Latest news with #Lightlark
Yahoo
13-05-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Alex Aster's Rom-Com Novel ‘Summer in the City' Sets Film Adaptation at New Line Cinema (EXCLUSIVE)
New hit rom-com novel 'Summer in the City' is set to be adapted into a feature film from viral author Alex Aster and New Line Cinema. Released March 25 from HarperCollins Publishers, 'Summer in the City' is described as a 'swoony, fast-paced rom-com set in New York City follows a screenwriter and a sexy tech CEO as they go from lovers to enemies and back to lovers again.' The book debuted at No. 2 on the New York Times bestseller list at launch and remained in the rankings for five weeks. More from Variety Ice Cube Closes Deal for New 'Friday' Movie at Warner Bros. and New Line 'Mortal Kombat' Sequel Returns to Australia, Changes State Brendan Hanson-Kelly, Television Executive, Dies at 54 Nikki Ramey and Celia Khong will oversee 'Summer in the City' for Warner Bros. Discovery's New Line Cinema. Aster will executive produce the film adaptation of 'Summer in the City,' which marks her second book-to-film adaptation in the works amid her YA fantasy series 'Lightlark' being developed into a feature at Universal and Temple Hill. No writer, director or cast is currently attached to the project. Per HarperCollins' synopsis for Aster's 'Summer in the City' novel, 'Elle has the chance of a lifetime to write a big-budget movie set in NYC. The only problem? She has writer's block, and her screenplay is due at the end of the summer. Seeking inspiration, Elle returns to the city and learns her new neighbor is 'Billionaire Bachelor' Parker Warren, her hookup from two years ago. It's been a lovers-to-enemies situation ever since. The sight of Parker sparks a night of hate-fueled writing, bringing Elle to realize her twisted muse might just be the key to finishing her screenplay… if she can stand being around him. He needs to fake a buzzy relationship during his company's precarious acquisition. She needs to write a movie around a list of NYC locations. Both need to shake things up and rediscover the skyscraper glimmering, sunlit charms of the city. Summers always end, and so will this agreement. It's all pretend—until it isn't.' 'Summer in the City' marks Aster's first venture into adult romance novel, following her wildly popular young-adult fantasy series 'Lightlark.' Aster's books, which also include middle-grade fiction series 'Emblem Island,' have sold millions of copies in the US and have been on the New York Times Bestsellers list for more than 120 weeks combined. She is known for her larger social media audience, particularly among TikTok's 'BookTok' community, with more than 2 million followers across platforms and 300 million views on her videos. She is repped by CAA, Jodi Reamer at Writers House, and The Lede Company. Best of Variety New Movies Out Now in Theaters: What to See This Week Emmy Predictions: Talk/Scripted Variety Series - The Variety Categories Are Still a Mess; Netflix, Dropout, and 'Hot Ones' Stir Up Buzz Oscars Predictions 2026: 'Sinners' Becomes Early Contender Ahead of Cannes Film Festival
Yahoo
26-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Independent Bookstore Day is April 26: Here are the participating indie shops in Florida
Booklovers everywhere will be heading to their local indie shops Saturday, April 26, for Independent Bookstore Day. Independent Bookstore Day, a "national one-day party" hosted by the American Booksellers Association on the last Saturday in April every year, hopes to bring attention to all the locally owned bookstores where you can get wander through the stacks, discover unexpected treasures, get great recommendations from friendly shopowners, and pet the cats. More than 1,600 bookstores across the country are joining in this year's IBD celebrations and many will offer some of the 2025 limited edition exclusive merchandise. Many participating bookstores take the opportunity for a few sales of their own, plus local author appearances, games and other special events. The Family Book Shop in DeLand is going all out for its 10th IBD, with a $5 coupon, multiple giveaways including a $50 gift certificate, signed books, specialty books and book-related merchandise. "This year we also will have a special gift for the first 50 sales," said Kerry Johnson, co-owner of the shop, in an email, "and a gift for anyone who buys a banned book." Independent Bookstore Day is Saturday, April 26, 2025. Check your local bookstore for store hours. Independent Bookstore Day started in California in 2014 to bring customers away from big retailers and back into local shops in their own communities. It was modeled after the highly successful Record Store Day, according to the ABA. Publishers will often show their support by creating unique, limited-edition books, often in special formats, signed by the authors or with creative add-ons, and fun book-based accessories and clothing only available on Independent Bookstore Day along with free stickers and other handouts. This year, some stores will offer exclusive IBD merch such as author-signed books like the blockbuster romantasy "Lightlark" by Alex Aster, "Horror Movie" by Paul Tremblay and "Hot Mess (Diary of a Wimpy Kid #9)" by Jeff Kinney, an exclusive paperback edition of "What You Are Looking For Is In The Library" by Michiko Aoyama, tote bags, hats, t-shirts, Blackwing pencils, posters, prints, and a Frog and Toad coloring book to tie in with the beloved 1981 children's books and the recent Apple TV+ series. Johnson said IDB is their single largest sales day of the year. "We look at it as a way to say thanks to our customers and to recognize the value and importance of independent bookstores to our community." While any indie bookstore is worth checking out, these are the ones in Florida celebrating Independent Bookstore Day. The stores indicated will be offering the exclusive IBD merch while supplies last. You also can search the map. Bal Harbour: Books & Books at Bal Harbour Shops, 9700 Collins Ave., Suite 204 (carrying exclusives) Brooksville: Citrus and Sage Bookshop, 309 S Main St. (carrying exclusives) Clermont: Sunshine Book Co, 647 Lake Ave. (carrying exclusives) Cocoa: hello again books, 411 Brevard Ave. (carrying exclusives) Cape Coral: A Novel Bookshelf Coconut Grove: Books & Books, 3409 Main Highway (carrying exclusives) Coral Gables: Books & Books, 265 Aragon Ave. (carrying exclusives) Deerfield Beach: Steamy Lit, 161 NE 2nd Ave. (carrying exclusives) DeLand: Family Book Shop, 1301 N. Woodland Blvd. (carrying exclusives) Fort Myers: Blinking Owl Books, 2150 W. First St. Gainesville: Compass Collective The Lynx, 601 South Main St. Jacksonville: Cafe Resistance, 5007 Soutel Drive Femme Fire Books, 2766 Park St. STE 1 San Marco Books and More, 1971 San Marco Blvd. (carrying exclusives) Key West: Books & Books at the Studios, 533 Eaton St. (carrying exclusives) Kissimmee: White Rose Books & More, 113 Broadway (carrying exclusives) Lakeland: Inklings Book Shoppe, 243 N. Florida Ave. Little Bus Books, LLC, Lakeland Melbourne: Onyx Gifts and Books, 827 East Strawbridge Ave Neptune Beach: The Book Mark, 220 1st St. Orlando: Park Ave CDs, 2916 Corrine Drive (carrying exclusives) Spiral Circle, 750 N Thornton Ave Ormond Beach: Fern and Fable Books, LLC, 51 W. Granada Blvd. (carrying exclusives) Novel Tea Book Shop, 150 Tomoka Ave. (carrying exclusives) Oviedo: Wall of Books, 119 N. Central Ave., Suite 1001 Panama City: Bookish Boutique, 456 Harrison Avenue Pensacola: Bodacious Bookstore & Cafe, 110 E. Intendencia St. (carrying exclusives) Pinecrest: Books & Books at Suniland Shops, 11297 South Dixie Highway (carrying exclusives) Punta Gorda: Copperfish Books, 212 W Virginia Ave., Suite 112 Safety Harbor: Portkey Books, 404 Main St. (carrying exclusives) Sanford: Spellbound Bookstore, 105 N. Oak Ave. Sanibel: MacIntosh Books and Paper, 1620 Periwinkle Way (carrying exclusives) Santa Rosa Beach: Sundog Books, 89 Central Square Seaside (carrying exclusives) St. Augustine: Needful Books and Things, 520 W Twincourt Trail (carrying exclusives) St. Petersburg: Book + Bottle, 17 6th Street N (carrying exclusives) The Story Garden, 832 14th Street North Tombolo Books, 2153 1st Ave. S (carrying exclusives) Tallahassee: Common Ground Books, 128 N. Bronough Street (carrying exclusives) Midtown Reader, 1123 Thomasville Road (carrying exclusives) Tampa: Black English Bookstore, 401 East Oak Avenue Bookends: Literature & Libations, Tampa (carrying exclusives) Mojo Books & Records, 2554 E. Fowler Ave. (carrying exclusives) Oxford Exchange, 420 W. Kennedy Blvd. (carrying exclusives) Winter Garden: The Writer's Block Bookstore, 32 W. Plant Street (carrying exclusives) Winter Park: The Writer's Block Bookstore, 316 N. Park Avenue (carrying exclusives) Even if it doesn't appear in the list, check with your local bookseller to what what they have going on that day. If you can't get out or there's not a store near you, you can also use online indie bookstore search sites such as which lets you search through independent bookstore inventory with a cut of sales going back into those stores. This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Independent Bookstore Day is April 26. Find Florida stores to shop
Yahoo
29-03-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Alex Aster Went Viral on BookTok With a Fantasy Novel. Now She's Venturing Into Romance: 'It's a Very Hopeful Genre'
Alex Aster, the author behind the viral Lightlark fantasy series, is stepping into the world of adult romance. After achieving success on BookTok — her post of a mock trailer for her fantasy novel Lightlark generated more than 20 million views on the social platform at the time — THR exclusively reported in 2022 that Universal will develop a Lightlark adaptation in partnership with Temple Hill. Aster will executive produce. More from The Hollywood Reporter Craig Thomas, 'How I Met Your Mother' Co-Creator, to Release Debut Novel New 'Hunger Games' Book 'Sunrise on the Reaping' Sells 1.5M Copies in First Week, Tripling 'Mockingjay' Tally How Instagram Aims to Chip Away at TikTok Also an author of a middle-grade fiction series Emblem Island, Aster was ready to venture into a new genre for her next novel with Summer in the City, available now. Aster's contemporary novel follows Elle and Parker as they navigate a modern enemies-to-lovers story filled with self-growth, time jumps and memories in the Big Apple, that Aster says 'will make you want to have a summer day in New York City, and will make you hungry for pizza and thirsty for coffee.' Inspired by rom-coms from the '90s and early 2000's, the author hopes for a romcom resurgence because of the nostalgia and lighthearted tone to the stories. 'It was not afraid to just be a love story, and just be something that you watch and feel better,' Aster tells The Hollywood Reporter. Also feeling inspired from rediscovering her love of New York City after seven years of living there, Aster immersed herself in the city to bring each scene she wrote in the book to life. 'I went and did a lot of the stuff they do in the book for research and to sit there and just kind of get little observations so that it would feel hopefully that people are in the middle of New York City,' she explains. 'I wanted to write a character that didn't like the city so that she could slowly fall in love with it.' Filled with angsty moments and a complex lead character, Summer in the City takes readers on the journey of a not-so-smooth authentic love story. 'People see a story where you can be flawed and still find love and you don't need the other person to fix you, but you can grow with another person, which I think is a beautiful way to fall in love when you grow yourself, and then also you grow with the other person.' Before her book tour, The New York Times bestselling author took time to chat with THR about working on Summer in the City, the relatability of romance novels and a potential on-screen adaptation. Do you approach book writing, saying, 'This is a book I would love to read or characters I would like to see'? A hundred percent. I only write what I love to read first of all, because I was really only writing for myself for so many years. I wrote six different books that will never be published, and they were just rejected over the years. You kind of learn that, okay, it's probably not going to be published, so I'm mostly writing for myself. Second of all, I just think it would be so miserable to write a book that you don't like because you have to reread it so many times, not only when you're writing the first draft, but through edits, you have to reread it. And then when the book is about to come out, I always reread it to kind of highlight lines that I think readers will like or that I'm going to put in my post. You started off in the fantasy genre with . How was that transition for you going from fantasy to romance? The first thing that really surprised me is all of my previous books are in third person. This one I wrote in first person, and I really wasn't expecting how different the writing experience would be. But when I was writing in first person, especially because it was contemporary rather than fantasy, so much of my own personality really came out. I never thought of myself as a voicy writer, but in this, you can't help but be voicy because it's really through a first person perspective. I also did not anticipate how much freer it would feel to write with references like cultural references. In fantasy, it's a totally new world that you've invented. So you can't say, 'This looked like this thing you've seen on TV, or this sounded like this song,' or you can't relate things to other things in the way that you can in contemporary. It's really cool to look back at the process because it really informs the writing. Whatever you're watching, whatever you're reading, whatever you're working on can sometimes bleed into what you're writing, even if it's your own other book so it was really fun. I smiled every day that I wrote this book. In , you decided to set it in both the summertime and New York. Why specifically were those background details important for you? I wanted it to be a love story for [Elle], not only with Parker, but with the city itself. And in terms of summer, I think I love summer in the city. I just think it's so fun. People are outside reading in the parks and there are lots of outdoor restaurants, and it just feels like the city has a vitality that isn't really there in the winter because it's so cold people are rushing around and obviously New York City's famous for people just rushing around. Everyone's too busy. But I do feel like in the summer, people slow down and they really are trying to enjoy the little nature we have here. They're trying to enjoy coffee shops and people just feel different…I also think that I've seen a lot of summer books that are in tropical locations or something, so I was like, let me see if I can show my love of the summer in New York City. Elle describes Parker as her 'twisted muse.' Break down the psychology of that because going from writer's block to being able to draft out a whole screenplay based off the time she spent with him, it's clear something is going on here. I think I always am so fascinated by the writing process and not just for books, obviously I only really write books, so that's the process I know. But I've heard of, for example, songwriters when they go through a really bad breakup or something, they have so much to use. I think I heard a famous singer talk about how she didn't know what she would do if she was happy or not going through breakups because you have so much to draw upon when you're so full of emotion and feeling. I really wanted to dig in what if she just hates him so much that hatred is feeling something because Elle is just not feeling anything. She's not inspired, she's just kind of going through life like a zombie, but he just kind of tears that down because she hates him so much. And so hatred is a very strong emotion, or at least she thinks she hates him. I wanted him to be her twisted muse of she just can't help but feel in those feelings, even if they're negative, they drag the words out of her. Because I do think writing is sometimes a very emotional process. You're trying to make sense of the world through words, and a lot of times that happens when you are in a vulnerable or emotional place…So I liked that dynamic as what if the cure to your writer's block is the guy that you met in a stairwell a few years ago? I'm starting to see little cracks maybe in her past or her character. What is it about Parker that she hates? Parker does just kind of symbolize something that she does dislike. Sometimes you don't really dislike someone or hate someone or anything, but it's just the fact that they remind you of something and that they represent something like your worst fear. I wanted him to represent her worst fears and also her insecurities that as much as she tries to run from her feelings by writing and by succeeding in this way, she's never going to really truly be whole because she always has this gap. Healthy people don't really determine their worth or their feelings based on external factors or success. And so the same way she kind of judges him thinking how he gets his self-worth, she's actually looking into a mirror and it's her. I wanted a dynamic where he would represent her biggest fear that people wouldn't take her career seriously or that people would assume that she needed help, when she worked so hard to independently be her own support system and her own everything because of the way her mom raised her and what happened with her parents.I think she's very prickly. That's why [her best friend] Penelope calls her a cactus. She's one of those people that the second you say something, the walls come up. And I think it's interesting because you would think Parker would be the character that's determining his self-worth based on that. And at least through the journey of this book, he really doesn't. She's the one who does that, and she puts that on him as well. And they actually had a conversation where Parker pointed out how Elle judged him. Even then, she was making excuses. Do you think that she suffers with a lack of self-awareness because of her positioning in her life? How has her life kind of built her up for this moment? I love that you pointed that out because it really is. I smiled writing that because I was like, she's being so hypocritical, and I like that he calls her out, 'You literally did the same thing to me.' I think it's because she's the older sister. But most of all, because she's a hermit, she hasn't allowed people into her life except for Penelope. When you're not around people a lot, I do feel like people lose their self-awareness because they just think everyone else is out to get them, but they don't understand how their own emotions and their own actions can also do that to other people. So it's not like she thinks of herself necessarily as a victim, but I do think that she just believes that he wants to hurt her and that she has not hurt him. She doesn't understand how her actions can be hurtful to him and I think that that is what she learns, and especially in the ending, she learns throughout the story that she can hurt him too. She just believes people like him are strong enough not to be hurt by stuff like that and I think that because she's been hurt emotionally because she lost her mom and because she basically doesn't really have parents, I think she just has this big wound. I think people that are hurting, they often cannot see the hurts that they also give to other people. Why specifically did you want to use the 'enemies to lovers' trope with Elle and Parker? I just love enemies to lovers. I just love reading it. I like the idea that he feels like he has to make up for something that he did, but I do like that dynamic where the first impression or something that happened is they hate each other. Parker doesn't really ever hate her, it's kind of on her end that she makes all these assumptions about him. And I like kind of proving her wrong of like, 'Oh, you thought this about him actually, he's like this.' And also knocking her down a peg of you think that you are so great, but you're judging someone. I think that it just lends to a lot of fun moments when you force proximity. The people who don't like each other, you shove them together, so they're sharing a wall. They live in the same floor. How would you as an author describe Elle? Why did you want to make her so complex and slightly grumpy? She's just scared, I think, of being hurt. And this isn't a descriptor, but I guess she's just kind of living life on the sidelines and is starting to realize it. She's like, 'I wonder when I started noticing when my life is boring?' She is starting to realize life is passing her by, and she's kind of on the outskirts and she's writing stories instead of living them. She's very successful in her career. I wanted also to have someone display that sometimes you can look like you have everything together, but you really don't. A lot of times it is real, whether it's Parker [or] whether it's Elle, that you pour so much of yourself into your job, that everything else suffers. I think that's cool too, because as we evolve and grow and change as people in general, sometimes there is some of that tug of war. You want to change, but it's hard. It's so much easier, I would say, to just sit and stay in your apartment. It's so much easier to just not. I think the isolation of the pandemic and of also being an adult and making friends is really hard. It's very easy to just not have friends and to be alone and to just either use your career or something else as like a crutch. I wanted to also speak to kind of adult loneliness. She has Penelope, but when she's in New York for the summer, she kind of realizes 'If I don't go and make friends, I'm going to be alone.' It was important for me to have those friendships in there too, because I wanted to show that it wasn't just her love story with Parker, it was with the city. It was with discovering the beauty of having friends and having a life outside your apartment, outside your career. I think it's maybe common, unfortunately for people to just grow up and after college, after high school, it's hard to make friends after. If you were to bring this book to life via series or a movie adaptation, who would you want to play these characters? This is one of my biggest things, why I'm so excited for the book to come out. I really want people to tell me what they think. [Fancasting on TikTok is] so good. I've seen for other books… I'm like, 'Oh my gosh, you should work and casting. You did such a good job!' You've utilized social media to help you when it comes to books and building that #BookTok community. What has that been like for you? I feel really lucky to live in an age where I can directly hear from readers, because obviously that just didn't exist before. When I was starting to write books, social media wasn't a thing. I don't think I ever imagined the role it would play in writing these books or marketing these books. I do feel very close to the reader in their comments. They comment and they ask me stuff, or they tell me things about the books, or they'll DM me or they'll tag me in a story. I do feel very close to them, and I do feel like we're all the same. We're all readers. We all like the same types of stuff in books. I grew up not having any people in my life, any friends who love to read and write so it's also a way to see, wow, there are lots of people out there who also are writers and also our readers. It just makes you feel less alone. In this day and age, I feel like a lot of people are just having a hard time. Do you feel like your book as a rom-com can kind of be a form of escapism? I think books in general have always been escapism for me when I was preteen and you're so dramatic and the world is ending every single day, nothing would get me out of my head more than a book. Just sitting down and being swallowed by these worlds in writing is also a huge escape. I think that romance in general, there's a lot of hope in these books. The romance genre means that there's a happy ending and so I think that when you read books that end happily, even when you go through challenges and trials, and it doesn't always look like it's going to end up happy, I think there's a lot of hope in that. I'm glad that romance as a genre, a lot of people are discovering it thanks to BookTok and thanks to the internet, even though, again, it has always been the biggest genre in literature, which is amazing. But I do think a lot of people, myself included, have more recently in the last few years discovered the joy of this genre. It really is joyful, but it also has flawed characters that grow and so you're not usually guaranteed a happy ending for a story, but for romances you are. It's a very hopeful genre in general. Best of The Hollywood Reporter From 'Lady in the Lake' to 'It Ends With Us': 29 New and Upcoming Book Adaptations in 2024 Meet the Superstars Who Glam Up Hollywood's A-List Rosie O'Donnell on Ellen, Madonna, Trump and 40 Years in the Queer Spotlight
