Book Review: The Retribution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

Posted on 11/11/2016 by Lenn

Rating: ★★★★★
Read: November 2016

It’s been a while since I last finished a novel. Being an “adult” feels like life is being sucked out of me these past couple of months. It’s been a struggle to drag my ass out of bed each morning, waking up with no motivation to do anything and the worst part is that I don’t even know why I feel like this. Good thing comic books have been keeping me going. It’s the easiest source of entertainment and the fastest ones to read. But finally, I decided to pick up the last book in the Mara Dyer series and it’s been really…. intense.

So this book… I am lost for words. I can’t explain how creepily fantastic and amazing this book has been. I’ll probably start off with the fact that this book has a ton of twists and turns. There are a lot of moments when I literally gasped in both excitement and frustration. This book has given me a lot of feelings at once and I’m saying that in a good way. Michelle Hodkin wrapped it up surprisingly well.

Honestly, this book made me feel like I was losing my mind, too. There were so many mind-fuck moments that just made me think about how all this will end, and, well, all my predictions and assumptions about the ending didn’t play out and that’s a good thing. I can’t summarize this book for y’all without spoiling you, so I’ll just end this review by saying, if you haven’t read this series, what are you even doing with your life?! Go on, pick it up!

And a quote:

“It has been said that there must be a villain for every hero, a demon for every angel, a monster for every god. Despite what we are, I do not believe this. I have seen the villainous act heroic, and men called heroes act villainous. It is our choices that define us, not our abilities.”

#MIBF2016

Posted on 09/20/2016 by Lenn

Went to the 37th Manila International Book Fair last Sunday with my cousin! After so many years of planning to go, I finally got the chance to! Finally, you guys! It was crazy inside because there are so many people since it’s the last day of the event, but it was an awesome experience nevertheless.

We only spent an hour or so inside. The lines were so long (so so so so long!!! and I’m not even overreacting) that it took us 30 minutes before we were able to pay for our books inside the Fullybooked booth! After paying, we tried roaming around just so we could see other booths and bookish events happening at the time. We also grabbed a copy of the MIBF map since my cousin wanted a remembrance from the event.

I personally loved this booth with all those hugot lines hanging above the place.

There are actually A LOT of people inside and it’s really hard to walk or overtake from anyone. My brother actually came inside with us, but we lost him somewhere, so he decided to go and just wait for us outside.

The only selfie we got from inside and I just realized that there aren’t any sight of books in the background from where we took the picture. *sad*

Here’s my very small MIBF book haul!

I can’t wait to start reading them but at the moment, I’m currently reading The Could Searchers (Amulet, #3) by Kazu Kibuishi! It’s a graphic novel and I’m so happy that I’m finally catching up with all the graphic novel series I’ve started reading last year. Yas. *hearts everywhere*

Haul

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Recently bought these! Sometimes, I just can’t help but splurge over new comic books and novels.

Source: dustypromises

Book Review: Habang Wala Pa Sila by Juan Miguel Severo

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Rating: ★★★★★
Read: April 2016

It took only a single video for me to like this guy. It was my first time to listen to Spoken Word Poetry and I was instantly convinced that this guy really has the talent! The way he spits each and every word made it go straight to my heart. The way he delivered and performed left me awestruck. There was just so much power and passion in his eyes and voice. So when I heard about his book, I felt all giddy and excited.

The book is mainly a collection of all his poems and reading it made me fall in love with him even more. I don’t know what it is that he has, but each and every poem cut deep in my heart in a way I, myself couldn’t even understand. He has the power to make his readers and listeners feel his pain.

Ending this review with my favorite line from one of his poems, Naniniwala Ako:

At patawad, wag ka sanang mairita pero gusto kitang makita, maniwala ka, dahil minsan nakakasawa na nasa isip lang kita.

Source: dustypromises

Book Review: Love & Misadventure by Lang Leav

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Rating: ★★★★★
Read: March 2016

I’ve always loved reading poems and has always been amazed by how beautifully it is written. I remember being so frustrated when I was a kid because I was so eager to make my own piece but I never really had the best inspiration, so I haven’t really come up with anything until recently, when I found him, the greatest inspiration of all. Suddenly, I know what Michael Faudet meant when he said, “I write because you exist.”

I really don’t know what took me so long to read Love and Misadventure, aside from the fact that it’s way too expensive. I cannot wait to read her two other books. All in all, I really loved this one. There are so many feelings attached to each piece that made it so real.

Here’s my favorite:

“Before I fell
in love with words,
with setting skies
and singing birds—
it was you I fell
in love with first.”

Book Review: White Hot Kiss by Jennifer L. Armentrout

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RATING: ★ ★ ★ ★

White Hot Kiss is the first ever book written by JLA that I’ve read. It took me some time reading it because it’s really been a struggle reading these days, having work and all. But the book was absolutely an awesome read!

It’s about Layla, trying so much to fit in with the family she grew up with. They are Wardens, entitled to keep the world demon-free, but Layla is only half-Warden, and the other half? Yup, you guessed it, demon. And just when she thought her life couldn’t get any worse, it did. Suddenly, everything she ever believed in came crashing down and the only way to find the truth out is to be friends with a demon. A demon so handsome she couldn’t say no.

I liked how this book has just the right mixture of fantasy and romance in it. I found myself shipping for Layla and Roth rather than Layla and Zayne. I really still have no idea who she will end up with at the end of the third book but I hope it’s Roth. He’s done a lot of undevil things just for her and that, for me, is the true meaning of love.

“I lost myself the moment I found you.”

Source: dustypromises

TBR of the Month

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These are the books that I’m hoping to finish this month.

As you all know, I’ve read the second book in the Mara Dyer series last November and I was hunting down the third book right after I finished reading it, but it always seemed out of stock, but just a few weeks ago, my officemate told me he saw it in a Fullybooked branch near their place in QC and yeah, I asked him to buy it for me. Finally, I’d be able to know the conclusion to Mara and Noah’s story! Meanwhile, I stumbled upon Kissing Ted Callahan and Other Boys yesterday and the cover was just so cute and I knew that I just had to have it!

There are so many things I’m looking forward to this month and I just can’t wait! Commissioner’s Cup will also start next week, so yeah, more basketball! Yay!

Source: dustypromises

On Reading

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Ever since I was a kid, I’ve always been fascinated whenever I see someone reading a book. It always seems to me that they shut the world out and they’re in a different dimension, but what really started this hobby was when our English teacher asked us to read Plagues and Federation: Diary of Kitty Barnes by Vashti Farrer for our book report and then I started reading Nicholas Sparks books and it was heavenly and after that, I never really knew how to leave the house without anything to read inside my bag anymore.

These days, I find it really hard to squeeze in some reading because I’ve been busy with a lot of things; Work, family, basketball and other stuff too. I was still able to finish reading one or two books a month during the past year but this year, so far, I suck at my reading challenge/status. I still haven’t finished anything since 2016 started and I’m really frustrated about it.

I’m currently stuck with White Hot Kiss by Jennifer L. Armentrout and it’s really going well and I don’t have a decent excuse about not being able to finish it other than I usually just end up sleeping when I get home from work. So, yeah. Boo me.

Source: dustypromises

Book Review: Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

Posted on 01/14/2016 by Lenn

Photo not mine, credits to the owner.

Rating: ★★★★☆
Read: December 2015

The whole Christmas vacation, I thought, would be the best time to finish a lot of the books that were sitting on my shelf for a very long time but, well, that didn’t happen. I only finished one book during that two-week vacation and it was Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour.

The first time I tried to read this book was last November and I didn’t get the chance to finish reading it because the first few chapters was a tad bit too sad for my life. I haven’t picked it up until last December when the Christmas vacation started and from then on, I knew that I had to finish reading it.

I can’t believe I went across different states of America while sitting on our patio. It was the greatest and sweetest road trips I’ve ever had. While reading the book, though, I always find Amy very… sad. I don’t blame her, though. She’s been through so much for a 17-year-old and though she sometimes frustrates me and makes me wanna shake her up and tell her that everything’s gonna be okay, I still understand that she actually has every right to feel and act that way.

Roger, on the other hand, was the sweetest thing I’ve ever fallen in love with. He was just the perfect guy for the loneliest girl in the whole of California. It was a very awkward trip for the two of them but along the way, they managed to learn so many things about each other and they’ve developed a really strong friendship. Roger has his own issues and I really, really love the way he dealt with all of them.

All in all, this book made me smile at the end. It may not have been the best ending for everyone, but I liked it. It just makes it more realistic.

“If you don’t feel great on the inside, just look great on the outside and after a while you won’t be able to tell the difference.”

#ProjectAnnotationsPH

Posted on 11/27/2015 by Lenn

So last Monday, I finally received the book my blogger friends and I are passing along to read for our little book club. This is the pilot testing of our project, the original plan is to read one book per month but since we are all too busy with school/work, it took a lot of time to read. Since it’s just the pilot testing, that’s okay, at least we already know what to do next time.

So for our first project, we decided to pass along Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard.

Project Annotations means that we could do anything we want to the book while reading it. Highlight quotes, underline phrases or words, write comments on a certain chapter, write sticky notes, etc. Anything as long as the owner of the book approves.

So far, I have only read three chapters. I’ve been really busy with work and when I get home, I usually just immediately pass out, so I have little time for reading. Hopefully, I make a lot of progress during the weekend since it’s a holiday on Monday!

I’m the third person to read the book and there will be someone after me and then we’ll be passing along another book. So, you see, this is a mini book club with some of my blogger friends here. And while this is really enjoying, I find it really weird to write stuff on a book. It’s just…. I don’t really do that often. Wait, I don’t really do that. So this project is very new to me but so far, I am enjoying the process.

Xoxo.

Lenn of Spades ♠

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