Beautiful Creatures Movie Review

Well, I don't know if you followed the twitter feed (#FIwatchBC), but if you did you probably already know what I'm going to say.

I did not like that movie. Most of the story was ruined in the first three minutes. They cut out half of the characters! (Ugh! and I just realized we never even say Ethan's father, he was just talked at or about.) The worst part was all of the silly little changes that did not affect the story in any way: case and point: Coconut Pie. WHY? Why couldn't it be lemon? Is there some trademark on Lemon Pie that I don't know about? So stupid. OK, I understand having to move things along and cutting scenes and characters for timing, but why those little things? Why change who "used to say" something or someone's favorite pie? What is that doing for the story? Seriously, someone please explain this to me!

So, Richard LaGravenese wrote the screenplay and directed the movie. After watching it, I'm under the impression that he did not actually read the book. I think he had an intern read it and tell him what happened.

I'm actually not sure I would have liked this movie even if I hadn't read the book. It feels forced and like it pulls lots of plot points from thin air. Maybe I am being too harsh --  what did you think?


Now that that is over... time for a new adventure:

This month we are reading The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger.

Buy Book: Amazon

Buy Movie: Amazon

Amazon's synopsis:

A MOST UNTRADITIONAL LOVE STORY, this is the celebrated tale of Henry DeTamble, a dashing, adventuresome librarian who inadvertently travels through time, and Clare Abshire, an artist whose life takes a natural sequential course. Henry and Clare’s passionate affair endures across a sea of time and captures them in an impossibly romantic trap that tests the strength of fate and basks in the bonds of love.

Happy Reading!

Beautiful Creatures Review & Movie Viewing Announcement

If you have been following us on Twitter (@FIBookClub), you will have noticed that we already announced the viewing time for Beautiful Creatures. We will watch it tomorrow, June 30 at 6pm PST.

I've finished this month's book, Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl. Have you finished it yet? Are you ready for the movie?

This is a copy of the review I posted on to Google Books:

As a club we read Beautiful Creatures in June 2015. This is a quick, fun read that takes place in a quiet little town in the South. Well, not as quiet as it would have you believe. In a town known for having no secrets, it would seem that secrets abound.

The premise of this story is fun and interesting, though I'll admit I probably won't keep reading the series, as it is pretty predictable. The main characters are connected telepathically even before they meet, and secrets become their way of life when they do finally meet.

I would have to say that this book sits comfortably in the Young Adult Paranormal Romance genre, however, I will admit that it was nice to have a romance from the male's point of view for a change. I didn't really connect with the main characters, I was much more interested in the stories of the supporting characters, which is always odd for a book! I can't wait to watch the movie.

Read my review and others HERE.

How would you review Beautiful Creatures?

June Book Announced: Beautiful Creatures

We have chosen Beautiful Creatures, by Kami Garcia (@kamigarcia) and Margaret Stohl (@mstohl) for our book this month.

Synopsis (From Amazon)
Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she's struggling to conceal her power, and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town's oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

While Beautiful Creatures great reviews, and an occult following, I think this is the best review I read of it (From Publishers Weekly):

"Readers who like angst-filled teenage romance will be swept up by the haunting and detailed atmosphere, the conventions and strictures of Southern life, and a compelling and dimensional mythology."

Beautiful Creatures is the first in a four book series, so get hooked and see what happens! AudioBookSync.com offered Beautiful Creatures for free the first week of thier summer reading program, if you were lucky enough to download it at that time, have a listen - I really enjoy the way they do the songs! Or pick a copy from Amazon, here.

The movie was released in 2013. It was directed and (screenplay) written by Richard La Gravenese. You can order a copy from Amazon, here.

Happy Reading!

AudioBookSync.com

I mentioned this briefly in my initial post, but I wanted to mention it again since it starts today!

Audiobooksync.com is offering two free downloadable audio books each week this summer. Each week they will offer a contemporary Young Adult book and a classic that shares similar themes.

The first week, today through the 14th, they are offering Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl and the classic Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier.

The reason I mention this is simply that we will be reading Beautiful Creatures in June, so why not get a free copy?

I have grown to love audio books. They let me "read" while doing other things - driving, washing the dishes, or cleaning the house! I love anything that helps me multitask.

That's really all for today.

Have you found me on twitter yet? (no I haven't tweeted, but I started working on my profile...)

How are you coming along with Pride and Prejudice?

Happy Reading!

First "Meeting" - First Impressions - And Other Notes

Welcome to the First Impressions Book to Movie Club!

First and foremost, this is a formal invitation to anyone to join us. Come one, Come all!

I have been thinking about trying to make a virtual book-to-movie club for awhile now. I don't have all of the specifics figured out yet, but I wanted to at least get started. So, here we are.

This is my idea of a "book club." I don't always like book clubs, they tend to read the same books, or at least the same types of books, over and over again or are filled with people who have silly ideas about literature. (Have you read THIS article by cracked.com? You should, you'll see what I mean.) I love talking about books, but I can't stand people finding crazy meanings in every - little - thing. (My DH will vouch for this. He loves to tell people how I got a "D" in my college Film class because I refused to accept that the "grass in Westerns" symbolized anything other than "the grass in Westerns.")

Now, I'm not saying that authors don't include messages beyond the text. I know the power of metaphors and symbolism. I just think we need to read for what it was written for, not project our own agendas into the writing. If you don't agree, you don't have to. I just wanted to make sure you understood where I was coming from while I thought about creating this book club. And, I'm not asking you to leave, quite the opposite! Stay! Share! Have some fun!

But I seemed to have digressed, let me try this again .... so, this is my idea of a book club. The premise is that everyone will read the book then at the end of the month we will watch the movie together. I know what you are thinking.

I'm not delusional.

I promise.

I don't mean we will all gather in some physical place to watch the movie. Duh. I mean I will announce a time and a day that I will watch the movie, and I encourage you to watch it at the same time as me. We can all live tweet our thoughts as we watch. We can talk about the differences between the books and the movies, or what we liked about the movie or book, or, well, anything really.

What do you think? Are you interested?

If you are, and I'm assuming you must be since you've made it this far, welcome to our first "meeting."

Our first book will be Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austin (buy) or as it was originally titled, First Impressions. See what I did there? Witty, right? P&P is a classic romantic tale that everyone should read. Just to get this out in the open, we will be watching the 2005 version (with Keira Knightley and Matthew Macfadyen). While I would love to encourage everyone to watch the BBC version starring Colin Firth, I understand that it 5 and a half hours long and that is a bit of a commitment. (But, watch it if you have the time. It is amazing.)

We will read it over the month of May, then I will announce a time to watch and tweet along.

Next month, we will read Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (buy). I wanted to mention this now, because from May 7th - May 14th audiobooksync.com will offer the audio book for free. So make sure you get a your free audio book!

As I just wanted to get things going, I chose the first two books. But I am open to suggestions, comment below if you have any!

The only rule is that the book must have been made into a movie -- this can include new movies that are being released, though we will have to develop a format for in theater movies if that were to come up. Any ideas?

I think that is enough for now. I'll get to reading P&P and check in from time to time.

Happy Reading!