I am also a mom of 2 who read the books (all 4) on my teenage daughters insistence, and fell in love with the characters. We saw the movie on opening night and thought it was well done, for the most part. It followed the book fairly closely, but did not develop the motivations of the characters well enough. It was very bare bones in that respect, which was the only disappointment. I would recommend seeing the movie first so that you are not disappointed, then read the book to flesh out the characters more. Still looking forward to the sequels!