My Picks of the Week! (April 10th)

Hello, My Muses!

First, Happy Belated EASTER! Before I move on to my picks of the week, I just wanted to thank all of my old & new followers for participating in my "Book-to-Movie" E-book Giveaway! It's not over yet, you have until Saturday, April 14th to enter. But it has been such a positive experience so far that I decided there will be not just 1, but TWO (2) WINNERS! So far I have 20 followers that have entered the contest. If 15 more people enter, a 3rd winner will be chosen and that person will get to choose 1 e-book from the list. So again, 2 winners will be awarded 2 e-books (each) of their choice. And if I get another 15 followers to enter the Giveaway by 4/14 (to total 35 entries), then a 3rd place winner will be chosen, and that person will get 1 e-book of their choice from my list of 15 posted. To see the e-books you can win and the rules of the Giveaway, go HERE!

Now to my picks of the week. The only adult book release worth mentioning this week is a book I am currently reading called, Emerald City. I went into the book thinking it was a YA novel, but it is one of those stories with characters that are on the cusp-- the main character is 20 years old, living on her own. So I am labeling it Adult, but I think it is also considered Young Adult.

There are quite a couple sequels being released tomorrow, such as Kelley Armstrong's The Calling, and John Connolly's The Infernals. Out of the YA category, I think Kill Me Softly by Sarah Cross sounds intriguing. It's supposed to be a contemporary, yet Grimm fairy tales based novel. I can't wait to see what others think about it.

In movies, ladies will be excited with the blu-ray releases of 3 popular, romantic comedies-- Don Juan DeMarco (Johnny Depp), Kate & Leopold (Hugh Jackman), and The Truth About Cats & Dogs (Ben Chaplin). As far as new releases, I am looking forward to checking out Cook County and King of Devil's Island.

Lastly, the 9th and final season of One Tree Hill hits stores tomorrow and let's not forget about the cult favorite 1970's Logan's Run Complete Series finally comes home on dvd.

Enjoy this weeks picks and don't forget to enter my "Book-to-Movie" E-book Giveaway if you haven't already!

Best,



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BOOKS (April 10th)

ADULT

Emerald City
by: Alicia K. Leppert

Olivia Tate is a broken shell of a girl haunted by the tragic events that fill her past. She has closed herself off from the world, each day grasping at something—anything—to live for. Convinced there will never be a way out, she seeks solace in the depths of her medicine cabinet. When she wakes up days later in the hospital she is introduced to Jude, the quiet stranger responsible for saving her life. She never could have guessed then that her mysterious rescuer would end up saving her life a second time, while simultaneously turning her world upside down.

Release Date: 10 April 2012
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YOUNG ADULT

The Book of Blood and Shadow
by:Robin Wasserman

It was like a nightmare, but there was no waking up. When the night began, Nora had two best friends and an embarrassingly storybook one true love. When it ended, she had nothing but blood on her hands and an echoing scream that stopped only when the tranquilizers pierced her veins and left her in the merciful dark.

But the next morning, it was all still true: Chris was dead. His girlfriend Adriane, Nora's best friend, was catatonic. And Max, Nora's sweet, smart, soft-spoken Prince Charming, was gone. He was also—according to the police, according to her parents, according to everyone—a murderer.

Desperate to prove his innocence, Nora follows the trail of blood, no matter where it leads. It ultimately brings her to the ancient streets of Prague, where she is drawn into a dark web of secret societies and shadowy conspirators, all driven by a mad desire to possess something that might not even exist. For buried in a centuries-old manuscript is the secret to ultimate knowledge and communion with the divine; it is said that he who controls the Lumen Dei controls the world. Unbeknownst to her, Nora now holds the crucial key to unlocking its secrets. Her night of blood is just one piece in a puzzle that spans continents and centuries. Solving it may be the only way she can save her own life.

Release Date: 10 April 2012
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Calling, The (Darkness Rising, #2)
by: Kelley Armstrong

Maya Delaney's paw-print birthmark is the mark of what she truly is—a skin-walker. She can run faster, climb higher, and see better than nearly everyone else. Experiencing intense connections with the animals that roam the woods outside her home, Maya knows it's only a matter of time before she's able to Shift and become one of them. And she believes there may be others in her small town with surprising talents.

Now Maya and her friends have been forced to flee from their homes during a forest fire they suspect was deliberately set. Then they're kidnapped, and after a chilling helicopter crash, they find themselves in the Vancouver Island wilderness with nothing but their extraordinary abilities to help them get back home.

In The Calling, the sizzling second book in the Darkness Rising trilogy, New York Times bestselling author Kelley Armstrong pumps up the romance, danger, and suspense that left readers of The Gathering clamoring for more.

Release Date: 10 April 2012
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Infernals, The (Samuel Johnson, #2)
by: John Connolly

Young Samuel Johnson is in trouble. Not only is his eyesight so poor that he mistakenly asks out a letter box on a date but an angry demon wants revenge for Samuel’s part in foiling the invasion of Earth by the forces of evil. When Samuel and his faithful dachshund, Boswell, are pulled through a portal into the dark realm, home of the Infernals, it gets its chance.

Catching Samuel won’t be easy, for the Infernals have not reckoned on the bravery and cleverness of a boy and his dog; a hapless demon’s loyalty to the duo; or the presence of two clueless policemen and an unlucky, if cheerfully optimistic, ice-cream man.

Most of all, no one has planned on the intervention of an unexpected band of little men who also have recently found themselves in the underworld. If you thought demons were frightening, just wait until you meet Mr. Merryweather’s Elves...

Release Date: 10 April 2012
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Kill Me Softly
by: Sarah Cross

Mirabelle's past is shrouded in secrecy, from her parents' tragic deaths to her guardians' half-truths about why she can't return to her birthplace, Beau Rivage. Desperate to see the town, Mira runs away a week before her sixteenth birthday—and discovers a world she never could have imagined.

In Beau Rivage, nothing is what it seems—the strangely pale girl with a morbid interest in apples, the obnoxious playboy who's a beast to everyone he meets, and the chivalrous guy who has a thing for damsels in distress. Here, fairy tales come to life, curses are awakened, and ancient stories are played out again and again.

But fairy tales aren't pretty things, and they don't always end in happily ever after. Mira has a role to play, a fairy tale destiny to embrace or resist. As she struggles to take control of her fate, Mira is drawn into the lives of two brothers with fairy tale curses of their own . . . brothers who share a dark secret. And she'll find that love, just like fairy tales, can have sharp edges and hidden thorns.

Release Date: 10 April 2012
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Losers in Space
by: John Barnes

It is the year 2129 . . . and fame is all that matters.

Susan and her friends are celebutantes. Their lives are powered by media awareness, fed by engineered meals, and underscored by cynicism. Everyone has a rating; the more viewers who ID you, the better. So Susan and her almost-boyfriend Derlock cook up a surefire plan: the nine of them will visit a Mars-bound spaceship and stow away. Their survival will be a media sensation, boosting their ratings across the globe. There's only one problem: Derlock is a sociopath. Breakneck narrative, pointed cultural commentary, warm heart, accurate science, a kickass heroine, and a ticking clock . . . who could ask for more?

Release Date: 12 April 2012
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The Obsidian Blade (Klaatu Diskos, #1)
by: Pete Hautman

The first time his father disappeared, Tucker Feye had just turned thirteen. The Reverend Feye simply climbed on the roof to fix a shingle, let out a scream, and vanished - only to walk up the driveway an hour later, looking older and worn, with a strange girl named Lahlia in tow. In the months that followed, Tucker watched his father grow distant and his once loving mother slide into madness. But then both of his parents disappear. Now in the care of his wild Uncle Kosh, Tucker begins to suspect that the disks of shimmering air he keeps seeing - one right on top of the roof - hold the answer to restoring his family. And when he dares to step into one, he's launched on a time-twisting journey
- from a small Midwestern town to a futuristic hospital run by digitally augmented healers, from the death of an ancient prophet to a forest at the end of time. Inevitably, Tucker's actions alter the past and future, changing his world forever.

Release Date: 12 April 2012
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MOVIES & TV SERIES (April 10th)

MOVIES

Cook County
Directed by: David Pomes

Starring: Ryan Donowho, Xander Berkeley

Living in a small town and amongst a house full of crystal meth abusers, seventeen year-old Abe (Ryan Donowho) wrestles to beat an addiction to meth and struggles to protect himself and his young niece from an abusive Uncle Bump (Anson Mount). When Sonny (Xander Berkeley) returns home from prison seeking redemption from his son, Abe, the two must navigae the treacherous waters created by Bump, who will do almost anything to maintain a dangerous lifestyle fueled by crystal meth. The tension and suspense build up to an electrifying ending where harrowing choices are made by all three men leading each of them to a different fate.

Release Date: 10 April 2012
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Darkest Hour, The
Directed by: Chris Gorak

Starring: Emile Hirsch

The Darkest Hour is the story of five young people who find themselves stranded in Moscow, fighting to survive in the wake of a devastating alien attack. The thriller highlights the classic beauty of Moscow alongside mind-blowing special effects.

Release Date: 10 April 2012
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Don Juan DeMarco (blu-ray release)
Directed by: Jeremy Leven

Starring: Johnny Depp, Marlon Brandon, Faye Dunaway

A psychiatrist treats a most unusual patient, only to find that the doctor is the one who gains the most from their sessions in this philosophical romantic comedy. A young man in a mask and cape (played by Johnny Depp) is standing atop a billboard, threatening to jump. When the potential suicide is finally talked down, he's brought to a psychiatric facility where after one doctor washes his hands of the case, he's placed under the supervision of Dr. Jack Mickler (Marlon Brando), an aging psychiatrist soon to retire. The patient informs Mickler that he is actually the great lover Don Juan, who has seduced over 1,500 women, but has fallen into a deep depression after being unable to win the hand of the woman of his dreams. Mickler has ten days to work with "Don Juan," after which he will either be released on medication or committed to a long-term stay in a mental hospital. As Mickler talks with the young man, who speaks rapturously of the art of love, the doctor finds that his philosophies are helping to kick start his failing relationship with his wife (Faye Dunaway), and he slowly becomes convinced that his patient might really be Don Juan after all.

Release Date: 10 April 2012
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Iron Lady, The
Directed by: Phyllida Lloyd

Starring: Meryl Streep

The Iron Lady is a surprising and intimate portrait of Margaret Thatcher (Meryl Streep), the first and only female Prime Minister of The United Kingdom. One of the 20th century's most famous and influential women, Thatcher came from nowhere to smash through barriers of gender and class to be heard in a male dominated world.

Release Date: 10 April 2012
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Kate & Leopold (blu-ray Director's Cut release)
Directed by: James Mangold

Starring: Meg Ryan, Hugh Jackman

Filmmaker James Mangold follows his Oscar-winning drama Girl, Interrupted (1999) with this whimsical fantasy. Meg Ryan stars as Kate McKay, a modern female executive in New York City whose drive to succeed in the cutthroat corporate world has left little time for romance. When her genius ex-boyfriend Stuart (Liev Schreiber) opens a portal in time, the experiment transports Leopold (Hugh Jackman) from 1867 to the present day. A charming bachelor and the royal "Third Duke of Albany" in his own time, Leopold is fascinated by the 21st century. As the courtly Leopold and the decidedly liberated Kate tour the town, a mutual attraction develops into something deeper, a relationship that's threatened by Leopold's temporary chronological status.

Release Date: 10 April 2012
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King of Devil's Island
Directed by: Marius Holst

Starring: Stellan Skarsgard, Benjamin Helstad

This true story of the infamous Bastøy Boys Home correctional facility in Norway, begins with the arrival of seventeen-year-old Erling, a rumored murderer. He immediately clashes with the island facility's governor (Stellan Skarsgård), who believes manual labor, rigid discipline, and harsh punishment are the only methods that can turn the boys into honorable members of society. Refusing to accept the constant abuse, Erling slowly rouses the rest of the boys out of their resigned existence, and encourages them to fight to lift up their spirits. When tragedy finally falls at the hand of the sadistic dorm master, Erling leads his comrades in a courageous and vicious rebellion that will bring them head to head with no less than the Norwegian Army.

Release Date: 10 April 2012
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The Seminarian
Directed by: Joshua Lim

Starring: Mark Cirillo, Linda J. Carter

The Seminarian is a story about Ryan, a closeted gay student in his final semester of seminary studies. Despite his school's hostile stance towards homosexuality, Ryan has two gay classmates - Gerald and Anthony - in whom he secretly confides. He is also close to his religiously devout mother who, as things stand, is unaware of his sexual orientation. Ryan needs to complete a solid theological thesis in order to continue doctoral work at the university of his dreams. As he works on his thesis 'The Divine Gift of Love,' Ryan begins a relationship with Bradley - a guy he has met on the Internet who seems perpetually unable to commit himself. Ryan confides in Gerald and Anthony, only to learn about their romantic struggles as well. Consequently, Ryan questions his views on God's gift of love.

Release Date: 10 April 2012
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The Truth About Cats and Dogs (blu-ray release)
Directed by: Michael Lehmann

Starring: Ben Chaplin, Uma Thurman, Janeane Garofalo

In this updated and gender-reversed variation on Cyrano de Bergerac, Janeane Garofalo stars as Abby, the host of a radio talk show for people who have problems with pets. One day, she gets a call from Brian (Ben Chaplin) who is having trouble with his Great Dane (who enjoys roller skating). After a few minutes on the phone, Brian is immediately taken with Abby, and she's certainly interested in him. However, while Abby is not unattractive, she's terribly self-conscious about her appearance. When he asks her for a description, instead of telling him she's a diminutive brunette with big brown eyes, she describes her neighbor Noelle (Uma Thurman), a tall, rail-thin, blue eyed blonde. When Ben sets up a date, Abby is frantic and convinces Noelle to take her place. However, while Abby sounds smart, witty and charming over the radio (or the telephone), Noelle speaks totally different in person. Brian becomes puzzled -- why is it Abby is so great on the phone but so inarticulate in person? And what's the story with her friend, the cute brunette who sounds so smart? Noelle is even more confused; she wants to help her friend, but she's finding herself falling for Brian as well.

Release Date: 10 April 2012
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TV SERIES


Logan's Run: Complete Series

Starring: Gregory Harrison

A television series based on the movie of the same title wherein the entire planet is devastated by a nuclear holocaust and in the 23rd century various societies sprout everywhere and are totally oblivious of each other. One of these communities is the City of Domes wherein the citizens live in total bliss but because of limited space and resources, everyone who reaches the age of 30 is executed in an event called Carousel wherein they are told that they might be renewed in a new form. Now there are dissidents who don't believe the tales of the outside still uninhabitable because of the nuclear radiation. And they also believe of a place called Sanctuary where they can live in peace. These individuals are called Runners and they are hunted by men called Sandmen. One of these men is Logan, who questions whether being renewed actually happens and if the outside is uninhabitable. When he is sent to track down some runners, one of them Jessica who knows about Logan's doubts fuels them with what she knows and Logan decides to join her and they leave the city and search for Sanctuary. Francis, Logan's partner is tasked with trying to find him. Along the way they meet Rem an android, who helps them find their way and teach about the world they have entered.

Release Date: 10 April 2012
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One Tree Hill: Season 9

Starring: James Lafferty, Paul Johansson

This series follows the eventful lives of some high-school kids in Tree Hill, a small but not too quiet town in North Carolina, where the greatest source of pride is the high school basketball team, the Ravens, since living memory coached by old Whitey Durham. Its greatest talent ever was Dan Scott, who now runs a successful car dealership. The present talents are his two sons, Nathan Scott, a beautiful and popular athlete, the absolute star, who was molded and stifled by his proud dad, ambitious Dan Scott, who pushes him harder then even the coach approves of, but rather neglected by his spoiled, impulsive mother Deb, an alcoholic, and Lucas, abandoned at birth with his devoted mother, hard-working café-owner Karen Roe, who grew up with Dan's older but poor brother Keith as substitute father as a social reject, only playing hoops on a public yard in the park with street-kids, his passion being reading; when an incident forces the coach to replace suspended players.

Release Date: 10 April 2012
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