Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE this series! And I am kicking myself for waiting so long to read it. The Order of the Phoenix has a different feel to it compared to the previous 4 books as we begin to see a different side of Harry. He's angry that no one believes him about Lord Voldemort coming back and he's angry that Dumbledore hasn't talked to him or let him know what is going on. This is what makes Rowling such an amazing writer. She is able to portray Harry with realistic emotions while still making the reader sympathetic to everything that he is going through. I live in his world when I read these books. And don't even get me started on that evil Dolores Umbridge. Ugh! The things that she did to Harry made me cringe. I flew through this book even though it was 800 plus pages. I love me some Harry Potter :) Seriously though, you've all read these so I'm going to keep this review pretty short. Suffice it to say that I loved this book so much that I had trouble picking up another book as I knew it probably wouldn't compare. I gave it a few days and am now reading Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier. From hearing so many positive things about this book I'm assuming it will be able to fill the big shoes that The Order of the Phoenix left behind. Plus, I was in the mood for a slightly creepy tale. Tis the season!
Challenges: Chunkster Challenge, Lay It On Challenge (Shelfari) PBT (England Tag)
My Rating: 5 out of 5

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire by J.K. Rowling

Oh my! Every single person that has said that this series just gets better and better is COMPLETELY right. I cried at the end of this book. (LOL! What a dork am I?) But I did. It was intense. And I completely didn't see the ending coming. Now I would talk about that but really I am sure that there are a select few who still haven't read this series besides myself. I've already talked about how reluctant I was to give this series a shot. And now I am gobbling them down. This is how insane that I have become...I'm ALREADY planning on rereading these and I haven't even finished the series. Aack! :)
Ok, so here is a brief synopsis: Harry is back at Hogwarts for his fourth year there. Mysterious things have been happening that are starting to make it look like Voldemort is gaining his power back. Enter the Triwizards Tournament. Somehow Harry's name is mysteriously entered into the goblet and now he has to compete in the tournament. But the question remains: who put his name in and why? When I was reading this book I found myself immersed in Harry's world. I just couldn't put this book down. And when I finished the book I just had to sit back and say wow! I ended up rereading the last hundred pages or so because I had read them so fast and I wanted to make sure that I didn't miss anything. I'm dying to pick up the next book but I think I better take a little bit of a break from Hogwarts just so I can savor the experience of reading these books. Suffice it to say that I think that everyone should give these books a shot. But that's just my opinion of course. :)
Challenges: Chunkster Challenge, Heard It From The Grapevine Challenge
My Rating: 5 out of 5 (A+++)

Chunkster Challenge

I told you that I wanted to join this one if it came around again AND it did!! Yay! Since I'm already signed up for a ton of challenges it was easy for me to find books to fit in with this one. I did add The Historian into this just because I wanted an excuse to read it. So here is my list for this challenge:

• I Know This Much Is True by Wally Lamb (also for TBR and Whitcoulls challenges)


• Jonathon Strange and Mr. Norrell by Susanna Clarke (Man Booker challenge)


• The Woman In White by Wilkie Collins (TBR alternate)
• The Historian by Elizabeth Kostova

Extra:

• The Stand by Stephen King (if I get ambitious)