Twilight News

My twilight buddies have informed me that someone breached Stephenie's trust and leaked a draft of her half-finished novel on the internet.
Seriously people, could you get more annoying?
Ever since Breaking Dawn came out, the Twilight world has gotten more divided than ever. At first, I would totally understand, but now, people are just making me mad. I mean, there is a reason that an author needs to have privacy. Did you just hack into her computer so that you could make fun of her writing skills? Gee people, stop being so harsh. I am so disappointed with ALL of ya'll.
Here is the link for the draft SO FAR: http://stepheniemeyer.com/pdf/midnightsun_partialdraft2.pdf
Have fun with it! And if you are the hacker, then shame on you. :(

Review 8: Girls on Film by Zoey Dean

Title: Girls on Film (A-List)
Author: Zoey Dean
Publisher: Poppy Publishers
Rating: 5/10
"Anna had come to Los Angeles in the hopes of reinventing herself, and Ben had seemed the perfect boy with whom to debut the new and daring her. But now, when she considered everything that had happened with Ben between the heavenly plane flight and the hellish conclusion, Anna was convinced, more than ever, that her usually impeccable taste did not extend to guys."
The Lowdown:
Anna Percy is not your typical Beverly Hills teenager. In fact, she is quite a different one. Born and raised in the good old NYC Upper East side, she is used to private school Blaire's and shopping at Barney's. But what she is not used to is the California attitude of girls like Cammie, Dee, and Sam.
After an incident involving a guy she just met on the plane, Anna falls in love, but abandons the guy when he abandoned her without an explanation. The story picks up from there, and Anna trying to forget what happened in the past.
The Good:
A. Sam and Anna being friends.
B. Anna's sister.
C. The ending.
The Bad:
A. Is it just me, or does it sound so 90210?
B. The whole novel was so boring. The first novel was so awesome and FUN. This novel was anything but.
C. Dee's pregnancy thing. That was totally stupid.
D. How the good always overcomes the bad. Is that how our world really runs?
E. The title so does not make sense. Girls on Film? Was there a movie involved by chance, and if so, did it have anything to do with the real plot.
F. Does school mean nothing to Zoey Dean? Don't high schoolers get a ton of HW?
The Consensus:
I really liked the first A-list novel. The second one just dragged on and on and bored me half to death. I seriously hope that the next novel is better than this crap.

Review 7: Tempted by Cecily von Ziegesar

Title: Tempted (It Girl)
Author: Cecily von Ziegesar
Publisher: Poppy
Rating: 6.5/10
"It was really hard to believe that almost exactly two weeks ago, she had been trudging down this very same path, duffel bag stuffed haphazardly with whatever contents of her dorm room hadn't fit into the boxes ready to be shipped back to her apartment in NY. Now, everything was different-epitomized by the fact that Celina Colista wanted Jenny to come running with her. "
The Lowdown:
After mysteriously being saved after Jenny H. took the bullet (even though she didn't do it) for a disastarous fire, she wants to find out her secret admirer. Tinsley realizes she is a mean girl (well, duh) and Callie + Easy sort out their problems. Meanwhile, Brett and Kara's past comes to haunt them back.
The Good:
A. The cover
B. OwlNet
C. Jenny's sudden popularity.
The Bad:
A. Tinsley and Jenny. WHAT THE HELL???
B. Jeremiah and Brett hooking up despite the fact that the rumours were proven true.
C. Kara and Brett being uncomfortable with each other.
D. Less OwlNet conversations.
D. Jenny's secret admirer. That just is so messed up.
E. Callie going to REHAB???
The Consensus:
At first, the It Girl seemed like a good read. Now, it's just boring. Get a move on Cecily! We need more twists and turns for your books to be more fun!!!

Review 6: Kitty Kitty by Michele Jaffe

Title: Kitty Kitty
Author: Michele Jaffe
Publisher: Harper Teen
Rating: 7.5/10
"My best friend, Polly, thinks that people should come with warning labels, like mattresses. If they did, mine would be CRIME SCENE DO NOT CROSS."
The Lowdown:
Jasmine C is a pretty normal 17-year-old teenager. She likes to divide her time solving crimes, learning Italian, hating her dad, solving crimes, and talking with her friends/obsessing over boyfriend. Did I mention solving crimes?
After her dad moves her family almost halfway across the world to Venice, she is catapulted inside a world of international mystique and intrigue when one of her friends gets murdered. Will she solve the crime and stop the growing obsession of her boyfriend?
The Good:
A. Much more fast paced than Bad Kitty.
B. Less "footnotes" to distract the reader (although much longer.)
C. Hilarious.
D. More development of Jasmine's character
E. More secrets about the mysterious J.R.
The Bad:
A. Less involvements of cats
B. Kind of predictable.
C. Cheesy
D. She is kind of a Nancy Drew, which at times can get annoying.
E. Can be kind of confusing.
F. J.R. (kind of copied from Burn Notice.)
The Consensus:
I definitely liked Kitty Kitty over Bad Kitty. The plot was better, the mystery was cooler, and the characters were more hilarious, although at often times not really believable. For example, where was Jasmine going to school? How can you just walk out of a classroom without a call home? So yeah, some facts were incorrect. But if you're looking for something to just pass the time and sort of mellow down, then Kitty Kitty is your kind of read.

Review 5: Leonardo's Shadow

Title: Leonardo's Shadow, or My Astonishing Life asLeonardo da Vinci's servant
Author: Christopher Grey
Publisher: Anthemum Books
Rating: 10/10
Quote:
"I was running right and left, wildly and without thought, threading my way through the stalls of the market in the main square."
The Lowdown:
Giacomo is a lonely Italian boy roaming the streets of Milan. He is an orphan, living the life of a thief, until he falls down one day down a building and wakes up to find he is taken in by Leonardo da Vinci (Let's just call him LV) Basically, he has to convince his master to finish the Last Supper so they can pay their debts, discover why he was carrying a medallion, cross, and the ring, and who are his parents exactly? And why did Leonardo take him in, and why won't he teach him how to paint????
The Good:
A. Excellent idea.
B. I haven't read such refreshing historical fiction in a LONG time.
C. Narration, syntax, and style.
D. The font (OK. There is nothing to love about a font. But seriously.)
E. Book design.
F. The smell of the book (OK, now I am just talking crazy.)
The Bad:
A. No sequel.
The Consensus:
No sequel? That was the worst part about this book??? Yeah folks, it was that good.
Folks, this book has gotten excellent reviews and graced the lists of many affluent lists. You have to read this book to fully appreciate da Vinci. Sort of like a kiddy companion to The da Vinci Code.
But the best part about this book is that anyone can read it and enjoy. So bravo, Christopher Grey. Bravissimo!

Review 4: Violet on the Runway

Title: Violet on the Runway
Author: Melissa Walker
Publisher: Berkley Jam
Rating: 9.6/10
The Lowdown:
Violet is an ordinary girl who works at a movie theater, goes to school, and worries about college. She had self-confidence issues, which is due to her very large height and skinny figure. One day, she gets picked up by a modeling agent and is whisked into the high fashion world in NYC. After doing the fashion-gig for a while and dealing with bulimia, drugs, unfaithful guys, and conflicts between friends, she decides to come back home.
The Good:
A. I really enjoyed the narration.
B. The book had a sort of upbeat, modern beat to it. I like that.
C. The portrayal of modeling in this book was shocking, but true. I also like that (I like a lot of things in books, you see.)
D. The cover and the title is just so awesome and totally fitting!
E. It was wrapped up pretty good.
F. The character of Angela.
G. So many words for the letter V (Sorry, I just love the letter V.)
The Bad:
A. The friendship between Violet and Veronica. I have to admit, it sounds way too cliched.
B. Violet's character. OK, so that's not really the author's fault. But I seriously think that this girl has some issues to deal with, like poor self-esteem and falling for jerks.
The Consensus:
Wow. I've never read such a refreshing novel about models! (Maybe I did in Just Listen by Sarah Dessen, which by the way, is an awesome read.) But I really enjoyed reading this book, and Melissa Walker's novels are targeted more to a more 15+ teen audience. All I can say is, think twice before you go on a trip to NYC with a lady staring at you through Chanel glasses.

Review 3: Airhead by Meg Cabot

Title: Airhead
Author: Meg Cabot
Publisher: Point Publishers
Rating: 9/10
The Lowdown:
Em Watts is not herself. Literally.
After a heinous accident involving a plasma screen falling down on her and a teen supermodel getting an aneurysm and being brain dead, Em Watt's brain is transferred into the supermodel's (Niki Howard) body. Personally, at first, I was extremely confused about what the hell the novel was supposed to be about. But after a little reading (and a ton of patience) I awakened to the plot of the novel: a little predictable, a little fantastical, and totally awesome.
The Good:
A. Cabot's plot and idea
B. Cabot's narration style.
C. The complications and the drama.
D. I seriously love Niki's BFF and Gabriel Luna, the singer who goes ga ga for Niki. They're, like, just so funny.
E. Awesome cover.
The Bad:
A. Really off realistic-wise.
B. Uh, is this supposed to be science fiction?
C. Tied up WAY too early. Hello, can you add a little more? We pay money for these books.
D. The ending was retarded.
E. Nothing about the company as Meg portrays it makes sense. Maybe we have to wait for Being Nikki (sequel) to figure out this whole entire drama.
The Consensus:
Overall, I guess I do go ga ga for Meg Cabot's new franchise. But seriously, doesn't that woman have enough writing projects on her hands to last her a lifetime. Maybe she just likes to write. But anyways, this idea was somewhat awesome, somwhat lame, somewhat *yawn* exciting in a non-exciting way. But my main complaint is that it was tied way too early. But if you just need a book to sort of pass the time, this would be my pick for you.

Twlight Tuesday...

Dear Bookielicious readers,
I know you guys are just going to jump with joy when you guys find out that Twilight has been moved from December to November 21st after Harry Potter dropped down. I can't wait to see the movie, so I'm, like, hyperventilating right now!!! OMG! OMG! OMG! But, anyways, I must say, in keeping up with the Twilight Tuesday tradition, every Tuesday I post some more movie news, vids, etc. Here's a brand new edition of VH1'S Twilight Tuesday: Interview with Jackson Rathbone, the dude who plays Jasper Cullen.
MTV: Tell us about your character.
Jackson Rathbone: Well, I play Jasper Hale, also called Jasper Whitlock, or Jasper Cullen; I've got a lot of names. [Laughs.] Jasper's from the Civil War [era], and that's when he became a vampire. Since then, he's been sort of wandering around; he's got a great back story, but that takes place in the later books. In this movie, Jasper is very angry, and still very reticent about his lifestyle of not eating humans.

MTV: Every year, it seems, Hollywood gives us a ton of vampire movies. What's going to make the "Twilight" movie different?
Rathbone: Well, most vampire movies are all about the gore and the action and the violence. This movie's about the heart. It's about what moves us as humans, and what is so moving to us that it is even encompassed beyond humanity. These are creatures — they're not people, they're not humans, they're kind of the decrepit side of everything. They're dead; there's no oxygen. They can't feel cold, they can't feel anything, but they can feel emotions and what those emotions lead us to do. You can choose morality, or you can choose the life that nature has provided for you, which is death. It's kind of a life-versus-death-story, but not so much in the realm of "you're going to get killed or get to do some killing," but whether you're going to choose to love life and choose love.

MTV: Why, after all these decades of storytelling, do we still care about vampires?
Rathbone: Well, I think everybody wants to be a vampire. I used to want to be a vampire [when I was young]. It'd be great, you know? Run around at night, never die, kill people. It sounds like a great life!

MTV: Yeah, but is there more to it than just being able to live in a horror movie?
Rathbone: I think the appeal is the mysticism of it all. We're searching for something beyond ourselves, and we find it in a lot of folklore, and a lot of these old stories that get tossed around about living forever and always being beautiful and young. That's the allure of the vampire: You don't age, you don't have to worry about getting old, or never accomplishing something. Time is not a factor, and I think that most people, especially these days, are caught up in time.

MTV: And then, at the center of "Twilight," is this great "Romeo and Juliet"-caliber love story. What can we expect to see from the work that Robert and Kristen have been doing?
Rathbone: Edward and Bella have the greatest sadistic, masochistic relationship there probably is, because Edward is putting himself through hell by being around her; all he wants to do is eat her. But he can't, because of his morality. ... Bella knows what she's getting into, and Edward knows what he's putting her through. So, you get these great characters who are so concerned about each other that they're not concerned about themselves.

MTV: What is it, exactly, that makes them so enamored with each other?
Rathbone: It's a love that is bred out of interest, almost. I mean, he can't read her thoughts, which is something so beyond him and so beyond anything he's come across in his life, so he's intrigued. He's so attracted to her. And she's attracted to him and his ability to coast through everything and be so respected and admired. It's like he doesn't even try. ... What Rob and Kristen have brought to these parts is this amazing lifelike [quality]; it's never fake. It's never put on. There's this weight behind them, and you can see it the moment they call action.

MTV: Your character was a Confederate soldier back in the day. Have you done research into the period?
Rathbone: Yeah, I did a bit of research about the Civil War. I was always interested in it, and I did spend a bit of time [living] in Texas, so whenever I took Texas history, I learned a lot about the Civil War. I was lucky enough to have that background around me already. What I've focused on was the stoicism. ... I never really grew up in the South, I grew up all over, but for my family values and all the Southern values: You don't speak unless you're spoken to; you keep a very calm demeanor; you try to keep everything as light as possible, but if things get heavy, it's not like you're not going to step up. But it's weird to talk about the actual character elements of (Jasper), because it's all so intertwined with the story of the third book, which is where Jasper begins to expand on his heritage and how he was turned and how he lived.

MTV: So, are you planting little seeds in "Twilight" that will pay off in the sequels?
Rathbone: Yeah, I'm putting it in, here and there. It's nice. I can't do too much with Jasper's power. Jasper has the power to manipulate emotions. There's a danger in that. There's a danger in having that ability, because if you're constantly manipulating emotions around you, there's no reality around you. And because Jasper is able to distort reality, I wanted to steer away from that. I wanted everything to be as real as possible. So I've tried to make the choice for him not to use the power [for now], to be as stoic as possible, be as still and just concentrate on keeping himself at bay, especially in terms of the hunger.

MTV: I can't help but notice that you've naturally got a Southern twang in your voice. Are you keeping that for the character, to show his roots?
Rathbone: I try to keep it as light as possible, because he's been around for 200 years. He hasn't been in Texas that entire time. ... With Jasper, it would be too much to have that accent, especially when you're pretending to be a normal kid. If he had a Texas accent in Washington, in Forks, I think people would tend to notice him a little bit more.

MTV: Are you signed on for the next two sequels?
Rathbone: Yes, I'm signed up to do all three. So, hopefully, all the fans like me in this one.

MTV: What's the coolest thing about being a vampire?
Rathbone: The singular coolest thing, to me, would have to be the ability to just stay out of the sun. I'm not really a sun person; I'm not a beach bunny. I'm more of an indoor-sports kind of guy. You know, just sitting at home with a guitar, very simple. I'm all about nightlife. I live during the night, so that would have to be the coolest aspect for me.

Review 2: Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen

Title: Lock and Key
Author: Sarah Dessen
Publisher: Viking Juvenile Fiction
Rating: 9.5/10
The Lowdown:
Ruby is a young and troubled girl.. Yeah, we've heard a lot of those before. But she seriously has a messed up mommy. So when her mom abandons her, she decides to live alone until she turns 18. But lo and behold, she's caught before that can happen and is thrust into high class society when she is sent to live with her sister (incognito in Ruby's life for more than 10 years) and her nice and entrepreneur (rich) husband, Jaimie. Sort of like a Great Expectations, but a more teenage and modern twist to it.
The Good:
A. Excellent narration by Sarah Dessen.
B. Excellent plot.
C. Obviously has a romantic element to it, for which I go gaga for.
D. Good character development.
The Bad:
A. Ends too soon :(
B. A little slow-paced.
C. Ruby's private school universe is extremely strange. By strange I mean there are no evil girls. And in every school there are evil school girls, trust me.
The Consensus:
Overall, I seriously loved this book. It had to be one of Sarah Dessen's best creations. What I feel about Sarah's novels are that she is one of those authors that sort of get better and better with every book he/she writes. When I first picked this book up, I was like, Gee, I didn't know Sarah would stoop to such a low level that she had to cheat off of Dickens! (Not that Dickens isn't awesome.) But seriously. I was seriously pissed off. But after reading this book, I seriously know what the phrase "Don't judge a book by it's cover" means. This book is one of my favorite, but Sarah's Just Listen, still is better than this one, because of the ending and the emotional tirade of it. But that's just my opinion.

Review 1: Breaking Dawn

Title: Breaking Dawn
Author: Stephanie Meyer
Publisher: Little Brown and Co.
Rating: 8.5/10
The Lowdown:
Caution: reviews contains spoilers
We left Bella and Edward engaged at the end of Eclipse. And now, after almost one year, we meet them again in Breaking Dawn (shortened to just BD in this review.) A lot of people were pissed off by Meyer's new book, because of the ridiculously happy ending and the stupid message that it portrayed.
Before buying my copy of the book from Kroger's, the reviews had made me a tad bit skeptical. But anyways, I spent 14 bucks on this book and after almost one day of reading it (the book goes by fast) I am extremely satisfied by the ending. Call me a softie at the heart, but to all the BD haters, I got one message for you: Buzz. Off.
Yes, there is a lot more, uh, physical intimacy in this book than all the other books combined. But it's after marriage, of course, since Meyer is a Mormon. There's also a baby involved (half-vampire, half-human), Bella becomes a vampire with total self-control, her baby is a genius, and the baby causes them to mess with the Volturi.
How. Awesome.
The Good:
A. The writing was clear, but the length of the book was way too long, and it was sort of like Harry Potter 5: unnecessarily lengthy.
B. The narration of Jacob. Totally kewl and unexpected.
C. I'm on Team Edward, so obviously this book is my fav.
D. Less of Bella roaming around and moping (totally annoying.)
E. The Volturi are back!
F. The vampire appendix.
The Bad:
A. The unnecessary length.
B. The weirdness of Bella suddenly wanting to be a mother. I agree that was freaky weird.
C. The plot is excellent at beginning, horrible at the middle, and OK at the end.
D. Jacob imprinting on Bella's daughter. WTH??? (But it does make sense.)
E. Meyer publishing a official guide and movie guide. Does she just wants more money from the franchise now that it's over, or is Midnight Sun abandoned so soon?
The Consensus:
Some people are extremely concerned about the message that this book delivers. Heck, someone hacked into Twilight Lexicon to protest the ending! And Stephenie, poor Steph, lashed back at the readers. Seriously, though, the hacking thing is not cool. But anyways, the book can be interpreted as if to say that marriage is the ultimate goal in a girl's life, because Bella does not get an education. However, this was Bella's choice, and Edward wanted her to go to college so bad, he probably hacked into Dartmouth and got her in. So, ultimately, it was Bella's choice, and it's not Steph that is trying to deliver this subliminal message. She's staying totally in character, and you know what, people. Sometimes, girls can get everything they want. So if Bella's life is perfect, I totally agree with it. It could have been better, but it was OK.
I wonder why no one lashed out against Harry Potter 7. I mean, it was a pretty happy ending, after all.