Harry Potter Midnight Release

Hello everyone! 

This is a very exciting post to write and I have been looking forward to it for quite some time now. As many of you will know, today is Harry Potter's birthday! In honour of this, the eighth book, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child was released at midnight last night :-) To say I was excited was an understatement, I mean we've only been waiting nine years for it! 

My local bookstore was persuaded to host a midnight release party for the people who had pre-ordered the books. Being a proud Potterhead I pre-ordered mine some time ago and nothing could make me miss this event. The shop was absolutely packed with people, the majority of whom were in costume. We were all greeted at the door and given tokens to exchange for the book after the midnight count down. 

Playing with this was so much fun! 

 Of course as a proud Slytherin, like J.K. Rowling herself, I needed to represent my house colours! 

For an hour there was merrymaking with cake, butterbeer and nibbles while fellow potter fans could chat and browse the book store. The decorations were funny and aimed at all ages, there was even a colouring station to fill in your house logo. I loved how wide the age range was, there were children as young as 5 and grownups of all ages. People were jolly and the atmosphere was so very warm and inviting. 

I swear the stack of pre-ordered books was nearly as tall as me! 

As the countdown started the children (and adults) with wands were invited to join together to utter the spell "wingardium leviosa" when 1 was reached and the cloth over the books was whisked away for the big reveal. Naturally I was pleased to see it is a hefty tome and could not wait to sink my teeth into it. Although I deemed it best to wait until this morning so I would be rested and ready. 

Reading it this morning took me back to my childhood when the most anticipated moment of the year was reading the first page of the new Harry Potter book with my best friend. We always waited for each other and read them together! Being a play script it is a bit different and some fans could be daunted by the stage directions and lack of narrative. However, I found that all of that melted away as I became immersed in the story. It drew me in and flowed like any other Rowling book. Now, I won't spoil it for you, but can I say it is simply a masterpiece. J.K. has never and never will disappoint her adoring fans and this book will soon be as well loved as all the others. I've put in a cheeky synopsis of my own devising below for anybody who is curious! 

The golden inside is even more intriguing than the outside! 

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child is set 19 years later when Harry has become a tired ministry official struggling with the demons from his past. Under his very nose his youngest son is also struggling. Sorted into Slytherin, he is becoming increasingly isolated from the rest of Hogwarts, his only friend Scorpius Malfoy. To rebel against the curse of his famous father he attempts to right an old wrong and resurrect a young victim using a forbidden time turner. This endangers the entire wizarding community and risks bringing back the old darkness...

I ploughed through this book and can't wait to pick it up again and again, it has definitely been one of the major highlights of this summer and yes I did cry! All that is left for me to say is Happy Birthday Harry and happy reading to all you Potterheads!

Let me know your thoughts on this marvellous book in the comments below :-)

xoxo

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