How did I figure this out? My daughter asked if Snozzberries are real… I then asked my husband if they are real. He laughed at us. So, I googled. Probably one of my best Googles ever.

In ‘My Uncle Oswald‘, an adult novel by Roald Dahl, he used the word Snozzberries for the first time. Here’s the excerpt:

“How did you manage to roll the old rubbery thing on him?”

“There’s only one way when they get violent,” Yasmin said. “I grabbed hold of his snozzberry and hung onto it like grim death and gave it a twist or two to make him hold still.”

“Ow.”

“Very effective.”

“I’ll bet it is.”

“You can lead them around anywhere you want like that.”

“I’m sure.”

“It’s like putting a twitch on a horse.”

Tricky, tricky, Mr. Dahl. In conclusion, when Willy Wonka excitedly told them “Snozzberries taste like Snozzberries,” he was laughing on the inside because they were all licking dick-flavored wallpaper. Gross.

This makes Shrek look like child’s play.

I FINALLY made space on my phone to re-download the Audible app. 📚 🎧

Okay. There are conflicting reports on what year it was whenever Dumbledore met Tom Riddle. Most websites say somewhere in the 1920’s, others say mid 30’s. 

Either way, Dumbledore looks old as fuck when he met Tom Riddle. And whether it’s five years or ten, he aged pretty badly between Fantastic Beasts and meeting Good Ol’ Tom. 

But we all know that Fantastic Beasts is trying to bring in the big names, AND I AM NOT COMPLAINING. Two hours of staring at Jude Law is not a punishment. Same goes for you, Mr. Depp.

My followers on Candace Reads Books had some theories of their own.

Jesi Dehart “Do wizards have tenure? If so then other wouldn’t be surprising if Dumbledore were to obtain tenure and be more relaxed and dressing more the way he wants than what the headm would actually prefer.”

Marie Wright “Wasn’t it a memory not a flash back and memories get distorted with time. He probably didn’t pluck the memory till some years had past. We also don’t see ourselves the same way other people do.”

Others were just as baffled as me, and those who have seen Fantastic Beasts say they walked away even more confused with Dumbledore’s timeline. 

So, what do YOU think?

Heather Morris debuted The Tattooist of Auschwitz in January of 2018. HER FIRST BOOK! 📚

The novel already has OVER 52,000 reviews on Goodreads with a 4.36 rating.

My mind is blown. 🖤

What’s It All About? 

In April 1942, Lale Sokolov, a Slovakian Jew, is forcibly transported to the concentration camps at Auschwitz-Birkenau. When his captors discover that he speaks several languages, he is put to work as a Tätowierer (the German word for tattooist), tasked with permanently marking his fellow prisoners.

Imprisoned for over two and a half years, Lale witnesses horrific atrocities and barbarism—but also incredible acts of bravery and compassion. Risking his own life, he uses his privileged position to exchange jewels and money from murdered Jews for food to keep his fellow prisoners alive.

One day in July 1942, Lale, prisoner 32407, comforts a trembling young woman waiting in line to have the number 34902 tattooed onto her arm. Her name is Gita, and in that first encounter, Lale vows to somehow survive the camp and marry her.

A vivid, harrowing, and ultimately hopeful re-creation of Lale Sokolov’s experiences as the man who tattooed the arms of thousands of prisoners with what would become one of the most potent symbols of the Holocaust, The Tattooist of Auschwitz is also a testament to the endurance of love and humanity under the darkest possible conditions.

 

I heard stories of how epic my street was on Halloween, but I had to see it to believe it. 

• Shots. My neighbors pass out shots. 
• A haunted house that made my youngest muggle scream. 
• A hay ride by a slightly tipsy woman- wouldn’t suggest it. 
• A drunk Santa. He’s always a good time. 
• The atmosphere, it’s magical. 

I wanted to do something that added to the beauty of our street, so of course, I implemented books. 

Starting in September, I get on the Next Door app and start asking for donations. The women around here are always happy to clean out their kids’ bookshelves. But with close to 400 Trick or Treaters a year (our street is that of legends, people come far and wide to enjoy the festivities). 

My Neighborhood BFF does WORK, y’all. She’s a teacher and she starts knocking on those classroom doors asking for donations. She goes to Half Priced Books and works her magic, she taps into her tribe and they donate, too! 

Each year we pick a theme. Two years ago, it was Belle- duh. And this year, I had my followers on Candace Reads Books pick for me! Star Wars won, and I am so dang happy because Rey is a bad ass and I’m all about the girl power. 

Not every kid wants a book, and that’s totally fine! I realize they’re out there for candy, and we are sure to have oodles of it. I don’t want my house getting egged by a brat in an IT contest whose mad they didn’t get their ho-ho. 

But there are some kids… *wipes tears* who genuinely love it. One little boy ran across the street screaming “BOOKS!” Much to his moms dismay, because cars and drunken hay rides (I would like to add, the hay ride did not occur on year two; thank you, Baby Jesus.) Kids get EXCITED, and my heart recharges for the year. 

Readers are leaders, y’all. 

This is the third time I’ve met Jennifer, but the first time I’ve met her as one of her ARC readers. Y’all, she’s so sweet. And I managed to keep my fangirling to a 9 1/2, a lot better than the past when I was a solid 15 3/4. 

The best part? She signed The Darkest Star for my BFF, and wrote exactly what I asked. Because, Krystal, you do suck. 

To Treat Yourself: The Traveled Lane Facebook

To Treat Yourself: https://amzn.to/2D5UDuo

What’s It All About?

Can you love someone you can never touch?

Stella Grant likes to be in control—even though her totally out of control lungs have sent her in and out of the hospital most of her life. At this point, what Stella needs to control most is keeping herself away from anyone or anything that might pass along an infection and jeopardize the possibility of a lung transplant. Six feet apart. No exceptions.

The only thing Will Newman wants to be in control of is getting out of this hospital. He couldn’t care less about his treatments, or a fancy new clinical drug trial. Soon, he’ll turn eighteen and then he’ll be able to unplug all these machines and actually go see the world, not just its hospitals.

Will’s exactly what Stella needs to stay away from. If he so much as breathes on Stella she could lose her spot on the transplant list. Either one of them could die. The only way to stay alive is to stay apart. But suddenly six feet doesn’t feel like safety. It feels like punishment.

What if they could steal back just a little bit of the space their broken lungs have stolen from them? Would five feet apart really be so dangerous if it stops their hearts from breaking too?

What’s It All About? 

On February 14, 2018, seventeen-year-old David Hogg and his fourteen-year-old sister, Lauren, went to school at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School, like any normal Wednesday. That day, of course, the world changed. By the next morning, with seventeen classmates and faculty dead, they had joined the leadership of a movement to save their own lives, and the lives of all other young people in America. It’s a leadership position they did not seek, and did not want–but events gave them no choice.

The morning after the massacre, David Hogg told CNN: “We’re children. You guys are the adults. You need to take some action and play a role. Work together. Get over your politics and get something done.”

This book is a manifesto for the movement begun that day, one that has already changed America–with voices of a new generation that are speaking truth to power, and are determined to succeed where their elders have failed. With moral force and clarity, a new generation has made it clear that problems previously deemed unsolvable due to powerful lobbies and political cowardice will be theirs to solve. Born just after Columbine and raised amid seemingly endless war and routine active shooter drills, this generation now says, Enough. This book is their statement of purpose, and the story of their lives. It is the essential guide to the #NeverAgain movement.

To Read: https://amzn.to/2PLJMfJ

What’s It All About? 

Suggested by Shelf Awareness 🌈 AND a
Reese Witherspoon’s Reese’s Book Club x Hello Sunshine pick!

This is how a family keeps a secret…and how that secret ends up keeping them.

This is how a family lives happily ever after…until happily ever after becomes complicated.

This is how children change…and then change the world.

This is Claude. He’s five years old, the youngest of five brothers, and loves peanut butter sandwiches. He also loves wearing a dress, and dreams of being a princess.

When he grows up, Claude says, he wants to be a girl.

Rosie and Penn want Claude to be whoever Claude wants to be. They’re just not sure they’re ready to share that with the world. Soon the entire family is keeping Claude’s secret. Until one day it explodes.

Laurie Frankel’s This Is How It Always Is is a novel about revelations, transformations, fairy tales, and family. And it’s about the ways this is how it always is: Change is always hard and miraculous and hard again, parenting is always a leap into the unknown with crossed fingers and full hearts, children grow but not always according to plan. And families with secrets don’t get to keep them forever.

To Read: https://amzn.to/2RBhS3r