Review: Screwdrivered

Screwdrivered by Alice Clayton

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



If you are looking for a book to take this weekend, or an in-between read, this one is just perfect. The 3rd book on Alice Clayton’s Cocktail series, this book is like a dream come-true for romance junkies out there. This book will show how Mr. Nice-Guy could be Mr. Right too. This book proves that not all frogs kissed could turn into Prince Charming.

Viv; software engineer at day, romance junkie at night. Forever lusting after Hank, the cowboy and totally missing out on librarian-slash-archivist, Clark. Smart is definitely the new sexy when it comes to Clark. Brains trumps hot bod every freakin’ time.

I could tell you about how funny this book was (mainly due to Viv’s obliviousness), or how sexy the banter was, or how great the supporting characters was, and how perfect that Simon and Caroline were also here, but I won’t. Read and be entertained.




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My Week in Books #1 (Aug 04 - 19, 2014)

August 05 - Monday

Finished reading Agatha Christie's Dead Man's Folly. This is the second time that I've read the book---and surprisingly, I'm still as ignorant as the first time. Cool right?! I guess it has something to do with the fact that I read fast, maybe that's why the memory is short-termed.
Another re-read was Sarah MacLean's One Good Earl Deserves a Lover---my favorite from the Rules of Scoundrels series. I love smart, and odd, and spinster heroines. I could relate. LOL. So, what made me want to read it again was after finishing A Rogue by any other name which is the first book of the series. I liked Penny, but not as much as Pippa. I also liked Temple---but based on reviews, I am quite hesitant in reading his book, but Chase's I can't hardly wait. The blurb is just---no words---awesome!
Finally caught up with A Dance With Dragons, I've been reading this book since March and I'm still at 65% (what the heck) I just hate Danaerys' POV. She annoys me---a lot. Too much Daario.

August 05 - Tuesday

(8:30 PM)
Early this morning, I continued reading Moore's Bloodsucking Fiends (started yesterday) and it's absolutely hilarous. Gahd, no wonder the man has a cult following---he's really good at what he's doing. I've only read Dirty Job---and I liked it, but I think I'm liking this one more. Is the Emperor on Dirty Job the same as the Emperor here?! Or am I imagining things again?! Anyways, yesternight I finished Katie West's On The Fence. Put a smile in my face---that book did. It was cute. Like poodles. Light read. Perfect for in-between reads.
So, need to get back to reading, just not sure if I'll continue BF---or choose another HR and pull an all-nighter---or face Hawking's A Brief.History of Time and read myself to sleep.

(10:00 PM)
Went back to reading Into The Woods by Tana French. The mystery is engaging, but Adam Ryan (the POV) is such a romantic. He keeps on romanticizing his relationship with Cassie Maddox, his partner. It just sounds so cheesy to me. That Katy Perry song that says: "you're so gay and you don't even like boys"  is on the loop in my head everytime he describes his relationship with Cassie. Sam, the last part of the trio reminds me of Spencer Reid. I dunno why. Gahd. I miss Spence.

August 09 - Saturday

21:06
Since the last time I wrote, I finished Anne Gracie's A Perfect Waltz---she's good, but The Perfect Rake is STILL my favorite. Also re-read Romancing Mr. Bridgerton, Julia Quinn really is great---I'm almost tempted to re-read What Happens in London (my all-time fave Julia Quinn).
I'm also back to reading mangas.
Damn. I miss it. Catching up with another all-time favorite. I'm still at Volume 27 though---a long long long way to go.
Unfortunately for me, I haven't made any progress on In The Woods. At least I've read 2 chapters on ADWD. Not bad.
Oooh. I've also decided to read Shakespeare's complete works. I've read Romeo and Juliet, The Taming of the Shrew, and all The Sonnets. Not that I understood most of it. I get the general idea---but the details, oh well, it's Early Modern English. Looking forward to reading Shakespeare's one of a kind insults.

August 10 - Sunday

20:21
Just finished reading Julie Ann Long's What I Did For a Duke---and wow! I've been reading HR for the past few weeks but nothing has garnered this kind of reaction from me. I sobbed, for goodness' sake. I cry, yes---but sob? No. But this one, what Alex did, it'd hard to get over. There is also something on Long's writing which I very much like. This is my first Julie Ann Long and I look forward to reading her other works.

Fangirl: A Spazz Story.

Bless you Rainbow Rowell for sprinkling this book with fairy dust. It was truly, a magical experience.

This book is like hot chocolate topped with sweet and gooey marshmallows.

This is the kind of book that makes you want to crawl beneath the covers and stay there forever.
Also the kind of book that makes you want to stay late at night and wake up early just to read.

Truth be told, finishing this book was the only thing I could think about---even during meetings---I always find myself drifting back to it . Heck, I even thought I could carry on without eating because this book is enough sustenance.

So, Argh. It's hard to describe the wonders of this book. I felt that this book was written just for me. Every scene. Every line. It felt like someone was writing my fantasies for me.

Take Cath. Gahd. If there was ever a character I could totally relate to---it was Cather. I think we may even have the same 'fetish", if you could call it that. I absolutely loved everything about her---Naah, I absolutely loved all the characters.

Levi, Levi, Levi. My prayers every night from now on should be "Dear God, give me my own Levi". He's just the perfect book boyfriend. Geeky. Sweet. Nice. You could just drink him all in.

The story---this is the best Rainbow Rowell I've read. In Attachments, I wasn't that convinced with the romance. In Eleanor and Park, well I loved everything about that book---but this is infinitely better for me. If we could have books for soulmates, this would be mine.

Of Lady Stoneheart

Lady Stoneheart did not appear on the last episode of Game of Thrones Season 4. Some article say that it is a good thing for her appearance somehow signifies the crossover of the series into the fantasy genre. Oooh. But I beg to disagree. We all knew that A Song of Ice and Fire is a fantasy right from the Prologue of the first book. Hello, the Others. It was what hooked us up to begin with. I still haven't watched any episode from the 4th season---and if the TV series will continue to diverge from the books, I may never watch it at all. Yes. I was not so happy when I first read about Lady Stoneheart---or what she did with Brienne. But I also feel that she will play a big part in the future. So please---for the love you bear to the book series---HBO, let Lady Stoneheart appear on the 5th season. As much as I would hate to see Brienne die.

I'm just rambling. Hahaha. Bored does this to.me.

Review: A Clash of Kings

A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



New characters and New POVs,

There's Davos which I really liked.
Melisandre, I don't really know. One thing I learned from reading this series is to NOT judge the character without reading their POVs. Coz like Jon Snow, we know nothing. Which reminds me of Ygritte...and No, for the record, I'm not THAT into her. I mean she's feisty, brave, and tough---but I sort of got annoyed with all the "You know nothing, Jon Snow"--as if!
Then there's Theon. He seemed like an okay guy on the first book, on this one---he's such an a**hole.
Brienne of Tarth. Her, I loved. Her loyalty. Her skills. Everything. I just hate it when every sentence involving her points out her ugliness. We get it already!

Meera and Jojen and Osha; characters that really stood out on this book.

I got a new favorite character now, Ha-Ha. (dangerous words). TYRION Lannister. Gahd! Gotta love the Imp.

The most remarkable character for me on the first book was the Dancing Master---for this book, it's Jaqhen H'gar. I thought he was great. I am looking forward to seeing him again (yeap, I've read some spoilers).

As of this moment, I am more than halfway through A Storm of Swords but I felt the strong need to write something for this one. Just to make myself remember.

P.S. I still hate Littlefinger.



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Review: Dance of the Red Death

Dance of the Red Death by Bethany Griffin

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



Actual rating: 2.5 stars

Okay. So that was it!
I wished that Bethany stopped on the first.
I get the importance of the party scene. I've read the original Poe, but how I wished she just fitted that one on the first book. This second book just left me miserable.

At the first book, I love the goth feel.
Araby and Elliot's somehow twisted relationship was just right for me.
This book....was disappointing.
Trying to finish it was a chore. It was a "for the love of Poe, let's just get this over and done with". Somehow, the magic of the first book got lost, what with the love triangle in almost every corner. Seriously. This book is full of Araby being confused between Will and Elliot, it's annoying.
Honestly, if it was me, there wouldn't be a contest. It's Elliot. And I don't care of he's twisted, or if he's in love with power more than Araby. I don't know. I never really liked Will.

To be honest, it was April and Kent who made me endure this book up to the end. I wished this book were just about them. They're very refreshing characters.
So, yeah...I'm thankful that this series only had two books...not that I'm all smiles-and-laughters with the ending. Far from it. I just don't want this to get worse.

"We are the children of murderers, abandonded by our fathers. We do things others wouldn't dream of. But here in this garden, we can forget.

So I take off my mask and kiss him.

And he kisses me back. All of his intensity and all of my own yearning seem to twine between us."

Because I'm Team Elliot up to the end.



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Review: The Bone Season

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



I guess I'm still in some sort of hangover.

The Cover
I'm sorry, but I think it didn't do justice to the whole book.
Honestly, no matter how much people say to not just the book with its cover, sometimes, you just can't help. So yeah, I almost missed this one because it looked boring.

Honestly, I kinda get what all the hype on this book is all about.
It got solid world building.Great imagination you have there Samantha Shannon.-t
Likable characters. Hello Paige, hello Nick.
Intriguing story line.
Fast-paced action scenes.
A little bit of humor.

So why the 3 stars?
truthfully, I also don't know.
maybe it has something to do with the complexity of the story.
some kind of information overload.
there are a lot of things that i have to remember,
the order of the clairvoyant, their classification, etc. etc. etc.
the name of the places,
seriously, can't Samantha Shannon create a character which doesn't have a unique sounding name?
would that lessen the beauty of her book?

relationships
one of those things that usually turns me off.
all the time i was reading the book, i keep on anticipating where the love interest would appear and where the love story would start, and boy, thank goodness it isn't insta-love.




from the very beginning, Arcturus Mesarthim (a.k.a. Warden) intrigued me.
the man is made up of mystery,
and i'm just so happy about him and Paige,
somehow I had the feeling that it would end up into something like that.
you don't spend day and night with someone, save their lives without having even a little amount of feelings.

The Rephaim.
Scion.
Seven Seals.
Clairvoyants.

There is so much more to learn in this book, and since this series is supposed to have seven books in it, I just hope that it could maintain, or even exceed the hype.

P.S. What's with the number SEVEN? Seven seals. Seven dials. Seven Orders. The series have Seven books too. Oh well.



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