Reviews For Reasons to Smile


Name: justawillowtree (Signed) · Date: 25 May 2018 09:37 AM · For: reasons to smile

Hey there! Here for our swap!

 

Congratulations on winning Honorable Mention in the challenge! I was reading through the other entries and they were all so good, so it’s really great that you won an award! And I thought I’d continue my challenge-reading spree with this piece. <3

 

This was absolutely adorable. It was touching and heart-warming and just so sweet. I love how worried Harry was throughout about Albus, and I love how much he clearly cares for his three children. Stories that depict Harry as a kind, loving father (as I’m positive he would be, especially after that childhood where all he wanted was love) make me so happy to read! I thought his characterization was on point throughout; I thought it was so funny how Harry actually enjoys shopping with his children, and how shopping as a family has become a tradition for them.

 

James is very relatable as a character haha, with him wanting to buy things that he really shouldn’t but desires anyway. Though I personally don’t really have too many things I want when I go shopping for supplies, my little sisters beg and wheedle my mom for this and that whenever we go out to buy things, and it’s endearing. And I love how Ginny, from the very beginning, sets him straight on the fact that they’re not getting anything lol.

 

And I love Ginny and Lily! From the very beginning, when both of them turn their heads to glare at the people staring at them, I knew I would love them. Like mother, like daughter indeed haha. They’re both amazing, I’m sure they’re both stunning, and both their personalities are wildly attractive. And I love how accepting Harry is of Lily’s sexuality, and you gotta love that overprotective father vibe of “she’s too young” lol. Though I’m a little unsure of how old Lily is in this story, I’m sure she’s more than old enough to have crushes are start dating haha.

 

The fact that Harry is worried about Albus the entire time just touched my heart. Because this is what a parent should be like, caring for their child. I was so happy when Harry was happy seeing Albus’s smile at the end. (Also I laughed when I saw the cat, it immediately reminded me so much of Crookshanks and I knew that Harry wouldn’t like it haha!) I wonder what’s been bothering Albus?

 

Anyway, this was a very sweet story. And congratulations, once again! <3

 

~Eva



Author's Response:

Thank you! 

 

I honestly never thought that people might like this lol, but I took a chance on posting it anyways! 

 

I'm ecstatic that you like my headcanons of the potter family! 

 

omg, shopping is the same with my family, except mostly i'm the one that wants the stuff i don't need! 

 

I'm surprised you like Lily, since in this pieces (and most other pieces) she's actually a pretty undefined character!

 

Artemis and Crookshanks! I was definitely pulling a parallel between them! 

 

Thanks for reading and reviewing! xx



Name: forever_dreaming (Signed) · Date: 15 May 2018 07:09 PM · For: reasons to smile

Hi dear! Here to leave a review for the Domesticity Challenge :)


Having read Miracle, I do have to agree with you in that this is one of the best pieces of writing I’ve read from you. (Not that your writing in Miracle is not good; there’s just a definite improvement, which is fantastic! Keep at it!). I love love love stories about the Potter family, and this one in particular was such a lovely read—fluffy, with a tang of angst, which is exactly what I was hoping for in this challenge.


I really liked the dynamic between Harry and all of the members in his family. I’ve never been a Hinny shipper, but Ginny and Harry were so freakin’ adorable in this story. Ginny reminds me of Molly, but cooler and scarier (if that’s even possible haha). Harry seemed so adorably clueless; I loved how invested he was in his children though. I feel like someone like him, who loves with all of his heart, couldn’t help being so consumed by his children and so invested in their lives. I really loved that Ginny and Harry had this sort of secret language, that they understand each other so well. It really made me smile.


Gay!Lily is wonderful. But what’s even more wonderful is Ginny and Harry’s approach to her sexuality, how accepting they are. I love that Harry still got Protective Dad Instincts over Lily in regards to the girls she’s dating. Again: he’s such an awesome dad. I really liked that he’s giving her room to grow though; I think that this shows that he really trusts Lily, which is really admirable.


My favorite relationship, however, was the dynamic between Harry and Al. After Cursed Child, I’ve been rather critical of stories portraying the relationship between Harry and Al. In this particular fic, I loved how Harry was so concerned for Al’s happiness, but also how he generally didn’t really know what to do to help Al. Even though Harry’s parents were amazing, he never knew them; he grew up without any parental figures (until the age of 11, which is pretty late to be finding a parental figure—especially since until then he’d been horrifically abused by the only family he had). I always figured that he’d be a little bit of an awkward dad, trying his hardest not to screw anything up.


The scene with Al and Artemis was just so perfect. I loved that Harry would do anything to make his son happy (the fact that he had to pay extra made me laugh), and I love that finding this weird-ass cat was what made Al so happy. To some degree, Artemis feels like a reflects of Al: weird, a little unlovable on the surface, but rather affectionate on the interior. I could envision Al’s smile, and it was basically impossible for me to not smile too.


Sorry if this review is a bit all over the place; there was just a lot about this fic to love. Super well done! Thanks for entering my challenge <3


P.S. Loved the shoutout to Cho! Was she showing Marisa around? :D




Author's Response:

I am so over the moon about this review, and that's the reason I took a couple of days to reply. Can I marry this review? I want to do that. 

 

First of all, you understood this little one-shot. So. Perfectly. I don't understand how you managed to do that, considering the fact that I didn't even know I was writing in this way. I wrote Harry as I understood him. Thank you for agreeing with me that this is best work yet; for sometime I certainly didn't think so because I went on overdrive with my thoughts and thought that the message I wanted to get through might have been misconstrued somehow. I'm glad that this is what you wanted to see--especially since this is what I wanted to write. 

 

I have to agree with you on Hinny; I wasn't a big fan of the two when I first read the books, mostly because I felt like Ginny was dropped in the sixth book as a love interest for Harry. I think written correctly, they can be couple that has chemistry. I super proud of myself that I could do that for you! 

 

I loved Gay!Lily as well, and it wasn't something I really even thought I about; I just kind of wrote it in. However, Harry and Ginny's acceptance of her sexuality was deliberate, and I wasn't even sure whether I was writing it in the correct way. 

 

Okay, now to may favorite part of the review: Harry and Al's dynamic. I think they'd be really close to each other, and that Cursed Child BS has no home in my writing. Harry wouldn't ever treat his son so poorly and without respect, especially not when he knows exactly what that feels like. But I also had this idea that Harry wouldn't know how to parent; I imagine it would be pretty hard for him, having not had parents for the first few years of his life, and I really wanted to portray that, not in a way that Harry is ignorant of his lack of ability to parent, but in away where he's kind of aware of it, and trying to fix that by knowing cues, communicating, etc. I think it's pretty funny that you think that Artemis is a representation of Al, and it kind of fits, despite the fact it wasn't what I intended at all! I was looking so forward to writing this scene, and this whole one-shot in general, because there are subtle (and some not so subtle) headcanons in here that actually have a pretty big play in Miracle. 

 

I loved your review to bits, and appreciate all of your commentary! 

 

Thanks for reading and reviewing! xx



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