February 13, 2012

A very happy book birthday to each of this week's new release lovelies! If you haven't sent any Valentines to your Harry Potter loving friends, get thee to the Accio Valentines section of MyHogwarts. (Yes, you CAN send these to yourself...and blow them up...and pin them on your wall....not that I would know or anything.) Since Game of Thrones has its share of romance (you know, underneath a fine coating of gore & violence), it's only fitting that a Valentine's Day card collection would surface just in time for the big day.    If you prefer to serenade your Valentine with more traditional sweet nothings, check out the Fallen in Love collection of e-cards.  What other bookish delights can you expect on your Valentine's Day? How about brand spanking new stories from two of the most romantic series out there—the Delirium series by Lauren Oliver, and The Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa. 1) There were enough pre-orders of Pandemonium, book 2 in the Delirium series, for Lauren Oliver's short e-story, Hana, to be released for free! The story will be up on MTV's site for four days. Check out Lauren's blog in the AM for the link. 2) Julie Kagawa will also have a new short story about Meghan and Ash's first Valentine's Day up on her blog. Check here for the story. Gloria "Glory" Fleming is a talented piano prodigy, dubbed "the Brecht of the piano" by critics for her innovative performances mixing the masters with new music such as Pavement and Wilco. Glory has performed at Carnegie Hall and the Kennedy Center, and been written about in newspapers and The New Yorker.   Brilliant and lonely, Glory is drawn to Francisco "Frank" Mendoza, who moves in next door. She loses herself in his paintings and drawings, mix CD’s and late night IM conversations. Soon, Frank becomes both her connection to the world and her escape from reality.   Before long, Glory is unable to play anything but the song Chopsticks; F and G notes moving closer together, and farther apart. Now, Glory has disappeared from her rest home without a trace. But nothing is what it seems. And we must decide what is real, what is imagined, and what has been madness all along... Click here to read the rest of our review for Chopsticks. If you loved the Dean & Aoife chemistry in The Iron Thorn, book one in The Iron Codex series, you'll love this book trailer for the sequel, The Nightmare Garden, which promises even more steampunk with a side of swoon. Great news—if you haven't started these popular paranormal romance series, now you can catch up on the cheap! These four series-launching books—Marked, Infinity, The Iron King and Evermore—are between $2.99 and $4.99 on your e-reader for a limited time.  The music video for Taylor Swift's Hunger Games soundtrack contribution with The Civil Wars, "Safe and Sound," premiered on MTV earlier today. Click below to watch Taylor stroll through a stark, very District 12-like landscape as she sings this mournful tune. And look what Taylor found—a meaningful trinket to play with while she sings! Emma Watson is taking a page out of Kristen Stewart's post-mega-franchise book, and heading for the fairy tales. The Hollywood Reporter reported today she is likely to star in Guillermo Del Toro's Beauty, an adaptation originally based on Robin McKinley's novel that has since evolved into a new story. Given how dark the Potter movies got toward the end, I think she'll be well prepared for Guillermo's creepy, spine-tingling style.. The Breaking Dawn: Part 1 DVD went on sale Friday, and already it has sold 3.2 million copies over the weekend. Could the Target midnight sneak peek be responsible for this record-breaking success? If you weren't among the many fans who crowded the DVD section of their local Target Friday night, you missed a 5 minute clip of interviews with the cast, plus a delish full scene from Breaking Dawn: Part 2, in which Edward and a fully vampiric Bella find Alice's note in the cottage. To watch the clip (via a Target big screen), and marvel at Bella's new vampiric speed, click below. If Friday's Mortal Instruments movie "turnaround" news has you freaking out, read this blog post by Cassie Clare. She explains what happened with Screen Gems and Scott Stewart, and what it means for the series. The good news is that Jamie Campbell Bower and Lily Collins are still attached to the project, and will be for the foreseeable future (an assurance that JCB echoed via Twitter), and that Cassie has been assured shooting will begin in August. So nevermind the studio shuffling—onward and upward! Disney's live action take on Snow White, originally titled Snow White & The Seven, has recently been renamed Order of the Seven, and has also gained a leading lady in Saoirse Ronan. Why the name change? The original plot had very few connections to the traditional Snow White tale, but due to Mirror Mirror and Snow White and the Hunstman stealing some of the Snow White thunder, all references to the fairy tale are being scrubbed from the script. Set in Hong Kong, the story chronicles “a 19th century-set disparate band of international warriors belonging to a centuries-old order who have lost their way. Their meeting with an Englishwoman being chased by an ancient evil is the catalyst for their redemption.”

Charlize Theron channels her inner Evil Queen in this behind-the-scenes pic from Snow White and the Huntsman.  To check out more pics from the set, head over here.