Have you heard the news?

There have been quite a few announcements in the last couple of weeks so I thought I would sum them all up for you.

The cover for the final book in Laini Taylor's Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy has been revealed. Isn't it stunning?! Dreams of Gods and Monsters will be released April 2014. You can also read a "brief tantalizing excerpt" here. 

  

Maggie Stiefvater has shared the news that she has written a companion novel to Shiver. The standalone story, titled Sinner, will feature Cole and Isabel in Los Angeles and will be released July 2014. You can read more about it here.

The co-authors of the Caster Chronicles series have announced they are writing a new series featuring the characters Link and Ridley who readers first met in Beautiful Creatures. Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl will first release an e-novella, Dangerous Dream, on December 17th 2013, and then  follow it with the first novel, Dangerous Creatures, on May 6th 2014. Read more about it here.

 

And unless you have been living under a rock, you will know that Jamie Blackley has been cast as Adam alongside Chloe Moretz's Mia in the adaptation of Gayle Forman's best-selling novel, If I Stay.

 

J.K. Rowling is writing a script for a Harry Potter spin-off focused around the fictional author of Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. The film will feature Newt Scamander in New York and will be set about 70 years before Harry Potter. Read more about it here.

 

Filming of City of Ashes, the follow up to the film adaptation of Cassandra Clare's City of Bones, has been delayed with no set date as to when it will start and the possibility of it being cancelled all together. Find out why, here. 

John Green with Ansel Elgort (Augustus), 

Nat Wolff (Issac) and Shailene Woodley (Hazel).

(Source)

And finally, if you are a fan of John Green's The Fault in Our Stars (and if you're not, why not?!) then you will surely be interested in following all the news from the film set. John Green has been visiting regularly and keeping us up to date with what is going and sharing plenty of happy snaps from the set. Follow him on Twitter or Facebook.

So, what are your thoughts on all these bits of gossip? Are you excited for Sinner and Dangerous Dream or are you sick of spin-off/companion novels?  Should the filming go ahead for City of Ashes or did you dislike what they did with City of Bones? Are you happy with the casting of Jamie Blackley as Adam or was there someone else you thought would be perfect? Post in the comments below :) 

Happy Saturday to all xx

Cover Reveal: City of Lost Souls by Cassandra Clare

The cover for the 5th book in Cassandra Clare's Mortal Instruments series, has been revealed! The highly anticipated City of Lost Souls will be released 8th May 2012 and will help readers get over that horrible shock ending we were left with at the end of City of Fallen Angels.

So what do you think of the cover? I can't decide whether I really like it or if I think it looks like a bad romance novel :S

City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

Title: City of Fallen Angels
Series: The Mortal Instruments Book 4
Author: Cassandra Clare

Release Date: 1st May 2011

My Rating: 4/5

Blurb:
Clary is back in New York and life is good: she's training to be a Shadowhunter and is finally able to call Jace her boyfriend. But nothing comes without a price. When Jace inexplicably begins to pull away from her, Clary is forced to acknowledge that she herself has set in motion a chain of events that could lead to the loss of everything she loves. Even Jace.

Love. Blood. Betrayal. Revenge. The stakes are higher than ever...

In a Nutshell:
I loved the exciting new storyline and characters and the development of Simon's character but I'm not all that happy about the ending. Bring on City of Lost Souls!

My Review:
I loved books one to three of The Mortal Instruments but after almost two years since City of Glass was released, I had forgotten why I loved the series so much and doubted my desire to pick up City of Fallen Angels. I bet this happens to alot of people. Yes? Now that I have finally read it, I can’t believe I ever doubted that COFA would measure up to its predecessors.

City of Fallen Angels is very exciting and suspenseful. It focuses a lot more on Simon and his troubles with being a powerful Daylighter, and his dating troubles; he’s dating both Maya and Isabelle! I really like how his character has evolved throughout the books and he finally discovers just what the Mark of Cain can do. We also meet newcomer Kyle who has joined Simon’s band, but he comes with a past, unbeknown to his new band mates.

Clary and Jace's relationship is strained with some unexpected complications which annoyed me to no end. Why can’t they ever just have one moment of happily-ever-after?! There are however some smoking-hot scenes between them (who remembers the pre-release teaser set in an alleyway…?), to keep us all happy.

After all the action, mystery and excitement of the first three books came to an end with City of Glass, COFA presents new problems for our favourite Shadowhunters. There is a mysterious new player in town and someone is killing Shadowhunters and leaving them in Downworlder territory in an attempt to start a massive feud between the two groups. And it seems Simon may be right in the middle of it!

While I was completely hooked the entire way through the book, I wasn’t very happy with the ending of COFA, not so much because it’s a bit cliff-hangery but because of the direction Cassandra Clare is going to take book five. I understand there has to be conflict and that everything has to go to hell…again… for the storylines to progress and to keep it interesting but (excuse the cryptic-ness) did it have to be that?! That said though, I can’t wait to get my hands on City of Lost Souls in January 2012 and see what will happen to Clary, Jace, Simon, Maya, Isabelle, Kyle, Magnus and Alec; hopefully someone will get their happily-ever-after!

Thankyou to Walker Books Australia for this review copy.

Bits and Pieces (2)

Amy Plum's debut book Die For Me has officially been released in Australia. Here is a little clip of Amy trying Vegemite for the first time and thanking Aussie bloggers (including yours truly :D)

The winner of the signed copy of Bite Club is...
*Arielle*
Congratulations Arielle, I have contacted you by email and thankyou to everyone who entered.
So I'm a little bit late with posting this but here is the magical book trailer for Forever, the third and final book in Maggie Steifvater's The Wolves of Mercy Falls series. The trailer features a track written by UK band Jonas & Plunkett, "Summer Girl" - with lyrics from Shiver.
Also, Cassandra Clare, author of the best-selling Mortal Instruments series is due to arrive in Australia this week for ten days. If you live in Sydney or Melbourne there are a number of different events where you can meet her. Click here for details.



And finally, head over to my Coming Soon page were new books by David Levithan, Andrea Cremer and Jay Asher have been added.