LOVE, ROSIE - TRAILER #1 & #2

I have been highly anticipating the release of any form of a Love, Rosie trailer and today we got two! Well technically I wouldn't call them trailers more like clips, but what I've seen so far it looks pretty damn awesome! I know there have been a few changes from the book to screen, which is practically the norm for book to movie adaptations, so if you're a fan of books I hope this movie won't disappoint your expectations. Love, Rosie is a best selling book written by Cecelia Ahern, which is also published under the name of Where Rainbows End in other countries. The film stars Lily Collins as Rosie and Sam Claflin as Alex, along with the supporting cast Tamsin Egerton, Jaime Winstone, Christian Cooke, and Suki Waterhouse.

Rosie and Alex are best friends. They are suddenly separated when Alex and his family move from Dublin to America. Can their friendship survive years and miles? Will they gamble everything for true love?

THE LEFTOVERS - FULL LENGTH TRAILER

HBO finally revealed a full length trailer of The Leftovers during the intervals of Game Of Thrones earlier this week. The full length trailer sure has plenty of time to convey the synopsis of the highly anticipated TV show and what the audience can expect from it, from what is shown so far I can expect a lot of emotional turmoil and how the impact of certain events affects people. Starring Justin Theroux, Liv Tyler, Chris Zylka, and twins Max and Charlie Carver.

Revolves around the Rapture and follows a group of people who are left behind in the suburban community of Mapleton. They must begin to rebuild their lives after the sudden and mysterious disappearance of more than 100 people.

PETALS IN THE WIND TRAILER

Okay, so I must admit I'm a little late on this bandwagon. I did actually watch this trailer when it was first released a couple of weeks back, but at that point in time I had not yet watched Flowers In The Attic... well I just finished watching it and now I just want to know what happens next! From the trailer the kids are no longer kids but are now fully fledged adults so I'm interested in how their life after the events of FITA turned out. It kind of makes me want to read the books, written by V.C. Andrews, so I know beforehand, but I'll probably just end up reading the spoilers of whats to come in Petals In The Wind.

UPDATE #3

Hey everyone,
I have not abandoned my blog as you may think, I'm just currently having some technical difficulties with my internet connection which meant I wasn't able to post any current news. Hopefully I'll be able to get some posts out in the next couple of hours, so just sit tight and keep an eye out for any new posts!

Peace out (I really should have a better outro, any suggestions),
Amber.

CITY OF HEAVENLY FIRE UK ANNOUNCEMENT

Cassandra Clare announced through her official Tumblr the new altered UK release date of City Of Heavenly Fire, which has now been moved from Tuesday May 27th 2014 to Wednesday May 28th 2014. I know its a day later and not a month which I'm thankful for but now we've lost a day of reading so now we have to keep out of the land of spoilers and just hope for the best.

For legal reasons, combined with the bank holiday on Monday 26th May we aren’t able to get books to shops any earlier – we’re working hard and most shops will have stock ready to sell on Wednesday 28th May, eBooks will be available from that day also.

However if you're impatient to wait an extra day there will be a UK launch party on Tuesday May 27th 2014, which is being held at The Bloomsbury Theatre in London. By purchasing a ticket includes that you receive a special paperback edition of City Of Heavenly Fire with bonus illustrations. Information for the event can be found below.

Tuesday 27th May at 1pm – 4pm
Venue: The Bloomsbury Theatre, 15 Gordon Street, London, WC1H 0AH 

Tickets £15, including an exclusive, early copy of City of Heavenly Fire.
Join us at this special Shadowhunter Super Fan event and be one of the first people in country to get your hands on a copy of City of Heavenly Fire, a day earlier than books will be available in the shops or for online retailers. Your copy will include a comic strip episode exclusive to Walker Books editions, and a full-colour fold out poster with new character art. 

At our exclusive Shadowhunter Fan event there will be free rune body art painting, nail-art manicure bar, freebies, giveaways and a secret film screening to be announced!Your ticket includes your early copy of City of Heavenly Fire, booking and more information can be found here: http://bit.ly/COHFlaunchUK

But if you can't make it to the event there is also time to attend Cassandra Clare's UK and Ireland tour  with dates yet to be announced, however it has definitely confirmed to start at the beginning of June.

NOT A DROP TO DRINK OPTIONED FOR FILM

It was reported yesterday by Variety that Stephanie Meyer's production company, Fickle Fish Films, has optioned the film rights for the debut novel Not A Drop To Drink, written by Mindy McGinnis. Fickle Fish Films only has two films currently in there portfolio which are, The Host and Austenland, both book to film adaptations.

Not A Drop To Drink is ultimately a survival story set in a world where water is hard to come by, the main protagonist, Lynn, must protect her only water source available by any means necessary.

“Mindy’s unique voice made for a truly riveting read,” said Meghan Hibbett, Meyer’s producing partner at Fickle Fish. “This story seamlessly blends gritty and dangerous dystopian realism with the larger themes of life vs. survival that we feel audiences will really respond to.”

PAPERBACK vs. HARDBACK

I've always wondered what makes readers buy a paperback or a hardback and the only real difference is between the price tag. I know a lot of BookTuber's like to buy hardbacks because of the overall quality difference but there is an off chance that they will most likely buy a few paperbacks if any sales have started. I, like most, prefer to buy paperbacks because they are cheap and if I happen not to like the book it won't make much difference because I would of got it for a cheap price, so there's no need to worry about any money lost. Hardbacks on the other hand is a whole new issue, it generally has to do with new releases, in this case I always happen to buy the last book in the series in hardback because I got the previous book instalments after they'd been released which meant they were cheap. But as I wait for the last instalment I always get it in hardback, comparing the prices of paperback and hardback they're more or less the same give or take a few pounds, so I end up opting for a hardback. However there are other factors that come into play such as stores having sales or clearance for hardbacks or if I really like the cover for a particular book and don't mind spending a few pounds extra I'll get in hardback.

I'd really like to hear your opinion about the difference between buying a paperback or hardback.

THE NEIGHBOURHOOD - LURK

Complex released a new music video a couple of days ago from The Neighbourhood called Lurk via YouTube. Lurk is part of The Neighbourhood's new album #000000 & #FFFFFF (black and white) which they will be releasing free of charge exclusively through livemixtapes.com.

Jessie Hearts NYC by Keris Stainton

Jessie flys out to New York with her best friend Emma for the summer, but the only problem is she hasn't seen her mum, Natalie, ever since she moved out there a year ago. While trying to forget about her awful breakup Jessie decides to look out for hot new attractions to distract her from thinking about her parents and trying to figure out a future for herself. Finn on the other hand has lived in New York all his life but can can only ever seem to dream about Sam, who just so happens to be his best friends girlfriend. Will New York be the answer to Jessie's dreams or will it be her downfall.

This was definitely not what I expected it to be at all, I thought it was a book more for children, but it turns out it was young adult more than anything. I actually picked this book up because I was in the need of a quick read as I had just finished reading some heavy material, so I decided some light reading was in order.

At times Jessie did annoy me especially when it came down to her mum, she just bottled down her feelings and never had the courage to express them until the very end, though I guess thats character development for you! Sometimes I wondered if Emma was real at all because she sort of acted like Jessie's guardian angel telling her all the right things to do and say, but other than that she was a very bland character who agreed with everything Jessie said.

Finn clearly projected his idea of a girlfriend onto Sam which is why he was so infatuated with her, this was because she was nice to him in a friendly way which he perceived as a privilege because he knew deep down he was out of her league. It become irritating when Finn kept reminding himself that Sam was his best mates girlfriend, if he was really best friends with Scott then he should of told him about how he felt about Sam, though I don't know if a guy would actually do this in real life because I'm a girl! Also another note about Finn and Scott's friendship was that neither Scott was truthful throughout the whole book, Finn knew Scott was acting suspiciously but Scott never really gave him an answer as to why until the very end.

However I did enjoy the pop culture references, which made it totally relatable to any reader of this generation. The fact that TV shows and movies filmed in New York were mentioned throughout kept me interested because I am also an avid film watcher and I'm also in the film industry.

Definitely give this one a read if you want a quick read or you are interested by the synopsis!

***

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You can get Jessie Hearts NYC online or at your nearest available bookstore.

I brought my copy which I purchased for £1/2.99 from The Works.

FAKING IT

Okay, so I just finished watching the pilot for a new TV series called Faking It, I decided to give this one a go as the synopsis sounded very interesting and had a unique take on high school life. It actually reminded me a bit of Awkward, which are both half an hour shows, because of the humour which is absolutely spot on, so go check this new TV show out when you get the chance to! It stars Rita Volk, Katie Stevens, Gregg Sulkin, Bailey Buntain, and Michael J. Willett.

After numerous attempts of trying to be popular two best friends decide to come out as lesbians, which launches them to instant celebrity status. Seduced by their newfound fame, Karma and Amy decide to keep up their romantic ruse.

TV Show Recommendations | Spring 2014

These are basically all the TV shows I am currently watching in the spring season of 2014 and I would definitely advise you to check them out if you haven't already! As you can tell from below I'm a big TV-aholic so there is a wide selection of genres that I watch and maybe you'll find interesting too!

Games Of Thrones




Da Vinci's Demons




New Worlds




Arrow




Agents Of Shield




Believe




The Vampire Diaries




The Originals




Star-Crossed




The 100




Nashville




Revenge




The Blacklist




Bates Motel




The Americans

FALLING SKIES - SEASON FOUR - TRAILER

A new trailer for Falling Skies has hit the web and its about time too! Noah Wyle, Drew Roy, Connor Jessup, Maxim Knight, and Moon Bloodgood reprise their roles with many others among the show and from the looks of things picks up right where we left off.

Survivors of an alien attack on earth gather together to fight for their lives and fight back.

TEMPTING THE BODYGUARD - COVER REVEAL

Release Dates:

US - May 2014

UK - May 2014

TEMPTING THE BODYGUARD OFFICIAL BLURB:
A sexy category romance from Entangled’s Brazen imprint…

He can protect her from everyone except himself.

Alana Gore is in danger. A take-no-prisoners publicist, her way with people has made her more than a few enemies over the years, but a creepy stalker is an entirely different matter. She needs a bodyguard, and the only man she can ask is not only ridiculously hot, but reputed to have taste for women that goes beyond adventurous.

Chandler Gamble has one rule: don't protect anyone you want to screw. But with Alana, he's caught between his job and his increasingly hard libido. On one hand, Alana needs his help. On the other, Chandler wants nothing more than to take the hot volcano of a woman in hand. To make her writhe in pleasure, until she's at his complete mercy.

She needs protection. He needs satisfaction. And the moment the line is crossed, all hell will break loose…

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

# 1 NEW YORK TIMES and USA TODAY Bestselling author Jennifer Armentrout lives in Martinsburg, West Virginia. All the rumors you’ve heard about her state aren’t true. When she’s not hard at work writing. she spends her time reading, working out, watching really bad zombie movies, pretending to write, and hanging out with her husband and her Jack Russell, Loki.

Her dreams of becoming an author started in algebra class, where she spent most of her time writing short stories….which explains her dismal grades in math. Jennifer writes young adult paranormal, science fiction, fantasy, and contemporary romance. She is published with Spencer Hill Press, Entangled Teen and Brazen, Disney/Hyperion and Harlequin Teen.

She also writes adult and New Adult romance under the name J. Lynn. She is published by Entangled Brazen and HarperCollins.

Where You Can Find Jennifer:
Twitter: https://twitter.com/jlarmentrout
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/JenniferLArmentrout
Website: http://www.jenniferarmentrout.com/
Entangled website author page: http://www.entangledpublishing.com/category/j-lynn/

More Than This by Patrick Ness

Seth's life has become intolerable, he can no longer live in a world that offers him no hope and decides that by ending his life could possibly give him more than he's already got. However Seth is surprised to learn that he's still alive when he wakes up, only to realise that he's at his former childhood home surrounded by painful memories that have become suppressed deep in Seth's mind. Is this meant to be the afterlife or has Seth woken up in hell he can no longer run from.

I've never read a book like this before, this is definitely one of a kind, especially because of all the different issues it raises upon within the book, suicide, depression, and abuse.

Seth so desperately wants answers in this new world he has awaken to and I for one was shocked as much as he was when he made new discoveries and even some very dissapointing answers.

I cannot go into much detail about this book as I will most likely give most of the plot and the surprise factors away, but what I will say is that if you find the summary interesting than definitely check this book out and give it a go!
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You can get More Than This online or at your nearest available bookstore.
I brought my copy which I purchased for £4.99 from The Book People.

Divergent

Based on the best selling trilogy by Veronica Roth, Divergent takes place in a dystopian world set in Chicago. The society is split into five different factions, Abnegation, the selfless, Erudite, the brains, Candor, the truth, Amity, the peaceful, and Dauntless, the brave. You are born into a faction and when you reach the age of sixteen you go through a simulation test to see which faction your most likely suited to, once you know you announce your chosen faction at the choosing ceremony. However for Beatrice Prior the simulation didn't seem to give her the result she wanted, she was given a variety of results, which is a rarity to come across. People who get this type of result are called Divergent, and they're a dying breed, feared by the government because they can't be categorised into any of the factions that they are becoming targets. Beatrice must hide herself into a faction, drawing any suspicion away from her Divergence, but has she made the right choice or will she end up becoming another target.

When the casting news came out about who was going to play Tris and Four I was quite hesitant because in my mind I didn't imagine either of those two, I had attached Saoirse Ronan as being my book version of Tris so I was disappointed that she didn't get the role. But that being said Shailene Woodley had very much convinced me throughout the film that she was Tris Prior, a stubborn annoying character who despite her best efforts is trying to save the community from itself. Theo James on the other hand convinced that he was Four when we were first introduced to his character, he just had Four's presence in every scene he was in.

The relationship between Tris and Four was believable, although there could have been more of a build up because you didn't really get a sense that a romance was in the process of blossoming, however I did like the sarcastic arguments Tris and Four had in the canteen.

Tris' friendships could have been explained in greater detail because there was only a couple of scenes where we got to see Tris, Christina, Will, and Al exploring the Dauntless grounds. The same also goes for Will and Christina's relationship because really there wasn't one and thats going to be difficult to explain in Insurgent especially due to Christina's explosive reaction of finding the news that Will is dead. Even Al's crush on Tris was non existent, the reasoning why he eventually jumped to his death in the chasm because of what he had done to Tris and that she was disgusted by his evolvement with ridding her from the initiates process, an act so evil she would never forgive him for.

Peter was evidently dressed down in the evil department, he's meant to be a very evil character with every intent to harm everyone around him. However in the movie its was very much toned down, but I guess you get the idea that he's not a very nice person at all and is only looking out for himself. This was clearly shown when Tris was his opponent in the ring and knocked her out even when she was already defeated by him, he still had the audacity to knock her out to the point of unconsciousness.

Eric's casting was spot on because Jai Courtney really brought out Eric's dark side and the dominance he has over Four.

I'm glad they added in scenes for Jeanine Matthews played by none other than Kate Winslet, I'm guessing this is due to her being the top billing name.

I was saddened to learn that Uriah wouldn't be making an appearance in this film, however he will be cast for Insurgent so it will be interesting to find out how they'll introduce him. Edward's scenes definitely got shortened down for this movie, we missed some of the most vital scenes that have so much importance for the next instalments. The missing scenes I'm talking about is when Edward gets stabbed in the eye by Peter and eventually has to leave the initiation process because he can no longer compete with just one eye making him factionless.

Other than missing out minor details there were some enjoyable scenes, such as capture the flag where Tris leads her team to the capture point and retrieves the flag from the opposing team. However the only thing I didn't like about this particular scene was the colouring of the flag, it just looked very crude and out of place. I liked that they kept in the zip line even if the CGI background was dodgy, and we even got a cameo appearance of Veronica Roth if you hard enough you'll find her.

Another thing I enjoyed was the combination of musical influence within the film, as many fans know Ellie Goulding was chosen to voice Tris' inner voice and it synced perfectly together.

If your a Divergent fan I'm guessing you've already watched this film by now, but if you haven't you must go see it now whenever it gets released in your country!

****

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I saw Divergent on the UK release day, April 4th 2014.

As always this is an honest review.

Lorde

I first stumbled upon Lorde when it popped up on the promotional side of my Tumblr dashboard, by the next day I was hooked on the EP, Love Club.

A few months later passed by and to my surprise Tennis Court and Royals were playing repeatedly on the raido, to what I had thought was my little secret was open to the whole world. However they did not know what I did, as told many a times before the girl behind the voice was actually 16 years old and even wrote the majority of the song on her debut album Pure Heroine. Something that I found so astonishing given her age and that most young artists are given songs to sing, a freedom that many people in the industry so much desire.

Many people have compared Lorde to Lana Del Rey and Florence and The Machine, this is due to the fact that she stated those musicians are the ones who influence her work. Lorde in her own right is an accomplished musician, even if she has only released one album it puts her in the same league as Lana Del Rey.




Website: lorde.co.nz
iTunes: itunes.apple.com/gb/artist/lorde/
Youtube: youtube.com/user/LordeVEVO/
Twitter: twitter.com/lordemusic
Facebook: facebook.com/lordemusic
Instagram: instagram.com/lordemusic

Tumblr: lordemusic.tumblr.com

The Amazing Spiderman 2 | *SPOILERS*

Andrew Garfield returns as Spiderman in the follow up to The Amazing Spiderman reboot along with Emma Stone who reappears as Gwen Stacy. I believe the film is set two years after the events of the first film and Spiderman still continues as always to help protect the people of the city by catching wanted criminals before they start to do some real damage. Though these acts of heroism come with some negative side effects, such as the reappearance of Gwen Stacy's dad, Captain Stacy, haunting Peter when he's in dangers way, foreshadowing the events that are about to come. With Peter's vivid visions of the late Captain Stacy, he decides to end his relationship with Gwen because of the guilt thats weighing him down, a promise he made Captain Stacy can never keep. In the mix of things we have three new villains coming into play, the beginnings of the Green Goblin, Electro and Rhino and with Peter's conflicting emotions he tries his best to defeat his arising enemies.

The back and forth between Peter and Gwen's relationship was exhausting, they were either together or apart, unsure of where they stand Gwen tries to enjoy life without being in the presence of Peter even though both of them wanted the same thing they simply do whats best for each other.

Dane Dehaan as always gave a spectacular performance of the troublesome Harry Osbourne, a wealthy heir who suddenly becomes the boss of Oscorp. As the previous Spiderman movies go Harry and Peter have been friends since childhood, though for the reboot Harry doesn't appear until the sequel so the audience is given a quick recap of the pairs childhood relationship. Harry's downfall escalates quite quickly, no longer a happy go lucky guy, he's now become obsessed to find the cure for his longevity since we discover he is slowly dying, something he's had first hand experience with and certainly does not want to repeat it onto himself.

I very much liked the combination of the dub step with every beat of Electro's destruction and especially the hum of Electro's vocal chords, another thing that was impressive was the whispering music that coincides with Electro's paranoia. Very recently it seems films are finally taking into account how the importance of adding music or scores into a film can really intensify the scenes thus building up the suspense for the audience.

Then obviously towards the end we have the build up to a super villain army, founded by none other than Harry Osbourne, as he so desperately wants to take revenge on Spiderman.

As most followers of this film would know that Mary-Jane's scenes got cut from the entire movie, I'm guessing they did this because they didn't want the audience thinking that they were replacing Gwen, and maybe her scenes would of been irrelevant to the plot. But I am looking forward to watching them in the deleted scene section of the DVD. Seeing as they are most likely adding Mary-Jane to the cast in the next film I wonder who they'll cast, considering Shailene Woodley who was originally cast is also starring in her own film franchise, Divergent, it might be hard to film in-between films. Though you never know the studios may come to agreement now that Shailene Woodley has the Jennifer Lawrence effect in the film industry.

I was quite surprised to see that they weren't any extra scenes during the end credits something that is very rare among Marvel films, though we were giving a very edited down clip of X-Men: Days Of Future Past, something that I've never seen happen before during the end credits. I was actually confused about this part because I thought they were planning a Spiderman and X-Men crossover, something that I have not heard any news about, but not to worry because it was confirmed that it was just an advertising segment and nothing more.

Definitely go check this film out if your a Spiderman fan, though I'm hoping you already have because of my very spoilery review!

****

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I saw The Amazing Spiderman 2 on the UK release day, April 16th 2014.

As always this is an honest review.

April Book Haul

Wait For You by J. Lynn

Beautiful Disaster by Jamie McGuire

Walking Disaster by Jamie McGuire

The Vincent Boys by Abbi Glines

The Vincent Brothers by Abbi Glines

Dash & Lily's Book Of Dares Rachel Cohn & David Leviathan

Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne

The Eternity Cure by Julie Kagawa

Hey, I decided to do a segment where I talk about my recent book purchases which everyone in the book community refers them to book hauls, so this is what they'll be called and what they'll look like!

I went into my local Works the other day and saw they had The Eternity Cure and Dash & Lily's Book Of Dares but the only downside was that the copies were heavily damaged, so I decided to hold out buying them from the store and buy them online instead.

For a while I've been eyeing up Wait For You and Monument 14 and with the books I left without purchasing I added these to my basket, along with some other titles. Thanks to Booktuber April Brooks obsession about Abbi Glines I decided to check out some of her books, the ones I went for are The Vincent Boys and The Vincent Brothers, so here's hoping I'll love this author just as much as April does!

As you may know I have already done a review on Wait For You and thats because I read it on e-book form and I just really wanted to get a physical copy so thats my reasoning for my purchasing!

Have you read any of these books, what did you think of them? What one should I read next?

X-MEN: DAYS OF FUTURE PAST TRAILER #3

X-Men Movies has released the third and what I believe the final trailer for X-Men Days Of Future Past starring Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellan, James McAvoy, Michael Fassbender, Jennifer Lawrence, and Nicholas Hoult.

The X-Men send Wolverine to the past in a desperate effort to change history and prevent an event that results in doom for both humans and mutants.

IF I STAY TRAILER

MOVIECLIPS Trailers has released the first trailer for If I Stay, a film adaptation of the bestselling book by Gayle Foreman, starring Chloe Grace Moretz, Liana Liberato, and Jamie Blackley.

A car accident lands 17-year-old Mia in a coma and claims the life of her family.

The Place Beyond the Pines

Ryan Gosling stars as Luke, a reckless motorcycle stuntman lost in a world of little ambition finds himself drawn back to his former girlfriend, Romina. One day Luke spontaneously arrives at Romina's home to discover he has a son, startled by this revelation Luke decides he doesn't want to repeat the cycle of an absentee father so he quits life as stuntman and begins a string a bank robberies using the only skill he only knows best.

I was intrigued by this story from when I first saw the trailer of The Place Beyond the Pines and when I actually got the chance to watch it I was enthralled. Do not be fooled by the trailer advertised as it is completely misleading to what actually happens in the film, but it was a surprise to not know all the exact details from the film beforehand.

The fact that the film is made up from three difference acts, thats three different characters point of views and not forgetting the time differences, something that I certainly wasn't expecting but I loved how their stories were interwoven to create the ultimate master piece.

Ryan Gosling is an exceptional actor throughout this film, even though I have only seen two Ryan Gosling movies which are Blue Valentine and Drive and this by far is his best performance to date. Gosling displayed so much raw emotion when the riveting scenes took place, I was literally on the edge of my seat anxious by how the robberies were going to play out. Luke was clearly a mentally troubled soul and Gosling evidently showed Luke's vulnerability and made you feel sympathy towards Luke because of how far he was willing to go to provide for his son.

Bradley Cooper is a strange phenomenon, he's good at what he does and I certainly wasn't expecting him to take a role like this, although his performance in the Silver Linings Playbook sets the bar of his overall acting skills. But what I will say is that his role as Avery definitely comes close to bar, even though his character doesn't get much screen time he most certainly leaves a memorable impression.

This is the ultimate movie about the repeated cycles of fathers passing their demons onto their sons and someone will always pay the price for their past wrong doings.

*****

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I saw this film last year via Amazon Prime Instant Video.

As always this is an honest review.

GONE GIRL TRAILER

The first full length trailer for Gone Girl has hit the web via Youtube, it stars Ben Affleck, Rosamund Pike, Neil Patrick Harris, Tyler Perry and Boyd Holbrook. Gone Girl is a book to film adaptation written by best selling author Gillian Flynn, her other works include Sharp Objects and Dark Places, which has also been adapted for film which stars Charlize Theron, Christina Hendricks, Nicholas Hoult and Chloe Grace Moretz.

A woman mysteriously disappears on the day of her wedding anniversary.

Half Bad by Sally Green

There has been much hype surrounding this book on the Booktube community and when my book club announced we would be reading this last month I was ecstatic.

Half Bad introduces us to a world of white witches, the good kind and black witches the bad kind, however Nathan, is a half code, half white half black. The witch council has no idea what to do with him because he poses a risk of being the only one of his kind, as black witches are fairly hated among the white witch community. The main reason they fear and very much hate him is because once a witch reaches the age of seventeen they are given three gifts by a person from their bloodline, that eventually form into powers or become useful knowledge. However because Nathan is a half code they don't want him to receive his gifts because of what he'll become due to possessing both white and black witch traits. Nathan has been tortured all his life by the white witches and even deceived by them that he sets out on a dangerous journey to find his father, Marcus, one of the most well known evil black witches so that he can receive his three wishes before time runs out.

Half Bad was definitely not what I was expecting, I felt it had a mix of Divergent and Harry Potter themes such as the ever controlling government/council instructing what Nathan must do with no exceptions, and also because witches live among us in the real world without any of us knowing about their existence, apart from the fain (non-witch) organisations that are against witches living in our community.  

At times I found the pace was slow especially at the beginning because it took me quite a while to fully understand the world and it's many terms. I also found that the middle section of could have been condensed to either make room for more character interaction or more world building but other than that its different to anything I've read before.

Throughout I found some of Nathan's actions to be rather annoying considering as he was repetitively told many a times not to do something and of course he went out and did it, so I guess that reverse phsycology for you. Another character I found to be quite weak was Annalise, Nathan's romantic interest, she was constantly pushed around by the men in her family that I just so desperately wanted her to gain some confidence and speak up for herself instead of being told what to do. But before I proceed to reveal any more spoilers I will say that I was pleased with her character development by the end of the book.

Nathan's half siblings Deborah and Arran were very supportive towards him when their other sister, Jessica, would constantly attack him by mentally abusing him because of what he is, a half code. Jessica very much ruled the family house because of how hostile and cruel she was to all of them so no one could really stop her, this led to Arran and Nathan forming a tight bond because of the two year age difference. Arran was definitely the rock that weighed down Nathan's anger and very much calmed him down before he decides to make any form of revenge where Jessica is involved. I wish we had more scenes with Deborah as we didn't get to hear much from her, almost as she's the forgotten sibling though maybe thats because she's the middle child so that might make some sense as to why she isn't as featured as much as the other two siblings.

I certainly wasn't expecting some the twists revealed throughout, so I would recommend reading this if you want the thrill of surprises. I will most definitely continue this series as there are still so many unanswered questions left hanging up in the air, though it will be a long wait for some as the next instalment Half Wild comes out in the spring next year.
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You can get Half Bad online or at your nearest available bookstore.
I brought my copy which I purchased for £4 from Asda.

LANA DEL REY - WEST COAST

Lana Del Rey has released through Youtube a new track, West Coast. I think it must be time for a new album release with all these hit singles Rey has been producing.

The Neighbourhood

If I was never following Youtuber Ingrid Nilsen (MissGlamourazzi) on Twitter I wouldn't have ever known about The Neighbourhood.

One day back in July Ingrid tweeted about the track Afraid and I instantly fell in love with their songs. The NBHD songs are so dark and edgy that I can easily relate to seeing as the band is from my generation which is pretty surprising considering how quickly they got signed at such a young age.

The most unique factor about this up and coming band is that they chose to use black and white as a theme for their brand, which I find is quite refreshing and as quoted from their Q & A video "visualistic".

They are currently on tour with another popular band of the year which are The 1975. More recently The Neighbourhood have been announced to appear on the official The Amazing Spiderman 2 soundtrack with their track Honest.

Website: thenbhd.com
Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/theneighbourhood
iTunes: itunes.apple.com/gb/album/i-love-you./
Youtube: facebook.com/TheNeighbourhood
Twitter: twitter.com/thenbhd
Facebook: facebook.com/TheNeighbourhood?fref=ts

OFFICIAL SOUNDTRACK OF THE FAULT IN OUR STARS HAS BEEN ANNOUNCED

The Fault In Our Stars official Twitter revealed a few artists from the soundtrack earlier this week in correlation with the official announcement of the full soundtrack.

1. Ed Sheeran – All Of The Stars

2. Jake Bugg – Simple As This

3. Grouplove – Let Me In

4. Birdy & Jaymes Young – Best Shot

5. Kodaline – All I Want

6. Tom Odell – Long Way Down

7. Charli XCX – Boom Clap

8. STRFKR – While I’m Alive

9. Indians – Oblivion

10. The Radio Dept. – Strange Things Will Happen

11. Afasi & Filthy – Bomfallarella

12. Ray LaMontagne – Without Words

13. Birdy – Not About Angels

14. Lykke Li – No One Ever Loved

15. M83 – Wait

16. Birdy – Tee Shirt *

* BONUS TRACK

Okay, so I'm fangirling over this soundtrack right now... number four particularly!

X-MEN: MYSTIQUE TO GET A SPIN OFF?

Entertainment Weekly reported earlier this week that the producers behind the X-MEN franchise are considering the possibility of adding spin offs to the X-MEN universe with Mystique being thrown into the equation, due to how the individual films leading up to The Avengers and even afterwards have become successful at the box office and even among the fans.

“There was a regime [at the studio] that didn’t see the worth in [spin-offs], and the current people who run Fox understand, embrace it, and we’re going to do right by it,” says producer Lauren Shuler Donner, who’s produced all of the X-Men films. “I’d like to do Gambit. I’d like to do Deadpool. We’ll see. There’s a lot of really great characters.”

What do you think of this news? Excited for the possibility of getting Mystique, Gambit or even Deadpool spin offs just like Wolverine or should they just simply leave it alone? Do you think they'll recast Mystique because of Jennifer Lawrence's hectic schedule with multiple franchises?

Jaymes Young

Jaymes Young debut album opens up with Dark Star, an emotionally dark track, especially when you listen to the stripped version. Dark Star has more meaning that you could possibly know, the explanation of the making behind this track can be viewed over at Young's official Youtube channel. The hits in this album that are my absolute favourites are Dark Star, Moondust, Fragments, What is Love, Parachute and Running on Fumes.

I first discovered Jaymes Young last summer through the Youtuber Sawyer Hartman, however it is only very recently that I rediscovered his album and constantly had it on repeat. Some may compare him to Justin Bieber voice wise but thats where it ends, Jaymes Young has so much more raw talent to build upon and with a very modest following I believe Jaymes Young is a rising musician to watch with a very bright future ahead.

You can find his complete album and listen to it for free over at his website jaymesyng.com, iTunes currently display the EP but I do not know the release day of his full album, so until then it is to be confirmed.




Website: jaymesyng.com
Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/jaymes-young
iTunes: itunes.apple.com/gb/artist/jaymes-young/
Youtube: youtube.com/user/FrameworkSounds/videos
Twitter: twitter.com/jaymesyng
Facebook: facebook.com/jaymesyoungmusic
Instagram: instagram.com/jaymesyng

ALLEGIANT TO BE SPILT INTO TWO FILMS

Lionsgate announced earlier today that they will be splitting Allegiant into two parts giving the audience a year wait between both movies, thus the never ending theme of splitting the last instalment into two films. Allegiant: Part One is expected to hit the big screen on March 18th 2016 release, whilst Allegiant: Part Two is expected to arrive on March 24th 2017.

“Veronica Roth brings her captivating story to a masterful conclusion in Allegiant, a rich, action-packed book with material that is ideally suited to two strong and fulfilling movies,” said Lionsgate Motion Picture Group Co-Chairmen Rob Friedman and Patrick Wachsberger in a statement. “The storytelling arc and world of the characters lend themselves perfectly to two films, a storytelling strategy that has worked very well for us on the two Twilight Breaking Dawn films and about which we’re tremendously enthusiastic for the two upcoming Mockingjay films of The Hunger Games franchise.”

What do you think of this new move? Like many of the fans will you be disappointed that you have to wait an extra year for the final conclusion?

FALLEN OFFICIAL CAST ANNOUNCEMENT

Lauren Kate, author of the Fallen series, announced earlier today the rest of the cast whom will be appearing in the book to movie adaptation of Fallen, which is slated for a 2015 release.

Lola Kirke as Penn

Sianoa Smit-McPhee as Molly

Daisy Head as Arianne

Hermione Corfield as Gabbe

Malachi Kirby as Roland 

Chris Ashby as Todd

And as a recap, here are the smokin’ leading characters

Addison Timlin as Lucinda

Jeremy Irvine as Daniel

Harrison Gilbertson as Cam

THE GOONIES SEQUEL IS HAPPENING

TMZ reported that Richard Donner, the director of Goonies, is going to help helm the sequel to Goonies but thats not all Donner wishes to bring back the original cast members for the sequel. However it is uncertain whether they'll be returning to their previous roles or will appear as cameos, the Goonies stars Corey Feldman, Josh Brolin, and Sean Astin.

What do you think of this news? Should they leave it as a standalone film or create a franchise?

THE LEFTOVERS TRAILER

HBO revealed a teaser trailer during the intervals of Game Of Thrones earlier this week for it's new highly anticipated TV series, The Leftovers, airing sometime later this year. Starring Justin Theroux, Liv Tyler, Chris Zylka, and twins Max and Charlie Carver.

Revolves around the Rapture and follows a group of people who are left behind in the suburban community of Mapleton. They must begin to rebuild their lives after the sudden and mysterious disappearance of more than 100 people. 

SQUATTERS TRAILER

I am so excited to find that the first trailer for Squatters has been released, it's been a long time coming because I have been following this movie for a while now and without any images to go on we finally have something to look at in the form of a trailer. Squatters stars Thomas Dekker, Gabriella Wilde, Evan Ross and Andrew Howard.

22 JUMP STREET RED BAND TRAILER

Sony Pictures Entertainment official Youtube released the final version of the red band trailer for 22 Jump Street, which is the sequel to 21 Jump Street welcoming back the main leads Jonah Hill and Channing Tatum along with some new and old faces.

Wishlist

City Of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare

White Hot Kiss by Jennifer L. Armentrout

The Bane Chronicles by Cassandra Clare

Half Bad by Sally Green

LUX: Beginnings by Jennifer L. Armentrout

LUX: Consequences by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Opposition by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Tigers Curse by Colleen Houck

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

Throne Of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Champion by Marie Lu

Uninvited by Sophie Jordan

The Murder Complex by Lindsay Cummings

Slated by Terri Terry

Fractured by Terri Terry

Shattered by Terri Terry

The Unbecoming Of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Altered by Jennifer Rush

Of Poseidon by Anna Banks 

Unwind by Neal Shusterman

Monument 14 by Emmy Laybourne

The Darkest Minds by Alexandra Bracken

Black City by Elizabeth Richards

Shadow & Bone by Leigh Bardugo

Incarnate by Jodi Meadows

These Broken Stars by Amie Kaufman

Under The Never Sky by Veronica Rossi

Half Blood by Jennifer L. Armentrout

Alienated by Melissa Landers

Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson

The Ring And The Crown by Melissa De La Cruz

Rebel Belle by Rachel Hawkins

Panic by Lauren Oliver

The Winner's Curse by Marie Rutkoski

DUFF by Kody Keplinger

The Program by Suzanne Young

Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

Anna And The French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales

To All The Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

Trouble by Non Pratt

Burn For Burn by Jenny Han

Hate List by Jennifer Brown

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Pushing The Limits by Katie McGarry

Dare You To by Katie McGarry

Crash Into You by Katie McGarry

Take Me On by Katie McGarry

Wait For You by J. Lynn

Be With Me by J. Lynn

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

Everything Leads To You by Nina LaCour

If You Find Me by Emily Murdoch

On The Island by Tracey Garvis-Graves

UPDATE #2

Hey, I'm just letting you all know that you are not all crazy and yes I have changed the layout, I frequently get bored with the layouts on here and plus I wanted to make the site more professional looking, so I hope it does!

As you've also noticed I go through phases of posting different content, at the moment it has mainly been film/movie related articles because there's recently been lots of announcements so I wanted to keep up to date with that!

I have been lacking with reviews at the moment, I think I have too much free time on my hands that end up procrastinating, basically nothing gets done! So expect some coming up in the future, especially since there are no direct links to some of my pages on here because I've yet to go through the final stages of drafting them.

I hope everyone is enjoying there spring break/easter holidays and I will leave below the Divergent soundtrack thats constantly been on repeat, enjoy!

JAYMES YOUNG - HABITS OF MY HEART

Jaymes Young released a new track called Habits Of My Heart a while back and for some reason I did not post it, so I'm posting it now! I really like this track it's very different compared to his other tracks and I do believe he deserves so much more recognition because his songs have so much meaning, but then again I'm being biased, but please do check his songs out!

HODDER SIGN 11 BOOKS FROM JENNIFER L. ARMENTROUT

The Book Seller announced that the UK publishing house Hodder & Stoughton acquired the UK rights for eleven titles written by Jennifer L. Armentrout, from the US publisher Entangled.

The books include six titles in the YA Lux series, a paranormal standalone called Unchained, and four adult romance titles in the Gamble Brother series.

Hodder is already the publisher for Armentrout's Covenant series, which has been optioned for television by Herrick Entertainment; the standalone paranormal Cursed and the YA thriller Don’t Look Back, out this month. 

The first five books in the Lux series, the first two books in the Gamble Brother series and the standalone Unchained are slated for UK publication this spring.

So who's excited then?! This is such good news, hopefully these titles will be cheaper to buy since they won't become a rarity in the UK anymore!

THE NEIGHBOURHOOD - HONEST

It was announced on The Neighbourhood's Facebook page that their track Honest will be on The Amazing Spiderman 2 soundtrack, below is the track which was released yesterday.

KATIE MCGARRY BOOK ANNOUNCEMENT

As I mentioned a couple of weeks back Katie McGarry posted on Twitter reminding her followers to watch out for an announcement coming April 8th. Well todays the day and Katie McGarry has officially announced that she will continuing on Echo and Noah's story from Pushing The Limits in a new book titled Breaking The Rules, coming out Decemeber 30th 2014.

In BREAKING THE RULES, Katie McGarry continues the story of Echo Emerson and Noah Hutchinson (PUSHING THE LIMITS) as the pair set out on a road trip so Echo can chase her dream of becoming an artist and for Noah to meet his remaining blood relatives, but as the realities of the world outside the walls of high school begin to press down on Echo and Noah the couple tries to discover if their love is strong enough to survive. 

BREAKING THE RULES is a full length novel that starts a month or so into the trip Echo and Noah take after they graduated from high school. The time period of this book is between PUSHING THE LIMITS and DARE YOU TO. 

BREAKING THE RULES will be released through Harlequin Teen in paperback and e-book formats on December 30, 2014 in North America. It will also be available in the United Kingdom and Australia around the same time period. 

What’s even more exciting? There will be a brief teaser of BREAKING THE RULES in the back of TAKE ME ON (release date: May 27, 2014)!

GODZILLA EXTENDED TRAILER

The official Godzilla YouTube account released a new extended trailer earlier today.

The world's most famous monster is pitted against malevolent creatures who, bolstered by humanity's scientific arrogance, threaten our very existence.

THE DROP TRAILER

The first trailer for The Drop hit the web earlier this week starring Tom Hardy, Noomi Repace, and James Gandolfini in this adaptation of Dennis Lehane's crime tale Animal Rescue.

Bob Saginowski finds himself at the center of a robbery gone awry and entwined in an investigation that digs deep into the neighborhood's past where friends, families, and foes all work together to make a living - no matter the cost.

LUCY TRAILER

The first trailer for Lucy hit the web earlier this week starring Scarlett Johansson and Morgan Freeman.

A woman, accidentally caught in a dark deal, turns the tables on her captors and transforms into a merciless warrior evolved beyond human logic.


What do you think? A bit too much like Limitless or will you give this one a miss?

GWENDOLINE CHRISTIE REPLACES LILY RABE IN MOCKINGJAY PART TWO

Deadline revealed yesterday that Gwendoline Christie, most notable as Brienne of Tarth from the Game Of Thrones, will be replacing Lily Rabe's role of Commander Lyme in Mockingjay Part Two due to scheduling conflicts.

Commander Lyme is one of the leaders of District 13 who originally hails from District 2 and is a past winner in a previously unknown installment of Hunger Games.

DREAMWORKS SECURES THE FILM RIGHTS FOR ELEANOR & PARK

It's a splendid day for Rainbow Rowell fans as Entertainment Weekly exclusively revealed today that DreamWorks have picked up the film rights for Eleanor & Park and that Rainbow Rowell herself will be penning the screenplay.

“Every girl who has read it says, ‘That was me in high school, or that was me in 7th grade,’” Holly Bario, DreamWorks president of production, tells EW. “It reminded all of us of our own sort of awkwardness, or family dysfunction.”

“The book is uniquely structured in that one chapter is told by Eleanor and one chapter is told from Park’s perspective, and they alternate,” Bario points out. “So we’re trying to figure out how to do that in a movie. There are all storts of groovy stylistic things you could do with voice over, or words on the screen, but we want something that’s realRainbow.”

Eleanor & Park is set in 1986, and following one school year in Omaha, the novel follows the tentative romance of two 16-year-olds: Eleanor, a somewhat heavy girl overwhelmed by insecurities and trying to survive an abusive household, and Park, the quiet, half-Korean kid who also doesn’t feel like he fits in, but finds refuge in music and comic books.

Captain America: The Winter Soldier

Captain America: The Winter Soldier continues after the events of The Avengers, Captain Rogers clearly has a daily routine, working out and preparing for the next mission. However the mission he has been tasked with causes some serious after effects, without revealing too much of the plot away Captain Rogers uncovers that Nick Fury has been withholding information from him. The Winter Soldier makes his appearance during a long car chase sequence and whom is officially identified after the death of a beloved character, it is believed that the Winter Soldier is just a myth but agent Romanoff denies this when she confirms to the Cap that she has seen him once in combat, a memory that has literary scarred her. Cap then finds himself being hunted down by the agency (S.H.I.E.L.D) on the basis that he is keeping important information to himself about the death of a character, while trying to decide who to trust within the agency Romanoff joins him on his own personal mission.

We are slowly introduced to newcomer Sam Wilson, played by Antony Mackie, whom stars a comic book hero Falcon. Wilson may not have superpower abilities but he sure does have a suit that transforms into wings, very much like Ironman but obviously with wings.

The search and rescue scene was quite hard to keep on track of, as the camera movements were all over the place, though I'm glad there trying out different movements. However this sequence just made you feel sea sick, so maybe that was the effect they were going for and if so it worked. 

The true identity of the Winter Solider is revealed midway through the film, though the surprise effect of who it is might be stripped away for some, as trailers have been airing revealing the identity of this character which takes away the suspense. 

I'm not sure about the take down of S.H.I.E.L.D as there is currently a TV series airing so I don't know how much longer that will be, however I do know there will be a crossover in the episode that airs this week.

As always we heard references of the New York event which happened in The Avengers and also a hint of another superhero movie in the works with the mention of Stephen Strange, who is known in the Marvel universe as Doctor Strange.

I haven't got a clue where the next installment is going, though we might have some more insight after the release of the Avengers: Age of Ultron which releases in 2015.

Make you you stick around after the post credits, there are two scenes to watch out for, the latter being we get introduced to two newcomers who will be appearing in the Avengers sequel, twins Quicksilver and the Scarlet Witch, a brother and sister duo who are in fact the children of Magneto. Due to the rights dispute there will currently be two Quickslivers coming to our screens, with Evan Peters playing Quicksilver in the next X-Men installment and Aaron Taylor-Johnson playing Quicksliver in the Avengers.

****

________________________________________________________________________________
I saw this film on the UK release day, March 26th, the US release date is April 4th.
As always this is an honest review.

PALO ALTO TRAILER

Yahoo Movies exclusively released the first trailer for Palo Alto, starring James Franco, Emma Roberts and Nat Wolff.

A dark drama centered on a group of teens with a penchant for finding trouble.

CITY OF HEAVENLY FIRE SNIPPET

Cassandra Clare released another new snippet last night on her official Tumblr page, which you can find here.

“And I suppose you know who Magnus’ father is?” Luke said.

“I paid a lot of money once to find it out,” Raphael said.

AMAZON PRIME INSTANT ORDERS FOUR NEW SHOWS

Vulture announced in an article today that Amazon Prime Instant have officially green lit the continuation of four of its pilots, which are Transparent, Mozart in the Jungle, The After and Bosch.

Amazon Prime Instant Video is dramatically expanding its original series footprint, handing out orders for six new programs today.

Did you watch these pilots? Are you excited that yours is becoming a full length season?

BEGIN AGAIN TRAILER

With many delays and reshoots MOVIECLIPS Trailers finally released the first trailer for Begin Again.

A dejected music business executive forms a bond with a young singer-songwriter new to Manhattan.