I'm super excited about this week's Top Ten Tuesday. Right now we need role models of strong women in our society that seems pretty set on being sexist. As a feminist I think it's important to have women be in strong roles that are available to everyone. I think it's awesome to read a book with a bad-ass female character. or see a show where women are portrayed as strong and capable. So here's my list of bad-ass, amazing, strong heroines!

1. Hermione Granger from the Harry Potter series. I love Hermione, she's amazing, strong, and capable. I love to be her best friend. The reason I picked her as my number one is because she's smart and she's the reason the Harry Potter and Ron survive any of the numerous problems they encounter. Hermione is strong. When Ron left, she stuck with Harry, She might not be the type of girl to get into fights or make a scene,instead she's strong and awesome in a quieter way, but none the less pretty bad-ass. I mean one of my favorite scenes is when she punches Draco Malfoy.

2. Clarke Griffin from The 100. I read the book and loved her. I watch the show and she's even MORE amazing. If you aren't watching this show, you are doing a disservice to yourself. Anyways... Clarke is honestly amazing. She's only two years older than me and is thrust into a new world into a war she never wanted. She has to navigate and often time sacrifice bits and pieces of her to win the war. I honestly respect her so much. She's also kind, and sweet, and always willing to do right by the people she loves. 

3. Regina from Once Upon a Time. She's one of my favorite characters and she's also one of the most bad-ass on the show. She kind of is this force of nature. Sometimes she could be evil and sometimes she was just beautiful and strong. No matter what life has thrown her way she has grown and become a better person while becoming a bastion of strength for a lot for a lot of the characters on the show. 

4. Kasta from Graceling. All her life she has been misjudged and ostracized and treated terribly. Yet she over comes everything to see the good in herself and even other people. She's also a great fighter, a master with any weapon, and overall bad-ass. 

5. Tris Prior from Divergent. Because I mean come on she's just fucking amazing. Like she's bad-ass, awesome and just like Clarke she's willing to do what it takes to win the war and protect her loved ones. She's overcome so much it's hard to not see her as this pillar of awesomeness and strength.

6. Buffy the Vampire Slayer. She's just awesome. I wish I could be as bad ass as her!

7. Mary from Reign. I mean being a queen is hard work. I love her so much. I love how she's putting others first and how now she's done being a ploy and a chess piece. In a time that is much harsher to women than men, I love how Mary always is independent, regal, and strong

.

8. Hazel Grace Lancaster from The Fault in Our Stars. Strength is more than just a physical thing, it's also a mental and emotional thing. Hazel might not be physically strong and be able to take down anyone, be she is filled with strength and capability beyond what normal people have. She faces death and she's okay with that. There's something to be said about her strength in the face of everything she's gone through.

9. Tally Youngblood from The Uglies Series.This girl has bounced back from everything. She's not an awesome person, she's a revolutionary. I love her because she's flawed yet always willing to fix the messes she makes for herself. She's exceptionally smart and strong in both the mental way and the physical way. 

10. Lilo from Lilo and Stitch. This is probably my favorite Disney movie. I will admit it has made me cry, it still makes me cry, I mean how can you not be upset when Stitch takes the story book stands in the middle of the woods saying "I'm lost" so that his family will find him? Anyways... I love Lilo she's weird and quirky but oh so amazing. She's different and doesn't have very many friends but she doesn't let that stop her from doing things that make her happy. I honestly love her so much.

Don't Forget to enter my giveaway! Happy Tuesday

DFTBA,

Guest Post: Top Five Book To Movie Adpatations

Alrighty! Happy Friday guys! We survived the week! I think we all deserve a little pat on the back for that! So today I thought I would host a guest post! Today I Have Sami Lien, who is super awesome and cool! Go check Out her website and follow her on social media! Enjoy :)

Hi everyone! I’m so glad to be here today! Big thanks to Giselle for hosting me today. I’ve had the chance to work with her over the years on virtual blog tours, and she always been so much fun to work with on promoting authors. I was so excited when she asked me to do a guest post here at Perks of Being a Reader! First of all - let me tell you a little about me! My name is Sami Lien, and I own Roger Charlie, a publicity and management firm that specializes in services for authors, musicians and small businesses. I just love working with creative professionals to help make their brand successful, and love sharing their stories across through various media platforms and events! Books, music, movies and entertainment in general are a huge passion of mine, so I thought today, I’d write about my Top 5 Favorite YA Book-to-Movie Adaptations, and hope you’ll chime in with comments on with your favorites, too! :)

 Warm Bodies (Book: 2012; Movie: 2013)
I actually received a copy of the book at Southern Independent Booksellers Alliance Trade Show before it was even released, but didn’t realize it until after I saw (and loved) the movie. I think the book translates over nicely into film, and just love the perspective and play on the culture of (how I took it, anyway) the negative effects of technology today. I wasn’t sure about another zombie story, but this one is so clever and unique, I recommend it to everyone! Plus, for music lovers like me, you’ll adore the soundtrack. Totally killer!

 Freaky Friday (Book: 1972; Movie: 1976)
I’m sticking with the 1976 version here, over the updated version with Lindsay Lohan and Jamie Lee Curtis, mostly because the latter movie is really based off of the first movie - not the book. I think the book shines in the inner monologue inside Annabel’s head, but the movie does a better job at actually bringing the characters to life. I also think the film did a really nice job developing the mom’s character, too, when she was more of a supporting role in the book.

 A Little Princess (Book: 1905; Movie: 1939,1995)
This film did a beautiful job of illustrating Sara’s imagination and bringing the story to life. I’m a sucker for a strong female lead - especially when they’re younger, so I think that’s a big part of the reason why this one resonates so strongly with me. I grew up on the Shirley Temple version, and while it’s somewhat different than the newer adaptation - I am a big fan of both.

 I Know What You Did Last Summer (Book: 1973; Movie: 1997)
I actually had no idea this was a book, so I had to go back and read it afterward. Despite switching up the regular order of things, I still loved both - but found the movie much more thrilling. I’m sure you’re thinking, ‘What a strange choice to have on this list,” but I was in high school when this came out in the theatres, so it’s one that will always stick with me as a favorite, and is probably a huge reason as to why I love Pretty Little Liars so much now. :) Plus… Ryan Phillippe? YES PLEASE. 

Nick and Norah and the Infinite Playlist (Book: 2007; Movie: 2008)
There’s actually very little of the book in the movie, but the story is consistent. The movie ending actually annoyed me - it seemed too easy, but it’s just a true testament of how much I enjoy a story that develops out of a completely random circumstance that creates a night full of adventure. I also love Kat Dennings and Ari Graynor, and of course, the fact that music almost plays another character in the film, as well.

Others that I haven’t yet seen, but are on my list:
The Lovely Bones
 I Am Number Four
 The Book Thief
The Fault in our Stars - I have to be in the right mood to be ready to cry!

 What are some of yours? I’d love more recommendations! Feel free to leave a comment below, or connect with me directly!
Sam@RogerCharlie.com
RogerCharlie.com

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Blogtober: Top Ten Tuesday

1. Hogwarts. No one who has ever read Harry Potter can not say they have not been dying to go to Hogwarts. I mean come on, its Hogwarts
2. Narnia. The Lion the Witch and the Wardrobe. How awesome would it be to go here. To just be surrounded by mythical creatures, wear princess dresses, make friends with some fauns.
3. Inkworld. Inkheart trilogy. I loved this trilogy as a kid. It's still one of my favorite book series ever. 
4. Hogsmead from Harry Potter. Because I would LOVE to have some butter beer!
5. Blackfriars Bridge. After reading The Infernal Devices I really wanted to go to London and stand on the Blackfriars Bridge. 
6. Amsterdam. I never really thought twice about Amsterdam until TFIOS.I meam I wanted to go to the Anne Frank house and go there because of the history but I never really thought of it as a place I would desperately want to visit. In the movie it looked beautiful and in the books it's description really drew me in.
   
7. Genovia from the Princess Diaries. For the longest time I actually thought this was a real place. I was absolutely heartbroken when I found out it wasn't real place at all.
8. Idris from The City of Glass. How cool would it be to be a shadowhunter! To be a shadowhunter in Idris! *sigh* 
9. Rivendell from The Lordof the Rings. It seems like such a safe, calm place to be. 
10. Neverland from Peter Pan. It's got mermaids, fairies, and pirates oh my! And you get to just play and have fun and not worry about things, and best of all you get to stay a kid. 

Hosted by The Broke and Bookish

Blogtober: Best Advice I've Ever Been Given

"When in a battle between logic and the heart always go with your heart because believe me or not your heart knows what will make you happy better than your mind does" --My Brother

“So, I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we'll never know most of them. But even if we don't have the power to choose where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them.” --Stephen Chbosky, Perks of Being a Wallflower

" Numbing the pain for a while will make it worse when you finally feel it." --Dumbledore, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 

"Never trust a duck"--Will Herondale, The Infernal Devices

"You don't get to choose if you get hurt in this world...but you do have some say in who hurts you. I like my choices." -- Augustus Waters, TFIOS 

Hosted by The Daily Tay and Helene in Between

Top Ten Characters I want at my Lunch table

This is actually perfect! I love this weeks theme! I just went back to school two weeks ago and i've been looking forward to this post for a while! So tell me, who would be at your lunch table?

1. 1. Jem Carstairs from The Infernal Devices because he's a sweetheart and an overall amazing person. Definitely would be my best friend!
2. Hermione from the Harry Potter Series because we're both really nerdy and try hard in school. We have similar goals and I feel like we'de get along really 
3. Agustus Waters from TFIOS because I love him and well he's Augustus Waters
4. Schuyler Van Alen from the Blue Bloods Series because she's a bit weird and quirky kind of like me.
5. Charlie from The Perks of Being a Wallflower. He's such a great guy, whose sweet and I really want to give him a hug.
6. Cath from Fangirl because we're both fan girls and are complete and total nerds and are okay with that. 
7. Noah Shaw from the Mara Dyer Series because a)he's super cute b) his accent c) has a really big heart and is really a nice person, if your on his good side. Good looks aside he's a pretty awesome person
8. Cole St Clair from the Shiver Series because I love his humor and I feel like he would make a really great friend. 
9. Tally Youngblood from the Uglies Series because I really liked her in the books and I feel like we could get along really well
10. Adam from If I Stay because he's an amazing talented person. He's one of my favorite characters ever. Plus he can play guitar at lunch!

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the broke and bookish

Mixtape Monday

I'm sure i'm not the only one but I love making playlists. And my playlists change as I discover new artists and new songs. I've seen this type of post done on other blogs and so here I am on my laptop making a Mixtape Monday. This week i'm posting my blogging playlist. The one I play when i'm creating new posts or re-arranging my blog. Without further ado here it is :) Enjoy




BLOGGING PLAYLIST :)

1. Home by Edward Sharp and the Magnetic Zeroes
2. Another Story by The Head and The Heart
3. Strawberry Swing by Coldplay
4. Weight Of Living, Pt II by Bastille 
5. Florescent Adolescence by Arctic Monkeys
6. Girls by The 1975
7. West Coast Lana Del Ray
8. Out Of My League by Fitz and the Tantrums
9. Gold Rush by Ed Sheeran
10. Tee Shirt by Birdy

Night Before Our Stars Review + Random Ranting/Fangirling

    Okay so my review might be a little late, but I figured better late than never.
     If you read the book you know that there is no way to watch this without bringing tissues. So I did. I walked into the movie theater, clutching the poster and the bracelet in one hand and my tissue box in the other. I read the books and I knew there was absolutely no way I was not going to cry. I have to admit I wasn't actually too worried about the movie. The trailers and John Green's approval of the movie made me feel like this could actually be a good movie
      As the movie started everyone in the theater started to scream. My friend whispered to me "all the fangirls are here right now". I replied "I know i'm one too". You could tell that everyone in the theater loved this story and where excited to see this story come to life. In other words there was a lot of screaming,"awwing", and sobbing. It was a great experience because I knew everyone in there was just like me; ready to see this beloved story come to life.
     The movie itself was amazing. Like literally I have no words to describe the perfection that is this movie. The actors really became Hazel and Gus and Issac. It felt so familiar and new all at once. I loved how true to the book the movie was. They did leave out a few things but to be honest I didn't even care. Most book to movie adaptations change the story too much, this movie didn't do that and I think that's what made everyone one love it. It satisfied the fans of the book and made those who were unfamiliar with the story fall in love with the story and the characters. The thing I loved most about it is that it kept the the message the same. It proved how a short life can still be a good one and that to live a good life you don't have to be loved by many, you just need one.
     The acting was phenomenal. The acting was so sincere and genuine. Ansel Elgort really was Gus for me. He brought out this boyish charm that I always pictured Gus having. And when the cancer came back Ansel really delivered in terms of the vulnerability and emotion. It was perfect. I legit started sobbing as soon as he brought Hazel out to the bench and uttered the saddest sentence in the history of life: "I lit up like a Christmas tree Hazel Grace". I didn't stop crying until the end. I'm not even ashamed. I'm actually surprised I didn't cry more. Shailene Woodley was so good. I sobbed when she sobbed, laughed when she laughed. It was just like the book.
     Okay now for the soundtrack. I really LOVE the soundtrack. I got it as soon as I got home and have been listening to it nonstop since. I'm listening to it right now. I'm listening to Tee-Shirt by Birdy. I think that the music really captured the emotions of the film and were perfect for the film. I can't tell you just how much I love the music for the movie.
      If you haven't watched the film yet I suggest you do, like soon. Its amazing and totally worht the tears you will shed. You will walk out feeling the same as when you read the book. You will see life and love and pretty much everything differently.     

My Rating: 4.5/5

Dear Augustus Waters...

     A book should be simple right? It’s just a bunch of pages with scribbles in them. Nothing special whatsoever.  I think we both know that’s not true at all. Books carry messages and themes and motifs that we can relate to. They hold the power to make us laugh in the middle of class during a test or make us sob uncontrollably at three am. It’s kind of like when you read an Imperial Affliction. The book suddenly meant so much more than a thing with words in it, it was something kind of magical. That’s how I, and a lot of other people, feel about your story. 
   
  Your story. You deserve way more than the number of pages you got. But then I think about how many stories I've read and the lengths of each one. A short book doesn't suck because it's short. In fact, it can be amazing, full of wonder and myriads of great feats. And that super big and long book in the corner of the library, it could be the most boring thing in the history of the world. So maybe it’s not about how long your story is, but what you do with the words and pages you have? And I have to say you've done a remarkable job. I guess Gus, we just get lucky with time, with our talents and whatever, but in the end it doesn't matter if you don’t do something with it. I know you wanted to change the world, and make people remember you. In the end you did. You changed Hazel’s world, Isaac’s world, your parents’, maybe even Peter Van Houten kind of.And I think that, that is more than enough. Changing,impacting,influencing people for the better,well I think,and I’m sure many people will agree with me when I say,that’s a great way to live life.
     And outside of the book, in reality, you did leave your mark on the world. I mean come on, your trending on Twitter.  Obviously people like you. Like a lot.I guess the important thing isn't that people will remember your name but who you were as a person and your personality and whatnot. So thanks for being awesome. Don’t let that go to your head okay? Good. In the book it took 172 pages for all us readers to fall in love with you. And now you've made so many more people fall in love with you. Maybe it’s because you remind people that nice people still exist. Or maybe they just really like your somewhat pretentious but still lovable metaphors. I’m voting for the latter one.What can I say? I’m a sucker for guys who use figurative language in their day to day lives.
     I'm writing this at 1:00 am and I just ate a box of starbursts and I’m crying. Now I’m a professional fangirl and I tend to overreact just a tad when it comes to my favorite books and my favorite characters. Just ask anyone of my friends. But see the thing is characters,to me and a lot of other people, aren't just words on a page,people on a screen. They’re real people. They are as real as the book sitting on my desk and the person living next door to me.So you were my friend while I read the book and watched the movie and even after, and maybe I sound a little weird when I say this, but like I said I get overly attached to characters and I wouldn't have it any other way. Not because I don’t have friends. Because I do, I totally do. But because I love being connected to those whom I read about. There are some fictional deaths that you just can’t get over. Yours is one of them.  Maybe it’s because you seemed so real, or because we could all relate to you.  But either way your death broke our hearts. It was like losing a friend. But you, you reminded us that we don’t need to do amazing things to be amazing we just have to be good people and be remarkable for the people we love. And that’s more than enough.   
    I've been thinking a lot about what Hazel said about infinities. About how some infinities are smaller than others. I agree with her. Sometimes forevers aren’t forever and sometimes they far longer than eternity. I’m so happy that you got a small infinity with Hazel, your perfect girl. I guess what I’m trying to say is that each one of us who read this book, or saw the movie, or both, got to part of this small little infinity too. We got a mini infinity filled with Hazel’s words, your metaphors and Isaac's humor. And I guess I’m thankful for that. I think we all are.   
    So Gus, I wrote you this letter because I needed you to know what you and this story meant to me and people like me. And you mean a lot to us. You've all shown us what a great life is and what it needs to be and what it doesn't. This letter is kind of jumbled and all over the place but it’s like you said, “My thought are stars I cannot fathom into constellations". Gus, what is there left to say but you made me smile more than any other book character ever and like I said before, I’m glad John Green wrote this book and gave us readers a small infinity with you and Hazel.

Top Ten Tuesday

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the lovely Broke and Bookish. This weeks theme is Top Ten Books that should be in your beach bag.

1) The Mortal Instruments has reached it's end with City of Heavenly Fire. I'm really sad to see this series go, but I can't wait to read this and other Shadowhunter Chronicles.

2)Twenty Boy Summer by Sara Ockler is an amazing book. When I read it a few summers back I could not put it down. It made me feel happy, sad, and every emotion inbetween. This is a must read!








3) If I Stay is heart-wrenching story, but something I think everybody should read. It's also being made into a movie, get a head start and read it before it comes out!
I definitely recommend this to those who love The Fault in Our Stars.

4) Two words: Tobias Eaton. I legit need to read this ASAP
(P.S I couldn't help but make this four)

5) To All The Boys I've Loved Before seems like a fun cutesy read!









6) ) I've always loved everything E. Lockheart and i'm sure We Were Liars is not going to be an exception! Besides who doesn't like a good summer mystery! I'm totally going to bring this on my next beach trip!

7) Ok I have a love-hate relationship with The Spectacular Now, but I mostly love it.  I LOVE Sutter. That kid is probably one of my favorite book characters.

8) Hold Still by Nina LaCour was absolutely amazing! As soon as I heard about Everything Leads to You I knew I had to read it! Also isn't the cover absolutely beautiful??

9) Uninvited seems like an interesting book. Serial killer gene? Falling in love with a potential serial killer? Sounds like a great summer read!

10) Side Effects May Vary seems like a great book! The premise of it is really fascinating.

Because I couldn't help it....

11) When I first read the summary for Love,Inc I thought about John Tucker must die. I have to this book is so much more than a story about revenge. Its a story about getting your heart broken and learning how to move on.





Whats your Top Ten this week??