Waiting on Wednesday (50)

Hosted by Breaking the Spine

Title: This Song Will Save Your Life

Author: Leila Sales

Pub Date: 9.17.13

From goodreads.com: Making friends has never been Elise Dembowski’s strong suit. All throughout her life, she’s been the butt of every joke and the outsider in every conversation. When a final attempt at popularity fails, Elise nearly gives up. Then she stumbles upon a warehouse party where she meets Vicky, a girl in a band who accepts her; Char, a cute, yet mysterious disc jockey; Pippa, a carefree spirit from England; and most importantly, a love for DJing.

Top Ten Tuesday (52)

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

This week's topic is

Okay, so it was beginnings/endings, but I'm going to stick with beginnings this time.  Also I love quotes, so you're just getting the opening lines.

1. Tiger Lily - Jodi Lynn Anderson
"Let me tell you something straight off.  This is a love story, but not like any you've heard.  The boy and girl are far from innocent.  Dear lives are lost.  And good doesn't win.  In some places, there is something ultimately good about endings.  In Neverland, that is not the case."

2. Amy and Roger's Epic Detour - Morgan Matson
"But I think it fair to warn you, all those songs about California lied."

3. If I Stay - Gayle Forman
"Everyone thinks it was because of the snow."

4. The Disenchantments - Nina LaCour
"Bev says when she's on stage she feels the world holding it's breath for her."

5. I Hunt Killers - Barry Lyga
"It was a beautiful day.  It was a beautiful field.  Except for the body."

6. Delirium - Lauren Oliver
"The most dangerous sicknesses are those that make us believe we're well. - Proverb 42, The Book of Shhh"

7. Insurgent - Veronica Roth
"I wake with his name in my mouth."

8. The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight - Jennifer E. Smith
"There are so many ways it coud have turned out differently."

9. Anna and the French Kiss - Stephanie Perkins
"Here is everything I know about France: Madeline and Amélie and Moulin Rouge."

10. The Evolution of Mara Dyer - Michelle Hodkin
"You will love him to ruins."

Ten - Gretchen McNeil

Title: Ten
Author: Gretchen McNeil
Pages: 304
Publisher: Balzer + Bray

From goodreads.com: It was supposed to be the weekend of their lives—an exclusive house party on Henry Island. Best friends Meg and Minnie each have their reasons for being there (which involve T.J., the school’s most eligible bachelor) and look forward to three glorious days of boys, booze and fun-filled luxury.

But what they expect is definitely not what they get, and what starts out as fun turns dark and twisted after the discovery of a DVD with a sinister message: Vengeance is mine.
Suddenly people are dying, and with a storm raging, the teens are cut off from the outside world. No electricity, no phones, no internet, and a ferry that isn’t scheduled to return for two days. As the deaths become more violent and the teens turn on each other, can Meg find the killer before more people die? Or is the killer closer to her than she could ever imagine?

Okay, here's the thing about Ten: I loved the concept.  I felt like it was one of those books that was made with me in mind.  I love teen slasher flicks.  I still remember the first slumber party that we watched Scream at.  We only got through the first ten minutes before we decided it was too scary to watch at night, so we put it back on in the morning.  I remember going to the movies to see I Know What You Did Last Summer and squishing my Reese's Pieces between my hand and my best friends during a particularly scary bit.  The plotting of this book was really good.  The characters were another story entirely.

Right away I didn't connect with Meg.  I didn't know why she put up with so much of Minnie's crap.  Yes, she's her best friend, but she was mommy-ing her to death.  I think I would have been more understanding of it if they were sisters, then the uberprotective vibe would make sense.  I also didn't like how everyone else treated Meg.  Ooh, Meg the writer, Meg, you're so witty, if only you would speak out loud more.  It wasn't just her though.  I found very few redeeming qualities in anyone on that island and - I hate to say it - I didn't feel that badly when they bit it.

Moving away from the negativity, I really liked the plot.  Ten teens on an island for an all weekend rager when they start being picked off one by one.  The deaths were inventive and I love that they were being killed in ways that someone had fantasized about in their journal.  Without spoiling anything, I didn't see the killer coming and I liked the reveal a lot.

Unfortunately my dislike of the characters led to this book's ultimate downfall.  Without caring if anyone lived or died it was difficult having anyone to root for.  The best parts of Ten were when people  were dying and sadly that wasn't enough for me.  Has anyone read Ten?  What did you think?

Waiting on Wednesday (49)

Hosted by Breaking the Spine

Title: Dirty Little Secret

Author: Jennifer Echols

Pub Date: 7.16.13

From goodreads.com: Bailey wasn’t always a wild child and the black sheep of her family. She used to play fiddle and tour the music circuit with her sister, Julie, who sang and played guitar. That ended when country music execs swooped in and signed Julie to a solo deal. Never mind that Julie and Bailey were a duet, or that Bailey was their songwriter. The music scouts wanted only Julie, and their parents were content to sit by and let her fulfill her dreams while Bailey’s were hushed away.

Bailey has tried to numb the pain and disappointment over what could have been. And as Julie’s debut album is set to hit the charts, her parents get fed up with Bailey’s antics and ship her off to granddad’s house in Nashville. Playing fiddle in washed-up tribute groups at the mall, Bailey meets Sam, a handsome and oh-so-persuasive guitarist with his own band. He knows Bailey’s fiddle playing is just the thing his band needs to break into the industry. But this life has broken Bailey’s heart once before. She isn’t sure she’s ready to let Sam take her there again…

Top Ten Tuesday (51)

Hosted by The Broke and the Bookish

This week's topic is

Best:

Harry Potter
Classic.  There are some trouble spots with the movies, but I'd take the story of the Boy Who Lived anyway I can get it.

The Hunger Games
Look at those vicious looking tributes up there.  I thought they did a really nice job adapting the first book and I can't wait to see what they do with Catching Fire.

Tuck Everlasting
I weep openly.  I love this book and I love the movie even more.  Jonathan Jackson, come on.

Ramona & Beezus
This was a really cute movie.  And who doesn't love the Ramona books?  Actually when we were watching the movie at our house we were getting our dining room painted and at the part where Ramona falls through the ceiling the painter started laughing.  Fun for everyone!

William Shakespeare's Romeo + Juliet
Perfect.  I love Baz Luhrmann's adaptation so so much.  Plus, look at that face!  See also: x x x

Chocolat
Great book, great movie.

The Princess Diaries
I could watch this movie 24/7 and not get sick of it.  It's not really true to the books at all, but it's enjoyable as hell.  Plus, Robert Schwartzman!  I've met him!

Worst:

Twilight 
I'm uncomfortable just looking at that picture.  The first one set the bar so low that the only place to go was up.  And they did get better as they went along, but only slightly.

Beastly
I actually liked the movie a bit more than the book.  That being said, they were both not great.

A Walk to Remember
My favorite Nicholas Sparks book.  They kind of bastardized everything that I loved about the book, but I still loved the movie when it came out.  I can now admit, though, that the movie was not all that great.  My high school self would be so ashamed.


There are a ton of book movies that I wanted to include that I liked (Beautiful Creatures!  Matilda!) but haven't read the books so I couldn't do a proper comparison.  What about you guys?  Any movies that you thought ruined the spirit of your favorite book?  Or were totally different, but worked anyway?