The first book I read, for Charms, was Fool by Christopher Moore. I ended up rating this a 4/5 stars, not for any hard-hitting reasons. I just don't think this book is for everyone in a big way. Most books I feel like can be made generally accessible to most people, given a big enough want and will. But this one is... targeted. It is very honest about what it is--a bawdy, funny, satire of Shakespeare's King Lear. I loved it, but I'll be honest in saying that it's been a while since I've read anything so... nonchalantly graphic. I will also say this, I am willingly going to be reading the sequel, as well as seeking out more of Moore's--this one was an accident, I swear--work.
The next one was Red Queen, by Victoria Aveyard. I rated this one a 4/5 stars as well, but I'm a bit biased. This one had a lot of tropes that I love in it. I will say that it's not the best YA fantasy I've ever read--not even the best I've read this year--but it's fun. I think, if I really gave a harder rating of stars, I might lower this to a 3/5 since I can think, off the top of my head, of several YA fantasies that I've read that, while not hard hitting writing, are much more fun. This book takes place in a world where people are divided into Reds--those whose blood is red and thus are nothing special--and Silvers--whose blood are silver and have special abilities. Our main character is a Red who ends up thrown into the world of Silvers due to a power she has--but is definitely not supposed to have. Like I said, fun, but not the most fun I've had reading this type of story. I read this one for my Defense Against the Dark Arts class.
For Herbology, I read Because You Love to Hate Me, an anthology where every story's main character was the villain. It's hard to find an anthology where you either like or really like every single story. Usually there's one or two that are total duds. Not so in this one. Sure, there were some I liked more than others, but overall, I at the very least liked every single one of these. In between each story is the prompt that the Booktuber gave to the author, followed by a small essay by said Booktuber, speaking on the story and villainy in some way. Some of those were a little meh... but still, mostly enjoyable. I gave this one a 5/5 stars.
I read Now I Rise by Kiersten White for Potions. It's the sequel to And I Darken. Both of these are apart of a trilogy--which ends with Bright We Burn--that is a historical fiction detailing the life of Vlad Tepes Dracul--Dracula, as most know him as--only if he was born as a woman. Ladislav Dracul is one of two main characters in this series, the other being her brother, Radu. In the first one, it detailed their lives from birth to their time as... extended, forced guests of the Ottoman Empire, and their friendship with one of the sons of the Sultan, Mehmed. In this one, it picks up a bit after where that one leaves off, and equally follows the next step in the lives of Lada and Radu, as they each follow their own paths--Lada, to ruling Wallachia, land of her birth, and Radu to conquering Constantinople in the name of the man he loves but can never have, Mehmed. I have to say, if I loved the first one--and I did--then I adored this one! I'll definitely be finding my way to Bright We Burn in the very near future. I gave this one, unsurprisingly, 5/5 stars.
Lastly, for Transfiguration, I read Dear Killer by Katherine Ewell. *sigh* I gave this one 2/5 stars. The author was young when she wrote this... and you could tell. Grammatically, it's very well written. But character-wise... it felt like the author had this really great idea, but then didn't research it any further. The character interaction was strange and off-putting, and it felt like a bunch of different psychiatric disorders were being forced into this character that didn't fit. Wouldn't recommend this one, if my other reads were options.
So that's it! I officially passed all the OWLs necessary for becoming an Auror! I can't wait for August (NEWTs). Now, to finish Good Omens before the Prime show starts--easily done.
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