Even though I already posted today, I wanted to get in on this week's Blog Hop. I always love hopping around the book blogosphere checking in on blogs I love and discovering new ones. It makes me happy, especially since I'm currently mourning the ending of the school year. Not that I don't adore my kiddos. I just foresee a very long summer full of arguing and "I'm bored"s. Since I need a little cheering up (and because I really, really want to get to 500 Followers), I'm going to start hopping. Join me, won't you?

This week's question is: Which book-to-movie adaptation have you liked? Which have you disliked?

- The movies that first come to mind are the Harry Potter ones. I thought the casting was incredible - the actors brought the characters to life just as I'd pictured them in my head. And with the sets, the adaptation and everything else, well, magical is all I can say.

As far as movie adaptations I didn't like, the two that stand out are Twilight and Stardust. If you've seen the former, you know exactly what I'm talking about. It's so bad, it's funny. Stardust just didn't do the book justice. Loved the book, detested the film.

What about you? Which have you liked? Which didn't work for you? I'd love to know.

Thanks for stopping by BBB. Please leave me a comment and a link to your blog so I can hop by and visit you. Have a great Memorial Day weekend!

Island Beneath the Sea concerns Toulouse Valmorain, a 20-year-old Frenchman who comes to the island of Saint-Domingue (present-day Haiti) in 1770 to help his father run the family's sugarcane plantation. He doesn't plan to stay. Then, his father dies and Toulouse's fate is sealed. Saint-Lazare, the plantation his father has almost run into the ground, now belongs to him. Toulouse gets to work setting the place to rights, making himself wealthy in the process. As a white plantation owner, one of the grands blancs who run the wild, backward island, he has enough money, power and influence to do whatever he pleases.

When Toulouse decides to marry, he asks his favorite courtesan to find his new wife a maid. Violette Boisier suggests young Zarité, known as Tété. The slave girl's scrawny and nappy-headed, but Violette sees potential in her quiet, graceful ways. Soon, Tété's serving the demanding Eugenia Valmorain, a position that keeps her in the big house, away from the cane fields and the brutal overseer who runs them. As she grows into her beauty, Tété cannot escape her master's eye. Or his bed. She doesn't want to be Toulouse's concubine, doesn't want to bear his children, but she's trapped. Her only path to freedom lies in pleasing the insatiable Frenchman.

When a massive slave revolt led by the infamous Toussaint Louverture forces Toulouse Valmorain and the other grands blancs off the island, he sails to New Orleans. To protect her daughter and Valmorain's son, whom she's raised since infancy, Tété goes with him. In America, Tété hopes Toulouse will make good on his promise to free her. But in Lousiana where "abolitionism was considered worse than syphilis" (318), the path to liberation will be fraught with danger, sacrifice and heartache. Maybe more than Tété can bear.

In Island Beneath the Sea, Allende employs deftness and detail to paint an affecting portrait of slavery. Through Toulouse Valmorain, she brings to vivid life all the hatred, hypocrisy and hubris of the institution. With strong, stalwart Tété, she proves the tenacity of the human spirit. Mostly, though, the story is about freedom - what it costs, how it inspires, and what, in the end, it really means. Evocative and eye-opening, the novel requires an investment of time, but it's worth a week. And more.

(Readalikes: Reminded me of a little of Wench by Dolen Perkins-Valdez and Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson)

Grade: B

If this were a movie, it would be rated: R for language (no F-bombs), violence and sexual content

To the FTC, with love: I received an ARC of Island Beneath the Sea from the generous folks at Harper Collins and TLC Book Tours, for whom this review was written.

My mom always advised me that if I couldn't say anything nice, I shouldn't say anything at all. So, maybe, I should follow that counsel and leave this book alone. Not because I hated it. I didn't. There were just too many things that got in the way of me enjoying it. Like what, you ask? Behold the handy dandy list below:

None of the characters displayed even an iota of personality. Flat, dull characters make for flat, dull stories.

McNish never described the throat weaponry well enough for me to form a picture in my head - Are they physical protrusions? Or just menacing sounds? I remain confused.

Savannah's home life wasn't consistent. She had a loving foster mother who let her hang out on all night on the streets of London because, as Nina explains, "Annette didn't understand what was going on with me, but she did grasp that whatever it was, I needed to go through it alone" (173). What the what?

The incredibly annoying overuse of adverbs (like 2-5 on every page). This is Writing 101, people - adverbs exist to support weak verbs. Instead of tacking an adverb onto every wimpy verb, find a strong verb instead.

Lots of other stuff.

The bottom line is I finished Savannah Grey, but almost everything about it made me crazy. Not everything. I liked the idea behind the story. I liked having the monster's perspective. And I kind of liked Reece's role in the book. Everything else? Pretty much drove me insane.

'Nough said.

(Readalikes: Hm, I can't think of anything. Can you?)

Grade: D

If this were a movie, it would be rated: PG for scary images

To the FTC, with love: I received a finished copy of Savannah Grey from the generous folks at Carol Rhoda LAB. Thank you!

I wasn't going to do Armchair BEA, mostly because I'm just too lazy to post every day, but I feel like I'm missing out on all the meeting/greeting fun. I should be able to handle the first post at least. So, here goes:

My name is Susan and I blog from the excessively sunny state of Arizona. Since I grew up in the excessively rainy state of Washington, I still feel a little blinded by all this sunshine. Maybe that's why I spend so much time sitting inside (where there's AC and ceiling fans) reading books. Or maybe it's because I just love to read - always have, always will.

I'll read just about anything (unless it involves math, politics, or idiotic celebrities), but my favorite books are mysteries; nice, thick family sagas; and anything dystopian. For me, reviewing books is almost - almost - as fun as reading them.

In my real life, I'm also a wife (of 14 years) and a stay-at-home mom (of 4 kids). When I've got a spare minute (and my nose isn't buried in a book), I also like to cross-stitch, listen to music, play word games (Scrabble, anyone?) and attempt to write fiction.

Welcome to Bloggin' 'bout Books, which I've been writing for about 5 years (Really? Whew.). I review all kinds of books in an honest, tell-it-like-it-is fashion that some people find refreshing and others find, well, mean. Which is weird, since I'm totally not. Mean, that is. I love finding new book blogs, so please leave a comment with a link to yours and I promise to come visit.

Happy Armchair BEA!