KEEP CALM AND LOVE BOOKS: college

Release Year: 2014

Genre: Drama/Romance

Length of film: 1h 45m

Director: Shana Feste

Following their high-school graduation, Jade Butterfield (Gabriella Wilde), a sheltered but privileged teen, becomes enthralled with David Elliot (Alex Pettyfer), a working-class youth with a troubled past. Though Jade and David quickly fall in love, Jade's father (Bruce Greenwood) strongly disapproves of the relationship, while David's father (Robert Patrick) advises caution. However, their parents' disapproval only makes the love-struck teens more determined to pursue the intense affair.

The trailer for Endless Love

Now, What I Thought:

I've never actually done a movie review before so please don't compare this to the blogs that focus mainly on these. I was browsing Netflix just 2 hours ago and I came across this film and I thought, "Oh what the hell, I want to feel inspired." Boy did I make the right choice!!! I really thoroughly enjoyed this movie! Something I did not know coming into it, was that it's actually an adaptation from Scott Spencer's novel, Endless Love, published in 1979. Whether I'll go ahead and read the book, I haven't decided yet, but I will definitely write a review on it if I do. This movie was very romantic yet inspiring. I found myself relating to Jade quite often and I understood what she felt and was going through. I really loved the character David. I found him genuinely sweet and caring, and those are traits that many lead male roles nowadays often lack. As for Alex Pettyfer, meh. I was never a fan of the actor, I found the only thing wrong with the casting part was him, everyone else was beautifully casted. I did like his little british accent cameo in the film; FYI, the actor is actually from the UK so that's why I did find it funny when he whipped that out.

Can I just express how much I love the actress who played Jade! She was fantastic! I honestly couldn't think of a better actress to play such a beautiful, timid, butterfly of a character! I use the word butterfly because I really did feel like she just opened up and blossomed (Jade, not the actress haha) towards the middle and was finally getting to live her life. You could really tell that her eldest brother's death affected her more than it did Keith (Jade's other older brother). I really liked that we even got insight on Keith's own relationship and the parents! Their mother really is such a cool person and so understanding. I liked that small detail that she was a pronounced writer before and how we got some knowledge on how her life has changed.

I did often understand where Hugh, Jade's father, was coming from, definitely. I understood that suddenly this boy comes into her life and she wants to drop and throw away her ambition for med school just to spend more time with him. It would seem absurd if that happened in real life and I'm more than sure my own father would act the exact same way, if not more aggressive. The producer really made him the 'antagonist' of the film when they added some details about his marriage (for obvious reasons I won't name what). I still actually liked him better than David's father, Harry. For some reason Harry really rubbed me the wrong way. I found him shallow and just wanting his son to stay and take over the shop. A parent is supposed to let their children go at some point to find their dream and live their own life, not keep them back with guilt for leaving you. I just didn't like how Harry approached things and his hesitation when David was clearly so happy to even be considering college.

All in all, I really enjoyed this film and I will probably re-watch it soon, as I usually do with my favourites. This has definitely been added to "My List" on my Netflix account, rest assured. The drama was fantastic, the romance was amazing and the whole journey between Jade and David was absolutely lovely. The movie left me inspired and really happy so all pluses for me! Go watch it!!!!

college - 4:10:00 AM

Endless Love | Movie Review

Release Year: 2014 Genre: Drama/Romance Length of film: 1h 45m Director: Shana Feste Following their high-school graduatio...

Pages: 322

Publication Date: April 16th 2013 (first published April 14th 2013)

Publisher: CreateSpace

ISBN: 1484125460 (ISBN13: 9781484125465)

*This is a New Adult Book, blood, violence, cursing, sexual references, and drug use. Not recommended for those under 17.*

When I won the annual Eagle Elite College Scholarship lottery, I was thrilled. After all, my grandma had just died and I wanted to take care of my aging grandpa -- he couldn't be a farmer in Wyoming forever. And graduating from Eagle Elite meant opportunity.

But I wasn't counting on meeting Nixon.

Nor was I counting on the rules of the Elect.

1. Do not touch The Elect.
2. Do not look at The Elect.
3. Do not speak to The Elect.

And worst of all? Don't discover the secret they hide, because in the end, you may just realize... it's about you.

Now, What I thought:

The concept of this book is pretty dull. I mean, it's typical high school drama with an added twist. To put it into perspective, this resembles a lot of the books you'd find on Wattpad. The drama was good though and it was a very quick read (1 day to be exact). It was a fun and easy distraction from the heavy reads I've recently picked up so besides the stereo-typicalness of it all, it was ok.

Our protagonist, Trace, is really infuriating. I wanted to punch, maim and kill her several times in the book. She was whiny, sad, always crying and had no confidence. Besides that, her story moves pretty quickly, which I thanked God for. We went from 0-100 real quick in this and it suited the story. There is swearing, violence (yuck), and sexual references in this book so just beware of that; Dyken does not hold back when it comes to what these guys and girls think in their heads.

Nixon is the typical too hot for school type jackass. I didn't like Nixon one bit in the beginning, and I still don't now. He's an asshole, as simple as that. Dyken tries to change him and make him a 'good' guy like some authors do, but I just really did not like him either way. I mean, the 3 rules??????? Do not touch, look or speak at the Elect (Nixon and his little gang) COME ON. That really infuriated me and how Trace would just go crying about them being so mean and how she would just take the abuse. Hello, you're all in college, grow a pair or just grow up and don't take stupid shit from these people.

While I'm saying a lot of negative things about the novel, I will admit it was entertaining. It was definitely something I just read on a whim and because it had that 'look' of just absolute funny ridiculousness. And I was right by the way. It was exactly that, ridiculous and way out of context drama. We do get some surprises in this book. I did see some stuff coming but I think Dyken wrote it so we could?? I hope. The plot does thicken a tiny bit toward the end when we get the truth but definitely don't count on this book to be a deep read.

I'm going to end this review on some dialogue from this book just to prove how ridiculous this was to read, yet extremely entertaining and funny:

“Oh my gosh, oh my gosh!” I closed my eyes. This had to be a dream. This couldn’t be real! “I’m going to die a virgin!” I blurted and then began to truly hyperventilate.

“What?” Nixon shouted.

“A virgin,” I repeated as I greedily tried to suck more air into my lungs. “I’m going to die a virgin! I’m going to die without ever going overseas! I’ve never even been nak*d in front of a man before! Oh my gosh! I’m never going to have kids! What if I want kids? What if—”

“Trace…” Nixon tried to interrupt me, but it was like I was watching my body freak out and couldn’t stop talking.

“Nixon, you have to promise me that if we live through this — and that’s a giant if, considering we’re literally trapped between two death machines — you have to take my virginity. Take it!”