Top 5 Tuesday: Series I want to start

Hey, guys!
It’s Tuesday, which means it’s time for a bookish favorites post. Top 5 Tuesday is hosted by Meeghan over on Meeghan Reads and is quite simple: check out the topic and write a post with your picks.
This week, the topic is series I want to start. There are way more than five but I’ll restrain myself. 😉
I’ll leave you with the info from Goodreads, so you’ll get an idea of what the novels are about!

#1 The Parasol Protectorate

Alexia Tarabotti is laboring under a great many social tribulations.

First, she has no soul. Second, she’s a spinster whose father is both Italian and dead. Third, she was rudely attacked by a vampire, breaking all standards of social etiquette.

Where to go from there? From bad to worse apparently, for Alexia accidentally kills the vampire–and then the appalling Lord Maccon (loud, messy, gorgeous, and werewolf) is sent by Queen Victoria to investigate.

With unexpected vampires appearing and expected vampires disappearing, everyone seems to believe Alexia responsible. Can she figure out what is actually happening to London’s high society? Will her soulless ability to negate supernatural powers prove useful or just plain embarrassing? Finally, who is the real enemy, and do they have treacle tart?

The Parasol Protectorate on Goodreads

#2 The Mortal Instruments

When fifteen-year-old Clary Fray heads out to the Pandemonium Club in New York City, she hardly expects to witness a murder― much less a murder committed by three teenagers covered with strange tattoos and brandishing bizarre weapons. Then the body disappears into thin air. It’s hard to call the police when the murderers are invisible to everyone else and when there is nothing―not even a smear of blood―to show that a boy has died. Or was he a boy?

This is Clary’s first meeting with the Shadowhunters, warriors dedicated to ridding the earth of demons. It’s also her first encounter with Jace, a Shadowhunter who looks a little like an angel and acts a lot like a jerk. Within twenty-four hours Clary is pulled into Jace’s world with a vengeance when her mother disappears and Clary herself is attacked by a demon. But why would demons be interested in ordinary mundanes like Clary and her mother? And how did Clary suddenly get the Sight? The Shadowhunters would like to know… 

The Mortal Instruments on Goodreads

Comics vs. TV Show: I am not Okay with This

Hello, my darling readers!
If you read the review I wrote on the first season of I am not Okay with This, you’ll know that I absolutely adored it. However, Netflix canceled the promised second season, so I figured I’ll check out the comics the show is based on instead. Let’s see how that turned out!

The Plot (as found on Goodreads):

Sydney seems like a normal 15-year-old freshman. She hangs out underneath the bleachers, listens to music in her friend’s car, and gets into arguments with her annoying little brother — but she also has a few secrets she’s only shared in her diary. Like how she’s in love with her best friend Dina, the bizarreness of her father’s death, and those painful telekinetic powers that keep popping up at the most inopportune times.

I am not Okay With This on Goodreads

Comics vs. TV Show:

I love love loved the show and was sold within the first couple of seconds. I was beyond excited that we’d be getting a second season, so you can imagine my disappointment when it got canceled.

My hopes for high for the comics to provide me with some answers – the first season had ended with a pretty big cliffhanger, so I had questions!
Well, the comics did none of that.

First of all, I didn’t like comic Syd. At all. Her most annoying traits were constantly in the foreground. While in the show, the character had enough depth to be relatable even in her annoying or questionable moments, in the comics we get none of that.

There was nothing really likable about her and no matter how hard I tried I couldn’t relate to her. On top of that, the story may have its moments but it feels rushed and lacks depth. It’s as shallow as a puddle on the street while the show was setting us up to gaze into an ocean.

Also, there wasn’t much explanation, only an abrupt and surprising ending, that was rather jarring. I was even more disappointed by that than I was by the cancellation of season 2.

If you were hoping for the comics to tide you over the cliffhanger after the first season, I must disappoint you. The comics did not work for me at all. They had nothing to offer that in any way made them preferable to the show. We don’t even get any interesting additions. Maybe except for the ending, but even that came way to abrupt.

Did you prefer the book or the movie? Let me know in the comments!

Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Bloglovin‘, Tumblr, Goodreads, Letterboxd or Instagram!

Book vs. TV Show: Secret Diary of a Call Girl

Hello, my darling readers!
After watching (and rewatching) Secret Diary of a Call Girl a while ago, I finally decided to pick up the supposedly real diary the show was based on. Let’s see how that turned out!

The Plot (as found on Goodreads):

Belle couldn’t find a job after University. Her impressive degree was not paying her rent or buying her food. But after a fantastic threesome with a very rich couple who gave her a ton of money, Belle realized that she could earn more than anyone she knew–by becoming a call girl. The rest is history. Belle became a 20-something London working girl–and had the audacity to write about it–anonymously. The shockingly candid and explicit diary she put on the Internet became a London sensation. She shares her entire journey inside the world of high-priced escorts, including fascinating and explicit insights about her job and her clients, her various boyfriends, and a taboo lifestyle that has to be read to be believed. The witty observations, shocking revelations, and hilarious scenarios deliver like the very best fiction and make for a titillating reading experience unlike any other.

Book vs. TV Show:

So, I’ll begin with my thoughts on the show since I saw that before reading the book.

To keep it short, there wasn’t much that I didn’t like about the show. Billie Piper was marvelous in the leading role. She’s charming, she’s funny, she’s witty. Nailed it.

Throughout the four seasons, we also get a bunch of famous guest stars which is intriguing but certainly not the main thing that kept me interested in the show.

What fascinated me was the approach towards the topic. The honesty with which her life was presented. It’s nothing dirty or shameful, it’s her job. It’s simply interesting to get to peek behind a curtain you usually wouldn’t. So, when I picked up the book, that’s what I expected more of.

Well, Belle and I had some trouble getting started.
The real Belle’s vibe was somewhat different than the one Billie Piper had on the show. That was a little irritating and it took me a while to get used to that.

While Belle is certainly a smart woman she didn’t exude the same charm as in the show and I had trouble warming up to her. Her humor also comes across differently, but after a few chapters, I got into that.

There was, however, one thing I couldn’t get into. For my taste, Belle kept complaining too much about her private relationships. That was not only annoying but at times a little delusional.

In all honesty, Belle isn’t the kind of person I would want to be friends with. I had trouble relating to anything she said and kept rolling my eyes for a good portion of the book.

By the way, as the title says, this is a dairy. So don’t expect any coherence or narration. It’s just weird bits and pieces of her life. Just in case you were expecting something different, you were warned.

While I thoroughly enjoyed watching the show I had lukewarm feelings for the book at best. It was boring at times, annoying at others, only occasionally exceedingly funny or witty. The show is definitely better than the book it’s based on.

Did you prefer the book or the movie? Let me know in the comments!

Follow me on Facebook, Twitter, Bloglovin‘, Tumblr, Goodreads, Letterboxd or Instagram!

Book vs. Series: A Series of Unfortunate Events (Season 3)

Hey guys!
A Series of Unfortunate Events concluded on Netflix with its third and final season. The last four books in Lemony Snicket’s thirteen-part children’s novel series.

The Plot:

Trying to escape from their latest bit of trouble, the youngest Beaudelaire child gets kidnapped by Count Olaf. Klaus and Violet have to investigate VFD to save their sister, but what has a sugar bowl to do with all of that?

Book vs. Series:

Season 3 adapts four Lemony Snicket books: The Slippery Slope, The Grim Grotto, The Penultimate Peril and The End.
Although I enjoyed the book series, I was glad that it was over. We are talking about 13 books here, so I reached a point where I got a little sick of the whole story. Don’t get me wrong, the books were taking an interesting turn, and were just as smart and intricate as the other installments.

However, with these books, we reach a point where I desperately wanted to know how the riddle is to be solved. Well, what we get is more beating around the bush, more obscure moments.

Also, the end was not quite what I had expected or wanted from the series. To be fair, it was the end the book series need to have, so I can’t be pissed about that. I did in-depth reviews, for each book. So if you want more discussion on that front make sure to check those out!

TV Ramble: The Romanoffs

Hey, guys!
In October 2018 Amazon released the anthology web show The Romanoffs. I was super excited to check out the eight episodes that were produced. Well, it was not what I had expected and I’m still not sure how I feel about that.

The Plot:

Given that this is an anthology show, it is somewhat difficult to explain that plot. It’s set all around the globe, featuring different characters in each episode. The only common denominator is that the characters are somehow loosely linked to the Russian royal family, the Romanoffs.

The Review:

I need to be honest here. When Amazon announced the show, I got extremely excited. Anastasia was one of my favorite childhood animated movies, so I’ve always been fascinated by the Romanoffs. I didn’t bother checking out any trailers, as the description Amazon provided was right down my alley.

Well, the show was extremely different from what I had expected. When a show is called the Romanoffs, I actually expected there to be some link to the royals that is somewhat influential on the plot. However, calling this show The Romanoffs is more than just a slight exaggeration. Most of the episodes have literally nothing to do with them. Let me give you an example: once the only time the Romanoffs are even mentioned is in a single sentence where a character says “A friend of mine is writing a book about that topic”. That’s it. Some episodes are a little more intertwined with them but it’s still not what I had expected or wanted.

Book vs. Movie: Allegiant

Hello my lovely readers!
I finally made it to the end of both Veronica Roth’s series of novel as well as the movie adaptations. So let’s see how the final installment turned out!

 

The Plot:
Tris and her friends escaped the only world they ever knew which turned out to be nothing but an experiment. They try to adapt to the real world but of course, things aren’t perfect here either…

 

Book vs. Movie:
Well, you probably know by now that I wasn’t too fond of the series so far. However, I had hoped that the final part would turn things around as I saw a lot of potential in the story.
But I ended up disappointed. I’ll begin with the novel. First of all, I felt like even Veronica Roth had given up on the whole thing by now. For a long stretch of the final book she wasn’t making an effort at all. She decided to split the chapters in two points of view. Some chapters are told from Tris’ view, some from Four’s. However, the chapter were barely distinguishable. Often I had already read half the chapter before I realized that it’s not a Tris but a Four chapter.
In general there’s still a lot of whining going on – now not only by Tris but also to a large extent by her annoying boyfriend. I can’t bring myself to like any of the two characters and they both make for terrible heroes.