The Willows: Haven

Title: Haven (The Willows #1)
by Hope Collier

Paperback, 284 pages
Published October 14th 2011

When tragedy strikes, seventeen year-old Ashton Blake sets out on a cross-country road trip, leaving the comforts of Malibu for the mountains of Kentucky. Along the way, she encounters Gabe Willoughby—the mysterious drifter with eyes like the sea and a knowing smile. Getting to know Gabe raises questions about her past. But no secret can be buried forever, and Ashton soon finds herself in a world where water is air and myth becomes reality.
Just as Ashton comes to accept her newfound heritage, she’s summoned to fulfill a treaty laid down centuries before — a treaty that will divide her love and test her loyalty. In the end, her future isn’t her biggest concern, her humanity is. To run may mean war, but is she strong enough to stay?

Pardon me for not posting this review as soon as I read the book. I actually finished this a year ago, but I was too caught up with lots of books and reviews that this particular one has been sitting on my Draft list for three months. Good thing, my son, Kyle was with me when I was reviewing some books and he noticed this wonderful book cover. He said, hey mom, isn't this the one you read before, the one that has my name on it? And there I was, nodding to him and thanking him for helping me out! Soon I was reminiscing about Ashton and her magical realm.

First, let me just say that this had been a very  enthralling book. It's actually my first time to read a story focused on dryads and Naiads; I didn't even know what they were. But I have heard about this mythical creatures in Rick Riordan's Percy Jackson books. At least I had an idea when I read The Willows: Haven.

I love how the author Hope Collier created a story about love for family, friendship, loyalty, and acceptance. I was instantly drawn to Ash the moment she left her birthday party and ditched her boyfriend. The main characters,  Ashton, Gabe and Kevin, as well as Kyle, were the main reasons why i couldn't put the book down. It's as if I was transported into their world and I have no intention of getting out because theirs is a magical and captivating.

I hope to continue reading their adventures soon. And I am looking forward to more stories to be catered by Hope Collier. :)

my bucket list 2013

Each time i read a book with bucket list story, i'm inspired to create my own. With Carpe DiEmily, i decided to make a new list again..

Hmm. Truth is, there's a lot of things i've always wanted to do.. I think i'm gonna revise my To Do List which i've created a couple of years ago.. maybe this time i'll come up with something more realistic, because, all i wrote previously were absolutely next to impossible!

Ok, here I go: (crossed out items are already done)

Have another honeymoon Down Under or in Boracay with hubby

Go to Disneyland with the kids

Hike a mountain

Watch a meteor shower or wish on a falling star

Ride on a scary rollercoaster

Visit asian countries like Singapore, Japan, Hongkong.

Get a tattoo.

Try bunjee jumping or sky-diving

Meet John Cusack and Nicole Kidman.

Get front row tickets to an international concert.dc

Go surfing.

Join a 2K marathon.

Learn how to drive a car and earn my professional driver's licence

Go to any kind of museum

Complete my  Nora Roberts and Sidney Sheldon collection

join  a game show (specifically Who Wants to be a Millionaire)

Go to France and see the Eiffel Tower

watch LA Lakers live at the Staples Center with my hubby

Eat at a fancy restaurant

Check in at a five-star hotel with hubby

Try a new hair color like flaming red

Try a new haircut, like the pixie cut

Learn how to bake a cake

Host a party

Try scuba diving or swim with the dolphins

Carpe DiEmily

Title: Carpe DiEmily (part 1)

Author: Riley J. Ford
Kindle edition
Published November 2012

Rating 4 stars

Emily Keane has her life all planned out. She's played by the rules and never stepped outside her box, and now she will finally be rewarded with everything she always dreamed of: a job promotion, a fiance, and a future she can count on. But when her perfectly planned world falls apart, Emily is plunged into the wildest year of her life.

From the beaches of California to Jamaica, New York, and Europe, Emily finds herself on a madcap race against time, running from an unscrupulous organ broker who wants her dead, all the while checking items off her unusual bucket list. On top of it all, she's falling in love with the most unlikely person, a man who can never return her feelings . . . but will his friendship be enough?

Confronting one hilarious misadventure after another, Emily finally learns who she really is and how to seize the day .

I definitely had tons and tons of laughs while reading this ebook. While the first few chapters discussed protagonist Emily's organized life and love affair in general, I couldn't help but wince when her @sshole of a boyfriend had the nerve to break up with her. Damn Lenny's antics! He was one pathetic loser who didn't realize Emily's worth.

But then, I also found myself smiling and sometimes rolling my eyes at Emily Keane because she is sooo naive and ignorant. It seemed like she's so afraid of change and get out of her comfort zone. Especially after she resigned from her job. Her way of thinking kind of reminded me of myself some 10 years ago when I first had a job and I had my life organized. Then when one unexpected event happened, I was scared to move on. But eventually, i embraced change.

And so did Emily, although reluctantly. Thanks to a weird organ broker-slash-surgeon, Emily postponed her attempted suicide for a year in exchange of organ donation. After meeting the doctor and was given 1million dollars as early payment for her vitals, Emily made a bucket list. And what a list it was! So far, she got a pet, a German Shepherd, actually, which was named Ass-Wipe. Crazy name, huh? Wait till you see what it does! Hahaha! And then she got a flaming skull tattoo, got drunk and learned how to country dance and even almost went on skinny-dipping! What else were on her list? To go to a tropical island, watch the bulls in Pamplona and meet Woody Allen. Would she be able to do that in 1 year? And what if she decided to back out from her contract? And what if she found her one true love?

Questions, questions, questions.. I have more questions in mind.. But these would only be answered once I get my hands on the second part of Riley J. Ford's hilariously funny and insightful story, Carpe DiEmily. This is a highly recommended read specially to those who'd like to smile on a gloomy day. Seize the day, people :)

Riley J. Ford rocks! She's definitely one fine storyteller, guaranteed to make you crave for more. (:


PS
 i'm gonna share with you all tomorrow my revised bucket list... Ciao :D

Tuesday Teaser Jan22

It's Tuesday once again..

Time for our Teaser Tuesday for January!  This is a weekly bookish meme hosted by MizB at Should Be Reading.

To participate you:
* Grab your current read
* Open to a random page
* Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

* BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS!
(Make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)

* Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

I sped forward with the force of adrenaline. I checked the rearview mirror to make sure he wasn’t chasing me, then shoved the mirror to face away. I had to press my lips together to keep from sobbing.

-page 34
Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick


Happy Tuesday everyone :)

Musing Mondays Jan21

Welcome again to our Musing Mondays from Miz B of Should Be Reading, where she asks a book/reading-related question, and you answer with your own thoughts on the topic:

This year, Miz B made some changes with Musing Mondays and she asks you to muse about one of the following each week…

• Describe one of your reading habits.
• Tell us what book(s) you recently bought for yourself or someone else, and why you chose that/those book(s).
• Tell us what you’re reading right now — what you think of it, so far; why you chose it; what you are (or, aren’t) enjoying it.

Here's my musing for this week.

I am currently reading two books, Carpe DiEmily and the other one is The Burning of Isobel Key.


So far, I am enjoying both books. Carpe DiEmily is a fun read! I can't help but smile and sometimes roll my eyes at Emily Keane because she is sooo naive and innocent. I'm still halfway through the book and I can't wait what'll happen next.

The Burning of Isobel Key is also intriguing. I admit, the first time I heard about this, it instantly reminded me of this one episode on Smallville where Lana Lang was possesed by the witch Isobel Thoreaux who died when the village people burned her on a pole. I thought the book has something to do with that episode. But after reading the first few chapters, it was a completely different story and I like it so much.

Hopefully, I'll get to finish both books at the end of today. ;)

Friday Finds jan18

It's Friday I'm in love... 

Here's my Friday Finds edition for this week..

What great books did you hear about/discover this past week?

Share with us your FRIDAY FINDS.. hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

Let me share you mine for this weekend. Enjoy!

Carpe DiEmily by Riley J. Ford

Love, Inc. by Lily Zante

Imaginary Girls by Nova Ren Suma

Gifts Gone Astray  by Linda Banche

and 

Lost In Time by Melissa de la Cruz

Dark Before Dawn

Title: Dark Before Dawn
by Stacy Juba
Paperback, 212 pages
Published October 16th 2011

When teen psychic Dawn Christian gets involved with a fortuneteller mentor and two girls who share her mysterious talents, she finally belongs after years of being a misfit. When she learns her new friends may be tied to freak accidents in town, Dawn has an important choice to make - continue developing the talent that makes her special or challenge the only people who have ever accepted her. This novel is aimed at young adults, and at adults who enjoy paranormal YA such as the Twilight series, House of Night, and The Vampire Diaries series, Meg Cabot’s The Mediator series, or Lois Duncan books.

The protagonist, Dawn, have psychic abilities since she was a kid. She'd been bullied at school and was constantly called a “witch” by her tormentors. Add to that is her mom's refusal to acknowledge her uncanny powers, and she had unanswered questions about her father's death.

After moving on to another place, she felt even lonelier. On her first day at her new school, she saw how her classmate Scott would die. The next day, the premonition happened and soon, Dawn was called a witch. Next, she met Candace, a girl who seemed to have the same powers as her, and another girl, Jamie who dreamt of being one.  Apparently, these two girls were being mentored by the local fortuneteller, Serina who obviously had a troubled past but claimed to know about the future.

When things got out of hand, Dawn got suspicious. Would she be able to figure things out before another person dies? Would she discover that Serina had something to do with everything that had been happening?

Let me just say that I loved this book.
Every page gave me the chills and it just kept me guessing what would happen next.
I was channeling my inner psychic to see if Dawn would easily see the link between the freak accidents and will she put a stop to this madness?

As with the other characters, Candace was a little too frightening for my taste. Renee grew on me in the end. Serina was one troubled spirit and Jamie was a little sweet but deadly. Good thing, Dawn had a great sense of understanding the people around her and was able to help her friends.  My favorite part of the book was at the end when Jamie smirked and suddenly smelled like Serina. That was devilishly awesome!

Stacy Juba did an awesome job of keeping me interested with her story. I'd love to read more of her books. Luckily, my brother bought me her other book,  Sink or Swim, so i'll definitely check it out soon. Thanks Ms. Juba for this wonderful story.

www jan16

Here's my WWW  on the 3rd Wednesday of January.  WWW Wednesdays is a weekly meme hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading.

To play along, just answer the following three (3) questions…
• What are you currently reading?
• What did you recently finish reading?
• What do you think you’ll read next?


CURRENTLY READING:

The Burning of Isobel Key by Jen McConnel

I'm still on Chapter 2 of this book and I am already intrigued. I guess I just have to go on and on and see where it would take me :)

Lou is in the middle of a quarter-life crisis. Ever since college, she’s lacked direction, working as a clerk in a local bookstore. But when she quits her job just before the winter holidays, Lou must do some serious soul searching to overcome her fears of straying from the mainstream. On a whim, she accompanies her best friend, Tammy, to Scotland for the winter holidays, but the vacation soon turns into an emotional roller coaster.
When she becomes embroiled in a hunt for information about Isobel Key, a woman falsely accused of witchcraft in the seventeenth century, Lou opens up to her intuition and makes a startling discovery about her own heritage.

RECENTLY FINISHED

  

Seeing Trouble by Ann Charles

A quick short novella featuring Violet Parker (From Deadwood Mysteries) and the story behind her animosity with her sister Susan and how she got knocked up. The book also contained another short romantic story  about a pregnant woman seeking true love. It was sure hella fun to read!!

Stuck With You by Trish Jensen

Two rival lawyers, forced to stay inside a quarantined hospital room after being diagnosed of a peculiar lustful syndrome and soon they can't keep their hands off each other.. Sounds romantic. and edgy.. 

WILL SOON READ:

I think I'll continue with The Iron Fey series. I'm now on IRON KNIGHT and before that, there's the short novella Summer's Crossing. And I am keeping my fingers crossed.

Scarberry Stories

Title: Messages From Henry
Author: Rebecca Scarberry
E-Book; 30 pages
Published June 17th 2012

Henry is special.
When Evelyn Bury becomes the unlikely victim in a random kidnapping, Henry flies to the rescue.
In the process, Henry enlists Tammy, Evelyn’s next-door neighbor and the lackadaisical authorities to assist in Evelyn’s escape.
Henry hurdles many obstacles to the point of endangering his own life in order to save his dear master.  You will find yourself routing Henry on, cheering his progress and praying for Evelyn’s safe return.
But, please…remember one small, feathery detail… Henry…is a homing pigeon.

This is definitely a must-read. When Evelyn, his keeper, was kidnapped, the brave homing pigeon, Henry dashed to rescue her. He'd go anywhere and follow her, and would go back to his keeper's neighbor's house, Tammy and together, they would strive to locate her and save her from tragedy.

A homing pigeon like Henry is one-of-a-kind. His love, loyalty and devotion to Evelyn is priceless. I'd love to have a pet like him! Furthermore, the story villain mystified me until the end.

Thumbs up to Ms. Scarberry for being a great storyteller. She made me applaud for Henry, too!

I untie the note from Henry's leg & read it aloud. "Help, kidnapper is going to kill me. Evelyn." 

In addition to this, Miss Scarberry also caught my attention when I was able to read her first short story, Rag Doll.  To quote her own words:

This is not a sweet little short story about a child’s rag doll. Far from it! This is a spicy crime drama written for adults, and you’ll never see the end coming.

I definitely didn't expect the ending! Jeremy is a good father and he is someone who knows his priorities. Even though this is just a short story, I immediately liked the way things had unfold. The murderer was then discovered in the end, someone I didn't expect!

After reading, I thought Rebecca should expand the story, i'd love to read more about Todd and what lies ahead for him. But this is definitely an excellent short story with a twist.

Overall, let me just say that Rebecca Scarberry is a talented writer and I'd really love to see her write more.. Great Job Miss Scarberry :)

Learn more about this awesome author as she also interviews  other talented writers! Check out her cool interviews and books at http://scarberryfieldsforever.blogspot.com/

Nevermore Trilogy

         

The Nevermore Trilogy: A Zombie-ish Apocalypse

Sundered ( Book 1)
Bound (Book 2)
Dauntless (Book 3)

Author: Shannon Mayer
Kindle edition; published 2011

A miracle drug, Nevermore, spreads like wildfire throughout the world allowing people to eat what they want, no matter how unhealthy it is and yet still lose weight. It is everything the human population has ever dreamed of and Mara is no different. Only a simple twist of fate stops her from taking the drug.
As the weeks roll by, it becomes apparent that Nevermore is not the miracle it claimed. A true to life nightmare, the drug steals the very essence that makes up humanity and unleashes a new and deadly species on the world, a species bent on filling its belly. Locked down within their small farm home, Mara and her husband Sebastian struggle against increasingly bad odds, fighting off marauders and monsters alike.
But Sebastian carries a dark secret, one that more than threatens to tear them apart, it threatens to destroy them both and the love they have for each other.
The secret forces Mara to make the ultimate choice. Will she live for love, or will she live to survive?

Zombies!!!!!!!! Eeeeep!! Run for your lives!

I have a confession to make... Prior to reading Sundered, I actually hated zombies!  Seriously, they grossed me out. There was this one movie with zombies that I watched two years ago, where the lead star's friend died and turned into a zombie, his arm was whacked and they had to go to a store that sells body parts and so they bought an arm for him.. and then he started eating worms.. eeeeyuck! It really grossed me out.. From then on, I stayed clear of zombie movies. (My hubby's been bugging me to watch the 4 Resident Evil films, but up to now, I still haven't watched any of it. Ha!)

But late last year, around October, I started reading Sundered. I didn't know what came into my mind, it's just that, one day, I realized, I have to make peace with zombies. And when I read about Mara and the miracle drug that was bound to make her fertile, I said to myself, hmm, this is not bad after all. Mara didn't even take it. The more I read, the more I discovered that her husband Sebastian loved her so much, that he would go to great lengths to hide his secret. In the end, I realized, people didn't die nor become real zombies!!! Yipppeee!

I really had a great time reading Sundered. Especially Mara & Sebastian's love story. It was like "You and Me Against the World of Zombies" or Nevermores. I specifically liked the way Shannon Mayer turned those zombie-ish creatures into gradually developing and mentally sounding super drug-infected hybrids in the long run. I even liked Scout's character! When I was at the last chapter of the book, I screamed, "Hey wait! There must be a cure!! I have to read the next book!"

Lucky for me, I already have all three books. And so I immediately read Bound and Dauntless afterwards. I was glad there was a brilliant mad scientist who was developing a cure for his wife. But of course, there was a glitch to Mara's plans of getting the cure. Mara's struggle to survive the military base and bring back Sebastian's humanity was endearing. I cried when Scout gave up his life in order to save his friends' instead.

I was really glad I read the Nevermore trilogy. Shannon Mayer made it easy for me to like zombies. I liked the ending of the story, but can I just for one more? I'm really curious how Mara & Sebastian's child (or twins) would turn out. I really wish there's still Book 4!

A big shout-out and thanks to you Shannon Mayer :) Gonna read Dark Fae soon. (Oh yes, I'm done with Dark Isle already and I love it! :)

resolutions

I'm baaaackkkkk!!!!

Did you all miss me? Well, i sure did... I mean, i missed you all. Hopefully, with the new year, I'll be able to blog more.


I actually made a list of my  plans or resolutions for this year. I don't really do this kind of stuffs, but this year, i'm making an exception. I decided to give it a try and at least make sure that half of my year-long promises will come true.

Anyway, here are my so-called plans:

* Manage my time.. wisely! No more wasting of free time. But spend more quality time with Hubby and kids.

* Love myself more. A year ago, I've been so busy with my kids, I forgot to take care of myself.. So I'm including myself now..

* Wear make-up everyday. Looking good helps me feel good..

* Read more books.. Expand my horizon. Show more interest in another genre like self-help books, biographies, coffeetable books and Pinoy novels...

* Write again. Lately, I've been having daydreams and nightmares full of words, prose,  poems.. and when I wake up, I slap myself because I didn't had a chance to write  and compile them.. I really ought to write again.

• Blog more! Yes, I need to post more and more of my thoughts, feelings and everything else in between. I miss blogging!
• Fill-up my diary/journal with entries. Two years ago, I bought a diary notebook for myself, hoping to chronicle about my daily life. One day I stopped. Today, I'm gonna fill 'er up.. yeah baby!
• Review the books I've recently read and publish them on my other blog. Hopefully someday, I'll get paid.. yipee!

* Drop a peso or two on my kids' coin banks. Everyday! My kids already have their own / respective coin banks, even my youngest baby has one. But they don't regularly drop coins in there. So I'm taking it as my responsibility to help them save and collect more by the end of the year.. Yipee!

* Learn to cook other recipes.. It's time for my kids to try new food.. hopefully their taste buds would cooperate. LOL

So far, these are all the resolutions I have come up with. I really wish I could fulfill them. Happy New Year everyone!

2012 favorites

I just wanna share with you my favorite books of 2012. Hooray!!

   

     

     

          

        

          

        

     

   

 Looking forward to more captivating and exciting novels of 2013. 

Happy New Year!!