Being a self declared die hard Harry Potter fan, I'd been itching to watch Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them since I heard it was going to be made into a movie. I would have went to the midnight premiere if Reece had been here, he isn't a huge Harry Potter fan, but he'd have been dragged along whether he liked it or not! I didn't really do much research before I went to see the film, a I wanted to experience it first hand in the cinema and not have it spoiled for me like so many other films and books have been.

I was a bit apprehensive when I heard that J K Rowling was opening up the world of Harry Potter and creating a new dimension, if you will, to the place we all know and love so much. I haven't seen the play, but I have read Harry Potter and The Cursed Child. I've wrote a review on the book and in that post I let you know how I found it rather disappointing, to be honest. I didn't want to be disappointed with Fantastic Beasts. But this story is different, it's set way before Harry was even thought of and there is no link except this story is based in the same magical world. I'm glad of that. As much as I love Harry and his story, I think J K Rowling left it at the correct place, with the ending of Deathly Hallows. The story came to a natural end, Harry left school and his life went on. This is why I'm not a huge fan of Cursed Child as I find it a little rushed and as if they're trying to fit too much time into one play!

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, was originally a side book that J K Rowling released along with other books such as The Tales of the Beadle and the Bard and Quidditch Through the Ages, which were both books she brought to life after them being mentioned in the Harry Potter books. I own all three books, my friends Sarah and Emily bought me The Tales of the Beadle and the Bard for my 16th birthday and my Mum has bought me the other two over the years.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them follows Newt Scamander, on a trip to New York where he plans to travel to Arizona to free one of his fantastic beasts. Without giving away too much, I guess we could say that Newt comes across some hurdles on his mission, meets a few people and gets his hands into all kinds of mischief.

I went to see the film with one of my good friends, Sarah, on the opening weekend. We're both big Harry Potter fans and we were hoping and praying that this wasn't going to destroy the franchise. When the film started we both look at each other, myself holding back tears, as Fantastic Beasts started the same way that Harry Potter did, in the clouds with the film name gradually appearing behind it. I found that throughout the film there were a few nods to Harry Potter, just to remind you that this is the same world. I liked that. I liked that they didn't throw Harry Potter in your face, there was a mention of Dumbledore and a glimpse at the Deathly Hallows symbol. It was nice.

I like that this story has no resemblance to Harry Potter, which I didn't expect to say. This isn't a film about a boy who goes to school and fights off evil people, this film definitely opens up the wizarding world for you a more than Harry Potter ever could. The stories are completely different and Fantastic Beasts deserves it's own credit.

I really thought I was going to be disappointed by this film, I honestly thought I was going to leave the cinema sad and angry at J K Rowling for not just letting Harry Potter be, but I'm glad she decided to delve into the wizarding world again. I want to go and see this film again and again and I definitely will be before this goes out of the cinema. Here's something else for me to get attached to and cry my eyes out when it's all over!

I'm going to dig into the book over Christmas as I have a lot of travelling to do so I'll probably read it cover to cover a couple of times before this year is out! I'm excited!




I just wanted to throw in at the end here my theory of how I think Fantastic Beasts is going to play out. So, Harry Potter fans, we all know that somewhere along the line of these films, Dumbledore is going to appear. We've already seen Grindlewald (in the last 30 seconds!) and we all know that fthey were really good friends and then not so good friends. If you've read the Harry Potter books, you'll know that the little girl in the painting in Aberforths home was Arianna, their sister. The books delve into her story a little bit, explaining that she unintentionally killed her mother when she caused a magical explosion and that she herself was killed by a curse due to a duel between Aberforth, Albus and Grindlewald. 

My theory is, what if, Arianna is a obscurus? What if she wasn't killed accidentally, but either on purpose by Aberforth or Albus in order to protect her from Grindlewalds wicked ways? Or whether Grindlewald got what he needed from her? I have a feeling that this is going to be the route that J K
Rowling goes down and I'm excited to see where she takes it - and how Newt plays into this!

Fantastic Beasts & Where to Find Them gets a..







Let me know if you've seen Fantastic Beasts and what you thought of it in the comments below!

Its it really this time of the month already?! Time to share what I've been loving through the month of November!


The thing I was so excited for November for was the release of Zoe Suggs new book, Girl Online Going Solo. I preordered this book so I could definitely have a first edition and a signed copy. I trotted myself off to my local WHSmith (little secret, I used to work there!) to collect my purchase and I had a smile on my face for the rest of the day. I even refused to go and visit family when I got home because I just wanted to read and read and read! I'm not going to spoil the story line, because I can imagine this will be a present under a few peoples Christmas trees that are reading this post. But can I say, I'm only on chapter ten and I really like it! I loved Girl Online and Girl Online On Tour so much! They are definitely in my top ten fave books, so I think this one may make the cut too! Zoe deserves so much credit for the content she provides, products that she makes and the stories that she creates. As far as I am aware, this book is still half price in WHSmith, so grab a bargain while you can!



I may have already written a blog post dedicated entirely to this film.. I loved it so much!. I loved the characters and the story line and the setting and the era, just everything about this film was perfect. I was scared I wasn't going to like this, because I didn't think it would do justice to be 'related' to the Harry Potter series, but J K Rowling definitely done us Potterheads proud. I am obsessed with this film. I can't wait to go and see it again with Reece, (he has no say in the matter!) I'll be grabbing this on DVD the day it comes out! I've heard that this is going to be a three or maybe five film series? I'm so excited to see where J K takes this story and what happens to the characters! Eek! If you want to know more about the film or see it from a die hard Harry Potter fans view, I'll be posting my blog post dedicated to this film within the next few days!

I was rather excited for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child to be released. I would have loved to have gone to see the play when it first came out, but it's not feesable for me to get to London and stay over, it would cost me a fortune. Plus, I'd have nobody to go with if Reece couldn't come along. I was happy however, to be able to preorder the book of the play and I rushed to my local Waterstones on my dinner break on release day. I started the book that night and finished it a few days later.

Why, you may be wondering, has it taken me so long to write a review on the book. To be honest, I didn't really want to put down in words how I felt about the book, because I didn't really like it. For such a die hard Harry Potter fan, this really does hurt my heart. I love Harry Potter so much. It was the first book I ever read. I grew up with the books and films. Harry was my best friend when I felt like there was nobody else in the world that I could befriend. I used to queue outside my local bookstore on release day when the newest book was coming out, run home and stick my head in it for the following few days. I have read the whole series more times than I can remember. I know the films word by word. To be so dedicated to a series of books and films, to be truly invested in the characters and their lives for so many years and then for it all to end, I'm sure I went through a grieving period! 

I was nervous when I heard that this play was going to be a follow on from the final 'Nineteen years later' chapter that we were left with at the end of Deathly Hallows. In the years since Harry Potter had ended, I'd come to terms with the fact that it was over and there was no new Harry story coming. I was even more concerned when I heard it was going to be a play. I knew this meant that there was no way that the original characters would be coming back and that made me sad. I can't imagine watching something and somebody telling me that some stranger is Harry. No, I'll not accept it. Daniel Radcliffe will always be Harry. After seeing his face grow up as Harry did, I think any Harry Potter fan would feel the same way. But as I'm such a serious fan, I have to have anything Harry Potter related, so I preordered the book.

I think I was about 10 pages in and I already knew I wasn't keen. Within the first few chapters, we'd jumped years. This was the point where I felt like the story was being pushed. Now, I realise that the play was probably wrote this way so that J K didn't feel like she was starting Harry all over again. If the play had consisted of Albus's first year at school, fans would have expected another play, and then another and another and before she would have known it she'd have another 7 part series. 

I do like the story line. I think it's clever. The main story line of Harry Potter is obviously the relationship between himself and Voldemort, so how could J K write anything Harry Potter related and not work Voldemort into the story line. Obviously, Voldemort was cremated into smithereens in the Battle of Hogwarts so she couldn't bring him back from the dead and it also wouldn't make sense to do so. Voldemort's issue was with Harry, not his son. The only part of the story line that I don't think makes much sense, is where the explanation of how Delphi came to be. I like that she was the daughter of Voldemort and Bellatrix, as it was portrayed well in the Harry Potter series that they had a connection and she loved the bones of him. But I think it's a bit far fetched that they had time to make a baby seeing as though Voldemort was hell bent on taking over the wizarding world once and for all. 

I like some of the characters. I really like Scorpio. I think his character really compliments the Malfoy family, because he's nothing like them. He's awkward and overthinks situations too much. I thought he would be just like Draco and I was surprised that he wasn't. I like how having Scorpio and losing Astoria makes Draco a little more human. I do think that J K could have given him some slack though. Draco went though enough during Harry Potter, did he really need to lose his wife as well? Even though this made him a little softer, it would have been nice to see Draco have that love relationship that we never saw him have before.

I wasn't keen on Albus's character. I think he came across as too much of a stroppy teenager. We literally jumped years and he was still in the same funk he was to begin with! I think his relationship with Harry shouldn't have been the way it was. I think Harry in Harry Potter would have made an amazing father, he already knew what it was like to act like a role model for people and kind of be a 'father figure' to others, so I don't understand why that would change when he had his own children. I also just want to throw in here that I've never been much of a Ginny fan, I like the concept of Harry being with Ginny, but I just think her character could have been stronger in Harry Potter and in Cursed Child. I mean, she is married to Harry Potter!

I love that Hermione and Ron ended up together in Harry Potter and I like their relationship in Cursed Child. I love that Hermione became Minister of Magic, I couldn't have picked a better character myself. Although I do feel like J K kind of made Ron appear to be hiding in Hermione's shadows, when he is a strong enough character to push through and still be a main character. 

Overall, it's okay. It's not what I expected and I do think it was rushed and too much time passed in such a short space of time which gave J K a perfect opportunity to play with Albus and Scorpio a little, although a can understand why she maybe wouldn't want to do that. As pleased as I am to have a little more Harry in my life, I can't help but think that she should have just left it where it was. Yes, many fans all around the world, including myself, wanted more, but sometimes you just have what you have. I think if J K had left Harry Potter and just started on Fantastic Beasts, it would have filled that void that us Harry Potter fans had, without needing Cursed Child. Or, I wish she had wrote this as a book, a proper book and then turned it into a play. 

I imagine that if I was to watch the play, that my opinion may change. Reading a script is so different to reading a book, there's no first hand emotion from the characters and there isn't much description of the surroundings to place you where the characters are, so I didn't get as invested as I would have done had this been a book or a film. 

I will see the play one day, hopefully as it was so popular it may tour and some to a theater that's up north, or if my plans go ahead I may be down in London in early 2017 and maybe catch it down there.
But for now, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child gets a..









You can purchase the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child book here.
You can get Harry Potter and the Cursed Child  play information here.

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**Disclaimer: All views, opinions and photos are my own unless stated otherwise.**