Thursday, May 30, 2013

Ocean of Secrets (a.k.a. Sea Change)

Sixteen-year-old Miranda Merchant is great at science...and not so great with boys. After major drama with her (now ex) boyfriend, she's happy to be spending the summer on small, mysterious Selkie Island, helping her mother sort out her late grandmother's estate.

On the lush, beautiful island, Miranda finds new friends and a community with a mystical history, presenting her with facts her logical, scientific mind can't make sense of. She also meets Leo, who challenges everything she thought she knew about boys, romance...and reality.

Is Leo hiding something? Or is he something that she never could have imagined?

Author: Aimee Friedman (Website, Twitter)
Publisher: Scholastic
Buy online: Amazon 
Book borrowed from the national library
(Actual) Rating: 3 of 5 stars

Quick and pretty easy read. I really enjoyed myself reading it. I felt the summer that I know I'll never even have to experience in real life only in my imaginations and this one has got the perfect summer story.

Monday, May 27, 2013

Unravel Me

Juliette has escaped to Omega Point. It is a place for people like her—people with gifts—and it is also the headquarters of the rebel resistance.

She's finally free from The Reestablishment, free from their plan to use her as a weapon, and free to love Adam. But Juliette will never be free from her lethal touch.

Or from Warner, who wants Juliette more than she ever thought possible.

In this exhilarating sequel to Shatter Me, Juliette has to make life-changing decisions between what she wants and what she thinks is right. Decisions that might involve choosing between her heart—and Adam's life.

Author: Tahereh Mafi (Website, Twitter, Facebook)
Publisher: Harper/HarperCollins Publishers
Buy online: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound
Book borrowed from the national library
(Actual) Rating: 5 of 5 stars

I realized that the title says a lot about Warner and Juliette - Shatter Me, Unravel Me. I've read the books and it just puts the puzzle pieces together and I see it. The plot twists is incredibly unexpected. Phenomenal. My heart is so full I couldn't wrap my head around of all of what's happened. The romance is intense - how the writer has come up with so much details, every move is describe very well, full of emotions. Absorbing.

"A flawless, flawless exterior for a boy with a black, black heart."

Though the first few chapters were a little mind-numbing, the story picks up and all of a sudden I got my hands stuck like glue holding the book for a whole day.

Tuesday, May 21, 2013

Reached

After leaving Society and desperately searching for the Rising—and each other—Cassia and Ky have found what they were looking for, but at the cost of losing each other yet again: Cassia has been assigned to work for the Rising from within Society, while Ky has been stationed outside its borders. But nothing is as predicted, and all too soon the veil lifts and things shift once again.

Author: Ally Condie
Publisher: Dutton Books
Buy online: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound
Book borrowed from the national library
(Actual) Rating: 1.5 of 5 stars

I didn't really like to how the ending went. I gotta admit that I wanted to finish reading it as soon as possible. It's because it is dreadful to me though I could relate to how the characters feel. It was neatly and beautifully written - poem sure to move us and made me decode the meaning to how I think they are about. I like the poems that goes together to the context.

Expectations not met. The first book Matched was seen with potential. Well, this one I just didn't like it, it was quite of a hazy, rushed through ending. Mind-numbing.

Thursday, May 16, 2013

Vampire Academy #3: Shadow Kiss

Is Rose's fate to kill the person she loves most? It's springtime at St. Vladimir's Academy, and Rose Hathaway is this close to graduation. Since Mason's death, Rose hasn't been feeling quite right. She has dark flashbacks in the middle of practice, can't concentrate in class, and has terrifying dreams about Lissa. But Rose has an even bigger secret... She's in love with Dimitri. And this time, it's way more than a crush. Then Strigoi target the academy in the deadliest attack in Moroi history, and Dimitri is taken. Rose must protect Lissa at all costs, but keeping her best friend safe could mean losing Dimitri forever...

Author: Richelle Mead (Author's Website, VA books official website, Twitter)
Publisher: Razorbill
Buy online: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound
Book borrowed from the national library
(Actual) Rating: 4 of 5 stars

How do I start this review? My thoughts are all over the place. My heart was just stabbed right through the chest whenever I think about the last few chapters. I'll make this review short and concise.

Saturday, May 11, 2013

Vampire Academy #2: Frostbite

Rose loves Dimitri, Dimitri might love Tasha, and Mason would die to be with Rose. It's winter break at St. Vladimir's, but Rose is feeling anything but festive. A massive Strigoi attack has put the school on high alert, and now the Academy's crawling with Guardians–including Rose's hard-hitting mother, Janine Hathaway. And if hand-to-hand combat with her mom wasn't bad enough, Rose's tutor Dimitri has his eye on someone else, her friend Mason's got a huge crush on her, and Rose keeps getting stuck in Lissa's head while she's making out with her boyfriend, Christian! The Strigoi are closing in, and the Academy's not taking any risks...This year, St. Vlad's annual holiday ski trip is mandatory. But the glittering winter landscape and the posh Idaho resort only create the illusion of safety. When three friends run away in an offensive move against the deadly Strigoi, Rose must join forces with Christian to rescue them. But heroism rarely comes without a price...

Author: Richelle Mead (Author's Website, VA books official website, Twitter)
Publisher: Razorbill
Buy online: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound
Book borrowed from the national library
(Actual) Rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is better than I thought it would be! This sequel to Vampire Academy has very nice, neat and well-paced. Huge improvement to the plot and in character development. I specifically got super thrilled with the actions and snide comments with a sense of humor that I can’t hold to stifle a laugh or snort. Probably one would have already noticed my weirdness and real creepy around books while I was at public places reading Frostbite haha!

I just knew this series has its interesting glow that will pull me to read it and really read it to view my opinions clearly enough that it’s beyond good. YES it has proved it and impressed me especially Rose.

Monday, May 06, 2013

Timedance #1: Neptune's Tears

What would you risk for the one you love?

It is love against the odds.
There is his world, and there is hers.
How can they feel so connected?

It's 2218 and Zee McAdams is in her second year as a healing empath at a busy London hospital.
When a mysterious young man arrives for treatment,
Zee's hard won calm is pierced.
She will need all her courage if she's to follow her heart.
Especially when David reveals a devastating secret.




Author: Susan Waggoner (Facebook)
Publisher: Piccadilly Press
Buy online: Amazon
Book borrowed from the national library
(Actual) Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

I thought it is a good, easy and fast read! I enjoyed very much reading it! I picked up this book by random from the shelf at the library. The title and its blue glittery cover has caught my attention and it's behind cover synopsis that I could not help leave it untouched. So I just borrowed it and took it home with me for reading. I couldn't stop my grabby hands from grabbing it off of the shelf.

No regrets! Once I started reading it, I couldn't be disturbed. It was glued in my hands the whole time I couldn't put it down! Too engrossed!

Saturday, May 04, 2013

Origin

The jungle hides a girl who cannot die.

Pia has grown up in a secret laboratory hidden deep in the Amazon rain forest. She was raised by a team of scientists who have created her to be the start of a new immortal race. But on the night of her seventeenth birthday, Pia discovers a hole in the electric fence that surrounds her sterile home—and sneaks outside the compound for the first time in her life.

Free in the jungle, Pia meets Eio, a boy from a nearby village. Together, they embark on a race against time to discover the truth about Pia's origin—a truth with deadly consequences that will change their lives forever.



Author: Jessica Khoury (Website, Twitter, Facebook)
Publisher: Razorbill
Buy online: Amazon | Barnes & Noble | IndieBound
Book borrowed from the national library
(Actual) Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

I have to be honest here. I neglected reading it the first time because of the book was due. I had to return it immediately to avoid paying for library fees. However, I really had to borrow it again because where I left off was where the truth will eventually surface. It's a very real journey to Amazon. I feel like I was with the characters, running with them in the rainforest. Discovering the unknown. Give me a jungle boy like Eio and I may start to like guys again haha, but really I thought I was in Amazon.. Ah books --what they do to you.

"Reminding me how fragile this life is and how easily it can be lost. Compelling me to live and to live well, while I still can."

Review Updates!

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