Pretentious Reader

Hush, Hush

2009-11-13T17:44:00.006+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Becca Fitzpatrick Published Year 2009
For Nora Grey, romance was not part of the plan. She's never been particularly attracted to the boys at her school, no matter how much her best friend, Vee, pushes them at her. Not until Patch came along.
With his easy smile and eyes that seem to see inside her, Nora is drawn to him against her better judgment.
But after a series of terrifying encounters, Nora's not sure who to trust. Patch seems to be everywhere she is, and to know more about her than her closest friends. She can't decide whether she should fall into his arms or run and hide. And when she tries to seek some answers, she finds herself near a truth that is way more unsettling than anything Patch makes her feel.
For Nora is right in the middle of an ancient battle between the immortal and those that have fallen - and, when it comes to choosing sides, the wrong choice will cost her life.

I believe I have a short attention span but it looks like I've also developed selective amnesia. I've finished Hush, Hush just a week ago but when I try to remember the story for this review I keep mixing it up with Alyson Noel's Evermore. Let's see if I have this right; mysterious and possibly dangerous sexy boy/man/supernatural being; avengeful ex-lover of the said boy/man/supernatural being; somewhat absentee guardians/parents; kind of a loner/outcast heroine; uncontained attraction between the two main characters. It's like a tested formula for 'young adult' urban fantasy which is fine I guess because it obiously works for some. For me though when a story loses it's novelty I lose interest, ofcourse there's more to this book than those I've mentioned. I'm just generalising because those little details are lost on me.

Parnassus on Wheels

2009-10-31T20:03:00.023+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Christopher Morley Published Year 1917
Helen McGill is contended on keeping house for her brother in their England farm. But the arriveal of quirky 'professor' Mr. Roger Mifflin gave her a chance to travel with a book mobile in tow.

"When you sell a man abook you don't sell him just twelve ounces of paper and ink and glu— you sell him a whole new life. Life and friendship and humour and sheeps at sea night— there's all heaven and earth in a book, a real book I mean. Jiminy! If I were the baker or the butcher or the broom huckster, people would run to the gate when I came by— just waiting for my stuff. And here I go loaded with everlasting salvation—yes, ma'am, salvation for their little, stunted minds—and it's hard to make 'em see it. That's what makes it worth while— I'm doing something that nobody else from Nazareth, Maine, to Walla Walla, Washington, has ever thought of. It's a new field, but by the bones of Whitman it's worth while. That's what this country needs— more books!"

I've read because it a prequel to The Haunted Bookshop which I'll be reading one of these days. As a book lover I love reading about other people's obsession over books. I like that I can relate to alot of their sentiments and romantic notions. I love to read about the characters favorite books and use them as reference. Parnassus on Wheels is a very short lovely read.

Shrinking Violet + Giveaway

2009-10-08T14:57:00.020+08:00

About The Book:About The Book:
Written by Danielle Joseph Published Year 2009
High school senior Teresa Adams is so painfully shy that she dreads speaking to anyone in the hallways or getting called on in class. But in the privacy of her bedroom with her iPod in hand, she rocks out -- doing mock broadcasts for Miami's hottest FM radio station, which happens to be owned by her stepfather. When a slot opens up at The SLAM, Tere surprises herself by blossoming behind the mike into confident, sexy Sweet T -- and to everyone's shock, she's a hit! Even Gavin, the only guy in school who she dares to talk to, raves about the mysterious DJ's awesome taste in music. But when The SLAM announces a songwriting contest -- and a prom date with Sweet T is the grand prize -- Sweet T's dream could turn into Tere's worst nightmare.

Tagged it as books I should have read when I was in highschool, this is a very familiar setting as it is realistic. Tere's character is easily relatable being the too shy girl who practically avoids any social interaction and calling attention on herself. She thinks nothing could be more horrifying when they were assigned a project in which public speaking is involved but it has served it's part well as she had gained a friend through it. I also think it served it's purpose on promoting a love for reading and highlighting Helen Keller's life. Life at home is not as cookie-cutter, having a step father whom she does not feel close to and dealing with her overcritical mother. Though her relationship with her mother is often laced with humor there is underlying of tension between them. Slowly with the help of her alter-ego Sweet T she'll get to shed her 'mask', realize her true capabilities and eventually have an understanding with her mother.
It can be a bit predictable but with Daniel's pseudo music scene and characterization of radio station personalities it can be a very fun and entertaining read, as a bonus she'll get to be at the dance with a probable prince charming. No one loves a happy ending more than me so if you guys want to read Tere's story, you can sign up HERE.

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Wild Roses

2009-09-25T18:33:00.020+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Deb Caletti Published Year 2005
Seventeen-year-old Cassie Morgan lives with a time bomb (a.k.a. her stepfather, Dino Cavalli). To the public, Dino is a world-renowned violin player and composer. To Cassie, he's an erratic, self-centered bully. And he's getting worse: He no longer sleeps, and he grows increasingly paranoid. Before Cassie was angry. Now she is afraid.
Enter Ian Waters: a brilliant young violinist, and Dino's first-ever student. The minute Cassie lays eyes on Ian she knows she's doomed. Cassie thought she understood that love could bring pain, but this union will have consequences she could not have imagined.
In the end, only one thing becomes clear: In the world of insanity, nothing is sacred.

Maybe we consider a piece of work to be genius in part because it goes places we cannot go. Maybe it is not so much that the genius are nuts, but that there is something in the nuts that is genius. That ability to get to not just the seed of emotion, but to the place that exists even before the seed is there. Maybe they live amid the raw materials of feeling before feeling becomes organized; maybe they work with the base elements, like the cosmos in formation. There seems, anyway, an ability to get to truth, the purest emotion, if you can see through the barbed wire of chaos that surrounds it. Maybe that's what we respond to in those works of genius -- our own inability to be that emotionally unbound. An envy for the letting go the tether and seeing what is beyond the frontier, the barrier of self protection. Maybe the genius is only a letting go, in a way that most of us would be too frightened to. But maybe, too, the genius is just some wacky consolation prize for the pain of living out of this world.

I picked this one up without even reading the synopsis because I rarely see any Deb Caletti's book in paperback and this would be the first of her books I'll be reading. At first I thought the plot was abit odd but after a few chapters I started getting into it; I love those little facts about world renowed artists/writers and the twist about Dino's life. Cassie's narration was witty and honest but too jaded for a teenager in my opinion. Maybe because this is not a typical young adult book about boys, highshool or teen insecurities, even the romance was just a fraction on the joys of falling in love for the first time. I'm okay with that I just find the synopsis a little misleading because if Ian played a big part on the changes that happened to Cassie, his character should have been more defined especially in the matter of choosing between his responsibility to his family and what he wants in life. Much of the story is really about Dino and how his antics affects Cassie's life and on top of it Cassie has to deal with her parent's divorce. Cassie's voice is very mature and quite unlikely for a teen.

The Lost Symbol

2009-09-20T21:09:00.010+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Dan Brown Series Robert Langdon Published Year 2009
As the story opens, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon is summoned unexpectedly to deliver an evening lecture in the U.S. Capitol Building. Within minutes of his arrival, however, the night takes a bizarre turn. A disturbing object--artfully encoded with five symbols--is discovered in the Capitol Building. Langdon recognizes the object as an ancient invitation . . . one meant to usher its recipient into a long-lost world of esoteric wisdom.
When Langdon’s beloved mentor, Peter Solomon--a prominent Mason and philanthropist--is brutally kidnapped, Langdon realizes his only hope of saving Peter is to accept this mystical invitation and follow wherever it leads him. Langdon is instantly plunged into a clandestine world of Masonic secrets, hidden history, and never-before-seen locations--all of which seem to be dragging him toward a single, inconceivable truth.

For someone who loves conspiracy theories which I do, this will be a hit. I don't care much for the writing or quite understand some readers contempt for Brown's writing style, I think it is shared by most of writers in the genre -- ie James Rollins and Steve Berry. It might also be true that I would not have read it with a sense of urgency if not for the author's popularity but I did enjoy reading it. I would have liked it better without the CIA in the backdrop like with the first two books. Mal'akh's character was as delusional but maybe a more sinister villain than the Camerlengo and the Albino. I love reading about the Freemasonry Conspiracies and Noetic Science in the book and I really liked reading the series, Robert Langdon's character is somewhat familiar now that almost everyone I know watched the movie franchise (not me though!) so atleast it gives us something to talk about.

Love You Hate You Miss You

2009-09-05T21:06:00.009+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Elizabeth Scott Published Year 2009
Get this, I'm supposed to be starting a journal about "my journey." Please. I can see it now: Dear Diary, As I'm set adrift on this crazy sea called "life" . . . I don't think so.
It's been seventy-five days. Amy's sick of her parents suddenly taking an interest in her.
And she's really sick of people asking her about Julia. Julia's gone now, and she doesn't want to talk about it. They wouldn't get it, anyway. They wouldn't understand what it feels like to have your best friend ripped away from you.
They wouldn't understand what it feels like to know it's your fault.
Amy's shrink thinks it would help to start a diary. Instead, Amy starts writing letters to Julia.

But as she writes letter after letter, she begins to realize that the past wasn't as perfect as she thought it was - and the present deserves a chance too. Wherever I go, I'll always see you. You'll always be with me. And there's no happy ending coming here, no way a story that started on a night that's burned into my heart will end the way I wish it could. You're really gone, no last words, and no matter how many letters I write to you, you're never going to reply. You're never going to say goodbye. So I will. Goodbye Julia. Thank you for being my friend. Thank you for being you.

I'm a fan of Elizabeth Scott, I think it's ingenious of her being able to write books in different tones. I've read Perfect You and Stealing Heaven, both on her lighter side of her writing. I've been stalling in reading Living Dead Girl because I think it would be depressing?... scary to read? which is the same with books like Before I Die and The Lovely Bones. Generally I stay away from books with darker themes that of grief, loss, anger and guilt.
Everyone knows how hard it is to lose someone but you can never truly understand unless you're the one that's left behind, that's how Amy feels she doesn't need people to symphatize or console her. She's very angry and it's a gradual process for her to let go and learn to leave with the choices she's made. Although I'm not a fan of the theme I'm glad I've read this, I wouldn't want to miss out on Scotts books.

Undercover

2009-09-03T16:33:00.011+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Beth Kephart Published Year 2007
Like a modern-day Cyrano de Bergerac, Elisa ghostwrites love notes for the boys in her school. But when Elisa falls for Theo Moses, things change fast. Theo asks for verses to court the lovely Lila—a girl known for her beauty, her popularity, and a cutting ability to remind Elisa that she has none of these. At home, Elisa's father, the one person she feels understands her, has left on an extended business trip. As the days grow shorter, Elisa worries that the increasingly urgent letters she sends her father won't bring him home. Like the undercover agent she feels she has become, Elisa retreats to a pond in the woods, where her talent for ice-skating gives her the confidence to come out from under cover and take center stage. But when Lila becomes jealous of Theo's friendship with Elisa, her revenge nearly destroys Elisa's ice-skating dreams and her plan to reunite her family.

Fox-Trot
By the stream the fox and she-fox stood Nose to nose beneath the stars Dancing the music of the woods.
The deer rapped a beat with their hooves, The ravens sang from raven hearts As by the stream the fox and she-fox stood.
The great owl called as a great owl would, The squirrels all shimmeid in the dark, Dancing the music of the woods.
Then from a north a fierce wind blew And broke the starry dance apart By the stream where the fox and the she-fox
stood. The ravens flew as the ravens would, Deer ran off, squirrels scuttled far away from the music of the woods.
The stars blinked out, also the moon. The air went silent, cold, and hard By the stream where the fox and the
she-fox stood Dancing the music of the woods.

I don't usually re-read books but I'm making Undercover an exception. There are books that you read simply because of the story and some like this one you just fell in love with because of the beautiful writing and the author's mastery of words. It's best not to over think when reading Undercover just because it's an National Book Award Nominee, take it as it is and enjoy it. I love how personal it felt, being privy to Elisa's thoughts and her reflections to changes around her is truly wonderful. Putting together the Cyrano angle, her knack for poetry, family issues and her newly discovered love for ice skating seemed tedious but it worked, I guess it happens? The ending leaves alot of possibilities, I liked it that Kephart didn't try hard to tie the loose ends it's mush better this way, leaving something for the readers to ponder on. I just noticed I tend to love books with simple realistic stories which usually are books for children, EL Konigsburg's The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place comes into mind.

Mermaid Park

2009-08-27T15:42:00.029+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Beth Mayall Published Year 2007
Nothing in sixteen year old Any's world holds the promise of anything but dissappointment... until a nightmare weekend at the New Jersey shore with her mother, sister and Tom leads to a discovery that will change her life. When Amy first lays eyes on Mermaid Park, she feels like she stepped into a living, breathing fantasy. Girls dressed in fabulous costumes put on uderwater shows, dliding throught the water as a captivaded audience falls under their spell. In that moment, Amy becomes convinced that if she could be one of the "mermaids," the rest of her life would be just as beautiful. But over the course of the summer full of real life magic and ordinary miracles, she discovers that the difference between reality and fantasy is murkier than it seems.

I think I'm on a slump I'm stuck with books that I can't decide on if I really like or not. I chose to read Mermaid Park thinking it will one of those simple charming coming of age book. I'm just not so into Amy's charcter, she's very contradictive and always down playing her self, how many times have read her refering to herself as 'not pretty' and 'stupid'. If she's really all that how coume she snagged Dylan who suppose to be a hottie, or not, again I'm confused. Is it because the author is making a point that nobody is perfect, but what does that suppose to mean really? The Mermaid Park though seemed like a really great place and maybe it is magical afterall it did serve as a luckycharm for Amy, she had friends, she's doing something she loves, she had confidence that supposedly she doesn't have before, she finally understood Mel, she had an understanding with her mother and she learned a family secret or her mother's secret rather. There's certainly alot of things happening in here, that secret was abit of stretch Amy being actually related to Bruce. Another point taken from the book was that everyone creates their own fantasy, to that I agree I think that's one reason for my love of reading.

Something Blue

2009-08-24T21:17:00.008+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Emily Giffin Published Year 2005
Thirty years old, successful and stunning, Darcy Rhone used to think that 'being down and out' meant not finding a size four at the Barney's Warehouse Sale. Now she is pregnant, unmarried and recovering from a broken engagement to Dex and the betrayal of her ex-best friend Rachel who stole Dex's affections. Marcus, Darcy's new man and father of her baby, helps her paper over the cracks in her seemingly charmed life, but reality quickly catches up. A few months into her pregnancy, she loses the second boyfriend in a row. For the first time in her life, she is completely alone. Frantically casting around for help, she calls upon Ethan, an old high school friend, and convinces him to let her stay with him in London for a few weeks to get her act together. Little does she know what she's in for when she boards to plane to cross the Atlantic, but as weeks turn into months, Darcy makes a surprising discovery. Preparing for motherhood and settling into a new career, she builds herself a new life from scratch, finally finding romance - in the most unexpected place.

We all know that this will be Darcy's redemption of somekind but to me all it proves was how shallow and self centered Darcy is. Darcy is a reminiscent of Becky Blomwood's character albeit less appealing and more resolute. Maybe it's the new thing to develop higly unlikable characters and work on them halfway through the book so the readers will end up liking them. Ethan was the only all out admirable character here, he seemed really sweet but still he's able to put Darcy in her place. I don't find the prospect of motherhood much exciting to read though the prospect of motherhood served as a catalyst for her Darcy to change eventually. If you'd like to venture on non-generic chicklit than you might enjoy this.

Soul Enchilada

2009-08-14T07:57:00.016+08:00

About The Book:
Written by David Macinnis Gill Published Year 2009
Girl meets boy at a car wash.
"Dog," she says.
"Dude," he says.
And probably this would have been a sweet teen romance. . . .
If Beals hadn't been sitting next to her in the car.
If Beals hadn't been a supernatural repo man looking to repossess her car.
And to possess her.

An interesting storyline, very creative. Bug found out that his Papa C sold his soul for the Cadillar but her grandfather skipped so the demon, Mr. Beels is after her soul now. The twists in the story are pretty good too esp with the mixture of horror and humor, I was just a little put off by the language and the dialogues, it could be better. Bug's really a feisty character if not a bit stereotypical for her ethnicity. It has it's moments though I can't say I really loved it.

Raven

2009-07-12T20:00:00.011+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Allison Van Diepen Published Year 2009
Zin dances with fire in every step, speaks in a honey-sweet voice, and sees with eyes that can peer into your soul. Nicole's friendship with him is the only thing that saves her from the boredom of school and the turmoil of her family life. It's no wonder she is madly in love with him. But she can't understand why he keeps her at a distance, even though she can feel his soul reaching out for hers. Zin is like no man Nicole has ever met, and he carries with him a very old secret. When Nicole uncovers the truth, her love may be the only thing that can save him from it.

Paranormal themed books are everywhere, I cant avoid them even if I wanted too. I don't know how may times I've used the phrase -- "suprisingly, I liked it." It happens alot this days might be because I'm reading mostly YA books. I love how Van Diepen was able to create a paranormal realm of her own, immortals who take souls. She made it look more appealing, more with purpose even. Unlike vampires who drink their victim's blood Jiang-shi's take damaged souls inside them and struggles with all of those souls inside them, isn't more dramatic? Although I don't care much for breakdancing I think it's very appropiate for the setting, being in the club scene. Even the use of slang fits and doesn't seemed force or makes the reader feel stupid (unlike House of Night Series). It was fast-paced, I like the flow of the story esp how Zin's feeling was build up gradually. Though Zin and Nic's relationship plays close enough to any other YA books theirs are more subtle and I like it that Nic is able to decide for herself. There was one thing I found confusing though, how Nic always calls her brother a 'Ghost', I thought there's a catch in there somewhere. This was very entertaining and quite possibly gearing for a sequel.

Prom

2009-06-28T19:48:00.013+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Laurie Halse Anderson Published Year 2005
Ashley couldn't care less about the prom - but when disaster strikes and she finds herself drawn in to organising it, she discovers a little about getting things done and as well as rather a lot about herself. Everyone's excited about the prom except Ashley, who couldn't care less. She's too busy worrying about her crazy family and TJ, her flaky boyfriend, who wants them to move in together after graduation but just doesn't seem to around when she needs him. But when disaster strikes the prom committee, somehow Ashley gets roped into helping save the evening. And she finds herself learning quite a lot about organising a prom - as well as learning little more about herself.

I find it really funny which is weird because I don't think it was suppose to be. It might be because I'm in a good mood today and I got away on reading this at work. I've read alot of reviews from people disappointed with this book 'cause it's not on par of Anderson's other books personally though I loved Prom because of it's simplicity, it's not overly dramatic, well maybe it was but they played it funny and silly. The narrator Ashley is a self proclaimed normal (lower middle class) kid. In the book the environment/school was portrayed abit rough or violent even. Nothing really bad happens though Ashley always get into trouble at school for being such a slacker. Even it is abit shallow it was still written very well and I loved Grandma Shulmensky's character because of her spontaneity, it would not have worked out well if not for her.

Oh. My. Gods.

2009-06-27T20:28:00.005+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Tera Lynn Childs Oh. My. Gods. Published Year 2008
A modern girl's comedic odyssey in a school filled with the descendants of Greek gods. When Phoebe's mom returns from Greece with a new husband and moves them to an island in the Aegean, Phoebe's plans for her senior year and track season are ancient history. Now she must attend the uberexclusive academy, where admission depends on pedigree, namely, ancestry from Zeus, Hera, and other Greek gods. That's right, they're real, not myth, and their teen descendants are like the classical heroes - supersmart and superbeautiful with a few superpowers. And now they're on her track team! Armed only with her Nikes and the will to win, Phoebe races to find her place among the gods.

I loved this, can't wait to read the sequel. It's pure fun and silly, reminds me alot of the Gallagher Girls Series, main character are both child prodigies and the storylines are so implausible, it's hilarious.

The Forest of Hands and Teeth

2009-05-22T10:57:00.012+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Carrie Ryan Published Year 2009
In Mary's world there are simple truths. The Sisterhood always knows best. The Guardians will protect and serve. The Unconsecrated will never relent. And you must always mind the fence that surrounds the village; the fence that protects the village from the Forest of Hands and Teeth. But, slowly, Mary's truths are failing her. She's learning things she never wanted to know about the Sisterhood and its secrets, and the Guardians and their power, and about the Unconsecrated and their relentlessness. When the fence is breached and her world is thrown into chaos, she must choose between her village and her future - between the one she loves and the one who loves her. And she must face the truth about the Forest of Hands and Teeth. Could there be life outside a world surrounded in so much death?

The only motivation for me to read this book is that it's newly released and quite popular. I dont like reading apocalyptical themed books and definitely don't like zombies suprisingly enough I liked this one and even took me until 2 in the morning to finish. A well written book, it was very haunting and leaves the reader thinking of the story after finishing the book. Each characters emotions--love, rage and loss are intensified because there are always on the brink of death. Though the characters emotions are raw and transparent they still seemed detached, the characters should have been more explored, given more dimension even if in the end they'll going to be slaughtered anyway. I don't really like Mary I think she's selfish, indecisive and just really weak I wonder if she'll grow maybe in the next installment if there is, it certainly feels like there ought to be one. Ryan should do a second book because alot of things are left unanswered and there is no background to the decease? or the village? I did enjoy reading the book though, that's just really the important thing for me -- to be entertained. It reads alot like a movie (maybe it will be made one too), the Unconsecrated are convincingly scary, you could almost hear the moans and scraping of their hands. This will probabaly the only zombie book I'll read.

If I Stay

2009-05-16T00:13:00.042+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Gayle Forman Published Year 2009
Choices. Seventeen-year-old Mia is faced with some tough ones: Stay true to her first love— music—even if it means losing her boyfriend and leaving her family and friends behind? Then one February morning Mia goes for a drive with her family, and in an instant, everything changes. Suddenly, all the choices are gone, except one. And it’s the only one that matters.

"It's okay," he tells me. "If you want to go. Everyone wants you to stay. I want you to stay more than I've ever wanted anything in my life." His voice cracks with emotion. He stops, clears his throat, takes a breath, and continues. "But that's what I want and I could see why it might not be what you want. So I just wanted to tell you that I understand if you go. It's okay if you have to leave us. It's okay if you want to stop fighting."

This book have been receiving good reviews based on the 5 stars I saw, I didn't actually read the whole reviews in case there are spoilers. Reading the first part was good for me, I love reading about happy things and I love how Mia's family are all loving quite a change from reading about dysfunctional families. But then I get to the gruesome part -- the accident and thought oh no, not another melodrama, pitty engulfing story of a teenage girl. I usually stay away from books with themes such as because I find them depressing. If I Stay though is quite different, it is sad still and it made me cry a ton but there are also parts where it made me smile and laugh and feel the Mia's conflict. Gayle Forman is a very good writer, she makes the characters and scenes so real. Not to mention the style off writing, it worked really well, unlike in some that you get confused switching between scenes. I could go on and on, but you just have toread it for yourself. It's a shame to pass on something this beautiful.

Becoming Chloe

2009-05-11T20:21:00.014+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Catherine Ryan Hyde Published Year 2006
Meet Jordy. He's on his own in New York City. Nobody to depend on; nobody depending on him. And it's been working fine.
Until this girl comes along. She's 18 and blond and pretty - her world should be perfect. But she's seen things no one should ever see in their whole life - the kind of things that break a person. She doesn't seem broken, though. She seems . . . innocent. Like she doesn't know a whole lot. Only sometimes she does.
The one thing she knows for sure is that the world is an ugly place. Now her life may depend on Jordy proving her wrong. So they hit the road to discover the truth - and there's no going back from what they find out.

My conclusion is this: It's a beautiful world, but also a scary one. I used to think something couldn't be both. But then I remembered the point of no return on the Niagara River, and how much it fascinated me as a kid. Because it was just that: beautiful and scary. It's like once you get that sense that there's no real security, that anything at all can happen to you, then every minute you're okay is a joy. Part of the joy is feeling like you can make your way in a world that isn't always easy.

I finally found a copy of the book, after a year of scurying for it, lol. I absolutely love this book, it's like taking a refresher course. I dont think I'm a cynic but I do believe that life is indeed unfair and sometimes shit just happens. But reading this book gives you a whole new perspective in life, you're rediscovering it together with Jordy and Chloe. It's impressive the way the book portrayed the simplicity of beauty with nature and with what is physical and the complexity of it through kindness of strangers, there was a part where Chloe asked Jordy if being happy is beautiful and yes it is. Life though is not all beauty there is it's tainted by cruelty and violence of some, but these makes you appreciate life even more as what Jordy had said. It's a very engrossing read, you'll be sucked in this beautiful and sometimes ghastly story of discovering life.

Airhead

2009-05-07T21:35:00.012+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Meg Cabot Published Year 2008
Emerson Watts, 16 and female, loves playing video games, hanging out with her best friend, Christopher, and has made peace with her less-than-supermodel-esque looks. But when she's involved in a mysterious accident, she wakes up to find she's now in the body of...a supermodel. Who was behind this switch? What was the motive? And how can she get Christopher to realize she's still the same person inside?

How apt the tittle is. I didn't really like it as much as I wanted too maybe it's just for a different audience. It's feels like Cabot is doing it halfway, It just doesn't feels right for me, fluffy and scifi doesn't really go together or it might be because she didn't really did a good job on it. The plot seemed loose -- a little background would help instead of taking an easy way out. The plot consists of the girl meeting an accident but survives because of brain transplant. Presto she gets a whole new image in a supermodel's body while conquering teenage insecurities, boy craziness and being a role model to all -- no drinking in bars, definitely no drugs and no illicit love affairs with bestfriends boyfriends. There's a promise of an intresting twist on the second book but please stop with the cliffhangers it sucks enough already.

This Lullaby

2009-04-22T20:42:00.009+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Sarah Dessen Published Year 2002
Remy always knows the perfect time to give a boyfriend "The Speech" telling him it's over-after the initial romantic whirl, but before the reality of an actual relationship hits. Her friends tease that her boyfriend tally is nearing the triple digit mark, but she's a girl who knows just how to avoid any messy emotional entanglement. After all, she's had the example of her five-times-married mother to show her what not to do.
So what, then, is it about Dexter that makes it so hard for her to follow her own rules? He's everything she hates: messy, disorganized, much too vulnerable, impulsive, and worst of all, a musician like her father: the father Remy never knew, the father who wrote a famous song for her, the father who disappeared from her life.

There's something about Sarah Dessen's books that keep me coming back for more. This one I finished while standing in a bus on my way to work, now that counts for something. Remy is kind of hard to like as a character, she seems mean and selfish sometimes but I love the idea that somehow love can change everything and that you can overlook a persons negative side because of it. I think Dexter is adorable and don't you just wish the song -- This Lullaby, does exist?

I'd Tell You I Love You, But Then I'd Have to Kill You

2009-04-11T19:40:00.015+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Ally Carter Series Gallagher Girls Published Year 2006
The Gallagher Academy for Exceptional Young Women is a fairly typical all-girls schoolthat is, if every school taught advanced martial arts in PE, the latest in chemical warfare in science; and students received extra credit for breaking CIA codes computer class. So in truth, Gallagher Academy might claim to be a school for geniusesbut its really a school for spies. Cammie Morgan is a second generation Gallagher Girl, and by her sophomore year shes already fluent in fourteen languages and capable of killing a man in seven different ways (three of which involve a piece of uncooked spaghetti). But the one thing the Gallagher Academy hasnt prepared her for is what to do when she falls for an ordinary boy who thinks shes an ordinary girl. Sure, she can tap his phone, hack into his computer, and track him through a mall without his ever being the wiser, but can she have a regular relationship with a regular boy who can never know the truth about her? Cammie may be an elite spy in training, but in her sophomore year, shes beginning her most dangerous missionshes falling in love.

I like it's sillines, books for me serves as an entertainment as much as other people watch trash in the television... this is my trash-- in paper. That might not come out very well, anyway consider it as a metaphor. The plot is highly unlikely and downright ridiculous at times, I mean the adults in the story doesn't really come off as clever if a teenager can get past them. It would be popular for tweens (and for the young of heart)-- they'll get romance, adventure, mystery and to wrap it up there's even a moral lesson in it like how you should not deceive others on thinking differently of who you really are.

Wake

2009-04-10T03:25:00.011+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Lisa McMann Series Dream Catcher Published Year 2008
Not all dreams are sweet.
For seventeen-year-old Janie, getting sucked into other people's dreams is getting old. Especially the falling dreams, the naked-but-nobody-notices dreams, and the sex-crazed dreams. Janie's seen enough fantasy booty to last her a lifetime.
She can't tell anybody about what she does -- they'd never believe her, or worse, they'd think she's a freak. So Janie lives on the fringe, cursed with an ability she doesn't want and can't control.
Then she falls into a gruesome nightmare, one that chills her to the bone. For the first time, Janie is more than a witness to someone else's twisted psyche. She is a participant.

Supernatural themed books are all over the place now, atleast this one does not have vampires, fairies or zombies. At first it wasn't doing anything for me maybe because I was expecting too much from it but it started to pick-up at the later parts. I mostly like it because of the mystery part, where Janie starts to discover how her 'gift' works. It has a feel of being unpolished, I don't know if that's poor writing but the plot was surely creative and I loved the ending. I like to finish a book on a pleasant note.

The Principles of Love

2009-03-27T17:26:00.012+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Emily Franklin Series Principles of Love Published Year 2005
The "movie version" of Love Bukowski's life is picture perfect. She can roll out of bed and be at class in her new prep school within minutes because she lives in an amazing house on Hadley Hall Campus, where her Dad just happens to be the principal. And though she's just joined the ranks of the nation's future leaders and lushes of America, they've all become her best friends. Gorgeous upperclassmen crowd around her doorstep just to catch a glimpse of her performing her original songs. Life is sweet!
Unfortunately, the not-so-glamorous reality of her life is that her Dad is the principal of the this prototypical New England prep school. Friends are hard to come by, and the only guys who come near her front door are the ones she wants to swat away. Not that there's a shortage of Hadley hotties; it's just that the one Love's singled out is an utterly incredible and totally unattainable senior. Now, Love will have to figure out the true meaning of her name to make her reality as awesome as her fantasies.

It's been on my wish list for a while now, sadly though I doubt I'll be reading the rest as I cannot find them. It's quite a typical story, girl find the love of her love, that one guy, whom she imagined all along and then find out that he wasn't that perfect afterall and the guy on the sidelines is the one for her. It's sweet and I like it when she thinks about the movie version of her life...
PS. I love her aunt's coffee shop!

The Clique

2009-03-20T11:30:00.013+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Lisi Harrison Series Clique Published Year 2004
Massie Block: With her glossy brunette bob and laser-whitened smile, Massie is the uncontested ruler of The Clique and the rest of the social scene at Octavian Country Day School, an exclusive private girls’ school in Westchester County, New York. Massie knows you’d give anything to be just like her.
Dylan Marvil: Massie's second in command who divides her time between sucking up to Massie and sucking down Atkins Diet shakes.
Alicia Rivera: As sneaky as she is beautiful, Alicia floats easily under adult radar because she seems so "sweet." Would love to take Massie's throne one day. Just might do it.
Kristen Gregory: She's smart, hardworking, and will insult you to tears faster than you can say "my haircut isn't ugly!"
Enter Claire Lyons, the new girl from Florida in Keds and two-year-old Gap overalls, who is clearly not Clique material. Unfortunately, for her, Claire's family is staying in the guesthouse on Massie's family's huge estate while they look for a new home. Claire's future looks worse than a bad Prada knockoff. But with a little luck and a lot of scheming, Claire might just come up smelling like Chanel No. 19.
The Clique... the only thing harder than getting in is staying in.

This is on the best sellers list, this is what kids of today reads. Haha did I just said that? Not about this being on the best seller list though, I saw alot of comments about how they don't like the book because the lead charcters are mean, but their kids, there aren't anyone who isn't like that and it's pretty harmless anyway. When I was in secondary school I love to read this kinds of books too, one book that comes into mind is The Queen of The Sixth Grade by Ilene Cooper, I've read it alot of time back then.

A Rather Lovely Inheritance

2009-03-19T11:40:00.010+08:00

About The Book:
Written by CA Belmond Series Penny Nichols Published Year 2006
Penny Nichols is a historical researcher working on a big-budget film in the South of France when she get an urgent call. Her Aunt Penelope has just died, and Penny's presence is required in London for the reading of the will.
With only a slim recollection of her eccentryc aunt, Penny is astonished to learn that not only is she a bona fie heiress--but she's also been invited to put her research skills to work. This time, the history she's researching happens to be her very own.
What she discovers about Aunt Penelope, a pair of wills, double lives, secret histories ans a family tree of "vultures" is about to swepp Penny and A long lost relative across France over the hills of Italy, and through half of Europe on the adventure of several lifetimes. This her life, her past, her chance at love--and Penny's going to live it with the kind of passion she's always dreamed of.

It's one of those charming little books that you could read on one seating and didn't even noticed until you're on the last few pages. It's a light comedy with mystery on the side and gives a picturesque description of provincial Europe.

The Jinx

2009-03-13T19:17:00.011+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Jennifer Sturman Series Rachel Benjamin Published Year 2005
Rachel Benjamin's life might look glamorous but she has worked into the early morning on more nights, canceled more weekend plans and slept in more Holiday Inns in small industrial towns than she cares to count. (Standard practice in the business of mergers and acquisitions.) And that picture of her on the recent cover of Fortune? It inspired a reprise of her grandmother's favorite lecture, the one titled "You don't want to be one of those career gals, do you?" (Other popular hits include "Have you met anyone nice?" and "I just want to go to a wedding before I die.")
But this week Rachel's job is taking her to Boston, where in between work obligations she plans to squeeze in quality time with her promising new boyfriend. They've just hit the six-month mark and things are going so well, Rachel's not even worried anymore that she'll jinx it.
There are just a few little problems: Her friend's been attacked and a serial killer is on the loose -- and the two might actually be related. Oh, and her promising new boyfriend? He seems to be squeezing in quality time with his new gazelle-like, model-material colleague . . . Now Rachel's making like Miss Marple again, trying to track down her friend's assailant -- not to mention get a clue about her relationship. When she stopped worrying about jinxing things, did she jinx everything?

I know I better not take my frustrations on this book by comparing it to another but I don't think anyone will tell me to do otherwise. I was bummed out after finishing Heather Wells Series (it's my guilty pleasure), so I set out to look for similar books and Rachel Benjamin came into mind. They are in many ways similar; being chiclits, mysteries, university setting and a sort of love triangle going on too. But alas not a good enough subtitute. The characters are abit impersonal; it's a given that heroine do stupid things like say confront the murderer by themselves but Rachel characters doesn't really jive with it. Anyway, I still think it's written pretty well like the first book, The Pact, atleast it has that.

That Summer

2009-03-13T19:04:00.016+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Sarah Dessen Published Year 1996
For fifteen-year-old Haven, life is changing too quickly. She's nearly six feet tall, her father is getting remarried, and her sister, the always perfect Ashley is planning a wedding of her own. Haven wishes things could just go back to the way they were. Then an old boyfriend of Ashley's reenters the picture, and through him, Haven sees the past for what it really was, and comes to grips with the future.

I'm very biased, I love Sarah Dessen, for me she'll always be writing great books. The ending was very well put. The start of the story is a typical family drama; parents getting divorced and having a much popular/universally liked/cheerleader/pretty older sister. I think what makes it better is that Haven is like a real person, a teen who doesn't really feel comfortable with herself alot of times and someone who's not very good in dealing with changes. She thinks about boys too or rather a particular boy whom she looks up to alot. I love how it ends when she finally discovers what the boy really meant to her and finally seeing things for what they really are.

Big Boned

2009-03-05T18:39:00.015+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Meg Cabot Also titled as Size Doesn't Matter Series Heather Wells Published Year 2007
Life is reasonably rosy for plus-size ex-pop star turned Assistant Dormitory Director and sometime sleuth Heather Wells. Her freeloading ex-con dad is finally moving out. She still yearns for her hot landlord, Cooper Cartwright, but her relationship with "rebound beau," vigorous vegan math professor Tad Tocco, is more than satisfactory. Best of all, nobody has died lately in "Death Dorm," the aptly nicknamed student residence that Heather assistant-directs. Of course every silver lining ultimately has some black cloud attached. And when the latest murdered corpse to clutter up her jurisdiction turns out to be her exceedingly unlovable boss, Heather finds herself on the shortlist of prime suspects—along with the rabble-rousing boyfriend of her high-strung student assistant and an indecently handsome young campus minister who's been accused of taking liberties with certain girls' choir members.
With fame beckoning her back into show business (as the star of a new kids' show!) it's a really bad time to get wrapped up in another homicide. Plus Tad's been working himself up to ask her a Big Question, which Heather's not sure she has an answer for.

I love Heather Wells! The last time I was this crazy about a series was with the Queen of Babble. I love the characters and the anticipation of Copper and Heather being together. I like how fun the charcters are and the way they seemed very real, you can almost relate to them and it's not because I'm fat because really Im just the opposite. What made it a winner for me is the whodunnit part because I really love mysteries, this one though fell short on that category. The murderer was pretty obious to me and Heather was really stupid to go talk to her, now that storyline was pretty bad still it's a good read for me.

Size 14 is Not Fat Either

2009-02-27T03:24:00.013+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Meg Cabot Series Heather Wells Published Year 2006
Former pop star Heather Wells has settled nicely into her new life as assistant dorm director at New York College - a career that does not require her to drape her size 12 body in embarrassingly skimpy outfits. She can even cope (sort of) with her rocker ex-boyfriend's upcoming nuptials, which the press has dubbed The Celebrity Wedding of the Decade. But she's definitely having a hard time dealing with the situation in the dormitory kitchen - where a cheerleader has lost her head on the first day of the semester. (Actually, her head is accounted for - it's her torso that's AWOL.) Surrounded by hysterical students - with her ex-con father on her doorstep and her ex-love bombarding her with unwanted phone calls - Heather welcomes the opportunity to play detective . . . again. If it gets her mind off her personal problems - and teams her up again with the gorgeous P.I. who owns the brownstone where she lives - it's all good. But the murder trail is leading the average-sized amateur investigator into a shadowy world. And if she doesn't watch her step, Heather will soon be singing her swan song!

I admit I have been pretty engrosed with this series so much as I had been with Queen of Babbles but alot of it has to do with Cooper. When will Cooper and Heather be together apparently not in this installment. I have my hopes up that's why after finishing this I already started with Book 3 and it is now 3 in the moring.

Flowers in the Attic

2009-02-27T03:18:00.013+08:00

About The Book:
Written by VC Andrews Series Dollanganger Published Year 1979
The four Dollanganger children had such perfect lives--a beautiful mother, a doting father, a lovely home. Then Daddy was killed in a car accident, and Momma could no longer support the family. So she began writing letters to her parents, her millionaire parents, whom the children had never heard of before.
Momma tells the children all about their rich grandparents, and how Chris and Cathy and the twins will live like princes and princesses in their grandparents' fancy mansion. The children are only too delighted by the prospect. But there are a few things that Momma hasn't told them.
She hasn't told them that their grandmother considers them "devil's spawn" who should never have been born. She hasn't told them that she has to hide them from their grandfather if she wants to inherit his fortune. She hasn't told them that they are to be locked away in an abandoned wing of the house with only the dark, airless attic to play in. But, Momma promises, it's only for a few days....
Then the days stretch into months, and the months into years. Desperately isolated, terrified of their grandmother, and increasingly convinced that their mother no longer cares about them, Chris and Cathy become all things to the twins and to each other. They cling to their love as their only hope, their only strength--a love that is almost stronger than death.

This has got to be the most afoul book I have ever read. It was so messed up, the only thing that got me going on reading was to find out if they will be let out of the attic. I hate unpleasant endings, it was truly sad with Cory dying and they fiding out how truly rotten their mother was. I was going to read the 2nd installment; Petals on the Wind but to be safe I checked out the reviews first and decided not to read it afterall; to spare of all the heartaches and possible nausea.

The Outcasts of 19 Schuyler Place

2009-02-19T17:43:00.010+08:00

About The Book:
Written by EL Konigsburg Published Year 2004
Twelve year old Margaret Rose Kane is incorrigible. Not only does she refuse to bend to the will of her manipulative cabin mates at Camp Talequa, she stands up to and inadvertently insults the camp director and Queen-in-residence, Mrs. Kaplan. The intimidating and cruel confrontations that threaten to break Margaret's spririt only serve to strengthen her resolve, and everyone is happy when Margaret is finally banished/rescued from Camp Talequa. Luckily for her, with her parents in Peru, this means she can spend the rest of the summer with her delightfully eccentric Hungarian great-uncles, Alexander and Morris Rose. Margaret adores her great-uncles, and loves the house at 19 Schuyler Place--especially the three peculiar clock towers (tall painted structures covered in pendants made from broken china, crystal, bottles, jars, and clock parts) that the Rose brothers have been building for as long as she can remember. For Margaret and the Rose brothers, the towers represent beauty for beauty's sake--they sparkle in the sun and sing in the wind--they exist only to spread joy. Not everyone loves the towers however, and forty-five years after the birth of the project, the city council declares the towers "unsafe," and demands that they be dismantled and destroyed. Filled with the same fiery resolve that helped her survive Camp Talequa, Margaret (with the help of a handyman named Jake, a loyal dog named Tartufo, and few other unexpected allies) launches a plan to save the towers in the name of art, history, and beauty.

I was suprised that I really liked the book, it was more suited for younger readers but I think adults will enjoy it as well. Even though the style is simple and realistic it will still capture you're interest especially with concept of art. I love the style of writing, very descriptive I too had fell in love with the tower. The move from present to past is not at all confusing, Konigsburg really made it work. I love the characters; Margaret Rose Kane is very smart and funny, the two eccentric unvles are hilarious aswell and Jake ofcourse is a sweetheart no wonder Margaret Rose had a little crush on him. It also leaves the reader a very good moral lesson about individuality, respect, cooperation and appreciation of art, definitely recommended for children to read.

The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy and Other Stories

2009-02-19T17:39:00.009+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Tim Borton Illustrated by Tim Borton Published Year 1997
For all its simple humor, The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy & Other Stories is a peculiarly disturbing book about the violence that children suffer. It is illustrated in pen and ink, watercolor, and crayon.

I love this little book, its beautiful; a small harbound book in black and the title in silver writing. The stories are freaky and sad which is to be expected; it is Tim Burton's work afterall.

Size 12 is Not Fat

2009-02-19T17:38:00.010+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Meg Cabot Series Heather Wells Published Year 2006
Heather Wells Rocks!
Or, at least, she did. That was before she left the pop-idol life behind after she gained a dress size or two -- and lost a boyfriend, a recording contract, and her life savings (when Mom took the money and ran off to Argentina). Now that the glamour and glory days of endless mall appearances are in the past, Heather's perfectly happy with her new size 12 shape (the average for the American woman!) and her new job as an assistant dorm director at one of New York's top colleges. That is, until the dead body of a female student from Heather's residence hall is discovered at the bottom of an elevator shaft. The cops and the college president are ready to chalk the death off as an accident, the result of reckless youthful mischief. But Heather knows teenage girls . . . and girls do not elevator surf. Yet no one wants to listen -- not the police, her colleagues, or the P.I. who owns the brownstone where she lives -- even when more students start turning up dead in equally ordinary and subtly sinister ways. So Heather makes the decision to take on yet another new career: as spunky girl detective! But her new job comes with few benefits, no cheering crowds, and lots of liabilities, some of them potentially fatal. And nothing ticks off a killer more than a portly ex-pop star who's sticking her nose where it doesn't belong.

I would have never thought what this book will be like, I thought it will be more of a chicklit; self-realization and relationship kind of stuff but what it was more like a fluffy mystery. It was good for me though since I love mystery/crime fictions, this book was similar to Charlaine Harris' other series wherein the culprits are just really very sick people who do gruesome acts of murder, ewww. Cooper and Heather's situation is a bit unbearable, I hope they do end up together, I love the other characters as well. Heather though can somewhat be a whiner maybe because of the people/celebrity bashing, less of that would be good.

Uglies

2009-02-13T19:44:00.010+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Scott Westerfeld Series Uglies Published Year 2005
Tally is about to turn sixteen, and she can't wait. Not for her license -- for turning pretty. In Tally's world, your sixteenth birthday brings an operation that turns you from a repellent ugly into a stunningly attractive pretty and catapults you into a high-tech paradise where your only job is to have a really great time. In just a few weeks Tally will be there.
But Tally's new friend Shay isn't sure she wants to be pretty. She'd rather risk life on the outside. When Shay runs away, Tally learns about a whole new side of the pretty world -- and it isn't very pretty. The authorities offer Tally the worst choice she can imagine: find her friend and turn her in, or never turn pretty at all. The choice Tally makes changes her world forever.

I though it being YA will overshadow my indifference with Scifi books. I just really can't stand Scifi maybe because I don't really want to know anything of what the future holds, I'm more of the here and now girl. Anyway it was a fine read, It took me 3mos to finish because I always put it down in favor of other books which really does not have anything to do with the book itself but just because I'm a procrastinator. But as I said it is a pretty good book and ended up liking it even, I think Scott Westerfeld is a very good writer definitely creative.

Death by Bikini

2009-02-13T19:43:00.012+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Linda Gerber Series Aphra Behn Connolly Published Year 2008
Aphra Behn Connolly has the type of life most teenage girls envy. She lives on a remote tropical island and spends most of her time eavesdropping on the rich and famous. The problem is that her family's resort allows few opportunities for her to make friends - much less to meet cute boys. So when a smoldering Seth Mulo arrives with his parents, she's immediately drawn to him. Sure, he's a little bit guarded, and sure his parents are rather cold, and okay he won't say a word about his past, but their chemistry is undeniable. Then a famous rock star's girlfriend turns up dead on the beach - strangled by her own bikini top - and alarm bells sound. Is it too great a coincidence that Seth's family turned up just one day before a murder? As the plot thickens, Aphra finds that danger lurks behind even the most unexpected of faces.

It was unexpectedly a very good mystery. I totally enjoyed reading it, it was exciting, fast faced, very interesting plot with interesting twists. I absolutely want to read the second book, I'm sure there will be more exciting mysteries to for Aphra to uncover esp with her mother.

Garden Spells

2009-02-13T19:35:00.011+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Sarah Addison Allen Published Year 2007
In a garden surrounded by a tall fence, tucked away behind a small, quiet house in an even smaller town, is an apple tree that is rumored to bear a very special sort of fruit. In this luminous debut novel, Sarah Addison Allen tells the story of that enchanted tree, and the extraordinary people who tend it.
The Waverleys have always been a curious family, endowed with peculiar gifts that make them outsiders even in their hometown of Bascom, North Carolina. Even their garden has a reputation, famous for its feisty apple tree that bears prophetic fruit, and its edible flowers, imbued with special powers. Generations of Waverleys tended this garden. Their history was in the soil. But so were their futures.
A successful caterer, Claire Waverley prepares dishes made with her mystical plants—from the nasturtiums that aid in keeping secrets and the pansies that make children thoughtful, to the snapdragons intended to discourage the attentions of her amorous neighbor. Meanwhile, her elderly cousin, Evanelle, is known for distributing unexpected gifts whose uses become uncannily clear. They are the last of the Waverleys—except for Claire's rebellious sister, Sydney, who fled Bascom the moment she could, abandoning Claire, as their own mother had years before.
When Sydney suddenly returns home with a young daughter of her own, Claire's quiet life is turned upside down—along with the protective boundary she has so carefully constructed around her heart. Together again in the house they grew up in, Sydney takes stock of all she left behind, as Claire struggles to heal the wounds of the past. And soon the sisters realize they must deal with their common legacy—if they are ever to feel at home in Bascom—or with each other.
Enchanting and heartfelt, this captivating novel is sure to cast a spell with a style all its own.

The sypnosis kind of gave away everything there is in the book. I loved this book, its very charming and surreal, kind of reminds me of Chocolat though I like this one better. I'm still trying to find a hardbound copy of the book, all I'm seeing at out local bookstores is the paperback print with the picture of a dress in it. I like this book cover better, it really fits the book. I'm a fan of the style of writing, I know some people find it silly but it works just fine for me.

The Lollipop Shoes

2009-02-06T13:06:00.015+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Joanne Harris Also titled as The Girl with No Shadow Published Year 2007
Since she was a little girl, the wind has dictated every move Vianne Rocher has made, buffeting her from place to place, from the small French village of Lansquenet-sous-Tannes to the crowded streets of Paris. Cloaked in a new identity, that of widow Yanne Charbonneau, she opens a chocolaterie on a small Montmartre street, determined to still the wind at last and keep her daughters, Anouk and the baby, Rosette, safe.
Her new home above the chocolate shop offers calm and quiet: no red sachets hang by the door; no sparks of magic fill the air; no Indian skirts with bells hang in her closet. Conformity brings with it anonymity and peace. There is even Thierry, the stolid businessman who wants to take care of Yanne and the children. On the cusp of adolescence, an increasingly rebellious and restless Anouk does not understand. But soon the weathervane turns . . . and into their lives blows the charming and enigmatic Zozie de l'Alba. And everything begins to change.
Zozie offers the brightness Yanne's life needs. Anouk, too, is dazzled by this vivacious woman with the lollipop-red shoes who seems to understand her better than anyone—especially her mother. Yet this friendship is not what it seems. Ruthless, devious, and seductive, Zozie has plans that will shake their world to pieces. And with everything she loves at stake, Yanne must face a difficult choice: Run, as she has done so many times before, or stand and confront this most dangerous enemy.

In stories we find the truth, and though no one outside of the fairytale ever died of a broken heart, the Queen of Heart is very real, though she does not always go by that name. But We've faced her before Anouk and I. She's the wind that blows at the turn of the year. She's the sound of one hand clapping. She's the lump in your mother's breast. She's the absent look in your daugther's eyes. She's the cry of the cat. She's in the confessional. She's hiding inside the black pinata. But most of all she is simple Death, greedy old Mictecacihuatl herself, Santa Muerte, the Eater of Hearsts, most terrible of the Kindly Ones...

It was darker and more deliberate that its prequel, almost as if it's an entirely different story. I thought Chocolat ended on a good note well I guess I'm wrong, I was looking for any hint of waht might happen to them while reading the book I almost give up, thinking there's really no happy ending for them. It took me a while to finish it too but in the end it was worthit, the ending was a little more sappy than I expected still it was a pretty good read. It was also beautifully written, lyrical in a way; as you can see a quote from the book.

Devilish

2009-01-09T12:07:00.015+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Maureen Johnson Published Year 2006
The only thing that makes St. Teresa's Preparatory School for Girls bearable for Jane is her best friend Ally. But when Ally changes into a whole different person literally overnight the fall of their senior year, Jane's suddenly alone--and very confused.
Turns out, Ally has sold her soul in exchange for popularity--to a devil masquerading as a sophomore at St. Teresa's! Now it's up to Jane to put it all on the line to save her friend from this ponytail-wearing, cupcakenibbling demon . . . without losing her own soul in the process.

Feels like a start of a series, I think it will make a good series, hope Johnson makes a sequel. It was pretty weird err different, I think alot of her novels are somewhat unique but this more than the others.

The Uncommon Reader

2009-01-08T19:09:00.013+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Alan Bennett Published Year 2007
A deliciously funny novella that celebrates the pleasure of reading. When the Queen in pursuit of her wandering corgis stumbles upon a mobile library she feels duty bound to borrow a book. Aided by Norman, a young man from the palace kitchen who frequents the library, Bennett describes the Queen's transformation as she discovers the liberating pleasures of the written word. With the poignant and mischievous wit of The History Boys, England's best loved author revels in the power of literature to change even the most uncommon reader's life.

This little book is a witty and enjoyable read. A story somehow I can relate to; I always thought I started late in my reading If I had been this intrested in reading when I was in highschool I could have read thousands by now and my mom does say my reading is a selfish pursuit; it's all I do really; when I get home from work and during my dayoffs. Unlike with story though Queen Elizabeth's foundness of reading comes with grave consequences; with her duty and all. It's a pity though that it was so short a read, It would have been nice if the author provided other posibilities. The abruptness of the ending though was very fitting.

Stealing Heaven

2009-01-05T19:34:00.014+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Elizabeth Scott Published Year 2008
My name is Danielle. I'm eighteen. I've been stealing things for as long as I can remember.
Dani has been trained as a thief by the best - her mother. Together, they move from town to town, targeting wealthy homes and making a living by stealing antique silver. They never stay in one place long enough to make real connections, real friends - a real life.
In the beach town of Heaven, though, everything changes. For the first time, Dani starts to feel at home. She's making friends and has even met a guy. But these people can never know the real Dani - because of who she is. When it turns out that her new friend lives in the house they've targeted for their next job and the cute guy is a cop, Dani must question where her loyalties lie: with the life she's always known - or the one she's always wanted.

I really enjoyed reading it, the story was interesting; seems different from other YA books but not really; self-destructive parents; Ive seen in other books and the way the story finishes in it self without the protagonist doing much of anything but brooding and then everything sets in right definitely a YA formula. It fell short; how about her friendship with Allison and her mothers condition; being sick and I don't mean in the physical sense. But regardless of it it is still one of the most enjoyable books I've read.

Something Borrowed

2009-01-01T14:11:00.017+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Emily Giffin Published Year 2004
Rachel White and Darcy Rhone have been best friends since childhood. They've shared birthdays, the horrors of high school and even boyfriends, but while Darcy is the sort of woman who breezes through life getting what she wants when she wants it, Rachel has always played by the rules and watched her stunning best friend steal all the limelight. The one thing Rachel's always had over Darcy is the four-month age gap which meant she was first to being a teenager, first to drive, first to everything ...but now she's about to be first to thirty. And Darcy still has a charmed life. On the eve of her thirtieth birthday, Rachel is shocked to find herself questioning the status quo. How come Darcy gets a glamorous job at a PR firm and the perfect boyfriend, while Rachel grinds away at her despised job as an attorney and remains painfully single. Is it just luck? Or, looking back at their friendship and their lives together, is it a bit more complicated than that? Then an accidental fling complicates everything, and it's time for Rachel to make a few hard choices. And she's suddenly forced to learn that sometimes true love comes at a price.

This is a novelty for me because Rachel is a very unlikely protagonist, she's very passive, indecisive, whinny and dishonest. I don't even think morality should even be in question here -- its fiction. Proven by the fact of how unlikely this would happen in real life, if Rachel really likes Dex why didn't she do something about it and why would she stay friends with Darcy after all those time if she had qualms about the said friendship. How about Dex, how can he stay in a relationship for seven years, proposed marriage and cheat over her fiance, is Darcy so enthralling that they can't let her down? I don't hate it because frankly I've read worst in this genre and will also read Something Blue just to find out how Giffin will go about Darcy's character.

Real Murders

2008-11-27T22:43:00.011+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Charlaine Harris Series Aurora Teagarden Published Year 1989
Someone is killing the crime buffs of the Real Murders Society in Lawrenceton, Georgia. A librarian, Aurora Teagarden, sets out to catch the brutal murderer after fellow club members end up as victims. The uncanny resemblances to famous crimes challenge Roe and her two admirers, policeman Arthur Smith and mystery writer Robin Crusoe, to pursue the criminal. The lighthearted, witty handling of characters contrasts with the heightening suspense as Aurora seeks clues by searching past mysteries for the killer's identity--until she is caught in the sadistic web of terror herself.

There are alot of characters, that doesn't go well with me because I lose track of them. It was a nice quick mystery read, abit gruesome and when the real murderers were unveiled it's quite unbelievable; it portrays how twisted some people can be. I love the Charlaine Harris, and am planning to read her other series as well.

The Book of One Hundred Truths

2008-11-27T22:40:00.015+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Julie Schumacher Published Year 2006
It's hard for Thea to write four truths a day in the notebook her mother gave her for the summer. Especially when her grandparents' house on the Jersey Shore is even more packed with family than usual, and her cousin Jocelyn wont leave her alone. Jocelyn just might be the world's neatest and nosiest seven-year-old, and she wants to know what's in Thea's notebook. But Thea won't tell anyone about the secret she has promised to keep--or how she lost her best friend (Truth #12), whose name was Gwen.
Now Thea has to babysit in the afternoons, and all Jocelyn wants to do is spy on people. Neither of them expect to see Aunt Ellen and Aunt Celia at the boardwalk in the middle of the day, or for their aunts to lie and insist they were at work. Could it be Thea's not the only one in the family keeping secrets this summer?

"I dont think I'm going to have kids when I get older," I said. "I probably won't get married, either. I'm probabbly just going to live by myself." We walked up the stairs. "I mean, some people probably like having big families, and they like having friends. I just want to be by myself and be norma." I realized that I wasn't making alot of sense, but I couldn't stop talking. "The problem with our family is that it's probably impossiblr to grow up to be normal. I mean most people don't alphabetize the groceries"-- I had seen Phoebe do this-- "or play games at dinner. And what about Ralph? What if Ralph doesn't want to br a Creature of Habit? What if he just want to be regular person?

It's a really nice book for kids to read, intresting characters, good storyline even though it was short the writer was able to provide a vivid description of what the charcters are feeling even the unveiling of Thea's secret was suspenseful.

Gilda Joyce, Psychic Investigator

2008-11-16T12:29:00.012+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Jennifer Allison Series Gilda Joyce Published Year 2005
Ever since her father died, quirky Gilda Joyce has been working hard to sharpen her psychic skills. She's determined to communicate with spirits from the Other Side and become a crack investigator of spooky, twisted mysteries. After wrangling an invitation to visit relatives in San Francisco, Gilda discovers that her dreary, tight-lipped uncle and his strange, delicate daughter need her help to uncover the terrible family secret that has a tortured ghost stalking their home. From poignant to hair-raising and hilarious, this is a behind-the-scenes, tell-all account of the very first case in the illustrious career of Gilda Joyce, Psychic Investigator.

Wow, this is definitely better than the 2nd book, having read it first. It's even scary, I like how it was written. Telling the story from different perspective of the characters. Already have the 3rd book and am gonna start reading now.

The Ladies of the Lake

2008-11-11T20:45:00.016+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Jennifer Allison Series Gilda Joyce Published Year 2006
Zany Gilda Joyce leaves her wacky disguises at home but brings all her psychic and investigative skills with her as she sets out to investigate a mysterious death at a Catholic girls? school. Is Our Lady of Sorrows really haunted by the ghost of Dolores Lambert? Or is the student body suffering from group hysteria? Solving this mystery will put Gilda in more danger than she ever imagined? and will put all of her brashness, bravery, and smarts to the test.

I'm a bit peeved that I didn't realize that this was a sequel. A book with ghosts not scary though clearly for children, why I read them; I'm still not sure maybe it's because I'm relieving my childhood? Anyway I really like reading children's books; they're easier to swallow they don't leave an aftertaste of bitterness; they don't try to hard to be meaningful or memorable. It's a good book to past the time. Oh and I'm sure be looking for the otrher books in the series.

Girl at Sea

2008-11-11T20:41:00.015+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Maureen Johnson Published Year 2007
Sometimes you have to get lost.
The Girl: Clio, seventeen, wants to spend the summer smooching her art-store crush, not stuck on a boat in the Mediterranean. At least she'll get a killer tan.
The Mission: Survive her father's annoying antics. Oh, also find some underwater treasure that could be the missing link to a long-lost civilization.
The Crew: Dad's absentminded best friend Martin, his scary girlfriend Julia, her voluptuous daughter Elsa . . . and then there's Aidan, Julia's incredibly attractive, incredibly arrogant research assistant.
What's going on behind Aidan's intellectual, intensely green eyes, anyway?
As Clio sails into uncharted territory she unveils secrets that have the power to change history. But her most surprising discovery is that there's something deeper and more mysterious than the sea—her own heart.

I love this genre, even if sometimes they have a tendency to be generic. YA books provide light reads but in a more realistic setting compared to chicklits, the characters are not perfect; they're mean, stubborn, and alot of times selfish but they dont offer excuses for being that way; they're simply are. Clio's father kind of reminds me of the character in another book, Perfect You. I love this book, it has a bit of everything in it; adventure, romance and a little mystery... come to think of it, there's a whole lot of mystery till the end, nothing was explained about the stone but I guess that wasn't relly the focus of the story.

Love on the Lifts

2008-10-05T19:05:00.014+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Rachel Hawthorne Published Year 2005
Winter Break super-secret perfect cocoa recipe:
8 oz steamed whole milk (no skim! doesn't work!)
2 tbsp. dark cocoa powder (big scoops)
1 tbsp. sugar (can't be too sweet)
4 dried, crushed mint leaves (or 1 tbsp. mint syrup)
Stir thoroughly. Add mint swizzle stick. Combine with cute ski instructor, or brother's cute best friend, or cute guy you never noticed was so cute.

I should have known, with the kind of synopsis this book had that I won't enjoy it. I thought it'll be a fun read, like most ya books are; sweet and funny. It was boring, I liked the characters but the storyline was pretty lame it was so predictable, the characters couldn't have been more obious with their intentions unless it's written in their foreheads.

The Rule of Four

2008-09-21T15:24:00.018+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Ian Caldwell and Dustin Thomason Published Year 2007
An ivy league murder, a mysterious coded manuscript, and the secrets of a Renaissance prince collide memorably in The Rule of Four - a brilliant work of fiction that weaves together suspense and scholarship, high art and unimaginable treachery.
It's Easter at Princeton. Seniors are scrambling to finish their theses. And two students, Tom Sullivan and Paul Harris, are a hair's breadth from solving the mysteries of the Hypnerotomachia Poliphili - a renowned text attributed to an Italian nobleman, a work that has baffled scholars since its publication in 1499. For Tom, their research has been a link to his family's past - and an obstacle to the woman he loves. For Paul, it has become an obsession, the very reason for living. But as their deadline looms, research has stalled - until a long-lost diary surfaces with a vital clue. And when a fellow researcher is murdered just hours later, Tom and Paul realize that they are not the first to glimpse the Hypnerotomachia 's secrets.
Suddenly the stakes are raised, and as the two friends sift through the codes and riddles at the heart of the text, they are beginnning to see the manuscript in a new light - not simply as a story of faith, eroticism and pedantry, but as a bizarre, coded mathematical maze. And as they come closer and closer to deciphering the final puzzle of a book that has shattered careers, friendships and families, they know that their own lives are in mortal danger. Because at least one person has been killed for knowing too much. And they know even more.

"Make no friends, and kick the old. All I want is silver and gold." "Why silver and gold?" she said, sitting me down in the small back room of the bookstore, where she kept the overstocks and old filling cabinets. "What do you mean?" I asked. There was an outdated calendar on the wall from the Columbus Museum of Art, turned to the month of May, showing an Edward Hopper painitng od a woman sitting alone in her bed. I couldn't help staring at it. "Why not bottle rockets?" she asked "or campires?" "Because those don't work." I remember feeling annoyed; the answers seemed so obvious. "The last word has to rhyme with old."
"Listen to me, Tom" My mother placed a hand on my chin and turned my head until I was facing her. Her hair seemed gold in the right light, the same way the woman's did in the Hopper painting. "It's unnatural. A boy your age shouldn't care about silver and gold." "I don't. What does it matter?" "Because every desire has it's proper object." It sounded like something I'd been told once at Sunday school. "What's that supposed to mean?" "It means people spend their lives wanting things they shouldn't. The world confuses them into taking their love and aiming it where it doesn't belong." She adjusted the neck on her sundress, then sat beside me. "All it takes to be happy is to love the right things, in the right amounts. Not money. Not books. People. Adults who don't understand that never feel fulfilled. I dont want you to turn out like that."

I've always enjoyed reading historical thrillers in the likes of Dan Brown, Steve Berry and such. This book peeked my interest because I've read on amazon that it's comparable to the works of Dan Brown. Hardly! The subject seemed interesting at first but eventually it became such a drag to read, it doesn't really give that feel of urgency/anxiety even if the murders unfold, it's so slow paced that it's a bore to read. It'a also over sentimental though that's not really a bad thing maybe it what's the story is about; how people is destoryed by perverse obsessions on things that are immaterial?

The Duke and I

2008-08-07T19:15:00.017+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Julia Quinn Series Bridgerton Published Year 2000
Can there be any greater challenge to London's Ambitious Mamas than an unmarried duke? -- Lady Whistledown's Society Papers, April 1813
By all accounts, Simon Basset is on the verge of proposing to his best friend's sister, the lovely and almost-on-the-shelf, Daphney Bridgerton. But the two of them know the truth, it's all an elaborate plan to keep Simon free from marriage-minded society mothers. And as for Daphne, surely she will attract some worthy suitors now that it seems a duke as declared her desirable.
But as Daphne waltzes across ballroom after ballroom with Simon, it's hard to remember that their courtship is a complete sham. Maybe it's his devilish smile, certainly it's the way his eyes seem to burn every time he looks at her...but somehow Daphne is falling for the dashing duke...for real! And now she must do the impossible and convince the handsome rogue that their clever little scheme deserves a slight alteration, and that nothing makes quite as much sense as falling in love.

Usually when I 'read' rather browse historical romance because they aren't that appealing to me but it's different with this book, this is the first historical romance that I've read through and through. It's certainly is different because it's not as tacky, the characters are charming/lovable and the dialogue is witty and more of contemporary-style and also the bit about Lady Whistledown is a nice idea, it would be intresting if the character would be revealed in thr following installments in the series.

The Second Summer of the Sisterhood

2008-08-05T21:16:00.039+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Ann Brashares Series Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Published Year 2003
Four teen girls who have known each other since birth (their moms shared a pregnancy aerobics class) further forge their bond of friendship through a pair of thrift-store jeans that magically, impossibly, fits them all perfectly. Like the summer before, Carmen, Bridget, Tibby, and Lena share their individual adventures with the Pants collective, creating an engaging, kaleidoscopic narrative of four voices. This summer, Tibby attends a film program in Virginia and Bridget (Bee), whose mother has died, impulsively jets off to Alabama to get reacquainted with her estranged grandmother. Lovely Lena tries to protect herself from the heartbreak of loving her long-distance Greek god boyfriend Kostos, and Carmen deals (poorly) with her mother dating again and having the nerve to borrow the Pants!

For the first half of the book it's seeems like nothing can get any worse for the girls; they're a disaster between dealing with their mothers, boyfriends and themselves. The characters seemed normal as teens being overly dramatic, really it has that feeling like when you're wathcing a soap. By the end everything seems to fall into place again; Bee has come into terms with accepting the death of her mother and finding closure with the help of Greta; Tibby learned to deal with Bailey's death and realized Brians importance to her, Carmen learned to be more giving for the people she loves and Lena after her drastic love affair with Kostos seemed to have found a new boy. There's still alot of sapiness involved and more crying but the character have changed alot from the first book and alot of the side-characters have been developed in the story including their mothers who have redeveloped their friendship.

100 Cupboards

2008-08-04T00:48:00.022+08:00

About The Book:
Written by ND Wilson Series 100 Cupboards Published Year 2007
Twelve-year-old Henry York wakes up one night to find bits of plaster in his hair. Two knobs have broken through the wall above his bed and one of them is slowly turning . . .Henry scrapes the plaster off the wall and discovers cupboards of all different sizes and shapes. Through one he can hear the sound of falling rain. Through another he sees a glowing room–with a man pacing back and forth! Henry soon understands that these are not just cupboards, but portals to other worlds.

The good thing is that I really liked it, the bad thing is that it's a series and it left alot of loopholes in the story which would be an intro for the sequel. The style of writing is quite good it's like reading a storybook. I never read of any story invoving cupboards before but the alternateworld-stuff is so cliche.

Anybody Out There?

2008-08-03T00:36:00.018+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Marian Keyes Series Walsh Family Published Year 2006
Anna Walsh is officially a wreck. Physically broken and emotionally shattered, she lies on her parents' Dublin sofa with only one thing on her mind: getting back to New York. New York means her best friends, The Most Fabulous Job In The World™ and above all, it means her husband, Aidan.
But nothing in Anna's life is that simple anymore... Not only is her return to Manhattan complicated by her physical and emotional scars – but Aidan seems to have vanished. Is it time for Anna to move on? Is it even possible for her to move on? A motley group of misfits, an earth-shattering revelation, two births and one very weird wedding might help Anna find some answers – and change her life forever.

I'd heard the old wives' tale that we need a year and a day to know, really know, at our core, that someone has died. We need to live through an entire year without the person, to experience every part of our lives without them—my birthday, his birthday, our wedding anniversary, the anniversary of his death—and it's only when that's done and we're still alive that we begin to understand.
For so long I'd kept telling myself and trying to make myself believe that he would come back, that somehow he'd manage it because he loved me so much. Even when I was so angry over little Jack that I'd stopped talking to him, I'd still held out hope. Now I knew, really knew, like the last part of a jigsaw locking into place: Aidan wouldn't be coming back.

I was really holding out on reading this until I found the first three installments of this series but I've read a review that's it's quite different from the previous books and that it would have been better to be a stand alone instead so I gave it a shot. I was itching to find out what happenned to Aidan and then I realized that it's the catch -- he is actually dead, that part was really sad but the peculiarities of the characters and the situiation have overshadowed it for me. What's more funny is that Anna was brooding of how weird the people she was spending her time with, when she herself is very a very odd person, not to mention her family. English humor is so typical not as bad as slapstick jokes but typical -- they always find it funny when a person acts silly er stupid.
It's not really a typical chick-lit which is what I had set my mind on, that's why I find this hard to read because I hate the idea of someone dying on me and leaving me behind, just like Anna.

Artemis Fowl

2008-08-02T12:31:00.021+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Eoin Colfer Series Artemis Fowl Published Year 2001
Artemis Fowl is the most ingenious criminal mastermind in history and with his trusty sidekicks, Butler and Juliet, in tow he hatches a cunning plot to divest the fairyfolk of their pot of gold. Of course, he isn't foolish enough to believe in all that "gold at the end of the rainbow" nonsense. Rather, he knows that the only way to separate The People from their stash is to kidnap one of their number and wait for the ransom to arrive. But when the time comes to put his plan into action he reckons without Captain Holly Short of the LEPrecon (Lower Elements Police Reconnaisance) Unit--a sort of extra small Clarice Starling with pointy ears and wings--and her senior officer Commander Root, an elf who will stop at nothing to get her back.

My friend urged me to read it, I must admit I would not have picked it up on my own but I'm glad I did. It was good, very creative of the author to mix technology and magic, the pacing was good as well, not a an ounce of dullness. What I like the best is that it is vey detailed and the characters are very complex. I like this version of the cover because it shows some of the characters so you coukd imagine how they looked like; the menacing troll, Butler and Captain Holly.

The Secret of the Old Clock

2008-07-30T19:43:00.020+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Mildred A Wirt as Carolyn Keene Series Nancy Drew Mystery Stories Published Year 1930
Nancy, unaided, seeks to find a missing will to help out several people. The search not only tests her keen mind but also leads her into a thrilling adventure.

Yey! my first Nancy Drew and I loved it, my kind of book where nothing really goes wrong and everything falls right in the path of the heroine.

Daddy-long-legs

2008-07-29T21:39:00.026+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Jean Webster Published Year 1912
The unforgettable letters of a high-spirited orphan to 'Daddy-Long-Legs,' her anonymous benefactor. A trustee of the John Grier orphanage has offered to send Judy Abbott to college. The only requirements are that she must write to him every month, and that she can never know who he is. Judy's life at college is a whirlwind of friends, classes, parties, and a growing friendship with the handsome Jervis Pendleton. With so much happening in her life, Judy can scarcely stop writing!

Give the Home my love, please--my TRULY love. I have quite a feeling of tenderness for it as I look back through a haze of four years. When I first came to college I felt quite resentful because I'd been robbed of the normal kind of childhood that the other girls had had; but now, I don't feel that way in the least. I regard it as a very unusual adventure. It gives me a sort of vantage point from which to stand aside and look at life. Emerging full grown, I get a perspective on the world, that other people who have been brought up in the thick of things entirely lack.
I know lots of girls (Julia, for instance) who never know that they are happy. They are so accustomed to the feeling that their senses are deadened to it; but as for me--I am perfectly sure every moment of my life that I am happy. And I'm going to keep on being, no matter what unpleasant things turn up. I'm going to regard them (even toothaches) as interesting experiences, and be glad to know what they feel like. `Whatever sky's above me, I've a heart for any fate.'

Judy Abbot is one of my favorite fiction characters, I grew up watching the animated version and wishing for a daddy-long-legs of my own. It's a simple and honest novel.

Wicked Lovely

2008-07-27T15:59:00.021+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Melissa Marr Series Tatooed Fairies Published Year 2007
Rule #3: Don't stare at invisible faeries. Aislinn has always seen faeries. Powerful and dangerous, they walk hidden in mortal world. Aislinn fears their cruelty—especially if they learn of her Sight—and wishes she were as blind to their presence as other teens.
Rule #2: Don't speak to invisible faeries. Now faeries are stalking her. One of them, Keenan, who is equal parts terrifying and alluring, is trying to talk to her, asking questions Aislinn is afraid to answer.
Rule #1: Don't ever attract their attention. But it's too late. Keenan is the Summer King who has sought his queen for nine centuries. Without her, summer itself will perish. He is determined that Aislinn will become the Summer Queen at any cost—regardless of her plans or desires. Suddenly none of the rules that have kept Aislinn safe are working anymore, and everything is on the line: her freedom; her best friend, Seth; her life; everything.

After teen-vampires-loveaffairs, why not fairies eh? It's an okay read, when you pick this one up you don't really expect to read something spectacular or a total breakthrough in yafiction. I just find it lacking in details and poor character development. I know some people might be turned-off by the hype but give it a chance, it's quite entertaining.

Queen of Babble Gets Hitched

2008-07-26T10:05:00.019+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Meg Cabot Series Queen of Babble Published Year 2008
Things are looking up at last for Lizzie Nichols. She has a career she adores in the field of her choice (wedding gown restoration), and the love of her life, Jean-Luc, has finally proposed. Life’s become a dizzying whirl of wedding gown fittings—not necessarily her own–as Lizzie prepares for her dream wedding at her fiancé’s chateau in the south of France. But the dream soon becomes a nightmare as the best man—with whom Lizzie might once accidentally have slept... no, really, just slept–announces his total lack of support for the couple, a sentiment the maid of honor happens to second; Lizzie’s Midwestern family can’t understand why she doesn’t want to have her wedding in the family backyard; her future, oh-so-proper French in-laws seem to be slowly trying to lure the groom away from medical school and back into investment banking; and Lizzie finds herself wondering if her Prince Charming really is as charming as she once believed.

I loved this series and I was really excited to read this one and find out about Chaz and Lizzie so it's really hard for me to say that I did not like it -- not as much as I wanted to anyway. First Lizzie, is really acting stupid, selfish and shallow and why prolong the agony if the choice is made so obvious by the author, Luke's chracter was totally being bashed so it's given right? Another thing is that I hate the side characters -- they either lack moral and/or presence and/or just totally hateful.

Lock and Key

2008-07-17T01:55:00.041+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Sarah Dessen Published Year 2008
Ruby knows that the game is up. For the past few months, she's been on her own in the yellow house, managing somehow, knowing that her mother will probably never return. That's how she comes to live with Cora, the sister she hasn't seen in ten years, and Cora's husband Jamie, whose down-to-earth demeanor makes it hard for Ruby to believe he founded the most popular networking Web site around. A luxurious house, fancy private school, a new wardrobe, the promise of college and a future - it's a dream come true. So why is Ruby such a reluctant Cinderella, wary and defensive? And why is Nate, the genial boy next door with some secrets of his own, unable to accept the help that Ruby is just learning to give?

It was open just enough to make out a bed, the same USWIM sweatshirt Nate had lent me that day folded on top of it. I don't know what I was expecting, as it wasn't like I'd been in a lot of guys' rooms. A mess, maybe. Some pinup in a bikini on the wall. Perhaps a shot of Heather in a frame, a mirror lined with ticket stubs and sports ribbons, stacks of CDs and magazines. Instead, as I pushed the door open, I saw none of these things. In fact, even full of furniture, it felt . . . empty. There was a bed, made, and a bureau with a bowlful of change on it, as well as a couple of root beer bottle caps. His backpack was thrown over the chair of a nearby desk, where a laptop was plugged in, the battery light blinking. But there were no framed pictures, and none of the bits and pieces I'd expected, like Marla’s fridge collage, or even Sabrina's tons of cats. If anything, it looked more like the last apartment he'd taken me to, almost sterile, with few if any clues as to who slept, lived, and breathed there. I stood looking for a moment, surprised, before backing out and returning the door to exactly how it had been. All the way back home, though, I kept thinking about his room, trying to figure out what it was about it that was so unsettling. It wasn't until I got back to Cora's that I realized the reason: it looked just like mine. Hardly lived in, barely touched. Like it, too, belonged to someone who had just gotten there and still wasn't sure how long they’d be sticking around.

I'm seriously considering Sarah Dessen as one of my favorite authors, her books are like lighter versions of Jodi Picoult -- in the case of tackling social issues with a melodramatic setting. I like this one better than Just Listen because of the plot, it's different not the cliched unpopular girl in school well it is actually but not quite.

Everyone Worth Knowing

2008-07-07T19:06:00.016+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Lauren Weisberger Published Year 2006
A cautionary tale of sex, power, and fame. This time around, the PR industry is her target, and Prada fans will recognize similar themes throughout this entertaining, if at times overly dramatic, exposé.
Bette Robinson is a twentysomething Emory graduate who shunned her parents' hippie ideals in favor of a high-paying yet excruciatingly boring job at a prestigious investment bank. One day, after a particularly condescending exchange with her boss (who sends her daily inspirational e-mails), Bette walks out on her job in a huff. After a few weeks of sleeping late, watching Dr. Phil and entertaining her dog Millington, Bette's uncle scores her a job at an up-and-coming public relations firm, where her entire job seems to revolve around staying out late partying and providing fodder for clandestine gossip columns. What follows is one episode after another of Bette climbing up the social ladder at the expense of her friends, family, and the one guy who actually seems worth pursuing.

I feel bad about saying this, but this kind of book gives bad name to chicklits. It's suppose to be entertaining -- witty, fuuny and sometimes even touching. This is neither though I'm not discouraging anyone to read it, maybe you should it'll make you appreciate good books more.

Chocolat

2008-06-29T17:27:00.020+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Joanne Harris Published Year 1999
Vianne Rocher and her 6-year-old daughter, Anouk, arrive in the small village of Lansquenet-sous-Tannes--"a blip on the fast road between Toulouse and Bourdeaux"--in February, during the carnival. Three days later, Vianne opens a luxuriant chocolate shop crammed with the most tempting of confections and offering a mouth-watering variety of hot chocolate drinks. It's Lent, the shop is opposite the church and open on Sundays and Francis Reynaud, the austere parish priest is livid.

When my daughter was born nine months later I called her after both of us. It seemed appropriate. Her father never knew her - nor am I sure which one he was in the wilting daisy-chain of my brief encounters. It doesn't matter. I could have peeled an apple at midnight and thrown the rind over my shoulder to know his initial, but I never cared enough to do it. Too much ballast slows us down.
And yet . . . Since I left New York, haven't the winds blown less hard, less often? Hasn't there been a kind of wrench every time we leave a place, a kind of regret? I think there has. Twenty-five years, and at last the spring has begun to grow tired, just as my mother grew tired in the final years. I find myself looking at the sun and wondering what it would be like to see it rise above the same horizon for five - maybe ten, maybe twenty - years: The thought fills me with a strange dizziness, a feeling of fear and longing. And Anouk, my little stranger? I see the brave adventure we lived for so long in a different light now that I am the mother. I see myself as I was, the brown girl with the long uncombed hair, wearing cast-off charity-shop clothing, learning maths the hard way, geography the hard way. How much bread for two francs? How far will a fifty-mark rail ticket take us? - and I do not want it for her. Perhaps this is why we have stayed in France for the last five years. For the first time in my life, I have a bank account. I have a trade.
My mother would have despised all this. And yet perhaps she would have envied me too. Forget yourself if you can, she would have told me. Forget who you are. For as long as you am bear it. But one day, my girl, one day it will catch you. I know.

I'm distracted with the thoughts of chocolates while reading this book, being a chocolate lover myself. Kind of reminds me of the book Like Water for Chocolates; both has a surreal feel into them though it wasn't as good as I expected it to be.

Love Overboard

2008-06-23T22:32:00.019+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Janet Evanovich Also titled as Ivan Takes a Wife Published Year 1989
Sinfully handsome schooner captain Ivan Rasmussen deserved to be called Ivan the Terrible, Stephanie Lowe decided. First he sold her a haunted house, and now he was laughing at her Calamity Jane cooking! She'd only agreed to work one voyage of his Maine coastal cruise in exchange for the house repairs promised by her cousin, who'd run off to marry a plumber. When the brazen Ivan, descendent of a pirate, swept her into his arms during a moonlight rendezvous, Stephanie knew how it felt to be pirate's treasure! Ivan teased her, flirted with her, and made her feel cherished as no one ever had, but when would her sexy scoundrel deliver the ravishing he promised?

Originally titled; Ivan Takes a Wife. I got it for only $2 but suprisingly I loved it. The plot was pretty intresting; the charcters were witty and hilarious and above all it was quick read.

The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern

2008-06-21T19:13:00.022+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Lilian Jackson Braun Series Jim Qwilleran Feline Whodunnit Published Year 1967
Qwilleran is not happy with his new assignment to write about interior decorating in a new weekly magazine. Then someone burgles the residence featured on the front cover and kills the lady of the house. Suddenly, Quill finds himself and his feline friend in the midst of a murder investigation.

I'm on my 2nd book and my aim is to finish this series, 27 books to go. I love this series because it's has a cat in it, it's a quick read and mystery happens to be a fave genre of mine.

The Princess Diaries

2008-06-21T19:10:00.019+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Meg Cabot Series Princess Diaries Published Year 2000
Mia Thermopolis is your average urban ninth grader. Even though she lives in Greenwich Village with a single mom who is a semifamous painter, Mia still puts on her Doc Martens one at a time, and the most exciting things she ever dreams about are smacking lips with sexy senior Josh Richter, "six feet of unadulterated hotness," and passing Algebra I. Then Mia's dad comes to town, and drops a major bomb. Turns out he's not just a European politician as he's always lead her to believe, but actually the prince of a small country! And Mia, his only heir, is now considered the crown princess of Genovia! She doesn't even know how to begin to cope: "I am so NOT a princess.... You never saw anyone who looked less like a princess than I do. I mean, I have really bad hair... and... a really big mouth and no breasts and feet that look like skis." And if this news wasn't bad enough, Mia's mom has started dating her algebra teacher, the paparazzi is showing up at school, and she's in a huge fight with her best friend, Lilly. How much more can this reluctant Cinderella handle?

Typical Cabot, a light read for teens. Though It's way past my age to read teen books I still enjoy reading them not to mention being late in reading this particular series.

Olivia Joules and the Overactive Imagination

2008-06-15T12:47:00.022+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Helen Fielding Published Year 2003
Move over 007, a stunning, sexy-and decidedly female-new player has entered the world of international espionage. Her name is Olivia Joules (that's “J.O.U.L.E.S. the unit of kinetic energy”) and she's ready to take America by storm with charm, style, and her infamous Overactive Imagination. How could a girl not be drawn to the alluring, powerful Pierre Ferramo-he of the hooded eyes, impeccable taste, unimaginable wealth, exotic international homes, and dubious French accent? Could Ferramo really be a major terrorist bent on the Western world's destruction, hiding behind a smokescreen of fine wines, yachts, and actresses slash models? Or is it all just a product of Olivia Joules's overactive imagination?

Bridget Jones is tolerable; silly and fun. Olivia Joules is just plain ridiculous-- was meant to be satirical, it certainly has that feel. Well, maybe it wasn't really that bad; I have to give credit for the imaginative plot but it gets quite dragging to read.

Living Dead in Dallas

2008-06-15T12:46:00.016+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Charlaine Harris Series Sookie Stackhouse Published Year 2004
Waiting tables, sweeping floors, reading minds and solving mysteries for the undead. It's all in a day's work for Sookie. Cocktail waitress Sookie Stackhouse is on a streak of real bad luck. First, her co-worker gets murdered and no one seems to care. Then Sookie is attacked - and poisoned - late one night by some weird and apparently mythical beast. She only survives because the local vampires roll up and graciously suck the poison from her veins (like they didn't enjoy it). But in return the blood-suckers need a favour. Which is why Sookie ends up in Dallas, using her telepathic skills to search for a missing vampire, on the condition that her undead friends don't do anything, well, vampiric while she's there. Easier said than done. All it takes is one delicious blonde and one small mistake for things to turn deadly.

I read the half of it a month ago but got bored so I set it aside for a while. I almost did not read it but it's never my habit to leave a book unfinished. It wasn't as good as the first one and it only started to pick up about 2/3rds of the book.

What the Dead Know

2008-06-10T20:15:00.018+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Laura Lippman Also titled as Little Sister Published Year 2007
Thirty years ago two sisters disappeared from a shopping mall. Their bodies were never found and those familiar with the case have always been tortured by these questions: How do you kidnap two girls? Who—or what—could have lured the two sisters away from a busy mall on a Saturday afternoon without leaving behind a single clue or witness? Now a clearly disoriented woman involved in a rush-hour hit-and-run claims to be the younger of the long-gone Bethany sisters. But her involuntary admission and subsequent attempt to stonewall investigators only deepens the mystery. Where has she been? Why has she waited so long to come forward? Could her abductor truly be a beloved Baltimore cop? There isn't a shred of evidence to support her story, and every lead she gives the police seems to be another dead end—a dying, incoherent man, a razed house, a missing grave, and a family that disintegrated long ago, torn apart not only by the crime but by the fissures the tragedy revealed in what appeared to be the perfect household. In a story that moves back and forth across the decades, there is only one person who dares to be skeptical of a woman who wants to claim the identity of one Bethany sister without revealing the fate of the other. Will he be able to discover the truth?

I should have guessed her true identity but I was too preoccupied with the impending mother-daughter reunion. The plot is not something new but the story was really engrossing, I finished it in one reading.

The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants

2008-06-07T21:07:00.019+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Ann Brashares Series Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants Published Year 2001
Carmen got the jeans at a thrift shop. They didn't look all that great; they were worn, dirty, and speckled with bleach. On the night before she and her friends part for the summer, Carmen decides to toss them. But Tibby says they're great. She would love to have them. Lena and Bridget also think they are fabulous. Lena decides they should all try them on. Whoever they fit best will get them. Nobody knows why, but the pants fit everyone perfectly. Even Carmen (who never thinks she looks good in anything), thinks she looks good in the pants. Over a few bags of cheese puffs they decide to form a sisterhood, and take the vow of The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants . . . the next morning, they say good-bye. And now the journey of the pants and the most memorable summer of their lives begins.

Another teen novel, while reading I was thinking how alike I am with the girls except Bridget. I cried over Bailey and Mimi, it's so sad though it can be uneventful at times and sappy in general.

The Witches

2008-06-01T17:28:00.016+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Roald Dahl Published Year 1983
An imaginative tale of a seven-year-old boy who has a run-in with some real-life witches! "In fairy tales witches always wear silly black hats and black cloaks and they ride on broomsticks. But this is not a fairy tale. This is about REAL WITCHES. REAL WITCHES dress in ordinary clothes and look very much like ordinary women. They live in ordinary houses and they work in ordinary jobs. That is why they are so hard to catch." Witches, as our hero learns, hate children. With the help of a friend and his somewhat-magical grandmother, our hero tries to expose the witches before they dispose of him.

It would certainly give children ideas would't it? It's the first I've read among Roald Dahl's novels and I'm probably lucky I've read it now rather then when I'm young 'cause it must have scared me alot-- being the paranoid that I am.

Ammie, Come Home

2008-05-31T11:06:00.024+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Barbara Michaels Series Georgetown Published Year 1968
It begins as a lark -- a harmless diversion initiated by Washington, D.C., hostess Ruth Bennett as a means of entertaining her visiting niece, Sara. But the séance conducted in Ruth's elegant Georgetown home calls something back; something unwelcome ... and palpably evil. Suddenly Sara is speaking in a voice not her own, transformed into a miserable, whimpering creature so unlike her normal, sensible self. No tricks or talismans will dispel the malevolence that now plagues the inhabitants of this haunted place -- until a dark history of treachery, lust, and violence is exposed. But the cost might well be the sanity and the lives of the living.

I remember being really scared after reading the condensed version of this book, I was probably 13 then. Reading the full version now, I realized it wasn't scary at all but it's very insightful. I still like it though it's somewhat different from what i remember. It is very well written and engrossing to read.

The Foretelling

2008-05-27T10:43:00.017+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Alice Hoffman Published Year 2005
A transformative coming-of-age story that pierces the soul and heals the spirit. It is an ancient story with lessons for all time...a book that asks many profound questions, for which there are many answers. A stunning tale of primal power and mythic beauty from a New York Times bestselling author. Rain is a girl of the Amazon tribe of women warriors, the daughter of Queen Alina, living in a time of blood and fear. As the future leader of her people, she must seek and hold fast to her inner warrior. But amid the horrors of the battlefield, Rain is startled and mystified by the first stirrings of mercy towards the enemy--men--within her. What she encounters along the poignant and harrowing path toward her destiny--a kind young man, a strange recurrent prophecy, and a condemned baby brother--lead her, against odds, to forge mercy, love, and peace.

It was a nice read but it left me a feeling af unfulfillment like there should be something more to Rain's story. It was nice that she had come to terms with who she is and what she needs to do for her people.

Mister Monday

2008-05-26T20:38:00.023+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Garth Nix Series Keys to the Kingdom Published Year 2003
Details the adventure of a schoolboy, Arthur Penhaligon, who, during an asthma attack is entrusted with a key by Mister Monday, a strange man from a place called the House (or the Epicenter of the Universe). The key, in the shape of a clock minute hand, is passed to Arthur on the supposition that he is about to die and the key will be returned to the original owner, ensuring his ownership of it and therefore fulfilling his part of the Will, an ancient part of text that had been broken by the seven Trustees of the Architect, the creator of the universe.. However, he survives, now in possession of both the key and a strange notebook known as the Compleat Atlas, and soon is being hounded by Monday's henchmen, Nithlings, who are beasts of Nothing that reside in the House. these Nithlings, who are also called Fetchers, inadvertently bring a plague of some sort to Arthur's home town. Arthur escapes the quarantine of his town with the help of the Will, who is a tangible creature of type, and sets off into a mysterious House, which has appeared his town, with a desperate need so solve all of the problems which had befouled his recent life.

I was looking for Harry Potter ripoffs when I saw this, from the cover you'd think it is indeed an HPripoff. Upon reading you would see some similarities but I guess Garth Nix is more imaginative because of the characters that he created, he's a storyteller as well. It's quite bizarre and i love it! I'd always have a penchant for constructing an image from a book that I'm reading and it's perfect for this one.

The Cat Who Could Read Backwards

2008-05-25T18:22:00.021+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Lilian Jackson Braun Series Jim Qwilleran Feline Whodunnit Published Year 1966
A stabbing in an art gallery, vandalised paintings, a fatal fall - this is not what Jim Qwilleran expects when he turns his reportorial talents to art. But with his partner, Koko the Siamese cat, he sniffs out clues and confounds criminals intent on mayhem and murder.

How do you read the lead character's name? It was an easy read, I like it; I like the art incorporated with the story and I love Koko too, sort of reminds me of Rin-rin cartoons though he owns a dog. I'm sort of exploring the genre that's why I decided to read older published books such as this one.

The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time

2008-05-18T16:03:00.020+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Mark Haddon Published Year 2003 Awarded Whitbread Prize and James Tait Black Memorial Prize for Fiction
'The dog was lying on the grass in the middle of the lawn in front of Mrs Shears' house. It looked as if it was running on its side, the way dogs run when they think they are chasing a cat in a dream. But the dog was not running or asleep. The dog was dead. There was a garden fork sticking out of the dog.' The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time is a murder mystery novel like no other. The detective, and narrator, is Christopher Boone. Christopher is fifteen and has Asperger's, a form of autism. He knows a very great deal about maths and very little about human beings. He loves lists, patterns and the truth. He hates the colours yellow and brown and being touched. He has never gone further than the end of the road on his own, but when he finds a neighbour's dog murdered he sets out on a terrifying journey which will turn his whole world upside down.

I love reading this kind of books, I call them smart books one of the reason is because they confuse me but I still read them because their different from the usual selection of fictions. Reading this book is like seeing the world in the eyes of another person which is Christopher. It was so sort of sad the way that father is trying to win back Christopher's trust.

The Pact

2008-05-16T21:08:00.018+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Jennifer Sturman Series Rachel Benjamin Published Year 2004
Rachel Benjamin and her friends aren't looking forward to Emma's wedding. The groom is a rat, and nobody can understand what Emma sees in him. So when he turns up dead in the morning of the ceremony, no one in the wedding party is all that upset. Not even Emma. Rachel, who had the good fortune to find Richard floating facedown in the pool, is feeling as if she's woken up in an Agatha Christie novel. It doesn't help that everyone around her seems to have a motive for murder. So, while the cops detain Emma's family and friends at her isolated Adirondacks compound for the weekend, Rachel, an investment banker by trade, makes like Miss Marple (minus the gray hair and sensible shoes) and does some digging of her own. Her investigation gets especially tricky when Peter Forrest, the too-good-to-be-true best man, turns out to be the number-one love interest and her number-one suspect. And Rachel can't help remembering the solemn pact she and her friends made back in college--a promise to rescue each other from bad relationships, using any means required. Has someone taken the pact too far?

A good mystery book all comes down to Agatha Christe. It's very well written with charming and quite intresting characters, why is it though that the heroine must always be a dimwit?

Just Listen

2008-05-14T15:36:00.023+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Sarah Dessen Published Year 2006
Last year, Annabel was "the girl who has everything"--at least that's the part she played in the television commercial for Kopf 's Department Store.This year, she's the girl who has nothing: no best friend because mean-but-exciting Sophie dropped her, no peace at home since her older sister became anorexic, and no one to sit with at lunch. Until she meets Owen Armstrong. Tall, dark, and music-obsessed, Owen is a reformed bad boy with a commitment to truth-telling.With Owen's help,maybe Annabel can face what happened the night she and Sophie stopped being friends.

This book tackles alot of issues; communication barriers, peer pressure, isolation that alot of teens may have gone through at some point. Unlike other teen-oriented books (well those that I've read anyway), Just Listen is more on the serious note but it's still easy to read and entertaining as well esp with it's reference to music.

Bridget Jones's Diary

2008-05-14T11:00:00.017+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Helen Fielding Series Bridget Jones Published Year 1996
Meet Bridget Jones-- a 30-something Singleton who is certain she would have all the answers if she could: lose 7 pound, stop smoking and develop Inner Poise. Over the course of the year, Bridget loses a total of 72 pounds but gains a total of 74. She remains, however, optimistic. through it all, Bridget will have you helpless with laughter.

Reading this book, one thinks of how time passess really quick. Bizarre is an apt description for Bridget Jones. Ridiculously funny book albeit a little silly.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows

2008-05-14T10:43:00.021+08:00

About The Book:
Written by JK Rowling Series Harry Potter Published Year 2007
Harry is waiting in Privet Drive. The Order of the Phoenix is coming to escort him safely away without Voldemort and his supporters knowing if they can. But what will Harry do then? How can he fulfil the momentous and seemingly impossible task that Professor Dumbledore has left him with.

It's so sad to think that I won't be reading any Harry Potter anymore. I hope JK Rowling comes up with another series as exciting and captivating as this one. Maybe I'll read A Series of Unfortunate Events, I have it for so long now. I guess I'll start with that series.

Strange Bedpersons

2008-05-14T10:29:00.020+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Jennifer Crusie Published Year 1994
Tess Newhart knows her ex-boyfriend Nick Jamieson isn't the right guy for her. He's caviar and champagne, she's take-out Chinese pot stickers. He's an uptight Republican lawyer, she was raised in a commune and thinks Cinderella is politically incorrect. He wants to get ahead in business, she just wants him -- only not the social-climbing Nick, but the sweet, caring, unbuttoned-down Nick. Nick wants her, too, but there's no way Tess is about to play second fiddle to his obsession to make partner. Yet somehow she finds herself agreeing to play his fiancée for a weekend business trip that could make or break Nick's career. And while he's wrapped up in convincing Tess that he needs her in his respectable world, Tess is doing her best to keep her left-wing opinions to herself and her hands off Nick.

Weird characters; Tess and Nick are the opposite extremes of one another and their friends are just totally pathetic. It can be funny at times, and do have witty dialogues but the ridiculousness of the situation overwhelms me.

Dead Until Dark

2008-05-14T09:54:00.021+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Charlaine Harris Series Sookie Stackhouse Published Year 2002
Sookie Stackhouse is a small-time cocktail waitress in small-town Louisiana. She's quiet, keeps to herself, and doesn't get out much. Not because she's not pretty. She is. It's just that, well, Sookie has this sort of "disability." She can read minds. And that doesn't make her too dateable. And then along comes Bill. He's tall, dark, handsome -- and Sookie can't hear a word he's thinking. He's exactly the kind of guy she's been waiting for all her life. But Bill has a disability of his own: he's a vampire with a bad reputation. He hangs out with a seriously creepy crowd, all suspected of -- big surprise -- murder. And when one of Sookie's co-workers is killed, she fears she's next.

This is the 1st vampire book I've read. Dead Until Dark is quite nice, Charlaine Haris a good mystery writer, the story can be quite engaging and exciting. I never would have guessed who the culprit was, definitely reading book 2.

Jinx

2008-05-14T09:40:00.018+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Meg Cabot Published Year 2007
It wasn't just the power failure the night Jean Honeychurch was born that earned her the nickname Jinx: misfortune seems to follow her wherever she goes. Which is why she's been shipped off to New York to stay with relatives including her sophisticated cousin Tory until the trouble she's caused back in her small hometown dies down. Tory couldn't care less about Jinx until Jinx's chronic bad luck starts wreaking havoc in Tory's perfect world. Only then does Jinx learn that beneath Tory's big-city glamour lies a world of hatred and revenge. And now Jean's jinx could be the only thing that can save her life.

I read alot of Megan Cabot nowadays, I just like the way she writes which is just fun and light. This is the first book I've read of Cabot's that leans on the paranormal side, it's fine though keeps things more intresting.

Sandstorm

2008-05-14T09:31:00.016+08:00

About The Book:
Written by James Rollins Series Sigma Force Published Year 2004
An inexplicable explosion rocks the antiquities collection of a London museum -- a devastating blast that sets off alarms in clandestine organizations around the world, as the race begins to determine how it happened, why it happened, and what it means. Lady Kara Kensington's family paid a high price in money and blood to found the gallery that now lies in ruins. And her search for answers is about to lead Kara and her friend Safia al-Maaz, the gallery's brilliant and beautiful curator, into a world they never dreamed actually existed. For new evidence exposed by the tragedy suggests that Ubar, a lost city buried beneath the Arabian desert, is more than mere legend ... and that something astonishing is waiting there.Two extraordinary women and their guide, the international adventurer Omaha Dunn, are not the only ones being drawn to the desert. Former U.S. Navy SEAL Painter Crowe, a covert government operative and head of an elite counterespionage team, is hunting down a dangerous turncoat, Crowe's onetime partner, to retrieve the vital information she has stolen. And the trail is pointing him toward Ubar.But the many perils inherent in a death-defying trek deep into the savage heart of the Arabian Peninsula pale before the nightmarish secrets to be unearthed at journey's end. What is hidden below the sand is more than a valuable relic of ancient history. It is an ageless power that lives and breathes -- an awesome force that could create a utopia or tear down everything humankind has built during millennia of civilization. Many lives have already been destroyed by ruthless agencies dedicated to guarding its mysteries and harnessing its might. And now the end may be at hand for Safia, for Kara, for Crowe, and for all the interlopers who wish to expose its mysteries, as it prepares to unleash the most terrible storm of all.

First book in the Sigma Force Series, it's very a long read, at some point it became such a drag to read and afterall that has happenned they are indeed just following a wild goose chase. Still, I'll be reading Book 2 one of these days.

The Secret Dreamworld of a Shopaholic

2008-05-13T16:16:00.021+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Sophie Kinsella Also titled Confessions Of A Shopaholic Series Shopaholic Published Year 2000
Meet Rebecca Bloomwood. She's a journalist. She spends her working life telling others how to manage their money. She spends her leisure time...shopping. Retail therapy is the answer to all her problems. She knows she should stop, but she can't. She tries Cutting Back, she tries Making More Money. But neither seems to work. The stories she concocts become more and more fantastic as she tries to untangle her increasingly dire financial difficulties. Her only comfort is to buy herself something - just a little something.

It's one of my guilty pleasures, yes it can be shallow and pitiful at times but it's very entertaining to read.

The Royal Treatment

2008-05-13T16:05:00.021+08:00

About The Book:
Written by MaryJanice Davidson Series Alaskan Royal Family Published Year 2004
In a world nearly identical to ours, the North won the Civil War, Ben Affleck is the sexiest man alive, Martha Stewart is a better pastry chef than insider trader, and Russia never sold Alaska to the US. Instead, Alaska is a rough, beautiful country ruled by a famously eccentric royal family, ostracized by the other royals, and urgently in need of a bride for the Crown Prince. In fact, ANYONE would do. But they have no idea what they're in for when they offer the job to a feisty commoner.. a girl who's going to need.. The Royal Treatment!

It has it's moments, pretty hilarious though It feels more like reading a rough manuscript rather than a book.

A Walk To Remember

2008-05-13T15:17:00.019+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Nicholas Sparks Published Year 1999
Every April, when the wind blows from the sea and mingles with the scent of lilacs, Landon Carter remembers his last year at Beaufort High. It was 1958, and Landon had already dated a girl or two. He even swore that he had once been in love. Certainly the last person in town he thought he'd fall for was Jamie Sullivan, the daughter of the town's Baptist minister. A quiet girl who always carried a Bible with her schoolbooks, Jamie seemed content living in a world apart from the other teens. She took care of her widowed father, rescued hurt animals, and helped out at the local orphanage. No boy had ever asked her out. Landon would never have dreamed of it. Then a twist of fate made Jamie his partner for the homecoming dance, and Landon Carter's life would never be the same. Being with Jamie would show him the depths of the human heart and lead him to a decision so stunning it would send him irrevocably on the road to manhood.

I'm sure everyone knows the story since it was made into a film. The books is quite nice, heartwarming and such which reminds me of another movie/book made in the 70's starred by Ali Mcgrew, I should read that book as well when I find one that is.

Where Are The Children?

2008-05-13T15:13:00.019+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Mary Higgins Clark Published Year 1975
Nancy Harmon long ago fled the heartbreak of her first marriage, the macabre deaths of her two little children, and the shocking charges against her. She changed her name, dyed her hair, and left California for the windswept peace of Cape Cod. Now remarried, she has two more beloved children, and the terrible pain has begun to heal -- until the morning when she looks in the backyard for her little boy and girl and finds only one red mitten. She knows that the nightmare is beginning again.

One of Mary Higgins Clark first novels, just one of my regular dose of suspense drama.

The Undomestic Goddess

2008-05-13T14:49:00.021+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Sophie Kinsella Published Year 2005
Workaholic attorney Samantha Sweeting has just done the unthinkable. She's made a mistake so huge, it'll wreck any chance of a partnership. Going into utter meltdown, she walks out of her London office, gets on a train, and ends up in the middle of nowhere. Asking for directions at a big, beautiful house, she's mistaken for an interviewee and finds herself being offered a job as housekeeper. Her employers have no idea they've hired a lawyer-and Samantha has no idea how to work the oven. She can't sew on a button, bake a potato, or get the #@%# ironing board to open. How she takes a deep breath and begins to cope-and finds love-is a story as delicious as the bread she learns to bake. But will her old life ever catch up with her? And if it does…will she want it back?

Love this book! I just can't believe Samantha prefers being a housekeeper as to a hotshot lawyer, anyway it's a very good read. I love the characters esp Trish -- having had a Cambridge-educated housekeeper… I could never go back.

Can You Keep A Secret?

2008-05-13T14:41:00.022+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Sophie Kinsella Published Year 2003
Emma is sitting on a turbulent plane. She's always been a v. nervous flyer. She really thinks that this could be her last moment. So, naturally enough, she starts telling the man sitting next to her - quite a dishy American, but she's too frightened to notice -all her innermost secrets. How she scans the backs of intellectual books and pretends she's read them. How she does her hair up like Princess Leia in her bedroom. How she's not sure if she has a G-spot, and whether her boyfriend could find it anyway. How she feels like a fraud at work - everyone uses the word 'operational' all the time but she hasn't a due what it means. How the coffee at work is horrible. How she once threw a troublesome client file in the bin. If ever there was a bare soul, it's hers. She survives the flight, of course, and the next morning the famous founding boss of the whole mega corporation she works for is coming for a look at the UK branch. As he walks around, Emma looks up and realises... It's the man from the plane. What will he do with her secrets? He knows them all - but she doesn't know a single one of his or does she?

I dont know if I like it or not. It's kind of bland, not one of Kinsella's best.

Angels and Demons

2008-05-13T13:15:00.025+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Dan Brown Series Robert Langdon Published Year 2000
When a world renowned scientist is found brutally murdered in a Swiss research facility, a Harvard professor, Robert Langdon, is summoned to identify the mysterious symbol seared onto the dead man's chest. His baffling conclusion: it is the work of the Illuminati, a secret brotherhood presumed extinct for nearly four hundred years - reborn to continue their bitter vendetta against their sworn enemy, the Catholic church. In Rome, the college of cardinals assembles to elect a new pope. Yet somewhere within the walls of the Vatican, an unstoppable bomb of terrifying power relentlessly counts down to oblivion. While the minutes tick away, Langdon joins forces with Vittoria Vetra, a beautiful and mysterious Italian scientist, to decipher the labyrinthine trail of ancient symbols that snakes across Rome to the long-forgotten Illuminati lair - a secret refuge wherein lies the only hope for the Vatican. But with each revelation comes another twist, another turn in the plot, which leaves Langdon and Vetra reeling and at the mercy of a seemingly invisible enemy.

It's a great read, I really like Dan Brown's style compared to other thriller writers who puts too many blood and deaths into the story. Instead Dan Brown enthralls the readers with twists and turns of the events and he does put a side of romance as well.

In the Big City

2008-05-13T13:07:00.023+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Meg Cabot Series Queen of Babble Published Year 2007
Lizzie Nichols is back, pounding the New York City pavement and looking for a job, a place to live, and her proper place in the universe not necessarily in that order. When "Summer Fling" Luke uses the L word -- Living Together, Lizzie is only too happy to give up her plan of being postgrad roomies with best friend, Shari, in a one-room walk-up in exchange for cohabitation with the love of her life in his mother's Fifth Avenue pied-à-terre, complete with doorman and resident Renoir. But Lizzie's not as lucky in her employment search. As Shari finds the perfect job, Lizzie struggles through one humiliating interview after another, being judged overqualified for the jobs in her chosen field—vintage-gown rehab—and underqualified for everything else. It's Shari's boyfriend Chaz to the rescue when he recommends Lizzie for a receptionist's position at his father's posh law firm. The nonpaying gig at a local wedding-gown shop Lizzie manages to land all on her own. But Lizzie's notoriously big mouth begins to get her into trouble at work and at home almost at once—first at the law firm, where she becomes too chummy with Jill Higgins, a New York society bride with a troublesome future mother-in-law, and then back on Fifth Avenue, when she makes the mistake of bringing up the M word -- Marriage with commitment-shy Luke. Soon Lizzie finds herself jobless as well as homeless all over again. Can Lizzie save herself—and the hapless Jill—and find career security not to mention a mutually satisfying committed relationship at last?

Talk about cliffhangers! Urgh I want the Book 3! I never imagined Lizzie and Chaz would end up together!

Queen of Babble

2008-05-13T13:05:00.022+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Meg Cabot Series Queen of Babble Published Year 2006
Lizzie Nichols has a problem: she can't keep anything to herself. And when she opens her big mouth on a trip to London, her good intentions get her long-distance beau, Andrew, in major hot water. Now she's stuck in England with no boyfriend and no place to stay until the departure date on her nonrefundable airline ticket. Fortunately, Lizzie's best friend and college roommate, Shari, is spending her summer catering weddings in a sixteenth-century château in southern France. Who cares if Lizzie's never traveled alone in her life and only speaks rudimentary French? She's off to Souillac to lend a helping hand! One glimpse of gorgeous Château Mirac—and of gorgeous Luke, the son of the château's owner—and Lizzie's smitten. But thanks to her chronic inability to keep a secret, before the first cork has been popped Luke hates her, the bride is in tears, and Château Mirac is on the road to becoming a lipo-recovery spa. Add to that the arrival of ex-beau Andrew, who's looking for "closure" (or at least a loan), and everything—including Lizzie's shot at true love—is in la toilette . . . unless she can figure out some way to use her big mouth to save the day.

I love Meg Cabot! She always keeps things light and entertaining. But I especially love this series, it's very spontaneous, you think you know the story but it ends up differently.

New Moon

2008-05-13T13:01:00.031+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Stephenie Meyer Series Twilight Saga Published Year 2006
The "star-crossed" lovers theme continues as Bella and Edward find themselves facing new obstacles, including a devastating separation, the mysterious appearance of dangerous wolves roaming the forest in Forks, a terrifying threat of revenge from a female vampire and a deliciously sinister encounter with Italy's reigning royal family of vampires, the Volturi.

It was a crippling thing, this sensation that a huge hole had been punched through my chest, excising my most vital organs and leaving ragged, unhealed gashes around the edges that continued to throb and bleed despite the passage of time. Rationally, I knew my lungs must still be intact, yet I gasped for air and my head spun like my efforts yielded me nothing. My heart must have been beating, too, but I couldn't hear the sound of my pulse in my ears; my hands felt blue with cold. I curled inward, hugging my ribs to hold myself together. I scrambled for my numbness, my denial, but it evaded me.
And yet, I found I could survive. I was alert, I felt the pain—the aching loss that radiated out from my chest, sending wracking waves of hurt through my limbs and head—but it was manageable. I could live through it. It didn't feel like the pain had weakened over time, rather that I'd grown strong enough to bear it.
Whatever it was that had happened tonight—and whether it was the zombies, the adrenaline, or the hallucinations that were responsible—it had woken me up.
For the first time in a long time, I didn't know what to expect in the morning.

Book 2 of the Twilight Saga: New Moon, as if reading about vampires are not enough the writer has to add werewolves which as the story goes are the im-mortal enemies of vampires, how totally un-original. It's really depressing since I'm looking forward to more smoochies from Bella and Edward. What's the point with all the distractions when the readers know they still end up together.

Twilight

2008-05-13T12:59:00.053+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Stephenie Meyer Series Twilight Saga Published Year 2005
About three things Bella Swan was absolutely positive. First, Edward was a vampire. Second, there was a part of him and she didn't know how dominant that part might be that thirsted for her blood. And third, she was unconditionally and irrevocably in love with him.

What is it with vampires that it has become a fad with American Authors? Not being a great fan of supernatural-related novels I'm a bit hessitant to read this, but it's on New York Times Bestseller, surely it can't be that bad? But it wasn't good either, the story pretty much revolved to the two main characters and it's atall that interesting.

Vanishing Acts

2008-05-13T12:57:00.022+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Jodi Picoult Published Year 2005
Delia Hopkins has led a charmed life. Raised in rural New Hampshire by her widowed father, Andrew, she now has a young daughter, a handsome fiancé, and her own search-and-rescue bloodhound, which she uses to find missing persons. But as Delia plans her wedding, she is plagued by flashbacks of a life she can't recall. And then a policeman knocks on her door, revealing a secret that changes the world as she knows it. In shock and confusion, Delia must sift through the truth -- even when it jeopardizes her life and the lives of those she loves. What happens when you learn you are not who you thought you were? When the people you've loved and trusted suddenly change before your eyes? When getting your deepest wish means giving up what you've always taken for granted? Vanishing Acts explores how life -- as we know it -- might not turn out the way we imagined; how doing the right thing could mean doing the wrong thing; how the memory we thought had vanished could return as a threat.

This novel is so real yet it's difficult to think that the circumstances may happen to someone. The plot is used in alot of novels already and yet Jodi Picoult has something more to offer. I like how the story was narrated by each characters; how they perceive the events may be different from the others characters.

How To Teach Filthy Rich Girls

2008-05-13T12:44:00.027+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Zoey Dean Also titled as Privileged Published Year 2007
Recent Yale graduate Megan Smith comes to Manhattan with big plans for a career in journalism and even bigger student loan debt: $75,000. When she flails at her trashy tabloid job, she's given an escape hatch: tutor seventeen-year-old identical twins Rose and Sage Baker--yes, the infamous Baker heiresses of Palm Beach, Florida, best known for their massive fortunes and their penchant for drunkenly flashing the paparazzi -- and get their SAT scores up enough to get into Duke. Impossible job -- yes. But if she succeeds, her student debts are history. Unfortunately for Megan, the Baker twins aren't about to curtail their busy social schedules for basic algebra. And they certainly aren't thrilled to have to sit down for a study session with dowdy Megan. Megan quickly discovers that if she's going to get her money, she'll have to learn her Pucci from her Prada. And if she can look the part, maybe, just maybe, she can teach the girls something along the way.

I've been wanting for so long to read one of her works, alas her very first novel apart from the A-List Series. How To Teach Filthy Rich Girls is quite entertaining which is as far as chick lits may go. Poor character development though; a bunch of shallow, forgetful ones which the author rightfully describes as -- The OC on Prozac.

Veronika Decides To Die

2008-05-13T11:31:00.044+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Paulo Coelho Published Year 1999
Veronika has everything she could wish for. She is young and pretty, has plenty of boyfriends, a steady job, a loving family. Yet she is not happy; something is lacking in her life, and one morning she decides to die. She takes an overdose of sleeping pills, only to wake up some time later in the local hospital. There she is told that her heart is damaged and she has only a few days to live. The story follows Veronika through these intense days as to her surprise she finds herself experiencing feelings she has never really felt before. Against all odds she finds herself falling in love and even wanting to live again.

Paulo Coelho always writes books that inspires the readers to see life in a new perspective. This is one of my favorite books, I think it is something that alot of people can relate to, at some point a person may think of how bored he is of life the same as the feeling of the heroine in this book.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

2008-03-14T10:46:00.001+08:00

About The Book:
Written by JK Rowling Series Harry Potter Published Year 2005
In the fifth and most recent book, Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, the last chapter, titled "The Second War Begins," started: 'In a brief statement Friday night, Minister of Magic Cornelius Fudge confirmed that He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named has returned to this country and is active once more. "It is with great regret that I must confirm that the wizard styling himself Lord - well, you know who I mean - is alive among us again," said Fudge.' Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince takes up the story of Harry Potter's sixth year at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry at this point in the midst of the storm of this battle of good and evil.

This is the best book among the Harry Potter Series, it's not as action filled as the others but it kind of serves as an opener for something more exciting, alot things from the past was also revealed in this book.

Themes: Orphan, Fantasy, Child Hero/ine, Alternate World, Friendship

The Da Vinci Code

2007-12-13T14:36:00.003+08:00

About The Book:
Written by Dan Brown Series Robert Langdon Published Year 2003
Harvard Professor Robert Langdon, visiting Paris, is called in when the curator of the Louvre is murdered. Alongside the body is a series of baffling ciphers. Langton and a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, are amazed to find a trail that leads to the works of Da Vinci - and beyond.

Who hasn't read this book? I'll bet everyone has, what with all the controversy it has incured. It's a very good read with fascinating details and intriguing mysteries. Looking forward to Book 3.

Here We Go Again by Demi Lovato

2005-05-01T05:04:00.001+08:00

Listening to:

This came as a suprise I was thinking she is inleague with Miley Cyrus (which voice I can't stand), thankfully it's not that horrible quite the opposite. A good teen pop album with catchy tunes you could sing along with. I love the slower songs; Falling Over Me, Catch Me and Everytime You Lie.

19 by Adele

2005-05-01T05:03:00.001+08:00

Listening to:

I love this album and I mean every song on it but if I have to pick one I'd say Right as Rain and Chasing Pavements, I love how old school this sounds. Her style is quite unique and infectious. I won't get bored listening to her sing over and over again.

Sounds Like This by Eric Hutchinson

2005-05-01T05:02:00.001+08:00

Listening to:

Amazingly enough I don't see the resemblance to Jason Mraz, in style... yeah maybe a little but I like Hutchinson better. In his slower song, It Hasn't Been Long Enough and Back To Where I Was actually reminds me of Jamie Cullum, another artist that I love listening to. Don't you just wish alot of albums are like this where you can sing along and dance to?

Haughty Melodic by Mike Doughty

2005-05-01T05:01:00.002+08:00

Listening to:

He was the lead vocal of the disbanded Soul Coughing, though I have yet to listen to any of their recordings. I first heard him on Grey's Anatomy and one of his song was in in the soundtrack of Veronica Mars. It easily became a favorite, I just love Doughty's husky voice, easy melodies and well thought/written lyrics. This is something I will keep on listening for years. I love every track in it but my faves are; White Lexus, Looking at the World from the Bottom of a Well, I Hear The Bells, America Car, Sunken-Eyed Girl, Madeline and Nine and Unsingable Name.

Give Up by The Postal Service

2005-05-01T05:01:00.000+08:00

Listening to:

This is an old/all time favorite and Such Great Heights is the best song ever. I also liked Sleeping In and Clark Gable. Reminiscent of 80's synthpop with very good melody and quirky lyrics. Highly original and I daresay I never find any album as good as this.