YA in the Big Screen: Red Riding Hood

I actually didn’t know that Red Riding Hood was going to be a movie. I was unaware! But then…after mentioning the book to my friend, Brodie of Eleusinian Mysteries linked me to this awesome trailer.

Now, after watching that how could I not want to get a hold of a copy of Red Riding Hood?

Some of the things I liked in the trailer:

1.Upon clicking play, I could really sense this paranormal romance vibe in it.

2. I like how they really made it a point to have the perfect ‘Red Hood.’ Look at the color. It stands out amidst the snow and stuff.

3.Romance element. These are just snippets of the movie and yet these little scenes manage to get a hold of my heart and make me want to see more.

4. The wolf. I always read or watch werewolf novels and movies to see their interpretation of the ‘transformation.’ I hope I will like the transformation in this one.

Here's the description via Goodreads:

The body of a young girl is discovered in a field of wheat. Her flesh mutilated by telltale claw marks. The Wolf has broken the peace.

When Valerie learns that her sister has been killed by the legendary creature, she finds herself at the center of a dark mystery, one that has plagued her village for generations. It is revealed that the werewolf lives among them, and everyone in the village immediately becomes a suspect. Could her secret love Peter be behind the attacks on her town? Is it her betrothed, Henry? Or someone even closer to her?

As the men in the village hunt for the beast, Valerie turns to her grandmother for help. She gives Valerie a handmade red riding cloak, and guides her through the web of lies and deception that has held her town together for so long. Will Valerie discover the werewolf's identity before the town is ripped apart?

This is a dangerous new vision of a classic fairy tale, the happy ending could be hard to find.

  Do you like it too? Why or why not?

Review Issue # 1: Ebooks vs Real Books aka Help Me

I plead guilty. It’s a long weekend for me (well, it always is a long weekend for me because I don’t have classes on Mondays) and I just finished Wake Unto Me by Lisa Cach. I couldn’t put it down. Man, Cach is the goddess of awesome! And you guys know what else happened aside from my finishing Wake Unto Me? Nothing much…I just have a zillion ebooks in my laptop waiting to be read. They hail from Netgalley, Simon and Schuster Galley Grab and several authors. It has been a very busy week for me. I wake up at 5 or 7 in the morning and get home at 5 or 6, usually around the time when the sky is a pretty mixture of pink and tangerine. At this rate, it’s really difficult for me to read ebooks but I still accept them because I don’t want to let the opportunity of reading these great titles go to waste.

I am very eager to read the majority of these ebooks, including Cryer’s Cross (currently reading), Wither, The Lost Voices, Lipstick Laws, Awaken, Populazzi, In the Arms of Stone Angels, Haven, Darkness Becomes Her and many more. After reading great things about these titles, how could I not want to read them? But the thing is…I don’t exactly know how to do that. I read real books faster than ebooks because of two things:

1. I’m not using the laptop all the time and if I do, I write posts, blog, go to Twitter and FB, and email. I admit that I really get tempted and distracted by networking sites – especially Twitter – that I stop reading whatever ebook I’m reading. 
2. I tend to prioritize reading real books over ebooks. I like to read something that gives me this complete reading experience. I want to read something that I can hold, that has pages that I can turn (and not just click-click-click.)

 I know it’s my fault. But it’s done. There’s no use focusing on the time I lost or the amount of ebooks in my TBR pile right now. I don’t even want to count all of them because I’d really panic then. What I want to focus on is how I would manage to finish an ebook in a fairly short time. I see that lots of bloggers manage to do this and I have no idea how they do that! It amazes me to know that they read both real books and ebooks and have the reviews up at the end of the week.

What should I do to manage to read a real book and an ebook at the same time? Can you give me tips on how to do this?

PS. I would really, really appreciate this. Thank you!

 

Review: Hexbound by Chloe Neill

Book Description via Goodreads:

Lily Parker is new to St. Sophia’s School for Girls, but she’s already learned that magic can be your best friend…or your worst enemy.

They say absolute power corrupts absolutely. Turns out, even a little magic can turn you to the dark side. That’s why Lily has to learn how to control her newly discovered paranormal abilities, on top of avoiding the snobs who think they run her school, nursing a crush on a cute sophomore with a big, werewolf-y secret, and fighting the good fight with her best friend Scout as they take on Chicago’s nastiest nightlife—including the tainted magic users known as Reapers.

Then Lily’s invited to a private meeting with Sebastian. He’s hot, powerful, and offering to help her harness the magic flowing in her veins in a way no one else can. He’s also a Reaper. Lily can’t hide her suspicions. But she’ll soon find out that the line between good and evil isn’t always clear…

Source: Penguin USA (Thank you!)

My Thoughts:

*Might contain spoilers for people who haven’t read Firespell.

In Hexbound, Neill introduced the paranormal world to science. It was a good move in establishing modernity of the setting while expanding the possibilities of the supernatural. Set a few weeks after Firespell, the sequel took on a more interesting air. I enjoyed this more than the first book. The span of the story was rather short but I liked the pace. The advantage with this short span was that Neill could really focus on the little details of Lily’s life.

I got to see the strengths and frailties of the relationships that she shared with other people. After the headmistress of St. Sophia hinted that she was kept in the dark for her own good, Lily began to think and suspect. Lies did not help her case and she felt far from her parents. But during her stay, she met scout, a true friend and a co-Adept, a captive that Lily and the other Adepts of Enclave Three rescued from the reapers.

Neill introduced new characters from the Enclave Two and the Pedway, a section connected to the tunnels which was guarded by vampires. She expanded her story world and tied several characters and events together. The Pedway also held another story within its halls, bloodlust and coven issues.

Sebastian, a Reaper who was responsible for giving her firespell, seemed to appear where Lily was. Having a stalking Reaper who claimed they should talk was unsettling and suspicious. Lily realized that the world was not plainly black and white. There was always something out of the two sides, something in the middle. I have to admit I really really liked Sebastian for Lily. Yes, he was a Reaper but he also helped her and saved her. That was something, right? The mysterious and badboy vibe was also another factor.

Amidst fighting off Reapers and all supernatural creatures that were crawling in the tunnels and surviving St. Sophia, Lily began to get close to another Adept, Jason, who has a secret binding him to his nature. Like with Sebastian, she realized that not all things were simple. Most were complicated, far more complicated than she would like them to be. Going through curiosity, suspicion, doubt and shock was not easy. And Lily had several things to be shocked about.

Hexbound is a quick, engrossing read. Supernatural meets Science in a balanced mixture of surprise, suspicion, danger and romance. I actually liked it a lot! The writing and the story improved in this installment. I recommend this to fans of Chloe Neill, paranormal romance, and magic.

Rating:

Waiting on Wednesday: Burn Bright & What We Keep is Not Always What Will Stay

Burn Bright by Marianne de Pierres

Into a world of wild secrets and deadly pleasures comes a girl whose innocence may be her greatest strength.

In Ixion music and party are our only beliefs. Darkness is our comfort. We have few rules but they are absolute . . .

Retra doesn’t want to go to Ixion, the island of ever-night, ever-youth and never-sleep. Retra is a Seal – sealed minds, sealed community. She doesn’t crave parties and pleasure, experience and freedom.

But her brother Joel left for Ixion two years ago, and Retra is determined to find him. Braving the intense pain of her obedience strip to escape the only home she’s ever known, Retra stows away on the barge that will take her to her brother.

When she can’t find Joel, Retra finds herself drawn deeper into the intoxicating world of Ixion. Come to me, whispers a voice in her head. Who are the Ripers, the mysterious guardians of Ixion? What are the Night Creatures Retra can see in the shadows? And what happens to those who grow too old for Ixion?

Retra will find that Ixion has its pleasures, but its secrets are deadly. Will friendship, and the creation of an eternal bond with a Riper, be enough to save her from the darkness?

Listen well, baby bats. Burn bright, but do not stray from the paths. Remember, when you live in a place of darkness you also live with creatures of the dark.

Why I Chose this:

Darkness can be explored in a thousand ways. I think Burn Bright will be one of the most unique books this 2011 based on the book description. Ixion sounds like a surreal, pleasurable and dangerous world. And what is a Riper? I’m dying to find out. Eternal bonds always pull me in. Anything with the word eternal has my attention actually. Lastly, look at that cover. Wow. I know. Very pretty!

What We Keep is Not Always What Will Stay by Amanda Cockrell

Fifteen-year-old Angie never used to think much about God—until things started getting weird. Like the statue of St. Felix, her secret confidante, suddenly coming off his pedestal and talking to her. And Angie's mother, who's busting up her third marriage for no apparent reason. Then there's Jesse Francis, sent home from Afghanistan at age nineteen with his leg blown off. Now he's expected to finish high school and fit right back in. Is God even paying attention to any of this?

Against the advice of an increasingly vocal St. Felix (who knows a thing or two about war), Angie falls for Jesse—who's a lot deeper than most high school guys. But Jesse is battling some major demons. As his rages start to become more frequent and unpredictable, Angie finds herself losing control of the situation. And she's starting to wonder: can one person ever make things right for ?someone else?

Why I Chose this:

I like the cover of this book! It kinda looks cute in a punk/emo sort of way. A stone statue saint coming to life, weird stuff happening, falling for a guy who is unpredictable? This is my kind of story! I’m the kind of person who appreciates stories peppered with problems and learns how to face and solve these. This kind of story inspires me and makes me appreciate what I have in the present. Yay for Flux! The Iron Witch, The Latte Rebellion, then this? Wow. Good line-up!

Debut Spotted Interview: Mariam Maarouf + Rosie

Today I spotted a very talented teen author - Mariam Maarouf - (who happens to be a very friendly girl) who lives in Alexandria, Egypt where she goes to high school. Her debut novel, Rosie, will be published today and it has such a gorgeous cover! 

What or who inspired you to write Rosie?

I've been writing for years now, between short stories, novellas and amateur poetry (something I later discovered is so not my thing). One day, I was too bored and my computer wouldn't load so I got out my copybook and started writing. At first, I wanted Alessandra (my MC) to be a copy of me, then I added the older brother because I've always wanted one. A couple of hours later, I had the first chapter of Rosie's very first draft. About a month later, I typed it on my laptop and it evolved - a lot of things have changed since then. Sandra's nothing like me.

What lessons will readers pick up from your novel?

That's a tough one. Mainly, my MC learns that life isn't a fairy tale. She learns how no one is the same as they might seem, that people aren't always angels from heaven, but true friends help her get over all the bumps in the road.

As a teen author, what was it like to write something that other teens would read?

It was a great experience! It still is. I've always thought that no matter how close the adults were, they would never get the whole picture from our perspective; we can be both deep and shallow, angry and happy, sarcastic and naive - all together. We're confusing, we're weird - we're teenagers. So it was great to write something I think people like me would read and relate to.

What was it like writing about your home?

 It was fun, to say the least; I get to describe places so many of my potential readers had never been to - even if they did come to Egypt. Places like international schools, quiet neighborhoods - the other side of Egypt.

The island of Sandra and Damien were of a Greek-Italian mesh. How did you come up with this? (I'm studying BA European Languages and I'm really interested in this!)

At first, I was looking for a location near Alexandria, Egypt, so that it would make sense for them to go there (even though I'm Egyptian, I don't think it makes sense to leave Europe to stay here. Not by any means), so I thought something in the Mediterranean would be suitable. Then I thought - what's the history behind this place? What makes it so special? I've always been intrigued by the Greek mythology, so I made my royal family Greek, and I like Italian very much (it's right next to French on my Favorite Languages list) so I was like 'What the heck? This is fiction! It's my island! Greek royalty and Italian it is!'

Which part was more enjoyable to write? beginning, middle or end? Why?

I think the end was the most enjoyable to write; I got to introduce a whole new character during my last draft (not recommended if you don't want to rewrite the whole book) - Carlo Theophilus - and he's my favorite for several reasons, the main one being that he has curly hair :P
 

Any last words?

Overall, this was a wonderful experience that I hope to repeat soon (I'm trying to with my WiP). Thank you so much for the well-planned questions, Precious! I hope you enjoy Rosie! :)

Thank you for sharing, Mariam!

____________________________________________________

In life, nothing is the same as it seems. People create masks –identities – to hide who they really are –some for noble reasons, or nefarious ones, but only a tiny fraction because they must.
Alessandra and Damien, or Rosalie and Daniel, were once the Princess and Prince of La Pacifica until they were forced out of the beautiful island. Eight months flew by, and they finally began to settle in Alexandria, Egypt, when they found out that they didn’t leave their past behind them, and that they were both wanted urgently.
Dead.

As of now, Rosie is available in ebook format in Amazon and in Amazon UK! After a few days or maybe weeks, the print version will be available too. So watch out for that!

Liked the interview? Like the sound of Rosie? Do you have comments? Violent reactions? :)