Gillyweed'sReads

Peter Pan By J. M. Barrie What an adorable story!  I had such a fun time reading this one.  Not only was the story heartwarming but reading the MinaLima edition was such a neat experience!  With interactive elements it really made the story come to life.  Peter Pan flies through the window and invites Wendy Darling to come to Neverland with him to be his 'mother'.  Wendy's two younger brothers insist on coming and it all starts from there!  Entering Neverland, the three siblings have many adventures.  From battling pirates, to swimming with mermaids, to meeting all of Peter's friends, and then living with a snooty fairy.  Personally, I loved the beginning and ending the best.  The Darling parents were my absolute favorite characters (that ending was a tear-jerker 😭).  But, of course, Neverland was a joy to read about.  Reading this as an adult, sometimes Peter was pretty annoying to me (I feel ya, Hook. I feel ya.....), and he was also extremely selfish.  But looking p

The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner I super duper enjoyed this book.  Gen, our main character, is one of my most favorite personalities to be able to enjoy seeing everything from his perspective.  Cocky, funny, arrogant, and altogether lovable for it.  We find Gen starting out in prison for stealing the king's seal ring and bragging loudly about it to anyone who will listen.  Aaaaaand, of course, who should hear it but the king's guards.  Then, as is another favorite trope of mine, a mysterious visitor comes knocking on the cell door to ask him if he would like to be released from prison to go on an adventure, all expenses paid, and when he completes the task set for him he will be freed.  All he has to do is steal something for him.   Adventure, friendship, hilarious banter, and mystery.  This book had me loving every second I was reading it.  Not too much happens in this first book, but in the end it sets this series up for a much larger plot.  Also, I foresee romance in Gen'

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins Well, that escalated quickly...  This book had me on a roller coaster of emotions.  The origin story of Coriolanus Snow.  The in depth view of the 10th Hunger Games.  How it all started.  I fell deeply into this story.  The fact that there is even another Hunger Games book is amazing!  I was a little leery of this when I heard it was about Snow's life before Katniss, but this book did not disappoint.  I was so immersed and got so very nervous when the ending drew near.  I never thought in a million years I would be rooting for Snow.  The deterioration of his personality and how quickly it turned violent was horrible to watch and, as much as I wanted to look away, I couldn't.  There were about 50 pages toward the last half of the book that got a bit boring, but once you get past those few pages it gets intense.  Wow...  From the reviews I'm seeing it looks like I'm one of only a few people that actually enjoyed this b