friday5 for May 17, 2013



Summer Movie Preview Edition! It's the beginning of the long weekend here in Canada, which basically means summer has arrived! And also means that the summer blockbuster season is upon us! There are plenty of movies to be excited in the coming months (and I don't know about you, but I'm ready for Catching Fire now--alas, it's a fall film), but here are a few that I'm particularly excited about:

(Oh and I'm skipping some of the awesome flicks that are already out, like The Great Gatsby and Iron Man 3 and the new Star Trek cause, well, they're already out and this is a PREVIEW EDITION!)

1. THE BLING RING. Cause Sophia Coppola can do no wrong in my books. I've talked about my love of The Virgin Suicides before. I've been waiting for another Soph-Cop (yeah, I just made that up, but feel free to use it) film for a while and it's finally here. And it looks great! Plus Hermione! You also can't go wrong with Emma W.



2. THIS IS THE END. Cause it looks hilarious. And how can it not be? If you see one silly/stupid/but still awesome and hilarious comedy this summer, THIS IS THE END is a safe bet for a fun time.



3. MONSTERS UNIVERSITY. Cause the original Monsters film is still one of the best Pixar has put out and this one is sure to be a winner too.



4. MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING. Cause Whedon is our God. And if that's not reason enough, it's Wes and Fred together again!


Those are just my absolute top picks--which summer blockbusters are you most excited to see?

5. I thought about using all five slots for my summer movie preview, but I just couldn't skip over a very exciting YA book that was published this week. School Spirits by Rachel Hawkins, the first book spun off from her fantastic Hex Hall series.

Like Hex Hall with a fresh twist
Fifteen-year-old Izzy Brannick was trained to fight monsters. For centuries, her family has hunted magical creatures. But when Izzy’s older sister vanishes without a trace while on a job, Izzy's mom decides they need to take a break.

Izzy and her mom move to a new town, but they soon discover it’s not as normal as it appears. A series of hauntings has been plaguing the local high school, and Izzy is determined to prove her worth and investigate. But assuming the guise of an average teenager is easier said than done. For a tough girl who's always been on her own, it’s strange to suddenly make friends and maybe even have a crush.

Can Izzy trust her new friends to help find the secret behind the hauntings before more people get hurt? 

Rachel Hawkins' delightful spin-off brings the same wit and charm as theNew York Times best-selling Hex Hall series. Get ready for more magic, mystery and romance! 
(Summary from Goodreads.com)  (I can't see to get rid of the wonky white highlighting on this.. so whatevs)
As fans of the Hex Hall series know, Izzy was introduced in the third and final volume in that trilogy and now we get to see her story. Rachel is one of my absolute favourite YA authors. Her manuscript for what later became Hex Hall was one of the first YA manuscripts that I completely fell for when I read it as a submission at my day job. She ended up being published by another house, but I've been a big fan ever since. She's hilarious, writes swoonworthy makeout scenes, but doesn't shy away from tightly-plotted dramatic action either. She hit the NYT Children's list with her second book for a reason. These books are fantastic and I'm so excited to keep reading!

Happy weekend!