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Coming to a Screen Near You!
Posted by: | CommentsYoung adult novels occupy a very sweet spot in the market. Precocious younger readers can take pride in stretching themselves to read these books, teens of the right age will flock to the books which reflect their angst and darkest desires, while full grown adults will enjoy some of the surprisingly complex themes and plot lines, while also reliving their youths.
Movie studios are quickly realizing the appeal of young adult novels, particularly after the success of movies based on the Harry Potter series, as well as the Twilight series. Indeed, these two movie franchises have accounted for a startling percentage of box office receipts over the past decade. Producers and directors know that they are on to a good thing with movie adaptations of young adult books, as can be seen by some of the upcoming projects. After all, if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
Here are some movie adaptations that you can look forward to in the next few years:
The Hunger Games (Mar 21, 2012)
The Hunger Games movie is one of the most highly anticipated movies of 2012, and will be released in just a month’s time. Things are bleak for North America in the not-too-distant future. The United States is no more, replaced by Panem, a country comprising a Capitol and just 12 states. The annual Hunger Games sees two young adults selected by lottery to participate in a fight to the death – only one of the 24 participants can remain alive. Katniss Everdeen (played by Jennifer Lawrence) is the determined heroine who’ll pit her skills against 23 others.
Breaking Dawn (Part 2) (Nov 16, 2012)
The first installment of Breaking Dawn was released in November 2011 and saw Bella and Edward (somewhat happily) married, as well as the birth of their child, Renesmee.
Twihards will have to wait until November 2012 for the final part of the Twilight movie franchise, where the Cullens will have to gather other vampire clans in order to protect their baby from a false allegation that puts the family in front of the Volturi. Stars the usual suspects Robert Pattinson (Edward), Kristen Stewart (Bella), and Taylor Lautner (Jacob Black).
Ender’s Game (2013)
Heist Society (2014)
Heist Society has a big name chaperoning its adaptation from book form to the silver screen, with Drew Barrymore confirmed to be producing and directing the film. Heist Society is based on Ally Carter’s book of the same name, which tells us of the travails of teenager Katarina Bishop. Katarina comes from a family of master-thieves, and has been pulling cons since she before she could walk. Determined to go straight, Katarina has con her way into a boarding school, only to find that she will have to come out of retirement to pull off a huge and nearly impossible heist in order to save her father from a fate worse than death at the hands of an angry Mob boss. The film is slated for release in 2014.
Star in Your Own Romance Novel!
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Photo from Yournovel.com
I was intrigued by a story that I recently read in the news about Yournovel.com, and immediately thought that this was just the thing to share with the readers at BestRomanceStories.com!
Yournovel.com offers a novel (heh heh) service that will appeal to all you romance fans out there. With just a few clicks of the mouse, you and your honey can star in your very own personalized romance novel. All you need to do is answer a series of 26 questions about your relationship online, including your favorite music and pet names for each other. Then choose any one of 28 unique romance stories, all set in different exotic locales. You can even choose to personalize the book with a photo of you both on the front cover.
Yournovel.com’s 28 stories give customers a wide range of locations to select from, including a tryst in the Caribbean or an adventure in Dublin. You and your partner can bond through action and adventure in contemporary times, or choose a sweeping historical romance. Couples can even choose romances with a paranormal twist, for example by becoming the hero and heroine in the ubiquitous vampire romance. Stories range from sweet and innocent romance to more steamy offerings, although Yournovel.com has had to politely decline customers’ requests to make their stories X-rated.
Yournovel.com is owned by Kathy Newbern-Fletcher and her husband J.S. Fletcher. Founded nearly 20 years ago, the idea for Yournovel.com came about almost by accident. In an ice-breaker at a conference, Newbern-Fletcher revealed that she had written a romance novel, although it had been yet to be published. Later that same day, a friend casually remarked that it would be great to read about herself in a romance novel – and the idea for Yournovel.com was born!
Despite twenty years in the business, it sounds like Newbern-Fletcher is ever-the-romantic. She says that while Yournovel.com’s stories are “fun and campy … we also like that they are delivering what the message … you can have fame and fortune, but if you’ve lost love, you’ve lost everything.”
The personalised books from Yournovel.com are available in paperback, hardcover, and (in a sign of the times) also in e-book format, and are just the perfect gift for romance lovers! The paperbacks and hardcovers range from $40 to $100 and take 7 to 10 days to be delivered. That’s a bit too late for Christmas, but if you’re still shopping for the perfect gift for that special person in your life, an e-book from Yournovel.com could be just the thing. Your personalized e-book can be be sent to you in less than 24 hours, and costs from $20 and up.
Thandie Newton Escaped Teen Years By Reading
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Thandie Newton
If you’ve seen gorgeous British actress Thandie Newton in films such as The Pursuit of Happyness, you’d think that she would have been beating boys off with a stick during her teen years. However, Newton reveals in an interview in the January 2012 edition of UK Elle magazine that she wasn’t popular with the opposite sex in her teens, and that the boys in the town that she lived in wouldn’t go out with her. Instead, she lost herself in books during her free time, reading sweeping tales of love to escape from teenage hormones and angst.
39-year-old Newton, who is of Zimbabean descent, says that the boys in the small town where she lived “weren’t going to out with black girls”. So instead of dating, she read classics like Thomas Hardy’s Tess of the d’Urbervilles, and George Eliot’s The Mill on the Floss to learn about romance. She said that books helped her make sense of the feelings that she had as a teen.
All that reading – and no dating – during her teens certainly hasn’t hurt Newton. Known as one of the most intelligent actresses in Holloywood, she graduated from the prestigious Cambridge University with an honors degree in Social Anthropology. She has enjoyed a successful career, most notably with an award-winning turn in highly-acclaimed movie, Crash. Newton has been married to English writer/director Ol Parker since 1998, and has two children.
Preaching to the Converted
Posted by: | CommentsI was reading a recent report that listed some startling statistics on romance novels. According to figures in “Business of Consumer Publishing 2011”, a study conducted in 2008 showed that almost 75 million people read at least one romance novel annually. To get a sense of how large a number that is, consider this. The entire population of the United Kingdom is only 62 million! If you’re reading this blog, I’m probably preaching to the converted. You, like me, are probably a fan of romance novels… but I’ll bet you never realized how many fans like you there are out there.
In fact, statistics show that romance fiction had the largest share of the consumer book market in the United States last year. Romance fiction accounted for a whopping 13.4 percent of the market. This was followed by religion/inspirational, mystery, science fiction/fantasy, then classic literary fiction. Obviously, the romance authors are doing something right!
So what makes romances so popular? Reports indicate that readers like that the books feature strong heroes and heroines. Gone are the days of romance novels where the women swoon, and the men do the rescuing. These days, the couple will work together to resolve a conflict or, yes, even save the world.
Another possible factor that’s making romance novels so successful is the increasing popularity of urban fantasy and paranormal romances. While such books have all the elements of a romance, they also have an interesting setting. The authors create new worlds that are similar – and yet not similar – to our own world. Readers get to escape to the unfamiliar, without going too far out of their comfort zone. While we’re at it, urban fantasy and paranormal romances usually confer on their heroes and heroines (and unfortunately sometimes the villains) super powers. Doesn’t everyone fantasize about having super powers?
Aside from content, romance novels are also popular for more technical reasons. The books are usually a very manageable 200 to 400 pages long, and can be read in a day or two. (I’d be deterred by a book the size of a telephone directory!) The trend of publishing books in a series, rather than as a standalone novel, also contributes to the popularity of such novels. Loyal readers will wait eagerly for each new installment of their favorite series, and snap the book up the moment it’s released.
The rise of e-book readers has also resulted in a surge in the popularity of the romance genre. Where previously readers might be embarrassed to be seen on the subway, or at a café with a romance novel with a lurid cover featuring a half-naked man (or woman), you no longer have that problem with your Kindle or Nook. You can pretend to be reading Dostoyevsky or one of the literary greats, when in fact you’re having fun reading about the exploits of a feisty heroine and her alpha male!
Regency Romp from Dunn in My Lord Winter
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Title: My Lord Winter
Author: Carola Dunn
Release: November 16 2011
Pages: 489
Genre: Regency Romance
Lady Jane Brooke is like so many other young women, excited to be going to her first season in London, even if her mother isn’t excited enough to come with her. But no matter, she is determined to go and brings her maid Ella and her governess Miss Gracechurch with her in the coach. It is all very proper, as it should be. That is, until her coach breaks down and the three ladies are forced to continue their trip in a mail coach. Most unfortunate! But even this won’t stop Lady Jane from getting to London, except that the mail coach has a mishap and the ladies must seek shelter at Lord Wintringham’s estate. They call him Lord Winter, and for good reason. The man is cold as ice, though as perfect a gentleman as anyone could ask. To protect her good name, Lady Jane introduces them as Miss Brooke and Miss Gracechurch. If they should mistakenly think her governess is an impoverished noblewoman, Lady Jane is not about to rescue them from this mistaken belief. And that was her first mistake.
Soon Lady Jane is caught up in her deceit and unable to find a way out of it. The Earl of Wintringham becomes intrigued by the young Miss Brooke, but since she is not high born, it can be nothing more than that. So why does she stay on his mind? Will Lady Jane find a way to tell the cold earl who she really is? If she does, will she come to regret it? And will the Earl ever find a way to release the cold in his heart as he begins to feel more than just amusement at the plucky Miss Brooke?
You will find all the right clichés that somehow don’t feel old and dated in the hands of an expert writer like Carola Dunn. There is an art to doing a Regency romance with just the right amount of innocence and fun, and Dunn has defined it once again in My Lord Winter. An expert in period stories, this one I a sure winner, ready for that special place by the bed to be read again and again.
