Merry Christmas

Hey guys! Merry Christmas!

I just wanted to write a short little post to say merry christmas and to wish all of you an amazing day. This Christmas has been one of the most rushed christmases of my life but it has also been one of the best. I'm so blessed that I can be surrounded by my family while enjoying great food and presents every single year.

I know that many of you out there quite possibly didn't have such a great Christmas but don't worry. Christmas is almost over (at least in Singapore it is) and it's time to look forward. So no matter if you had a great day or a lousy one, just know that it's time to move on and look forward to starting a new year.

It's so scary to know that it will be 2015 in just a few days time. I feel like we've been preparing and preparing for ages for this one day and then in 24 hours its just over. I usually hate that after-Christmas feeling but this year, that feeling has been dulled because tomorrow I am leaving for Bali for 10 days. I won't be bringing my laptop so I will be MIA for a bit. However, I have written an advanced New Year post for you guys and it's scheduled to be up on the 1st of January. It's an inspirational one for you all and me as we start a new year. So I'll be MIA without really being MIA. Okay. I am obviously overtired. See you in 2015!

Eighteen

It's been a while since I've written a personal post like this but yesterday was my birthday and I couldn't think of a better time to post something personal.

So yes, yesterday was my 18th birthday! I couldn't be more excited. Honestly I'm like an 8 year old when it comes to my birthday.

I guess it because all my life, my parents have treated my birthday like it was the biggest deal in the world. I'm not complaining of course. But yes, my dad takes an off day from work every year on the 23rd of December and we will go out to somewhere special and have fun the whole day and eat at my favourite restaurants.

This year, my birthday started at midnight as it always does. Everyone stayed up and my family sang me a happy birthday and then gave me my presents. It was very nice. I got a lot of cool stuff from them.

My dad got me 3 Lush bath bombs and a card saying that my second present was on it's way to Singapore. My mom got me a full makeup set (my first one omg!) and my brother got me an owl backpack.

We went to Food For Thought for breakfast where I had dark chocolate pancakes with mixed berries. The berries were warm haha.

We went home and I watched the final episode of The Newsroom with my dad. Omg I cried. If you haven't seen it yet, the next two GIFs have spoilers so...

We then went to Pasta Brava for dinner. That was awesome.

Tiramisu

Spinach Ravioli

Aglio Olio

Then, I went to No.5 at Emerald Hill with my cousins for my first ever bar drinking session. They wanted to take me out and it was my first time at a bar (obviously) and I had two drinks that they ordered for me because I literally had no idea what on earth I was doing. They ordered some Vodka on rocks with lime thing and another strong drink that I still don't know the name of. 

It was awesome. I had so much fun and by the end of the night, I was quite high. I couldn't really walk straight of stay still. I kept lilting. Everything was just funnier and happier  which was quite interesting. I kept having to pee and every time  I looked at myself at the mirror, I realised that I didn't look like how I usually do. It was weird. 

I got home at like 12.30am and I went to bed at nearly 2am. I had such a great night. I also think I learnt that I don't sleep well with alcohol. I kept waking up. I was up at least 2 or 3 times last night. Once at 5am and I got up and I realised that I was so so hungry. I've never felt like that when I wake up in the middle of the night. It was so weird. I also had a slight headache but thankfully that was all. 

Overall, I had the best birthday. It was so much fun. 

P.S. I apologise if the pictures and GIFs in this post are messy looking. I kept trying and trying to make them seem lovely but it wouldn't work very well. So this is the best I could do. Also it's 2am on Christmas morning but I'm going to set the date as the 24th so I don't have to rewrite the intro and things. 

Eleanor & Park By Rainbow Rowell

Two misfits.
One extraordinary love.

Eleanor... Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough...Eleanor.

Park... He knows she'll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises...Park.Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-olds—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. -Goodreads

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I finished reading this book a few days ago but I just haven't been able to sum up how I feel about this book and to put it into coherent words. 

What can I say about Eleanor & Park? Wow. You know, once in a while, if you're lucky, you stumble across a book that completely changes your idea of what a 'good' book is. Once in a while you cross paths with a book that is so magical that it sucks you in completely and then leaves you an emotional wreck for days after. The kind of book that just makes you never want to finish because you feel so good when you're reading it. That, is exactly what Eleanor & Park is like.

Eleanor & Park just made me feel so warm inside. The book was just 'cosy'. It was subtle but powerful all at once. It was just so real. And at the end, I found myself curled up in bed, crying more tears then I have ever cried for a book or even a movie. I was feeling so rotten about the ending and I just couldn't do anything but to lie down, think about the book and fall asleep. I have never been so incapacitated by a book ever.

I suppose I should get to reviewing this book properly now.

Okay so I am going to attempt to summarise this amazing book up in a paragraph. 

Eleanor & Park tells the story of how the new girl at school and the only Asian kid find themselves sitting next to each other in the bus on the way to school and back. At first, they hate it so much. Then little by little, excruciatingly slowly, Eleanor and Park begin to fall in love with each other. They fall hopelessly and powerfully in love and neither Eleanor's abusive stepfather nor Park's ethnicity can get between them.

I came across this book ages ago and I planned to read it at some point but it wasn't a priority for me because I had read some of the reviews and I was sure it was going to be just another over-hyped John Green style kind of book. And you know I have a problem with The Fault In Our Stars. So I wasn't too keen on starting it. However I decided to because my December buddy read partner wanted to read it. 

We initially agreed to read 3 chapters a day. But after getting minimal contact from her due to school, I decided to just go ahead. I ended blazing through the book. And I'm so glad I did.

This book broke me. I can very easily say that it is quite possibly the best book I've read all year. And that's saying something considering that I've read at least a 100 books this year.

The characters were so flawed and the book was so real. There was no superficial garbage. This was real life. The bullying, the screwed up family, the imperfect body. This is what teens go through. This is real life! I'm so grateful to Rainbow Rowell for writing a chubby character. I mean how often do you see that? People THIS is what you should be reading!

And to all the parents out there who are getting angry at the poor school librarians who recommended this book to their students, let me just say that THIS IS REAL LIFE! This is what your kid goes through in school and you should be glad that they can read this and feel less alone in the world. (For all of you who don't know, a bunch of school librarians really loved this book and put it up front and centre in their school library. Parent's complained and started a petition against the book because of the swearing. It was ridiculous)

There is almost no way to describe just how beautiful this book is so you really need to read this for yourself. If this book is on your to be read shelf, DROP EVERYTHING AND READ IT NOW! If it's not in your to be read shelf, where the hell have you been??

My Rating: 5/5 (You deserve it more then anyone Rainbow!)
Purchase the books at The Book Depositary using my special link Here. 

If I Could Write About You

If I could I would write about you
I would.
It wouldn't even take me that long
It never does anyway.

If I could I would write about you,
I would write the tears.
I would write how you made me cry
Hot tears of humiliation.
And blinding rage

If I could write about you,
I would write the screaming
Like a crazed monkey you screeched
For no reason at all quite frankly
Other then the fact that you were mad.

If I could write about you,
I would write the confusion you made me feel
Was I angry?
Was I sad?
I never knew with you.

If I could write about you
It would be messy.
Quite like this so called poem
Because you are a messy person
Hard to deal with and hard to explain

So now I wrote about you.
But I have yet to do you justice
Nothing I've ever written about you has
Because no one really knows what it's like
To live with you. To experience you.

C.D

The Dark Road By Amanda Lance

Not every friendship is as harmless as it seems.

Loner James McKay wants nothing to do with Hadley Grayson. After all, the last thing a drug dealer needs is the pretty, new girl trying to be friends. Walking distractions like her lead to trouble, the kind that can get you 10 to 15 behind bars. 

Likewise, fencing champion Hadley Grayson isn’t thrilled about her family uprooting her during her senior year of high school. At least there’s James McKay, the quiet, mad scientist who is as adorable as he is mysterious.

Though McKay may reject the idea of friendship, he gets one whether he wants it or not. But once the lies are told and the rumors spread, the dangers of meth making and dealing are impossible to avoid. Between secrets and overdosing classmates, McKay and Hadley will learn that loneliness can be a two-way street, changing both of their lives forever. -Goodreads

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When I was offered the chance to review this book, I immediately dropped everything to start reading it simply because it is an Amanda Lance book and after having read and loved Breakdown, I just had to read more from her. I'd also read a lot of the reviews about this book and nearly everyone said that they cried and that they hated the ending. And I love a good book that can make me cry. 

However, thanks to all the reviews, I pretty much guessed the ending before I even started reading the book. I mean when people say that they hated the ending and that they cried, it can really mean only one or two thing. But I won't spoil it. 

So this book, which switches points of view, follows the life of Hadley Greyson and James McKay. Hadley has just moved to a new town with her twin brother, Simon and her family. She is a good girl with a great family and fantastic grades. James lives with an abusive father and his dog (who is named Dog). James also cooks Meth and Ecstasy. So at first sight, they are polar opposites. 

However, one day, McKay strikes the curiosity of Hadley and despite the warnings from her brother, James and Hadley go one to have one hell of a special relationship. That is, until the illegal life James has been leading begins to catch up with him.

I absolutely adored this book. I loved Hadley and James together. I loved how they were so different yet somehow they had the perfect chemistry. This book just made me feel very mushy-gushy inside. 

I also loved how detailed Amanda was when it came to describing the drug making process. She obviously did her research with this one and I ended up learning a lot more about making Meth then I ever thought I would in my entire life. I also learnt even more about why I don't want to take drugs ever. I think that was a really good thing that Amanda did. She included the drug element but she did so very responsibly and she didn't glorify the making or taking of it.

The only problem I had with the book was the names. Amanda seemed to have a bit of an issue with naming her characters. Or maybe it was just me. I thought Hadley was a guy for a good part of the first chapter. And Hadley's best (girl) friend from her old home is named Jordan. Okay maybe it's just me.

Anyway, good job Amanda Lance. You deserved my 5 stars!

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My Ratings: 5/5
Purchase the books at The Book Depositary using my special link Here. 

Capture (Cryptid Tales #2) By Brina Courtney

Shay is finally learning who she is, and who it is she will become. But for now escaping the clutches of the evil Malsumis will have to be enough. Or is it? In Capture, Shay embraces other cryptids in order to defeat their common enemy. She is willing to die trying to save her father and the love of her life, Hugh. But can Hugh, her cryptid mate, protect her from the evil Malsumis? Or will she fall victim to his horrible plans? -Goodreads

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I was given this book in exchange for a review. However when I requested the book, I didn't realise that it was a series and that I was being given the second book. So I started this book without reading anything of the first book except the reviews and blurbs. 

I expected to not enjoy it. Aside from the mainstream books like Divergent or The Mortal Instruments, I have pretty much stopped reading fantasy/supernatural series books. Mostly because I just don't enjoy them as much as I used to. Also, as I was starting from the second book, I expected to be lost. And I was. 

The book seems to continue right exactly where the last book dropped off and there isn't much explanations or anything to help a new reader through. I found that disappointing. I mean I had to find out who Jeremy and Chad were through reading reviews from the first book.

However, I could tell that the story was good. I liked the idea of Cryptids and I found the romance between Hugh and Shay to be cute. I thought it was unique in some ways and I enjoyed the writing style.

The books lost points for me mainly because I was lost with all the funny names and things and also because I felt that it was very under developed. This book is incredibly short. I felt like halfway through the books, when Lacey was telling Shay about all the different mystical creatures, she was lost. She barely knew that anything existed yet in a couple of pages, she somehow managed to save hundreds of Cryptids from the villain and she was made queen. So that part didn't sit well with me. 

However it was an excellent story and I would recommend checking it out (start with the first book though).

My Rating: 3/5
Purchase the books at The Book Depositary using my special link Here.