Tag: Occult

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BOOK TOUR: Happily Ever Island by Crystal Cestari

Welcome to Happily Ever Island, the most pixie-dusted vacation a Disney fan could ever imagine.

Head-in-the-clouds romantic Madison and driven pragmatist Lanie are unlikely best friends, but the two would do anything for each other. So when Madison’s life starts to fall apart, Lanie agrees to join Madison for the test run of Disney’s newest resort experience during their first college spring break: Happily Ever Island—an immersive vacation destination, where guests can become their favorite Disney character for a week. Madison decides to go as the iconic princess herself, Cinderella, with Lanie as bow-wielding Merida. It’s not Lanie’s idea of fun, but she knows Madison needs her, and besides, she could use the break from her strenuous courseload anyway. Plus, maybe she’ll get to shoot things.

But once on the island, Lanie and Madison begin to drift apart. Madison finds herself either missing out or messing up all the enchanting moments she has dreamt her whole life about, and is forever running into their annoyingly perfect (and distractingly cute) vacation’s coordinator, Val. Meanwhile, Lanie unexpectedly finds herself swept up in the magic of it all. She strikes up a secret romance with Prince Charming—but there’s no telling whether he’s just playing a part.

In this delightful YA rom-com inspired by Disney fandom, get swept up in a whirlwind of laughter, tears, and more than just a touch of Disney magic.

Thank you to @disneybooks for sending me a copy of the book and teaming up with me for a great giveaway! Check out how to enter below:

GIVEAWAY
Enter on Bookstagram to win a copy of Happily Ever Island!

TO ENTER
– follow @rosesandreviews (me), @crystalcestari, @disneybooks, and @storygramtours
– like my Happily Ever Island Giveaway Post on Instagram here
– tag a friend or two who you think will be interested!

RULES
– Giveaway will end Aug 15th at midnight EST
– US ONLY
– not affiliated with Instagram
-must be 18 or have parents permission
-must be a public account

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The Physick Garden by Alice Smith

The Physick Garden by Alice Smith is the ultimate guide for anyone interested in herbal remedies and healing.

“The backstories of the humblest of herbs can often provide cause to pause…”

Alice Smith, The Physick Garden

Since the dawn of time, people have used plants as remedies, seeking to brew and bottle both the positive and deadly effects of Mother Nature. But, “it is only in recent decades that modern research has confirmed the efficacy of many of these herbal treatments”. These herbal treatments have become enshrined in folklore, in old wives’ tales, and in the curious names—The Physick Garden tells their stories.

From the brain to the bowels, The Physick Garden introduces readers to 80 plants with curious medicinal pasts that found their way into modern medicine cabinets. Striking illustrations and lively tales bring these plants to life on the page. Gardeners, witches, and healers will love this reference book.

Unlike other herbal compendiums, this volume focuses on the history of the plants, rather than their practical usage. WARNING: Always consult your doctor before taking herbal medicines.

Thank you to Quarto Publishing for sending me a free Advanced Reading Copy (ARC) of this title. All opinions are my own.

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Earth Magick by Lindsay Squire

I love books about the occult and witchcraft, so I was excited to add Earth Magick to my collection of magical books. The cover is stunning and I love the art style-–it just makes me want to read it and display it. And it is as beautiful inside as it is out: the book is filled with gorgeous illustrations, diagrams, and charts that inspire and inform your practice. 

This book covers ritual basics, the elements, the seasons, healing crystals, divination techniques, shadow work, energy balancing and more. Each section is packed full of easy to understand text and is paired with beautiful visualizations, breaking down the information and making it all super easy to understand and put into practice. 

Continue reading “Earth Magick by Lindsay Squire”
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Lobizona: Undocumented. Unprotected. Unafraid.

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If you enjoy magical realism, you will love Romina Garber’s newest book Lobizona. I have seen this title around on bookstagram for a while and the cover is what really drew me in. I absolutely love the art style, but the title seemed really interesting also. I was delighted to find the naked book is just as beautiful as the sleeve!

Romina Garber | Zodiac, Beautiful book covers, Book quotes

Netgalley gifted me a free e-ARC of this title, which I am so grateful for! It allowed me to start reading it, which sucked me in after the first few pages. I got about halfway through on Kindle before deciding to buy the physical copy. For one, I wanted to support this author (I devoured her Zodiac series a few years ago!) and two, I ended up taking a lot of annotations which I wanted to keep. And I bounced back and forth between the e-book and the physical copy; the e-book is amazing for reading in bed, but the physical is better for daytime reading (and is less of a strain on my eyes, TBH.)

“We use magical realism in our daily lives too. Consider our superstitions. We are always willing magic into reality—that’s our way.”

I love that this book was stippled with Spanish aphorisms and phrases, and included an impressive amount of vocabulary in-context to help teach Spanish to non-speakers. As someone who is constantly trying to improve my Spanish, this is something I really appreciate seeing in new books. Garber does it well, allowing the reader to infer meaning from context clues without needing to use a translator. However, I can really appreciate having the translation dictionary available if I do need it, conveniently built into my e-reader. It saves a lot of time not having to click out of the book, and as a visual learner I enjoy seeing side-by-side translations because it really helps me understand spelling and pronunciation. Continue reading “Lobizona: Undocumented. Unprotected. Unafraid.”

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The Language Of Thorns, Leigh Bardugo

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Love speaks in flowers. Truth Requires Thorns.

The Languge Of Thorns is a collection short stories and prequels included in the triologies and duologies by Leigh Bardugo that function as childhood fairy tales and folklore to the characters of The Grishaverse.

Inspired by myth, fairy tale, and folklore, #1 New York Times-bestselling author Leigh Bardugo has crafted a deliciously atmospheric collection of illustrated stories filled with betrayals, revenge, sacrifice, and love. Travel to a world of dark bargains struck by moonlight, of haunted towns and hungry woods, of talking beasts and gingerbread golems, where a young mermaid’s voice can summon deadly storms and where a river might do a lovestruck boy’s bidding but only for a terrible price.

Continue reading “The Language Of Thorns, Leigh Bardugo”

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A Crown Of Wishes

Image result for a crown of wishesThe sequel to Roshani Chokshi’s debut novel The Star-Touched Queen remains equally adventurous as the first, transporting the reader to the far-away otherworldly lands of Bharata & Ujijain, Alaka and beyond, this time following Mayavati’s younger sister Gauri on her own journey of self-reflection and self-discovery. Filled with adventure, politics, friendships, sisterhood, romance, illusion, transformation, sacrifices, trials and tribulations, A Crown of Wishes weaves an otherworldly story, carried on the wings of birds with feathers of glittering gold.

In A Crown of Wishes we find Gauri, the legendary warrior princess of Bharata, exiled and imprisoned in Ujijain at her brother Skanda’s command. Scorned by her people for the lies Skanda has spread, Gauri faces execution in Ujijain. But Vikram, the cunning ‘Fox Prince’ of Ujijain, sees her potential and offers Gauri a chance at redemption. Together, they enter the Tournament of Wishes with hopes of winning a wish from The Lord of Treasures that would secure them their greatest desires. Continue reading “A Crown Of Wishes”

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