Blog All About It: Spirit

SMELLS like teen spirit around here...


READ:

All These Beautiful Strangers
by Elizabeth Klehfoth
-Mystery, YA
Release date: July 10, 2018
Amazon | Goodreads | my review | my rating: 5
A young woman haunted by a family tragedy is caught up in a dangerous web of lies and deception involving a secret society in this highly charged, addictive psychological thriller that combines the dishy gamesmanship of Gossip Girl with the murky atmosphere of The Secret History.

One summer day, Grace Fairchild, the beautiful young wife of real estate mogul Alistair Calloway, vanished from the family’s lake house without a trace, leaving behind her seven-year old daughter, Charlie, and a slew of unanswered questions.

Years later, seventeen-year-old Charlie still struggles with the dark legacy of her family name and the mystery surrounding her mother. Determined to finally let go of the past, she throws herself into life at Knollwood, the prestigious New England school she attends. Charlie quickly becomes friends with Knollwood’s "it" crowd.

Charlie has also been tapped by the A’s—the school’s elite secret society well known for terrorizing the faculty, administration, and their enemies. To become a member of the A’s, Charlie must play The Game, a semester-long, diabolical high-stakes scavenger hunt that will jeopardize her friendships, her reputation, even her place at Knollwood.

As the dark events of past and present converge, Charlie begins to fear that she may not survive the terrible truth about her family, her school, and her own life.

JUST RELEASED:

The Cheerleaders
by Kara Thomas
-Mystery, Thriller, YA
Release date: July 31, 2018
Amazon | Goodreads
There are no more cheerleaders in the town of Sunnybrook.

First there was the car accident--two girls dead after hitting a tree on a rainy night. Not long after, the murders happened. Those two girls were killed by the man next door. The police shot him, so no one will ever know his reasons. Monica's sister was the last cheerleader to die. After her suicide, Sunnybrook High disbanded the cheer squad. No one wanted to be reminded of the girls they'd lost.

That was five years ago. Now the faculty and students at Sunnybrook High want to remember the lost cheerleaders. But for Monica, it's not that easy. She just wants to forget.

Only, Monica's world is starting to unravel. There are the letters in her stepdad's desk, an unearthed, years-old cell phone, a strange new friend at school. . . . Whatever happened five years ago isn't over. Some people in town know more than they're saying. And somehow, Monica is at the center of it all.

There are no more cheerleaders in Sunnybrook, but that doesn't mean anyone else is safe.


AUDIOBOOK:

Exit, Pursued by a Bear
by E.K. Johnston
narrated by Jorjeana Marie
-Contemporary, YA
Amazon | Goodreads | my review | my rating: 5

The Fragile Ordinary
by Samantha Young
narrated by Elle Newlands
-Contemporary, YA, Scotland
Amazon | Goodreads | my review | my rating: 5

Until Friday Night
by Abbi Glines
narrated by Olivia Song and Sebastian York
-Contemporary, Sports, YA
Amazon | Goodreads | my review | my rating: 5

WATCH:

Teen Spirit (2011)
Director: Gil Junger
Writers: David Kendall, Kathryn McCullough,
Stars: Cassandra Scerbo, Carissa Capobianco, Gabriela Lopez, Bob Young
-Comedy, Drama, Fantasy | imdb | my review | my rating: 5

Thoroughbreds (2017)
Director/Writer: Cory Finley
Stars: Olivia Cooke, Anya Taylor-Joy, Anton Yelchin
-Comedy, Crime, Drama | imdb | my review | my rating: 4

CRAFT:

LISTEN:



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* banner photo from film Bring It On (2000)

* part of the Blog All About It Challenge (here)

Stacking the Shelves - 5.7.16

Stacking the Shelves
hosted by Tynga's Reviews (details)
Stacking The Shelves is all about sharing the books you are adding to your shelves, may it be physical or virtual. This means you can include books you buy in physical store or online, books you borrow from friends or the library, review books, gifts and of course ebooks!

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Bought:

The Darkest Corners
by Kara Thomas
-Mystery, Thriller, YA
Amazon | Goodreads
=====> Keep hearing good things about this one. And very interested in the thriller aspect.

The Book of Roads:
Travel Stories from Michigan to Marrakech
by Phil Cousineau
Amazon | Goodreads
=====> The June book for the face-to-fact SF Travel Book Club.

=====> Kepler's Books presented a YA author event at Redwood City Public Library.

The panel included: (pictured above)
Ryan Graudin
Aimee Kaufman
Jay Kristoff
Stacey Lee (moderator)

Something about each…

Ryan: one of the inspirations for her alternate history, Wolf by Wolf, includes the tv series Long Way Round (imdb) which is about a motorcyle tour and happens to star my fave actor, Ewan McGregor ;-)

Aimee: the inspiration for Illuminae was from conversations of various interests between her and Jay

Jay: he and Aimee met via sharing their horror story experiences with the IRS

Stacey: loves to listen to audio books and is currently enjoying Monstrous Beauty by Elizabeth Fama

ALSO bought their recent books:

The Walled City
by Ryan Graudin
-Dystopia, Thriller, YA
Amazon | Goodreads
=====> Actually this book was released before her recent book, Wolf by Wolf which was mentioned on my shelves before.

Illuminae
by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff
Amazon | Goodreads
=====> I reviewed the ARC. But wanted a finished copy which is even more awesome!

Under A Painted Sky
by Stacey Lee
-Historical, Western, YA
Amazon | Goodreads
AND watched: in theatre

MIKU EXPO Short Film Festival
-Documentary, Music Videos | website | my rating: 4
Needless to say, Hatsune Miku's world is produced by innumerable amazing creators - of music, art and even movies too! MIKU EXPO will host its first short film festival by curating an exciting collection of Hatsune Miku related movies including "Mikumentary Remix", "#UltraMiku Special Edition!", and music videos that won the Grand-Prix at previous years' UGC Awards of Sapporo International Short Film Festival and Market!

=====> I did not know what I was getting into with this one. Mostly was compelled because it was a special showing at the Japan town cinema. I was blown away with the popularity of this phenomenon of an animated character gaining such a following and how various media continues to create and morph Miku.

Right Now, Wrong Then (2015)
Ji-geum-eun-mat-go-geu-ddae-neun-teul-li-da (original title)
Director/Writer: Sang-soo Hong
Starring: Jae-yeong Jeong, Min-hee Kim
-Drama, South Korea | imdb | my rating: 5
Quite by accident, a film director arrives in town a day early. With time to kill before his lecture the next day, he stops by a restored, old palace and meets a fledgling artist. She's never seen any of his films, but knows he's famous. They talk. And together, they go to her workshop to look at her paintings, have Sushi and Soju. More conversation follows, and drinks, and then an awkward get-together with friends where all sorts of secrets are revealed. All the while, they may or may not be falling for each other. Then, quite unexpectedly, we begin again, but now things appear somewhat different.

=====> A kind of love story told with two perspectives. Interesting to watch for the filming sequencing.

Journey To The Shore (2015)
Kishibe no tabi (original title)
Director: Kiyoshi Kurosawa
Screenplay: Kiyoshi Kurosawa, Takashi Ujita
Based on book by: Kazumi Yumoto
Starring: Eri Fukatsu, Tadanobu Asano
-Drama, Fantasy, Romance, Japan | imdb | my rating: 5
Mizuki's husband (Yusuke) drowned at sea three years ago. When he suddenly comes back home, she is not that surprised. Instead, Mizuki is wondering what took him so long. She agrees to let Yusuke take her on a journey.

=====> Beautiful story that is sad yet uplifting.

SPECIAL: book event

=====> Exciting! I will be in Chicago attending BEA (and Book Con) next week walking around in the floor plan above amongst authors, publishers and books ;-)

Currently flipping through: from the library

Lookbook Cookbook--Salty:
Vegan Food, Hot Models, Great Eats for Healthy Living
by Jessica Milan
-Cookbook
Amazon | Goodreads
=====> This cookbook has an interesting format where all the recipes are pictured in color with hipster models. How cute and cool is that! The Sun-Dried Tomato Pasta Pesto looks like a yummy one that I plan to try.

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* image source: Miku

* comment and TELL me what you have acquired for your shelves recently

* per usual, check out the sidebar for my current giveaways offers

Thriller Killer book coming: The Darkest Corners by Kara Thomas

COMING April, 19, 2016...

The Darkest Corners
by Kara Thomas
-Mystery, Thriller, YA
Amazon | Goodreads
Intro & Excerpt (here) #TheDarkestCorners
For fans of Gillian Flynn’s Dark Places and Sara Shepard’s Pretty Little Liars, The Darkest Corners is a psychological thriller about the lies little girls tell, and the deadly truths those lies become.

There are ghosts around every corner in Fayette, Pennsylvania. Tessa left when she was nine and has been trying ever since not to think about it after what happened there that last summer. Memories of things so dark will burn themselves into your mind if you let them.

Callie never left. She moved to another house, so she doesn’t have to walk those same halls, but then Callie always was the stronger one. She can handle staring into the faces of her demons—and if she parties hard enough, maybe one day they’ll disappear for good.

Tessa and Callie have never talked about what they saw that night. After the trial, Callie drifted and Tessa moved, and childhood friends just have a way of losing touch.

But ever since she left, Tessa has had questions. Things have never quite added up. And now she has to go back to Fayette—to Wyatt Stokes, sitting on death row; to Lori Cawley, Callie’s dead cousin; and to the one other person who may be hiding the truth.

Only the closer Tessa gets to the truth, the closer she gets to a killer—and this time, it won’t be so easy to run away.

PeekAbook:



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* Looking forward to this one as anything Gillian Flynn related always catches my attention ;-)