Bittersweet by Sarah Ockler-Review

 Bittersweet by Sarah Ockler

I was very excited when my book club, The Young Adult Book Club, picked Bittersweet for our February book club pick!  Sarah Ockler is an author from Colorado, where I live, so I had been looking forward to read this.  She also agreed to do a Q&A with the group which can be found here.

Oh and did I mention this book is about cupcakes??  So I was inspired to go to my local cupcake shop!! 

Here is the goodreads description:  

Once upon a time, Hudson knew exactly what her future looked like. Then a betrayal changed her life, and knocked her dreams to the ground. Now she’s a girl who doesn’t believe in second chances... a girl who stays under the radar by baking cupcakes at her mom’s diner and obsessing over what might have been. So when things start looking up and she has another shot at her dreams, Hudson is equal parts hopeful and terrified. Of course, this is also the moment a cute, sweet guy walks into her life... and starts serving up some seriously mixed signals. She’s got a lot on her plate, and for a girl who’s been burned before, risking it all is easier said than done. It’s time for Hudson to ask herself what she really wants, and how much she’s willing to sacrifice to get it. Because in a place where opportunities are fleeting, she knows this chance may very well be her last..

I love this book. It surprised me how much I love this book.. I was not expecting to like it since I don't love contemporary YA books. I love how the characters in this book are so real. I think everyone could just relate to them. Normal people with normal problems trying to have a normal life. I feel bad for the characters, I am happy for the characters, all kinds of emotions. The book made me want to be an ice skater. Unfortunately I grew up when roller blades were just starting to become popular so I only used roller skates. AND my balance is awful as I discovered last year when I tried to snowboard for the first time. But I always have wanted to go ice skating on an outdoor rink at night in the winter with all the lights around. The love triangle in this book was actually a good one. It wasn't even annoying!!

I love the cover on this book.. it is sooo sparkly in the perfect way.  It just looks sweet.  But I am a little confused as to why there is a cookie on the cover and not a cupcake?  The whole book is about Hudson working by baking cupcakes.. and then there is a cookie?  Confusing.  I also love how each chapter is named for a cupcake including the flavors!  I mean AMAZING! I love how Hudson uses making cupcakes like it's therapy.  Trying new flavors and spending every morning in her mom's shop would probably be relaxing most of the time.  The book really inspired me to go out and find a cupcake shop.  I didn't even know they existed until one popped up by the movie theater we go to a few years ago.  I went to go out and find that shop... but couldn't seem to find the location.  So I looked on the web and found a fantastic shop downtown here.  Cupcake Girls was everything I thought a diner like this would look like!  I tried Berrylicious, Miss American Pie, and Lulu Lemonade cupcakes while there!

They even have lunch there a couple times a week which I didn't know about so I didn't even ask (I will be going back to get lunch AND cupcakes soon!)

 I think cupcakes are fun... I am tired of the old cake in a box stuff.  I also really love how cupcakes are becoming more popular for weddings.  My sister had cupcakes at her wedding and it was really cute!

 I really liked this book and recommend it to everyone looking for a great winter read! I love when I read a book and it inspires me to do something I haven't done before.  I will for sure have delicious cupcakes again!

Also.. I just discovered through Jessica at I Read to Relax that the Huffington Post Books is going an amazing book series where they read a book and make cupcakes!!  This is the perfect time for this.. here you can see Life of Pie and Cupcakes  featured.  It looks amazing!! 

The crystal ball says:

Sun is shinning!!!  Great day to go outside and read this book.

Looking for someone to read a YA Book With?

Interested in reading a YA Book with someone?  My book club the Young Adult Book Club is a really fun place to participate in one.  We are an active group and many authors even stop by for a Q&A with everyone!!  Stop by and vote for our April book!

Poll

What book would you like to read in April?

Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler Stranger with My Face by Lois Duncan Sleeping Freshmen Never Lie by David Lubar Unearthly by Cynthia Hand Wanderlove by Kirsten Hubbard It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini The Wonderful Wizard of Oz by L. Frank Baum The Lonely Hearts Club by Elizabeth Eulberg The Mysterious Howling by Maryrose Wood Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma

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First Space-to-Earth Musical Collaboration

I think this is pretty fun... and too amazing not to share with all of you!  Plus the song is catchy!  iTunes!! The lyrics are really clever.


The Barenaked Ladies, a children's choir, and the commander of the International Space Station. Put them together and what do you get? The first space-to-earth musical collaboration. The song, "I.S.S. (Is Somebody Singing) was commissioned by CBCMusic.ca and The Coalition for Music Education with the Canadian Space Agency to celebrate music education in schools across Canada.

Fables : Volume 1 Legends in Exile by Willingham

Fables : Volume 1 Lengends in Exile by Willingham, Medina, Leialoha, Hamilton

I love graphic novels!  But I don't know a lot of people who read them... so I look around the internet for recommendations for a good one. I recently saw (and I am sorry I didn't save the link) a recommendation for a series called Fables.  It is similar to the show Once Upon a Time.. where characters from the fairy tale world are transported into our world.  Here is the goodreads description:

When a savage creature known only as the Adversary conquered the fabled lands of legends and fairy tales, all of the infamous inhabitants of folklore were forced into exile. Disguised among the normal citizens of modern-day New York, these magical characters have created their own peaceful and secret society within an exclusive luxury apartment building called Fabletown. But when Snow White's party-girl sister, Rose Red, is apparently murdered, it is up to Fabletown's sheriff, a reformed and pardoned Big Bad Wolf (Bigby Wolf), to determine if the killer is Bluebeard, Rose's ex-lover and notorious wife killer, or Jack, her current live-in boyfriend and former beanstalk-climber.

I had to pick up this book when I found out what it was about!  This is not for kids though... it's not all wrapped in a box.  There is murder, smoking, sex.. and all other kinds of sins! So yes it is about our favorite fairy tale characters.. but for adults!  It wasn't as good as I thought it was going to be though.  I wanted more... fairy tale I guess.  We only get glimpses of what happened to these characters and why they are in the modern world.  The whole story follows the murder of Rose Red, which kinda started to drag for me.  I wanted to see more of others.. and everyone seemed to have a bad story.  Also... I guess I never cared for Rose Red so that probably didn't help.   I have noticed that Fables is also compared to the Sandman by Neil Gaiman and I just could never get into that series AT ALL!

This series has the potential to be a great series.  Lots of stories to build off of.  So I will give the second volume a chance to see if it can go the limits I think it can be.   I really want to love this series so I will for sure give it a second chance. 

One thing I would like to say that I always like to say, is that if you have not tried to read a graphic novel get out there and do it! Too many people look past these as books that aren't good but they can be amazing!!

The crystal ball says:

Rain is pouring...  Not sure if this was really worth my time, must get umbrella.

New Harry Potter Covers!

Have you heard? To celebrate the 15th anniversary of "Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone," Scholastic commisioned new covers for trade paperback versions of all seven books by artist Kazu Kibuishi. Kibuishi is the cartoonist behind Scholastic's popular "Amulet" graphic novel series.

 These new covers will be available in September! What do you think?

Beautiful Creatures Movie Review

Yea.. the movie is finally about to be out tonight at midnight!  I went to the early screening and was asked not to post the review until the movie came out... so I have been waiting patiently!   As some of you may know I was contacted by Warner Bros and was given a lot of swag to giveaway (hope you entered) and also was given a VIP pass to go to the movie last week.  It was fun... my seats were even roped off with a VIP sign with my name and a + 1!!  I even spread the word to some local Colorado Book Bloggers and was able to meet Stuck In Book AND I got to meet one of the girls from YAketyYAks.  Both were very nice and I hope to see them again soon!

About the movie.... personally I liked it better then the book.  It was much more fast paced. A little was changed of course but we can always expect that in book to movies.  I thought the cast was excellent as well.  There were many oohs and awws in the theater whenever we saw the Ravenwood mansion.  I was anxiously waiting to see the big party at the end of the movie and we didn't see that after all.

But it was good and true to the story and that is what I look for most in a movie.  I really dislike it when a story is all messed up (Eragon anyone??????).

Go and check it out and let me know what you think about it!!

Here is some links I have on the book/movie
 Beautiful Creatures Book Review
Tickets to Beautiful Creatures Early Screening
 Beautiful Creatures Swag Giveaway

Project Disney- Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Project Disney: The plan is to tackle all of the Disney films, re-reading the classic stories and tales that inspired many of them and to look at how the changes the filmmakers made, the new elements they introduced and the essential elements they kept. We will, of course, be talking about the films as movies as well, saying why we enjoy them and what some of our favorite moments are, but our focus will be on looking at them as adaptations. For the films that are not drawn from any one work we’ll be looking at some of the possible literary influences that we see in the stories. Inspired by Project Disney by Picture Me Reading.

This week's movie and book is Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs .  Turns out the story Little Snow White by the Bother's Grimm which the movie is based off of is available free on the internet, and you can find it here!  I am very lucky to have a husband who loves Disney as much as I do!!  My bedroom is full of Disney snowglobes and other goodies.  I will show pictures of those later as we get to the movies that correlate with them.   I have also been to both Disneyland and Disneyworld.  Super super super super super fun! I mean... I have an entire board on Pinterest dedicated just to DISNEY! 

 Well about Snow White... she is my least favorite princess and Disney movie. The evil queen is super cool.... of course I love the villains in all the movies.  I have all the Disney VHS movies... well they are all at my mom's house. I recently took this movie (on DVD) over to my cousin's house, who is 4, and she was like what in the world is this?  She asked me how old Snow White is, and I said I don't know, and she then told me that Snow White totally sounds like a little girl.  And she's right!  Snow White has the squeakiest voice!

I do love the story though in the movie.  Now-a-days you don't get Disney movies like this.  Murder!!!  Kill Snow White and get her heart!  I just love it! I love how the villains in the older Disney movies are true villains and evil.  Confession:  one thing I love about Disney is the villains! Plus how cool is the evil queen when she has a Magic Mirror???  (Which I loved when the mirror was featured in the Shrek movie!). 

 

 Now... about the dwarfs..  yeesh they are annoying.  I love their music in the film... but they are just too goofy for me.   Of course the need to be the humor in the movie.  In the book they really have no character at all... just apart of the story.  Snow White... she is actually quite young in the original story.  A child age seven!  Obviously Disney would need her to be much older for the story to work, so I am happy with this change.  I do actually feel bad for her... here is a girl who has done nothing wrong but exist and then is chased down because of it.  

In the story Snow White's mother dies during childbirth and her father takes on a new wife.  This new wife is very jealous of Snow White who is described as having skin white as snow, lips red as blood and her hair ebony.  The new queen (Snow White's step mother) tries to kill Snow White in many different ways. When the story begins we are introduced to the magic mirror right away.  The magic mirror declares that the queen is the fairest in the land until Snow White matures and then the mirror says that she is the fairest in the land.

The queen sends a huntsman to kill Snow White who cries and swears she will run away. He then kills a pig and takes that heart to the queen telling her it is Snow White's. Snow White finds the Dwarves home .. which is really clean not dirty.  Plus the Dwarves do not have names in the story. The Dwarves come home from working and discover Snow White. They tell her she can stay there if she cleans and cooks.  The queen eventually goes and asks the mirror again who is the fairest and it reveals that Snow White is and even her location.  The queen sets out to kill her.

The dwarves know the queen will eventually find their house so they tell Snow White to not answer the door. She of course does answer the door. So a peddler comes to the door and sells Snow White some silk.  The peddler wraps her so hard that she suffocates almost and the dwarves come home and cut her out. Another peddler comes by (Snow White has not learned her lesson) this time selling combs. The peddler combs Snow Whites hair.. the comb has some sort of poison and the dwarves come home and revive Snow White. Finally Snow White sees the peddler again who this time has an apple to sell.  One side of the apple is poisoned and the other side is not. The queen bites the side that isn't poisoned to show Snow White it's OK and of course Snow White poisons herself. The dwarves can't help her this time so they get a coffin that can sit on the mountain side since they think she is too beautiful to go in the ground.

Next.. a prince comes by and sees Snow White in the coffin.  He asks the dwarves if he could buy it so he can see Snow White everyday. The dwarves agree to this.  So odd that he wants to just stare at a glass coffin and just look at her. As they are carrying the coffin a piece of the apple falls from her mouth and she wakes up. The prince tells her they are on the way to their castle and that she is to marry him and they will live happily ever after.  To punish the queen, they make her dance until her feet bleed and she dies. Which is why I like the creepy Brother's Grimm books.  I just like endings like this!

 Also... for you Disney fans out there... if you have not checked out Annie Leibovitz photos for the Disney campaign you must do!! I wish I could make the images larger... but the way my blog is set up they go off the sides! :(

 Though this is my least favorite movie... everyone who is a Disney fan should watch it and own it.

Find Picture Me Reading's post on Snow White here . 
They are the host of this little Disney adventure so that post is not to be missed!!
Also Nerdy Book Reviews has a post.
Racheal Turns Pages does a great job comparing book to movie!


Here is my
Project Disney: Cinderella 
Peter Pan
Treasure Planet
Sleeping Beauty
The Great Mouse Detective 
The Hunchback of Notre Dame
The Princess and the Frog
Pinocchio 
Fantasia 
Beauty and the Beast
Lady and the Tramp
 Alice in Wonderland
The Rescuers
The Rescuers Down Under
Tangled
Oliver and Company
Mulan
The Little Mermaid
Bambi
101 Dalmatians
Frozen
Fantasia 2000
The Jungle Book
The Emperor's New Groove
The Sword in the Stone
Aladdin
Atlantis
The Aristocats
The Lion King
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh
Winnie the Pooh (2011)
Robin Hood
Hercules
Pocahontas
Dumbo
The Black Cauldron 
Mary Poppins
Lilo and Stitch  
The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad
Make Mine Music
Tarzan
Fox and the Hound
Melody Time