Friday Link Dump: Pugs, Sesame Street and Vampire Academy

-The Vampire Academy movie has launched an official Tumblr, which is kinda like a Gossip Girl-esque in universe site. (Tumblr) Meanwhile if you want to stalk anyone who has anything to do with the movie, Penguin Teen Australia has got all the accounts you need to follow. (PTA)

-Which literary character are you? Apparently I'm someone from Lord of the Rings, which I haven't read, so doesn't have a lot of meaning to me. (Abebooks)

-Rainbow Rowell has some brilliant things to say about the censorship of her books. (The Toast)

-Meanwhile, Fiona Wood has some brilliant things to say about sex in Young Adult fiction. (The Midnight Garden)

-I am so excited about Disney's new movie, Frozen. Could do without the naff snowman, but hopefully it's not as goofy as it appears. (YouTube)

-Kit Harington. Wet. (Wonderland)

-Mash-up blog of the week: Teen Wolf meets New Girl. (Tumblr)

-Speaking of Teen Wolf, before he was the adorkable Stiles, Dylan O'Brien was an adorkable YouTuber. (YouTube)

-The creators of Once Upon a Time sure do know how to cast a hot guy, as this gallery shows. (Imgur)

-Not that I ever needed an excuse to love Prince Eric, but it's nice to see him get some recognition as the best prince ever. (BuzzFeed)

-Clem Ford names the ministries Tony Abbott should create to restore Australia to its former glory. And it's hilarious. (Daily Life)

-Apparently I'm not the only 20-something who can't make decisions or, you know, be an adult. How reassuring. (BuzzFeed)

-These photos of divers in front of the Eiffel Tower in 1912 and these of a woman dancing on the beach in the 1920s are are amazing. (Vintage Everyday)

-Proof that pugs are the best ever. (BuzzFeed) If that's not enough, here's more. I want one. (YouTube)

-Get ready to go gooey over these guest spots on Sesame Street: Henry Cavill, Lena Headey and Peter Dinklage. (YouTube)

-Jimmy Fallon has been going off this week. There's the hashtag conversation with Justin Timberlake, Lip Sync Battle with Joseph Gordon-Levitt and a performance with the folks from... wait for it... Sesame Street. (YouTube)

-This gif list will warm your heart. Even if it's stone cold. (BuzzFeed)

-These comics about depression are so powerful. (BuzzFeed)

-Jon Hamm holds cute baby animals. It's as amazing as it sounds. (BuzzFeed)

-This interview with Jennifer Lawrence reinforces everything I love about her. (YouTube)

-Forget turning a webpage into a Ryan Gosling shrine, now you can get the Cookie Monster everywhere all the time. (Omnomnomify)

-If you need more cuteness in your Instagram feed, check out these adorable animals. (Mashable)

Friday Link Dump: Flowers in the Attic, Adorable Dogs and Nutella

-The big news in the YA book world this week was the release of the Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters teaser trailer. (Yahoo!) If that isn't enough for you, here are some stills (Weebly), and here are author Richelle Mead's thoughts on the teaser (Dhampir Life). All I want to know is, why the hell is Dimitri wearing granny knickers?!

-There is a Nutella recipe book. I want to go to there. (Book Depository)

-I totally want this gorgeous book of illustrations of famous literary heroines. (Refinery 29)

-Even Stephenie Meyer is sick of Twilight. Really. (Variety)

-Cuddlebuggery created some memes about the woes of being a Big Book Blogger. Lulz. (Cuddlebuggery)

-The book isn't always better than the movie - at least according to the authors who wrote these ones. (Cracked)

-If you haven't seen the OCD poetry performance that's been doing the rounds, go watch it. Now. (YouTube)

-This is what Teen Wolf looks like to a Tumblr user who hasn't actually seen the show. Spoiler: It's hilarious. (Hypable)

-The history and magazine nerds inside me are both very happy with this post about the first issues of famous mags. (Mental Floss)

-People who think The Onion articles are true are silly. And hilarious. (Thought Catalog)

-The Toast had a Flowers in the Attic day and it was amazing. They interviewed editor Ann Patty, who also wrote her own account of how the book came to be. They also published some fan art and this insightful piece on "disability horror" - coz V.C. Andrews is about more than incest. Ahem. (The Toast)

-In other V.C. Andrews news, Kiernan Shipka (a.k.a. Sally Draper) has been cast as Cathy in the upcoming Flowers in the Attic movie and I don't know how to feel about this. (Deadline)
 
-Hypable lists their fave Shakespeare movie adaptations. I like that 10 Things I Hate About You made the list. (Hypable)

-I've been reading Tales of the Macabre by Edgar Allen Poe this week and it made me curious about how accurate The Following is in its portrayal of Poe. Apparently not very. (Vulture)

-The 10 types of writers you probably resent. (The Toast)

-I can't decide whether to laugh or cry at these emoji versions of famous artworks. Laugh. It's laugh. (Tumblr)

-I am really excited to watch A.C.O.D. Although it will be odd to see Amy Poehler play Adam Scott's step-mother. But awesome. (Yahoo!)

-The trailer for Cory Monteith's last movie, McCanick, looks great but it's incredibly haunting. It makes me wonder if playing a drug addict triggered his own addiction. So sad. (YouTube)

-GQ lists the key horror movies to watch this year. Although their definition of horror is quite loose. (GQ)

-Tina Fey is working on another TV show and it's the best news I've heard all week. (AV Club)

-Do you ever browse the web and find yourself thinking, "if only every single photo on this page was Ryan Gosling"? No? Well, there's an app for that anyway. (Hey Girl)

-Take this hearing test to see how good your ears are. Mine are "under 40". Yikes. (YouTube)

-These dogs are cat people and although I am not cat people I am all for interspecies friendships. I am also all for dogs who sometimes forget how to be dogs and get themselves into hilarious positions. But most of all I am for dogs who are really excited about being dogs. (BuzzFeed)

-Meanwhile this dog knows how to play with himself (get your mind out of the gutter!). (YouTube)

-I love seeing pictures of Marilyn Monroe that I haven't come across before. Like these. (Vintage Everyday)

Review: Rules of Attraction by Simone Elkeles

I have never been so excited to get a book. After finishing Perfect Chemistry, the first in Simone Elkeles' series, I cursed myself for not having ordered the whole thing, and immediately went online to remedy my mistake. Then I waited. And waited. Everyone in my office was on book watch. Each day a book didn't come (or the wrong one did) was a disappointment. Then, when Rules of Attraction finally appeared on my desk...

Yep. I squealed. Then went home and DEVOURED it. I'm talking staying up 'til 2am even though I had to work the next day. I could not put it down. I sped through the pages, anxious for the next appearance of Alex and Brittany, plus excited to watch the developing relationship between Alex's little bro, Carlos, and Kiara, the girl whose family had taken him in.

Squealing aside, I was initially a little concerned that Rules of Attraction would feel like copypasta of Perfect Chemistry, but I needn't have worried. Sure, the two books are structurally and thematically similar, but the characters are completely unique. Carlos may be related to Alex, but the two are quite different. Carlos is even angrier at the world than Alex was, and takes his emotions out on those around him. As a result, he comes off as quite, well, douchey for a big chunk of the book. Of course, he's a good guy deep down; his sweetness just takes a little longer to surface than it did in Alex's case. Which makes him pretty amusing, but also incredibly frustrating and hard to warm to at first. It's OK though, coz his hotness in the second half of the book more than makes up for it.

What I liked most about Rules of Attraction, though, was not actually Carlos - it was Kiara. She was a bit of a dag, but I loved that she was smart, had unique interests, an awesome gay best friend, didn't care what other people thought of her and took no crap - especially from Carlos. She gave as good as she got, and it was totally hot. Plus she has an incredibly amazing family who were so fun to read about. At first I was like, are these people for real?! Taking in a gang member the same age as your teenage daughter is not exactly a smart move, when you think about it. But when Kiara's dad's background is revealed, it all makes sense. I loved the way they all looked after each other and enjoyed spending time together. Hello, Family Fun Night? Adorable!

The chemistry between Carlos and Kiara wasn't quite as explosive as it was between Alex and Brittany (for me, at least), but it was still pretty fiery. I loved the glimpses we got of the older couple, too; they're so loved-up for most of the book and it's great to see them going strong. There was one plot twist that kinda threw me off, but thanks to the cheesetastic epilogue in Perfect Chemistry I knew everything would be OK. There's another extra cheesy epilogue in this installment, and I gotta admit I enjoyed it. I do love me a happily ever after.

Rating: 3/5

Eye Candy
I pictured Tyler Posey as Carlos because a) he's hot, b) he has Mexican heritage, c) he's hot, d) he looked hot doing the whole (highly stylised) gang thing in Best Coast's Our Deal film clip, and e) he's hot.

I pictured Tyler's Teen Wolf co-star Crystal Reed as Kiara, because I'm just THAT imaginative. In my defense, she does look kinda how I thought Kiara would - brunette, athletic...

Also? They're totally adorable together.

Related
The aforementioned Best Coast clip, which I watch at least twice a day. I'm obsessed.

Fine Print
Genre: Young Adult
Published: 2010
Publisher: Walker Books
Get It: Book Depository

Images via Tyler Posey Online and Ultimate Crystal Reed