YA books Made Into Movies

So I came up with this discussion idea after the ladies of Epic Reads discussed it on their weekly show called Tea Time this past Wednesday. I love, LOVE books as evidenced by me having a book blog and talking incessantly about books. I am also a major movie buff. There has been an influx of YA books being turned into movies over the past 5-10 years. Some of them have been amazing and some of them have sucked the big one.

I cannot mention YA books & movies without mentioning the 8 Harry Potter movies. Some of them were better than others and one of them I actually enjoyed more than the book (No I didn’t love all seven books the same)  There was another one where I adored the book but the movie adaptation of it was terrible. Which depressed the crap outta me.

Twilight, now I read the books once and now looking back, I am embarrassed that I read them. Totally cannot believe that I enjoyed them. However I went to go see Twilight when it came out in theaters and basically hated it. Kristen Stewart just cannot act to save her life. So I got New Moon on Netflix later on and could only make it through about 45 minutes before I had to turn it off. I have yet to see Eclipse or Part 1 & 2 of Breaking Dawn. The idea of a werewolf imprinting on a baby just… BARF!

Now The Hunger Games was a pretty decent movie adaptation. Yes there were changes that people had to accept. However it’s successor Catching Fire basically knocked it out of the park in terms of adapting the book to the movie. They had kept so many of the lines from the book and that thrilled me. The casting for Catching Fire was fantastic (RIP PSH) I even ended up loving Sam Claflin as Finnick though I was initially nervous about as he was my favorite male character in Catching Fire. Jena Malone was PERFECTION as Johanna Mason. They could not have cast that one better.

I have not read Vampire Academy but I saw the premiere for the film and I could not understand the hype. If the books are anything like the previews for the movie, I think I’ll pass. Yikes. It just looks totally cringe-worthy.

Now I am excited about Divergent even though I am still not 100% sold on Theo James as Four (Yes I know I’m crazy) I love that they were able to get some big names into the film (Kate Winslet & Ashley Judd) I really hope that the movie is as good as the previews made it look. I think I’ll be really upset if it ends up not being good.

Now onto the books that I would hate to see made into a movie. The Splintered series by A.G.Howard. I have absolutely adored the first two books but I would be terrified that the movies would be trash. They would have to get just the right director to do it (I would say Tim Burton but he’s already directed Alice in Wonderland and I don’t think he’d do this one.) The special effects would be dynamite, that much I am sure of. So movie people, if you are, by some miracle, reading this, please don’t make Splintered & Unhinged & Ensnared into movies.

My other YA movie don’t is The Program & The Treatment by Suzanne Young. Again, I absolutely LOVED this duology  but please movie people bypass this duology. I am absolutely terrified to think what would happen to this series if a director got their hands on it. First off, the books are long so lots would be cut which I would not be happy about. Secondly, I’d be worried about the casting of the key players (James, Sloane & Realm) among others. Amazing books that need to just stay books.

So what books would you hate to see be turned into movies?

Review: Allegiant (Divergent #3) by Veronica Roth (Contains Spoilers)

Book Title: Allegiant (Divergent #3)

Author: Veronica Roth

Publish Date: October 22nd, 2013

Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books

Genre: YA/Dystopian

Series: Book 3 in Divergent Trilogy

Book Link: Goodreads

Purchase Link: Amazon, Barnes & Noble

Synopsis from Goodreads: 

The faction-based society that Tris Prior once believed in is shattered—fractured by violence and power struggles and scarred by loss and betrayal. So when offered a chance to explore the world past the limits she’s known, Tris is ready. Perhaps beyond the fence, she and Tobias will find a simple new life together, free from complicated lies, tangled loyalties, and painful memories. 

But Tris’s new reality is even more alarming than the one she left behind. Old discoveries are quickly rendered meaningless. Explosive new truths change the hearts of those she loves. And once again, Tris must battle to comprehend the complexities of human nature—and of herself—while facing impossible choices about courage, allegiance, sacrifice, and love. 

Told from a riveting dual perspective, Allegiant, by #1 New York Times best-selling author Veronica Roth, brings the Divergent series to a powerful conclusion while revealing the secrets of the dystopian world that has captivated millions of readers in Divergent and Insurgent.

Disclaimer #1 This was a personal purchase.

Disclaimer #2 This review includes spoilers

Review:

Okay so it turns out that the “spoiler” that I had heard about was false. THANK GOODNESS. I don’t know how angry I would have been if it turned out to be true. The spoiler I was fed was that the whole thing was a dream. That would have been a major cop-out on Roth’s part and many, MANY people would have likely been angry with her.

Allegiant was not my favorite book of the series (actually Insurgent was) However there was some good things in this book.The dual POV was awesome,very few authors can do it and get it right. Roth for the most part was able to do it. I loved how we got to learn more about Four.

Having the dual POV definitely helped in that case. Yes some of the revelations seemed to be coming at an awfully convenient time but truthfully we hadn’t learned a whole lot about Four’s past (aside from his father being abusive and Four ditching Abegnation for Dauntless on the day of his Choosing Ceremony etc) We got to see a more vulnerable Four this time around which I loved. In the past we hadn’t seen much of his vulnerability but in Allegiant we did.

Most of Tris’s POV, I loved.There were a few parts in there that drove me crazy in a negative way, but I loved that she talked a lot with Caleb. Family had always been a big thing to her and it continued to be all the way through Allegiant.

The science-y stuff was really far-fetched to me and it made me cringe. A lot. I totally called the connection between David and Tris’s mom. It was totally 100% clear to me from the beginning. I liked Christina and Uriah together and I had hoped that more would be explored with that friendship. I think Roth could have delved a bit more into that.

I commend Roth for doing what she did. I know she’s got a lot of angry people but it was gutsy as heck to kill off Tris. A week ago I would have put money on it being Four who dies. I was actually pleased that she took such a different route than most authors of dystopians take. Normally they save the leading male and female characters. Not Roth. She went for the jugular and killed off a girl who was stubborn and who did what was right and knew what was wrong. Tris was loyal to her friends and Four.

Yes some secondary characters were killed. One in particular gutted me like a fish. It didn’t hurt quite as bad as Tris’s death did, but it was close. Really close.I still don’t hold this series up to the likes of the Harry Potter series (nothing will ever come that close for me) However, there were deaths in this book that hurt, that caused me to get those feels in an otherwise pretty bland book.

Despite all of this, I have to give it 3 stars. It was okay, though some parts were better than others. Do I think Roth could have done better? Absolutely. But she took risks with this final book and some of those risks paid off and some of them did not.