What more does a girl need than a pile of books and a bowl of chocolate? Let’s talk about what we’ve been reading and feeding our inner chocoholics.

We all know that (almost always) the book is wayyy better than the movie/video/tv show. What about when a movie/video/tv show leads us to the book? Granted, it usally happens the other way for me, but very occasionally I get led to the books from the theatrical portrayal. This summer there were two notables that I want to share with you.

Just so you know, links below are Amazon associate links, so if you buy anything through them, I will get a couple of pennies from that.

Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident

Artemis is at boarding school in Ireland when he suddenly receives an urgent video-email from Russia, from his father, kidnapped by the Russian Mafiya.

This is book two of the series. I read the first book, and to be honest, I just didn’t like it. I couldn’t relate to the main character. He wasn’t the kind of character I wanted to spend time with. Frankly no on in the book was. Then I watched the movie version of it, which honeslty wasn’t much better. (I know, call me a glutton for punishment.) But there was something about the fairy world, as it was portrayed in the movie that made me want to revisit the series. So I checked out book two from the library

I’m glad I did. In volume two, Artemis Fowl, who I had found unlikeable in the last book, had some character growth whereby he became tolerable, and even a bit sympathetic. I found the same sort of growth in the fairy character Holly Short and the others in the fairy world. Despite my earlier hesitation, I found myself drawn in and really enjoying the tale.

Usually, if I didn’t enjoy the first book, I pass on later books, but I’m please to say this one was an exception to the rule.

Lockwood & Co.

A sinister Problem has occurred in London: all nature of ghosts, haunts, spirits, and specters are appearing throughout the city, and they aren’t exactly friendly. Only young people have the psychic abilities required to see-and eradicate-these supernatural foes.

I had never heard of this series until I encountered the Netflix series based on Lockwood & Co. I really enjoyed the series, so much so that the news it was not going to be picked up for a second season was a complete let down. Then I realized it was based in a series of books, and I scurried off to find them.

We got the first one as an audiobook to listen to on the long drive for vacation. Fantastic! The narrator was a dream and the book was terrific. (So were the next two, just saying.) The world building is fantastic and the author does a great job portraying his young adults–authentic, competent, and not prone to the too-dumb-to-breathe sorts of decisions that sometimes plague this genre. Can’t wait to get to the next ones.

And if you haven’t seen the series on Netflix, it’s definitely worth the watch. No, its not as good as the books, but it does a good job and is very entertaining.

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What are you reading now, tell me in the comments