Top Ten Tuesday: Books I have To Read This Year

Here is my late edition of Top Ten Tuesday of the Ten Books I will absolutely read this year. 


1) Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
2) Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare
3) Insurgent by Veronica Roth
4) City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare
5) The Hobbit by J.R.R.Tolken
6 Games of Thrones by George R.R Martin
7)The List by Siboann Vivan
8)The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa
9) Gone by Micheal Grant
10) A Million Suns by Beth Revis

And these are the ten books that I would be for sure reading this year. What are yours?

Happy Reading
Jasmine

Movie Review: The Hunger Games

Staring: Jennifer Lawrence

            Josh Hutcherson

            Liam Hemsworth

Director: Gary Ross

Author: Suzanne Collins

Released: March 23, 2012
Rating: 5/5 stars

About
In the not to distant future North America is now a nation known as Panem. In Panem there is a shining Capitol that is surrounded by twelve districts. The Capitol run the district by forcing each district to send in one boy and one girl between the ages of twelve and eighteen to compete in the annual Hunger Games. Where they must fight to the death. Sixteen year old Katniss Everdeen had no intentions in competing in the games. But now she is forced to when her twelve year old sister, Primrose, is chosen to compete. And just when she thought it couldn't get any worse, she finds out who she must go against in her district.

My Reaction
Oh man, this movie was fantastic. I was really scared that they were going to change a lot of things in this movie and it was going to be terrible. But it wasn't bad at all. They did do some changes but it wasn't so bad. I thought it was done in a excellent way.

Actors
So let talk about Katniss, Gale, and Peeta. The actors in this movie were great as well. I really loved Jennifer Lawrence performence as Katniss Everdeen. She was great and she really did look like Katniss Everdeen. It was a pretty close resemblances to the one that I had pictured in my head. I had only seen one movie with Jennifer Lawrence in it, and that was X-Men First Class. I thought she was good in that movie so I knew that she would be great as Katniss.

Josh Hutcherson, to my surprise, was a really good Peeta Mallark. Before I saw the movie I still had the image of Josh Hutcherson from back when he was in Zathura. So I was skeptical about him being chosen as Peeta. But I was wrong. Again. He was, in my opinion, the best choice for Peeta. He was so good as Peeta and I was really glad that they choose him.

I had no idea who Liam Hemsworth was. I had never heard of him before in my life so I wasn't really sure what to think of him. But a friend of mine told me that he was in this movie called The Last Song. So I watched it and I still didn't really know what to say about him. So he was the only one that I didn't have an opinion about before I saw the movie. But he was decent Gale. He wasn't bad but he wasn't good either. He was ok. I don't really know what to say about him.  But in his defence he was 't in this movie a lot. So hopefully y I will have a better judgement of him when Catching Fire is released (which I have been told that it will be released in November of 2013!).

Favorite Scenes
My two favorite scene was the Cave scene and the Trackerjacker scene. The cave scene was a cute as it could be, but not cheesy which I really appreciated. And the trackerjacker scene was great, my only disappointment was that it was gory enough. I really wanted to see more blood. But not just in that scene but in the whole movie. I was expecting to see more blood but there wasn't as much. Which made me kind of sad. But that's PG-13 for you. I also really like how they made Katniss and Peeta look when they were in the tribute parade. I loved how it looked with them on fire. I seriously thought that they were going to make it look cheap and bad.
 
Well that's all for this movie review. I'm sorry if this isn't a very good review. I'm trying not to give to much away for those of you who haven't read the book or seen the movie yet. And please note that this is my first movie review. But I will be doing more so hopefully I will be getting better. Hopefully.
Thank you for reading this review


Happy Watching


Follow me on Twitter  twitter.com/thatgirljasi 
Email: jasminemrls@gmail.com

The Hunger Games

Author: Suzanne Collins

Pages: 374

Publisher: Scholastic

Released: Sep 1, 2009

Rating 5/5 stars

About

In the not to distant future North America has split into twelve different districts in a country now known as Panam. In Panam there is the annual Hunger Games. A competition where two young people from each district fight to the death in a arena to become Victors. Sixteen year old Katniss Everdeen never wanted to be in these games. But she soon finds her self a contestant when volunteers to take her little sister's, Primrose, place in the games. Now Katniss must fight to the death to win the games and come back home to district twelve.

Thoughts

So I'm not going to get into much detail on this book as to most of you guys have either read the book already or have seen the movie (as I have) by now. So I will just tell you my thoughts on this book. As most of you I loved this book to the max. I was blown away by this story and Katniss and Peeta. Ah, I just loved it. And the funny thing is that I actually hated this book at first. I stopped at chapter ten when I first rad it because I got bored. But a friend of mine encouraged me to finish it and I am so glad that I did.

So lets talk plot. I have been told many times that this book is exactly like another book called Battle Royal. I have not read that book, but I defiantly have to get my hands on it to see if there are similarities. So I can't really say if the plot is original or not.

I loved the characters a whole lot. I loved how Katniss was just so brave and was willing to do whatever it takes to support her family and win the Games. I also loved Peeta he was just amazing. And I really loved how loyal he is to Katniss in the Games. He continues to help her as much as he can even though he know that at the end one of them has to die. Prim was just really sweet. Gale was ok in this book. You don't really get as much of him in this book. He comes in for a couple of chapters and then he isn't there anymore since he is back in District 12. So I can't say much of him in this book. And Prim. Just the sweetest thing ever and the ideal little sister. She's great.

Well that's all for me. Hope you all liked my review of The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins. I will be doing a movie review as well. This will be my first movie review on this blog so I hope you all like it.

Happy Reading!

Follow me on Twitter: twitter.com/thatgirljasi

Emal: jasminemrls@gmail.com

UPDATE

Hello fellow readers this is a quick update on a few new changes to the blog.

#1 Name
If you have been following my blog you would know that I was going by Lisse for a while. Lisse (or Lissette) is actually my middle name. But I have decided to stop going by my middle name and start going by my first name. So hello I'm Jasmine. Nice to meet you.

#2 Blog Title
Since I changed my name I decided to change my blog title. So instead of Literary Lisse. It is now Enchanted Stories. And this will be the official name and hopefully I wont change my mind and change it again because I have a bad habit of doing that.

#3 Twitter!
Yeah I know I'm late. I just now got a twitter account. Weill technically I got it a while back ago but I just never used it. But I am now and you guys can follow me to learn about new reviews I will be posting on the blog.

#4 Book vs Movie
I will  be doing a new segment here on Enchanted Stories called Book vs. Movie. Where I will be reviewing both the book and the movie adaptation.The first book vs. movie that I will be doing will be this Friday. I'm pretty sure you all know what movie I am talking about. Yeah, The Hunger Games. So look forward to that.

#5 Upcoming review
I am getting back on my reading/reviewing schedule so hopefully I will be reviewing at least 2 books a week. I'm sorry for the delays in reviews my life is kind of crazy right now. But it has settle down a bit enough for me to do reviews again.

#6 Goodreads
I will be getting a goodreads account very soon. I did have one but for some reason it's not really working that well and it's kind of  mess so I will be getting a new account. I will let you know when I do that.

I hope you all like the changes and thank you for sticking with me through all this mess. I really appreciate it

Happy Reading! 

Twitter: twitter.com/thatgirljasi

Lola and the Boy Next Door

Author: Stephanie Perkins

Pages: 338

Released: Sep 9, 2011

Publisher: Dutton (penguins)

Rating: 5/5 stars

About

Lola Nolan's life has never been normal. She was raised by two fathers, she doesn't use her real name, she's dating a musician who is also older than her, and she wears outrageous costumes that she never wears more than once. But as crazy and abnormal as her life may seem. Lola loves it and wouldn't change a thing about it. To her everything is perfect. That is until the bell twins, Cricket and Calliope, move back in to the house next door. Now Lola must deal with the girl who was always better than she was. And the boy who broke her heart but can't seem to stop loving.

My Brain

I know from the moment I bought this book that I was going to love it. I'm no stranger  to Stephanie Perkins' work since I had read Anna and The French Kiss a few months ago. So I was expecting a cute fluffy teenage love story. And that is exactly what I got.

List!

Characters

The main character is Lola Nolan who is this brave and independent but also naive  girl who is really just trying to figure out her life and her heart. She gets a lot of help from her family and friends like her two gay fathers, Andy and Nathan. They really try to help and understand Lola and her situation. But at times it's hard for them to understand. Then there's Lindsay, Lola's mystery obsessed, braniac and noble best friend. She is Lola's rock and she knows that she can always count on her for anything. Lola is protective over Lindsay and doesn't want her to be stepped on. Especially not by Max. Max is Lola's boyfriend. He is a twenty something musician who isn't really the most lovable character. And than there's the Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket Bell. Calliope is this perfect award winning figure skater who hates Lola. And Cricket is the inventor who has always been in his sister's shadow. But he is also the boy who broke Lola's heart some time ago. You also meet Norah who is Lola's mother. And we see Anna and St.Clair who make a few cameos in this book (Note: Anna and St.Clair are from Stephanie's previous book Anna and The French Kiss)

Plot

The story revolves around Lola who i trying to figure out her life after a series of event occur. First the Bell twins move in, then she has to deal with her mom and Max. So she is really just trying to figure out her life and figure out who she truly loves and wants to be with.

I really enjoyed this book. I thought it was cute and heart warming. It's not as cheesy as the cover and title is I assure you. It's actually very sweet and it does deal with some issues. Not very deep issues, but issues nonetheless.

Well that's all for this review I hope you all enjoyed it. Pick up Lola and the boy next door in a bookstore near you. I hope you all enjoy it as much as I did.

Happy Reading!

Oh yeah forgot to mention I am now on twitter :)

Follow me for reviews updates and such

@Thatgirljasi

The Fault In Our Stars

Author: John Green
Pages: 313
Released: January 10th, 2012
Publisher: Penguins
Rating: 5/5 stars

Please note that I want this review to be absoulutely spoiler free. Seriously you will not get the same reaction that I and so many others got if I tell you what Happens so this review it going to be kind of short. But I seriously highly recommend this book to everybody and everyone should read it. Like right now. Now to the short review!

About the Book

Sixteen year old Hazel life is pretty complicated. Not only does she have thyroid cancer and just wants to stay at home and read her favorite book of all time. But when her mother starts to believe that she is getting depressed she sends her to a teen cancer support group to go and meet people and be happy. And there is where Hazel meets Augustus Waters. A very strange and brilliant boy who Hazel can't help but become best friends with. Augustus takes Hazel on many adventures that shows her that life is grand.

Thoughts

This. Book. Was. Brilliant. Honestly this book was just perfection. I loved it with all my all of my nerdfighter heart. If you guys don't already know, I am a huge John Green fan. He is one of my favorite authors and I think his books are great. So I knew that TFIOS would not dissappoint and I'm glad to say that I wasn't wrong.

List Time (Short edition)

#1 Characters

The characters in this book were great. I really loved Augustus ( of course) I thought he was great and I loved that he was really into symbolism. But I must say that my favorite character has to be Hazel's dad. He is seriously like the coolest and perfect dad. He knows what to say and when to say it and he doesn't really question Hazel in her desicions and I love that he's not afraid to cry. Hazel is a great character as well the only thing that kind of ticked me, not annoy but a light tick, was that she sometimes acted like she really didn't have much emotion. I understand that she is very brave and dosen't fall fo any, pardon my french, bullshit but there were parts that she didn't cry in. And that was kind of strange to me because I think that anybody would cry in what happened (not going to say what happened. That will be a spoiler)

#2 Writing

John Green's writing is great in this one just as it is in all his previous works. One thing that I always admired about his writing is that he always makes the main characters these deep, intelectual, smart teens. Which is funny because I know a lot of people that hate that about his writing. They say it's annoying because teens don't really talk or think about that kind of stuff. But I think it great because I have met a lot of older teens who do talk and think in a very deep mature way.

I also love that in this book the main character is a girl. If you have ever read any of John Green's other books you will know that all of his books are told in a boy's point of view. So it was really refreshing to have this story told in a female point.

So that's all for this review. I hope you all enjoyed it, sorry it's short but I wanted all of you guys to enjoy it and get the same feelings that I and so many other readers felt. This book will make you laugh and cry and cheer and just everything. I recommend this book to every living creature on planet earth. And Mars. And the Universe.

Hope you all read superb books
DFTBA
Lisse :)

The Unbecoming Of Mara Dyer

Author: Michele Hodkin
Pages: 452
Released: Sep 27, 2011
Publisher: Simon and Shuster
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

About the Book

Seventeen year old wakes up in the hospital with no memory of the accident of that killed her three friends but spared her life. She doesn't understand how they can be dead but she isn't. And she doesn't know much of what happened except for the stuff that her family has told her. So to escape all the pain her family decide to move from Rhode Island to the sunny Miami, Florida. There Mara enrolls into a prestigious private school where she quickly realizes that she doesn't fit in. But just when she thinks that things can't get any worse she starts having dreams of what happened that night of the accident. Mara believes that she's going crazy and is trying to figure out the mystery of what is happening to her. Until she meets a boy who helps her uncover the mystery.

Thoughts

This book was extremely fantastic.  I didn't want to read this book mainly because the synopsis on the inside flap doesn't really give you much about it. But I later found out that this is a good thing because the secret and the ending of this book will blow you away. When you read this book you are on the edge of your seat and you literally can't put it down. When I was reading it, it reminded me of when I first read Twilight like before the movies were made. It was that constant wonder on how the characters were going to play in the book and if the mysteries were going to be solved at the end. It's very hard to write this review without spoiling it but I'll give it my best shot. Now on to the list.

#1 Mystery/ Suspense

This book is a mystery from the very first word to the very last period. I was constantly trying to figure out what the big secret was and every time I thought I was right I was proved wrong. You are just guessing and wondering who is Mara dyer and what is she. And I'm telling you right now the ending is something that you never would have guessed. Well at least I didn't.

#2 Romance

The romance in this book is very thick. It's that kind of heart stopping smile as you read kind of romance. But what I do love about the romance in this book is that it evolves from hate to absolute trust. Which is great because towards the end of the book the love between the two characters is so amazing.

#3 Writing/ Mara

I will admit that I wasn't a big fan on the writing. The characters were good and the storytelling was very good. It's just that there were time that I would be reading and the story would go from one setting to another in a flash. Like one minute Mara would be at school and then the next minute she would be lying in bed. And I would get so confused and would have to go back and make sure I didn't miss anything. And it did get frustrating at time. And I will also admit that I did want to punch Mara in the face at times. There were part that she was just extremely annoying and would do these stupid decisions and it got really annoying.

I know this review isn't that great and I am sorry for that. It's just really hard to write this because I really don't want to give anything away. I want you to be blown away at the end like I was.This is the first book in the Mara Dyer series. Book two hasn't been released yet I don't has a title. But there will be a book two coming out soon.

Thanks for reading this review and I hope you all enjoyed it. I highly recommend this book to everybody it is amazing.

Hope you all have a great day and read a lot of stupendous books.

Keep reading and DFTBA

Lisse :)

Email: moraleslisse@gmail.com