Best of 2019

Wowsa, where did the year go!? Talk about time flying! With 2020 now upon us, I thought I might share some of my fave movies, TV shows, and books of 2019. Some were only released this year, some are older and I only experienced them for the first time within the last 12 months. All of the following I highly recommend! (NOTE: for any younger readers (and/or the parents of), please check the ratings/blurbs of the following before watching/reading!)

BOOKS:

I had a busy, busy, busy year editing and releasing two books (VARDAESIA and WEAPON), both of which ended their respective series and therefore required extra care and attention. Not to mention, I basically lived out of a suitcase since I travelled so much for the billion events I did… and on top of that, I also wrote my next book (THE PRISON HEALER) and did a lot of exciting but time-consuming stuff with that (more news coming soon!)… SO I didn’t have a heap of spare hours for reading. That said, I was surprised by how much I did manage (I tried to R&R as often I was able, given the craziness of everything else). Sadly, only a few books really wowed me this year, and those are the ones I’m going to list here, in no particular order:

• Crescent City by Sarah J. Maas (*releasing March 2020)
• The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
• Wundersmith by Jessica Townsend
• This Love by Dani Atkins
• The Unhoneymooners by Christina Lauren
• The Black Witch (and the sequel The Iron Flower) by Laurie Forest
• A Curse So Dark and Lonely by Brigid Kemmerer

AUDIOBOOKS:

I’ve started to get into audiobooks this year, which previously I haven’t been a massive fan of (since I prefer to be able to imagine the ‘voice’ of the characters in my head), but I’ve now come to love this medium of reading! My faves include:

• Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling (obvs I’ve read and re-read HP too many times to count, but I listened to the entire series via audiobook this year — narrated by Stephen Fry — and OH, MY, it was magical!)
• The Tattooist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris and narrated by Richard Armitage (the actor!)
• Red Rising (the original trilogy) by Pierce Brown and narrated by Tim Gerard Reynolds (interestingly, I tried a few times to read the physical books, but I struggled to get into the first one. However, I fell in love with the audiobooks — 5 stars for all three of them! Such an epic experience! I’m now afraid to continue on to the next ones set in the future since I don’t want to risk losing any love for the original trilogy!)
• One Day in December by Josie Silver (narrated by Eleanor Tomlinson and Charlie Anson)

MOVIES:

It was a mediocre-ish year of movies for me (in comparison to the amount of TV shows I became obsessed with), but there were a few that I enjoyed. Only a handful elicited a “THAT WAS AMAZING!” response from me, but the following were all enjoyable. (I should note here that I’ve been told I have poor taste in movies/TV shows, haha. I like to find shows to escape into, which means I watch for entertainment purposes, and I’m not looking from a critical perspective. Many of these were ripped to shreds by reviewers, but I still liked them):

• Avengers: Engame
• Aladdin
• Robin Hood (the new 2018 version)
• Red Sea Diving Resort
• Aquaman
• Skyscraper
• Small Foot
• Mortal Engines
• Frozen 2
• Last Christmas
• The Hustle
• Forever My Girl
• Wonder Park
• Chalet Girl

TV SHOWS:

2019 was definitely a year of TV shows for me. I already mentioned that I travelled a lot, so I had a heap of time in hotel rooms to sneak episodes while I was getting ready for events, and also watching on planes, etc., or just when I needed to relax in between edits/writing. The following are the shows that I devoured, some of which were only released this year, many of which are older and I only just discovered (and sadly lots haven’t been renewed for more seasons):

• Chernobyl (I cannot recommend this highly enough!!)
• The Witcher (my newest obsession!!!)
• Umbrella Academy (loved!)
• Roswell, New Mexico (the new 2019 remake – amazing!)
• Deception (devastated there’s no season 2)
• Emerald City (again, devastated there’s no season 2)
• A Discovery of Witches
• The Order
• V-Wars (lots of supernatural gore but I really loved this!)
• Krypton
• Once Upon a Time (the final season where everything is different)
• Dynasty (the newer remake)
• The Bold Type (similar vibes to Younger — so good!)
• Another Life
• Switched at Birth (wholesome and lovely!)
• Manifest (so mysterious!)
• Timeless (sad that there’s only two seasons, but it ended well!)
• Alcatraz
• The Crossing
• Turn Up Charlie (not my usual kind of show, but Idris Elba is fantastic!)
• Merry Happy Whatever (dysfunctional Christmassy fun)
• The I-Land
• Game of Thrones (I only started it this year since everyone was in such a tizzy about the final season, so I watched it all in about month)

… and of course there are new seasons of old favourites, like Younger, The 100, Suits, Arrow, Salvation, The Good Place, Lucifer, The Good Witch, Lost in Space, and probably a heap of others I’ve totally forgotten.

Looking at this list of shows, it’s clear that I lean towards the fantasy/sci-fi/magic/supernatural shows, with a smattering of drama and family shows thrown in to shake things up. It’s so weird to see it all laid out like this! How interesting! The same could be said of my books and movies. Of course, I read and watch a lot more widely than any of these lists show, but these are the ones that have left the greatest impression on me from an enjoyment perspective.

Your turn now! Comment below any of your favourites — books, movies, TV shows — that you’ve loved from 2019! I’m always looking for new recommendations and would love to hear what has inspired you this year!

My Newest Obsession – The Shannara Chronicles

Around this time last year I posted a blog about my first Supanova tour and I mentioned that on the way back to the airport, I shared a car with the actor, Manu Bennett – photo attached here again, just because… :-)

We were probably in the car for 30-40 mins (ish) and during that time he told me about his most recent role as a druid on a new, upcoming MTV show called The Shannara Chronicles. He explained that it was based off Terry Brooks’ The Elfstones of Shannara and what he told me about it sounded ridiculously awesome and right up my alley. I’ve been waiting all year for it to come out so I could see for myself if it was as good as it sounded.

Now, about a week ago I learned that I’m speaking on three panels over the Easter weekend at Contact 2016, and one of those panels is called “Everyday magic: from Harry Potter to Shannara“. I don’t think words can describe just how excited I am to be on this panel, not just because I’ll have a legitimate excuse to gush about Harry Potter, but also because both Kate Forsyth and Juliet Marillier will be on it with me—both of whom I had the honour of meeting last November for the Adelaide/Brisbane Supanova tours. Kate and Juliet are brilliant authors, so I’m stoked that I get to spend time with them again (AND talk about Harry Potter!!!!!!) – and given the title of the panel, I figured it was the perfect time to learn more about The Shannara Chronicles in order to at least bring something other than Harry to the stage.

So! Given that the launch of Raelia is coming up in less than a fortnight and between now and then (and definitely afterwards), life is a little hectic, I knew I wouldn’t have the chance to read the books before the Easter weekend, so I decided to hit a friend up to borrow the series. Turns out it was perfect timing because season one literally just finished and she was able to give me all 10 episodes.

That was last Sunday, and I had every intention of watching an episode here or there over the next fortnight and slowly but surely making my way through it enough to have at least some basic knowledge in time for the panel.

What I didn’t plan on was sitting down and watching the first episode, then the second, then the third, then the…. well, okay, time for an honesty moment: I literally binge-watched the entire 10-episode season in one sitting last Sunday. (Despite having deadlines that I really should have been working on.)

Shannara was THAT good.

It was literally like watching 10 episodes of The Lord of the Rings. From the setting (soooooo Middle Earth) to the characters (elves, humans, trolls, “demons” – which just reminded me of orcs with dark magic)… to the epic scope of the story and character arcs. I seriously LOVED it. It was like a fantasy TV show dream come true!!!

The casting was beyond brilliant – Manu’s character (the druid, Allanon) was AMAZING, but so too were the three young leads, the elven princess Amberle, the human “Rover” Eretria—both seriously kickass female leads—and the half-human-half-elf “Chosen One” Wil.

Then there was the elven king, Eventine, played by the always wonderful John Rhys-Davies (*cough* Gimli *cough*,and both the elven princes Ander and Arion were absolutely brilliant!

The special effects and cinematography were way better than I would have imagined – like, movie quality awesome. And so too was the music, etc. I mean, I’m totally fangirling here, but I just really, really enjoyed it.

BUT. I will state for the record that there is quite a lot of heavy fantasy violence in it. Kinda like the messy, icky battle scenes from The Lord of the Rings, but sometimes a bit more than that, too. Nose-scrunching yuck at times. So I wouldn’t recommend this for younger people. But for those who love fantasy, great characters, an intriguing world and an epic story, then all I can say is, WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR!?!?!? Go grab a physical copy or download it from the Apple store or Amazon RIGHT NOW!!!

My Newest Obsession

I’ve been completely obsessed with ‘The Blacklist’ lately…

There’s just something about this show that is so intriguing. But, why? Well…

There’s no one single answer to that question. It’s a cumulation of everything – the plot, the characters, the mystery… (I think I’m going to go crazy if we don’t find out why Raymond is so obsessed with Elizabeth soon!)

This show drives me insane. I simultaneously love and hate the criminal mastermind Raymond “Red” Reddington for soooo many reasons. One moment he’s killing people, the next he’s saving them.

And the more answers you get along the way, the more questions you end up having. It’s mind-bogglingly frustrating!!

But it’s also very much worth it. I definitely recommend this show to anyone who loves great character development and mysterious, well thought out stories. But beware, there’s definitely violent moments, so if you’re not a fan of blood, maybe give it a miss. Otherwise, strap in for a fabulous adventure that is well worth the frustration!