Book Review: "Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer" by Katie Alender

"Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer" came into my library in November and I was like "OMG I HAVE to read this!!!" The cover is amazing (hot pink bodice!) AND it says "Let them eat cake... and die!" on the back with a Marie Antoinette lookalike holding a giant knife. How can you say "no" to this book?! Very loosely (like almost not at all) based on Marie Antoinette's death, it's a great read with lots of descriptions of Paris and some fun characters.

Colette Iselin attends a fancy all-girls school and when the opportunity arises to travel to Paris with her class, she jumps on it. Little does she know she's flying into a murder spree: wealthy Paris socialites have started turning up beheaded. As if that weren't enough to ruin the trip, Colette discovers a portrait at Versailles that looks exactly like her and a creepy woman wearing 18th century garb starts stalking her.  Colette knows she's involved in the murders somehow but how? And what can she do? Her pampered, stuck up friends are basically useless and she only has a few days before she'll be the one losing her head.

The Age-Old Question: Book or Movie?

Movie adaptations of popular books have always been a Hollywood trend, and this holiday season is no exception. Here are a few titles of wildly popular books that you'll get to watch on the big screen:

Les Miserables by Victor Hugo is a classic story about love, justice, and salvation set in 19th century France. It follows Jean Valjean, an ex-convict who struggles to avoid recapture by the policeman Javert while taking care of the young Collette, the daughter of ill-fated prostitue Fantine.

Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy follows the titular Anna, a beautiful woman trapped in an unhappy marriage to Aleksei, a man twenty years her senior. Anna's fateful decision to relentlessly pursue an affair with Count Vronksy results in tragedy and heartbreak for nearly everyone she knows.