I would say there are jobs that you think would be great for you. There have been jobs that I thought I really wanted and that seemed almost like a mirage. They seem great, but actually the reality is it's really not great. For me, every turn in the road and every change of direction that I've had, where I've been the driving force behind that, whether it's been like a show getting canceled, like Salem got canceled. At the time, I felt really sad in a way, but then I wouldn't have been able to do Carnival Row if that had gone on. It's hard to feel like anything that felt bad at the time has not ultimately been something that's been really great. It’s so important that people actually talk about the failure as well as the success in life isn’t it… Fun, enjoyable with lots of good stuff. I loved the imagination about clothes and hats giving qualities to people. I was a bit annoyed that in some portions Cordelia thinks out loud and tells us what to understand instead of showing it in the story. But this was a nice, fun read nevertheless. In Cordelia’s London, magic is real and is woven into objects created by the five Maker families: the Hatmakers, the Bootmakers, the Watchmakers, the Cloakmakers, and the Glovemakers. Growing up in her father Prospero’s footsteps, eleven-year-old Cordelia Hatmaker has learned the family’s ancient skills and secrets so she can one day make her own enchanted hats. The magical elements, which should have really made the book come alive, instead felt shoe-horned in, because there was never any real purpose to them. The central conflict was that of the Maker families decades long quarrel, and the magic wasn’t actually necessary to the story. Instead, crazy magic materials were rattled off in each chapter, creating a laundry list of magical items, that were never fully explored and never came into their own. They were there for the sake of being there, rather than for a specific purpose. Return to the spellbinding world of Cordelia Hatmaker in this soaring magical sequel to The Hatmakers. Perfect for fans of Nevermoor, A Pinch of Magic and Harry Potter.

At a time when death has become an acceptable, even voguish subject in children's fiction, Natalie Babbitt comes through with a stylistic gem about living forever. Cordelia comes from a long line of magical milliners, who weave alchemy and enchantment into every hat. In Cordelia's world, Making - crafting items such as hats, cloaks, watches, boots and gloves from magical ingredients - is a rare and ancient skill, and only a few special Maker families remain. When Cordelia's father Prospero and his ship, the Jolly Bonnet, are lost at sea during a mission to collect hat ingredients, Cordelia is determined to find him. But Uncle Tiberius and Aunt Ariadne have no time to help the littlest Hatmaker, for an ancient rivalry between the Maker families is threatening to surface. Worse, someone seems to be using Maker magic to start a war. It's up to Cordelia to find out who, and why . . . Anyway, there’s the usual shenanigans and friends helping each other despite their families not getting along at all, Sam and Goose continue to be awesome, and the search for Cordelia’s father continues. We get to learn more about the villain and what they want and why. The Mapmakers is the sequel to The Hatmakers, which I read last year and really enjoyed. This series is basically about a family called the Hatmakers, who make magical hats. There are also other Makers that make other magical items, like the Glovemakers, Watchmakers, Cloakmakers, etc. I thought this was a great concept and it was executed so well!! This series is a combination of fantasy and adventure, with a pinch of mystery, which were all woven together to create a really engaging story.This book was fun! Cordelia is energetic, and super determined. Though I wish she had opened up to Sam earlier, Cordelia is seemingly tireless at trying to find her father, despite her family's disbelief. I loved how she, Sam and Goose finally got people to begin working together, though it did take things getting pretty bad for all Makers for that to happen. Auf den ersten Teil der "Die Gilde der Hutmacher" Reihe war ich sehr gespannt und ich habe eine Geschichte im Stil der Duftapotheke-Reihe erwartet.

It's allowed me to communicate some thoughts that I have about life, how good life can be and the beauty of life in what hopefully isn't a super cheesy way. You have your own voice as a writer and when you're acting a part that has been written by someone else, created by someone else, and you're coming in to bring yourself to the part, you can’t say things about life through the part necessarily. With a book, there's this amazing opportunity to almost give a vision of life and thoughts about how good and beautiful life can be. That's been nice. I definitely wreaked a little bit of revenge on some silly actors that I've known in my past through the character of Sir Hugo Gushforth - who was a very silly actor - but it's affectionate as well. It's not all like a character assassination by any means. What do you think you've learned about yourself through becoming an author? An enchanting fantasy adventure about the importance of bravery, resourcefulness, and following your heart from a debut celebrity author. Lastly, the writing style. Although I liked both the plot and the characters, I think that the writing was definitely the star of the show. Tamzin Merchant's writing style is so magical and lush, with all these gorgeous descriptions that just made my reader heart so happy. It was also so easy to read and made my reading experience so enjoyable overall. I'm sure I would've devoured this in a day or two if life wasn't so busy at the moment. I honestly wish I'd been able to! Ever since Cordelia discovered the hidden map in her father's precious telescope, she's been searching the streets of London by starlight and trying to uncover its secrets. She's sure that her missing father is out there somewhere, and that if she follows his map, she'll finally discover the truth about his disappearance.What I loved about The Hatmakers was the emphasis on creativity with magical ingredients. This second book is an exploration of Maker magic itself, both light: Stories featuring strong female hatmakers have captured my heart since meeting Sophie in Market Chipping and this one is no different. Although this isn't quite the next Howls Moving Castle, it's an adorable younger sister to it and delighted my heart as much. Cordelia shares many of the same traits with Sophie: she's determined, loyal and unafraid of doing what's right. The escapades of Cordelia and her friends had me snort-laughing-out-loud, with some delightful twists and a queer romance subplot that just melted my heart. Cordelia comes from a long line of magical milliners, who weave alchemy and enchantment into every hat. In Cordelia’s world, Making – crafting items such as hats, cloaks, watches, boots and gloves from magical ingredients – is a rare and ancient skill, and only a few special Maker families remain. But life as a magical milliner isn’t without its difficulties . . . And I LOVED the magic system! It was so well thought out and the uniqueness and utter magic of it all just gave me this wonderful fuzzy feeling. I feel like even though there were parts of the magic system explained in Book 1, it was expanded on so much more in this, which was wonderful to see. So, yeah, that was a great part of the story 😁🙌