Now available on for Digital Download from HBO Home Entertainment is The Immortal Life Of Henrietta Lacks. Written & directed by George C. Wolfe, the film stars Oprah Winfrey, Rose Byrne, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Courtney B. Vance, Reg E. Cathey, Ruben Santiago-Hudson, and Leslie Uggams.

Based on the book of the same name by Rebecca Skloot, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks follows writer Rebecca Skloot (played by Rose Byrne), who seeks out to learn the history of Henrietta Lacks, an African American whose cancer cells were the source of the HeLa, the first immortalized cell line. Rebecca seeks out Henrietta's children in the hope of letting her write about their mother.

Upon meeting Henrietta's emotionally-drained daughter, Deborah Lacks (played by Oprah Winfrey), Rebecca learns the Lack family never authorized the harvesting of Henrietta's cancer cells back in 1951. Over the years, scientists have used the cancerous cells in medical research and for commercial purposes.

Together, Deborah and Rebecca chronicles Henrietta's life, leading them to understand the meaning beyond her death.

Universal Pictures; PG-13; 98 minutes

Now available to own on Blu-ray, DVD, and Digital HD from Universal Pictures Home Entertainment is the fantasy-adventure Dragonheart: Battle for the Heartfire.

Directed by Patrick Syversen, the film stars Tom Rhys, Jessamine-Bliss Bell, Andre Eriksen, Richard Cordery, Martin Hutson, Turlough Covery, Delroy Brown, Lewis Mackinnon, Marte Germaine Christensen, Orjan Tormod Gamst, Daniel Berge Halvorsen, Stig Frode Henriksen, Tamzin Merchant, and Patrick Stewart as the voice of Dargo.

The original Dragonheart was released to theaters in 1996. It received positive reviews from critics and was mild success at the box-office. A direct-to-video sequel Dragonheart: A New Beginning was released in 2000, but was shunned by critics and fans, mostly due to the bad CGI effects and silly storyline. The franchise seemed to be dead until a direct-to-video prequel, Dragonheart 3: The Sorcerer's Curse, was released in 2015. Despite the prequel's low budget, the CGI effects for the dragon were impressive.

The second prequel, Dragonheart: Battle For The Heartfire, picks up many years after the ending of the third film. King Gareth and Queen Rhonu (and the dragon she was connected to) are both dead. The dragon Drago (now voiced by Patrick Stewart) shared a heart with the king, but somehow survived after the King's death. The King's only son had left the kingdom years ago and since then had died, but he left behind twins - a boy named Edric and a girl named Meghan.

The twins were born with a connection to Drago, who had only noticed their existence after the King had died. Due to their connection with the dragon, the twins have supernatural powers. Edric has superhuman strength and Meghan can control fire.

With Drago's help, the kingdom locates Edric and crowns him the new king. Unfortunately, Edric has no time to enjoy his new life, as his sister has sided with an army of vikings. She's determined to take the kingdom for herself by stealing the power of the heartfire that lies within Drago.

Bonus Features on the Blu-ray are:

• The Making of Dragonheart: Battle for the Heartfire

• The Magic Behind Drago

• Inside the Castle

Revell; 383 pages; $14.99; Amazon

Now available from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group, is Naomi's Hope, book 3 in the Journey To Pleasant Prairie series, by Jan Drexler.

Set in LaGrange County, Indiana, in 1846, the novel centers Naomi Schrock, a single Amish woman who had taken in a young boy Davey after his family had been killed. Getting married is not an option for her, because she believes no man would be interested in a woman with an adopted kid. Well, her thoughts begin to change after Cap Stoltzfus moves into the area and starts a friendship with Davey.

Cap comes with emotional scars, as he had loss his family back in Ohio. Despite his heartache, he journeyed to Indiana to start anew. The last thing he was looking for was love, but he that changes once he meets Naomi.

Cap's and Naomi's future is tested when Preacher Shem Fischer moves to the county and causes a whole set problems.

Now available to purchase on Amazon, iBooks, Kobo, Google Books, and Barnes & Noble is the paranormal romance Ancient Heat, book one in The Followers series, by Kira Shayde.




When did you become interested in storytelling?

As a child, I had a severe case of over imagination and would not shut up. I wrote my first romance in fifth grade (I vaguely remember it also featured a cat). In high school, I wrote angsty poetry and had a sketchbook where I drew just parts of people. Then I found sci-fi and began to express the weirdness in my head on paper. But after a half-completed sci-fi/paranormal novel drew confusion from a class of general fiction writers (is your heroine an animal or an alien?) and consternation from a sci-fi group (why is there sex in this?), I lost my gumption and stopped writing for a long time.

What was your first book/story published?

My first story published was in 2012. On Par with a Fairy by Lyla Bardan is a young adult fantasy novella about a fairy who sacrifices immortality to become human and date a teen boy.

What inspired you to write Ancient Heat?

My dreams. All my books are inspired by my weird, lucid dreams.

What character in Ancient Heat is the most/least like you, and in what ways?

None of the characters are like me. The heroine has a number of traits from my daughter though, my son pops up in a couple of the secondary characters, and whenever I needed the hero to be a moody poop, I relied on my husband. LOL.

Well, I'm still reading Into The Water by Paula Hawkins. To be honest, I have only read a few pages of it since checking it out at the library. What's the holdup? I had to read a few review titles last week, such as The Fifth Petal, and Book One and Two in The Girls Of Spindrift series. A blog tour suddenly came across my radar (actually, I had forgot about it), so I now have to read Naomi's Hope either tonight or early in the morning, as my review needs to be posted tomorrow. Hopefully, I'll have time tomorrow to start reading Into The Water, again! The book is due back at the library on the 20th, but I like to get it read by Friday.

I also have a bookmark already slipped inside the Alien Covenant paperback, as I've already started reading a few pages of it.

Being released this summer from Pocket Star eBooks are the first two books in the all-new e-novella series "The Girls Of Spindrift" by V.C. Andrews, the New York Times bestselling author of Flowers in the Attic and My Sweet Audrina. There will be four e-novellas in the series, which will all form a prequel to the novel Bittersweet Dreams (2012).

Kindle; Nook

CORLISS, Book One of the Girls of Spindrift, was released today! It centers on an incredibly intelligent teenager named Corliss. Despite her high IQ, she doesn't have very many friends, mostly due to her shyness and her difficulty of fitting in with the other students at the Los Angeles high school. Though she has always been known as the 'good girl" in school, Corliss gets in a bit of trouble at a school party, where a group of girls spikes her drink.

After a trip to the emergency room, which scares her parents to death, Corliss decides to get even with her classmates.

DONNA, Book Two of the Girls of Spindrift, will go on sale on August 14th! It centers on a half Latino, half Irish teenager named Donna, who is the most gifted student at her high school. Her teachers have no clue what to do with her, as it seems she always has the correct answers to every test she takes. Of course having a high IQ comes with a price, as Donna isn't very popular at school.

Out of nowhere, a boy becomes interested in Donna, which leads to her stepping outside of her comfort zone. Everything in her life seems to be perfect, well, that is until a violent confrontation rocks her world.

Crown; 448 pages; Amazon

Probably the best way to hear about a new book is  by word-of-the-mouth, which is exactly how heard about The Fifth Petal by Brunonia Barry. I kept noticing other book bloggers were reading the title, so I signed up to review an electronic galley several weeks ago.

Set in Salem, this murder-mystery centers around a teenager boy being murdered on Halloween night. John Rafferty, aka the chief of police, believes the boys death is somehow connected to the notorious cold case known as "The Goddess Murders," in which three young women, all descendants of accused Salem witches, were murdered on Halloween night in 1989!

John teams up with one of the 1989 victim's daughter, Callie Cahill. While all the clues points to the local historian Rose Whelan as the killer, John and Callie believe someone or something else is the murderer. Maybe even something supernatural!