Divergent Casting News: Four has been cast

For those of you who don't know, Divergent is the first book in an awesome dystopian trilogy. The third book is coming out this fall, but this book is all-systems-go to be made into a movie. The protagonist, Beatrice Prior, has already been cast, but Four's casting was made offical as of Friday the fifteenth. And here he is.

Theo James.

 

There goes my vision of Four. Theo James is not at all who I imagined Four to be or look like. I looked at him, IMDb-ed him, and now I'm just... no. Just... no. I can't I can't I can't

He isn't Four. At least, I can't imagine him as Four. But Veronica Roth said that she thinks he's perfect for the part, and the author knows best, right? I guess I can't really judge, though, considering I haven't seen him in anything. I guess I'll just have to wait until the movie comes out and see how he plays the part. But just looking at him... GIVE ME FOUR, NOT THEO JAMES! 

Well, those are my thoughts on the matter. Feel free to put yours - whether you're for or against - in the comments.

Book Haul (4)

This post could be alternately called In Which I Buy A Lot of Books.

Because this week, I ordered five books online. More books than I think I have ever bought in a single sitting.

So here's what I got:

 

 Okay, so three of these books I've already read, but I loved them so much I just had to buy them. Those are The Evolution of Mara Dyer, The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer, and The DUFF. And here are the books I have yet to read:

Unravel Me, by Tahereh Mafi (Shatter Me #2)
Shatter Me is definitely on of the most interesting books I've read. It's a dystopian, but the unique, gripping style of writing shoots it above and beyond to a whole new level. I loved Shatter Me, and since I already owned it, I had to buy the sequel. (I have this thing where I have to own all the books in a series if I buy one of them.)

The Goddess Inheritance, by Aimee Carter (The Goddess Test #3)
I own the first two books of this series, and the second one, Goddess Interrupted, left off with such a cliffhanger! I've read mixed reviews on this, but I'm still excited to see what I think of it, and how Aimee Carter finishes off the series.

Well, that's what I got this week! Post a link to yours in the comments and I'll check it out!

Anastasia

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

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

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

Book Haul (1)

Things I borrowed/received this week:

Borrowed (from assorted libraries):

 

Clarity, by Kim Harrington (Clarity #1) 

This is one of those books that I've seen a lot on other book blogs, and so I'm interested in reading it. 

Fury, by Elizabeth Miles (The Fury Trilogy #1)

The cover and the title drew me in originally, and then I found that it sounds like my type of book: 

Sometimes sorry isn't enough....

It’s winter break in Ascension, Maine. The snow is falling and everything looks pristine and peaceful. But not all is as it seems...
Between cozy traditions and parties with her friends, Emily loves the holidays. And this year’s even better--the guy she’s been into for months is finally noticing her. But Em knows if she starts things with him, there’s no turning back. Because his girlfriend is Em’s best friend.
On the other side of town, Chase is having problems of his own. The stress of his home life is starting to take its toll, and his social life is unraveling. But that’s nothing compared to what’s really haunting him. Chase has done something cruel...something the perfect guy he pretends to be would never do. And it’s only a matter of time before he’s exposed.
In Ascension, mistakes can be deadly. And three girls—three beautiful, mysterious girls—are here to choose who will pay.
Em and Chase have been chosen.
Doesn't that just sound amazing? I'm really excited to read this book!

The Juliet Club, by Suzanne Harper
I really have no concrete reason for picking up this book. It was more one of those "Well, I've only checked out five books, I need more" cases, and so I saw the word Juliet in the title and figured that this maybe just a cute, light book to read.


The Forsaken, by Lissa M. Stasse (The Forsaken #1)
Even though this book sounds something like the typical dystopian book, I'm actually really excited to read it.  Hopefully it lives up to my excitement!

UnWholly, by Neal Shusterman (Unravel #2)
I loved Unravel, and wished at the time I had read it that it had a sequel. And then I learned about this. Needless to say, I'm extremely excited to read this book!

Lucid, by Adrienne Stolz and Ron Bass
This is another book that I picked for absolutely no reason. I'm not even sure if I'll end up reading it, but I did pick it up and take it home.

Received:

Dead to You, by Lisa McMann
I received this from a book group that I'm in. I must say, I loved reading Lisa McMann's Wake series, and this sounds like a very dark, heavy book - just the type of stuff I love! I hope this turns out to be great!

And now I kind of feel like an utter fail.

I was looking on one of my favorite book blogs, Down the Rabbit Hole, and I saw all of her challenges on the side. I clicked on one, the 2013 TBR PILE Reading Challenge, and found that it was hosted by another blog called Bookish. Then again, she's been blogging since 2010 and I only have (rather sporadically, I must add) for this past year. And she has 4000 followers, and I have 9 (whom I appreciate dearly). And she's much more experienced in blogging and her blog is much awesome-er than mine. But still. I'm just...

I guess I should have been more creative in my blog name... anyone have any ideas what I should change it to, or if I should change it?

Anastasia

Why I Love Mab from the Iron Fey Series

One of my favorite series ever is The Iron Fey Series, by Julie Kagawa. Julie has come out with a compilation of 3 novellas from the series, which she is giving out to anyone who writes a post about who their favorites character is from the series and why. You can check out the full rules here, on her blog. Of course, I couldn't possibly pass this chance up, so I have written a post about why I love

Thanks to my best friend Rachel for drawing this! Don't you love the
snow piles and icicles?

I know, I know, all of you that have read the series or know any faerylore are probably flipping out because Mab is typically  portrayed as evil. Yes, she eternally suffocates people by freezing them in blocks of ice. Yes, she rules through fear. Yes, she doesn't believe in love. Yes, she exiled her own son because he was in love with a half-human from the other court. And while those things may be inexcusable, while I don't think any of those things are right, I still love her. Here's why:                 

She was the first feminist. 

I know she's a fictional character. I get that. But she started out as a character from the myths of the British isles, and I can't help but think that she gave some hope to the restricted women who were forced to stay home and cook and clean instead of doing anything interesting, because the men couldn't seem to get their heads around the fact that women were just as intelligent (if not more so) than them. Even though Mab rules through fear, she has ruled for presumably millennia over her court, without a man by her side. She has managed to keep a court of thousands of fey alive and prospering. She has managed to keep them protected. She knows what she's doing, and she does it perfectly fine. And she doesn't need a guy to help her. She doesn't depend on anyone else. To be brutally honest, she's badass. (Pardon my language.)

Many people say that women's rights movements didn't start until very late in the course of human history. Women today are still trying their very hardest to get equal rights. But suffrage started much earlier than anyone realizes. It started with Mab. 

So, that's one reason. One major reason, and probably the biggest reason why I like her. But there's more to it than that. People don't like her because of the above reasons, and because she tried to keep Ash away from Meghan. She taught him that love is the worst thing, that you shouldn't love. People think it's because she's just a mean, cruel person. But did you ever think it was because she was trying to protect him?  That maybe she was burned by love in the past, and she loves Ash too much to see him be hurt in the same way. Maybe her love for him is kinda convoluted and hard to see, but it's there. Her mother instincts are there, and they love him, and they want to protect him. 

So you people can call Mab cruel and mean and awful and evil. But I think she's just a woman doing what she can to survive in a crazy world. 

*To read more about what Mab's past was like, you can read a fanfiction I wrote here.

In My Mailbox (8)

I went to three different libraries this week and I ransacked each. So, instead of putting up a picture of each cover, I'm just going to list them. Because, truthfully, I'm interested to see how many I got total. I'm estimating something like 30. Let's see:

1. The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak
2. How To Save A Life, by Sarah Zarr
3. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs
4. Memoir of a Teenage Amnesiac, by Gabrielle Zevin
5. Bewitching, by Alex Flinn
6. The False Princess, by Ellis O'Neal
7. Crescendo, by Becca Fitzpatrick (already read, but I'm won't be reviewing it)
8. Silence, by Becca Fitzpatrick
9. This Dark Endeavor, by Kenneth Oppel
10. The DUFF, by Kody Keplinger
11. Wings, by Aprilynne Pike
12. Spells, by Aprilynne Pike
13. Illusions, by Aprilynne Pike
14. Daughter of Smoke and Bone, by Laini Taylor
15. The Eternal Ones, by Kirsten Miller
16. The Dark Divine, by Bree Despain
17. The Lost Saint, by Bree Despain
18. The Fallen #1, by Thomas E. Snigoski
19. The Splendor Falls, by Rosemary Clement-Moore
20. Evermore, by Alyson Noel
21. The Knife of Never Letting Go, by Patrick Ness
22. Alphas, by Lisi Harrison
23. The Obsidian Blade, by Pete Hautman
24. Maximum Ride, Manga Adaptation #5, by James Patterson/Nara Lee (Already read, and it won't be reviewed)

So, not as many as I thought. But still, 24 books? I think that's pretty ambitious, even for me. I probably won't be doing another IMM for at least two more weeks, until this stack is gone. Until next review!

Anastasia

In My Mailbox (7)

In My Mailbox is a meme held by The Story Siren, which trumpets the books book bloggers have gotten that week/weeks to read and review. Now, I know that it is normally held on Sundays, but I didn't have computer access for the past week and a half, due to the insanity that is life. However, I  got an insane number of books this week, and so I just had to share them!

From the library, I got:

The Power of Six by Pittacus Lore
The Secret Sisterhood of Heartbreakers by Lynn Weingarten
You Against Me by Jenny Donham
The Name of the Star by Maureen Johnson
Sister Wife by Shelby Hrdlitschka (Which I may or may not review)
Stork by Wendy Delsol
Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen (Which I may or may not review:

I also BOUGHT (squee!)

Divergent and Insurgent by Veronica Roth. (Which have both already been read, and are waiting to be reviewed.)

So, like I said, I haven't had computer access for the past week and a half, so I have 6 or so books to review. So be watching for those!

In My Mailbox (6)

In My Mailbox is a meme held by The Story Siren, which trumpets the books book bloggers have gotten that week/weeks to read and review. I had a few books left over from last week to read, so I restrained myself from getting to much. However, two of the books I've been waiting for for forever (that's a lot of "for"s...) and so I got them on hold for as soon as they were able to be checked out from the library. So this is what I got:

Embrace, by Jessica Shirvington
Spellbound, by Rachel Hawkins
Out of Sight, Out of Time by Ally Carter

Both Spellbound and Out of Sight, Out of Time I got on hold. Embrace... well, the cover looked cool, and that was that. I'll be going back to the library tomorrow, so I'll probably have a huge pile next week to blog about.

What did you get in your mailbox?

In My Mailbox (5)

In My Mailbox is a meme held by The Story Siren, which trumpets the books book bloggers have gotten that week/weeks to read and review. So, I was at my library twice this week, and I had nothing else let to read, and I saw so many good things, and... well, this is what happens when I'm let loose in a library:

Wither, by Lauren DeStephano
Looking For Alaska by John Green (I read The Fault In Our Stars by him and have been waiting to get my hands on another one of his books for a while now)
Ten Things We Did (and probably shouldn't have) by Sarah Mlynowski
Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver
Unearthly by Cynthia Hand
The Space Between by Brenna Yovanoff
Hero Type by Barry Lyga (The LAST :( book for book group)
Brightly Woven by Alexandra Bracken
I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore
Wintergirls by Laurie Halse Anderson (In honor of World Book Night, which this was a book for)

So, yeah. Twelve books. That most would say that's a lot, but it's really not, because these:

 





I've already read and reviewed, on Goodreads if not on here. And these:



I've already read, and just haven't had the time to review. So, with five of the twelve already read, I only have seven left to go! Any opinions on what I got this week?

In My Mailbox (4)

In My Mailbox is a meme held by The Story Siren, which trumpets the books book bloggers have gotten that week/weeks to read and review. I do not have a HUGE amount of stuff I've gotten, but I'm still trying to work through the pile of a couple weeks ago. So here it is:

The Dust of 100 Dogs by A.S. King (Book for Book Group at my library)

Once a Witch by Carolyn MacCullough

Bones of Faerie by Janni Lee Simner

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Die for Me by Amy Plum

I also BOUGHT!:

Goddess Interrupted by Aimee Carter

Fairest of All by Serena Valentino

So... yeah. Only seven, I know, but I still have 3 others to finish from last weeks raid. :) But I'm glad I got to go to Barnes and Noble :) If any of you have read any of these and have any two-sense to put in (loved it, hated it, don't bother reading it, whatever) leave a comment!

In My Mailbox (3)

In My Mailbox is a meme held by The Story Siren, which trumpets the books book bloggers have gotten that week/weeks to read and review. I raided my library again, along with another library which has a bigger, better selection. So here are my spoils:

 (already R&Red)

                                              

(This book is for the book group I participate in at my library)

Along with:

Radiant Shadows

Ink Exchange

Darkest Mercy

Fragile Eternity

(All by Melissa Marr)

A Beautiful Dark by Jocelyn Davies

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

Illuminated by Erica Carloff

The Faerie Ring by Kiki Hamilton

Eve by Anna Carey

So, good haul, yes? What did you get in your mailbox?