The DUFF (Movie Review)

Sarah and I were so excited to go to a preview showing of The DUFF at our local theater. We had our doubts but it was a really fun movie. Neither of us have read the book, but from what I’ve heard the movie just uses the characters and concept of the DUFF.

Sometimes when I go to a movie that is supposed to be a comedy I don’t end up laughing at all, or if I do it is in horror not humor. I was worried that The DUFF was going to be one of those types of movies, but I was wrong. We started laughing right from the beginning with the snarky voice-over infodumping. Yes, this movie has plenty of stereotypical highschool characters (dumb jock, mean girl, nice girl, invisible girl…) but I don’t care, I was homeschooled! I don’t have anything to compare it to! The movie actually reminded me a lot of the Vampire Academy movie (in case you are confused, I mean that in a good way). It is silly, funny, sometimes over the top, occasionally crude, and, in general, an enjoyable movie.

Bianca felt very realistic. While she does fit the stereotype of invisible girl, her personality doesn’t fit into a specific type. She’s funny, smart, and can be kind. She’s not painfully shy but she’s not very outgoing either. She just felt real. That being said, there was a video in the movie that I thought went overboard. The first time they showed it was somewhat funny, but the more they showed it the worse it got and I don’t think anyone could get away with that behavior in a public place. That was one of the worst parts of the movie for me. I had a lot of fun watching The DUFF with my sister, but I would have felt differently watching this with my parents.

I went to this movie looking for a fun distraction and that’s what I got. I had a few issues with it but the good outweighed the bad and I’m so glad that we got to see it.

Harry Potter MotW (5): Favourite Trelawney Prophecy

Harry Potter Moment of the Week is a weekly meme hosted by Uncorked Thoughts

I don't know if this technically counts as a prophecy, but it is one of my favorite moments of Professor Sybil Trelawney being a Seer.

'Two of spades: conflict,' she murmured, as she passed the place where Harry crouched, hidden. 'Seven of spades: an ill omen. Ten of spades: violence. Knave of spades: a dark young man, possibly troubled, one who dislikes the questioner - '
She stopped dead, right on the other side of Harry's statue.
'Well, that can't be right,' she said, annoyed, and Harry heard he reshuffling vigorously as she set off again, leaving nothing but a whiff of cooking sherry behind her. -Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Chapter 10, page 195-96)

I love this moment because it makes me think SHE'S REALLY NOT A FRAUD, SHE JUST DOESN'T KNOW IT! It would be so funny if she was actually a lot better at being a Seer than anybody, including herself, knew. If Professor Dumbledore had witnessed this scene he might have been forced to give her a pay raise.

Top 10 Book Problems We Have

 Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Sarah's Answers = GREEN

Christina's Answers = PURPLE

Checking out a stack of books from the library when we don't have the time to read even one of them.
I am very bad at this one. I can't go into a library without pulling a few books off of the shelf for check-out. I know I have other books to read, I know I'll never get to them... but the possibility that I MIGHT be able to read them keeps me checking them out.

I'm not as bad as Sarah, but it still happens. I can resist everything but temptation. It's sad, but I don't even look that much anymore. All of the books I really want to read I have on hold, and half the time I can't even read those. Darn school!
 
Buying multiple copies of the same book.
If I had to buy books at full price I probably wouldn't do this but since books at the library sale are so cheap I can't help myself. I have at least 5 copies of Pride and Prejudice and at one time I had about 6 of A Christmas Carol. And every time I see another one I get tempted and have to walk away quickly.


For my first copy I buy I'm not picky, as long as it's cheap and it's pages aren't completely falling out, I'll buy it. Next time around I'll be looking for a better copy, after that I'll be looking for a hardback. Sometimes if it has a different cover that's pretty tempting as well.
 
Never having enough bookshelf space.
I don't think I need to explain this one much. I have three bookshelves in my room, books on my desk, books on my dresser, and books on my bed bookshelf. I need more space!

This is my main issue right now. A lot of my books are stacked on their sides in front of the books in my bookshelf. It all looks very messy.

Wanting to read a specific book but by the time it comes in at the library I'm just not in the mood.
This is my excuse for buying books I haven't read before (one's for cheap of course). If it's on my shelf than I can read it when I'm in the mood, if not it can take me years to read a book no matter how intrigued I am.

Usually it's school work that gets in the way of this. It's not so much that I'm not in the mood anymore, my problem lies in having to return it before I ever get a chance to read it and then I just forget about it.

Having an emotional breakdown because of a book.
I may cry over books but it's not often that I have a full on "breakdown" over one. I can still name the books that caused such events: The Clockwork Prince, Inkspell, Drums of Change.

There are two specific books that I'm thinking of: Sisterhood Everlasting and Allegiant. When I say emotional breakdown, I mean emotional breakdown. I was in such a state I literally couldn't stop sobbing. I just curled up in a ball and cried. Sarah will tell you that this is true because she was right there patting me on the back and laughing at me.

Feeling emotionally distraught if one of our books gets dirty/damaged/desecrated.
Like when my less-than-six-month-old, store-bought Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows book got some water damage. I rarely buy brand new books, back then less so, so I was very distraught.

I try not to connect my happiness in life to the condition of my books, but I can't help that feeling of despair whenever I see that there's a mark on one of my beautiful new books.

Not being able to push the book to the back of my mind when I see the movie adaptation.
I rarely can enjoy the movie as much as I want to the first time because my brain is constantly comparing it to the book! The only movie that I really didn't do this to was Catching Fire because it was just so freakin' AWESOME!!!

Whenever I watch the Harry Potter movies with my dad I can't help telling him all the extra tidbits from the books. I sound like a HP dictionary. The sad thing is that I actually hold back a lot of info. Don't get me wrong, I love the HP movies, I just always have the books in the back of my mind.

Not being able to pronounce book names in the real world.
There are still names that I don't even try to pronounce out loud because I know I'd slaughter them.

There are names that I don't realize that I don't know how to pronounce until I'm talking about it with Sarah and I trip over the name.

Abandoning Series
Even if I might have liked the book, sometimes I find myself pushing off the second (or third) book so long that I can't even remember what happened in the first one and therefore can't continue the series anyway. It's quite a problem.

This only happens with books that I don't have strong feelings for. If I respected the first book and mostly enjoyed it but have to wait for the next books in the series, then most likely I won't continue it.

Reading Slumps
There's just nothing to be done with a reading slump. No matter how good a book sounds or how much I want to read something I just can't do it if I'm in a slump. Either that or it takes me weeks to finish a book which is just pitiful when it's under 400 pages.

I hate reading slumps. When I'm in the middle of a reading slump I feel like life is annoying and mean and there must be something wrong with me and WHY CAN'T I JUST LOVE A BOOK?!

Four: A Divergent Story Collection by Veronica Roth

Title: Four: A Divergent Story Collection
Author: Veronica Roth
Publication Date: January 1, 2014
Rating: 4 Stars

Two years before Beatrice Prior made her choice, the sixteen-year-old son of abnegation's faction leader did the same. Tobias's transfer to Dauntless is a chance to begin again. Here, he will not be called the name his parents gave him. Here, he will not let fear turn him into a cowering child.

Newly christened "Four," he discovers during initiation that he will succeed in Dauntless. Initiation is only the beginning, though; Four must claim his place in the Dauntless hierarchy. His decisions will affect future initiates as well as uncover secrets that could threaten his own future--and the future of the entire faction system.

Two years later, Four is poised to take action, but the course is still unclear. The first new initiate who jumps into the net might change all that. With her, the way to righting their world might become clear. With her, it might become possible to be Tobias once again.-Summary from Goodreads

Four is a collection of short stories told from (you guessed it!) Four’s POV which take place both before and during Divergent.

One of the things I noticed was how young Four’s voice was in the first two stories. This is not the Four that we know and love, this starts two years before we first meet him. He had a tough life to begin with, but Dauntless really changes a person and you can really see how far he comes. I really loved seeing that character development on the page.

Sometimes when I was reading, I was worried that it would feel like the same story all over again: life in Abnegation, choosing ceremony, first jump, training, fear landscapes, etc. But Four is not Tris and his experiences in Dauntless were very different from hers. Not only was his life in Abnegation different, Dauntless was a different place back then as well. He didn’t have to worry about being kicked out for not being good enough in training and, obviously, he didn’t have the same issues with fighting that Tris did. He was also more of a loner and did not instantly form relationships with the other initiates, although he eventually did make some friends.

It was interesting to see him interacting with his fellow initiates. I really liked seeing his friendship with Zeke, Shauna, and Tori; it was a side of him that we’ve never seen before. In Divergent and Insurgent we only see Four when he’s with Tris, these stories show his life in Dauntless and what he’s doing when he’s off page. It’s stories like these when you realize how little one character can see, there’s a whole world contained in a book and one character can only see what is right in front of them. Four’s stories are just another point-of-view of this world and show things that Tris could never see.

If you’re a fan of the Divergent series then this is definitely worth checking out. It is not a novel with an intricate plot or a self-contained story, but it does add some great background to Four’s character and shows the world through another pair of eyes.

           -Christina

Fairest (The Lunar Chronicles #0.5) by Marissa Meyer

Title: Fairest (The Lunar Chronicles #0.5)

Author: Marissa Meyer

Publisher: Feiwel & Friends

Publication Date: January 27, 2015

Rating: 3 Stars

In this stunning bridge book between Cress and Winter in the bestselling Lunar Chronicles, Queen Levana’s story is finally told.

Mirror, mirror on the wall,
Who is the fairest of them all?

Fans of the Lunar Chronicles know Queen Levana as a ruler who uses her “glamour” to gain power. But long before she crossed paths with Cinder, Scarlet, and Cress, Levana lived a very different story – a story that has never been told . . . until now.

Marissa Meyer spins yet another unforgettable tale about love and war, deceit and death. This extraordinary book includes full-color art and an excerpt from Winter, the next book in the Lunar Chronicles series.-Summary from Goodreads

I have never had so many strong and varied emotions towards a book as I did Fairest.

It began with hope. Before I even opened the book I had hope that it would be good because it’s by Marissa Meyer and it's a part of the Lunar Chronicles. How could it not be good? Part of me worried about getting too close to Levana if I knew her backstory. I was assuming that her story would be on where she’s really an okay person, but some event changes everything and she becomes a tyrant. I was so wrong.

The second emotion I felt was hate. I hated Levana’s guts. I was only 20 pages in and I wanted to DNF this book. The only reason I continued is because it’s part of the Lunar Chronicles and I have some sense of loyalty, but I will admit to skimming through some of the pages and even glancing ahead. I know, I know, I'm a terrible book lover. I felt sorry for Levana because of her situation and how her sister treated her, but her weakness made her respond in ways which were cruel. Unlike her sister who is purposefully cruel, Levana rationalizes her cruelty away and believes that she is in the right. She truly believes her own delusions and uses and manipulates people to bring her fantasies to life. Her patheticness and cruelty twisted together made me sick and I despised her.

Eventually I began to warm up to the story. This book covers a long period of time so that which was so abhorrent to me at the beginning wasn’t as big a part of the story later on. Levana didn’t change. She was still as pathetic, cruel, and delusional as before, only now she has more power. She is a tyrant who believes that her tyranny is what is best for the people and that they should love her for it. I really liked getting some background on Winter’s character and I can’t wait for her book.

I can’t say I liked Fairest, but by the end I was a little in awe. For under 300 pages you are able to see into Levana’s head, and you will never forget it. The way she thinks is very specific and doesn’t really vary. Now that I was in her head I am able to understand exactly what she would have been thinking during the events of the Lunar Chronicles and I can’t deny the value of that.

I don’t believe this book is a necessary to enjoying the rest of the series, but it does offer some very interesting insight into the villain of the series. Even though it was hard for me to endure this book, I consider it worth it overall.

            -Christina

Top 8.5 Things We Like/Dislike About Romances in Books

Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

Most of the books we read are Fantasy/Paranormal/Dystopian/Sci-Fi so the romances are not usually the typical contemporary ones. Our love insterests are usually dealing with death, tyrants, or the end of the world so that influences some of the qualities of romance that we like/dislike and it also gives us higher expectations for the characters emotional maturity. As always, Sarah's opinions are in GREEN and Christina's are in PURPLE.

Things We Dislike

Acting like a dick/bitch
It's the classic boy meets girl, girl is curious about boy, boy acts like a total dick, girl is still interested story. I've seen this happen in quite a few books, but Twilight is probably the most well known for it. Of course it turns out that the particular character that was acting like a jerk actually has a reason, but I can never really forgive them after that first impression.

Leading on more than one person
Okay, I'm going to pick on the girls here because they are usually the middle of the love triangle and the one causing the trouble. I'm not saying they always lead the boys on, sometimes they're just confused and have other things on their mind but when they are all "I love you two and I just can decide so I'm going to keep flirting with you both" I really start to have dislike for the girl. Stop screwing with the guys minds and turning them against each other. If you can't decide, take a step back and be by yourself for a bit. My example for this is Tessa Gray from the Infernal Devices. I was yelling at the guys to drop her because their brotherhood was too important to ruin over a girl.

Jealousy
This one really get's me because a lot of it I see as unnecessary jealousy and the guys end up acting like possessive douchbags or the girls just seem petty. Jealousy always leads to stupidity and it's very annoying.

Insta-love 
Really, this just feels fake. There's no build up of trust or friendship and when a relationship is rushed I'm not really invested in it. Most of the time I don't even know if this characters would be able to carry on a normal conversation not linked to plot. It's not love at first sight, it's lust. There's a difference.

Warning the other away "for their own good"

      1. Don't you just hate when a character says "It's too dangerous for you to be around me so stay away" and then they continue to stalk them? Are they attracted to them that much or do they really want to get them killed?

      2. This is the typical superhero line of "We can't be together anymore. It's for your own good... LOVE YOU!" NO! Don't do that! It either doesn't work out at all and the other person still pays for being close to them, or it doesn't last for long anyway. It's noble, sure, but since those storylines always turn out the same way it just feels like a waste of time.

Things We Like

Make a good team
One of the sexiest things in a fictional relationship is when the guy and girl actually make an amazing team. They work with each other instead of against each other. The mission usually comes first before anything else and they understand the issues that the other has to deal with. I absolutely love these types of couples and am always a loyal shipper.

Slowburn
This is the exact opposite of insta-love. It is when the relationship between two characters is built up over a long period of time. The characters get to know each other and work well together before they ever get in a relationship. Declarations of love are not thrown around like Halloween candy, they are hard earned.

Bickering
One of my favorite couples as a kid was Han Solo and Princess Leia, they influenced my love for romances with a lot of bickering. They are two headstrong characters who don't care for each other in the beginning but somewhere along the line their passionate fighting turns into passionate... other stuff.

It turns out that it's hard to come up with 5 things that we like because these 3 things are the main qualities of all our favorite ships: Percy/Annabeth (Percy Jackson and the Olympians), Rose/Dimitri (Vampire Academy), Cammie/Zach (Gallagher Girls), Saba/Jack (Dust Lands), Ron/Herminone (Harry Potter), Elinore/Daniel (Something Strange and Deadly), Danica/Zane (Hawksong), Alina/Mal (The Grisha), Puck/Sean (The Scorpio Races)....... etc....