Recommendations...

Howdy Minions, for today's post i thought i should give you readers a few recommendations. I know i'm always looking for some good films to watch and books to read but i can never find anybody who has any recommendations for me. So i thought i would share some recommendations i have for everybody, just in case you all have the same problem as me :) Enjoy ;) (I'm not to good at explaining things)

Books

1. The Hunger games by Suzanne Collins.

In the dark vision of the near future, a terrifying reality TV show is taking place. Twelve boys and twelve girls are forced to appear in a live event called the Hunger Games. There is only one rule: Kill or be killed.

When 16 year old  Katniss Everdeen steps forward to take her sisters place in the games, she sees it as a death sentence. But Katniss has been close to death before. For her, survival is second nature.


If you haven't read this book already, i highly recommend it. Its different to all those other books where the main character has that hero that saves the day. With the Hunger games it is different. Katniss is very independent and its a change to be reading about someone who can look after themselves.
Even if you have watched the movie, i really think you should read the book too, it give you a better insight on how Katniss and the rest of the characters are actually feeling! Some parts shocked me, some parts finally made sense and some parts just made me cry. Its defiantly a book to read.

2. I'd Tell You I Love You But Then I'd Have To Kill You by Ally Carter

Cammie Morgan is a student at the Gallagher Academy for Exceptionally Young Women, a fairly typical all-girls school- that is is every school taught advanced martial arts in PE and the latest in chemical warfare in science, and students received extra credit for breaking CIA codes in computer class. The Gallagher Academy might claim to be a school for geniuses but it's really a school for spies. Even though Cammie is fluent in fourteen different languages and is capable of killing a man in seven different ways, she has no idea what to do when she meets an ordinary boy who thinks she is an ordinary girl. Sure, she can tap into his phone, hack into his computer, or track him through town with skill of a true 'pavement artist'- but can she maneuver a relationship with someone who can never know the truth about her?

Cammie Morgan may be an elite spy-in-training, but in her sophomore year, she's on her most dangerous mission yet- falling in love. 

These books (1-6) contain everything. Love, Jealousy, heartbreak, adventure, hatred, humor, tension... They are possibly my favorite books. I felt like i knew everything about all the characters and that we were friends! There were characters to love and hate.

 3. Ten Things We Shouldn't Have Done by Sarah Mlynowski

2 girls + 3 guys + 1 house = 10 things April and her friends did that they (defiantly, probably, maybe) shouldn't have.

If given the opportunity, what sixteen-year-old wouldn't jump at the chance to move in with a friend and live parent free? Although maybe 'opportunity' isn't the right word, since April had to tell her dad a tiny little un-truth to make it happen (see #1: "Lied to our parents"). But she and her housemate Vi are totally responsible and able to take care of them selves. How they ended up "Skipping school" (#3), "Throwing a crazy party" (#8), "Buying a hot tub" (#4), and "Harboring a fugitive" (#7) is all a mystery to them.

In this hilarious and bitter sweet, Sarah Mlynowski mines the heart and mind of a girl on her own for the first time. To get through the year, April will have to juggle a love triangle, learn to do her own laundry, and except that her carefully constructed world might be falling apart... one thing-she-shouldn't-have-done at a time.

This book isn't one i could see myself reading but i did and i really enjoyed it. Its crazy and i think thats why i enjoyed reading it. Every part in this book i was just thinking to myself " what the hell are they thinking" which i believe is why it is so funny. It defiantly put me off throwing a party, buying a hot tub and moving in with a friend whilst i am still at school. Its not a long read but still enjoyable.

Movies (I've seen)

1. Safe Haven based on the novel by Nicolas Sparks
Starring: Julianne Hough, Josh Duhamel and Cobie Smulders.

When a mysterious young women names Katie appears in the small north Carolina town of South port, her sudden arrival raises questions about her past. Beautiful yet self-effacing, Katie seems determined to avoid forming personal ties until a series of events draws her into two reluctant relationships: one with Alex, a widowed store owner with a kind heart and two children; and another with her plainspoken single neighbor, Jo. Despite her reservations, Katie slowly begins to to let down her guard, putting down roots in the close-knit community and becoming increasingly close to Alex and his family. 
But even as Katie begins to fall in love, she struggles with the dark secret that still haunts and terrifies her...a past that set her on a fearful, shattering journey across the country, to the sheltered oasis of South port. With Jo's empathic and stubborn support, Katie eventually realizes she must choose between a life of transient safety or one of riskier rewards...and that in the darkest hour, love is the only true safe haven. 

I love all the films that are based on Nicolas Sparks' novels but this one just seemed to have something that the other didn't. I could watch it again and again and still love it. I love the cast, the setting, the story line...everything.  I can't say the story line isn't something i haven't heard before but the way its done makes it seem like something new. Defiantly one i think everybody should watch, even if its not your kind of thing. :)



2. The Internship
Starring: Vince Vaughn, Owen Wilson and Rose Byrne

Billy and Nick are salesmen whose careers have been torpedoed by the digital world. Trying to prove that they are not obsolete, they defy the odds by talking there way into a coveted internship at Google, along with a battalion of brilliant collage students.But, gaining entrance to this utopia is only half the battle. Now they must compete with the nations most elite, tech-savvy geniuses to prove that necessity is really the mother of re-invention

Best comedy. Hilarious cast and story. Serious at times which i think makes it so much better because it shows life in a funny way. I've heard that a lot of comedy's lately haven't been to funny but this out rules them all. I watched it whilst on the plane to America to see the family and couldn't keep a straight face.



3. Footloose remake of the film in 1984
Starring: Kenny Wormald, Julianne Hough and Miles Teller


Boston teen Ren MacCormack relocates to a small southern town and get a heavy does of culture shock. On the heels of a tragic accident, Rev. Shaw Moore bans loud music and dancing. Challenging the Reverend, Ren falls for his troubled daughter Ariel, shakes us the status quo, and revitalises the town.

I'm a big sucker for dance films, i love watching people dance. This is my favorite dance film because it has my favorite actress in Julianne Hough and i love the country vibe. It's also the remake of the 1984 footloose with Kevin Bacon. I prefer this one i guess because i'm not an original type of girl :D

Movies (I plan on seeing)

1. The Spectacular Now based on the novel by Tim Tharp

Sutter Keely lives in the now. It's a good place for him. A high school senior, charming and self-possessed, he's the life of the party, loves his job at a men's clothing store and has no plans for the future. A building alcoholic, he's never far from his super sized, whisky-fortified 7UP cup. But after being dumped by his girlfriend, Sutter gets drunk and wakes up on a lawn with Aimee Finicky hovering over him. Not a member of the cool crowd, she's different: the nice girl who reads science fiction and doesn't have a boyfriend. She does have dreams, while Sutter lives in a world of impressive self-delusion. And yet they are drawn to each other.

2. Divergent based on the novel by Veronica Roth

In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five fractions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue- Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful) and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-old's must select the fraction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is staying with her family and being who she really is- she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everybody, including herself

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are- and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating, boy fits into the life she has chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she has kept hidden from everyone because she has been warned can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves...or it might destroy her.

3. Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters based on the novel by Richelle Mead

Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, half-vampire and half-human, who is training to be a guardian at St Vladimir's Academy along with many others like her. There are good and bad vampires in their worlds; Moroi, who co-exist peacefully among the humans and only take blood from donors, and also possess the ability to control one of the four elements - water, earth, fire or air; and Strigoi, blood-sucking, evil vampires who drink to kill. Rose and other Dhampir guardians are trained to protect Moroi and kill Strigoi throughout there education. Along with her best friend, Princess Vasilisa Dragomir, a Moroi and the last in her line, with whom she has a nigh unbreakable bond, Rose must runaway from St Vladimir's Academy, in order to protect Lissa from those who wish to harm the princess and use her for their own means. 

I hope you enjoyed watching those trailers and reading about the films/books (I know i enjoy doing that)
If you want me to recommend anything else, contact me through the contact page and i will be happy to reply :)

Simply Me Paige
xxx