Wednesday, January 9, 2013

Waiting on Wednesday (23)

Waiting on Wednesday/s are hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine in which you choose a book or books that you're excited and waiting for.
This week's Waiting on Wednesday book is:
Title: This Is What Happy Looks Like
Author: Jennifer E. Smith
Publisher: Poppy
Publication date: April 2nd 2013
Pre-order the book: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

If fate sent you an email, would you answer?

When teenage movie star Graham Larkin accidentally sends small town girl Ellie O'Neill an email about his pet pig, the two seventeen-year-olds strike up a witty and unforgettable correspondence, discussing everything under the sun, except for their names or backgrounds.

Then Graham finds out that Ellie's Maine hometown is the perfect location for his latest film, and he decides to take their relationship from online to in-person. But can a star as famous as Graham really start a relationship with an ordinary girl like Ellie? And why does Ellie want to avoid the media's spotlight at all costs?
(Summary from Goodreads)

Why I'm so excited for this:
The summary of this book is just too cute! I absolutely love reading books about chance encounters and a famous guy falling for a normal girl? Oh my. Books like this are my guilty pleasure. I can't wait to read it!

Leave us a comment with your WoW post and we'll check it out!

Saturday, January 5, 2013

ARC Review: Of Poseidon by Anna Banks

Title: Of Poseidon (Of Poseidon #1)
Author: Anna Banks
Pages: 326 pages
Acquired format: Paperback (ARC)
Publisher: Feiwel & Friends
Published on: May 22nd 2012
Source: Borrowed from Precious (Fragments of Life) Thanks!
Buy the book: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

Galen is the prince of the Syrena, sent to land to find a girl he's heard can communicate with fish. Emma is on vacation at the beach. When she runs into Galen — literally, ouch! — both teens sense a connection. But it will take several encounters, including a deadly one with a shark, for Galen to be convinced of Emma's gifts. Now, if he can only convince Emma that she holds the key to his kingdom . . . 

Told from both Emma and Galen's points of view, here is a fish-out-of-water story that sparkles with intrigue, humor, and waves of romance.

(Summary from Goodreads)

Review:

Mermaid-themed books have always been my weakness, I just can't not love them. I always expect authors to put in their own twist to the mythology since The Little Mermaid idea has been used way too much, which is why I absolutely adored Of Poseidon. It's the type of book that when you read it you just know that you're going to laugh your larynx out (you'll understand this when you read the summary which is ^ up there. You're welcome.) I think that it was a very smart decision for Anna Banks to write the book in Galen and Emma's POVs because you really won't get the whole story without it and awesomely enough, it doesn't get confusing since some dual POVs get messy, so you're good. And the violet eyes? Genius.

I really liked Emma as a heroine. She isn't the type of girl who's insecure unlike a few protagonists who doubt their self-worth, Emma knows who she is and she isn't afraid to tell anyone off if they piss her off. And I absolutely love her internal monologues and she literally had me cracking up in just the first chapter. I'm not really so sure about her friend Chloe though, it might be just me but she is kind of mean in a friendly way...? But I guess if you can handle a person like that then why not be friends with them, right?

As much I really like Galen, the one that owns my heart is Toraf even if his name is unbelievably not sexy. Like, at all. But before we go to Toraf, let's talk about the hunky Galen. I think one of the really appealing things about Galen (other than his shockingly good looks) is that he's really loyal to his people and he's willing to sacrifice what he wants the most to protect his people, and while this is a really good quality it also has it's downsides. Half of the time he was trying to deny his attraction to Emma, he only ended up hurting her and that's never good but in the end, can we really blame him? He's a royal and his responsibilities are greater than any other normal Syrena (Syrena = mermaid in the Of Poseidon world. Requirement: Black hair, violet eyes, lean build and olive skin.) Now onto Toraf, I honestly felt sorry for him throughout the whole first half of the book because Rayna is one sadistic Syrena. She literally put him through a lot of trouble and I felt really bad for him.

I think that the only thing that didn't appeal to me is the sort of insta-love that happened between Galen and Emma, even though there was some resistance on their part but it was definitely there. There was a lot of sizzle and even some fizzles happening between them. But even though there was an insta-love between them, their relationship as fake boyfriend/girlfriend was definitely entertaining. There's never a dull moment when you're talking about these two.

If you want a really feel good read with a lot of fluff and laughs, Of Poseidon is definitely for you! There's not a moment that you won't find yourself laughing out loud. Oh and... MERMAIDSMEN!!! Hee!

Rating:

Friday, January 4, 2013

Feature and Follow Friday (22)

Feature and Follow Friday is hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read! :)

Q: What New Year Blogging or Writing resolution have you placed on yourself?

A: Well We're hoping that we'll be able to write a hundred or more reviews this year and that we'll be able to interact with even more bloggers. We really want to help other bloggers out when they need some guidance things like that. :) WE WANT MORE FRIENDS, PLEASE. Haha! I really want us to be more active in terms of blogging and communicating this year (via Twitter or commenting [I suck at commenting, I must redeem myself this year!] and other places as well.) Also, for us to learn how to us Photoshop. Hee!

Leave us a comment with your FF post and we'll check it out! :)
We follow back.

Wednesday, January 2, 2013

Waiting on Wednesday (22)

Waiting on Wednesday/s are hosted by Jill from Breaking the Spine in which you choose a book or books that you're excited and waiting for.
This week's Waiting on Wednesday book is:
Title: Walking Disaster (Beautiful #2)
Author: Jamie McGuire
Publisher: Atria Books
Publication date: April 16th 2013
Pre-order the book: Amazon / Barnes and Noble

Walking Disaster is Travis' POV.

How much is too much to love?

Travis Maddox learned two things from his mother before she died: Love hard. Fight harder.

In Walking Disaster, the life of Travis is full of fast women, underground gambling, and violence. Just when he thought he was invincible, Abby Abernathy brings him to his knees.

Every story has two sides. In Jamie McGuire's New York Times bestseller Beautiful Disaster Abby had her say. Now it's time to see the story through Travis's eyes.
(Summary from Goodreads)

Why I am excited for this:
Beautiful Disaster has to be one of the best books I read, like, EVER. It's this whirlwind filled with craziness and absolute hilarity. I loved Travis and Abby's relationship and I really can't wait to see into Travis' protective (and sexy) mind.

Leave us a comment with you WoW post and we'll check it out!

Tuesday, January 1, 2013

End of the Year Blog Post

2012 has been such an eventful year for Geraldine and I. Geraldine finally joined me in our school's Debate Team, I almost got into our class's honor roll and we activated our blog again (and we got more than 400 followers this year.) It's all these little things that make life so interesting, we've been blessed with such supportive people who cheer us on no matter what and we are so grateful for that. Well this is our End of the Year Blog Post where we great you all a happy, happy New Year and where we thank all the awesome peeps we stalked met and interacted with this 2012.

To the publishers/publicists and authors: I'd like to send an insanely huge thank you to Christine from HarperCollins and Ksenia from MacMillan because without these two ladies, our reading fire would not be fueled. It's these two lovely ladies that give us a little nudge to the right direction. Hee! I'm also giving possibly the biggest hug in the entire world to Amanda Sun who is an absolute rock star! She's just one of those authors that you know is a sweetheart once you meet her. Thank you so much for being my Twitter buddy! I hope 2013 will be an awesome year for you. Next up is Leigh Bardugo whose book is possibly the best Fantasy novel I have ever read. I've heard so many great things about her and hopefully I do get to meet her one day. There's also Josephine Angelini who has helped us out on numerous occasions with whatever we might need. She's an absolute angel. We have Sarah Rees Brennan who I just love. Period. She's such a joy over on Twitter and I do stalk her Tumblr as well. And really, thank you to all the authors out there who never take a break just so they can write us awesome books. Who think about their readers before themselves. Thank you!

To the Pinoy bloggers: just a shout-out to all the Filipino bloggers we've met over on Twitter (and in real life,) y'all are so awesome: Tiffany and Alyana from Read, Breathe, Read, Kai from Amaterasu Reads, Precious from Fragments of Life, Michelle and Nicole from The Twins Read, Dani from Book Whales, Kate from The Bookaholic Blurbs, Dianne from Oops! I Read It Again, Lyra from Defiantly Deviant, Leslie from just_another_book_lover, Michelle from Michelle Shouts Random! , Von from Mr. Book Wonder, Eunice from Compelled by Books, Kazhy from My Library in the Making, Dea from Teen Readers' Diary, JayJay from We Fancy Books, Chyna from Lite-Rate-Ture! , Maricar from BlackPlume and Leanne from The Selkie Reads Stories. Thanks for being such lively and fun peeps! Big hugs.

To my Twitter peeps and other bloggers: I'd like to give a ginormous shout-out and hug to Nancy from Tales of a Ravenouse Reader who is actually one of the very first bloggers I met over Twitter some time ago. She's a lovely person! Also a big thank you to Alethea from Read Now Sleep Later who I got to meet last December 22nd when she came to visit the Philippines. She actually helped me with my Math problems before. Haha! And to Alyson from Kid Lit Frenzy who's also one of the very first bloggers I met before. It's great still having your blogger friends even after you take a hiatus... a very long one. Andye and Amy from Reading Teen have also been significant figures in my blogging life. They've always been so nice and supportive. It is such an honor to call them my friends. Onto the Twitter peeps, these two ladies are my fangirling buddies (haha!) Ashley [@FireStarBooks] and Lynn [@kuro_rin01]. Yup, they're both awesome. Like, awesome awesome. *flails* Jassie [@clapstompjump] is also one of my Twitter buddies. We talk about books and whatever else comes to mind which is great. I'd also like to give a big hug to Lucy from Fully Booked who is one of my Twitter BFFs. Who without fail always helps me out and she needs to be appreciated more. Mwah. You are all such great people! Hee! Thank y'all for everything.

To our blog and Twitter followers: We honestly would not be here without you so thank you for your support and continuous viewership. We love and appreciate you!

And lastly to Geraldine who's been my best bud for practically 3/4s of my life. Thanks so much for agreeing to do with blog with me. I love you, boo! Oh and of course, my parents too who water my book tree. I love you both. Mwah.

Have a very HAPPY NEW YEAR and very blessed and prosperous one as well. Keep staying tuned to our blog for we have even more insanely exciting stuff in store for you this 2013! Hugs to all.