Fantasy Love February: Re-watching The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe

For the last assignment of the Mini-Challenge One from the Fantasy Love February Reading Challenge, we're to re-watch (or re-read) one of our favorite fantasy tales! I chose The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis.

So I re-watched The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe {2005} with some of my younger siblings. It was a delight! ^_^ I never tire of watching this film ... and it's especially wonderful to watch with family, where we can laugh and squeak, and cry over poignant scenes that touch our hearts.

I don't know ... it's simply such a well-done, incredible film. I LOVE the Christian allegory of sorts, and picking up on things I hadn't noticed before. I love watching Aslan, in a fantasy-sort-of-way, display God's majesty and power and love. I love the crazy, moving journey that four siblings, Peter, Susan, Edmund, and Lucy Pevensie, go on.

I know fantasy and Narnia isn't for everyone, but The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe {2005} is definitely a favorite watch for me, for it both thrills me with the fantastical adventures and truly touches my soul.

Can't wait to re-watch Prince Caspian {2008} and The Voyage of the Dawn Treader {2010} in the coming days! *smiles*

Read my movie reviews of all three films by clicking on the pictures below:

Fantasy Love February: Tales of Old

Another mini-challenge here, my friends! In this challenge, you must read an original fairy tale and answer some questions about it.

I read a tale by the Grimm Brothers. Or, rather, listened to it. You can read it, or listen to it, HERE.

1. What fairy tale did you read? The Twelve Dancing Princesses by the Grimm Brothers

2. Did you enjoy it? Yes, for the most part. I found I could envision everything vividly, and it was all quite beautiful! *smiles* The story itself is an enchanting and intriguing tale. However, it seriously lacked emotion! And a romance. And the king and his twelve daughters were rather heartless (considering each man who failed to figure out where the princesses went was put to death). So yes.

3. If there is a movie version of it, which is better? If there's not a movie version, do you think there should be an adaption? I've watched the Barbie version of The Twelve Dancing Princesses! *grins* I remember it being quite nice, and better than the original tale when it comes to romance and kindness, at least.

I definitely think this fairy tale should get some more movie adaptions. It's a great storyline!

4. Is this the first original fairy tale you've read? No. I've read a couple of the original tales, including Rapunzel, before.

5. Do you want to read any more original tales now? Yes! They're short and quite interesting. Despite lacking emotion and all that, I still enjoy them! ^_^

Fantasy Love February: Fan Art

So I'm not good at this sort of thing, by any means ... but I'm doing this for part of a challenge! In this one, you must do some kind of fan art for a fantasy book (or series) you've read.

You can read more about this particular mini-challenge created by Grace @ Fictionally for the Fantasy Love February Reading Challenge HERE.

And behold, my rather poor attempt at giving Tricia Mingerink's amazing fantasy series a photo shoot ... *wink*

This month, I got the chance to beta-read Defy, book three of this series, THE BLADES OF ACKTAR. I read it as part of the fantasy reading challenge, and absolutely loved it!! <3 I don't think there's a release date yet, but I will let you know when Tricia Mingerink gives us that information! *smiles*

If you would like to know more about this series, visit Tricia's site! Also, feel free to read my reviews of Dare and Deny, the books featured in my photo shoot! ^_^ 

Book Review: The Asylum by Heather L.L. FitzGerald

***Cover Not Available***

Title: The Asylum

Author: Heather L.L. FitzGerald

Series: Standalone Novella

Genre: Fairy Tale Retelling/Contemporary

Audience: Young Adult/Adult

~ MY REVIEW ~

**3 stars**

The Asylum by Heather L.L. FitzGerald was a curious story for sure. (I received a free copy of this novella for signing up for Heather's newsletter, as anyone can do!) It's a retelling of The Beauty and the Beast, in a contemporary (modern day) setting, with a generous splash of fantasy mixed in.

It tells the tale of a journalist named Wednesday, Wendy for short, who goes to an asylum in order to get some information on a man who has a rare skin disease so she can write a paper about it. There she meets all the queer residents of the rather infamous asylum, and finds things are not as they seem!

A strange and kind of humorous tale. It was interesting, and different; though I'm usually not a fan of modern day fairytale retellings. Even if they do include some fantasy-ness. I felt The Asylum was too short to really get to know the characters; and though the end wrapped things up well enough for me to know what was going on ... I still had some questions. It did have a moral of the story that was very nice.

Overall, it wasn't a favorite. But people who are more a fan of fantasy type stories set in the modern-day world would probably enjoy it much more than I did! And I still am very excited to read Heather L.L. FitzGerald's newest release, The Tethered World, which sounds like it will be a great novel! *smiles*

Fantasy Love February: My TBR List

Hey, my friends! I'm going to be part of the Fantasy Love February Reading Challenge, which Grace @ Fictionally started! Check it out! It's sure to be lots of fun; and there's giveaways involved! *smiles*

Today, as a mini challenge, I'm going to share my fantasy/fairytale TBR list for this month! So here we go!

Defy {THE BLADES OF ACKTAR #3} by Tricia Mingerink

~ This one doesn't have a cover yet ... I'm beta-reading it. And I'm super excited!!!! ~

Entwined by Heather Dixon

~ This is a retelling of the fairytale, The Twelve Dancing Princesses. I read it awhile ago, and really want to re-read it! So why not during fantasy month?? *grins* ~

A Cast of Stones {THE STAFF AND THE SWORD #1} by Patrick W. Carr

~ I've heard this one is really good, so I want to give it a try! I have it on my kindle. ~

The Pilgrim's Progress by John Bunyan

~ Have this one on my bookshelf ... so beautiful, and just waiting to be read! *smiles* ~

Darkness Reigns {THE KINSMAN CHRONICLES #1.1} by Jill Williamson

~ Really want to read more by Jill, so this is perfect! ~

Pendragon's Heir by Suzannah Rowntree

~ Have this one on my kindle, and it sounds really good! ~

Merlin's Blade {THE MERLIN SPIRAL #1} by Robert Treskillard

~ Seen some good reviews on this one, and it sound intriguing! ~

Second Son {THE MINSTREL'S SONG #2} by Jenelle Leanne Schmidt

Yorien's Hand {THE MINSTREL'S SONG #3} by Jenelle Leanne Schmidt

~ Read the first book of this series, and would like to finish it! ~

So we'll see if I can get to all of those! I read 15 books last month, but I'm hesitant to put too much pressure on myself this month. (It's shorter, after all! Haha). And I'm busy editing Silver Rose ... and working on book videos! If you hadn't noticed, I'm now on Youtube! Shantelle & Books, and I have four videos up! Such fun! ^_^ Come discuss books with me!

Anyway, that's my tentative to-be-read list for February! What are you reading this month?