Movie Review time: Books to the big screen

I saw two of my favorite books turned into movies this week.

 

First, City of Bones, I attended the midnight showing. This series has been a favorite book of mine for 3 years now. I reread the books to have a fresh memory of what happens in time for the movie release. I almost think it is best to forget all about the books before seeing its movie. You know very well they are going to have to change things to make it fit into 2 hours.  Here are the seven things that I’m glad made it into the movie:

***Spoilers***

1. Clary is a heroine and not a damsel in distress. She is fearless and precisely how she acted in the book. (She was a little less redheaded than I imagined but it worked.)
2. Jace’s instant attraction to Clary and need to be with her even though he is a wounded soul.
3. Alec’s obsession with Jace must have gotten edited out because you didn’t see it much but when Clary accused Alec of being in love with Jace and he throws her against the wall was right on.
4. The Silent Brothers with their lips sewn shut and gouged out eyes were creepily perfect.
5. Simon with his Made in Brooklyn t-shirt was by far my favorite character in the movie. He stole the show with his broken-heart and big brown eyes.
6. Valentine is the perfect bad guy you almost feel bad for but in the end he is truly evil with a lot of fight scenes.
7. I was worried about how they would tastefully approach the end of book one. Like a lot of readers I was afraid people would be turned off by the revelation that our love triangle became incest with Clary and Jace being siblings. The movie addresses the issue and didn't make it at all creepy.

Well done, it was a great show. I’m planning to take my husband to see it. It has plenty of action and even if you haven’t read the books you will enjoy and understand the story line. 

NEXT STAY TUNED FOR MY MOVIE REVIEW OF "AUSTENLAND"...

CITY OF BONES MOVIE RELEASE AUGUST 21ST

I first read City of Bones, City of Ashes, and City of Glass around October  2010. 

Here is my book review:
http://juliemartinwallace.blogspot.com/2010/10/here-is-new-series-that-i-excited-about.html

I've started rereading the series for the movie release which will be out Wednesday Aug 21st. I hope they decide to make the whole series into movies. Time will tell. So excited to see City of Bones!  http://www.themortalinstrumentsmovie.com

Set in contemporary New York City, a seemingly ordinary teenager, Clary Fray (Lily Collins), discovers she is the descendant of a line of Shadowhunters, a secret cadre of young half-angel warriors locked in an ancient battle to protect our world from demons. After the disappearance of her mother (Lena Headey), Clary must join forces with a group of Shadowhunters, who introduce her to a dangerous alternate New York called Downworld, filled with demons, warlocks, vampires, werewolves and other deadly creatures. Based on the worldwide best-selling book series.

Cast members: 
Lily Collins, Jamie Campbell Bower, Robert Sheehan, Kevin Zegers, Lena Headey, Kevin Durand, Aidan Turner, Jemima West, Godfrey Gao with CCH Pounder, with Jared Harris 
and I'm really excited about Jonathan Rhys Meyers playing the bad guy. 

SHADOWHUNTER FANS: The only way we can guarantee Hollywood will make all THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS series into movies is if we all go out and watch CITY OF BONES. 

Book Reviews for House of Night series by P.C. Cast & Kristin Cast

For my birthday I received 5 books and have been on a reading rampage. I read the first 4 books in the House of Night series. I also read Divergent which I'll do a separate review for it on my next blog.

House of Nights starts out as a typical high school drama but when Zoey gets marked as a vampire things change. In this story the world knows about vampires and they mostly live in harmony. This book really makes you feel like your hanging with teenagers again.(*Because I review a lot of clean romances I'll put out a disclaimer that this book does have language and sexual content.)


Marked book #1

Zoey Redbird is 16 years old and having issues with her almost ex-boyfriend Heath. He is the high school quarterback and chooses to party more then focus on school. Zoey is marked and will start the process of becoming a vampire. She has to live and attend school at the House of Night, a school for Fledglings (A Vampire finishing school in Tulsa, OK). She is more than happy to leave her family behind since she doesn't fit in with them and especially hates her step-dad. Her mom only cares what her new husband wants and his obsession with church. Zoey's Grandma is the only one she can count on. Her Grandma is Cherokee and lives on a lavender farm. She understands Zoey's special talents with the godess Nyx. Zoey meets a groups of friends at her new school. Stevie Rae is her roommate and they become best friends. Erin and Shaunee are roommates and act like twins even though they look nothing alike. Damien is the gay "boy" friend of the group. Eric is the hottie of the school. And his ex-girlfriend Aphrodite, the perfect popular blonde warns Zoey that Eric is hers. Zoey and her friends plan to overthrow Aphrodite as the head of Dark Daughters because she is abusing her power.  


Betrayed book #2

Zoey's hot vampire boyfriend Eric is out of town at a Shakespeare competition and she's missing him. Loren Blake, Vampyre Poet Laureate is the perfect man. Loren starts flirting with Zoey and makes her feel like a women. He should be off limits because he's a teacher. A couple human football players turn up dead and detectives start asking Zoey questions. Some Fledglings died too because their bodies didn't accept the change and Zoey has seen them as ghosts. Heath is the next football player that goes missing and Zoey has to save him before he's killed. 

Chosen book #3

Zoey is juggling three boyfriends and can't decide on who she really likes. Zoey is trying to help Stevie Rae with her humanity and has to keep secrets from all her friends. Aphrodite is the only one she can turn to for help. Vampire teachers are being killed. Zoey's friends and boyfriend learn the secrets she's been hiding and no one can trust her anymore.







Untamed book #4

Life sucks for Zoey.  She lost all her boyfriends and friends. Erik is now a full fledged vampire and is teaching drama at the school. Things couldn't be more awkward. Neferet blames the humans for vampire killings and wants to start a war. Shekinah the head priestess of all the schools arrives to try to find out what's happening. Zoey knows Neferet is evil and behind everything but she'll have to prove it first.





All in all, I like the series. I do hate when Zoey makes stupid mistakes, but what teenager hasn't made their fair share of them. It has captured my interest enough that I will read on. Check out the website which has lots of fun pictures and videos. http://www.houseofnightseries.com/

Thank you P.C. and Kristin for putting your creative juices together to make another fun vampire story I can obsess over.

P.C. and Kristin Cast

Photo: Joerg Steinmetz

The 11th book in the series Revealed is coming out October 15th. I have a lot more reading to go but It's an easy read so no problem.

Book Review of Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

I attended the Changing Hands Bookstore official launch party - bus tour - book signing for CLOCKWORK PRINCESS-The Infernal Devices #3 

One big thrill for me is meeting my favorite authors and learning where they get their inspiration from. Cassandra Clare said she meet with a friend who's a tattoo artist and they talked about the different designs and meanings and the idea of Shadowhunters having tattoos to help them have special powers was born. 

At her launch party she played the movie trailer for City of Bones which is coming out August 23rd 2013. http://youtu.be/4axPibsp4Ao

She also played the book trailer for Clockwork Princess. http://youtu.be/qyw0FqR-bjc

Cassandra Clare told how she was in England sitting in a park plotting for Clockwork Princess and a large worm crawled onto her blanket and she said, "there's going to be a  worm in the book."  

And indeed the book has a large vicious worm attacking the shadowhunters and this is where the book starts out. Tessa shows up to help in her wedding dress and ends up getting blood all over it. Jem takes a turn for the worse and needs more medicine. With Tessa & Jem engaged, Will has to push his love for Tessa aside. More than anything he wants to see his best friend Jem happy. 

Mortmain is determined to get Tessa for his own evil plan to get revenge on the shadowhunters. When he buys up all the medicine that will keep Jem alive Tessa has to put her life on the line to save the man she loves. 

There are lots of tie-ins with the Mortal Instrument series through out Clockwork Princess. It made me want to reread the whole series starting with City of Bones. 

If you don't want the biggest spoiler of all don't read the family tree on the inside flap of the book. I did that. Ugh!

Cassandra Clare is a great writer and she intertwines a bizarre supernatural world within our world. This wrapped up the series nicely and it was a great end to The Infernal Devices. 

If you haven't read it buy your copy at:

http://www.amazon.com/Clockwork-Princess-Infernal-Devices-Cassandra

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/the-clockwork-princess-cassandra-clare

Learn more about Cassandra Clare and her awesome series:

http://www.shadowhunters.com/theinfernaldevices/index.php

http://www.cassandraclare.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Cassandraclare

https://twitter.com/cassieclare

Book Review Vanguard Legacy: Foretold by Joanne Kershaw

I finished this YA Paranormal series and can't stop thinking about the story. It's similar to Harry Potter, Hunger Games, and The Mortal Instrument series. It's like them but very original in its own world crisis and endearing characters. With a perfect balance of familiar and unfamiliar you are inducted into a world focused on training their children to fight against evil. Elora is in Vanguard training with fellow classmates Aaron, who is her best friend; Matthew a Magicae who is learning to be a spirit reader; and Teya a vampire who is training as a forensic. All of them are learning how to defeat the Dark Seekers. Elora's mother is one the best Vanguard's and has returned to the training compound. Elora thinks her mom only came to keep an eye on her. The relationship between them has always been bad but the secrets and lies start to come out and Elora doesn't know who she can trust. Thankful for her friends and new boyfriend Zak, who's a senior trainee, they try to figure out what Elora's visions mean.  With Elora's special talent her group is placed in an accelerated training class. When all "hell" breaks loose Elora has to face her family secret. Don't miss out on this exciting new book.


 Join the release party for Vanguard Legacy – Foretold on April 5^th https://www.facebook.com/events/591516437542734/

Joanne Kershaw lives in Wakefield, England, with her husband, four young children, and an uppity cat named Dipstick. As a teacher of five- to eleven-year-olds, she spends her days playing at being a grownup, then goes home to delve into Young Adult dark romance and being sixteen again.

Joanne lives and breathes books, whether reading, writing, or marking them. She wrote her first novel in six weeks. Encouraged to submit her work by a friend and fellow YA novel addict, Joanne now finds herself a signed author at Xchyler Publishing. http://www.xchylerpublishing.com/

https://www.facebook.com/Joanne.Kershaw.Author

https://twitter.com/Kershaw_Joanne

This Blog rocked my writing world like an MJ video!

Like this video you rocked my world

This was an eye opener blog by agent Natalie M. Lakosil of Bradford Literary Agency www.adventuresinagentland.com. 

I'm rethinking my book as a YA. ANYTHING BUT NORMAL is first person POV of an eighteen year old girl but I'm not sure if my words and actions are in a true YA voice.  I have to reread my novel to see, "Am I a YA author or Adult author?"

Here is the blog that has rocked my world:  http://www.adventuresinagentland.com/2011/03/ya-vs-adult-whats-so-different-anyway.html

"YA vs. Adult: what's so different, anyway?

One of my biggest pet peeves about submissions is reading queries from authors who are clearly trend-chasers. Currently, the biggest offender: adult writers who call their novels YA.

 AGE is not the determining factor of a YA."

     I believe my novel fits in the YA category because Krystal is thinking and acting as a YA but I’m afraid my voice is a little more mature than an 18 year old Goth girl.

Tell me what you think. Here’s the first page of ANYTHING BUT NORMAL; 

     Never run your horse towards home. Mother’s warning came to mind but the last thing I wanted was Mom to ruin my one enjoyment, riding my horse. Besides, Black wouldn't overpower me. We were like one when I was in the saddle. I snapped the reins, pressed my heels in, and yelled “YAW!” The sudden burst of speed was exactly what I needed. I took in a deep breath of the crisp Wisconsin air and caught the scent of wildflowers as flashes of gold and lilac blurred past me. I've always loved springtime when the flowers come to life after a harsh winter. Like my life, it represented a new beginning. I was Eighteen years old and had just moved to a new town, ready to make changes for the better. I leaned down to experience the thrill of riding fast on a 1,300 pound horse as his mighty legs hammered the dirt.    

     I shivered when the hairs on the back of my neck stood up and my blissful mood disappeared under the all-too familiar awareness of someone watching me. A biting wind whipped around and plastered my hair across my face, temporarily blinding me. With the reins in one hand, I pulled the hairs off my face with the other hand. We were approaching the woods at a dangerous speed.

    I caught a glimpse of someone behind a tree as birds scattered in a mass exit. Black spooked and I didn't have a good grip as he drove his front legs into the ground. His sliding halt and abrupt stop sent me flying over the top of his head. I grasped frantically to stay upright but instead found myself plummeting to the earth. I closed my eyes, waiting for the pain…

What do you think? Does that sound YA or Adult?

And while we’re at it, I'm questioning my whole genre. I have coined my novel as YA Paranormal Romance. My heroine is dealing with Demons and Angels in her life. 

"Paranormal romance focuses on romance and includes elements beyond the range of scientific explanation." 

Does my story have to have more prevalent paranormal themes involving vampires, shapeshifters, ghosts, or time travel to be considered paranormal? 

My story is not overly religious but the idea of Demons and Guardian Angels interfering and helping in our lives are a religious theory. Would my story fall into a religious category like inspirational fiction?

"There are some books that easily and obviously fit, such as the Chicken Soup for the Soul series, clearly written for the purpose of providing anecdotes that provide inspiration to the readers. Finding a good definition for the sub-genre of inspirational fiction is a little more difficult."

Like I said, this blog rocked my writing world but maybe I needed to rethink this. I need to know where my book fits so I can find the right agent or publishing company to love my book as much as I do.

Book Review of Drawn by Marie Lamba

There are so many things I liked about this book. It was original in so many ways, especially with the time travel. Michelle's an artist and when she starts drawing a picture of a sexy man with piercing glow-stick green eyes dressed like someone right out of the history books she finds herself thrown into a different century. She comes face to face with Christopher Newman a warrior fighting in the War of Roses. I love that time frame in history so it was great to be a part of it in this book. But we don't only spend time in a different century but we experience the hardships of a teenager today. Michelle moves with her dad from New Jersey to England. She's trying to start new and not be the freak girl anymore. She's dealing with family issues because her extravagant psychic mother abandoned her and her dad, and her brother is in a mental hospital back home. These are all issues that are hard for anyone to deal with so you really feel for Michelle. When the richest most popular boy William starts pursuing her you'd think it would be a good thing, but not for Michelle since Constance William's x-girlfriend starts digging into Michelle's past. Michelle has to figure out why she keeps coming into contact with Christopher Newman from the past and where she belongs in the future. It's a great read and you really feel for all the characters. I'd recommend this book for not only teenagers but all ages who like a wonderful book that is original and grabbing.

Maria Lamba is not only great writer but an agent and she has an awesome newsletter. She's always sharing very helpful information as a writer and as an agent. I'd advise all authors to go to her website and sign up for the newsletter at http://marielamba.wordpress.com/about/

Like Marie on https://www.facebook.com/Marie-Lamba-Author

Purchase her books at http://www.amazon.com/Drawn

Write - a - thon challenge 4,5,6

Challenge #4
Take the current book you are reading, or if you aren't reading one now (shame on you!) the last book you read. Try to write a one sentence “pitch” of the book. 

This challenge may sound simple (only one sentence!), but don't let it fool you!

My challenge:

"Witches of the Three Sister Island have to come together to save the island from the same fate as Atlantis."

(I'm reading Nora Robert's 3rd book in the series of the Three Sisters Island. You can read my book reviews on my other blog juliemartinwallace.blogspot.com )

My thoughts: Finding how to describe a book in one sentence is really hard to do. But those taglines are so important. 

Challenge #5
Make a list of the Top 10 Books (You Think) Every Writer Should Read. You can cater the list toward whatever genre you write (i.e. Top 10 Books Every Poet Should Read, Top 10 Books Every YA Contemporary Writer Should Read, Top 10 Books Every Picture Book Writer Should Read, etc.)

October Madness Challenge #5

My challenge: Top 10 YA Paranormal/Fantasy/Sci-Fi/Romance every writer should read:

1. The Host by Stephenie Meyer

2. Twilight series by Stephenie Meyer

3. Great and Terrible Beauty series by Libba Bray

4. City of Bones series by Cassandra Clare (city of bones) (book-review-city-of-lost *Spoilers)

5. Clockwork Angel series by Cassandra Clare

6. Kissed by an Angel series by Elizabeth Chandler

7. My Unfair Godmother series by Janette Rallison (My Unfair Godmother book review)

8. Erasing Time by C.J. Hill (book-review-of-erasing-time-by-cj-hill)

9. Dragon Slayers by C.J. Hill (book-review-of-slayers-by-cj-hill)

10. Eon & Eona series by Alison Goodman (book-review-of-eon) (book-review-of-eona-by-alison-goodman *Spoilers)

My thoughts: It's really hard to narrow my list to only top ten. I think as a writer, reading lots of books is the best way to learn. I included another top 10 of my favorite books I read over and over. They are in all kinds of genres but they help mold my writing. 

1. How I Write by Janet Evanovich  & Stephanie Plum series

2. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

3. All's Fair in Love, War, and High School by Janette Rallison

4. Dangerous Favor by Joyce DiPastena (Dangerous Favor book review)

5. The Princess Bride by William Goldman

6. Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon

7. The MacGregor series by Nora Roberts

8. Zenobia - Birth of a Legend by Russ Wallace (book-review-zenobia-birth-of-legend)

9. Wizards First Rule series by Terry Goodkind

10.Hunger Games series by Suzanne Collins (book-review-hunger-games) (Catching fire book review)(Mockingjay review)

Challenge #6 
Set a writing goal for yourself to complete by the end of the year. Make sure it is easily measurable. Also, make sure it is something that is possible to accomplish, but also push yourself!

My challenge: 

By the end of this month I will have "The road to my love" completed and enter Writer’s Digest short story contest. 

End of the year goals:

I will have "Far From Normal" edited 

I will have query letter, synopsis, and 1 minute pitch perfected

I will send a query to agent Gary Goldblatt 

I will write first full draft of "Far Far Away" book two

My thoughts: This week has been a great motivation for me. I really dropped the ball on my writing and now I'm back on track. Can't wait to accomplish my goals and be a published writer. 

Goals in writing are dreams with deadlines - Brian Tracey

October madness write-a-thon

I'm a day behind on posting for the write-a-thon hosted by Britney Gulbrandsen. http://www.britneygulbrandsen.com/.

This is a great way to get back on track with my writing. I didn't get to post my goals so I'll post them here:

These are my long term goals and this week during the write-a-thon I will work one hour on each.

Goal #1 - Finish editing short story, "The road to my love" a historical romance. Get it polished and ready to enter Writer's digest contest due by Oct 31st. http://www.writersdigest.com/competitions/romance-writing-competition

Goal #2 - Edit a chapter a day on my WIP, "Far From Normal" a YA paranormal romance and complete edits by November 17th.

Goal # 3 - Get "Far From Normal" query and synopsis ready for submitting. Work on my pitch for agents at the writers conference in Feb. http://anwa-lds.com/pitchsession

It's pretty scary to actually voice these goals and put it out there for the universe to see if I succeed or fail. But since it's October and it's time to face the spooky scary world of contests, queries, and writer conferences. Here we go...

Monday writing challenge #1: The story must have a hellhound at the beginning. The story must involve a sack in the beginning.

My five minutes of writing:

     Aaron whirled around and pointed his finger in my face. I could feel his hot breath from standing to close.

     “Seth if you don’t get this job done your going to experience the agonizing bite wound of a hellhound. I put my neck out for you and I can’t and won’t take the downfall if you mess this one up. How hard can it be to make a stupid, worthless girl follow you? Throw her in a sack and take her away, show her how miserable life is and make her regret the choices she has made. It’s as simple as that.”

My thoughts: I kept writing and erasing so my five minutes was up pretty quickly and I didn't get much written. My creative juices weren't flowing but I took two characters from my WIP and added hell hounds and a sack to one of their discussions. It was fun. 

Tuesday Challenge #2
Pick your favorite character from a book. Add this character to a scene in your WIP. 

My favorite character is Zenobia from my father-n-laws book Zenobia - Birth of a Legend. Zenobia is a 3rd century girl and she would rip my current WIP character Krystal Teigen to pieces for not standing up for what she believes in. Here goes the writing:

     "What is the deal with me and ghosts?" I threw my hands up in surrender. The women standing there was tall and extremely beautiful. Her dark hair and skin were like milk chocolate and her dark eyes watched me intently. I could have sworn they sparkled a little. I blinked a couple times hoping that my mind was playing tricks on me and I wasn't seeing another strong women from the past. I mean Princess Kristina was an ancestor so her visit was normal. Well as normal as having ghost visits you are. 

     "How can I help you?" I decided to be straight forward and find out what this marvelous looking woman wanted. I knew she wasn't from my time not only because I sensed the spiritualism but her attire was straight from Roman times. The white tunic had a gold rope wrapped around her waist. She had a bow around her shoulder and arrows in a pouch behind her back. She looked absolutely deadly as a sword hung on her hip tied to the golden rope. Her whole persona yelled,
"Ready for war." When she didn't answer right away I thought maybe she didn't speak English. 

     "Krystal, I am here as a friend to help you see your worth." Her voice exuded power and she looked deep into my eyes. 

I wanted to squirm but I couldn't look away from intense look that held my interest. I knew whatever she had to tell me it was going to be important and life altering.

My thoughts: This was fun because I like both characters a lot and would love to see how a girl from today would interact with Zenobia from ancient history. 

Now to work on my goals. Happy writing. 

Book Review of THE LIFEGUARD by Deborah Blumenthal

juliemartinwallace.blogspot.com is where I usually do book reviews of historical romances. Since this was a Young Adult Paranormal story I decided it would fit perfect into this blog genre, where my WIP is a YA Paranormal novel. 

What a great setting, A 16 year old girl spending the summer with her aunt in Rhode Island on the beach. Sirena’s parents back in Texas are preparing to sell the house and move into two different homes. You feel empathy for Sirena and her depression is understandable as she faces a hard reality of parents divorcing. Sirena is enamored by a blond, tan, strapping lifeguard named Pilot. 

When Sirena hears voices during a storm, she finds out her aunt’s house has ghosts; nothing menacing or too scary, just yelling when it storms outside. 

Sirena’s aunt makes her volunteer at the hospital over the summer to keep her from moping around. When a young boy comes into the hospital with a head injury Sirena is upset by the thought of someone dying so young. She’s relieved when he makes a miraculous recovery. 

Marissa, Sirena’s BFF is at camp and they write back and forth providing a clever way to tell us what's going on in Sirena’s life. 

Antonio is an 80 year old artist who encourages Sirena to become an artist. While sketching on the beach, Antonio tells stories to Sirena about his people and how they are healers. 

Pilot the hunky lifeguard saves Sirena from almost drowning. Sirena will never forget this summer as her life changes in ways that she doesn't even understand. 

This isn’t an instant kind of love story. In fact, Pilot seems to be blowing Sirena off and she becomes an obsessed teenager. The author portrays a love struck, confused teenager girl perfectly. At first it was slow getting into the conflict of the story. The ghosts sparked my curiosity at the beginning but it isn't a main focus until the end. I like the depth that Antonio brought to the story line with his ancestors legend. It’s not your normal teenager summer lovin’ story. 

For more information or to purchase your copy of "The Lifeguard":

http://www.deborahblumenthal.com/lifeguard.html

Order The Lifeguard now from Barnes&Noble.com

Order The Lifeguard now from Amazon.com

If you would like to win this copy of THE LIFEGUARD, leave a comment. Tell me if you had a summer romance? Leave a comment by Friday April 27th at midnight PST.

*I remember my best friend one summer had a lifeguard job at Golfland and I practically lived there. Ah... Those were the days.*

I received this book for free and didn't receive any compensation for this review.