April 29, 2017

[READING UPDATES] Dewey's Read-a-thon

Read-a-thon picks!! 
Hello,

I totally forgot to write a post for this so I'm doing this really quick (links will be added later)!

I joined Dewey's Read-a-thon which is a 24-hour read-a-thon where everyone starts and ends reading at the same time at April 29th 8AM EST to April 30th 8AM EST. Each hour, I'll do my best to post an update on what's going on with my reading or what. Updates will be quite rare for sure since I'm doing it April 29th, 8PM PHT to April 30th, 8PM PHT. It's a Saturday to Sunday kind of thing for me. So, I'll stay as late as I can tonight, go to church tomorrow, then read on the car to wherever else we're going. It's going to be difficult for me. But I'll do my best. My twitter will be updates regularly so I hope you guys check that!

Photo at the top is my read-a-thon picks. I won't be reading all of those (cuz DUH impossible for me!) because they're mostly 200-300 pages reads (those are the shortest books I can find in my shelf at the moment. I'm not a very short reader, I know. I plan to read 2-3 books I'll take my pick as I go. I chose this much because I'm such a mood reader.

April 16, 2017

[WEEKEND READS] where I struggle with my second reading slump of the year

#currentlyreading
Hello,

I really, really can't wait for April to end. While I am a bit more free compared to March, I've been pre-occupied with revisions and revision consultations. But I'm not stressed like before. I've been sleeping a lot, actually. However, because of that no-sleep March I had, I now found myself in a reading slump. I've been reading King's Cage and The Picture of Dorian Gray for a couple of weeks now.

Holy Week just ended and while I was supposed to tackle my tbr pile then, I ended up watching anime. It was a great break from reading, to be honest, but I still can't get my reading pace back. I don't even know why. I'll still stick to the two books I'm finishing but I added another book to the mix and I'm actually getting absorbed in it. I hope it continues.

During my anime binge watching this past week, I finished: (1) 3-gatsu no Lion (slice of life, coming of age, shogi, light anime, and unexpectedly SHAFT* -- which means it's not very SHAFT-like); (2) Sakamoto desu ga? (slice of life, comedy, totally random funny stuff, standalone episodes); (3) SHIROBAKO (slice of life, inspirational, new fave!, anime about making anime, HIGHLY RECOMMENDED!); (4) Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei (harem, not my thing, very SHAFT tho -- unusual cuts and framing and inserts); Masamune-kun no Revenge (slice of life, romance, about revenge DUH!, totally stereotype characters, nothing new tbh, but still quite entertaining).

*SHAFT = anime production company responsible for the Monogatari Series, Nisekoi, Madoka Magica, etc.

recent reads
Duels & Deception | Cindy Anstey
YA historical romance. Regency era. I reviewed this for a blog tour. It was a fun and light read -- full of witty lines, great characters, great and vivid writing. Cindy Anstey is definitely an author I'm reading more of! Review Here!!


April 12, 2017

[TOUR] Duels & Deception

tour schedule can be found at: Xpresso Book Tours
title: Duels & Deception
author: Cindy Anstey
genre: young adult, historical fiction, romance
publish: April 11, 2017
purchase: Amazon | B&N
rating: 4 / 5 stars
goodreads
Miss Lydia Whitfield, heiress to the family fortune, has her future entirely planned out. She will run the family estate until she marries the man of her late father’s choosing, and then she will spend the rest of her days as a devoted wife. Confident in those arrangements, Lydia has tasked her young law clerk, Mr. Robert Newton, to begin drawing up the marriage contracts. Everything is going according to plan. 
Until Lydia—and Robert along with her—is kidnapped. Someone is after her fortune and won’t hesitate to destroy her reputation to get it. With Robert’s help, Lydia strives to keep her family’s good name intact and expose whoever is behind the devious plot. But as their investigation delves deeper and their affections for each other grow, Lydia starts to wonder whether her carefully planned future is in fact what she truly wants… 
cute romance in regency era

I joined the blog tour of Duels & Deception simply because: (1) I LOVE historical fiction and the Regency era is something don't think I've about (aside from the The Dark Days Club which will probably DNF at some point); (2) I've never read historical romance and Cindy Anstey sounds like a great place to start because I've read great things about Love, Lies and Spies, (3) OMG, lOOK AT THAT COVER!! It's too pretty!! 😍😍😍

April 3, 2017

MARCH ROUNDUP (aka the stressful and no-sleep month)

these covers 😍
Hello,

Lengthy post ahead because of: (1) my month's recap of stressful events, (2) being thankful to all you for keeping up with me and YAY for new readers, and (3) usual books read, reviewed, hauled, and to-read. 

If you're reading this, I'm sure you know that March was harsh and toxic for me. I told you guys that I'll be gone because I'll be working on my undergraduate thesis. You guys wished me luck and that meant so much to me. A week later, I gave an update that it's been a great mess and me and my friends are struggling with sleep. I barely slept for the next two weeks after that. You guys told me to take care of myself that I should sleep and hoped that I take control over my stress.

A couple of weeks ago, I told you guys that I'm back to reading and blogging. But come on now! Let's be real! That week, we hustled more and finalized our messed up research paper. HOWEVER THOUGH, the Saturday after that post, we defended our research. I was crazy nervous since I'm an introvert who'd rather read than socialize. Fortunately though, it went well for me in terms of presentation and defending our research. We had few revisions (which is done now, thank the stars!) and I'm so proud of our team despite all the mishaps and annoyance and misunderstandings. It was tough but we did well.

Finally, I'd like to thank each and everyone of you guys who religiously commented on some of my update posts. I was busy and barely reading but I kept you updated with my reading and life. So many thanks to Carole @ Carole's Random Life for supporting our project. I'll follow through with my promise and follow you in any way I haven't and comment on your posts :) I was also very happy to see an increase on followers despite my break (maybe i should take breaks more often?). Welcome to my new readers! If you're reading this, just leave a comment and I'll make sure to drop by your blog asap! I'll be bloghopping this week since I'm quite free now. YAY FOR THAT!! I'll go through everyone that left a comment since this March :)

ALSO, I just finished Mobile Suit Gundam: Iron-Blooded Orphans and you guys MUST watch it (only if you like GREAT anime, of course). It's VERY difficult to really pour my thoughts on this one but here're some without revealing spoilers or hints (UGH! #difficult). If you've never seen any of the Gundam anime, there's nothing to worry about because this is set in an entirely different universe (meaning, this has nothing to do with them). QUICK THOUGHTS HERE: (1) mecha (cuz duh! GUNDAM); (2) this series is big on drama (ohgosh, i cried A LOT. MASSIVELY! especially throughout the second half. your fault, Mari Okada & Nagai Tatsuyuki! these two means this series is made for drama. you gotta believe me in that.); (3) involves slavery, child labor, dystopian world; (4) really complex characters I ended up loving so much; (5) deaths (cuz drama?; cuz why not?; cuz Okada and Tatsuyuki wants to break viewers?); (6) great combination of well-written plot, memorable characters, comedy and drama and battle with great animation and framing; and (i almost forgot) (7) painful romance (does this sound spoiler-ish? i still love you people though and would love it if you watch this). -- i watched this on Daisuki.net so now go there and feel the pain.

Now let's get into this roundup!

books read
I started several books this month and only finished two. I started The Seven Dials Mystery in February and only had a few pages left when March came (so #shame on me). Rose Petal Graves was a quick read and I had to finish it for a blog tour. With the stressful month, I think I fell into another reading slump (which is already the 2nd one this year. 2017 has a disappointing reading year for me so far but I'll be graduating from uni soon so more reading time!). 
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