Top Five Tuesday | Books I Wish Were Movies/TV Shows

So, since the release of the Netflix Shadow and Bone series, it got me thinking about what other YA titles would make great film and television adaptations. There’s some incredible worlds out there, but here’s just a handful of ones which I’d love to see on the big screen someday.

Stalking Jack the Ripper | Kerri Maniscalco

Series: Stalking Jack the Ripper
Genre: Historical, Historical Fiction, Young Adult, Romance, Mystery, Horror, Thriller
Summary: Seventeen-year-old Audrey Rose Wadsworth was born a lord’s daughter, with a life of wealth and privilege stretched out before her. But between the social teas and silk dress fittings, she leads a forbidden secret life.
Against her stern father’s wishes and society’s expectations, Audrey often slips away to her uncle’s laboratory to study the gruesome practice of forensic medicine. When her work on a string of savagely killed corpses drags Audrey into the investigation of a serial murderer, her search for answers brings her close to her own sheltered world.

As anyone who is acquainted with this blog will know, I adore the Stalking Jack the Ripper series, rereading it at least once a year, so it’s no surprise that it’d make a spot on this list. It would make an phenomenal television series, it being full of mysterious twists and turns, whilst watching the on screen romance between Audrey and Thomas form. My heart is already speeding.

---

Skulduggery Pleasant | Derek Landy

Series: Skulduggery Pleasant
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Mystery, Fiction, Magic, Urban Fantasy
Summary: Stephanie’s uncle Gordon is a writer of horror fiction. But when he dies and leaves her his estate, Stephanie learns that while he may have written horror, it certainly wasn’t fiction. Pursued by evil forces intent on recovering a mysterious key, Stephanie finds help from an unusual source – the wisecracking skeleton of a dead wizard.

I’ve been wishing for a movie adaptation of this series since I was a kid, and I know that one was in the works for a short period of time, but nothing came of it. So, I’m going to continue to talk about it until it’s finally made a reality. Ryan Reynolds for Skulduggery gets my vote.

---

Wilder Girls | Rory Power

Genre: Horror, Young Adult, LGBT, Mystery, Fiction
Summary: It’s been eighteen months since the Raxter School for Girls was put under quarantine. Since the Tox hit and pulled Hetty’s life out from under her.
It started slow. First the teachers died one by one. Then it began to infect the students, turning their bodies strange and foreign. Now, cut off from the rest of the world and left to fend for themselves on their island home, the girls don’t dare wander outside the school’s fence, where the Tox has made the woods wild and dangerous. They wait for the cure they were promised as the Tox seeps into everything.
But when Byatt goes missing, Hetty will do anything to find her, even if it means breaking quarantine and braving the horrors that lie beyond the fence. And when she does, Hetty learns that there’s more to their story, to their life at Raxter, than she could have ever thought true.

So, a little insensitive for the current times, but I think if we give it a few years this would make an incredibly suspenseful movie. Hetty is an amazingly mature and iconic protagonist, and I’d love to her making her debut on the big screen. With split narratives between Hetty and Byatt, it could make a phenomenal story and with just enough horror to make me want to watch it.

---

The Kingdom | Jess Rothenberg

Genre: Science Fiction, Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Mystery, Fiction
Summary: Welcome to the Kingdom… where ‘Happily Ever After’ isn’t just a promise, but a rule.
Glimmering like a jewel behind its gateway, The Kingdom™ is an immersive fantasy theme park where guests soar on virtual dragons, castles loom like giants, and bioengineered species―formerly extinct―roam free.
Ana is one of seven Fantasists, beautiful “princesses” engineered to make dreams come true. When she meets park employee Owen, Ana begins to experience emotions beyond her programming including, for the first time… love.
But the fairytale becomes a nightmare when Ana is accused of murdering Owen, igniting the trial of the century. Through courtroom testimony, interviews, and Ana’s memories of Owen, emerges a tale of love, lies, and cruelty―and what it truly means to be human.

Now, I’m a huge Disney fan, and although this would not make a successful Disney movie, the concept of one of their animatronics coming to life and supposedly murdering someone is too interesting to pass up. Ana is a truly fascinating character, and I believe with a few added flashbacks and other techniques revolving around the murder, this could make a brilliant film.

---

Ink | Alice Broadway

Series: The Skin Books
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult, Science Fiction, Dystopia, Fiction
Summary: There are no secrets in Saintstone.
From the second you’re born, every achievement, every failing, every significant moment are all immortalized on your skin. There are honorable marks that let people know you’re trustworthy. And shameful tattoos that announce you as a traitor.
After her father dies, Leora finds solace in the fact that his skin tells a wonderful story. That is, until she glimpses a mark on the back of his neck…the symbol of the worst crime a person can commit in Saintstone. Leora knows it has to be a mistake, but before she can do anything about it, the horrifying secret gets out, jeopardizing her father’s legacy…and Leora’s life.
In her startlingly prescient debut, Alice Broadway shines a light on the dangerous lengths we go to make our world feel orderly–even when the truth refuses to stay within the lines. This rich, lyrical fantasy with echoes of Orwell is unlike anything you’ve ever read, a tale guaranteed to get under your skin…

…And finally, we have another one of my obsessions. The Ink trilogy was one of my favourite series when it first came out, the concept being fascinating to me. Who doesn’t love a good tattoo story? Plus, I reckon there would be some great art making an appearance in this series, and the world being adapted for television would be a immediate favourite.

---