Happy Monday Bookworms! I come to you with my faithfully late Wrap-Up/Haul for the month of July & hope you’ll still check this post out lol. I read 5 books from different genres, watched 1 movie, and played catch up with one of my favorite tv shows. I also had the pleasure of attending my twin Gretchen’s very 1st Poetry reading at Bluestockings in New York City. She did wonderful this being her first time & I was so very proud of her. Gretchen has a blog called ChicNerdReads & her Poetry book Love, and You is currently ranked in the top 10 on the Amazon Bestsellers list for Love & Erotica which is pretty bad ass! So, it was a pretty amazing July & can only hope the rest of the year is just as epic 😉

The Disappearances by Emily Bain Murphy ★★★★★ (5 Stars)

Who’s That Girl by Blair Thornburgh ★★★ (3.5 Stars)

The Library of Fates by Aditi Khorana ★★★★ (4 Stars)

Every Last Lie by Mary Kubica ★★★★★ (5 Stars)

The Last Magician by Lisa Maxwell ★★★★★ (5 Stars)

The stand-out reads for July were The Last Magician and Every Last Lie, both left me hungry for more story. The Library of Fates left me with food for thought & was just a beautifully diverse read, I look forward to more from this author. Who’s That Girl was a contemporary about friendship with LGBTQIA+ representation that I enjoyed more towards the second half. Lastly, The Disappearnaces got me in the mood for Fall and all of the mysterious reads I associate with my favorite season. It was an overall quality reading month & also a more productive blogging month. Also, I followed a ton of new blogs that I am still making my rounds getting to know & to them I say THANK YOU for following my blog & I’m looking forward to seeing you around 😉

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Super stoked over the paperbacks I hauled in July! The Night Circus is one of my all time fave books of ALL TIME! this paperback edition caught my eye with its white/black contrast. The Princes Saves Herself in This One is one that I have been DYING to read! haha, I’m sure many of you have already read & loved the hell out of this one. One Of Us is Lying I purchased from Bookdepository because of the red sprayed edges smh call me vain lol! Until it Fades is K.A. Tuckers newest novel & the only New Adult author I’ve read & LOVED so of course ran out and got a copy. Akata Witch has been at the TOP of my TBR for too long & It’s one I am really looking forward to reading and reviewing here on Lair Of Books 😉

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These hardcovers come well recommended & I can stare at them all day long they are so BEAUTIFUL! haha. I’ve already red & loved The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue & so to see it in my Owlcrate box was sweeeeeet! lol. My Book of the Month choice was Final Girls & although it has received mixed reviews, It still hasn’t taken my curiosity away. Stalking Jack the Ripper I am trying to read ASAP since I have an arc of Hunting Prince Dracula. Because You Love to Hate Me I p/u solely because of Adam Silver & V..E. Schwabs villains. Lastly, When Dimple Met Rishi was a MUST! I know I’m going to LOVE this one a ton & can’t wait to read the story that has everyone ready for the next book by this author ❤

This movie seriously took me by surprise & it pushed me to write my very 1st Gush Spoilery Review (see here). I’ve watched all of the Spider-Man movies with my hubby but never really found any to WOW me. I’m a big fan of Marvel movies but this guy just was OK LOL! Whelp! all that changed with Homecoming & I’m now A Spidey fan *gimme more*

OK! this may come as a surprise since I am not a big fan of things that go bump in the night but I LOVE The Originals! forget The Vampire Diaries, this show is ten times better than that show ever was *sorry not sorry* but seriously, The Originals takes place in New Orleans & there isn’t a single episode that doesn’t transport you. I binge watched season 4 with my hubby on Netflix & it consumed our nights smh lol. I lost count of the times I jumped from fright & was left wondering whyyyyy viewers ever chose to watch The Vampire Diaries over this AMAZINGLY well told show?!?!? Season 5 will be the last & this makes my ❤ sad but it will most definitely join my Hall of Amazing TV Shows (not yet a thing but maybe I should look into this) cuz it has already made me lose sleep on more than one occasion. I recommend to anyone who loves New Orleans, Witches & their craft, Wolves, Vampires, Family Loyalty, plot twists, double crossings, Stakes through the heart, and just EPIC bad assery 😉

Happy reading in August Bookworms!!! Hope you all had a wonderful July month & are enjoying your summer reads. Read or watched any of these? drop your comments down below <3’s!

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Spider-Man Homecoming (2017)

Director: Jon Watts

Producers: Kevin Feige, Amy Pascal

Writers: Jonathan Goldstein (Screenplay), John Francis Daley (Screenplay)

Stars: Tom Holland, Michael Keaton, Robert Downey Jr.

Run time: 2h 13min

Rating: ★★★★★ 5 Stars

Spoilers lay ahead…

Its been months since Peter joined the team during the events of Captain America: Civil War. He’s back in High School while also “interning” for Tony Stark…well actually, it’s more like he has a phone where Happy Hogan who works for Tony as a chauffeur and personal assistant keeps tabs on him. Tony really wants Peter to stay grounded and just be a teen doing normal teen things as opposed to taking on mega villains. He’d prefer it if Peter kept to low level street crime like petty theft while keeping a low profile. Peter on the other hand feels he is more than ready to take on the bigger missions & fully feel part of the team. Living a double life, Peter juggles all of the angst of being a H.S. student by day & vigilante by night.

When one of his routine night excursions has him stumble across a weapons dealer, Peter decides to follow the trail which eventually leads him to a deadly operation led by Vulture (Michael Keaton). Utilizing scrap metals from the alien ships last seen in The Avengers (2012) EPIC battle in New York, Vulture has been creating weapons of mass destruction. In an effort to prove himself ready to Tony Stark, Peter decides to take Vulture down while Happy Hogan is made to believe that he is in school & not getting himself in any real life threatening danger. This of course takes a bit of cunning on Peters part since Tony is no fool and has gifted him with a fully decked out new suit. The new suit comes with all sorts of new neat tricks with artificial intelligence built in however, it also has a tracker & limitations to ensure Peter isn’t biting off more than he can chew. Basically wherever Peter goes that isn’t school or home triggers a call from Happy. With the help of his best friend Ned, Peter figures out how to remove the tracker and off he goes to catch the bad guy…

CHARACTERS

Peter played by Tom Holland is bouncing off the walls excited to be “interning” for Tony Stark & from the opening scene this excitement jumps off the screen. I LOVED how authentic Peter the high school student felt. From vlogging his every day shenanigans, navigating high school as the unpopular one, chillin’ with his best bud Ned, AND having a high school crush…Peter has a pretty normal teenage life. It’s his night time activities that keep him always on the go & one wrong step away from getting caught. I enjoyed seeing this version of Peter more than I have his predecessors which caught me by surprise. Also, he’s hella effortlessly funny & a total fanboy of all things Marvel superheroes 🙂

Vulture played by Michael Keaton made for an interesting villain. We got a brief glimpse of this character before he turned into a baddie. This was a man contracted to clean up the mess left behind by the events that took place in NYC during The Avengers. He had a team of workers he cared for but quickly lost the contract to Damage Control which is a company created by Tony Stark specifically tasked with the clean up of superhero-created messes. Instead of walking away, he kept a piece of the alien ship and with the help of an inventor under his employ, created weapons of mass destruction. A family man himself, Vulture is keeping his nefarious dealings away from his wife and daughter. Was anyone else shocked when he turns out to be the father of Peter’s crush? I sure had a shocked soap opera moment haha!

Ned aka Peter’s best friend played by Jason Batalon was one of my fave characters! after finding out Peters identity as Spider-Man, he is convinced this is the 1 way ticket to finally being popular. Once he realizes he can’t share Peters identity with anyone, he settles for being his wing-man. Ned is smart & tech savy (read as: hacker extraordinaire) which helps Peter in working around the protocols Tony Stark has placed on his suit. Also very happy to see Marvel casting a Filipino-American actor for this role, to me it’s a step in the right direction when it comes to diversifying our media.

Aunt May played by my love Marisa Tomei was AMAZING! yea I’m totally a biased opinion since I have loved all of her movies ever since My Cousin Vinny! Marisa plays a younger version of Aunt May who encourages Peter to have fun & “loosen up” lol. She’s also not as unaware of his night time comings & goings as Peter would like to think. Still she allows him his space but checks in on him every once in a while. That ending scene where she walks in on him in his suit & gives us a “WTF?!?!?!” was classic Marisa Tomei & I LOVED IT!

Mary Jane played by Zendaya (doesn’t need a last name cuz she’s cool like that lol) was literally a nice surprise! The girl Peter has a crush on throughout the whole movie who also happens to be Vultures daughter *gasp* isn’t Mary Jane. Instead, the girl who throughout the movie has turned up wherever and whenever with side commentary (lived for these) is Mary Jane & I LOVE HER! she gave me Breakfast Club vibes & that scene where she’s willingly sitting in detention drawing peoples faces while they’re “in desperation” was one of my faves! CANNOT wait to see how her role is further developed *insert excited emoji*

FINAL THOUGHTS

I will be the first to admit that up until Homecoming, I enjoyed the Spider-Man movies but never walked away saying I LOVED THAT MOVIE!!! this time around both my hubby & I couldn’t stop talking about all of the things we loved. One of the things we noticed right away was that for the most part, Homecoming was filmed in Queens. For hubby, seeing the streets he grew up around was nostalgic & exciting because we don’t typically get major motion pictures in the “Outer Boroughs” (anything that isn’t Manhattan lol). Although there were some scenes in Manhattan, these were minimal. Marvels continued efforts to diversify their cast did not go unnoticed with the casting of Zendaya (Mary Jane), Jason Batalon (Ned), Laura Harrier (Liz aka H.S. Crush), Doris Toomes (Liz’ mom), and Selenis Leyva (teacher) to name a few. With many humorous moments & scenes where it seemed like Peter could not get in any deeper, Homecoming succeeded in making me a fan. I found myself at times rooting for him to take down Vulture & others squinting and wishing he’d just call Tony haha! which only further proves that Marvel succeeded in portraying Peter as just a 15 year old teenager NOT yet ready to take on super villains. Last but definitely NOT least! who do I need to thank for bringing back Pepper Potts?!?!? BEST come back EVER!!!