It seems that now a days, YA books are more focused on the romance aspect of relationships, and while that's fine, I know there are a lot of readers that prefer things like family, friendship and brotherhoods. They are not hard to come by, though sometimes one has to look more closely.

Humans are inherently social creatures and while romances are amazing they can only be shared with a few but friendships are limitless.

Mari

The first friendship that comes to mind is an unconventional one. It's between an old, retired army veteran, George, and a teenage girl, Quinn, who volunteers at the retirement home in If I Lie by Corrine Jackson.

“You're not one of those cranky old people who uses their age as an excuse to be a prick, are you?” 

“I don’t care about the rumors. I know about the type of person you are, and I still love you.”

This whole book from its core was about friendship and it is a rare commodity. Despite the problems that faced them, the two manage to bond over their common love for photography and their friendship grows to really skip generations making George the person Quinn relies on to guide her. I found it to so beautiful. 

Now, I'll leave our favourite friendship trio for P.E. to expand on but who can possibly leave out, Harry Ron and Hermione?

P.E.

Mari feels bad for me because I struggled so much to pick a family to highlight, so she thought that giving me Harry Potter this time would be fair. Except, Harry Potter wasn't even my first thought! When I think of friendships, I think of Rose and Lissa from Vampire Academy. These two girls are best friends and are willing to do anything to protect each other. They have their issues and arguments, but they try their best to move on. 

Another pretty awesome series for friendships is literally anything Rick Riordan writes. More specifically, Percy, Grover, and Annabeth. They are friends despite such different personalities. Percy and Grover initially bond, and slowly Annabeth becomes integrated into their group. Their friendship is so strong that it could be Percy's downfall, because he's so incredibly loyal to his friends. Also, they've gone through so much together and you can really tell they can face anything together. I'll be starting The House of Hades soon, and I've been through an incredibly slow reread of The Lightning Thief, so this is a series that is on my mind. 

I'm sure there are many more friendships I'm missing, but these are two that I think stand out. Obviously, Harry Potter would also make my list too. 

Who Are Your Favourite Literary Friends!

-MARI & P.E.

This is a pretty exciting time for all us Vampire Academy fans as the release date of the movie gets closer and all the fun things like trailers are being released. Today is one of those days (Wednesday), in which the very first VA: Blood Sisters trailer has been released. Therefore, it is the perfect time to talk about VA and why it's awesome. If you haven't read this series then this post is directed at you, READ IT! If you have read the series then let's talk about what we love most about this series and its epicness. It's an all around VA love-fest, join in!

4 Reasons Why VA is the BEST!

1. Rose Hathaway is the most tenacious, kick ass, hilarious and exciting female character I've ever read. She is wild and free; there is no time to waste when around Rose.
2. Dimitri Belikov!!! *Faint-swoon* He is dashing, chivalrous, and troubled .What more can we ask for? But seriously, Dimitri was one of my first book crushes. Both my parents are teachers so I grew up thinking that all teachers should be treated as your parents (with respect). As you can probably see, it takes a lot to make me accept a student-teacher relationship but I didn't even notice the dilemma. Surly, a sign of Mead's awesome writing and Dimitri's godliness!
3. Strigoi-Moroi-Guardian situation. I love that she strayed from the traditional "evil vampires" or the twilight "sparkly vampires" and made something more understandable. Loved the idea of guardians protecting vampires and a Moroi court. Very interesting and understandable. If there were a superhuman race like vampires, then why would they be living in the dark hunting for their next meal when they can be benefiting from all the opportunities presented by the humans.
4. Guardians! At one point in all of our lives, we have probably thought about being one of those cool action heroes that help people. I know I have. In another life I would love to be a police officer or security personnel or even better FBI Profiler (yes, Criminal Minds). In all those fantasies we think of strong, thick-skinned people who are not afraid to put their lives at risk for the sake of others. Here, we see that they are normal people with opinions and beliefs that we can understand and no they aren't vampires!

 Cast Analysis

Dimitri Belikov - Danila Kozlovsky
I think he is perfect! I remember when the rights for the movie were first bought and it seemed like everyone in the world wanted Ben Barnes to be Dimitri. I'm sorry for those who were disappointed but I'm really glad they went with Danila. He is Russian, well built, the perfect age and it seems that he has great chemistry with Zoey! Also chocolate brown eyes :)

Rating: 10

Rose Hathaway - Zoey Deutch
I wasn't so sure about her as she looked really skinny and dainty in the Beautiful Creatures movie, quite the opposite of how I imagined Rose. Still, her facial features are very Rose-like with the "desert princess" idea.

Rating: 8

Lissa Dragomir - Lucy Fry
I am not a Lissa fan. I don't like the girl but that doesn't mean I can't appreciate her. Lucy is definitely, blond, beautiful with a model-like body. I don't have much to complain about except for her eye colour. The Dragomir green was mentioned a lot just like Harry Potter's green eyes. I'm hoping there will be contacts but you never know.

Rating: 8 

Conclusion: 26/30

Just from their looks and the little that I've heard about them they are a hit! I'm very happy with the actors looks but the acting will be their defining moment.

Vampire Academy: Blood Sisters Trailer

Thoughts:

Action-packed. It looks like they went with the Gossip Girl style, high school for vampires. It kind of reminds me of True Blood, with all the angst and bloodsucking, but I haven't seen a lot of that show so I can't really relate them well. I love the little flashes showing Dimitri and Rose's training. The training scenes were my favourite while reading the books and that's what I'll be looking forward to in the movie. All in all, I think Daniel Waters knows what he is doing and I'm not going to go ahead and form a complete opinion on the movie until after I see more of it. For now, I'm going to stick with "It's going to be a fun watch" and I don't think I'm bringing my brother to the movies with me (Rose and Dimitri bedroom scene looks quite intense!)

What Do You Think? Like/ Dislike?

-MARI