I’m Feeling… Loved: A Book Review of "How to Fall in Love" by Cecelia Ahern

A few years ago, I remember having read two of Cecelia Ahern’s books – “Thanks for the Memories” (of which I ironically have no memory of how it ended), and “The Book of Tomorrow” (that left me a bit disturbed with how the story went) – both of which have left me with a wistful, albeit mostly whimsical, feeling. So you couldn’t expect me to feel any different about my 3^rd read of an Ahern book once I got started on my TBR List, but boy, how wrong I was…

A seemingly lovely cover that wasn’t just about falling in love with the concept of love

She has just two weeks. Two weeks to teach him how to fall in love – with his own life.

Adam Basil and Christine Rose are thrown together late one night, when Christine is crossing the Halfpenny Bridge in Dublin. Adam is there, poised, threatening to jump. Adam is desperate – but Christine makes a crazy deal with him. His 35th birthday is looming and she bets him she can show him that life is worth living before then.

Despite her determination, Christine knows what a dangerous promise she’s made. Against the ticking of the clock, the two of them embark on wild escapades, grand romantic gestures and some unlikely late-night outings. Slowly, Christine thinks Adam is starting to fall back in love with his life.

But has she done enough to change his mind for good? And is that all that’s starting to happen?

The synopsis seems simple enough, Christine (our heroine) manages to convince Adam (our supposed hero) to not jump from a bridge by promising to give him a reason “live” before his 35^th birthday. So here was where I thought it would start getting cheezy with the romance and stuff because I actually thought Christine would make Adam fall in love with her and everything will be all right with his world. Turns out there’s more to it than love saving the day.

In the end, I think it was a good decision that Adam decided to seek a professional since, as good as Christine was, her only form of reliance came from her self-help books. Though I also thought Christine should have had her own form of guidance by the end of the book; no matter how lovely her family was, she could still burnout, ya know?

How to Fall in Love isn’t just about the concept of romantic love, it’s about falling in love with LIFE and finding the beauty in the moments that we experience each day. It’s a book that makes you aware of a person’s mental health and the struggles he may be going through in his every day life just to wake up to see the next sunrise.

If I Knew Then What I Know Now - A Book Review: "Who's That Girl?" by Alexandra Potter

It's been a while since my last book review and it's not because of the lack of time to read ('cuz I've read quite a number of books from then and now), but more so from the lack of inspiration I got after reading a specific book.

This book however not only caught my eye because of its vibrant cover, but also because of its synopsis:

Imagine if you could meet your younger self... It'll be fun they said.. blah!

At age thirty-one, Charlotte Merryweather has spent ten years in London pursuing personal and professional perfection. Yet her present-day success- heading her own PR company, owning a gorgeous apartment, planning a future with her devoted boyfriend- only heightens the shock of a visit from the past. 

"Lottie," Charlotte's twenty-one-year-old self, drives onto the scene at the wheel of a rusty, orange Volkswagen Beetle identical to Charlotte's first UK ride. Charlotte pursues a friendship aimed to bestow upon Lottie a decade of wisdom. Yet Charlotte's prosperous polish proves a pale substitute for Lottie's innate, youthful graces- openness, passion, and kindness. Will the student become the teacher in this witty turnabout?

Honestly, I found myself mostly agreeing with Charlotte's older self all throughout the book rather than Lottie, who actually acts more like a teenager rather than a "yuppy" (a.k.a. young professional), and this is coming from a reader (me) who's just 2 years her senior.

Overall, it was a decent read (with a cute twist in the epilogue) even though the story only started picking up at least 30% of the book; I also think the romance in this was considerably better than the first book I read by Alexandra Potter (Going LaLa), which just felt like insta-lust.

On a last note, I found it funny how Charlotte kept reminding her younger self to invest in companies like Google, 'cuz if I knew then what I know now, I'd probably just given her the winning numbers to the lottery at that time.

Into the Fog and Far Away...

Finally! The wait is over! It seemed like an eternity since I stumbled upon this story at FictionPress and found it to be incomplete, though after 3 years of snooping around and checking for updates, and another 3 months of waiting for the book to arrive once I ordered it. Well, here it is! 

Although it did take me at least 3 weeks (after the holidays) to really get down and read it, and 3 days to get this review done; since I still had a lot of questions running around my head and some theories that seem to have popped up out of nowhere. The book in question? Here:

The smoky cover sure makes it creepier...

Three sisters, three cursed men, and a ghastly fairy tale come to life.

When Elizabeth, Delia, and Emily were children, their grandfather told them a story about an island castle called the Needle’s Eye—home to a lord and his three sons. The castle has since been hidden by a mysterious fog, but his story speaks of nine girls who rowed out to the island. None of them returned, and the lord’s family was never heard from again.Years later, following their grandfather’s death, the last ties that bind the sisters to the village—and each other—seem to be breaking.

A careless mistake on the water leads their boat to be swallowed by the forbidden fog, and when they emerge from that cloud, the girls discover that the island castle they’d dreamed of is not a myth.The mere innocence of a curious glimpse becomes a fight for survival when the girls are cursed by the lord’s ghostly sons. Their choice quickly becomes apparent: they can play the games of the three soulless men, or they can give in to death, never to see one another again.

It may sound morbid and all (or a tad bit creepy...) but it got me really curious ever since I got to read the first 3 chapters. The dynamics between the 3 sisters seemed to be relatable enough, what with Elizabeth being motherly since she is the eldest; Delia, the middle sister, seems to be misunderstood and doesn't always see eye to eye with Elizabeth; and then we have Emily, the dreamer of the 3 as well as the youngest. All I can say is "Three's a Crowd", and their relationship with one another seems rocky at best, and it'll surely affect it more when these 3 brothers come into the "picture". (and what is it about the number 3???)

Meet Dante, Christopher, Anton, who behind their handsome appearances, hide an ugly truth. Now before you start pairing them off by order of their birth, let me spoil you with the fact that they hit it off with their "personalities" instead. I'll give you a good guess by giving them titles suitable for being sons of a lord: "Dante the Diabolical", "Christopher the Confused", "Anton the Abusive".

In the end, I felt bad for the 3 sisters, especially Elizabeth, and though I wouldn't consider it a love triangle (since she was mostly confused with her feelings), at least her fiancé truly loved her. I guess I just have to pacify myself with the theory that maybe the 3 sisters are truly home, for as long as I convince myself that Elizabeth's necklace was passed through to her from many generations long ago, then maybe somewhere down their bloodline, they really belonged in the cursed city.

Kissing Can Be Dangerous To Your Health... Just So You Know...

And I'm on a roll with these book reviews! Well kinda... So just a year couple of months ago, I can't help but reminisce the first time I've read a Y.A. book, nor could I help but do a "little" bit of backtracking on my blogposts. That's why I've decided to keep on posting more book reviews (as time will allow it...), as well as other posts that I've somehow neglected these past few years.

Going on with the rise of vampire genres during my Y.A. times, this book wasn't able to escape my ever-hungry appetite for reading, (especially anything on paper...):

There are scarier things out there that are worse than cooties...

Yeah... like I said, it "was" the age of vampire genres then, so paranormal romances weren't really much of a surprise either. Also, if you've noticed, this is also another anthology compiled by Trisha Telep from another various set of talented authors! You could say I was too lazy to explore or find other anthology books compiled by other people, but I guess there was no harm done in reading another book from someone you've already tried and tested. Looking back on that train of thought, I can say I don't regret it. Moving on to the review!

"The Assassin's Apprentice" by Michelle Zink

In a world where angels and demons exist among us, we have Rose, our protagonist who is a Descendant or part angel. She's on a mission to avenge her parents' death by slaying the demon who did it. Along the way though, she meets an Assassin named Asher, who has also been tasked to kill the same demon. A conflict of interests and some sexual tension, and we've got one hell (...forgive the pun) of a paranormal romance!

"Errant" by Diana Peterfreund

This story was a bit weird for me since it had unicorns. I've got nothing against unicorns, but I always kinda picture them as...

I'm gonna die!!! >.<

...and not like this...

Spoke too soon... T__T

Anyway... aside from the unicorns, we also have really horribles guys in this story. So in substitution for the lack of romance, we got a more sisterly kind of love instead.

"The Spirit Jar" by Karen Mahoney

One of the reasons I also decided to buy this book was because it had a sequel of Moth's story after the events of "Falling to Ash" from The Eternal Kiss. It was fun reading her character since Moth came across as imperfect as any human, even though she knew she was definitely a vampire. The romance part wasn't much in this one, especially not directly involving the main character, but we had snippets of her thoughts concerning the guy from the previous story. So I guess it'd be best to read "Falling to Ash" before this.

"Lost" by Justine Musk

I remember reading a review before that this story was somehow based on one greek mythology that I was always fascinated about. I guess it was also one of the many reasons I decided to buy this book. I wouldn't dwell much on the plot since it could give away which myth it was based on, but let's just say that the heroine of this book, Sasha, has an uncanny ability to find anything that's "lost". She later meets a guy named Haiden, who surprisingly knows and understands her ability. But there's still the question of who exactly is he? Though really, I wished we got more scenes or interactions of them together.

"The Spy Who Never Grew Up" by Sarah Rees Brennan

I initially thought the story had something to do with an immature spy or something that's completely a parody, but lo and behold, it was actually about Peter Pan!

Yeah that kind of Peter Pan ↖(￣▽￣")

And I guess it was actually creepy how he was described as having physically matured, but still remaining somewhat a child. Add the fact that I never really liked Peter Pan (Disney or not) to begin with, this story was just.... NO.

"Dungeons of Langeais" by Becca Fitzpatrick

So this story is part of Becca Fitzpatrick's "Hush, Hush" series, although it's more like a prequel and stars the antagonist of the first book, Chauncey. It was a good story and all, though I think I would have appreciated this story better if I had read the series, since I felt like there were too many loopholes as to how angels co-exist with humans in this universe.

"Behind the Red Door" by Caitlin Kittredge

A dare and a haunted mansion causes our protagonist, Jo, to meet a real (live?) ghost whom she later finds herself falling for. But sometimes, not everything is as it seems and Jo might learn that the hard way. I really loved this story to the point that I based my high school writing project on it. I wouldn't spoil the fun, but this story was definitely not all hearts and flowers.

"Hare Moon" by Carrie Ryan

Another prequel, this time from Carrie Ryan's "Forest of Hands and Teeth" series which focuses on Sister Tabitha in her younger days when she fell in love but had to pick her priorities. Though I haven't really read the series, I think Sister Tabitha still plays an important part there and this prequel just gives us a backstory on how things were during her time when towns were fenced off from the outside world, away from zombies.

"Familiar" by Michelle Rowan

This was a cute story about our protagonist, Brenda, who is a witch-in-training on the look out for a familiar. You know, like the ones in Harry Potter?

Those were the happy days...

Unbeknownst to her, she managed to get a shape-shifting werecat named Owen, and since he's technically NOT an animal or a pet for that matter, that's where all the chaos starts. Oh, and he's also being chased by werewolves. 

"Fearless" by Rachel Vincent

This story is set in the "Soul Screamers" universe by Rachel Vincent which I've yet to read, but I've got an inkling that the series has a lot to do about banshees...

...or creatures that are close to that anyway...

This story was surprisingly exciting and had some action in it, though I honestly could have enjoyed it better had I read the series first, or maybe I just think the background informations and universe building had a lot of loopholes that could confuse a reader who's unaware of some details.

"Vermillion" by Daniel Marks

This was a really crazy and confusing story, which personally kinda reminded me of an anime in my childhood days that had a lot to do with Spirit Detectives and paranormal stuff they had to do. In this case, we have Velvet and Nick who are sent out on a mission to track down a rogue spirit wreaking havoc in the human world. The crazy thing is that I think I "slept/read" right through it 'cuz I remember some really wacky scenerios from this story! Which is kinda fun, but definitely confusing.

"The Hounds of Ulster" by Maggie Stiefvater

I've read the "Shiver" trilogy by Maggie Stiefvater before and I really enjoyed it, so I was kinda expecting to enjoy this story as well, though I was just left utterly confused yet again. This story focuses on Bryant and Sullivan who dream of becoming "punk gods", but here comes a "girl" who seems to become a distraction to them. This is most definitely NOT a "love"-triangle you'd usually expect. To wrap it up, I think my confusion mostly had something to do with the Irish myths inserted in the story that I wasn't exactly familiar with, but other than that, I liked the fact that we got a bit of a shocker ending.   

"Many Happy Returns" by Daniel Waters

Boy, do I wish the title could speak for itself, but this story didn't exactly have anything "happy" going on here. In a world where the dead could possibly have a (second) chance to live again, four teenagers involved in an accident have their parents waiting for them. Among the casualties are Mandy and her boyfriend Jake, though this story mostly focuses on Mandy's dad, Cal, and his thoughts before the "awakening", which actually added to the sadness of the story 'cuz it's mostly about a parent waiting for his kid to come back. This folks, is quite the tragic ending for a book dealing with the paranormal.

To wrap it up though, this book is also out of print, last I checked in Amazon. So yeah, I'm an ass for not telling you that first before going on with the review. But on the bright side, I think there are ebook editions around the internet so if you do happen to find it, maybe you'll be able to relate more to what I'm blogging about here huh?

With all that said, I'd like to recommend "The Spirit Jar", "Lost" and my favorite story in the book, "Behind the Red Door", while some of the stories were either filled with loopholes or it just completely lost me. 

Maybe next time I try reading a Paranormal Romance type of book, I should probably pick something that already has a specific category. You know, like how I tried the Vampire one? Maybe I should try Ghosts next?

Nothing is Ever Eternal... Except Change, Perhaps?

Lo and behold, this blog of mine has proven its usefulness by unwittingly landing me a job! Now as a person who has learned to value things that have proven their worth in one's life, I couldn't help but do a little backtracking in my blogposts. Because of this, I realized that I have an "unhealthy" number of movie reviews compared to my book reviews! This probably wouldn't bother a normal person, but as a self-proclaimed "bookaholic" and certified obsessive-compulsive maniac, I tend to have things in proper quantities (blogposts being of no exemption).

Due to the fretful discovery of my uneven blogposts, I couldn't help but remember a certain aspect in my life concerning my involvement with books, (which would later give birth to a bookworm such as myself).

How "cute" can a worm get?

At a young age, my mother discovered earlier on that I couldn't read! Like nada! And the only reason I passed nursery then was because I was good at memorizing ( as my mother claims anyway...) So after at least 3 years of being enrolled in those summer reading "adventures" as a kid, something finally clicked. I don't know if those summer classes really worked, or maybe I was just a "late bloomer" of some sort, or I probably tripped one second and got my brain juggled the next on one of the days I was headed off to class. But one thing's for sure, I learned to reeeeeally love books!

Could have been more tidier though?

Seeing as this post is getting longer than it should be for a book review, I'll be doing a major time-skip from my days of reading Blue's Clues, Magic Treehouse and Geronimo Stilton books up until my very first Y.A Novel which was "The Forbidden Game" by L.J. Smith (which I've already blogged about if you kindly click the "book reviews" tag at the end of this post). During that time, the Dystopian genres weren't a popular thing then compared to the Paranormal genres. In fact, I vaguely remember Twilight was just about to come out (as a movie), so I was still sold on the whole "Vampire Romance" thing since I grew up in the age of "Queen of the Damned" and all those previous gothic, non-sparkly vampires. (I'll pick Lestat anyday over Edward, hell even the name sounds sexier! What a major downgrade... *insert facepalm*)

I just had to add this too, didn't I?

With this little information in mind, it's not surprising why I picked this book up in the past:

No sparkly vampires here, that's for sure! ;)

Sadly, it's already out of print in Amazon.com last I checked. In fact, most of the first books I have in my collection are! But I guess it's never too late to voice one's thoughts out, and before you start questioning my age, I should be moving on with my book review:

"Falling to Ash" by Karen Mahoney
Our protagonist here is a somewhat "fledgling" vampire named Moth. She takes on a mission assigned to her by her "maker", Theo, in order to gain her well-needed freedom. Said mission happens to be retrieving the ashes of a vampire master which is being kept by a vampire hunter (well, I didn't see that coming... *snickers*). Anyway, she manages to run into the son of the vampire hunter instead, so chaos ensues! But don't worry, there's no insta-love or 4-cheese romance here. (thank God for that!) In the end, I ended up liking Moth's character (she's kinda bad-ass, in her own way...) and wouldn't mind reading more stories about her. Also, the tension with Van Helsing Jr. was kinda cute though.

"Shelter Island" by Melissa de la Cruz
I kinda found this story to be like the wistful or melancholic kind, with this foggy, no-sun-just-clouds setting. I actually imagined the island to be somewhat like the one from the first Harry Potter movie, wherein they had to move just to get away from those owls. But back to the story wherein we have Hannah, our protagonist, who happens to befriend a boy/ghost/vampire or whatever he is, in her bedroom. Yes, because he's like this shadow that keeps lurking in her bedroom long before she moved in (it's actually more of the reason I consider him a ghost rather than a vampire, but hey we're reading a "vampire" romance book here so...) Said "vampire" is prevented from leaving/moving on due to a mysterious entity, so it's kinda vague and all, with the ending leaving me somewhat... empty? I guess it all depends on the reader though so hmmm...

"Sword Point" by Maria V. Snyder
We get another bad-ass heroine in this story from the likes of Ava, who just got herself accepted in this fictional, if not fancy, fencing school! Although before she even begins her proper training, vampires (and not the yummy type) threaten to ruin her dreams of becoming a master fencer. So yeah, you get the point, she has to defend the school and blah blah, you know what is obviously the ending and all, BUT! Yes, but! We get a nice love interest along the way, and no he's not a vampire, and he's actually considered as Ava's senior in fencing school but hey, it's still a romance happening in a vampire-infected world! So by all means, it has a right to be in this book!

"The Coldest Girl in Coldtown" by Holly Black
This story took vampirism a different way, like once you're bitten, you still have a chance to retain your humanity if you can manage to hold off from drinking human blood in 88 days. So here we have Matilda, our protagonist, who's exactly facing the same predicament in order to not get sent to Coldtown, (where vampires live and where humans could go and party by bartering their blood), away from her boyfriend. Though the ending did turn out sad in my opinion. Not in a teary-eyed sense but it did leave me cold while remembering this music video by Evanescence "Going Under".

"Undead is Very Hot Right Now" by Sarah Rees Brennan
So far, this had a lighter feel on the vampire aspect as opposed to the previous stories I've read. Here we have Christian, who's a vampire stuck in a boy band. Well not that he's complaining or anything, but maybe he just wishes for people NOT to stereotype him as a "brooding-dark-sexy-vampire-out-to-suck-your-blood". (Nope, no Vampire Lestat here people...) Read on and see how he handles his "groupies" though. All in all, I considered this a quick and quirky read.

"Kat" by Kelley Armstrong
The first story that I encountered in this book which I just couldn't get a grasp on. Maybe there was supposed to be a bigger plot involved, or maybe it's going to be part of a series, but you don't just open a story like that. I mean, yeah it did seem good with the mystery and the right mix of action, but I kinda got the feeling that there were already happenings even before the chapter; to the point I had to see if I was missing any pages in my book. Bummer, I guess...

"The Thirteenth Step" by Libba Bray
The creepiest story I've had the pleasure of reading, really gave off "The Twilight Zone" feels. (For the younger crowd: No, I'm talking about a black-and-white series and NOT the one with the sparkly undead.) Anyway, here we have Lauren, who takes a job as an assistant in The Angelus House. Said house is a Drug Rehab center that leaves their patient with amazing results, and Lauren unwittingly finds out how. Also, her "love" interest in this story just flat out reminded me of Julian from L.J. Smith's "The Forbidden Game"! It's official people, I'm moving to the dark side! They seem to have tastier "cookies"...

"All Hallows" by Rachel Caine
Another story that seemed to be part of a bigger "picture". Honestly, if they wanted to promote a book series at least edit in a story that stands like a prequel than anything else. There were also a number of characters so it was kinda confusing getting to know them, or relating to them for just a short while. Think "Scooby Doo" without knowing what their purpose of solving mysteries is for.

"Wet Teeth" by Cecil Castellucci
A sad, sad story, if not tragic as I can say. Miles, our protagonist, has been a vampire for sixty years, and hasn't felt human ever since. Then he meets Penny, she reminds him of another Penny he once knew,  could this be the start of something new? Of course, we're not reading a fairytale book here so, imagine seeing your most favorite thing and having it violently snatched away from you. And you can't even do anything about it... Sad, isn't it?

"Other Boys" by Cassandra Clare
More girl power! If I do say so myself. I actually remembered this joke about a girl being teased by a guy because it's her "time of the month", unbeknownst to him that it was sorta of a different kind that happens only during a full moon so...  Well, I guess this story was more fun than I thought!

"Passing" by Nancy Holder and Debbie Viguie
A little bit on the action part, this story was more like "The Hunger Games" set in a paranormal genre. Though, I did think everything was happening a bit too fast, it turned out well in the end with all these explanations that probably hade you accepting what the story was all about.

"Ambition" by Lili St. Crow
This story had more of a high-school drama feels to it before the protagonist met her "love" interest. Once they met though, I couldn't very well point out any vampire feels from him you know? Sure he was mysterious and all, but after reading the previous story "Other Boys" by Cassandra Clare, I had the benefit of the doubt. Don't get me wrong though, this story was anything but bad, but it could have been better if it were longer.

"All Wounds" by Dina James
A story that started out okay but left me empty in the end. I don't know, maybe this story was better off being in the middle parts rather than using it as a sort of conclusion to an anthology. Not saying this story was bad, on the contrary I really liked how the female protagonist was portrayed, it's just that the ending was a bit open-ended and it didn't sit well with me having it as the last story of the book. (not that I could change it anyway...)

Honestly, I had to refresh and reread some of the stories in this book since it's been a really long while since I last read it. Though I can't help but point out the ones that really stuck to me even after all these years, unsurprisingly they were the creepier ones or probably just the ones that left me with lots of questions. (hey, I was still considerably young then you know!)  "The Thirteenth Step" by Libba Bray was a winner in the creepy factor, also "The Coldest Girl in Coldtown" by Holly Black and "Other Boys" by Cassandra Clare. Also can't help but add the more "action-packed" part of this book like "Sword Point" by Maria V. Snyder and "Falling to Ash" by Karen Mahoney.

There were also the melancholic one that gave off this uber-sad vibes like "Wet Teeth" by Cecil Castellucci, "Ambition" by Lili St. Crow and "Shelter Island" by Melissa de la Cruz. Though there were some stories I just couldn't get a grasp on or were just plain... boring? For a paranormal book I guess they just didn't hit the mark. Although "Undead is Very Hot Right Now" by Sarah Rees Brennan did prove to be somewhat of a fresh approach in the vampire genre of that time, if not a bit parodic.

In the end, it was a great book, and I really like the reminiscing part that I did today while blogging. Maybe I'll get to blog another one of the first books that I read in the past! (of course minus the really long intro...)

Well, until then, see yah! xoxo

A kiss may be just a kiss, but a kiss from a vampire is an eternal kiss. It's a kiss that can mean forever. Death or immortality. Which would you choose?

That is, if you're even given a choice.

- Trisha Telep

The Mind of a Wandering Blogger

So I recently read this book, which I finished in one night. It's titled "Wander Girl" by Tweet Sering which I found out was published by Summit Media back in 2004. That was like 10-11 years ago and I would definitely never have understood this sort of book back when I was only 8-9 years old. This is the sort of "finding yourself" book wherein you're finding out your purpose in life when your also stuck in a pit of "now what?". For some reason though, I'm glad I still found an ebook copy on Amazon since this book isn't available in local bookstores anymore, nor is it available in local e-book markets like Buqo.

Talk about "low resolution"... -.-"

So back to the story, "Wander Girl" starts with our main protagonist, Hilda, and we're given the impression that no self-respecting girl should let any setback stop her from following her heart. That's why Hilda sets off on a journey that takes her through days of pining for the perfect job, over rough series of heartbreak and disappointment (not to mention bad sex), and even into foreign territory: passionate Frenchmen, adventurous half-Maoris, witty Brits. Armed only with an honest map to her own heart, it's a journey that eventually leads her to her true calling, her true self, and true love. (Synopsis brought to you by Goodreads).

So in the end, I found Hilda as a very relatable character. She gave off that nostalgic sense of emotion when talking about her childhood and family, I also found her "eureka" moments amusing. Another character favorite of mine was Hilda's younger sister, Hannah since even though she was at least 5 years younger than our 24 year old protagonist, she still gave off that "old-soul" feel and that she knew what she was talking about. Of course Hilda's whole family was amazing in their own way and they made Hilda who she is as an adult. There was also the awesome best friend, Lulu, who I find amusing due to her spunkiness.

All in all, "Wander Girl" made me cry and laugh at the same time, and it also got me thinking about my own future and my "hilig" as Hilda would call it. Would I be as brave as Hilda too when it comes to following my dreams whenever I'm faced with a wall? I hope so. But one thing I've learned from Hilda when it comes to following one's dreams, it's to follow your heart.

Talking Back & Dying at the Same Time?

Well, well, well... Look who decided to come back to blogging? Oh that's right, it's me. So yeah, I'm technically back from my 8 month hiatus, though I don't know for how long... But really, the reason why I'm back to blogging is because I realized something. Something so utterly life-changing, it boggled my mind... This realization came to me in the form of a book. Yes, because of all the books that I have read, it suddenly came to me that I had only "reviewed" ONE book here in my blog... Don't believe me? You could always click the "Book Review" tag at the bottom of this post, you know!

So yeah, I guess that's one of the reasons why I'm back for the mean time... I should probably do more book reviews than movie reviews... Hmmm... So! Back to the matter at hand! What particular book will I be blogging about, you ask? Well it's actually a local book, published by PSICOM Publishing, and guess what, this book has recently been adapted into a movie! (Which is actually another reason why I decided to blog again...) But let's concentrate on the book first:

"Talk Back & You're Dead!" by Alesana Marie

There's two of them! @.@

This is the first book of the trilogy, and for all it's worth, the book has also been divided into two parts.

The whole gist of the first book was quite simple, "Poor little rich girl falls in love with a bad boy". So here we've got our main protagonist, Miracle Samantha Perez, and our male lead, Timothy Odelle Pendleton, a.k.a. TOP. Sam's your all-around-good-girl type of gal, she's beautiful, smart and rich. Though her almost perfect world will come crashing down once she meets TOP. Completely Sam's opposite, TOP is your all-around-bad-boy, sure he's said to be roguishly handsome as well as rich, but he is also a "gang" leader. Yeah, I know, the whole story is cliché, but I was expected some action-packed kind-of story when I read this synopsis: 

"May nakilala na ba kayong (napakagwapo) nakakatakot na nilalalang na may kakayahang maglabas ng laser beam sa mga mata kapag nagagalit? Eh ang maging boyfriend sya dahil sa (kabaliwan) kakaibang trip ng mga kaibigan mo?

At ang mapaligiran ng mga (hotties) hot-headed na katulad nya? Ang tahimik kong buhay ay biglang naging parang action movie, may mga habulan at fighting scenes.

Ako si Sam, isang perfect student, maganda matalino at mabait). Boyfriend ko si TOP, isang delinquent, gang leader at cussing machine.

Magtagal kaya kami kung pati teddy bear ay pinagseselosan nya rin?"

I guess it was my fault that I took the "laser beam" thing literally, as well as Sam's life suddenly becoming some kind of "action movie with chase and fighting scenes". Shouldn't have taken her word for it. But still, it was an amusing read in times when you just wanna kill some time. Although, I'd like to point out that book version Sam was a wonderful breath of fresh air. You don't get that much of head-strong females in local writing, so good job Ms. Alesana Marie! (Though Sam does have a bad habit of keeping secrets from TOP most of the time...)

In the end, since I've already read both halves of Book One, I couldn't help but buy the first half of Book Two already! Since there were a lot of loose ends and unresolved pasts left at the end of Talk Back & You're Dead, I've decided to keep on reading until the end of the series. (Support our local writers!)  

Overall, the book had a sense of continuity and a lot of romance; the many characters also had their own side stories going around, which were mostly believable, if not convenient. So I suggest, buy the book. (forget about the movie...) Read it if you plan to even watch the movie version because. Just because.

So now that I'm done babbling nonsense here, I do hope you guys wait for my next post. It's about the movie version. Until next time, cheerios!