Waiting On Wednesday: Stealing Snow

“Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating.

This week’s anticipated future release is:

Title: Stealing Snow
Author: Danielle Paige
Expected Publication: September 16th, 2016
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA Childrens
Synopsis from Goodreads:

Seventeen-year-old Snow has spent the majority of her life within the walls of the Whittaker Institute, a high security mental hospital in upstate New York. Deep down, she knows she’s not crazy and doesn’t belong there. When she meets a mysterious, handsome new orderly and dreams about a strange twisted tree she realizes she must escape and figure out who she really is.

Using her trusting friend Bale as a distraction, Snow breaks free and races into the nearby woods. Suddenly, everything isn’t what it seems, the line between reality and fantasy begins to blur, and she finds herself in icy Algid–her true home–with witches, thieves, and a strangely alluring boy named Kai, none of whom she’s sure she can trust. As secret after secret is revealed, Snow discovers that she is on the run from a royal lineage she’s destined to inherit, a father more powerful and ruthless than she could have imagined, and choices of the heart that could change the fate of everything…including Snow’s return to the world she once knew.

This breathtaking first volume begins the story of how Snow becomes a villain, a queen, and ultimately a hero.

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ARC Review: With Malice

With Malice

  • Original Title: With Malice by Eileen Cook
  • Edition: Kindle, 320 pages
  • Published: June 7, 2016 by HMH Books For Young Readers
  • Characters: Jill Charron, Simone McIvory
  • Rating: 4/5
  • Goodreads

Description: Eighteen-year-old Jill Charron’s senior trip to Italy was supposed to be the adventure of a lifetime. And then the accident happened. Waking up in a hospital room, her leg in a cast, stitches in her face, and a big blank canvas where the last 6 weeks should be, Jill comes to discover she was involved in a fatal accident in her travels abroad. She was jetted home by her affluent father in order to receive quality care. Care that includes a lawyer. And a press team. Because maybe the accident…wasn’t an accident. Wondering not just what happened but what she did, Jill tries to piece together the events of the past six weeks before she loses her thin hold on her once-perfect life.

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Top Ten YA Book-to-Movie Adaptations

For my first Top Ten Tuesday, I chose to do my Top Ten YA Book-to-Movie Adaptations. So without further ado, here we go…

1. Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows
One of my biggest regrets in life is that I wasted so much time avoiding the Harry Potter series. My best friend finally made me watch the movies one weekend a few years ago, and I was hooked before the first movie ended. Danielle, Emma, and Rupert are perfect as the golden trio, and all the supporting actors are fantastic. The Deathly Hallows, in particular, is everything a movie should strive to be. It was fantastically written and directed. The cinematography is beautiful. It perfectly captures the fear, tension, the suspense, the grief and heartache of war, the aftermath… it’s beautiful.

2. The Hunger Games
I’ll admit that I was not initially fond of the casting choices for The Hunger Games (aside from Woody Harrelson as Haymitch) but all the leads really capture the essence of the characters. The movies are accurate and true to the books, but also entertaining and interesting as their own separate entities.

3. Divergent
Divergent is one of those rare adaptations where the movies are actually better than the book. I loved the Divergent series as books, don’t get me wrong, but the movies are amazing. I love Shailene Woodley as Tris! She brings this story to life in ways I couldn’t even imagine.

4. Ender’s Game
I have not read the book and I probably never will due to Orson Scott Card’s reputation as a homophobe and racist, but I did watch this movie one day [free] and I loved it so much!

5. The Maze Runner
Again, I have not read the book but I loved the movie. I’m actually scared to read the book now because I’ve heard it wasn’t as entertaining, so we’ll see. Plus, I mean, it’s Dylan O’brien! I’m sold.

6. The Fault In Our Stars
I loved this book! Loved, loved, loved. I laughed and I cried so much. This is one of the most accurate book-to-movie adaptations I’ve ever seen…and it was amazing. I laughed and I cried some more while watching. Again, Shailene was amazing as Hazel Grace, and Ansel was the perfect Augustus Waters.

7. The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Okay, I haven’t read the book. It’s been on my tbr list for more years than I’d like to admit. Probably since Emma Watson was playing first-year Hermoine. Gosh, this movie makes me cry every single time I watch it. Every time! I can’t compare it to the book, but as a movie, it’s damn good.

8. If I Stay
It may not seem like it, but I’m not a huge fan of contemporary novels, so I shied away from this book. I still haven’t read it, and I’m afraid I won’t like it as much as I liked the movie. I even avoided the movie for along time. My love for Chloe Moretz Grace is pretty much the only reason I watched it…and I don’t regret it. It was a little slow, but it was interesting, and yes I did cry a little bit (when they sang “Today” at the bonfire I was done).

9. Breaking Dawn
Twilight is probably the worst movie that’s been made in the last 20 years. As an aspiring filmmaker, I feel like Catherine Hardwick and her screenwriter set women in the industry back years, but once they ditched them and got a new director the films got better and better. Breaking Dawn Part 1 & II were actually really good in my opinion. I love what they chose to do with the showdown in the last movie.

10. Holes
Okay, so technically, Holes is a children’s book and the movie is like 20 years old, but it’s so good. Who can resist a young Shia LaBeouf?

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