While stumbling through Amazon one day, I came across Divergent by Veronica Roth. The star rating was 4.5/5 and the books listed in the “customers who bought this item also bought” were mainly books that I had read and liked. The price was right (only $10 for a hardcover), so I figured that I would give it a chance.

As an adult, very few books have made me stay up all night to finish them (Twilight, Harry Potter, maybe Vampire Academy?). I can now add Divergent to that list. It was similar to other books that I have read and yet unlike anything. Set in a dystopian Chicago with a female heroine at the center, it was reminiscent of Hunger Games. The teacher/student relationship was similar to Vampire Academy. But the underlying themes of people’s true natures and the source of discord in our country kept me thinking and guessing throughout.

The book was equal parts social commentary, romance, and adventure. I know that doesn’t even sound possible. The premise is that the main character Beatrice (Tris) must make a decision whether to stay with her family and live a life that she doesn’t think suits her or join another part of society and risk losing her family forever. Along the way she learns more about herself, her family, and her government than she bargained for.

Amazon lists Divergent as one of the “Best Books of the Year So Far” and I do not doubt it. I think it may end up being one of the hottest books of 2011. Summit has already optioned the movie rights and is rumored to be casting the movie, hoping it will become its next big franchise.

Did I mention that Divergent is only the first book in the Divergent Trilogy? It’s going to be a long wait!

Finally some good news for those of you who are tired of all of the Twilight mania. Or is it? A new movie spoof called “Vampires Suck” is set to be released in August. The film is being made similar to other spoof movies such as Date Night and Meet the Spartans. “Vampires Suck” will primarily focus on both the “Twilight” and “New Moon” movies while throwing in other pop culture references such as Lady Gaga, Alice in Wonderland, and Jersey Shore.

The irony of the movie is that you have to have seen the Twilight movies for “Vampires Suck” to actually be that funny. As a fan of both the Twilight movies and spoof movies, I’m actually looking forward to this. What do you think? As a Twilight fan are you offended by it? As a non-Twilight fan do you have any interest in seeing it? Check out the trailer below.

For the first time this year, I sat down and watched the Nickelodeon Kids’ Choice Awards with my kids. They were never very into it before, so it wasn’t a big deal at our house. But I figured that at 7 and 9, they would probably be the ideal demographic for the show. We settled in with some pizza and ice cream and made it a family night.

The show itself was fine, but not very well written. The jokes fell flat for me, and even my kids seemed confused by some of them. But overall, the girls had a good time watching the show. My problem was mainly with Twilight. Don’t get me wrong; I am a really big Twilight fan. In fact, I own an entire Twilight merchandise website. However, my daughters are not allowed to read Twilight or watch the movie yet. It just isn’t appropriate for their age.

It’s not just me that thinks Twilight New Moon isn’t appropriate for “kids.” The Motion Picture Association has rated it PG-13. And yet at the “kids’” choice awards, Taylor Lautner won for Favorite Movie Actor and “Jacob & Bella” won as “Cutest Couple.” Have these kids all seen the movie? The average age of the kids in the audience seemed to be about 8 and they were all screaming and swooning every time Twilight or New Moon were mentioned.

I’ll admit that my daughters voted for Taylor Lautner, but only because they had not seen ANY of the movies in the best actor category because 3 of the 4 of them were rated PG-13 (including Transformers and 17 Again). Why did Nickelodeon have 3 of 4 movies rated PG-13 in an awards show that was supposed to be for kids to vote?? I’m irritated by this and disturbed that apparently so many of those kids had seen all of those movies.

Am I being too prudish in this? I don’t think of myself as one of those moms that shelters her kids from everything. On the other hand, shouldn’t we let the kids be kids while they still can and save these movies for when they are really old enough?

We have a terrific opportunity on one of our other sites for someone to win Bella’s Engagement ring from Twilight. We’ve partnered with Emitations.com for this promotion. All that you need to do to enter is leave a comment on the contest post that we have set up on Buy Twilight Stuff. You can get bonus entries for posting the contest on your own blog or Tweeting about it. We would love it if you would help us spread the word! The contest will end February 28.