About

Hi! Thanks for visiting my blog!

I’m Larissa. Born in the Netherlands. 31 years old. Blonde-haired and blue-eyed. Very fond of coffee and of my Old English Bulldog Zeus. Forever obsessed with Harry Potter and Friends. My personality type is INFJ-A, my Hogwarts house is Ravenclaw, and my patronus is a white mare.

What you can find on my blog:
I mainly post reviews (mostly of books, but also of films, TV series, and so on)  and some random writings. There’s also a page with top 10 lists and a page with my favourite quotes.
I’ve separated my Dutch and English posts as much as I can on different pages, so you can click on Over, Boekrecensies, and Schrijfsels for Dutch posts and on all other pages for English posts.

Since this is a personal blog I like to keep things light. The tone of my writings is mostly amicable. Sometimes I might throw in some social media language or a bit of humour. I like writing that way and I also like reading stuff from other bloggers that’s quite light.

Side note: Sometimes I receive a free e-ARC of a book from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. When I’ve written a review for NetGalley it will be stated at the bottom of that post. All opinions expressed in every single one of my reviews are entirely my own and completely unbiased.

Why I created this blog:
I already loved reading and writing when I was a kid and I’ve always liked making up stories. In my head it has always been a chaos of fanfiction. When I’d finished reading a new Harry Potter book I’d make up the sequel. In my world, Sirius, Albus, and Remus obviously didn’t die. Nor did Dobby, Hedwig, Tonks, and Fred. Okay fine, I let absolutely everyone live except for Voldemort.

At primary school we had to make up and create a product and bring it to class, in order to present it as though we were going to sell the product. I chose to create the Daily Prophet (the newspaper from Harry Potter). I wrote the articles myself and an acquaintance who worked for the local newspaper took care of the design and the printing.
Much to my delight both my fellow class members and my teachers were very enthusiastic.
At primary school I also worked for the school newspaper and won a writing contest during Children’s Book Week.

At secondary school two fellow class members and I wrote a funny story to pass the time, inspired by the film History of the World: Part I. I can’t remember much about the story, but there was something about a horse. (I believe there was a running gag in the film about a horse called Miracle, and I think we used that in our story).
Around this time, I also realised that writing book reviews could be a fun way to combine my love for reading and my love for writing. So I gave it a try and started receiving ARCs (among which the Dutch translation of Unwind by Neal Shusterman & the Dutch translation of The Radleys by Matt Haig) in exchange for honest reviews that were put on a website for young students.

I had a knack for languages and especially English was my forte (thanks to my dad’s advice to give my umpteenth Friends rewatch a go without subtitles and because I started reading Harry Potter in English). Because of this I later also decided to study English Language and Culture at university.

Long story short, I fell in love with the written word at an early age and I’d like to express my passion for reading, writing, and language here. So that’s why I’ve created this blog.

Favourites & interests:
Genres (books): contemporary, young adult, (psychological) thriller, fantasy, crime, mystery, (auto)biographies & memoirs
Genres (tv & film): drama, (romantic) comedy, crime, thriller
Books: Harry Potter series – J.K. Rowling, Unwind dystology – Neal Shusterman, Making History – Stephen Fry, The Stars’ Tennis Balls – Stephen Fry, American on Purpose – Craig Ferguson, Instrumental – James Rhodes, Secret Smile – Nicci French, Moab Is My Washpot – Stephen Fry, Death on the Nile – Agatha Christie, Reasons to Stay Alive – Matt Haig
TV shows: Friends, Boston Legal, The Good Place, Flikken Maastricht, Only Murders in the Building, Good Omens, Orphan Black, House M.D., Breaking Bad, Lucifer, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Will & Grace, A Bit of Fry and Laurie, Derek, QI, Are You Being Served?, F.C. De Kampioenen, After Life, You
Films: Forrest Gump, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, White Palace, The Principal, Love Actually, The Oranges, The Grand Budapest Hotel, Kick-Ass 2, V for Vendetta, The Dark Knight, The Love Punch, The Children Act, A Bronx Tale, RED, RED 2
Comedy shows: What. – Bo Burnham, Humanity – Ricky Gervais, You Magnificent Beast – Greg Davies, Adem in, adem uit – Jochem Myjer, Met de mantel der liefde – Richard Groenendijk, Geluk zit in hele grote dingen – Bert Visscher, Binnen de lijntjes – Ronald Goedemondt
Actor: Tom Hanks
Actress: Emma Thompson
Hobbies & interests: reading, writing, language, taking my dog for a walk, listening to podcasts, swimming, philosophy, ancient mythology, psychology, pharmacology, watching films and TV shows, listening to music

Thanks!
Thanks for taking a look at my blog. If you’d like to share something, take a look at the page Contact or leave a comment on one of my posts.
Oh, and you can also find me on Goodreads.