Twilight

by Stephenie Meyer

My Book Review Rating: 5 out of 6 stars

About the author

When Stephenie Meyer woke up in July 2, 2003 she had no idea that her life was about to change forever. This stay at home mom of three boys had a dream that featured such realistic characters that she couldn’t get them out of her head.
Find out more about Stephenie Meyer…

Buy Twilight by Stephenie Meyer from Amazon

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer is a post from: Blue Archipelago Reviews

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My Book Review Rating: 4 stars – take teenage angst and boarding school and throw in a bit of supernatural terror and suspense and you’ve got yourself an enjoyable read!

This book was a Christmas gift from my brother… which means it was on my Amazon wish list… which means that at some time I must have read a great review of it at another book lover’s blog! [If it was you then add a link to your review in the comments box ]

I really wasn’t sure what to expect from the novel when I first started reading; we are introduced to Gemma Doyle, the main character, and her mother as they shop at an Indian market. Before long things take a turn for the weird as Gemma sees her mother kill herself in a vision, well I say kill, it’s more of a sacrifice.

After her mother’s death Gemma is whisked off to London to a boarding school for young ladies (this is 1896 by the way); a place she begged to go just before her mother’s untimely death but now isn’t quite so sure. Once at school Gemma begins to experience more visions and meets a young man who threatens bad things if she succumbs to them.

As the tale unfolds Gemma begins to learn about a shadowy group called The Order, where young girls before her have experienced similar visions and stepped into The Realms, a place where magic lives. Gemma and her friends; Pippa, Felicity and Ann find themselves caught up in a world where their wildest dreams can come true – which of course makes them all a little power hungry and puts The Realms at risk of being taken over by Bad Magic.

Libba Bray pens an intriguing and suspenseful tale in A Great and Terrible Beauty and even throws in a hint of passion (not too much – this is a Young Adult novel after all!). I thoroughly enjoyed it and will be on the look out for the other two novels in the Gemma Doyle Trilogy.

Read on to order your copy of the book – or to see reviews from other readers.

A Great and Terrible Beauty (The Gemma Doyle Trilogy) by Libba Bray is a post from: Blue Archipelago Reviews

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My Book Review Rating: 3 stars – an enjoyable read, but I’m not really sure I fully understood it!

Sean Beaudoin is the acclaimed author of Going Nowhere Faster which was nominated for the YALSA Best Book of the Year award. In Fade to Blue he introduces us to Sophie Blue – an artistic and sarcastic girl turned goth following the disappearance of her father one year ago on her birthday – and Kenny Fade – a basketball god with a hot cheerleader girlfriend. Sophie and Kenny don’t have much in common… except for the feeling that they are losing their minds!

Fade to Blue is a teenage comic-scifi-thriller novel, filled with humour and enough twists and turns to keep you guessing that by the end of it all you’re not really too sure what actually happened!

And just to avoid any confusion – despite what you might expect from the cover of this book, it is not a graphic novel – though it does have a comic book insert in the middle.

Fade to Blue by Sean Beaudoin is a post from: Blue Archipelago Reviews

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Check out more details – and reviews of Breaking Dawn – lower down the page.

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Interview with Julia Hoban

CS: What inspired you to write WILLOW?

JH: I wanted to write a book for all of us with self destructive urges, a book that would take one person from a place of self harm to a place of healing, and in doing so possibly make people question their own damaging behaviors. I chose to make Willow a cutter because it is a very dramatic and obvious form of self injury, but it could just as easily have been a book about overeating or doing drugs, or even something as innocent as watching too much television.

CS: Cutting is a very sensitive issue that I’ve personally not seen or heard much about. What sort of research did you carry out for the book?

JH: I did a fair amount of reading about the “technical aspects” of the disorder. Steven Levenkron’s  book “Cutting” was very helpful. One thing that may surprise people is the amount of care many cutters take with their wounds. It may seem counter intuitive, why cut yourself and then clean and bandage the cuts? But that’s a real window into the psyche of a self injurer: as Willow says cutting is not a dress rehearsal for suicide. It is most often a way of stuffing down feelings that would otherwise be too overpowering.

CS: Which scene in the book is your favorite and why?

JH: My favorite scene in the book is when Willow and Guy lose their virginity together. Prior to that scene, Willow is asked by a friend about Guy, who is he, what is his relationship to Willow? Willow’s response: “He’s someone that knows me, and someone that I know.” I really feel that everything in the book is leading up to that sentence, and I wish that every young woman and young man would feel that way about the person that they first sleep with.

CS: Now let’s move away from the book slightly, can you tell us about the first story you ever wrote?

JH: I can’t remember the first story I ever wrote, my first effort was a poem, I was eight years old and I entered it in a contest. I came in 39th out of 40.

CS: Well I’m glad that didn’t put you off writing for life! What is your favorite book and why is it special to you?

JH: I have hundreds of favorite books! Really, everything from Anna Karenina to The Cake Bible — I don’t think my husband would have married me if I hadn’t mastered the “perfect all American chocolate butter cake with burnt orange silk meringue buttercream!” But the book that I return to again and again, a book that never fails to move me is “The Railway Children” by Evelyn Nesbitt. It’s a middle grade novel, but it can be read and appreciated by anyone of any age. One of the things I love most about it is that it can be enjoyed on so many levels: it’s a delicious read to snuggle down with under the covers on a rainy day, and it’s also a profound work with many important life lessons.

CS: That cake sounds delicious! I’ve never read The Railway Children, but I’ve seen the movie and can agree with you there. It’s definitely a timeless classic. What are you working on at the moment?

JH: Thank you for asking! I don’t like to give specifics – I hope that doesn’t sound pretentious! It’s really out of superstition, it seems unlucky to give away too much before the book is done. I can tell you this though: everything I write has a theme. Willow is about the power of love to heal. The theme of the book I’m working on now is about emotional freedom.

CS: Not pretentious at all! I’m definitely looking forward to reading the finished piece though. Now finally, before we draw to a close, if you were to interview yourself what question would you ask, and how would you answer it?

Q) You say that you wrote WILLOW for those of us with self destructive urges, that it is a book about the redemptive power of love. All well and good, but do you really think that a book, any book, can help someone with such severe problems?

A) Absolutely. I can tell you from personal experience that I count many books as good and trusted friends, that there are books that have helped me through the deepest despair and through intense loneliness. Now WILLOW may not be a book that speaks to everyone, but if someone is able to learn from it, to question why they might treat themselves as less than they should, then this author will have truly done her job.

CS: An excellent question – well answered! Thanks for your time Julia, and for writing such a beautiful, sensitve and insightful novel.

If you’d like to read WILLOW, or any of the other books that Julia has mentioned you can order a copy from Amazon.com via the links below:

• Willow
• The Railway Children
• Anna Karenina (Oprah’s Book Club)
• The Cake Bible

This post was brought to you today as part of the Sunday Salon. Sign up yourself or just visit other book loving bloggers at http://dhamel.typepad.com/sundaysalon/

An Interview With Julia Hoban – Author of Willow | TSS is a post from: Blue Archipelago Reviews

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My book review rating: 5 stars – couldn’t put it down

I was beginning to think I’d lost my reading mojo this year; after the vast number of books I got through in 2008 I’ve gotten off to a very slow start. But when I opened the package containing Willow by Julia Hoban, I took one look at the cover and knew this book would reignite the spark!

I had to take a four hour train journey today so I settled down in my seat for some uninterrupted reading time. I have to say that this book had me riveted from the first paragraph – I was actually disappointed that I had to take a break in the middle of reading it to attend the conference I was travelling to!

In this Young Adult novel, Hoban takes the very sensitive subject of self-harm and delivers a powerful story. Of how people cope with loss, of our perceptions of the world around us, and how sometimes we see things differently to everyone else, almost to the point of paranoia.

The characters are believable, from Willow herself, a girl wracked with guilt over the death of her parents, who believes the only way to stay strong is to cut her skin with razor blades. Guy – the boy she meets who is the one person she can really be herself with; his sensitivity and understand him make him the kind of person anyone would be very lucky to know. And David, her elder brother who one stormy night finds himself moved to a whole other role, of parent and guardian, and is struggling in his own way to cope with the tragedy that has engulfed them both.

In Willow, Hoban forces us to look more deeply into what causes people to resort to self-harm, the effects it has on them and on the people around them. I would highly recommend it to anyone, whether you are a young adult or not, and am looking forward to reading anything else Hoban has to offer.

Want to know more about WILLOW? Read my interview with Julia Hoban.

Willow by Julia Hoban | Online Book Review is a post from: Blue Archipelago Reviews

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Jackson Rathbone Hasn’t Read New Moon

Jackson Rathbone has scored the part of Jasper Hale in the upcoming New Moon film; but in an interview with MTV he admitted to never actually reading the book!

Some movie stars like to make news, while others like to gossip about the news that goes on around them. And then there’s stars like the fast-rising Jackson Rathbone, who’d rather just show up, be handed a script and get to work.

“I actually have not read it,” Rathbone recently told MTV about the “Twilight” sequel “New Moon” during an exclusive interview — we caught up with him this week for a concert by the actor’s side-project band, 100 Monkeys. “They have not yet released the script. So I’m still waiting on that, but I assume it’s going to be pretty fantastic.”

When we asked Rathbone about the controversies surrounding new director Chris Weitz replacing “Twilight” filmmaker Catherine Hardwicke, his reply was simple and honest, just like something you might hear from his character Jasper Hale. “Oh, that’s one of those things that’s kind of a whole political side of the acting thing, you know?” he shrugged. “I really don’t know much about [the change in directors]; I’m just an actor. They tell me where to stand and what to say.”

Asked what he thought “American Pie” filmmaker Weitz might bring to the franchise, Rathbone responded, “Honestly, I don’t know his work very well, so I couldn’t really say one way or another.”

He has, however, already read “New Moon” and can pinpoint his favorite scene — a pivotal moment that kicks off the story. “There is definitely [a scene I can't wait to shoot]; there’s a scene where Miss Bella gets a little paper cut, and it makes me a little hungry,” he laughed. “So, I’m very excited to film that.”

Rathbone added that his improvisational band (which MTV will have a full concert story on next week) has been providing him with an outlet to practice the hunger-fueled rage that will overtake his thirsty vampire in that scene opposite Kristen Stewart. “Utter release,” he grinned, a bit sadistically. “I do it onstage every night.”

In another moment of sincerity, Rathbone surprised us with the revelation that he hadn’t even heard about the recently ended controversy over replacing Taylor Lautner for the sequels. “Oh, now you’re talking things that they don’t tell us poor little actors — really, they just tell us where to stand, what to say,” he insisted, adding that he hasn’t even been monitoring all the Twilighter chatter over the last few months. “I barely know how to work my phone, let alone the Internet.”

So, instead, Rathbone will continue working on 100 Monkeys — who will release two albums this year — as well as such upcoming films as M. Night Shyamalan’s “The Last Airbender.” And, come March, he’ll show up on the “New Moon” set, grab a script and get to work.

“Melissa Rosenberg is just an incredible writer,” he said, expressing hope for the next script from the screenwriter of the franchise. “I’ve been a fan of the ‘Dexter’ series for a long time, and working with her on ‘Twilight’ was fantastic and I’m excited to get a chance to look at it. I’m sure she’s just jam-packed it with so much stuff, to make all the fans go crazy.”

Twilight and New Moon Trailers

Vanessa Hudgens rumoured to play New Moon Vampire Leah

Entertainment Weekly have reported that High School Musical start Vanessa Hudgens could be cast as New Moon vampire Leah:

Talk about every 13-year-old girl’s fantasy film team: High School Musical could be joining forces with Twilight. Sorta. As we reported earlier, rumors are swirling that Disney tween dream Vanessa Hudgens has auditioned for the role of disgruntled werewolf Leah Clearwater in the upcoming Twilight sequel New Moon. And as much as I want to hate the idea, I don’t. Sure, she’s much cuter than I ever imagined Leah to be, but her mix of Filipino, Spanish, Chinese, Irish, and Native American ethnicities, make her a physically good match for the Quileute shapeshifter. Plus, she’s already got big hair.

That being said, the 20-year-old has to show us something she hasn’t before: angst. Known for perky parts, most notably High School brainiac Gabriella, Hudgens will have to bring it as a girl dumped by her love who becomes the only female werewolf of her tribe. If she can embody this mix of contempt and snark with a dash of vulnerability thrown in, I think she could not only nail the role but make a nice foil to Taylor Lautner’s Jacob.

New Moon Controversies

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Twilight Tote Bags

Are you on Team Edward or Team Jacob? Do you have Obsessive Cullen Disorder? Are you betting on Alice? If you’re looking for a great new bag for school or college then show your love for the Twilight series with one of these brilliant tote bags.

Twilight Shirts

From baseball jerseys to hoodies, scoop necks to jersey T-shirts; show your friends that you are a true Twilight fan with these Forks map t-shirts.

Twilight Stuff

Show your Twilight spirit with a Twilight mousemat, clock or apron. Perfect fun gifts for any Twilight fan.

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My Book Review Rating: 3 stars – an interesting look into teenage life when you feel like everything is out to get you.

I picked up Just in Case from the library a few months ago having heard good things about some of Rosoff’s other novels. The novel starts out in the bedroom of David Case; a teenage boy with a baby brother. A baby brother who decides that he wants to be a bird and stands a little too close to the window ledge. In that moment David loses his childhood innocence – his lack of fear – and starts to think what if…? David suddenly sees death everywhere in his everyday life and decides to change his name to Justin in an attempt to escape fate’s evil hand.

The novel then follows Justin as he tries to establish his new identity, make new friends and fall in love. All the time believing he is cursed and fate is out to get him — and you probably would to if you were Justin and death seemed to appear at every corner.

This was an intriguing novel; an easy one to read but one that makes you think. I wonder if at some level David Case had some kind of psychotic break the day his brother crawled on the window sill; Rosoff’s look into a disturbed teenager’s mind is sensitive and insightful.

Whichever level you read it on this is a book worth reading and I look forward to reading more of Rosoff.

Just in Case

Book Review | Just In Case by Meg Rosoff is a post from: Blue Archipelago Reviews

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