Jun 06 2012
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Pretty Little Liars

Pretty Little Liars: It Happened One Night (ep301)

It’s back, bitches! How fun was that premiere? The answer is very. It felt like a big old treat for fans, with a million references to past seasons and in-jokes — and it set up so much for the next season. Wait, sorry, seAson.

Some highlights & random thoughts…

  • Starting, obvs, with the girls’ hair. Aria’s hair chop … I am not feeling it, have to say. Hanna’s chop on the other hand feels edgier and fun and seems to fit with New Hanna. Did any of y’all notice the blonde patch at the back of Emily’s head in the scene with Toby? (At the new location! Watch out, Apple Rose Grille. There’s a new hangout in town.)
  • Mona: creeeeeepy. I really loved the Hanna/Mona scenes, and how desperate Hanna was to have her friend back and to understand what the hell went wrong. Did you notice the red flower on Mona’s table? Who gave her that, I wonder…? And Alison/Vivian in the red coat? Shivers.
  • So much romancey goodness, all with a nice dose of humor. The Spencer/Toby moment was my fave.
  • These girls lie a lot.
  • Love that the moms are still teaming up and taking care of their girls. And I must say, I think Ella and Byron are making the right decision splitting up!
  • Hanna’s bikini. What.
  • Emily broke my heart in this episode. RIP Maya.
  • Spencer’s fastidious recreation of A’s lair? Amazing. She is a born detective.
  • The final reveal of their car completely littered with photos of them at Alison’s grave? So scary. #bitchcrazy
  • So, who did dig up Ali’s grave? What did they do with the body, and why?

Can’t wait til next week’s sure-to-be awesomeness. And on a side note, thanks to everyone who entered the Rosewood Confidential twitter contest yesterday! The book is out early, and shipping already! Hurrah!

If you happen to read the book, and want to review it on Goodreads or Amazon or your site or tumblr or wherever your heart desires, that would be amazing and we’d love to hear your feedback on it!

Until next Tuesday!

xo

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May 18 2012
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list

newsy

good morning! i am happy to report that after leaving my coffee maker on for 14 hours the other day, it is back in business— clean and functional and brewing. It doesn’t even seem that mad at me for nearly ruining it and my entire home through negligence.

there are lots of things I wanted to tell y’all about, so I think a list is in order…

  1. Rosewood Confidential: The Unofficial Companion to Pretty Little Liars is back from the printer! And it’s so pretty and creepy and a real book. Its official publication date is June 15, but I wouldn’t be surprised if pre-orders started shipping a little bit earlier than that… And you guys, season 3 of PLL starts SO soon.
  2. I have retired! From Dance Dance Party Party. After four fond years, I have passed the dance baton. Read my goodbye here & welcome Hanna as Suzie’s co-captain.
  3. It’s also the end of the TV season, and that means that the last of my season 3 posts for Vampire-Diaries.net is up. (I thought I’d make it about 40% longer than usual. Cool?) The Departed: It’ll Be Fine… (And if you’re ever looking for a particular ep’s post, I have a catalogue of them here.)
  4. Love You to Death Season 2 was selected as one of the Pennsylvania School Library Association’s top 40 nonfiction titles of 2011! “If you live and breathe The Vampire Diaries, this book provides all the behind-the-scenes looks at Season 2.”

  5. It’s me (aka Rosy Cheeks) and Tash!

    I Heart TVD Radio had its very last episode last Saturday night, and I had the privilege of joining in the round table discussion of the TVD finale. Listen here — I’m the one laughing hysterically most of the time, and quietly weeping when Price Peterson quite rightly thanks Tash for all her incredible hard work and her incomparable humor. Congrats to all involved in three amazing seasons of I Heart TVD Radio!

  6. More good news for LYtD2: a lovely review in London, ON’s Scene magazine:

Prolific TV writer Crissy Calhoun is back with a companion guide to The Vampire Diaries, the CW Network’s wildly popular vampire soap opera starring Ian Somerhalder, Nina Dobrev and Paul Wesley. As with Calhoun’s guide to season one, this recently released book breaks down each of season two’s shows, which originally ran September 2010 to May 2011. ‘Episode recap’ doesn’t adequately describe what happens on these pages. With forensic precision, Calhoun delves into each of the season’s 21 episodes, providing the synopsis as well as a host of other details sure to please diehards and those who are new to Mystic Falls. Calhoun places the plots of each story into context with the show’s wider mythology, exposes symbols and other minutiae, provides trivia, and outlines all the music, film, literature, and pop culture that are featured as part of the show. Furthermore, the book is chock full of photos – some colour – and also includes interviews with cast members Bryton James and Tiya Sircar, and an interesting timeline detailing the characters’ histories based on information revealed over the course of the show. Fans will no doubt find themselves returning to this text time and time again.

I think that’s it! I have thoughts about the Gossip Girl finale, and the season as a whole, and I hope to get those posted soon. Other than that: next week I am hunkering down in front of this computer to work on the manuscript for Love You to Death Season 3 — which, I will be honest with you, is proving trickier than previous seasons of TVD to write about — so if you catch me procrastinating on Twitter, please give me a friendly ‘get back to work’ smackdown.

xoxo

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Apr 07 2012
4 Comments
Love You to Death

Announcing Love You to Death Season 3

Some of you have been asking if I’ll be doing another companion guide to The Vampire Diaries — and the answer (as you probably guessed from that spoilery blog post title) is YES!

I’m working away on it now — watch, think, write, edit, repeat. Wanna see the cover?

We went in a different direction with this cover (for various reasons) and it’ll probably be tweaked a little before you see it in your local bookshop. But the concept (I love a concept) was Mystic Falls as the center of the TVD universe over the centuries. So from the bottom up, we have the runes of the Originals, the iconic clock tower, and above it the names of the dead — an echo of Stefan’s closet full of names from “The End of the Affair.”

love you to death season 3

Hope you like it!

If you are so inclined, you can preorder Love You to Death Season 3 at places like Barnes & Noble, Chapters Indigo, Amazon.ca, Amazon.com, or pick it up from your favorite local bookstore when it’s out in September October! (And it shall be available as an ebook too.)

And I want to say a big thank you to all of you who picked up the first two volumes, who posted reviews on Goodreads or Amazon, who tweeted or blogged or talked about ‘em, who commented on my posts at Vampire-Diaries.net — that support means the world to me, and is the reason I get to still write these books. Thank you.

xoxo

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Feb 28 2012
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Gossip Girl

Gossip Girl: The Princess Dowry

Good morning, Upper East Siders! Another fun, wacky Gossip Girl episode last night — I can honestly say I never imagined an Irish wake taking place in the VDW apartment.

I am really liking the real Charlie Rhodes — and Lola and Nate seem to actually suit each other! A Nate relationship I can get behind! Actually both Charlie Rhodes (Rhodeses?) are in my good books: Ivy/Charlie was treated so horribly by Carol and Lily and Serena, and fair freaking enough that she kicks Lily out of her home. Haha, hilarious. Quick question: how the heck did they get Cece’s coffin into the apartment?? Really large service elevator? What has been a little on the ridiculous side is how drastically Cece’s character has changed since we first met her when she was all blueblood judgy mcjudgerson in season 1. But fine, getting cancer changes your entire life view and personality — to the point that your funeral is attended solely by the help, your immediate family, and the fake granddaughter you love so dearly. I also found it hilarious how Serena kept trying to convince Charlie/Lola that she and her family are actually good people — haha. Nope!

Also glad that this royal wedding business is finally tied up! thank the heavens. Free Blair. Georgina’s turn as a slightly unhinged Gossip Girl has been entertaining, and thankfully wasn’t drawn out too long. Will Serena accept her new role as GG? Is she so sad and purposeless as to become the thing she hated most? I hope so! That could be an interesting turn. I’d like the real Gossip Girl to return in season 6 (played by Kristen Bell, naturally) and there could be a GG battle for dominance and destruction. Or something. I am not a GG writer, people. Just bring Kristen Bell on the show — at least for one cameo before this whole thing ends.

While Blair’s explanation to Chuck that she loves him, but isn’t in love with him was kind of lame — and she certainly seemed in love with him pre-accident — I am a believer in this whole Dan and Blair thing. And in the way that their relationship is sooooo completely different from what Blair had with Chuck. I doubt they’ll be the end game couple (but I’d be fine if they were), but in the meantime, there is a hilarious dynamic, true feeling, and snark galore with these two. So sweet when Dan was all taken aback that Blair actually called him by his name. (A note to MuchMusic: please don’t put the final moments of an episode in a commercial for that ep — kind of ruins the entire thing, you spoilers.)

Most unrealistic moment: Serena correcting her father about the name of the Congo. Where Eric is. Laughing forever….

  • What secret does Georgina have on the royal family?
  • Will William van der Woodsen tell Lola/Charlie that he’s her father?
  • Will Blair and Dan sleep together? (weird!)
  • Will Dan finally cut his hair? (This has gone on too long. And is too long. It almost ruined that final scene for me.)
  • Will Uncle Jack Bass be returning? Hurrah!

We’re on a mini break til April 2nd — in the meantime, read Tierney Bricker’s proper recap of the ep here!

xoxo

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Feb 23 2012
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Amazon

Amazon removes thousands of ebooks….

…and ECW is one of the publishers with their titles yanked by Amazon (including my three books).
From my publisher/employer, ECW:
ECW is one of many publishers distributed by IPG, and our ebooks have all been pulled from the Kindle store. Amazon has a well-known track record of seeking aggressive terms with publishers, and when IPG’s contract with Kindle came due, IPG refused to yield to terms that would be untenable for publishers and authors. What does this mean for ECW? We hope things can get resolved with Amazon quickly. But our ebooks are still available from many other great ebook vendors including Barnes and Noble, the iBookstore, Kobo, via our distributor ipgbook.com and our own website ecwpress.com.
Read more about it:

What can you do if this gets your blood boiling like it does mine? Shop elsewhere and tell Amazon why! Amazon gives great discounts, but there is a hefty price to them — one that is increasingly unsustainable for content producers. I’m happy that our distributor IPG is holding its ground. And our eBook versions are still available everywhere else!

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Feb 20 2012
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love

list of excellent things

i have become increasingly terrible at blogging, but there are things I want to tell y’all! so here’s a cheat: a list!

  1. I have been on a John Green reading bender — Paper Towns, The Fault in Our Stars, Looking for Alaska. I think maybe reading them in order of publication would’ve been better — because his latest is the bestest and going backward seems unfair to earlier books which are wonderful in their own right! — but I’m gonna keep on marathoning. Next up: An Abundance of Katherines.

    These are books that I know I will re-read, hopefully often! The depth of feeling and philosophy and straight-up enjoyable, compelling characters — I don’t know, I just rarely think so much about what it means to be a human being, I guess? These books are like a gateway to thinking about life. That sound sort of overwrought, but I truly mean it.

  2. I’ve been running the Toronto chapter of Dance Dance Party Party for something ridiculous, like, 5 years now? But lately it’s been just even more awesome — and if you’re a Toronto lady, I encourage you to come out and dance with us. It’s just simply good times. And if you live elsewhere, there may be a chapter in your city already — or you can start one yourself. I am not a do-er/organizer type by nature but was able to do this, no problemo!
  3. Though I’ve been remiss in blogging about it, there has been some highly entertaining stuff going down on Gossip Girl — the Dan/Blair relationship continues to delight and entertain me, and now that that whole rip-off of The End of the Affair is history (that was the worst, imho), I feel like we’re back in business. The high-school party from the last episode was a stroke of genius — and seeing Chuck Bass’s signature scarf again? Oh man. My heart was warmed.
  4. I just bought this dress. So if you are having a fancy butterfly-themed party, please invite me as I have just the thing to wear (and nowhere else to wear it…)
  5. I probably bought that dress due to my recent Downton Abbey marathoning. I could wear this dress to a regular weekday dinner at Downton! (Remember when the Dowager Countess was like, What’s a weekend?) Watched the Christmas special last night, and just was aflutter with love. Those snowflakes in the final scene — magic!
  6. my brother came back from Korea after being gone for two years! (he also likes Downton Abby. actually mostly everyone in the English-speaking world does?)
  7. I should probs get back to work — book writing, laundry doing, et cetera and so on. happy family day / presidents’ day / monday to you.
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Jan 24 2012
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Gossip Girl

Gossip Girl (ep512): Father and the Bride

it’s been SO long since I posted on Gossip Girl, but as it is soon Blair’s big day — and I really liked last night’s episode (some entire plot lines aside) — I thought it was time to jump back in!

First of all: all hail Princess B. I thoroughly enjoyed her drunken bachelorette party times, her telling-it-like-it-is to Beatrice (and she is right, they’re cut from the same cloth), and it was strangely refreshing to see a whole other side of New York — it felt authentic? I dunno, but I liked it!

The other highlight for me was the twist at the end: finding out that Dan wrote Louis’s vows for him, the vows that Blair sneakily read and now feels that Louis truly understands her. Love it. It is, of course, absolument ridiculous that Louis would send a note explaining exactly what his big secret is on his own freakin’ stationary. And what — did he rewrite Dan’s vows in his own handwriting? I guess? But the heartache this whole Dan loves Blair from afar induces is perfect, even if some of the plotting is not.

I did miss the first 5 minutes of the episode — I’m trying this thing where I turn off the power to all my electronics while I’m at work, or sleeping, but if you don’t get home in time for your shows then your PVR is…powerless — but the whole Nate versus Serena versus Tripp versus Gossip Girl thing fell flat for me. Tripp cut the brakes to a limousine after “Charlie Rhodes” ex failed to do it? Whaaa? (And a complaint from last episode: the gang manages to take Gossip Girl down, and we don’t even find out how? It’s just done?)

Also: I find the Dan Meets with His Publisher scenes ca-razy. Maybe this is how it works at Simon & Schuster NY, maybe Vanessa somehow legally obligated Dan to a multiple-book deal when she stole his manuscript (?), but if Dan didn’t like what his editors were saying, couldn’t he just ditch ‘em and find another house? Surely a NYT bestselling author could find another publisher, even in today’s wacky book business times.

Oops. I got sidetracked into the things that seem nonsensical to me, when I meant to focus on how much FUN this episode was. Beefcake French priests aside, Blair’s bachelorette was an actual party — and I look forward to the over-the-top beauteousness that her wedding will be and all the crazy shenanigans that will go down as she walks down the aisle with her two dads. Also: Georgina Sparks!

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Jan 02 2012
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resolve

12 resolutions for 2012

  1. be more like Tami Taylor in every possible way (really, I could stop here but…)
  2. read 55 books — including authors I’ve never read before, more non-fiction, more books written/published by colleagues (i.e., contemporary Canadian books), and all the usual YA brilliance
  3. hang out with my friends’ kids more frequently (’cause these kids are ridiculously charming)
  4. have dance parties once a month with DDPP
  5. follow the 23 1/2 hour plan
  6. write more — on this blog, to my bestie in a far away land, in my nearly-abandoned journal (sorry, bookie), and on my various writing projects (that one means procrastinate less)
  7. spend less than $1,000,000 a week at Starbucks
  8. be more patient and understanding — but not a pushover (see season 1 Elena Gilbert, Queen of Empathy and Badassery, for role model)
  9. eat real food — and by that I mean the old Michael Pollan ‘if your great grandmother wouldn’t recognize it as food it ain’t food’ — and prepare it myself
  10. take a real holiday — no writing, working, promoting, anything-ing (my ideal vacation, because i don’t know how to surf or do yoga)
  11. procrastinate in useful ways (e.g., clean the kitchen rather than fall into the tumblr abyss)
  12. instead of complaining about problems, try to solve them — personally, professionally, politically, across the board.

i love new year’s resolutions.

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Dec 31 2011
2 Comments
Pretty Little Liars

Announcing a Pretty Little Liars Companion Book: Rosewood Confidential

Coming June 2012

I’m pleased as punch to announce Rosewood Confidential: The Unofficial Companion to Pretty Little Liars that Jen Knoch and I are writing under the alias Liv Spencer (see our past co-creations here). For those of you familiar with my episode guides for Gossip Girl and/or The Vampire Diaries, you know what to expect: an episode by episode guide to the first two seasons of the show along with cast bios, details on the making of the show, literary and cultural references, and a comparison to Sara Shepard’s original book series. And the bonus: it’s a full color extravaganza with tons of photos of the ridiculously good-looking cast!

For all the juicy details on the breakout hit TV show that has people talking, tweeting, and tuning in week after week, look no further than Rosewood Confidential, the first companion book to the dark deeds, ugly secrets, and flashy fashion of Pretty Little Liars. Rosewood Confidential features an episode guide to the first two seasons of ABC Family’s hit show, bios of the stars, and the story of how a New York Times bestselling book series by Sara Shepard became a pop culture phenomenon. It’s as thrilling as a text message from a dead girl…

It comes out June 15 but it’s available for preorder now at all the usual places like Amazon.com, and/or you could add it to your Goodreads! (Yes, we added it to our reading-it shelves even though we’re still writing it.) We’ll be doing contest giveaways in the spring and doling out review copies to PLL fan sites so be sure to check back here or drop me an email (crissycalhoun [at] gmail [dot] com) if you’re interested.

Hurrah! I hope you’re as excited as Jen and me (fused into one mind as Liv) — and only two more sleeps til Pretty Little Liars returns! Let’s celebrate by watching that MuchMusic promo again and again… (Byron’s reaction to Fitz kills me.)

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Dec 27 2011
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Lonely Tourist Crissy Calhoun, love, read, resolve

happy tuesday the 27th to you

Sometimes I am just the worst at blogging. (And by ‘sometimes’ I mean ‘most all the time.’) My poor blog feels very neglected, and for that I am sorry.

things that have happened since last we met:

I finished my Goodreads 2011 Reading Challenge to read 50 books, and as it turns out I read (a) books at work, (b) YA novels, (c) little else. If it was new year’s resolution making time (oh hey it is), I would vow to read a wider variety of books in 2012. Perhaps some for grownups as well as those for YA-loving grownups like me. On my to-read shelf at the moment I have three Canadian-authored recently-released novels, so I think that will count for something if I actually read them. (Yes, I have guilty feelings about working in Cdn publishing but being woefully poorly read when it comes to what is published by Cdn publishers. I watch a lot of TV, okay?)

It is the holiday times, and that means seeing my friends more than usual. Especially the one who doesn’t live here and comes home for the hols. That is just the best. As it turns out, I have a great deal of wonderful friends whom I love and adore a lot. This is not new, per se, but top of mind as I’ve just had an epic brunch (an annual event) and the high-quality friend times are top of mind. Also, the ones with kids tend to have kids who are really nice, charming, clever, well mannered … and I’m only a little bit biased. More procreation, excellent people!

now, what next? I have to make my annual resolutions list, and I think it will include ‘getting my act in gear in various ways so that I can go to this learn-to-surf camp next year’ (which I’ve been dreaming of going to for ages) and in all likelihood ‘stop being such a crap blogger.’ In particular, I feel I have dropped — nay, lost — the ball when it comes to Gossip Girl this season. Where have my posts been? Unwritten.

I’ve had a hankering of late to re-watch season 1 of Gossip Girl. Maybe it’s the thought of how much my dear darling Blair has gone through over the past few years — as we wait for Chuck to rise like the UES phoenix that he is — and, of course, to chart the progression of Blair and Dan’s relationship. Remember the school play in season 2? Flipping classic. Maybe that is how I should spend my remaining holiday days…parked in front of the television. Sounds not bad (and not that unusual).

But before I do that, I have to put together a little announcement for y’all. Hint: it has something to do with a TV show and an upcoming book and a pen name and a devilish anonymous texter . . . and if you have a look at my currently reading list on Goodreads you could probably figure it out.

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