Category Archives: Uncategorized
Lionsgate in Talks with Julianne Moore to Play President Coin in ‘The Hunger Games: Mockingjay’
Julianne Moore, known for her role as Sarah Palin in HBO’s Game Change, is in talks for the role of President Coin in The Hunger Games: Mockingjay. According to Deadline, Moore is likely to ink in a deal with Lionsgate soon.
Casting rumors concerning Mockingjay Parts 1 and 2 have been floating around the internet over the past few months, but this is the strongest and most reliable rumor yet. In addition, it’s the first time we’re hearing about a particular actress for the role of Coin.
President Coin is introduced in Suzanne Collins’ The Hunger Games trilogy in the third and final book, Mockingjay, when we learn that she was the president of the elusive District 13 and leads the rebellion against the Capitol. Katniss, played by Jennifer Lawrence, and Coin meet in District 13.
It is interesting to note that Moore starred opposite Woody Harrelson (Haymitch) in Game Change.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1 is set to be released November 21, 2014. Part 2 opens in theaters November 20, 2015. Both films will be directed by Francis Lawrence who also directed Catching Fire, due out in theatres November 22 of this year.
We learned recently that the second trailer for Catching Fire will debut at San Diego Comic-Con in July. Stars of the film will be there to present the new trailer in front of dedicate fans.
CW Releases Trailer for ‘Capture’ a ‘Hunger Games’ Styled Reality Show
It’s rare to see a book come to life beyond the movie screen. I’m sure when Suzanne Collins was writing The Hunger Games trilogy she was thinking about tv shows like Survivor and other reality tv shows in which the audience at home gets thrills from seeing the human interactions of people on their screens. Now CW has created a tv reality show named Capture that pits 12 teams against one another for 30 days. There is just one goal: Don’t get caught.
There won’t be any dead children, Capture is a tame version of The Hunger Games, a book by Suzanne Collins in which teams are pitted against one another and fight to the death. I think this turns Collins’ whole moral point upside down. Are we really so like the Capitol in her books that we need this show? Decide for yourself when you see the newly released trailer below:
“In this intense new wilderness competition, 12 teams of 2 will enter a fenced-in enclosure in the middle of the wild, where they must live for one month and compete against each other for scarce resources,” writes The CW in their official synopsis. “With $250,000 on the line, it’s a winner-take-all battle in which the teams must hunt each other down to survive.”
Descriptions of the show indicate that each week one of the teams will be “The Hunters” and it will be that particular team’s job to capture as many of the teams as possible. There will be tracking devices on each of the teams that will display the location of the team if they stop moving for more than three minutes.
Of course, this competition isn’t as intense as The Hunger Games because no one is getting killed. We will just have to see how the ratings will go.
Capture premieres July 31 on The CW.
‘The Fault in Our Stars’ To Begin Shooting in Amsterdam from Late August
According to the latest EW issue featuring Divergent, which stars Shailene Woodley (Hazel) and Ansel Elgort (Augustus), filming for The Fault in Ours Stars will begin towards the end of August. The director of the film, Josh Boone, and producer, Wyck Godfrey, confirmed filming and also are officially location scouting. The film will start shooting later pivotal scenes of the novel in the historical city they are placed in – Amsterdam! This news was confirmed by Josh Boone himself.
Wyck Godrey is still busy on the set of another Young Adult book-to-movie, The Maze Runner. You can follow Josh Boone @JoshBooneMovies and Wyck @wyckgodfrey on Twitter for updates on both films.
Exciting stuff and we can’t wait to hear some more casting news for The Fault in Our Stars.
What We Know About Veronica Roth’s ‘Allegiant’
U.S. Book Cover
Book Title: Allegiant
Author: Veronica Roth
Release Date: 22 October 2013
Publisher: HarperCollins Children’s Books
Paperback Edition, 496 pages.
Book Synopsis: “What if your whole world was a lie?
What if a single revelation—like a single choice—changed everything?
What if love and loyalty made you do things you never expected?”
So these are the basic facts we know above, and here are some of the things you may have missed if you just jumped on the Divergent train:
- There will be a new male character (LA Times Festival of Books)
- Allegiant will be written from two perspectives: Tris and Four!
- Veronica Roth tried to name a character from book 3 the same as her brother in law but it was too weird.
- Chicago O’Hare airport is confirmed by Roth to be the building on the bottom of the U.S. cover. Thus we can assume that there will be something taking place at the building that was once the airport. (Veronica Roth’s Blog)
- The circular water symbol that features prominently on the U.S. cover is not a faction symbol, but it will feature as a symbol in Allegiant. (Veronica Roth’s Blog)
- In the U.K. cover (below) the Chicago city skyline is in the very foggy far distance, and to a lesser extent it is depicted in the same way on the U.S. cover. We can safely assume that Tris and co will finally be exiting the bounds of their world and discovering the world outside of the five factions.
- The U.S. cover tagline: “One Choice Will Define You”
- The U.K. cover tagline: “She must make her final choice.”
U.K. Cover
Have we missed something? Comment with your information below!
Are you a George R.R. Martin fan? Check out all there is to know about The Winds of Winter, Martin’s next book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series.
Harry Potter Hogwarts Library Book Set Gets Release Date
The Harry Potter Hogwarts Library boxset, which will include new-cover copies of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Quidditch Through the Ages, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard, all by J.K. Rowling, has been set for an October 29 release in the U.S. by Scholastic, as noted by Amazon. It will be retailing for $22.49.
The book set was originally released by Bloomsbury in the UK last year, and now will be made available for U.S. Harry Potter fans this fall.
Here are the summaries for the books:
Quidditch Through The Ages: “Did you know that : there are 700 ways of committing a foul in Quidditch? The game first began to evolve on Queerditch Marsh? What Bumphing is? That Puddlemere United is oldest team in the Britain and Ireland league? (founded 1163) All this information and much more could be yours once you have read this book: this is all you could ever need to know about the history, the rules – and the breaking of the rules – of the noble wizarding sport of Quidditch.”
Fantastic Beasts & Where To Find Them: “A copy of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them resides on almost every wizarding household in the country. Now, for a limited period only, Muggles too have the chance to discover where the Quintaped lives, what the Puffskein eats, and why it is best not to leave milk out for a Knarl.”
The Tales of Beedle the Bard: “THE TALES OF BEEDLE THE BARD, a Wizarding classic, first came to Muggle readers’ attention in the book known as HARRY POTTER AND THE DEATHLY HALLOWS. Now, thanks to Hermione Granger’s new translation from the ancient runes, we present this stunning edition with an introduction, notes, and illustrations by J. K. Rowling, and extensive commentary by Albus Dumbledore.”
Liebster Award
Thank you Strung Out On Books for nominating me for the Liebster Award! It’s an award passed on by bloggers to new blogs worth reading (blogs with less than 200 followers). It’s very exciting to be nominated, and in turn to nominate 11 others!
Recipients of the Liebster Award must:
- LIST 11 RANDOM FACTS ABOUT YOU.
- ANSWER THE QUESTIONS THAT WERE ASKED OF YOU (BY THE BLOGGER THAT NOMINATED YOU).
- NOMINATE 11 OTHER BLOGS FOR THE LIEBSTER BLOG AWARD AND LINK TO THEIR BLOGS.
- NOTIFY THE BLOGGERS OF THEIR AWARD.
- ASK THE AWARD WINNERS 11 QUESTIONS TO ANSWER ONCE THEY ACCEPT THE AWARD
My Answers to Strung Out on Book’s 11 Questions:
1. If you could only read one book over (and over and over) again- no other books could be read- what book would you choose?
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows – because it defined my childhood and taught me so many things about imagination, the world and being a good reader and writer.
2. What was the first significant song or book you’ve read/listened to?
I remember reading Deltora Quest by Emily Rodda. It was the first time that I got addicted to a book series. I was 12 years old and I would arrive at school 30 minutes early so I could go to the library and get the next one. I’d read one book a day and was done with 7 days!
3. How long have you been blogging?
One year this month!
4. What’s your favorite activity, excluding blogging?
Reading as many YA books as I can get my hands on, otherwise I love researching my family’s ancestry. Call it an odd addiction.
5. Do you have a favorite thing to post about?
Harry Potter updates, whether they be about the wizarding world, the movies, the actors, JK or the books.
6. How do you come up with post ideas?
I look at updates from news sources on Twitter, read other people’s blogs, and check Goodreads for new releases.
7. Do you stick to one general topic/genre/theme?
I stick to Young Adult genre books and keep my posts PG rated.
8. What’s your favorite store?
Barnes and Noble.
9. Do you prefer TV shows or movies?
Tv shows, but more particularly, mini series. I don’t have the attention span for a movie but I’d happily watch the 6 hour Pride and Prejudice BBC drama.
10. What’s the last movie you watched in a theater?
Oz: The Great and Powerful
11. If the internet sudden disappeared(for whatever reasons), how would you react?
Cry until I can’t breathe and die a slow and painful death 😉
My Questions for Nominees:
1. Why did you start a book blog?
2. What is your favorite thing about blogging?
3. What is the one book you’d take to a deserted island?
4. What is your greatest vice?
5. If this character was a real person, what fictional character would be your best friend?
6. If you could be one of the characters in a story which character would you pick and in which book? (Double question for fun!)
7. What advice would you give to someone who wants to start a blog?
8. Do you prefer reading or watching TV?
9. Print or eBook?
10. What is your favorite blog? (Book blog or otherwise)
11. If you were given the chance, what one book would you read before you die?
My Nominations:
2. KDH Reviews
8. The Reader
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NaNoWriMo!
If you’re one of the 54 people who follow my blog here on WordPress you might have read my attempt at blogging my YA Book Writing Journey. Well the preparation has stilted and I’m now changing my plans so that they revolve around NaNoWriMo. If you haven’t heard of NaNoWriMo before and you enjoy writing but lack the tenacity to stick to it until the end then you should check out NaNoWriMo’s website right now. What’s it about? November is National Novel Writing Month and NaNoWriMo is a challenge to write 50,000 words in 30 days from November 1st to 30th. You’ll need to log your writing on the website so officials can check it and make sure your story is legit. You can make as many spelling and grammatical errors as you want and editing is strictly not recommended.
Anyway here’s my proposition. I want to take a serious stab at this writing gig and NaNoWriMo’s competitive nature will surely be the kick I need. I am inviting all of my readers and anybody else who is interested to become my buddy on the site and compete against me in this writing endeavour. I’d love to be able to share in the joy of making it to 50,000 words by the end of November with all of you. So my username is 07Josie11. Add me!
In the interest of keeping up my word count I’ll probably keep blogging to a minimum but maybe share a weekly update on my progress. November is still a few weeks away so let’s all get planning!
This Month in Books: September 2012
September 4th
The Broken Lands by Kate Milford
A crossroads can be a place of great power. So begins this deliciously spine-tingling prequel to Kate Milford’s The Boneshaker, set in the colorful world of nineteenth-century Coney Island and New York City. Few crossroads compare to the one being formed by the Brooklyn Bridge and the East River, and as the bridge’s construction progresses, forces of unimaginable evil seek to bend that power to their advantage. Only two orphans with unusual skills stand in their way.
Can the teenagers Sam, a card sharp, and Jin, a fireworks expert, stop them before it’s too late? Here is a richly textured, slow-burning thriller about friendship, courage, and the age-old fight between good and evil.
September 11th
Unspoken (The Lynburn Legacy #1) by Sarah Rees Brennan 
Kami Glass loves someone she’s never met . . . a boy she’s talked to in her head ever since she was born. She wasn’t silent about her imaginary friend during her childhood, and is thus a bit of an outsider in her sleepy English town of Sorry-in-the-Vale. Still, Kami hasn’t suffered too much from not fitting in. She has a best friend, runs the school newspaper, and is only occasionally caught talking to herself. Her life is in order, just the way she likes it, despite the voice in her head.
But all that changes when the Lynburns return.
The Lynburn family has owned the spectacular and sinister manor that overlooks Sorry-in-the-Vale for centuries. The mysterious twin sisters who abandoned their ancestral home a generation ago are back, along with their teenage sons, Jared and Ash, one of whom is eerily familiar to Kami. Kami is not one to shy away from the unknown—in fact, she’s determined to find answers for all the questions Sorry-in-the-Vale is suddenly posing. Who is responsible for the bloody deeds in the depths of the woods? What is her own mother hiding? And now that her imaginary friend has become a real boy, does she still love him? Does she hate him? Can she trust him?
Shadowfell by Juliet Marillier
“Sixteen-year-old Neryn is alone in the land of Alban, where the oppressive king has ordered anyone with magical strengths captured and brought before him. Eager to hide her own canny skill–a uniquely powerful ability to communicate with the fairy-like Good Folk–Neryn sets out for the legendary Shadowfell, a home and training ground for a secret rebel group determined to overthrow the evil King Keldec.
During her dangerous journey, she receives aid from the Good Folk, who tell her she must pass a series of tests in order to recognize her full potential. She also finds help from a handsome young man, Flint, who rescues her from certain death–but whose motives in doing so remain unclear. Neryn struggles to trust her only allies. They both hint that she alone may be the key to Alban’s release from Keldec’s rule. Homeless, unsure of who to trust, and trapped in an empire determined to crush her, Neryn must make it to Shadowfell not only to save herself, but to save Alban.”
September 18th
The Crown of Embers (Fire and Thorns #2) by Rae Carson
“Carson joins the ranks of writers like Kristin Cashore, Megan 
Whalen Turner, and Tamora Pierce as one of YA’s best writers of high fantasy.”-Locus Magazine
In the sequel to the acclaimed The Girl of Fire and Thorns, a seventeen-year-old princess turned war queen faces sorcery, adventure, untold power, and romance as she fulfills her epic destiny.
Elisa is the hero of her country. She led her people to victory against a terrifying enemy, and now she is their queen. But she is only seventeen years old. Her rivals may have simply retreated, choosing stealth over battle. And no one within her court trusts her-except Hector, the commander of the royal guard, and her companions. As the country begins to crumble beneath her and her enemies emerge from the shadows, Elisa will take another journey. With a one-eyed warrior, a loyal friend, an enemy defector, and the man she is falling in love with, Elisa crosses the ocean in search of the perilous, uncharted, and mythical source of the Godstone’s power. That is not all she finds. A breathtaking, romantic, and dangerous second volume in the Fire and Thorns trilogy.
Cursed by Jennifer Armentrout
Dying sucks–and high school senior Ember McWilliams knows firsthand. After a fatal car accident, her gifted little sister brought her back. Now anything Ember touches dies. And that, well, really blows.
Ember operates on a no-touch policy with all living things–including boys. When Hayden Cromwell shows up, quoting Oscar Wilde and claiming her curse is a gift, she thinks he’s a crazed cutie. But when he tells her he can help control it, she’s more than interested. There’s just one catch: Ember has to trust Hayden’s adopted father, a man she’s sure has sinister reasons for collecting children whose abilities even weird her out. However, she’s willing to do anything to hold her sister’s hand again. And hell, she’d also like to be able to kiss Hayden. Who wouldn’t?
But when Ember learns the accident that turned her into a freak may not’ve been an accident at all, she’s not sure who to trust. Someone wanted her dead, and the closer she gets to the truth, the closer she is to losing not only her heart, but her life. For real this time.
The Raven Boys (Raven Circle #1) by Maggie Stiefvater
“There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve,” Neeve said. “Either you’re his true love . . . or you killed him.”
It is freezing in the churchyard, even before the dead arrive. 
Every year, Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue herself never sees them—not until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks directly to her.
His name is Gansey, and Blue soon discovers that he is a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble.
But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a way she can’t entirely explain. He has it all—family money, good looks, devoted friends—but he’s looking for much more than that. He is on a quest that has encompassed three other Raven Boys: Adam, the scholarship student who resents all the privilege around him; Ronan, the fierce soul who ranges from anger to despair; and Noah, the taciturn watcher of the four, who notices many things but says very little.
For as long as she can remember, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she’s not so sure anymore.
From Maggie Stiefvater, the bestselling and acclaimed author of theShiver trilogy and The Scorpio Races, comes a spellbinding new series where the inevitability of death and the nature of love lead us to a place we’ve never been before.
September 25th
Alice in Zombieland (White Rabbit Chronicles #1) by Gena Showalter
She won’t rest until she’s sent every walking corpse back to its grave. Forever.
Had anyone told Alice Bell that her entire life would change course between one heartbeat and the next, she would have laughed. From blissful to tragic, innocent to ruined? Please. But that’s all it took. One heartbeat. A blink, a breath, a second, and everything she knew and loved was gone.
Her father was right. The monsters are real….
To avenge her family, Ali must learn to fight the undead. To survive, she must learn to trust the baddest of the bad boys, Cole Holland. But Cole has secrets of his own, and if Ali isn’t careful, those secrets might just prove to be more dangerous than the zombies….
I wish I could go back and do a thousand things differently.
I’d tell my sister no.
I’d never beg my mother to talk to my dad.
I’d zip my lips and swallow those hateful words.
Or, barring all of that, I’d hug my sister, my mom and my dad one last time.
I’d tell them I love them.
I wish… Yeah, I wish.
My YA Book Writing Journey Week 1: Research, Reading and Recrastinating
Welcome to the first week of My YA Book Writing Journey! Last week I told you that I was going to write a blog post every week updating everybody on my writing status, my struggles, my achievements and hopefully by the end of it my success. So here I am one week later. So what did I accomplish? A little. Because this is still the preliminary stage of writing I’m not sure if I’m behind, ahead or on schedule. I don’t have a word count quota to meet yet so I’m going to be positive and say I’m on schedule. I’m going to break down what I’ve accomplished in three stages. First things first:
1. Research
I sat down with a blank notebook and really tried to think about what kind of story I wanted to write. I love fantasy books so that was my quick thematic choice. Next I wrote down what kind of creatures I wanted in my fantasy story. I basically chose all of them: elves, fairies, centaurs, leprechauns, vampires… you get the idea. Then I made a decision about whether my characters would be human, beast, or creature. I went for human (with a twist). I made a few notes about my characters and made a loose plot. All in all I had a few pages of notes. Not too bad for a day’s work. The next thing I needed to do was do some research.
I am lucky enough to work at a local library so finding the books that I need to begin this writing process was at my fingertips. After work I picked up a few books that I thought I would need. Despite my love for fantasy books, I really needed some more details and historical information about how some of these magical creatures have been portrayed in classic stories and mythology. Unfortunately I was only able to find books on a few of the creatures. I will need to take another look for some more books.
2. Reading
These books are THICK! The information was mind-boggling and already I found myself being turned off by the prospect of doing so much research for this YA novel. How much did I really need to include? Do my characters need to conform to these mythological foundations? What I found most interesting of course was the names. I LOVE naming my characters. Honestly, that is my favourite part of the story-writing process. I love finding quirky names with deep underlying meanings that inform the behaviour and interests of my characters. So fast forward a few more days and I now have pages and pages of names. I even took a few from astrology.
3. Recrastinating
This blog needs to be honest. After about 3-4 days I just stopped. I stopped reading about the creatures, I stopped taking notes, I didn’t read my notes. The books and my notebook just sat beside my bed for the rest of the week. I’ve had a few thoughts about it, and I procrastinated about my ideas. I’m sure many of you have shouted out (whether internally or vocally) You’ve misspelt procrastinating in your title and your subtitle! Actually I haven’t. According to Urban Dictionary:
|
Recrastinate: to procrastinate again, tomorrow or the next day.
the act of placing something that you had been procrastinating on previously, and planning to do on a specific day,(today for example) and setting it off again or giving it one more day.(doing it tomorrow) |
And that is exactly what I did. I knew I was procrastinating but I kept doing it anyway, until here we are a week later and all I’ve done is made a few notes, borrowed a few books and came up with some fun character names. So how do I cure this pro/recrastination? I make goals and plans! (And I share them with you, the public, so I stick to them.) I think three goals ought to do it.
GOALS FOR NEXT WEEK!
1. Sketch out a complete plot. Beginning to end.
2. Settle on the names of 3 main characters.
3. Write the first page of the novel.
I’d love to hear from my readers. If you have any advice, anecdotes about your own writing experience of if you have some questions please let me know right here! Or if you don’t want anybody else to see email me at youngadultbookreviewer@gmail.com
See you all again next Tuesday for Week 2 of My YA Book Writing Journey!
Young Adult Book Reviewer 