Breatheless-ly Good!

Brigid Kemmerer’s Breathless takes us back into the Elementals series with Nick Merrick’s story. Nick is the level headed brother. The one that can be counted on in an emergency, the one who always knows what to do and the best thing to say but now Nick is the one who doesn’t know what do to.

Brigid Kemmerer takes a turn that I didn’t expect with Nick. Though Nick has a girlfriend it’s her dance partner Adam that is throwing Nick into a tailspin. Unsure of what to do with the feelings Adam stirs with in him and uncertain of how his brothers would react if they found out as well as dealing with his desire to go away to school has left Nick feeling at his wits end.

I don’t even know what to say about how wonderful this story is. Having read the other books in the Elementals series I had no inclination that this was the direction Nick’s character would go. Maybe I should have, but I didn’t and I have to say I don’t care. Apparently the author is getting flack for introducing a gay character and thereby influencing innocent teenagers in inappropriate ways.
It still surprises me that in this day and age people still believe that kind of hogwash. As a 40 something year old heterosexual woman who has been reading most of her life and romance novels since she was 12, I say good for you Brigid Kemmerer!
It’s about time those in the LGBTQ community have characters in mainstream literature to identify with. It’s about time that those of us who are not part of the community see it as it really is. A community not so different from ours, whose people are just looking for love, acceptance and their place n the world. People who want to work, play and live happily ever after. Is that so different than you?

I say again, Bravo Brigid Kemmerer for writing a beautiful breathtaking story about two people finding each other in this crazy mixed up world. Two people who have so much more to deal with than anybody should have to deal with just to find
love.

Zombies With Heart

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1588173/

Some friends and I decided to go see Warm Bodies as a “Yeah We’re Single So What?”  Valentine’s Day outing. Who says the day has to celebrate romantic love only? We refuse to be told we’re lesser than just because we don’t have dates. So we all went to dinner and a movie and had a great time.

Warm Bodies is the kind of movie that becomes a cult classic. It doesn’t pretend to be more than it is, it has the 80’s power ballad anthem song and is just cheesy enough. The movie is full of Zombie Ass-Kicking action, teen angst, romance, lots of laughs  and family drama sure to please all that see it. Wait! Let me rephrase that. Not everyone will enjoy this movie but you know what I mean.

The movie has been out for several weeks now and even though Tuesday is cheap night at our local theatre we didn’t expect the theatre to be as full as it was.  A good sign that this movie is getting incredible word of mouth. Turns out that it is very well deserved word of mouth. Though Warm Bodies won’t be nominated for any Oscars I expect to see it at the Teen Choice, People’s Choice and MTV Awards!

The Heart-Throb Zombie is R played expertly by Nicholas Hoult, sure to become one of this generations leading men. Some of his credits include Xmen: First Class and the upcoming Xmen movie,  About  a Boy, A Single Man and the soon to be released Jack the Giant Slayer. Look out Johnny Depp, Ryan Gosling and Zac Efron I have seen the competition and his name is Nicholas Hoult.

http://www.imdb.com/media/rm3582835200/nm0396558

When our main Zombie and a group of his friends go hunting they come across a group of young humans out scrounging for medical supplies. Somehow in the midst of the feeding frenzy he falls for Julie (get it yet?) and saves her from being eaten or kidnaps her depending on your point of view. Julie has lost her mother and now her boyfriend in this recent feeding frenzy. She also happens to be the daughter of the leader of the remaining humans. Julie is played by Teresa Palmer. Some of her credits include Bedtime Stories, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice and I Am Number Four where she herself plays an alien. Teresa was very believable as both a kick-ass zombie fighter and someone with a big enough heart to give peace a chance.

http://www.imdb.com/media/rm2078450176/nm1954240

Other things I enjoyed about this movie: Julie’s bestfriend played by Analeigh Tipton, R’s bestfriend father figure played by Rob Corddry and of course John Malkovich as her Dad. And lets not forget that at least parts of this movie were filmed in Montreal.

If you are looking for a movie to take a tween/teen sibling, niece/nephew or kid of any relation to you than this may be the one you would both enjoy.

I give this film 5 out of 5 Film Reels.

I will definitely be adding this one to my movie collection.

Mystic City – A world of romance and magic

Mystic City is not the Manhattan we know today.

In this Manhattan, the city is mostly flooded and the rich live high in the sky in a series of skyscrapers known as The Aeries. The poor live below in an area known as The Depths. The Mystics also live in the squalor of the Depths, especially the ones who haven’t been drained of their magic.

Aria Rose is from one of  Mystic City’s most elite families.  She is engaged to Thomas Foster, son of another elite family and formerly her families bitter rival. The problem is that Aria can not remember falling in love with Thomas and her quest to bring back her memories is what this story is all about. Her quest for the knowledge she’s lost takes her deep into the depths and more deeply into the world of unregistered Mystics.  It gets her a job where she learns things about her family that she didn’t want to know. It teaches her that you can’t always believe what you think you see to be the truth. It introduces her to Hunter, an unregistered Mystic that she should feel afraid of but instead feels familiar, who rescues her on her first foray into The Depths.

Yes,  Mystic City has a Romeo and Juliet-esque feel to it. Yes, it is full of magic and forbidden love. Yes, it is a sweeping tale of good vs evil, right vs wrong. It is all of those things and then some. Yes it would make a fabulous movie.

For many readers this will be a story to devour in one sitting. It will be the story that they are dying to read more of.  I found it to be a very good read. Intriguing, mysterious, entertaining and full of romantic moments. There are characters to love and hate and despair over. I truly enjoyed all of it.

I give this book a total of 4 out of 5 reads. I will choose it for book club. There are a number of regulars I can recommend it to but it was not the You Have To Read This! book that I can recommend to everyone. It’s up there though. I predict that Mystic City will find quite the fan base.

For fans of Divergent, Delirium, Starters, Meridian, etc..

*Advance Readers copy received from Random House.