Blog

We’ve had a lot of rain recently, more so than average. My backyard is blooming with wildflowers. They’re always so pretty.

Yesterday, I watched the 2008 movie The Secrets of Moonacre for the first time. My parents were really excited for me to see it, since they know how much I love fantasy. It’s based on the book The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge. I’ve never read The Little White Horse, but I understand it’s a good book. The movie is supposed to be a loose adaption of the book. I liked it.

The movie starts with the main character, Maria Merryweather, becoming an orphan when her father dies. He leaves her a book about Moonacre. Soon after, Maria and her governess, Miss Heliotrope, leave London and head to the countryside to live with Maria’s uncle Benjamin.

Maria and Miss Heliotrope are attacked by bandits as the enter Moonacre Valley, but Benjamin brushes it off and tells them not to go into the nearby forest. Maria does and learns that Moonacre Valley has been cursed, thanks to the Merryweathers and their neighbors, the De Noirs. The only way to save Moonacre is to find a magical pearl necklace and throw it into the ocean. Maria suspects that the pearls are either in Merryweather Manor or De Noir Castle.

I liked how the story never lost my attention. It introduced us to quite a few characters, but I was easily able to tell them apart. I especially liked Loveday De Noir. She was one of the first to help Maria on her journey and taught her how to be a true heroine.

Earlier this month, I read a book called Aeon Legion: Labyrinth by J.P. Beaubien. I’ve known about this book for a while, thanks to J.P.’s youtube channel: Terrible Writing Advice. Now that I’ve finished the book, I have to say, it was really good.

The story follows a girl named Terra Mason, who is average and an underachiever. She’s just coasting through life without a clear direction. She likes geology, but she doesn’t know how to make that into a career. All Terra wants is to become a true heroine.

The story starts a few months before she graduates from high school. Terra’s in the public library and a group of Nazis invade. These Nazis have time traveled from 1940. Their leader, Hanns, is looking for a history book, so he’ll know how World War II ends.

Terra, with the help of a time traveling cop named Alya Silverwind, stops Hanns from getting a history book. Alya is impressed and decides to invite Terra into the time cop training program. They’re known as the Aeon Legion.

Overall, I liked J.P.’s book. Terra has to work for everything she gets. Other characters even say she’s not a chosen one, but a heroine of choice. She’s not directed by fate and destiny, but her own choices. That’s pretty refreshing. I did get a bit lost when J.P. was describing the singularity technology that makes time travel work, but I put that down to me reading more fantasy than sci-fi books. I’m sure if I was a bigger sci-fi fan, than it would have made more sense.

My final rating for Aeon Legion: Labyrinth is five out of five stars. It was a good book.

I got my kittens, Jenny and Cannoli, about six months ago. Here are some pictures of Jenny and Cannoli from when I first got them and what they look like now.

Last night, my kitten Jenny escaped outside. My mom had opened the front door to let our adult cat Rufus in and Jenny ran outside “as fast as lightning,” as my mom put it. She raised the alarm and we all dropped what we were doing to search. Jenny’s a black cat and impossible to see at night. I was frantically turning on my phone’s flashlight app, when Jenny ran inside. She knows how dangerous it is outside and how safe our house is. We don’t know why she went outside in the first place, but I’m just happy that she found her own her way back inside.

Happy Halloween!