I normally read fantasy books, but I love old Hollywood: the movies, the actors, the clothes, and the stories, so I was excited to pick up this book.
Valderrama does an excellent job of telling stories from the Golden Age of Hollywood that haven’t been told before, from lesser-known actresses like Vera Allen, who made a huge mark on the industry, to the history of Pickfair, the mansion that was once owned by Douglas Fairbanks and Mary Pickford.
Well-researched and filled with spicy anecdotes, this book was a wonderful romp through a time gone by but not forgotten.
In this one-of-a-kind Hollywood history, the creator of Instagram's celebrated @ThisWasHollywood reveals the forgotten past of the film world in a dazzling visual package modeled on the classic fan magazines of yesteryear.
From former screen legends who have faded into obscurity to new revelations about the biggest movie stars, Valderrama unearths the most fascinating little-known tales from the birth of Hollywood through its Golden Age.
The shocking fate of the world's first movie star. Clark Gable's secret love child. The film that nearly ended Paul Newman's career. A former child star who, at ninety-three, reveals her #metoo story for the…
The book starts off with a tense battle and doesn’t let up from there. The writing style is punchy, the sentences short and simmering with an anger that carries throughout the novel.
The story focuses on Zetian, a young girl in a world where the highest honor for women is to be sacrificed during battle in order to power the mecha used by humans in war against the Hunduns.
I was drawn to Zetian’s anger, her inability to let go of her pain when her sister is murdered, and the way she refuses to be silenced or submissive when the world is trying to keep her quiet.
Pacific Rim meets The Handmaid's Tale in this blend of Chinese history and mecha science fiction for YA readers.
The boys of Huaxia dream of pairing up with girls to pilot Chrysalises, giant transforming robots that can battle the mecha aliens that lurk beyond the Great Wall. It doesn't matter that the girls often die from the mental strain.
When 18-year-old Zetian offers herself up as a concubine-pilot, it's to assassinate the ace male pilot responsible for her sister's death. But she gets her vengeance in a way nobody expected—she kills him through…
As a writer, I’m curious about why readers are drawn to certain characters over others. What makes a character cool as opposed to annoying?
I read this book to study the characters and ended up mesmerized by the story. What makes these characters stand out is that Stiefvater allows them to be vulnerable, to say and think and do all the wrong things and struggle to make amends.
Stiefvater goes beyond the exterior to present a group of friends that you want to be a part of, and you keep reading so that you can discover the hidden magic of this flawed world alongside them.
'There are only two reasons a non-seer would see a spirit on St. Mark's Eve,' Neeve said. 'Either you're his true love ... or you killed him.'Every year Blue Sargent stands next to her clairvoyant mother as the soon-to-be dead walk past. Blue never sees them - until this year, when a boy emerges from the dark and speaks to her.His name is Gansey, a rich student at Aglionby, the local private school. Blue has a policy of staying away from Aglionby boys. Known as Raven Boys, they can only mean trouble. But Blue is drawn to Gansey, in a…
This incendiary YA fantasy debut follows a girl who will stop at nothing to save her village after it’s discovered by a dangerous warlord and his army of undead monsters.
Naira Khoum has only known life in Lagusa, a quiet village at the desert’s end. But to the rest of the world, Lagusa is a myth, its location shrouded in secrecy. While war rages to the north, led by power-hungry Sothpike and his army of undead monsters called Dambi, Naira’s people live in peace.
Until the impossible happens, Lagusa is attacked by a Mistress sent to do Sothpike’s bidding with a hoard of Dambi under her control. The Mistress is looking for something, and she’s willing to let her Dambi destroy Lagusa to get it.
