counting as one. Because, some editions of the book they are in a single bind-up, and Tolkien did write it to be one book.

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Also only counting this as one, otherwise it would be cheating. Some minor issues aside.

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Only the first movie, the other two were poop.

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A classic, honestly I can't think of a single person who dislikes this movie. I didn't know it was a book until recently

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I know this one kind of gave people mixed feelings, but I liked this movie. I heard that some of the changes weren't well received.

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I think the reason this adaptation works so well is because Anne Rice herself wrote the script. So all the minor changes were her doing. And none of it changed who the character was/is. I saw the movie before I read the book, but it's still one of my favorites.