Tag: Twilight

What to Read After Binge Watching ‘Love is Blind’

Is love truly blind? Netflix’s newest reality TV show, Love is Blind, seeks to answer just that. Singles on the show speed-date in hopes of finding their future partner. But there’s a catch—they can only get to know each other through voice alone; only after they’re engaged can they meet face-to-face. If you’ve recently binge watched this super dramatic, totally addictive show, you’re probably suffering Love is Blind withdrawal and unsure what to watch next. But no need to fear: these five reads are sure to satisfy your hunger for more romantic drama.

1. The Selection

Image via amazon

Everyone loves a good dating reality TV show, and Love is Blind is no exception. While The Selection by Kiera Cass is more similar to The Bachelor than Netflix’s new show, any fan of Love is Blind is still sure to fall in love.

The book follows America Singer, who is chosen to be one of 35 girls to compete in the Selection. As a prince eligible to be married, Prince Maxon is expected to go on dates with all of the girls, gradually eliminating them along the way. By the end of the competition, Prince Maxon will choose someone to marry—and America is one of the few who doesn’t want it to be her. 

Like Love is Blind, readers get to watch relationships blossom as the girls vie for Maxon’s hand in marriage. But the book also delves into class differences, political intrigue, dramatic misunderstandings, and—you guessed it!—a love triangle or two. If you’re suffering from drama-withdrawal, pick up The Selection today!

 

2. Twilight

Image via amazon

Twilight is known for a lot of things—insta love and an iconic love triangle, for starters—a lot of which we see in Love is Blind. If you somehow haven’t stumbled upon Twilight or its movie adaptations, the book follows Bella as she moves in with her father and must adjust to a new school. It’s there she meets Edward Cullen, who she’s instantly drawn to. As they get to know each other, Bella quickly realizes that Edward is far from human—he’s a vampire, and she is utterly in love with him.

If you were intrigued by the Barnett-Jessica-Amber love triangle, then you’ll love as Jacob and Edward fight over Bella’s heart. 

 

3. Beastly

Image via amazon

A retelling of Beauty and the Beast, Beastly features Kyle Kingsbury, who is transformed into a beast after he plays a practical joke on an unattractive girl. The girl is actually a witch, and curses Kyle for his cruelty. If he can’t find true love within two years, sealed by a kiss, then he will remain a beast forever. 

The singles on Love is Blind are on the show to find an emotional connection with someone who, only after getting engaged, they can try to connect with physically. Beastly plays with that same emotional-over-physical connection as Kyle (a.k.a Adrian) attempts to find love despite his beastly appearance. If you love romantic fairytale retellings, and a good old “don’t judge a book by its cover” read, Beastly’s for you!

 

4. Adventurous Proposal

 

Image via Goodreads

If you thought Love is Blind featured whirlwind romance (seriously—who says “I love you” after only five days?), wait until you read Adventurous Proposal by Laura Barnard. This chick-lit romance follows Florence Gray after she meets Hugh Humphreys at a bar. After lamenting about online dating and their mutual unsuccess in love, Hugh proposes an idea: he wants them to get married at the end of the month, on Christmas morning. What follows are the twenty five days in which Florence must plan her wedding, all while navigating her fiance’s family and questioning her decision to accept Hugh’s proposal.

Adventurous Proposal features all the family drama and rushed wedding planning that we see in Love is Blind. But this book doubles as a holiday read—which is all the better! If you’re looking for something light and tropey in the best way, this is the book for you!

 

5. Matched

Image via Amazon

In Love is Blind we see people fall in love and get engaged—all before meeting their fiance face-to-face. While there are no “pods” in the world of Matched, the people of this society are paired with an ideal mate prior to ever meeting them. 

Set in a dystopia, Matched revolves around a society where the government makes your decisions for you: your spouse, your job, and even your death. When Cassia is Matched with her best friend, Xander, it seems like the perfect match. But when Cassia meets Ky, her certainty wavers, and she begins to realize that the Society isn’t as perfect as it seems.

 

Featured Image via Washington Examiner

 

 

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The Chaos of Chaos Walking

Stay strong, Chaos Walking fans, one day our film will come – maybe.

The Chaos Walking adaption has been a long time in the making. The first book in the series by Patrick Ness, The Knife of Never Letting Go, was published in 2008 by Walker Books. In 2011, Lionsgate acquired the rights to a film adaption of the entire trilogy. As a massive fan of the series I, like many others, was excited. The original story was well-written, fleshed out, exciting, all the ingredients of a stellar film version were there.

 

image via the scroll

What’s more, news about the adaption was gaining traction, especially after some of the cast was announced. Tom Holland was brought on board as Todd, the story’s 12-year-old protagonist, alongside Daisy Ridley as Viola. Filming started in August 2017 in Montréal, Québec, with a tentative release date of 2019 that quickly became 2020. The movie underwent re-shoots after the first cut was considered “unrealeasable” and since then, the fate of the film has been somewhat uncertain.

 

 

A big part of the issue with the re-shoots lies in the actors’ schedules. For one, Daisy Ridley and Tom Holland have had a busy few years. Between saving distant galaxies and the less distant Manhattan as Rey and Spiderman, both were unavailable for shooting for a number of months. When they returned, it seemed that making audiences believe either of them were in their early teens would be no small feat.

 

 Image via variety

The real kicker of the saga is that the times have simply changed. In 2011, dystopian fiction was huge. The world was ending left, right and center! Katniss was volunteering for The Hunger Games, Tris was jumping on trains, Bella was… well we’re still not entirely sure what Bella was doing. Point is, the tidal wave of dystopia has since passed and it simply isn’t the same market that it once was. Allegiant, the third film adapted from the Divergent series, didn’t receive a great critical response and Rotten Tomatoes awarded it a meager 11%. Ouch. The final movie was scrapped, too.

A Chaos Walking film could have been a massive success back in the era of apocalypses, factions and romance-against-the-odds. Now, it may not have the same appeal. Fans of Ness’ work may fill cinema seats but the question of profit is sticky. Between re-shoots and the constant pushing back of the release date, Lionsgate may find themselves with long term consequences.

 

 

The good news is that fans remain hopeful that the film will eventually see the light of day. Plus, the constant change in release date means that traction is still there as audiences wait for a final deadline. If nothing else, the drama comes as a great excuse to re-read the series from the beginning.

featured image via imdb


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Top 5 ‘Twilight: Breaking Dawn’ Memes

This month is the nine year anniversary of Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 1, and the eight year anniversary of Twilight: Breaking Dawn Part 2.  In honor of these two movies, here are some memes that are just too good not to share.

 

 

1. Not really a bad example

 

Image via Memesmonkey

 

Okay, so this movie does shed some light on teen pregnancy in an unrealistic way. We are already confused as to how a dead vampire can produce sperm, but is Bella staying a size two unrealistic? She barely ate while pregnant and Renesmee was basically killing her so of course she’s a size 2! As for her growing at rapid speed, she’s half vampire, and that in itself is confusing. But again, how is Edward able to produce sperm?

 

2. The Coach from Mean Girls was right!

 

Image via Pinterest

 

Bella is a special case, considering she was carrying a half vampire baby in her fragile human body. Which was Bella’s choice to die so she could finally become a vampire. So, if you get pregnant by a vampire, then this will happen.

 

3. Not Impressed

 

Image via Inerd4u

 

Renesmee does not look impressed by Bella when she first lays eyes on her. You know, after her mother risked her life just to give birth to her, Renesmee could care less, but that’s okay because Bella is alive and a vampire like she wanted, but you know Renesmee just doesn’t care.

 

 

4. Funny!

 

Image via Tumblr

 

This should have been a real scene! The anger Jacob was going through with Bella marrying Edward angered him enough to actually say something like this. Too bad he didn’t, but at least we have this meme.

 

5. Nothing happens in Forks

 

Image via Pinterest

 

All of those vampires showed up, we thought there was this huge battle, turns out its just one of Alice’s visions. At least we got some false alarm action. Those vampires traveled all that way for nothing! Oh well, they’ve been alive long enough to know not every vacation is exciting.

 

 


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Featured Image via For Desktop

Five Effervescent Twilight Memes

Die hard fan or total casual, the Twilight meme renaissance is truly a gift to all of us. Whether you have thoughts on Stephanie Meyer’s connection to the fandom, Edward’s first reaction to Bella, or subverting the hate by listing things that are actually WORSE love stories than twilight, there’s a lot to like here. And this article contains the creme de la creme of all this hilarious nonsense.

 

You Can’t Just Ask People Why They Sparkle

Image via ScreenRant

Isn’t this… just cannon? Like, Edward Cullen is the kind of legend you could ask anyone about at that school. Sure, some of them might be like… he’s dating his step sister… but most of them would say stuff like this. And wasn’t he basically in a car commercial? Look how pretty this car is! Only a profoundly emotional vampire can slow this down! Honestly though, I don’t know why everyone isn’t more obsessed with Rosalie or Alice. They’re so mean and so nice respectively! There’s so much to unpack.

 

I Don’t FIND That Very Surprising

Image via CBR

Don’t panic if you don’t get this – that’s really the whole joke. Also, go watch A Very Potter Musical right this second. You will have ZERO regrets. Unlike Cedric. Ok, I’m done, but what house would Edward Cullen be in, do you think? Is there a consensus? Honestly though, Cedric Diggory didn’t distract me in Twilight. All that distracted me was Shark Boy. Does anyone else remember that movie? Did I dream it? Every time Jacob came on screen, all I could think was “I broke my fiiiin!” I can’t be alone. Please.

 

Because Reasons

Image via The Quaker Campus

I actually have a lot of question about Carlisle’s decisions, but I also read somewhere that he was only 23 when he died, and as someone who’s 23 currently, that explains a lot. Still, there were a few moments I questioned, and this is definitely one of them. I don’t really remember if we know how great Carlisle is at not killing people when this scene takes place, but either way, Edward seems like the WORST option. I mean? All he wants is to drain her dry? Is this even a romantic gesture? Also, according to Wikipedia, you can’t suck venom from a wound.

 

Effervescent

Image via BuzzFeed

God, I cannot even imagine how someone came up with this, or how it seems SO in character. Twilight was guilty of a certain amount of thesaurus abuse, certainly, but on a more fundamental level, Edward Cullen was such a total and absolute weirdo. How did we not see it before? Like, honestly, how did we not all read the first book and think… effervescent. Sure, he might not BE the most effervescent, but look at the snail on that mood board! What other word could you possibly use? Especially if you were both 17 and a hundred something.

 

Incredible Advice

Image via Twitter

I could never put my finger on the dangers in twilight, or their chronology. Do things escalate? Or just oscillate? Listen, I’m not hating – Buffy had the same problem. It’s hard to turn up the stakes when most of your characters are immortal. But like, after the threat of turning accidentally in the first book, it’s like, no! This time we might DIE! Look at all these things that can ACTUALLY kill us. Let’s flirt with them, just for funsies.

Featured image via Tumblr 

5 YA Genres That Are Totally Dead

Young adult fiction is undeniably one of the most popular genres of all time. It was first categorized around the 1930s with Lauren Ingalls Wilder’s series Little House on the Prairie. Teachers and librarians were slow to accept books intended for younger readers, but young adult books today focus on issues in society with such a passion that even older adults love to read them.

YA subgenres have ebbed and flowed over the years, and the two ever-reigning subgenres seem to be fantasy and contemporary fiction. You can always find a unique new release of a fantasy novel or a self-aware contemporary love story. But what genres are so dead that publishers in 2019 will rarely publish them and why did young adults stop reading them?

 

 

1. Dystopian

Image result for the scorch trials city"

image via crosswalk.com

 

Ah, yes. Dystopian. Nostalgia for 2012, anyone? Maybe it was because everyone was talking about the Mayan calendar and the end of the world, but people were in a craze over dystopian society books like The Hunger Games and Divergent. Books about post-apocalyptic societies like The Maze Runner weren’t too far behind in the craze, either. Most dystopian subgenres are based on sci-fi and these particular subgenres started to oversaturate the sci-fi genre. Because of the immense popularity of books like The Hunger Games, every author wanted to replicate that fame and success. Understandably, readers got bored.

We became sick of tropes like “the chosen 16-year old who has a special ability that allows him or her to rebel and change dystopian society.” Readers began to pay attention to different genres and new authors, and the dystopian genre and its tropes slowly died out as YA readers found more relevant books. With the upcoming release of Suzanne Collins’ Hunger Games prequel, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, it’ll be interesting to see how this dystopian writer tackles this so-called “dead” genre.

 

2. PARANORMAL / URBAN fantasy

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image via empireonline.com

 

When you think of paranormal YA, think vampires, werewolves, and zombies. So basically Twilight minus the zombies. For a while, the Twilight series was the reigning series for the paranormal subgenre. Teens were obsessed and buying t-shirts to show off their pride in Team Edward or Team Jacob. So what happened? Well, other authors tried to replicate the success of Twilight, and teens kept reading vampire and werewolf books until they wanted a taste of something different. Once the movies were released, Twilight stirred up even more controversy as readers began to release that Bella and Edward were an unhealthy relationship portrayal for young teens.

 

 

Still, it seems a bit disappointing that the whole vampire subgenre should die out because of one bad portrayal— especially when there’s so many amazing vampire stories, like Anne Rice’s Interview with the Vampire. But never fear for those readers who were into paranormal or urban fantasy books other than Twilight, or even those who were into Twilight (no shame here)— these subgenres are making a slow return, starting with Renee Ahdieh’s new vampire novel The Beautiful.

 

 

3. STEAMPUNK

image via the portalist

 

Steampunk is one of a few YA genres that has never taken hold of a readership. Any successful steampunk books are technically classified under other YA subgenres and only have small steampunk elements. Those books that did attempt to focus solely on steampunk, an attempt that surged around the early 2000s, were usually adult books and were just too similar to each other to claim a place as a real subgenre.

 

4. Superhero

Image result for superhero ya books"

image via CBR.com

 

Superheroes certainly have a presence in comic books and movies, but this genre just isn’t present in YA. There’s no clear reason why superheroes are more popular in movies than books— maybe viewers would rather see sexy superhero actors and actresses blow stuff up rather than reading about them. Or maybe, like steampunk, superhero YA books have just been too similar with dead YA tropes like “the chosen one.”

 

5. TIME TRAVEL

Image result for time travel"

image via the next web

 

Time travel in YA sci-fi hasn’t been as successful as you might think, although time travel in YA fantasy has more of a presence. Maybe it’s because sci-fi books like H.G. Wells’ The Time Machine were written way back in 1895 and readers’ fascination with time travel has died out since then. Yet time travel is still popular in movies and TV, so it’s also up to speculation as to why this genre hasn’t taken off in YA.

If you’re interested in more about the book market or dead genres in publishing, check out this video by Alexa Donne, author of Brightly Burning. She explains all of these dead genres and tropes in-depth and also has some fascinating insights about the publishing world as well as advice for new writers.

 

 

 

Featured image via The Pilot Press