Fan Art Friday: Dracula

I was worried I wouldn't be able to find fan art from the book. I thought it would be a lot of movie fan art, but I was pleasantly surprised! I found a variety of characters and scenes from the book. I love artists who read!

Don't you love the variety of style and scenes? It is awesome!

My favorite is the last one. It is spooky. I love the use of color and shadows. I just love how it portrays that ominous carriage ride to Count Dracula's castle.

Which is your favorite?

As usual, the pictures are all linked to the source. You can check out more from the artists!

The Notebook

My Thoughts:

-    Why do I let people talk me into things I know I won't like? WHY?

-    I didn't like Noah or Allie. They were dumb as teenagers and as adults.

-    Noah totally manipulated Allie into going out with him! Great way to start a relationship! NOT!

-    I was bored for a lot of the film. A lot of it was just talking and talking and talking.

-    I liked Noah's dad. He was the best character in the movie.

-    Allie is such a SPAZ!

-    Noah turns into a crazy obsessive bum. What woman would want that? I didn't like how he used that poor widow lady.

-    I was SO bored!

-    Allie should have picked the other dude. He was stable and really nice. Plus he adored her. 

-    James Garner looks NOTHING like Ryan Gosling.

-    What was the point of this movie!?

The Underground Abductor

From Goodreads:    Araminta Ross was born a slave in Delaware in the early 19th century. Slavery meant that her family could be ripped apart at any time, and that she could be put to work in dangerous places and for abusive people. But north of the Mason-Dixon line, slavery was illegal. If she could run away and make it north without being caught or killed, she’d be free. Facing enormous danger, Araminta made it, and once free, she changed her name to Harriet Tubman. Tubman spent the rest of her life helping slaves run away like she did, every time taking her life in her hands. Nathan Hale tells her incredible true-life story with the humor and sensitivity he’s shown in every one of the Hazardous Tales—perfect for reluctant readers and classroom discussions.



My Thoughts:

-    I had a major stupid moment with this book. I picked it up because I love Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales, and I didn't even read the synopsis or anything. It took me about halfway through the book before I realized this was Harriet Tubman's story. DUH!

-    I love that it is Nathan Hale telling historical future stories to the hangman and soldier. It is so clever!

-    I love the hangman's interjections. He often says what I am thinking. He speaks for the audience, and it is awesome!

-    I loved the quick summary of Frederick Douglas, but he really should have his own book.

-    Illustrations and panel are so much fun!

-    Even though these books cover serious topics, they are very tastefully hilarious! I love it.

-    I can't for more Hazardous Tales!

Avengers: Age of Ultron

My Thoughts:

-    I was really skeptical about this one, but it wasn't horrible.

-    They did a good job with Vision. His character design is pretty spot on. Him being Jarvis though.....

-    Scarlet Witch and Quicksilver were okay as well. BUT They were not experimented upon!!! They were born as mutants!!

-    The whole Hulk and Black Widow thing was awful! Gag! In fact, the Hulk was really dumb in this one. Worst Hulk portrayal ever!! I'm getting sick of what they are doing with Black Widow as well.

-    I thought Tony Stark destroyed all his suits? I guess he built more?

-    Stark and Banner did NOT create Ultron!! Hank Pym created Ultron!! 

-    The action sequences were alright. The beginning had some pretty rough CG though.

-    I was really bugged that some of the super powers were being stretched! Captain American throwing his bike!?!? Ya right! Quicksilver moving a car? HECK NO! He is fast, not super strong.

-    Hawkeye does not have a family! Gag! I enjoyed all the Renner scenes though. Dang he has nice hair!

-    James Spader was an amazing voice for Ultron! I loved that!

-    I rolled my eyes quite a few times and made grunt noises, but overall it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.

-    I LOVED the Stan Lee cameo as usual!

Not in the Script

Goodreads Says:    Millions of people witnessed Emma Taylor’s first kiss—a kiss that needed twelve takes and four camera angles to get right. After spending nearly all of her teen years performing on cue, Emma wonders if any part of her life is real anymore . . . particularly her relationships.

Jake Elliott’s face is on magazine ads around the world, but his lucrative modeling deals were a poor substitute for what he had to leave behind. Now acting is offering Jake everything he wants: close proximity to home; an opportunity to finally start school; and plenty of time with the smart and irresistible Emma Taylor . . . if she would just give him a chance.

When Jake takes Emma behind the scenes of his real life, she begins to see how genuine he is, but on-set relationships always end badly. Don’t they? Toss in Hollywood’s most notorious heartthrob and a resident diva who may or may not be as evil as she seems, and the production of Coyote Hills heats up in unexpected—and romantic—ways.

This novel in the deliciously fun If Only romance line proves that the best kinds of love stories don’t follow a script. 

My Thoughts:

-    This is a fluff book. I'm kinda picky about my fluff books, and this one just didn't do it for me.

-    Rachel is SO SO SO annoying!

-    Nothing really happens for most of the book. There is practically no plot. The characters talk and talk and talk and then talk some more.

-    A lot of people liked the banter between Emma and Jake, but I wasn't feeling it. I wasn't as great as other books I've read, and I didn't find it funny.

-    I did like that Emma and Jake had other goals in life than acting. They were more real, and they wanted a good education.

-    At first I really didn't like Kimmi, but in the end I wanted to give her a high five. I still didn't like her, but she deserved a high five.

-    Hated Brett from the get go!

-    Overall this book was cute, but it wasn't for me. 

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Things I Quit

Hosted by The Broke and The Bookish

Ten Bookish Things I Want to Quit or Have Quit

Wow! What a topic. The description goes like this: aka ten book series I think I'm going to abandon, ten bookish habits I want to quit, ten authors I quit reading, ten types of books I'm quitting, ten tropes I want to stop reading about, ten books I marked as DNF (did not finish) recently, etc. Get as creative as you want.

Let's start with Authors


I have not forgiven James Dashner for the frustration that is The Maze Runner series. I still have SO many questions and NO answers! I was hoping for answers in the movies, but that last one was even more ridiculous than the book! I will never read another Dashner book!


Shocker! So many people love John Green, but I'm not really a big fan. I liked Fault in our Stars okay, but I hated Paper Towns. I'm really not interested in reading any of his other books.


I've read Sweethearts and Story of a Girl, and I started the piano one, but I didn't really like any of those. I've given up on Sara Zarr. I feel like I've given her a good try.

Book Habit to Quit

I have a giant pile of books I own and haven't read! I don't want that! If I own it, I want to have read it! My book adoption habit needs some reigning in.

Most Recent Books I've Quit

 
 
 
Some of these I didn't finish because I was in a reading slump. I plan on finishing The Dream Thieves, and I want to give Alias Hook and Wednesday Wars another try.

Shutter

Goodreads Synopsis:    Horror has a new name: introducing Courtney Alameda.

Micheline Helsing is a tetrachromat—a girl who sees the auras of the undead in a prismatic spectrum. As one of the last descendants of the Van Helsing lineage, she has trained since childhood to destroy monsters both corporeal and spiritual: the corporeal undead go down by the bullet, the spiritual undead by the lens. With an analog SLR camera as her best weapon, Micheline exorcises ghosts by capturing their spiritual energy on film. She's aided by her crew: Oliver, a techno-whiz and the boy who developed her camera's technology; Jude, who can predict death; and Ryder, the boy Micheline has known and loved forever.

When a routine ghost hunt goes awry, Micheline and the boys are infected with a curse known as a soulchain. As the ghostly chains spread through their bodies, Micheline learns that if she doesn't exorcise her entity in seven days or less, she and her friends will die. Now pursued as a renegade agent by her monster-hunting father, Leonard Helsing, she must track and destroy an entity more powerful than anything she's faced before . . . or die trying.

Lock, stock, and lens, she’s in for one hell of a week.

My Thoughts:

-    Courtney said her book was like a video game, and she wasn't joking! There is even an epic boss fight at the end. 

-    I really enjoyed this story. It was super awesome and creepy! 

-    This is a must read for Fatal Frame fans!

-    The story is very fast paced. There really isn't a moment for the characters to stop and breathe. It is just go go go! And you never know what horror the gang in going to run into next.

-    The characters are all amazing! I loved Micheline and her crew. 

-    The romance was great. There was just enough to keep a reader happy, but it didn't overpower the meat of the story.

-    I don't know how Micheline stays sane after everything she goes through. Anyone else would need major therapy and pills. 

-    I loved how the Van Helsing and Stoker lines were part of the characters. It added a lot of nostalgia and fun. 

-    I've been looking forward to Courtney's book for a long time, and she didn't disappoint. I may be biased, but this one is a keeper!

The Walking Dead: Days Gone Bye

Goodreads Synopsis:    How many hours are in a day when you don't spend half of them watching television?

When is the last time any of us REALLY worked to get something we wanted?

How long has it been since any of us really NEEDED something that we WANTED?

The world we knew is gone.

The world of commerce and frivolous necessity has been replaced by a world of survival and responsibility.

An epidemic of apocalyptic proportions has swept the globe causing the dead to rise and feed on the living.

In a matter of months society has crumbled.
no government, no grocery stores, no mail delivery, no cable TV.

In a world ruled by the dead, we are forced to finally start living.

My Thoughts:

-    I was really hooked by the introduction. This series is really long! Is there in end in sight?

-    There is crazy action and excitement from the start! Whoa!

-    The illustrations are SO vivid, and I like how they made this series black and white. It adds to the scary.

-    There is a lot language, so beware.

-    The poor horse! You have to have a strong stomach to read this.

-    Even though I don't know much about Rick yet, I still sympathize with him big time.

-    Glenn reminds me of Short Round from Indiana Jones.

-    If I had to sum this graphic novel up in one word, it would be CRAZY! The story is really messed up, and the ending is SO crazy! This whole book was just one big crazy mess! Wow! It was thrilling and disturbing all at the same time.

-    If there was a rated R book out there, this is it!