The Selection by Kiera Cass

The Bachelor meets The Hunger Games...but not really? I'd heard a lot of people rave about this book, but I'd also heard a lot of people say that it was aimed at younger audiences (which I honestly don't agree with) so I had mixed feelings about starting this book. However, seeing as I forgot NOS4A2 at work and couldn't read it all weekend, I decided to read one of the many books I've bought on my nook but have yet to get through. The Selection won out and I found myself hooked after the first few pages. Let me just say that when people say it's like The Bachelor, they are not lying. The story is about America Singer, a seventeen (?) year old girl who gets a chance to be chosen for the Selection, a contest where 35 girls are sent to live at the palace and compete for the young prince's heart. This book takes place sometime in the future, when the United States has gone into so much debt that China and other countries have waged war against it and the country has crumbled and resurfaced with the new name of Illea. This country has implemented a Caste system and our heroine is a Five, which means she's some sort of artist or entertainer (actually a singer/musician). Her caste is not the worst (there are eight castes, One being royalty and Eight being "the untouchables") but she explains that there are months when her family goes hungry. Honestly the only way this story is similar to The Hunger Games is the fact that it's a dystopian, but the problem with this book is that it focuses so heavily on the romance and (surprise surprise) the love triangle that we forget that there's something bigger going on. I've seen and read a couple reviews for this book and some of them mentioned that they felt the book was aimed towards younger audiences, but I didn't feel that to be true. The book actually makes a few mentions of sex, and one character suffers from PTSD due to the fact that she was nearly raped.  Even with the serious subjects that are touched on, the focus was on the romance and that made the story seem a bit shallow, but that may change in the second or third books (another surprise...it's a trilogy!). I found the book to be entertaining, but not the point that I will make every single person I know read it. I have gone ahead and bought the second book in the series, titled The Elite and plan on reading it and posting a review of it soon.


Rating:★★★
Recommendation: If you're looking for something quick to read, check it out.
Favorite Character: May Singer

This Is The End

Got a chance to see This Is The End last night, so here we go!
I heard about this movie last year, when it was still scheduled to come out at the end of 2012 and had a different working title. I read the premise of it, and was instantly sold, so I was slightly disappointed when I heard the release date had been pushed all the way back to Summer 2013. However, the wait was worth it. This movie was absolutely hilarious. The screening was full and I saw almost everyone laughing throughout the whole movie. All the stuff from the trailers was in there, along with more scenes that had me laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. It was so much fun seeing the cameos from various different actors and actresses. The dynamic between the leads was great, which is to be expected because all these guys are friends in real life. Parts of the movie were a little out there, which is to be expected because it's a movie about real actors (not characters) during the apocalypse. One of the funniest scenes includes an exchange between James Franco and Danny McBride that I'm still laughing about.

You can expect to see faces like Emma Watson, who is just fantastic, Rihanna, Michael Cera, Christopher Mintz-Plasse (there was a scene with Cera, Mintz-Plasse, and Hill all together, it was almost like a Superbad reunion), Aziz Ansari, Mindy Kaling, and other recognizable names I'll keep to myself because I don't want to spoil anything. I know as soon as this movie comes out, I'll hear a lot of my friends talking about it and quoting lines from it. This is the funniest movie I've seen so far this year. We will see if the title holds once I've seen The Hangover III which is the only movie I can think as a main contender.
This Is The End hits theaters nationwide on June 12th!

Rating:★★★★
Recommendation: If you want to laugh and don't mind a little absurdity, go see it in theaters!

Inferno by Dan Brown

As any Dan Brown fan, I can say that I was extremely excited when a new Robert Langdon book was announced. However, after the lackluster The Lost Symbol, I went in not expecting too much out of Brown, and I think that was a wise choice. The book follows Robert Langdon after he wakes up in a hospital in Florence, with no recollection of what's happened in the past 36 hours, and with random people trying to kill him (go figure!). A beautiful, smart, young woman helps him escape and we begin a journey through Florence in a race to find an item that could change the course of history forever.

I enjoyed the book quite a lot, it was better than The Lost Symbol, but it pales in comparison with Angels & Demons (which is Robert Langdon's first--and best-- adventure to date). I just didn't feel the need to know what came next like I felt with Angels & Demons. But the fact that Robert Langdon has amnesia added a nice touch of mystery, and keept me entertained.
As always you can expect the change in POV, and Dan brown does a great job in using POV's to add mystery, and make the reader question what they already know, or what they think they know.
Thought Dan Brown did a great job blending art, literature and history together to map out Robert Langdon's adventure in the book, it fell a little short for me. That may be because I'm not as familiar with the works referenced in this book, as I was with the works referenced in Angels & Demons and The Da Vinci Code. 

Overall it was a good read. I would definitely recommend it if you happen to be a Dan Brown fan.

Rating: ★★★½ (I gave it a 4 on goodreads.com because you can't do half-stars there)

What shows are on my to-watch list? What shows am I currently watching?

To give you an idea of the kinds of shows I watch/ I'm interested in, I decided to compile a list!

Shows I'm currently watching (as they air):

1. Doctor Who (On hiatus until November 23rd--rude!)
2. Game of Thrones (Season finale June 2nd)
3. Criminal Minds (Season Finale May 22nd)
4. True Blood (Season 6 Premieres June 16th)
5. Dexter (Final Season Premieres June 30th)
6. Shameless (On hiatus until next January 2014?)
7. Parks And Recreation (on hiatus until Fall 2013)
8. American Horror Story (on hiatus until October 2013)
9. The Following (on hiatus until Fall 2013?)

Shows I watch, but I'm not caught up on: 

1. Supernatural
2. New Girl
3. Modern Family
4. Once Upon A Time
5. Teen Wolf
6. Awkward
7. Bones
8. Revolution
9. Misfits 

Shows I plan on starting or have just started watching:

1. Hemlock Grove (I watched the first episode and I liked it)
2. Battlestar Galactica (2 episodes in...already attached to characters)
3. The Office
4. How I Met Your Mother
5. Fringe

Most of these have already gone on hiatus for the summer and I'll have time to catch up before next season starts, but tbh I have so much shit going on I stop watching shows as they air and just watch them all at once on Hulu, Netflix, or I buy the season if necessary. It seems like the only ones I can keep up with are the Sunday shows because so many of my friends watch them and I don't want to be spoiled!

Star Trek: Into Darkness

Let me just put a disclaimer here. I'm not a Trekkie, I've never seen the original TV Series or any of the original films. My first experience with Star Trek came from the first J. J. Abrams film in 2009, and that film was funny, and entertaining, and the story was so intricate and good, that I became a fan instantly.

The second installment did not disappoint. The timeline is iffy but the film begins, a few months or years (???) after the first movie. James T. Kirk is still the captain of the USS Enterprise. But then there's some rule breaking that goes on, which leads Kirk to lose his ship. Other spoilery things happen, and then we finally meet this film's baddie, Benedict Cumberbatch. Look, I'm a big Sherlock fan, so I was beyond thrilled when I heard Cumberbatch was the new villain. He has such a presence and delivery, really I could get behind anything he does. This movie was just as entertaining as, if not more than, the first one. There was lots of action, and a great story line. However, the characters are what draws me to these films. The chemistry between the cast is so good, it makes me think, these actors are actually the characters they are playing, which is great because the main focus of this film is the relationship between Spock and Kirk. A relationship that began stormily, but has developed into a friendship so strong, these two characters see each other as brothers.

Ultimately, the film is worth seeing. I walked out of that theater extremely satisfied and wanting to see it again.


Rating: ★★★★★
Recommendations: See it in theaters now! (3D if it doesn't give you a headache, like it does to me)

Take 2

First and foremost, I apologize for being gone nearly a whole damn year. A whole YEAR! I promise I had every intention of keeping up with this blog, but life got in the way and I just couldn't do it. I guess blogs work better if you write for fun instead of as a chore. And that's what I intend to do this time around. I began writing a review for The Green River Killer: A True Detective Story by Jeff Jensen and for some reason, it's still sitting in my drafts, unfinished. I will have to re-read it in order to finish my review, so don't expect that any time soon.

What you CAN expect soon, perhaps by tonight, is a review of Star Trek: Into Darkness. I was given the opportunity to see the movie last night and I plan on typing up a quick post with my thoughts on the movie.

Also, as you can probably see on the goodreads widget, I'm currently reading Inferno by Dan Brown and NOS4A2 by Joe Hill. I'm also reading Signs of Life by Natalie Taylor, but that's taking me a bit longer (I don't know why, but memoirs always take me longer).

Anyway, that is all, and now to write about Star Trek!

-A