2015 Most Anticipated

It's almost 2015 and here we are with yet another storm hitting our place that will last until the New Year. And here I am, still in a freaking reading slump and buried in school projects. But it's hard not to get excited. New Year! I can't believe the year is almost over. To be honest, this year feels like the fastest to fly by. Anyway, here are the things that I am most excited about in 2015.

Books:

Burn 

(The Rephaim #4)

by Paula Weston

Top 10 of 2014

I only read 136 books this 2014. My original goal was 150 but I didn't get to that before the year was over. Technically, I've read way more than 136 books. I've been in a lot of reading slumps this year and I always reread favorite books when I'm not in the mood to start a new one but I don't include them in my reading challenge so there you go.

Just last week, for instance, I reread Shimmer by Paula Weston twice, and then reread Haze after that, then Shimmer again (I love rereading if you haven't noticed that yet). And then agonized over Christmas dinner of the sequel's release.

So out of those 136 I've given 5 stars to - what a coincidence - exactly 10 books.

Top 10 books of 2014:

Review: James Games by L.A. Rose

James Games
by L.A Rose
Published: September 30, 2014



Buy from Amazon

Every year, the girls of Phi Delta Chi, Fiona Arlett’s dream sorority, hold a competition.

The prize?

James Reid, king size bar of eye candy and famous actor turned haughty undergrad.

The rules?

No girl but the winner can touch him.

The problem?

Fiona miiight have unknowingly banged his brains out last week.

Losing the competition may mean wearing a chicken suit to the sexiest Halloween costume contest, but she’d rather have feathers up her butt than let the truth out.

Unfortunately, she and James have lots in common and more chemistry than the science wing. Soon they’re sneaking around behind the backs of UCSD’s hottest and most vengeful girls.

If they find out?

Fiona’s screwed.

Review: Adrian Lessons by L.A. Rose

Adrian Lessons
by L.A. Rose
Published: August 25, 2014



Buy from Amazon

If there’s one thing Cleo Reynolds knows, it’s that she’s not into Adrian King.

The son of a model with the looks to prove it, the experienced author of her school newspaper’s sex advice column, the cocky playboy with a hint of darkness. That Adrian King.

Nope. Nuh-uh. No way.

The problem is, he’s very into her.

After accidentally flashing him, and slightly-less-accidentally-but-still-totally-unintentionally making out with him in front of the whole class, she expects to be called crazy. Instead, he asks her out.

Cleo’s determined not to end up as another notch on his bedpost. Except she hasn’t done…you know…it in a while. (Read: ever.) And as a girl who pays her tuition by writing all the sex scenes in her roommate’s bestselling romance series, the lack of inspiration has served up a fat slice of writer’s block.

Until her roommate proposes that Cleo and Adrian act out all the steamy scenes in her book.

It’s just research. No feelings involved.

Nope. Nuh-uh.

No way.

Me and My Bookshelf (26): More Signed Books

This is where I feature the books I received, bought, gifted or won that are newly added in my physical shelf, which means no e-books and the like, and recount epic book hauling stories. It is usually posted on Saturdays.

Well, it's not Saturday but I was busy studying all weekend. Yesterday was the worst exam of my life. Four of my hardest subjects all in one day, from 9AM to 7PM straight (I had a 15-minute lunch, of course). The first one made my jaw drop as soon as I got my exam paper, wondering if I enrolled in the same class this semester. The second made my head spin with all the variables and computations (a combination of Advanced Math, Circuits, Calculus and whatevertheheckelse) the entire two hours of it which would never ever be enough and in the end nearly made my hands fall off. The next one is yet another computation only this time it's all costs and benefits and net worth, blah, blah, blah. I almost didn't want to take my next exam. But I survived! Barely. I'm dreading midterm exams already.

Anyway, here I am with the second part of my November book haul and these are the books I got in the mail.

[BLOG TOUR] Excerpt + Giveaway: Icy Pretty Love by L.A. Rose

ICY PRETTY LOVE
Genre: NA Romance
Author: L.A. Rose
Release Date: November 15th, 2014

Amazon | Barnes & Noble | Kobo

Synopsis:

Glass-doll beauty. A shy, proper smile. Georgette Montgomery is the perfect billionaire’s fiancé.

Or she would be, if she existed.

A dark past. A smile that hides everything. At nineteen, Rae Grove escapes her disaster life by pretending to be other people—specifically, whoever the man paying her that night wants her to be.

Until she’s offered enough money for a one-way ticket to a better life. All she has to do is fly to Paris and pretend to be the fiancé of young business tycoon Cohen Ashworth for one month. Within an hour of meeting Cohen, Rae knows three things about him:

1. He hates everyone and everything.

2. He has abundant wit and a knife-sharp tongue.

3. He uses 2 to make everyone aware of 1.

Before long, Rae’s determined to crack open his unbreakable shell. Cohen’s determined to stay unbroken.

But no one escapes unscathed when two opposite worlds collide.

CEBU WEEKEND GETAWAY PART 1: Marie Lu Signing + City "TOUR?"

Last, last... last Saturday I went to Marie Lu's signing event. There have been plenty of authors who went here in our country for signings I badly wanted to be a part of. Unfortunately, both venues are too far from where I live and the closest of the two are usually during Sundays and I can't have that because of school. The first time I went, it was Gayle Forman's and that's because there's no way I'm not attending. Lucky for me, we didn't have class that Monday. Not so lucky for me, there was a storm (that was more than a couple of months after Typhoon Haiyan and in the same vicinity) and ALL trips were cancelled. I was stuck at the terminal for two freakin' days and was only able to go home Tuesday morning so yeah, at least I was only absent for one day instead of two.

Me and My Bookshelf (25): November Haul Part 1 - Marie Lu Signed Edition

This is where I feature the books I received, bought, gifted or won that are newly added in my physical shelf, which means no e-books and the like, and recount epic book hauling stories. It is usually posted on Saturdays.

I've accumulated a heaping 27 books this past month from books I bought in-store to review copies I received in the mail to online buys. Yep, let's hear it: whatever happened to no more? Actually, I only just bought 2 books and 1 boxed set last November. The rest are purchased a few months ago only they took a long time to arrive in my country.

Since I'm pretty sure this would end up to be a very long post if I put them all here at once, I'm going to divide the haul into parts. I'm certain this is going to be my last haul of the year, anyway. Not counting if I receive more review copies.

[AUDIOBOOK TEASER] Endsinger by Jay Kristoff

Endsinger
(The Lotus War #3)
by Jay Kristoff
Published: November 25, 2014



A TREMBLING EARTH
The flames of civil war sweep across the Shima Imperium. With their plans to renew the Kazumitsu dynasty foiled, the Lotus Guild unleash their deadliest creation—a mechanical goliath known as the Earthcrusher, intended to unite the shattered Empire under a yoke of fear. With the Tiger Clan and their puppet Daimyo Hiro in tow, the Guild marches toward a battle for absolute dominion over the Isles.

A BROKEN REBELLION
Yukiko and Buruu are forced to take leadership of the Kagé rebellion, gathering new allies and old friends in an effort to unite the country against the chi-mongers. But the ghosts of Buruu’s past stand between them and the army they need, and Kin’s betrayal has destroyed all trust among their allies. When a new foe joins the war tearing the Imperium apart, it will be all the pair can do to muster the strength to fight, let alone win.

A FINAL BATTLE
The traitor Kin walks the halls of Guild power, his destiny only a bloody knife-stroke away. Hana and Yoshi struggle to find their place in a world now looking to them as heroes. Secret cabals within the Lotus Guild claw and struggle; one toward darkness, the other toward light. And as the earth splits asunder, as armies destroy each other for rule over an empire of lifeless ash and the final secret about blood lotus is revealed, the people of Shima will learn one last, horrifying truth.

There is nothing a mother won't do to keep her children by her side.

Nothing.

November 2014 Reads + Monthly Recap

Oh, gods. I'm not sure if this blogging month is even worth recapping. Long story short, I've been busy. I had high hopes at the start of November especially with my reading pace since I was able to read a few books during my semestral break and I really thought I would be able to catch up to my reading challenge! I was only 3 books behind then before school started but now? I'm 9 freaking books behind. Ugh.

Books I read this month: