Delirium TV Show Castings!

For those of you that don't know, Lauren Oliver's Delirium Series is being turned into a TV series by Fox. Delirium is one of my favorites books ever, and so I just found out on one of the writing websites I'm part of that Fox has cast the two main characters: Lena and Alex, Lena's love interest, along with the main character come Pandemonium, Julian. 

According to my sources, Emma Roberts is playing Lena.

I'm not overly impressed. I don't know, maybe she can pull it off.... I'm skeptical though. Her face seems too... wide for Lena. She also doesn't really just look like Lena to me. We'll have to see.

Daren Kagasoff is playing Alex.

He, on the other hand, looks almost exactly how I imagined Alex. His facial structure is just perfect for the part!

Julian is to be played by Gregg Sulkin.

He is probably my least favorite casting. I'm just really not liking this casting. Just... ugh. Sometimes I wonder what they're thinking when they cast these things...

So, my favorite to least-favorites:

1. Daren Kagasoff as Alex.
2. Emma Roberts as Lena.
3. Gregg Sulkin as Julian.

So, those are my thoughts. I'd love to hear your opinions below!

Here's the link to where I got the info. The links in the actors' names go to IMDb.

Anastasia

Waiting on Wednesday (3)

Release Date: March 19th, 2013 (according to Goodreads)

Title: Emblaze
Series/Sequel? Violet Eden Chapters #3
Author: Jessica Shirvington
Genre(s): Paranormal Romance
Summary: Once again Violet Eden faces an impossible choice ... and the consequences are unimaginable.

Violet has come to terms with the fact that being part angel, part human, means her life will never be as it was.

Now Violet has something Phoenix - the exiled angel who betrayed her - will do anything for, and she has no intention of letting it fall into his hands. The only problem is that he has something she needs too.

Not afraid to raise the stakes, Phoenix seemingly holds all the power, always one step ahead. And when he puts the final pieces of the prophecy together, it doesn't take him long to realise exactly who he needs in order to open the gates of Hell.

With the help of surprising new allies, ancient prophecies are deciphered, a destination set and, after a shattering confrontation with her father, Violet leaves for the islands of Greece without knowing if she will have a home to return to..

My Thoughts:  I found the first two books, Embrace and Entice, new and interesting takes on angel mythology. The writing and the love triangle were both decent as well, so I'm excited to see where Emblaze takes the Violet next! Though I must say, the cover doesn't really sit well with me... Embrace's cover was gorgeous, but both Entice and now Emblaze leave something to be desired...

Leave your WoW in the comments and I'll check it out!

Anastasia

Book Review: Altered, by Jennifer Rush

Title: Altered
Series/Sequel? Altered #1
Author: Jennifer Rush
Genre(s): Science Fiction, Action/Adventure
Age Level: YA
Page Count: 323 (Hardcover)
Perspective: First Person (Female)
Summary: Everything about Anna’s life is a secret. Her father works for the Branch at the helm of its latest project: monitoring and administering treatments to the four genetically altered boys in the lab below their farmhouse. There’s Nick, Cas, Trev . . . and Sam, who’s stolen Anna’s heart. When the Branch decides it’s time to take the boys, Sam stages an escape, killing the agents sent to retrieve them.

Anna is torn between following Sam or staying behind in the safety of her everyday life. But her father pushes her to flee, making Sam promise to keep her away from the Branch, at all costs. There’s just one problem. Sam and the boys don’t remember anything before living in the lab—not even their true identities.

Now on the run, Anna soon discovers that she and Sam are connected in more ways than either of them expected. And if they’re both going to survive, they must piece together the clues of their past before the Branch catches up to them and steals it all away.

Review: Everything about this book - from the cover to the summary - led me to think this wasn't going to be anything special; just another typical science fiction-romance book. So imagine my surprise when it turned out to be so much better than that.

For one, this book is extremely fast and extremely addicting. It kept me reading hours past my bedtime, until my dad came in and turned out the light on me.

Altered was also extremely uncliche. The plot twists and surprises, which I typically guess correctly on within the first 50 pages were actual plot twists that actually surprised me. Maybe that was because my brain was half asleep due to how late I was reading it, but then again, maybe not. This book was more interesting than I ever would have thought, and I'm extremely excited for the second book.

The one thing that I disliked about this book was the romance. The romance was predictable and cliche, and I didn't feel their relationship at all. I found myself wanting to skip past the romantic parts to the much more interesting fight scenes and such - which there were a good amount of, by the way. Anna and the boys can't seem to stay out of trouble no matter where they are, and the fight scenes were awesome, even without the swords, daggers, and magical abilities I typically prefer. But, anyway, (I love this book so much, I'm going off on a tangent!) the romance was the worst part of the book, and I'm kind of cringing imagining this author trying to hype up Sam's and Anna's relationship in the next book.

Besides that little hiccup, this is a great action/adventure and scifi book I would recommend to just about any YA reader!

Rating:

Quick Blog Update

Hey! I just wanted to tell you about the amount of books I've been plowing through, and why there aren't reviews to them all.

Reason #1: As much as I love reviewing, I can be lazy. Being off of school this week, I haven't felt like doing much of anything besides reading, playing Fruit Ninja (it's addicting!), and doing my homework.

Reason #2: Instead of taking the time to do big reviews for every single book I read in this huge batch I got, I'm going to be doing a series of Mini Reviews! Each mini review post will have three-five books reviewed on it. Because they aren't full reviews and are grouped together by date, they will also be getting their own page right next to "Reviews" up on the navigation bar underneath the blog image. I'll either be posting the first one today or tomorrow.

Off to finish writing up reviews!

Anastasia

Waiting on Wednesday (2)

Release Date:  March 5th, 2013

Title: Requiem
Series/Sequel? Delirium #3
Author: Lauren Oliver
Genre(s): Dystopian, Romance, SciFi
Summary: They have tried to squeeze us out, to stamp us into the past.

But we are still here.

And there are more of us every day.

Now an active member of the resistance, Lena has been transformed. The nascent rebellion that was under way in Pandemonium has ignited into an all-out revolution in Requiem, and Lena is at the center of the fight.

After rescuing Julian from a death sentence, Lena and her friends fled to the Wilds. But the Wilds are no longer a safe haven—pockets of rebellion have opened throughout the country, and the government cannot deny the existence of Invalids. Regulators now infiltrate the borderlands to stamp out the rebels, and as Lena navigates the increasingly dangerous terrain, her best friend, Hana, lives a safe, loveless life in Portland as the fiancée of the young mayor.

Maybe we are driven crazy by our feelings.

Maybe love is a disease, and we would be better off without it.

But we have chosen a different road.

And in the end, that is the point of escaping the cure: We are free to choose.

We are even free to choose the wrong thing.

Requiem is told from both Lena’s and Hana’s points of view. The two girls live side by side in a world that divides them until, at last, their stories converge.

My thoughts: Delirium, the first book, is one of my favorite books ever. It is a beautiful and amazing book, one that has changed my way forever. Its sequel, Pandemonium, is one of my least favorite books ever. In my opinion, it took the beauty and uniqueness of Delirium and stamped it all to pieces, replacing it with awful predictability and cliche-ness.  So, I'm interested in reading Requiem to see if it can possible redeem the disaster wrought by Pandemonium, and if Lauren Oliver can possibly dig herself out of the hole she's dug herself into.

Book Haul (3)

I went to Barnes and Noble the week, then realized that buying the books I wanted was cheaper. After seeing all the new releases that I wanted but couldn't have, I went to a library which turned out to have just about all of them. So now I have a total of fourteen books to read in the next three weeks. Because of how many books I got, I'm going to split them up in three different sections.

Dystopians: 

Ashes, by Ilsa J. Bick (Ashes #1): I've heard this book was really good. I picked it up and checked it out. Let's see what comes out of it.

Elemental, by Antony John: Tied with the fey, elementals are my favorite type of paranormal creature. I'm interested to see how this book portrays them. 

Insignia, by S. J. Kincaid: This book was recommended to me by a friend, and so I decided to pick it up and give it a go.

Through the Ever Night, by Veronica Rossi (Under the Never Sky #2): The sequel to Under the Never Sky, a dystopian I liked well enough, but didn't love. I'm interested to see if this can redeem the first book.

False Memory, by Dan Krokos (False Memory #1): This author is coming to the biggest (really only) bookish event near where I live, and so I'm trying to read as many books by the twenty-or-so authors coming as possible.

The Darkest Minds, by Alexandra Bracken (The Darkest Minds #1): She is also coming to the same event as Dan Krokos, and her novel Brightly Woven is one of my favorites.

Others:

Altered, by Jennifer Rush (Altered #1): Truthfully, I saw the cover and I had to pick. This looks to be a scifi book with four hot guys. Is there anything better?

Catherine, by April Linder: I loved her book Jane, which is a rewrite of Jane Eyre. This time she rewrote Wuthering Heights, and though I've never read the classic, I'm excited to read more of her lovely writing!

Vortex, by Julie Cross (Tempest #2): The first book, Tempest, wasn't very good, but it was decent enough that I'm interested in seeing if the sequel is better.

Nobody, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes: This should actually be with the other dystopians, but I didn't realize until after I made the collages that this was a dystopian and not just SciFi. I loved Every Other Day by her, and so I'm excited to read this standalone.

Level 2, by Lenore Appelhans (The Memory Chronicles #1): This is one of those afterlife/heaven books, and though I didn't think one could be written better than The Catastrophic History of You and Me, I'm still willing to give it a go.

Everbound, by Brodi Ashton (Everneath #2): The didn't think Everneath was very good, but like Vortex and Through the Ever Night, I'm still interested enough in the story to see how it turns out, and also if it can redeem the first.

Splintered, by A. G. Howard: The somewhat-creepy cover caught my attention, and though I didn't think we could have another rewrite of Alice in Wonderland, it seems that I was wrong.

And then the one book I have to keep this week is the one I was given for my book group:

The Hunt, by Andrew Fukuda (The Hunt #1): Everything I've heard says this Hunger-Games-with-Vampires is amazing, and so I'm greatly excited to see how it is for myself.

Whew! Well, that's it. Leave your comments, opinions, and links to your Book Haul down there, and I'll check them out!

Anastasia

New blog name - your opinions?

So I made up a couple other blog names along with (very similar) images. Tell me what you think and vote for a new blog title on the left sidebar. :)

My last name is Hart, and so that's the joke behind the last one. Tell me which blog name/picture you like so I can change it!

<3, 

Anastasia

Book Review: The Forsaken, by Lisa M. Stasse

Title: The Forsaken
Series/Sequel? The Forsaken #1
Author: Lisa M. Stasse
Genre(s): Dystopian, Romance
Age Level: YA
Page Count: 375 (Hardcover)
Perspective: 1st Person (female)

Summary: As an obedient orphan of the U.N.A. (the super-country that was once Mexico, the U.S., and Canada), Alenna learned at an early age to blend in and be quiet—having your parents taken by the police will do that to a girl. But Alenna can’t help but stand out when she fails a test that all sixteen-year-olds have to take: The test says she has a high capacity for brutal violence, and so she is sent to The Wheel, an island where all would-be criminals end up.

The life expectancy of prisoners on The Wheel is just two years, but with dirty, violent, and chaotic conditions, the time seems a lot longer as Alenna is forced to deal with civil wars for land ownership and machines that snatch kids out of their makeshift homes. Desperate, she and the other prisoners concoct a potentially fatal plan to flee the island. Survival may seem impossible, but Alenna is determined to achieve it anyway.

Review:I was pretty excited to read this originally, but I read the prologue and literally rolled my eyes. It was pretty cliche in the beginning (Your parents were taken/rebels/killed too? Join the club!) but it quickly picks up, and just keeps getting faster and faster until slowing down at the end.

It was cliche and predictable only a few instances throughout, most of the time things were new and intense, and extremely enjoyable. There were also several completely unpredictable curveballs thrown in there - something extremely rare for me, considering the amount of this genre I've read.

One thing I really disliked in this book, however, was the author's attempt at romance. That was probably the most predictable and cliche part of this book, and subsequently the worst. It was obvious what was going to happen in terms of Alenna's relationship with Liam, and the romance seemed flat and forced without any real spark or chemistry between the chemicals.

Another thing I disliked was how the author wrapped so much up into neat tiny boxes. This annoyed me for multiple reasons:
1. If you're writing a series, you should leave at least a few loose ends to wrap up in the coming books.
2. A book - a really well-written book - is supposed to be believable, even if it's a fantasy book. Life doesn't wrap up into neat, nice little boxy. Life is messy and bloody and chaotic. And in a dystopian book especially, one would think they would see more of it. But many things - who the Monk was and the reasoning behind it and everything, what the Monk wanted her for and wanted to tell her, who she was, why her and Liam were even together - it all had a nice neat little explanation. And while some readers like that, I found it annoying and unbelievable.

This book also is not particularly memorable. I read it a week or so ago, and even now, many details and big things - like the main character's name! - escape me. It is, all in all, a fairly average dystopian book. Recommended for fans of dystopians who want a world that is fairly new and different.

Rating:



Quotes:
(There were a few others, but the post it notes I put in on the pages fell out, so I only have these two.)

"Before the secrets rise up and engulf me, and my chance to learn the truth gets ripped away forever."

- Page 113
___________________________________________________________________________________

"I know exactly what it means - to keep going at all costs. To never give up. And to find meaning in the journey."

- Page 247

Book Haul (2)

I know I'm a day late on this, but I wanted to do a book haul for this week:

Borrowed: 

Shift, by Em Bailey: I took this book out as one of those "I want to get a book out" book. I really just picked it up because the cover looked cool and the summary looked cool enough. So, I'm not too sure about this one, but I'll have to see. 

Given: 

Dash and Lily's Book of Dares, by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan: I got this for my book group. Apparently their other books are really good? I don't know, I guess I'll have to see. Expect a review for this Tuesday, though!

Bought: 

Legend and Prodigy, by Marie Lu: I LOVED Legend, and I was so excited to by it along with its sequel, Prodigy. I've already read Prodigy, and I'll be posting a review soon!

So, that what I got this week. Leave a link to yours in the comments and I'll check it out. :)

Anastasia

I'M SO HAPPY!

I just got Prodigy and Legend in the mail, which I ordered a few weeks ago. In case you didn't read my Waiting on Wednesday, I have been waiting for Prodigy since I read (and fell in love with) Legend. Ahhh! I'm pretty much like this right now:

Like, seriously happy! All right, off to lock myself in my room for several hours. I'm so happy it's Friday!

Off to reading!
Anastasia