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

The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

Title: The Fault In Our Stars
Author: John Green

Release Date: 11th January 2012

My Rating: 5/5

Blurb:
Despite the tumour-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.

In A Nutshell:
Absolutely fantastic book. Read the whole review.

My Review:
I’m not sure I can remember ever reading another book that was so amazingly sad and wonderfully witty at the same time. The Fault in Our Stars had me chuckling and smiling to myself, then moments later in tears, and then back smiling again. Such is the writing power of John Green, who turns a seriously sad subject into one of love, pride, adventure, witty banter, bizarre topics and with characters who have seen so much and are wise and intelligent beyond their years.

John Green fans will not be disappointed with his latest release but should be cautioned to have a box of tissues close by. One of the many moments when they were needed was when Hazel declared she was a grenade. This, while heartbreaking, was also completely understandable from her point of view.

Augustus is funny and charming and has so much heart. He does his best to keep everyone around him upbeat, especially because everyone in the story is suffering with either health or emotional battles. But they also have to deal with everyday problems too, and these are ones Augustus can help with. For example, ‘Support Group Isaac’ goes through the trauma of losing his sight but spends most of the time being more concerned about his love life. Augustus helps Isaac through this with the help of some eggs and Hazel’s driving skills.

I’m not going to comment on the relationship between Hazel and Augustus, except to say that it is special and priceless, heartbreaking and heart-warming. “Okay”.

Hazel and Augustus often discuss their perception and views on their lives as cancer kids and the reality of their morality. Remarkably we don’t get buried in sadness as they are less conventional and clichéd and someone always has something light-hearted to say or a joke to make about their illness.

“I didn’t tell him that the diagnosis came three months after I got my first period. Like: Congratulations! You’re a woman. Now die.” Pg. 24

“Off topic, but: What a slut time is. She screws everybody.” Pg. 112

“…I had a moral opposition to eating before dawn on the grounds that I was not a nineteenth-century Russian peasant fortifying myself for a day in the fields.” Pg. 137

“My thoughts are stars I can’t fathom into constellations.” Pg. 311

“You don’t get to choose if you get hurt in this world, old man, but you do have some say in who hurts you.” Pg. 313

This is the kind of book parents should want their teenagers to read. And it’s the kind of book teenagers will want to read.

A big thankyou to Penguin Books Australia for this review copy.

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by David Levithan and John Green

Title: Will Grayson, Will Grayson
Authors: David Levithan and John Green

Release Date: 3rd May 2010 (Australia)

My Rating: 5/5

Will Grayson: What is your oldest, wildest, only best friend started writing a musical about your life...and it made you look like a joke? What if the girl you didn't think you were interested in started being interested in you? And who is this other guy called Will Grayson?

The other Will Grayson: What if you are technically depressed? What if you're in love with someone you've never met? And what's the story with the guy walking around with your name?

One cold night, in a most unlikely corner of Chicago, two teens - both named Will Grayson - are about to cross paths. As their worlds collide and intertwine, the Will Graysons find their lives going in new and unexpected directions, building toward romantic turns-of-heart and the epic production of history’s most fabulous high school musical.

I really can't put my finger on what it is that makes me love this book so much. I am a major fan of both David Levithan and John Green and was so excited when I heard they had done a book together. Will Grayson, Will Grayson is laugh-out-loud hilarious, heart-warming and at times heart-breaking, but also absolutely fabulous! I felt like I could really relate to Will Grayson, the first one, and I'm sure everyone will be able to relate to one of the amazing characters in this book in someway.

I have two favourite sentences, the first being in the very first paragraph of the book which I think sets the tone and the hilarity of the rest of the chapter and the book:

When I was little, my dad used to tell me. 'Will, you can pick your friends and you can pick your nose, but you can't pick your friend's nose.'

My other favourite sentence, because I can relate to it all too much, is:

You like someone who can't like you back because unrequited love can be survived in a way that once requited love cannot.

Do yourself a favour and read this book. It's fantastic.