January Wrap Up, Highlights and Favorites 2015 +RYBSAT Round 4 wrap up

Guys... we survived the first month of 2015!!!

January was a great start to the new year! I had a lot of good reads, spent some good time with my family, went on a couple of trips and GOT A JOB!

Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson - 5/5 stars (Full Review)

This Night So Dark (Starbound, #1.5) by Amie Kaufman - (4/5 stars)

Model Misfit (Geek Girl, #2) by Holly Smale - 5/5 stars (Full Review)

Picture Perfect (Geek Girl, #3) by Holly Smale - 4.5/5 stars (Full Review)

Pop Rock Love by Raine Koh - 3/5 stars (Full Review)

Love, Lies and Lemon Pies by Katy Cannon - 5/5 stars (Full Review)

This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales - 4.5/5 stars (Full Review)

Love and Other Foreign Words by Erin McCahan 4.5/5 stars (Full Review)

My Life Next Door (My Life Next Door, #1) by Huntley Fitzpatrick 4/5 stars (Full Review)

Masquerade by Kylie Fornasier - 5/5 stars (Full Review)

A Thousand Pieces of You (Firebird, #1) by Claudia Gray 5/5 stars (Full Review)

Let's Get Lost by Adi Alsaid 4.5/5 stars (Full Review)

I started the year with a lot of good reads and reduced a chunked of my TBR pile. Most of the books I read were anticipated books of 2014 that I finally got around to reading.

Earlier of the month I did a bit of traveling, so I occupied myself with reading in the car/ bus/ plane as I'll go nuts if I have to sit still with nothing to do for 2+++ hours.

I also took part in the #RYBSAT Round 4 which I kind of failed on that read-a-thon challenge, biting more than I can chew. I could have read more but just after I posted my TBR on the websphere, I got a call that I got this summer internship I applied for weeks before that I got accepted and start working the following week aka the RYBSAT week!

Haha, so obviously I had to set my priorities straight and work! I managed to read 2 of the 5 books planed on my RYBSAT TBR that was Love and Other Foreign Words and Masquerade. 

I did eventually read the other book I planned for the read-a-thon, just not during the read-a-thon.

My favourite books of the month were definitely Since You've been Gone, Masquerade, Love Lies and Lemon Pie and A Thousand Pieces of You.

I also enjoyed Let's get Loss, Love and Other Foreign Words, the Geek Girl series (which I'm looking forward to the next book in this series) and This song will save your life!

1) Baskin Robbins Peanut Butter 'N Chocolate Ice Cream

Its a tradition where my family ring in the New Year with Ice Cream Sundaes instead of Champagne since not many of us are drinkers and everyone loves Ice Cream!

I always look forward to this as I love ice cream and one of my cousins usually contribute a tub of Baskin Robbins with the Peanut Butter 'N Chocolate flavour which is my favourite from the brand.

2) Lush 'The Comforter' Bauble Bar

I stocked up on some Lush Goodies before I left Australia since we don't have Lush here in Malaysia and one of my favourite product is ' The Comforter' Bauble Bar. It smells like a fruity bauble gum and makes frothy baubles.

Sadly its quiet expensive at $10.50 per piece but I break it up to 8-10 chunks so that its worth my bucks.

3) Thailand Trip

Travelled to Thailand with my family again this month, this time my dad came along. Its the first time in years we had a family vacation out of the country where my dad can come along as his work does not allow him to travel often.

We did a lot of sight seeing though my favourite thing about this trip was this 3D interactive art Museum where you can interact and take pictures with the art!
 

Its freaking wicked and my family had a fun time playing around.

My dad also loves the Curry Crab and one thing I learned from this trip is that his definition of the word 'CUTE' and mine are very different. Though this picture of him is cute ;3 #sorrydad #ihadto.

Also there was a Pokémon parade and I died of cuteness as an army of Pikachu marching into the mall! I regretted not having my pokeball with me as I wanted to catch them all!

4) BALIK KAMPUNG!!!

Bahasa Malaysia 101 - Balik (Go back) Kampung (village or in this case home town)

Took a road trip to my family's home town, Penang for a weekend to visit my family.

When in Penang we EAT! Its the land of Hawke Food Heaven as every corner you turn you'll see a hawker store or coffee shop with a good variety of local cuisines!

5) I GOT A JOB (okay its an internship but I am still to call it a job)

 

I am currently interning at an accounting firm training and preparing myself for when I graduate.

Took a quick picture of my desk on one of my breaks and NO the job has nothing to do with reviewing books or books in general but I did get starbucks on one of the days!

6) Mum's Birthday!!!

For the first time in years I'm finally home for Mum's birthday as the last few years I was in Australia for school/ programs so I didn't get a chance to celebrate her birthday till this year!

 

So yah that's my wrap up, highlights and favs for the month!

Till Next time

 

December Wrap Up, Highlights and Favorites 2014

December has come and gone and same goes for 2014

HAPPY NEW YEAR and HAPPY 2015!!!

Let's start out the New Year with warping up December.

Maybe Not (Maybe, #1.5) by Colleen Hoover * 5/5 Stars

Beauty and the Beat by Kate Forster (Full Review) 4.5/5 Stars

The Eye of Minds (The Mortality Doctrine #1) by James Dashner (Full Review) 5/5 Stars

The Rule of Thoughts (The Mortality Doctrine, #2) by James Dashner 4/5 stars

Let It Snow by John Green,Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle (Full Review) 4.5/5 Stars

Unlit Star by Lindy Zart 4.5/5 Stars

Spark (Spark, #1) by Rachael Craw (Full Review) 4.5/5 Stars

Captive Films: 1.1 by Jillian Dodd* 4/5 Stars

Captive Films: 1.2 by Jillian Dodd* 4/5 Stars

Captive Films: 1.3 by Jillian Dodd* 4/5 Stars

These Broken Stars (Starbound, #1) by Amie Kaufman & Meagan Spooner 4/5 Stars

Aura by Kylie Malchus 5/5 Stars

Books with * are novellas

So I read 12 books this month! 6 physical books, 2 ebooks and 4 novellas!

My top pick will have to be the first two books in the The Mortality Doctorine series by James Dashner, Spark by Rachael Craw and Aura by Kylie Malchus.

This was the month where i really got into sci-fi!

Both The Mortality Doctorine series and Spark were great action pact sci-fi reads with mind blowing plot twist! Need the next book in both series! (also Need a Jamie from Spark!)

As for Aura, I have been wanting to read this book since it came out and the author happened to have it free on Smashworld over christmas and I enjoyed this book to bits! Its a contemporary with a fantasy twist about this girl who happens to paint the future of a popstar she likes and somehow befriends with him. The Plot is fast pace and there are some great plot twist I didn't see coming and the popstar Jesse is freaking adorable!

Unlit Star by Lindy Zars is so beautifully written. I first heard if off RachaelJadee's bookchat on Youtube and it sounded something up my all as its a new adult version of a mash up of The Fault in Our Stars and The Beginning of Everything, two of my all time favorite books and like both books this book is heart warming and heart breaking and gave me a good book cry. Its a great book about being positive and grateful on life and what we have.  

Because its Christmas I picked up Let It Snow as a Christmas Reads and really enjoyed it along with multiple cups of coffee and starbucks cause... if you read the book you'll know what meant.

Also in November I Read Maybe Someday and really enjoyed it so I picked up Maybe Not, The novella to Maybe Someday and enjoy it to bits! I love getting to read from Warner POV as he is one of my favorite characters in Maybe Someday.

I also really enjoy the Captive Films series by Jillian Dodd which is a spin off series to the The Keatyn Chronicle showing the characters as Adults. I love the The Keatyn Chronicle which was very fun and addictive series which gets better as the series progresses and the Captive Film series is no exception and actually surprise me like The Keatyn Chronicle

Lastly I finally read These Broken Stars and while I like it I didn't love it. Maybe it was a bit too hype for me bit I didn't enjoy it as much as I expected as I found some parts a bit draggy and boring but still did like it. It has a good air of mystery and some really creepy and provoking stuff happens trough the book. Most importantly the two main characters are amazing! They are those that are more that meets the eye and gets better as the book progresses. Also the build up between Tarver and Lilac's relationship was really good and sweet, starting out as a bit of a love hate relationship, turn put aside their differences in order to stay alive.

As for my Goodreads reading Challange, I mentioned in my last month's wrap up that I surpassed my reading goals for 2014 and this month with the amount of books I read I brought my total tally up to 90 book. 

1) Home!!!

In case you guys don't know I'm from Malaysia but live in Australia for University and am Currently home for the summer vacation. Long story short Home Sweet Home, Its good to be home :D.

2) Rose Jam Shower Gel from Lush

Okay so I gave my mum this shower gel for her last birthday and she has yet to use it as she loves the scent and how it makes the room smells of roses. She finally used it this month as its a month away from being expired and I sneaked a bit (okay a lot) from her as mine is long gone and I love the scent of Rose Jam! I highly recommencement you guys ever see this in Lush though sadly its a Christmas shower gel so It might be limited edition.

3) Traveling and Road Trips

Okay one reason for the lack of blogging on both YT and my blog is due to the fact I've been traveling with my family! In December I went to Thailand and took a road trip to Singapore, Johor and Perak to visit family. I guess its also one of the reason why I read a lot as I read to kill time in the car and on the plane.

4) Christmas Music

Christmas won't be Christmas without a playlist of Christmas music. I had this three albums on repeat trough the month of December and are CDs that I'll always pull out during the holidays.

My top favorite is Believe by Josh Groban from The Polar Express soundtrack, So Much To Be Thankful For from Josh Groban's Noel and Pat A Pan & Melody of Christmas from David Archuleta's Christmas from The Heart.

A couple of other music favorites include River by Joni Mitchell and for non christmas favorites is Millionaire by The Script. 

5) The Polar Express

Also the Polar Express is hands down my all time favorite Christmas Movie so watched it a couple of times in the month of December. 

6) Legend Of Korra Book 4 

Gosh Legend of Korra is over *sniff *cries

I can't believe book 4 is completed and so is the series.

Its kinds bittersweet as I grew up with the avatar series and I can't believe how far this show has come. Even so the ending of the series was good and book 4 brought so many surprise and a great closure and wrap up to the Avatar world. 

I'm really hoping the creators continue on with the series via Comic like the original series.

So that's my Wrap Up, Highlights and Favorites for the month.

*Quick little note, I am still gonna be traveling trough the month of January and maybe February so I'll be slow on posting content both here on my blog and my youtube channel as I won't have access to a computer or internet or both.

Till then subscribe or follow me on my social media for updates!

November Wrap Up, and Highlights!

And oh gosh am I late at posting this wrap up! Better late than never?!?! 

November has come and gone which means we are one month closer to the new year! 

Also means Christmas is near!!! 

So November was an eventful month with exams, moving out of the dorms and my 21st Birthday!

This Is What Happy Looks Like by Jennifer E. Smith  3.5/5 stars (review coming soon)
Admission (Pandora Jones, #1) by Barry Jonsberg 3.5/5 stars (Full Review) 

Deception (Pandora Jones, #2) by Barry Jonsberg 4/5 stars (Full Review)

Tall Dark and Distant (Smitten) by Julie Fison 3.5/5 stars (Full Review)

Maybe Someday (Maybe #1) by Colleen Hoover 5/5 stars (review coming soon) 

Considering the fact I had exams I managed to catch up on my reading the moment my exams were over and read 5 books.

My favorite book I read this month is hands down Maybe Someday! I finally read a Colleen Hoover book and am whacking myself in the head for not reading her books sooner.Great New Adult contemporary which was cute yet an emotional roller coaster. Definitely checking out her other books so shoot me with your Colleen Hoover recommendations!

I also enjoy the Pandora Jones series by Barry Jonsberg. Check out this series if your a fan of the 'dauntless booth camp' from Divergent and the mystery, confusion and fast pace action from The Maze Runner series with a great paranormal twist. Need the last book now but its not coming out till next May so expect me to get my hands when its released!

As for 'This is What Happy Looks Like' and 'Tall Dark and Distance' they were both cute summer contemporary fluff but were kinda meh... I like that it was cute and fluffy but there was either something flat with the writing style or i was not a fan to the plot.

Other than that its still a great reading month though it started out slow.

Also I've achieved my 2014 reading challenged this month of reading 75 books, which I finished the challenge with Pandora Jones Admission.

1) No Sound Without Silence by The Script

I've been anticipating The Script's new album No Sound Without Silence since I first saw the title track 'Superhero' music video. I love this album! It reminds me a bit of their previous album Science and Faith which is their best album to date.

My favorite songs from the album includes Flares, Man on a Wire and Never Seen Anything "Quite Like You".

I also love the music video for No good in Goodbye! It once again reminds me of something out of the Science and Faith album.

2) Blank Space Music Video

Okay.... this is hands down the best music video I've seen from Taylor Swift!

Its dramatic and insane but also hilarious and freaking beautiful! Long story short I died watching the music video as its amazing!!!

I mentioned in my 1989 album review (click here) that I want Blank Space to be a Music video and when I saw the behind the scenes pics that Taylor tweeted I thought it was for Out of The Woods. I'm so glad its for Blank Space its my top favorite track in the album and its deserves a music video (well all of the songs in the album deserves a music video but Blank Space is at the top of the list!)

Also Taylor has teamed up with Amex to make a 'playable music video' where you can collect Easter eggs around the mansion with Polaroid clues. Its really cool as you follow Taylor and her lover around the mansion with this wicked 360 degrees camera.

Check out the Amex UNSTAGED: Taylor Swift Experience

3) I don't know about you, I'm feeling 21

I celebrated my 21th Birthday this month and gosh was it an awesome day!

I'm a bit sad that my family was not in Australia to celebrate my birthday with me but I've kinda gotten used to it as I have been living away from home for almost 5 years. Still its bittersweet not being able to share celebrating my Birthday with my family.

Even so I have some awesome friends and dormies who planed a surprised party for me and boy was I caught off guard!

Shout out to my Glenn Friends for planned the BBQ!!!

So yah that's my wrap up, highlights and favs for the month!

 

 

October Wrap Up, and Highlights!!

So this month I read a total of 12 books... yes I read a huge chunk of my tbr! Which was replenished pretty fast as I purchased 10 books in to total this month... my TBR is never going to end... lol

Also I took part in my first ever Read-A-Thon which is how I managed to read 5 of the books so if you want to check out a quick short review check out my RYBSAT Read-A-Thon wrap up (here)

Geek Girl (Geek Girl, #1) by Holly Smale 4/5 (Full Review)

13 Little Blue Envelopes (Little Blue Envelope, #1) by Maureen Johnson 4/5 

The Boyfriend App (App, #1) by Katie Sise 4/5

Anatomy of a Misfit by Andrea Portes 5/5 (Full Review)

The Scorch Trials (Maze Runner, #2) by James Dashner 5/5 (Full Review)

The Death Cure (Maze Runner, #3) by James Dashner* 4.5/5 (Full Review)

Death of a Superhero by Anthony McCarten 4.25/5 (Full Review)

So I finished 7 books was not for a Read-A-Thon and alot of them were surprisingly very fast reads!

Correction... Addictive reads!

I especially enjoyed The Scorch Trials and Anatomy of a Misfit.

I finished The Maze Runner Trilogy and I am hitting myself in the head for not reading this book sooner as its an epic fast pace series, filled with action, mystery, confusion and just pure awesome! However those books left me a bit brain fried as its nail biting intense so I might be taking a break from action/sci-fi books for a while...

Also Anatomy of A Misfit is my favorite contemporary book this month! Its a great laugh out loud, sassy but also heart breaking reads and one of my new all time favorite contemporary!

Another contemporary I love is Death of a Superhero and its another book that I want to laugh with and cry with! Its another "cancer book" and its a good mixture of TFIOS, Side Effect May Very and Me and Earl And The Dying Girl (*phew! why does all this books have a mouthful of a title?!). Interesting thing about this book is that it came out way before all those books were published (maybe even written) in 2005! I picked it up cause I want to watch the movie and book-to-movie rules... read the book first! 

I started a new series that is Geek Girl and its all I want in a cute, hilarious geeky book! I have recently gotten  the next two books in the series so I'm excited to continue this series!

Overall check out all the books mention as they were really great reads!


Also check out my wrap up vids!

1) 1989 by Taylor Swift

WOOHOO Taylor Swift '1989' Album is out and event though its been out for days I've been listening to all the songs non-stop as they are all amazing and hands down my new favorite Taylor Swift album since Speak Now! I'm loving her transitioning to being a pop singer and I actually think it suits her better!

My favorite songs include Blank Space, How You Get The Girl and Clean but all the songs on the album are amazing!!! 

Check out my review (and fangirling) of the album (here).

2) The Maze Runner

If its not obvious enough I am obsess with The Maze Runner Series since I read the first book and watch the movie! I was lucky to pick up the lovely box set in Kmart for $19 which is a freaking bargain and by destiny it was the very last one they had in the store!

I already ramble enough bout the books in my reviews so I'm just gonna stop here...

3) Celeb Crushes ?!?!

Hello new cuties :P !!! Dylan O'Brine, Ki Hong Lee and Thomas Sangster as my newest Celebrity Crushes!! :3

I love their acting in The Maze Runner movie and have finally checked out some of their other works like Dylan on Teen Wolf... yes I finally watch Teen Wolf and its actually very addictive!

Also a reason why I picked up Death of A Superhero is cause it was turned to a movie and Thomas Sangster stars in it!

Gah I can't wait for Scorch Trials Movie to come!!!

Lol okay I'm now done rambling bout Maze Runner! 

6) Sunny Birthday!

My best friend, dormy and 'annoying little brother' Sunny turned 20 this month! 

And yes there are some cake squash on his face :P sorry sunny boy xD but we were being daunting and smash dauntless cake in his face :P

5) Mama Visit!!!

Saving the best for last! My mum visited me earlier this month! So happy to spend time with her so its definitely a highlight for my month!

So yah that's my wrap up, highlights and favs for the month!

READ-A-THON #1 : RYBSAT Round 3 Wrap Up!!!

Heya!!!

So I participated in my first ever Read-A-Thon that is the Read Your Bookshelve-A-Thon aka RYBSAT is hosted by Miranda from Bookss101 and Gary from BookNeedLove 

The read-a-thon went from 1st Oct to 8st Oct. I have made a TBR blogpost where I planned on reading 5 books and all 5 books I read! 

1) Keep Holding On by Susane Colasanti 

4/5 stars

 I started the read-a-thon on the sad side. The book follows Noelle who face being bullied in school. While I like the inspirational and positive notes of keeping strong when the going get's though, I had mix reaction with the main character as there were times here I round Noelle a bit too whiny and annoying. Even so I like the book and how it handled the heavy situations.

2)  Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn & David Levithan

3/5 stars

While I enjoyed Rachel Cohn & David Levithan other book Dash and Lily's book of dares, I was not that big of a fan of this. The characters took a while to warm up to and the pacing was a bit too fast. If this book had like 20-50 more pages I'll probably enjoy it more. Still it was a good read and the romance was quiet cute.

3) Epic Fail by Claire LaZebnik

3.5/5 stars

 I managed to finish this in a day!

A great modern Pride and Prejudice retelling and a good spin to 'love hate relationship' romance.

Very different from what i expected in a good way. It was refreshing to read a book with a cliche blurb where the book turned out to be anything but cliche.While I love most of the characters especially Elise and her parents of cause there were a couple of characters that annoy the heck out of me. I love the family value the book holds. Also I could relate to having parents like Elise and her sisters as trust me they will be thankful for having strict and grounded parents. It reminds me a bit of To All The Boys I love before and Isla and the happily ever after.

 4) Fool Me Twice (If Only . . . #1) by Mandy Hubbard

 4/5 stars

This is a great vacation read!

The book follows Mackenzie working at a spa for the summer that her ex-boyfriend happen to work there too. When her ex hit his head and looses his memory not to mention forgetting that he broke up with Mackenzie, she takes advantage of this with a string of revenges and pranks.

This was a really cool concept for a romance! I love the relationship between Mackenzie and Landon! It was both laugh out loud and ridiculously sweet. I also love reading about her bestfriend Bailey.  

5) Wish You Were Italian (If Only . . . #2) by Kristin Rae 

4/5 stars 

Once again another great vacation read! 

Piper is sent off to Italy and makes a bucket list of things she wants to accomplish during her trip in including falling for an Italian.

I love the concept of this book! It reminds me a bit of 13 little blue envelopes by Maureen Johnson without the envelopes and that it takes around Italy.

Surprisingly this book is more family and friend centric than the romance but it is still very enjoyable. 

Overall my first experience was a success! I manage to achieve my goal of reading all 5 books, knock out a chunk of my ever growing TBR pile and read a total of 1302 pages.

 I will definitely be participating in future read-a-thons so if you know any upcoming read-a-thons let me know in the comments!

Thank you so much to Miranda and  Gary for hosting the read-a-thon! Can't wait for the next round!

Also check out the video where i chit chat about the books!