Posts tagged with teen-literature
I like the font, at least
Well, it's finally happening: Judy Blume's 1970 awkward-teen-girl classic Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret is being made into a movie. The trailer looks good (in a painfully embarrassing way, but that's due to the source material), so...
A Magic Steeped in Poison, by Judy I. Lin
Judy I. Lin's A Magic Steeped in Poison is a fun novel by any standard, and a really impressive debut. In Lin's Chinese- and Taiwanese-inspired historical fantasy, a girl named Ning is desperate to cure her dying sister. Ning's only hope is winning the shennong-shi trials—a high-court competition of magical tea-brewing, with a royal boon as the grand prize. Armed with her late mother's tea knowledge, Ning...
Weekly Book Giveaway: A Magic Steeped in Poison, by Judy I. Lin
Our latest Book Giveaway is Judy I. Lin's A Magic Steeped in Poison. A word of warning to any interested readers: I started this book at midnight, finished it at about two in the morning, and then discovered that I wouldn't be able to get the sequel for at least five days. Learn from my mistake, and make sure you acquire both books in the series at the same time...
Pride and Premeditation, by Tirzah Price
Tailor-made for fans of the Enola Holmes movies, Tirzah Price's Pride and Premeditation is a fun historical whodunit that takes the characters of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice and puts them in a slightly different setting...
Weekly Book Giveaway: The Lovely and the Lost, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Our latest Book Giveaway is Jennifer Lynn Barnes's The Lovely and the Lost, which sounds like a soap opera and I am sincerely hoping is not a standalone. (I am much more invested in this book than in Barnes's previous effort.) A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will run through 7/22/19...
Soapy!
I have watched the first four episodes of Netflix's new show The Society (billed as a modern YA take on The Lord of the Flies, but with a supernatural twist), and I am giving it a somewhat wobbly thumbs-up. It took me two full episodes to be able to tell most of the characters apart (the Elle and Allie actresses were particularly confusing), and...
Good call, people
Well, I'm excited: according to LaineyGossip, Netflix has cast the charming and talented Jordan Fisher as John Ambrose McClaren, the romantic "challenger" in their upcoming adaptation of P.S. I Still Love You...
Clearly, Peter Gallagher has bills to pay.
Ouch: I finally saw a full trailer for After, the real-person-fanfic (about One Direction's Harry Styles) turned YA novel turned movie, and it looks excruciating. It strongly reminds me of Beautiful Disaster...
Slayer, by Kiersten White
In my recent review of the BOOM Comics Buffy the Vampire Slayer reboot, I wondered if the Buffy-centric storytelling well had finally run dry. Bestselling author Kiersten White's new spinoff novel Slayer proves that there is still some life in this 'verse...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Slayer, by Kiersten White
Our latest Book Giveaway is Kiersten White's Slayer, a book that I enjoyed far, far more than I expected to, considering the quality of recent Buffy the Vampire Slayer-themed output. A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will run through 5/10/19...
Sign me up
And in our third and final bit of page-to-screen news this week, here's the only one of the bunch I'm genuinely excited to see: The Changeover, a deeply creepy-looking adaptation of an award-winning YA fantasy novel...
Roswell 2.0
Huh... I didn't think anyone was crying out for a reboot of the mildly enjoyable Roswell TV series of my teenage years, but apparently they were, and the new version has made several changes...
Whatever sells
According to Deadline, Disney recently won a bidding war for the rights to Melissa de la Cruz's latest YA book, 29 Dates. I've never enjoyed de la Cruz's writing, but plenty of people do: she's written over 40 books, most of which were hugely successful...
Little White Lies, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
Jennifer Lynn Barnes's books must have great elevator pitches: cheerleader spies! Magic-granting tattoos! Teenage FBI agents! Unfortunately, her latest effort, Little White Lies, doesn't fully lean in to the wildness of its Gilmore Girls-meets-Peyton Place premise. Barnes is a solid writer, but her books are never as cheesy as they sound, and this was a story that could have used significantly more cheese...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Little White Lies, by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
This week's Book Giveaway is Jennifer Lynn Barnes's latest, Little White Lies, which combines some girl-power crime-fighting with a Gilmore Girls-inspired premise. A full review will follow shortly, and this giveaway will run through 12/28/18...
Oh, no.
I still can't believe that a sexy One Direction self-insertion fanfic found a mainstream publisher... and then became a best-seller... and is now being made into an intensely cheesy-looking feature film...
Holiday Gift Pick #6
Gift Idea #6: The complete Lockwood & Co. series, by Jonathan Stroud (approximately $35 for paperback editions)
If you're shopping for a teenager (or an adult who isn't above reading YA literature), we can't recommend this series highly enough. Seriously, it's wildly imaginative and deeply creepy and the teeniest bit romantic, and...
Holiday schmaltz?
The trailer is out for the movie adaptation of Julie Murphy's YA novel Dumplin'. The movie will feature Jennifer Aniston as the heroine's mother and songs by Dolly Parton, so I'm assuming...
To All the Boys I've Loved Before, by Jenny Han
To All the Boys I've Loved Before is the perfect back-to-school treat: a YA romance with an adorable heroine, endearing love interest, and enjoyably ridiculous plot. Plus, the entire trilogy has already been released, and Netflix has just released a super cute movie adaptation, so impatient fans (read: ME) won't have to wait to see how it all turns out...
Weekly Book Giveaway: To All the Boys I've Loved Before, by Jenny Han
This week's Book Giveaway is Jenny Han's To All the Boys I've Loved Before, which I read after watching the cute-as-a-freaking-button Netflix adaptation. Due to a bunch of overdue postings, this giveaway will run through October 12th, so best of luck...
Royals, by Rachel Hawkins
I have no idea if Rachel Hawkins timed the release of her new book Royals to coincide with the wedding of Meghan Markle and Prince Harry, or if it was just a happy accident, but either way people looking for a little more royal-wedding action have absolutely lucked out...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Royals, by Rachel Hawkins
If you're going through Royal Wedding withdrawal, we have just the book for you: we're currently giving away a copy of Rachel Hawkins's new YA novel Royals. Sure, this book is pure fluff, but it does feature embarrassing relatives, snotty aristocrats, silly hats, and an American/royal engagement, so the parallels are uncanny, at least as far as I'm concerned. A full review will follow shortly...
Maybe if I had enough junk food...
The trailer is out for Netflix's upcoming adaptation of Jenny Han's All the Boys I've Loved Before, and it looks cute, albeit excruciatingly embarassing. I'm still recovering from the news that someone made The Kissing Booth into a (apparently successful!!!) movie...
Meh.
The long-simmering effort to turn John Green's debut novel Looking For Alaska has finally borne fruit: Hulu shelled out for an eight-episode limited series based on the book, which will be produced by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage’s Fake Empire...
Not If I Save You First, by Ally Carter
Ally Carter's Not If I Save You First sounded like a PG-13 version of Meg Cabot's 2002 romance novel She Went All the Way, and since that's one of my favorite contemporary romances, I was pretty stoked to read it. Carter's take isn't quite as funny as Cabot's, but there's more than enough charm and action to satisfy her many fans...
Weekly Book Giveaway: Not If I Save You First, by Ally Carter
This week's Book Giveaway is Ally Carter's latest YA thriller, Not If I Save You First. I usually like Carter's books, but I'm a little confused about this cover art. Are those letters... popsicles? Candy? Jello shots? It's a mystery. A full review will be posted shortly...
Research, people!
Wow: actor and YouTube "star" Kian Lawley has been dropped from the upcoming movie adaptation of award-winning novel The Hate U Give after a video surfaced of him making racist comments. Riverdale star KJ Apa will take over his role...
A little cheesy, but whatever.
The trailer is out for The Darkest Minds, based on the YA novel of the same name by Alexandra Bracken and starring The Hunger Games actress Amandla Stenberg. I hear they're delaying some of the X-Men reboots...
Killer fishie
About five years ago, we went through a period where I feel like we were receiving one mermaid-themed book a month. (They varied in quality, but they were all heavy on the angst.) Maybe I just fell out of the mermaid-novel-review circuit, but...