Top 5 Tuesday: Adaptations I Liked Better Than the Book

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme created by Bionic Book Worm and is now hosted by Meeghan Reads. This weekโ€™s topic is Top 5 Adaptations You Liked Better Than the Book.

1. Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

I feel like this is a very obvious answer. Rosamund Pike’s portrayal of Amy completely stole my heart. I did enjoy the book, of course, but I really loved the film. Everyone knows the iconic monologue of Amy when she explains how she pulled off her own disappearance and the way Rosamund reads it truly brings a whole new vibe to the storyline. I love the twisted ending and the final shots of Amy laying with her head on Nick’s stomach which parallels a frame of her doing it earlier in the film, bringing the story full circle. It has great cinematography and didn’t take too many liberties from the book which I enjoyed.

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ARC Review: Project Personality by Lynn Rush & Kelly Anne Blount

it was like he was a hydrogen molecule and i was the oxygen. i was drawn to him. we completed each other.

lynn rush & kelly anne blount

Series: Twin River High #2

Release Date: May 17th 2021

Publisher: Entangled Publishing LLC

Genre: Young Adult Fiction | Contemporary | Romance

Page Count: 274

Source: I received an advance readerโ€™s copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. Thank you!

Goodreads Summary: Hope Chambers has a major problem. Sheโ€™s spent the entirety of her four years of high school focusing on being perfectโ€”perfect grades, perfect extracurriculars, perfect essaysโ€”to the point that she forgot to get a life. And now sheโ€™s perfectly boring. Sheโ€™s got exactly two weeks before her admissions interview for MIT to spice up her life and get a personality, dammit. And she knows exactly who can help her: soccer star and Mr. Popularity himself, Landon Watkins. But how does a nerdy, socially awkward girl ask the most charismatic guy in school to help her become interesting? Saving his life in the school cafeteria is a pretty good start. No one is more surprised than Hope when Landon agrees to help her. But what he proposes they do takes her so far out of her shell, she’s practically in a different ocean. And when she starts falling for the last guy she ever expected to, it has her second-guessing every decision she’s ever made… 

Rating:

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Blog Tour: Shadow and Bone & Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo | Netflix Tie-In Editions (+ book-inspired playlists!)

Hey, everyone! I’m super excited to be a part of this tour hosted by Terminal Tours for the release of the new Netflix Tie-In Edition covers of Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows. Each of us on the tour has chosen a creative post to celebrate these special cover releases so please check out all of the amazing content here. I’ll be sharing a playlist for each book curated by me with songs I feel fit the vibe of the stories. I hope you enjoy them!


Read the books that started a worldwide phenomenon and inspired the Netflix original series, Shadow and Bone. These paperback editions of Shadow and Bone and Six of Crows feature exclusive cover art from the show.

Synopsis: Soldier. Summoner. Saint. Orphaned and expendable, Alina Starkov is a soldier who knows she may not survive her first trek across the Shadow Foldโ€”a swath of unnatural darkness crawling with monsters. But when her regiment is attacked, Alina unleashes dormant magic not even she knew she possessed. Now Alina will enter a lavish world of royalty and intrigue as she trains with the Grisha, her countryโ€™s magical military eliteโ€”and falls under the spell of their notorious leader, the Darkling. He believes Alina can summon a force capable of destroying the Shadow Fold and reuniting their war-ravaged country, but only if she can master her untamed gift. As the threat to the kingdom mounts and Alina unlocks the secrets of her past, she will make a dangerous discovery that could threaten all she loves and the very future of a nation.

Welcome to Ravka . . . a world of science and superstition where nothing is what it seems.

My Book-Inspired Playlist:

Listen to the full playlist on Spotify here!

  1. Black Sea by Natasha Blume
  2. Flames by Tedy
  3. Wolf in Sheep’s Clothing by Set It Off
  4. Pieces by Emily Vaughn
  5. Ordinary Fools by Somme
  6. Safe by Daya
  7. Couple of Kids by Maggie Lindemann
  8. Circus Freak by xoxomayah
  9. Gasoline by Halsey
  10. Dodged a Bullet by Greg Laswell
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Top 5 Tuesday: Books I Wish Had TV Adaptations

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme created by Bionic Book Worm and is now hosted by Meeghan Reads. This weekโ€™s topic is Top 5 Books I Wish Had TV Adaptations.

This week’s prompt was a bit more challenging for me this week because so many books I would put on this list are actually becoming TV series already! I’m so happy that many more young adult books are being adapted to screen nowadays. Even if they’re not perfectly true to their source material, I’m happy that more authors are getting an opportunity to see their creations come alive in a different way.

1. Christy Miller series by Robin Jones Gunn

This series defines my teenage years and I have such a deep connection with the books. It’s a Christian young adult series that follows a Wisconsin girl who spends the summer with her aunt and uncle in Newport Beach, California. She falls in love with one of the surfers and he introduces her to the concept of having a real relationship with Jesus, not just an I-attend-church type of vibe. The original series has 12 books and the author has gone on to write the characters through their college lives, their marriage, and her newest books focus on them becoming parents. There are so many ups and downs in the series from Christy’s family moving across the U.S. to the love interest, Todd, cutting off their relationship at times to Christy selecting a life path only to find out that it really isn’t for her. There’s loads of material that could be used in a TV show adaptation and a few of Gunn’s books have already made it to the screen on the Hallmark channel. I’d love to see Christy Miller take a spot as well.

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ARC Review: Words Composed of Sea and Sky by Erica George

“i hope that when people look for something that is left of me, all they’ll find is you.”

erica george

Series: Standalone

Release Date: May 25th 2021

Publisher: Running Press Kids

Genre: Young Adult Fiction | Contemporary | Historical Fiction | Romance

Page Count: 368

Source: I received an advance reader’s copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. Thank you!

Goodreads Summary: This modern summer romance set on Cape Cod features two young adult poets divided by centuries.

Michaela Dunn, living on present day Cape Cod, dreams of getting into an art school, something her family just doesn’t understand. When her stepfather refuses to fund a trip for a poetry workshop, Michaela finds the answer in a local contest searching for a poet to write the dedication plaque for a statue honoring Captain Benjamin Churchill, a whaler who died at sea 100 years ago. She struggles to understand why her town venerates Churchill, an almost mythical figure whose name adorns the school team and various tourist traps. When she discovers the 1862 diary of Leta Townsend, however, she gets a glimpse of Churchill that she didn’t quite anticipate. In 1862, Leta Townsend writes poetry under the name Benjamin Churchill, a boy who left for sea to hunt whales. Leta is astonished when Captain Churchill returns after his rumored death. She quickly falls for him. But is she falling for the actual captain or the boy she constructed in her imagination?

Rating:

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ARC Review: Gutter Girl by Lynn Rush & Kelly Anne Blount

this is why people always act so ridiculous in the movies when they’re getting swept off their feet by their crush. he kissed the english language right out of my brain, yet again.

lynn rush & kelly anne blount

Series: Twin River High #1

Release Date: May 10th 2021

Publisher: Entangled Publishing LLC

Genre: Young Adult Fiction | Contemporary | Romance

Page Count: 294

Source: I received an advance reader’s copy of this book from the publisher via NetGalley. Thank you!

Goodreads Summary: Star football player Jace Rovers has a secret. And not just any secretโ€”a shocking secretโ€ฆ He writes romance. The kind with swords. And dresses. And kissing. Nobody knows. Not the other kids at Twin River High. Not his overbearing parents. And certainly not the millions of fans whoโ€™ve read his book on the writing platform Scribbles. And thatโ€™s the way he plans to keep it. Except suddenly one of the other football players grabs his notebook in jest and starts reading a kissing scene out loudโ€ฆand Jace knows heโ€™s busted. But then McKenna Storm, resident goth girl who avoids the spotlight like a virus, snatches up the notebook and tells everyone she’s the author. And lucky for Jace, she later agrees to continue the ruse…for a price. Heck, he’d give her anything not to reveal his secret. But when they start to fall for each other, he knows he’ll have to keep the biggest secret of allโ€”his darkest character is based on herโ€ฆ

Rating:

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Review: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

โ€œwhen everyone knows youโ€™re a monster, you neednโ€™t waste time doing every monstrous thing.โ€

leigh bardugo

Series: Six of Crows #1

Release Date:ย September 29th 2015

Publisher: Henry Holt & Company

Genre: Young Adult Fiction | High Fantasy | Romance | Adventure

Page Count: 465

Source: Purchased

Goodreads Summary: Ketterdam: a bustling hub of international trade where anything can be had for the right priceโ€”and no one knows that better than criminal prodigy Kaz Brekker. Kaz is offered a chance at a deadly heist that could make him rich beyond his wildest dreams. But he canโ€™t pull it off alone. . . .

A convict with a thirst for revenge

A sharpshooter who canโ€™t walk away from a wager

A runaway with a privileged past

A spy known as the Wraith

A Heartrender using her magic to survive the slums

A thief with a gift for unlikely escapes

Kazโ€™s crew is the only thing that might stand between the world and destructionโ€”if they donโ€™t kill each other first.

Rating:

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