WRAP UP!!!!: My own Book-A-Thon Challenge!

HI!!!!

SO I am really excited to share you results of my own Book-A-Thon Challenge!

It was actually pretty productive, out of 7 challenges I have managed successfully executed 6 of them!

Here are the books that I read (or still am currently reading):

Details as below:

* The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain - Read a Claasic (221 pages)

* The Girl who Kicked The Hornet's Nest (Millenium #3) - Read a 500+ Page Book, Read a Book That Has Been On Your Shelf the Longest Time, AND Finish a Series! (820 pages)

* Catching Fire (The Hunger Games #2) - Re-read a Book AND Listen to an Audiobook (equal to 391 pages)

* The Gargoyles by Andrew Davidson - just finishing this book, I was already on page 366 of 499 so I finished this book off, so basically I read 133 pages)

* Stay With Me by Elyssa Patrick - an eARC provided by NetGalley and the author (216 pages)

* Scarlet by Marissa Meyer - still currently reading it, but during the book-a-thon week, I read the first 108 pages.

the only challenge that I didn't successfully execute was read more than 300 pages a day. There were days where I didn't read 300 pages, but there were days where I read more than 300 pages, so it didn't really matter I guess.

In conclusion, during the book-a-thon week, grand total of pages I read is..

(221+820+391+216+133+108) = 1,889 pages!

Well, I am happy with the result, it has been pretty productive! :D

ARC review: Stay With Me (With Me #1) by Elyssa Patrick

Author: Elyssa Patrick

Expected Publication: August 30th 2013

Pages: 216 pages

Rating: 1 of 5 Stars

Synopsis:

New Adult/Contemporary Romance - recommended for ages 17 and up.
With one look, I’m his . . .

With one touch, he’s mine . . .

With one kiss, it changes everything between us . . .

I’ve been famous since I can remember. Singing, acting, dancing—I’ve done it all. The tabloids cover my every move, but I don’t want that anymore. I want to be normal, whatever that is.

When I leave Hollywood for college in Vermont, I’m on my own for the first time in my life. This is my chance to figure out who I am and what I want in life.

But it’s a lot harder than I expected. I can’t escape my image. Classes are difficult, and I’m struggling. And then there’s Caleb Fox.

Sexy, intriguing Caleb Fox.

Caleb is the one man who doesn’t want to use me. He breaks down my walls. He challenges me. He wants me. And I just don’t know if I can give him the same—or if he’ll stick around when he finds out my shameful secret that the tabloids haven’t managed to uncover.

Dating him is risky enough, but loving him could break me.

Deskynowsky's Review:

first, I want to thank NetGalley and the author for providing me with the ebook, really appreciate it. I really want to like this book, I forced myself reading it in couple of hours (I am challenging myself this week anw). I almost did not finish reading this book, but somehow I kept forcing myself coz I want to know the "big secret" that has been mentioned from the start.. So, the positive thing about this book is the cover. I love it! really well done! The negative things, I have to say I don't like the execution of the story plot and the writing. Is this really New-Adult? I know in simple way new adult is YA + Sex, but this book is like too many sex and less focus in the development of the story. There is development, but it is just (how to say it) not there.. It just feels flat..(I think this book can be categorized as erotica?). And it is an instant attraction (insta-love) starting from the very first sentence of the first chapter.. And I don't really feel the connection (I don't understand) the main character nor other characters in the book. Everything is just so instant. I feel nothing.. Empty is the right word to describe my feeling after reading this book.. Hah.. I am a bit disappointed, but hope other people will find more joy in reading this book than I did..

July Multiple Books Review: 5. Faking It (Losing It #2) by Cora Carmack

5. Faking It (Losing It #2)

Author: Cora Carmack

Published: June 4th 2013

Publisher: William Morrow

Pages: 352 pages

Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars

Synopsis:

Mackenzie "Max" Miller has a problem. Her parents have arrived in town for a surprise visit, and if they see her dyed hair, tattoos, and piercings, they just might disown her. Even worse, they’re expecting to meet a nice wholesome boyfriend, not a guy named Mace who has a neck tattoo and plays in a band. All her lies are about to come crashing down around her, but then she meets Cade.

Cade moved to Philadelphia to act and to leave his problems behind in Texas. So far though, he’s kept the problems and had very little opportunity to take the stage. When Max approaches him in a coffee shop with a crazy request to pretend to be her boyfriend, he agrees to play the part. But when Cade plays the role a little too well, they’re forced to keep the ruse going. And the more they fake the relationship, the more real it begins to feel.

The hot new, New Adult title from New York Times bestselling author ofLosing It, Cora Carmack.

Deskynowsky's Review:

Haha.. I tend to give all books that I read in one day which completely enchanted me from the beginning to the end and also that made me doesn't want to stop reading it, freaking 5 stars or maybe 4.5 stars..

Okay so I read Losing It in January 2013, and I didn't like it, I thought I gave it 2 stars or 1.5 stars? I forgot, the story for me was kinda meh and I don't like the girl also pretty much very typical.. Well the whole thing is just booorrinng..

BUT THE SEQUEL!!!!! Oh my goodness.. It's just as awesome as cherry candy and strawberry pie with awesome icing of rainbow chocolates and ferrero roche ice cream (okay, I don't know what I am writing abt)..

Obviously I AM IN LOVE with this story! I love the girl and the boy! Their issues are definitely more intriguing and significant.. Their relationship is sooooo touching, toes-curling-worth, rolling back and forth on the bed worth, swoon worth, fangirl worth, and other love sick puppy symptoms worth!!!

Faking It is a whole different story than Losing It, it's about Cade (if U have read Losing It, he is the male best friend of Bliss who was in love with Bliss and then get dumped for a hot british teacher) who happened to meet with this awesome fearless rocker badass tattooed girl named Max (or Mackenzie) that at first they were faking the relationship for the sake of Max's super conservative all happy parents which happened in super random universe, they came to Philly unannounced and Max was with her super irresponsible and brainless boyfriend who is everything that her parents hate.. Sooooo in a very limited time she just spotted Cade (they were at a coffee shop) who happened sitting alone with a book and also has this good boy vibe neon pointed at him. So she came to him with the proposal to be her faked boyfriend, andddddd BAM! There, I just could not stop reading the rest of the story..

Thank God I decided to buy the ebook and read it, I wasn't sure at first, but the synopsis was just tooooooo good, it just sounds like awesome opposite attract love story that I really like.. And I DO LIKE IT A LIL BIT TOO MUCH..

Okay there.. Haha.. I am happy :D 

Book Review (a slightly out of ordinary one): The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay

The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay

Spoilers Free!

Year Published: 2013
Publisher: Atria Books
Pages: 448 pages
Rating: 

Thanks NetGalley and Atria Books for providing me with the eBook :)

I live in a world without magic or miracles. A place where there are no clairvoyants or shapeshifters, no angels or superhuman boys to save you. A place where people die and music disintegrates and things suck. I am pressed so hard against the earth by the weight of reality that some days I wonder how I am still able to lift my feet to walk.

Former piano prodigy Nastya Kashnikov wants two things: to get through high school without anyone learning about her past and to make the boy who took everything from her—her identity, her spirit, her will to live—pay.

Josh Bennett’s story is no secret: every person he loves has been taken from his life until, at seventeen years old, there is no one left. Now all he wants is be left alone and people allow it because when your name is synonymous with death, everyone tends to give you your space.

Everyone except Nastya, the mysterious new girl at school who starts showing up and won’t go away until she’s insinuated herself into every aspect of his life. But the more he gets to know her, the more of an enigma she becomes. As their relationship intensifies and the unanswered questions begin to pile up, he starts to wonder if he will ever learn the secrets she’s been hiding—or if he even wants to.

The Sea of Tranquility is a rich, intense, and brilliantly imagined story about a lonely boy, an emotionally fragile girl, and the miracle of second chances.

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Since yesterday (15 Feb 2013), I am officially an emotional-wrecked! Thanks to a certain vampire tv series and its angst/tragic/beautiful ship that is my current ultimate OTP. YES! I am talking about you, #TVD S04E14!



And today, I finished reading this book (16 Feb 2013), and it just adds more emotional battle in my heart and soul..



I don't expect that I can be more emotionally-exhausted-and-drained after yesterday.. But it seems it's very much possible..

coz now I am just full of feels and emotions.. and I just don't know what to do..



Okay, so let's talk about this book..

WHAT WITH ALL OF THESE FICTIONAL CHARACTERS??? You guys ruin my life.. huhu (not that I am complaining thou..).. But still... what you guys have done to me?!

Nastya and Josh..... what I can say about them... I feel for these two so much.. Two people who were coming from two different worlds and have their own messed up lives with terrible histories.. They were facing their own demon and isolated from people around them.. Then it was like fate and destiny had their own plan to have these two met and saved each other..

This book has a very beautiful story line, amazing writing, and great character developments..

Like seriously, I don't know what to write, coz I just feel so much when I read this book.. It was like I could feel what these characters feel.. 

I love how are these characters were written.. especially for Nastya and Josh as the female and male leads in this book. How their characters were shaped from their painful pasts that had caused them to be socially isolated and misunderstood. Although, they were still very much admirable! How strong they were in facing uncertainties in life and how they fought and saved each other.. it was really beautiful and heartfelt.. It just seemed like they were different, but actually they were the same..I could also kinda relate to other characters in the book who were pretty awesome as well.

Then the story line.... I enjoyed the SL so much.. It was great and captivating! love how the writing kinda make the story easy to digest, but still without losing its charms and purpose..

I put this book in the category of New-Adult book.. This one works for me like charm! I love it! definitely goes to my favorite books category..

I got this ebook for review, and I most certain will love to buy a copy of this.. It was just such a beautiful read.. and wish I can hug the writer.... *sending Katja Millay a virtual hugs..*


This was (and still is) my favorite lines from the book:
"Maybe one day you'll come back, Maybe you never will and that'll suck, but you can't keep doing this. The blame and the self-loathing and the bullshit. I can't watch that. It makes me hate you for hating yourself. I don't want to lose you. But I'd rather lose you if it means you'll be happy. I think if you come back with me today, you'll never be okay. And I'll never be okay if you aren't. I need to know that there's away for people like us to end up okay. I need to know that there even is such a thing as okay, or maybe not just okay, maybe even good, and it's out there and we just haven't found it yet. There's got to be a happier ending than this here. There's got to be a better story. Because we deserve one. You deserve one. Even if it doesn't end with you coming back to me."

Maybe my only problem was just, I continued reading this book till finish after I watched a very emotional scene on TVD 4x14, especially Klaroline scenes.. and I just could not help to have Feels-Attack.. coz Nastya and Josh kinda remind me of Klaus and Caroline.. (in their own very way..)

And suddenly I think of this..... O(T^T)O



Sorry for this slightly weird review.. At the moment I am just having so much emotions going on for these four characters.. so it was kinda mixed and I just can not help myself to feel it that way.. hiks.. fictional characters you are going to be the death of me..



*Gifs are not mine, they are belonged to their respectful owners who are very awesome people! ;*

Book-Review: Easy by Tammara Webber

Easy by Tammara Webber

Publisher: Berkley Trade
Year Published: 2012
Pages: 310
Rating: 

Rescued by a stranger.
Haunted by a secret
Sometimes, love isn’t easy…

He watched her, but never knew her. Until thanks to a chance encounter, he became her savior…

The attraction between them was undeniable. Yet the past he’d worked so hard to overcome, and the future she’d put so much faith in, threatened to tear them apart.

Only together could they fight the pain and guilt, face the truth—and find the unexpected power of love.

(Mature Young Adult/ New Adult)

I have to rate this book somewhere between 2.5 to 3 stars.

The story was (for me) very predictable. I have to say that most (all) of my predictions had come true. So, unfortunately there was not so many surprises at all (at least for me). I am not so sure what to write on my review tho (I am kinda in my reviewing-slump period). It wasn't a bad read, it was just an usual one.

The characters, hmm...... say I didn't really like the girl at the beginning (and at the end, I'm just Okay with her). I mean she was just a very typical damsel in distress kind of girl that needed to be saved and voila! there was ur prince.. So as the story went, it was just becoming more predictable. Talk about the guy, I am not so sure how to describe him without giving the spoilers.. At first I thought he was just too perfect to be true, a caring bad-boy-emo-good-looking guy with nerd-economics-engineering-brain-quality (who I thought can only be found only at a custom-made market, U know I want one), but no one is perfect, there was always a dark background story to this kind of character, which I think would be more interesting if the story kinda told from his perspective, there'd be more emotional twists... but well yeah just my random thoughts.. and as for other characters, I don't have anything to say, I think they were just alright character companions.

The redeeming quality of the book was and still is definitely the issue it raised. And for that only reason, I think this book is a good read for many young female readers. It gave a general understanding of a sexual crime towards women and showed on how people (esp. women) might be able to handle or prevent it. The issue itself is already a pretty heavy subject if it was explored deeper in the story, but the book was heavier on the romance-story side so it was light and easy to read and understand.

December 2012 Wrap-Ups! and updates

So these are the pile that I finished reading this December 2012 XD

My only read that I am still currently-reading is eARC of A Conspiracy of Alchemists (just started reading it today 30.12.2012) and I am already loving it! so I think I might be able to finish reading it either tonight or tomorrow morning.

I am planning to post the book-reviews tomorrow, yup just exactly at the end of the year (except for Spirit Bound and Last Sacrifice which I have already included in the collective review-post for The Vampire Academy series)

Starting January 2013, I am committed to myself to read at-least one classics and one modern-classics every month. The rest can be either YA, New-Adult, or Adult books.

and I know that I am not quite active blogging this past couple of days or weeks. I apologize for my laziness, I don't have any good excuse for that tho.. I am sooo envy to people who can read one book a day.. haha.. they are def superhuman!

hmm.. what else.. what else.. oh.. I also haven't posted any new book-haul post XP .. Actually, I did get new books this month, since December is my fave month of the year coz there are so many festivities to celebrate; my birthday, christmas and new year, so I got some pretty awesome books xp . I think I will post What's New sometime later in January 2013, a bit late but then I can post December/Birthday/Christmas/New Year book haul in one post.. Totally gonna skip January Book Haul.. I already got too many..

Alright then.. That's all for now.. Until the next post ;D

Have a fun read, people! <3

Books:
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Complete Ghost Stories by Charles Dickens
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Easy by Tammara Webber
Spirit Bound (TVA #5) by Richelle Mead
Last Sacrifice (TVA #6) by Richelle Mead
A Graphic Novel: Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
A Conspiracy of Alchemists by Liesel Schwarz