Book to Screen - Breaking Dawn Offical Pic

The first official Twilight Breaking Dawn picture was reveal this past weekend and here it is:

Do you like it? I know its only an arm, but I LOVE it! I mean we clearly know which scene this is, but its done in a tasteful way. Now to be clear, I am not a fan of Breaking Dawn, in fact I like to pretend that the Twilight series ended with Eclipse. Even so, I will probably go see the movie, just to see how it turns out.  What do you think? Are you still excited by the Twilight books and films or are you over it?

Thanks to EW for the pic and news

Cover Release - Dead Reckoning

I'm a little late on this one, but here's the cover for Dead Reckoning, the new Sookie Stackhouse book by Charlaine Harris. I love this series, so even though its not YA, I will be picking this one up in May.

Have you read any of the Sookie Stackhouse books? If so, which one is your favorite? For me its a tie between Dead to the World and All Together Dead. Can't wait for this one!

Sequel/Series Sunday #1

This post is to highlight sequels I can't wait for and series I haven't read yet. Feel free to comment and live a link talking about the Sequel/Series you're excited about! They can be old or new books as long as you've never read them.

Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, I wasn't able to read as much as I wanted. I'm almost done with Infinite Days, so expect a review soon. I'm loving the book and it got me thinking, have you ever been halfway through a book and knew you had to get the sequel right away? If I could go out and pick up Stolen Nights right now I would.

Stolen Nights: (Vampire Queen #2) by Rebecca Maizel

~sequel to Infinite Days

Apparently, everyone but me has read the PPL books. I don't live under a rock, although it may seem that way, I just never picked them up. I haven't seen the TV series they adapted from them either. I've wanted to check them both out, but never did. I'm going to try and borrow them from my library, but I might just breakdown and buy them. Which do you like better, the books or TV show?  I'd love to know what you think!

Pretty Little Liars: by Sara Shepard 

~8 books in series (so far)

What sequel are you most looking forward to? What popular series have you been dying to read?

In My Mailbox #1

I hope everybody had a wonderful Thanksgiving and a safe Black Friday, if you live outside the US, I hope you also had a good week! I had to work Black Friday which wasn't as crazy as I thought it would be, but since my parents didn't get into town until Thursday, we did our Thanksgiving feast today! This is my first IMM, so I'm very excited to share what I got throughout the month of November!

 In My Mailbox is a meme created by Kristi@ The Story Siren, its purpose is to encourage blogger interaction, as well as highlight books for our readers. IMM is not only for books you have received through the mail, but also library, borrowed, and bought books.

 For Review:

-Torment by Lauren Kate

-Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

-Countdown by Deborah Wiles

Won: 

-Radiance by Alyson Noel

Thanks to Random Buzzers, Goodreads, Scholastic and Jennifer@ Extreme Reader Book Reviews

Bought:

-Perfect Chemistry by Simone Elkeles

-Beastly by Alex Flinn

-The Iron King by Julia Kagawa

-The Iron Daughter by Julia Kagawa

I wasn't going to buy anymore books till after Christmas, but my local Hastings was having a buy 1, get 1 sale today on there YA books. I've heard some amazing things about these 4 books and just decided to treat myself!

What did you get?
 

"Waiting On" Wednesday #1

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.

What I'm "Waiting On" this week...

THE IRON THORN by Caitlin Kittredge 
Release Date: February 22, 2011 by Delacorte Books for Young Readers

From Goodreads 

In the city of Lovecraft, the Proctors rule and a great Engine turns below the streets, grinding any resistance to their order to dust. The necrovirus is blamed for Lovecraft's epidemic of madness, for the strange and eldritch creatures that roam the streets after dark, and for everything that the city leaders deem Heretical—born of the belief in magic and witchcraft. And for Aoife Grayson, her time is growing shorter by the day.
     Aoife Grayson's family is unique, in the worst way—every one of them, including her mother and her elder brother Conrad, has gone mad on their 16th birthday. And now, a ward of the state, and one of the only female students at the School of Engines, she is trying to pretend that her fate can be different.

CLARITY by Kim Harrington
Release Date: March 1, 2011

From Goodreads

Clarity "Clare" Fern sees things. Things no one else can see. Things like stolen kisses and long-buried secrets. All she has to do is touch a certain object, and the visions come to her. It's a gift. 
And a curse. 

When a teenage girl is found murdered, Clare's ex-boyfriend wants her to help solve the case--but Clare is still furious at the cheating jerk. Then Clare's brother--who has supernatural gifts of his own--becomes the prime suspect, and Clare can no longer look away. Teaming up with Gabriel, the smoldering son of the new detective, Clare must venture into the depths of fear, revenge, and lust in order to track the killer. But will her sight fail her just when she needs it most?
 
I'm really into Dystopian novels right now, so I think The Iron Thorn sounds amazing, plus I love how the cover is a bit creepy. There's just something about the look on her face. Clarity has a absolutely gorgeous cover, I love the simplicity of it and how the sunlight is reflecting off her. I have always loved stories about people with special abilities, so I'm really look forward to getting my hands on both these books!

What are you "Waiting On"?

Teaser Tuesdays - Infinite Days

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page 
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!) 
• Share the Title & Author, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

 My Teaser:

"What I have done?" I stepped closer to him. "I feel the weight of this existence in my bones. As though a thousand parasites are eating away at my sanity."

 ~pg.11,  Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel

Adapt Me - The Secret Circle

Elizabeth Craft and Sarah Fain (who both worked on Joss Whedon's Angel and Dollhouse) are adapting L.J. Smith's The Secret Circle series into a one-hour drama about a California teen who moves to her mom's hometown and discovers that she is a witch. Alloy Entertainment, the company behind CW shows The Vampire Diaries (also written by Smith) and Gossip Girl, is putting it together for the network. Andrew Miller, is writing the pilot script and will also exec produce. Alloy is also developing the music-themed Confessions of a Backup Dancer, based on the book by Tucker Shaw, it goes behind-the scenes with a group of backup dancers as the tour the world with a major pop star. Les Morgenstein and Gina Girolamo are executive producing alongside Sascha Penn, who is writing the script. Marcos Siega, who has directed several episodes of The Vampire Diaries, is attached to director.

Both are in early development stages, and nothing has been filmed yet, but which would you most like to see made into a series?  Have you read any of the books and if so, what did you think? I haven't read any of these, although I have read Smith's Vampire Diaries and Nightworld series, but it sounds like both could work as a weekly show.

Thanks to TheFutonCritic for the news and the links go to Goodreads

 

Review - The Secret Year

Need To Know Info:

Title: The Secret Year
Author: Jennifer R. Hubbard
Format: Hardcover 196 pages
Publisher: Viking Juvenile
Release Date: January 7th 2010
Rating: 3 out of 5 HEARTS

Synopsis from Goodreads

Colt and Julia were secretly together for an entire year, and no one—not even Julia's boyfriend— knew. They had nothing in common, with Julia in her country club world on Black Mountain and Colt from down on the flats, but it never mattered. Until Julia dies in a car accident, and Colt learns the price of secrecy. He can't mourn Julia openly, and he's tormented that he might have played a part in her death. When Julia's journal ends up in his hands, Colt relives their year together at the same time that he's desperately trying to forget her. But how do you get over someone who was never yours in the first place?

My Always Spoiler-Free* Review (*unless otherwise noted)

The premise for this book is what hooked me, and I read it quickly, but it just didn't quite live up to my expectations and I really wanted to love it. First off, I think the book was a little to short, its just under 200 pages and there's so much going on with Colt emotionally, that I wish it could have been longer. Since everything is told from Colt's POV, I felt more emotionally connected to him. The author writes Colt in such an honest and masculine way that even when Colt is being a jerk, he still comes across as a likable guy dealing with a personal lose.   Julia was hard for me to relate to, I thought she came across as selfish and shallow. I could never quite understand why she kept doing some of the things she did. She would say one thing and then do something else, part of this might have to do with the fact that you only ever hear her voice through the journal. I think I might have been able to relate or at least like Julia more, if I could have seen her and Colt's relationship before the accident, instead of getting all of it through Colt's memories and Julia's journal entries. I really enjoyed the way that Jennifer wrote Colt's relationship with his family, it was very realistic. Most teenage boys keep a lot to themselves, so it didn't surprise me that his parents were oblivious to what was going on with him. I also really liked all the scenes with Colt and his brother, you could tell that they were close, but never really completely open with each other. Some of Colt's friends seemed rather cliche' but Syd, Kirby and Michael were definitely well round character dealing with their own personal issues. I liked how each one of them brought out a different emotional trigger in Colt, that would make him think of Julia. Overall I thought the novel was pretty good, the premise was pretty original and I think that Colt is a very realistic male character. If it wasn't for Julia being so unlikable, I think I might have given it a higher rating, but because she is such a dominating presence through out the book, I only gave it 3 HEARTS.

2011 Debut Author Challenge

 Hosted by Kristi @ The Story Siren

 So next year will be my first year taking part in the Debut Author Challenge. I wanted to do it this year, but I discovered it pretty late, so I decided to wait till next year to get involved. The goal is to read at least 12 YA or MG books by debut authors between the first and last day of the year. The 12 books I will be reading will come from the list below.

Across the Universe by Beth Ravis Vesper: A Deviants Novel by Jeff Sampson Choker by Elizabeth Woods The Near Witch by Victoria Schwab Warped by Maurissa Guibord Unearthly by Cynthia Hand Timeless by Alexandra Monir Forgotten by Cat Patrick Clarity by Kim Harrington Wither by Lauren DeStefano Between Shades of Grey by Ruta Sepetys Die for Me by Amy Plum Tempest Rising by Tracy Deebs HereAfter by Tara Hudson The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens Ruby Red by Kerstin Gier The Liar Society by Lisa & Laura Roecker The Faerie Ring by Kiki Hamilton XVI by Julia Karr I'm Not Her by Janet Gurtler Enclave by Ann Aguirre (Book Tour) Memento Nora by Angie Smibert (Book Tour) Haven by Kristi Cook Angelfire by Courtney Allison Moulton Moonglass by Jessi Kirby (Book Tour) To learn more about the challenge and how it works go Here or if you'd like to sign up go Here. Don't worry non-bloggers, you don't have to run a blog to participate, go check it out, its going to be a great year of reading!!! Titles in Bold are ones I already have.
What 2011 debut are you most looking forward to?  I think Clarity and The Iron Witch sound amazing but Between Shades of Grey looks like its going to be such a powerful read that I really can't wait for that one either!

Adapt Me - The Lying Game

So here is a feature I hope to do at least every few weeks and that's discuss books being adapted for film or television. First UP!

ABC Family has ordered pilots for Nine Lives and The Lying Game. Both come from Alloy Entertainment, the company behind ABC Family series Pretty Little Liars.

Nine Lives is based on the Nine Lives of Chloe King series of 3 young-adult novels by Celia Thomson. Alloy Entertainment is producing the pilot, about Chloe King, a teenager  with heightened abilities (super speed, agility, hearing…claws) who discovers she’s being pursued by a mysterious figure. Dan Berendsen wrote the script and will executive producing along with Alloy's Leslie Morgenstein and Gina Girolamo.


The Lying Game is based on the upcoming book series by Pretty Little Liars author Sara Shepard, which will be released in December. It centers on twin identical sisters separated at birth - one rich and one poor. When the rich one goes missing the poor sister sets out to find her. Chuck Pratt Jr. who worked on Ugly Betty wrote the script and will executive producing with Morgenstein and Girolamo.

Both pilots are currently being cast, with filming to start soon, so we should know sometime early next year, if either or both make it to series. Would you like to see either of these made into a weekly TV series?  I have never read Nine Lives, nor do I know much about it but I do think that The Lying Game sounds really good (I can't wait to get my hands on a copy) and would probably make for an interesting TV show.

Thanks to Deadline Hollywood for the news and links go to Goodreads

Read Then, Reading Now

Links go to Goodreads

Just finished: The Secret Year by Jennifer Hubbard, will be posting a review soon.

 Currently Reading: Infinite Days by Rebecca Maizel

Welcome

Hi and welcome to my book blog! I'm new at this whole thing and as you can see my blog is still a work in progress.  I hope to have more features up after the holiday weekend and maybe even a giveaway when its closer to Christmas. I thought since Thanksgiving is next Thursday I would start by saying Thank You to a few of the blogs that inspired me to start my own. So Thanks to Kristi The Story Siren, Jessica from Confessions of a Bookaholic, Lisa from A Life Bound by Books and Kristen & April from Bookworming in the 21st Century. If you haven't checked out their blogs, you should, they're 4 of the best! So Happy Reading to all and thanks for stopping by!