I hate to do this to Abbi Glines but I'm rating this book with 2 disappointing stars out of 5.

I guess I should've seen this coming because of the not-so-happy-good reviews about the book in Goodreads. But I still wanted to read it as I TOTALLY LOVED the Too Far series. So, it couldn't be that bad, right? Oh boy...

It had a great start. Definitely reels you in. The premise of being able to see ghosts and haunted by a dark, mysterious, and handsome soul...to me was really interesting. I was hooked. I wanted more. Until I didn't.

First of all, I really hated their names. And no. I didn't get used to it. Seriously, of all the names available on God's green earth Ms. Glines chose 2 of the most terrible ones for her characters(read more name rants below). Every time I read "Pagan" it reminds me of its meaning, one who has no religion. Yet here we are reading about heaven and hell and death and deities. And then there's Dank. Every time I see that name I imagine a dark, damp, humid place that I'd rather stay away from. I think for just a little bit I get why the author used these names. But honestly, they don't fit the characters. I just don't see these names on the characters she created. Ok, nuff said about the names. I. JUST. HATE. THEM.

Second, Pagan is one clingy, super needy girl! I swear I never hated a protagonist as much as her. Geez Louise! I was so close to not finishing the book. She used Leif. She used her friends. For someone who has a great life, great friends, a loving mother, good grades and standing in school, she was undeserving and lacking. Her will to live hangs on one person-thing she'd known for like, what, a week? Like all the other good things in her life MEANT NOTHING. Even her sacrifice at the end didn't redeem her. Arrrgghh! She was weak. We need a strong heroine here and not a wimp. She's dealing with death for chrissakes!

Third, Dank was a good character. But he wasn't a standout. He could've been more. I really don't know what to say about him. I'm kind of torn. Do I like him? Do I not like him? *shrugs*

Last, the cliffhanger. What the hell was that? Nowhere in the book did Leif appear to be anything more than human. He was as normal as they come. And then suddenly the one-sentence cliffhanger?! I almost pulled my hair out for that one. It doesn't even entice me to read the second book. But I will anyway because I'm hoping that Abbi Glines redeems herself and all her characters in the sequel.

I've been on a book slump for about a month now, so I'm already 1 book behind my Goodreads Book Challenge of 40 books for 2013. This is still after reading 2 books in a row: James Rollins' Black Order and Nyrae Dawn's Charade. At this rate, I think I'll go blind before reaching my goal. Sheesh. Makes me want to give awards to those who challenged themselves to reading at least 80 books in a year. I think I even saw one with 100.

To try to catch up, I breezed through The Art Forger by B.A. Shapiro. It was a short read, though a bit slow for my taste. There were pages and pages about art techniques, artists, and materials used for painting that had me going "huh?" every few paragraphs. And the "love story", if you can even call it that, sounded forced. There wasn't substantial scenes or even thoughts from the characters before getting together that would make the love story believable. It just sorta happened. WTH? Oh well, it was my way of diversifying my reading genre list. Can't say I'll read another one just like it. Maybe if it was something like The Thomas Crown Affair...now that would be interesting to me.


I've also just finished, barely, Crash by Nicole Williams. What can I say? It was a so-so book. I had a few cringe moments and many times I've questioned the heroine's logic (or the lack thereof) and even sanity. Oh, to be 17...I don't think I'll even try to read the 2nd book of the series, Clash. Or maybe after a year? Hehe.

So, now I'm back to reading what I love most, adventure-suspense-action stories. And I'm picking up on the 4th installment of James Rollins' Sigma Force series, The Judas Strain. It's already gripping and I'm only in the first chapter! Ah...this is more like it.


With this, Goodreads said, I'm a book ahead of my 40-book challenge! Weee-hooo!

I'm not a drama addict (ok, not totally true). Alright, I'm an Asian drama fan. I've watched a lot of it over the years, albeit on and off, since Meteor Garden came out in the Philippines. But not that much to call me an addict. And about a year ago I discovered DramaCrazy.net (MySoju before that), an online site that hosts streaming Asian dramas (K-drama, J-drama, and Taiwanese dramas) and movies. IMHO, it was the best site of its kind out there. Hosting hundreds of English subbed dramas and movies for the whole world to enjoy

Here, in the Philippines, to get your drama fix, you'd have to endure a "tagalized" (dubbed in Tagalog) version of the drama. You'd have to contend with watching just 15 minutes of a 45-minute long episode, meaning 1 episode will take you at least 3 days to finish. And if that's not a pain in the butt, I don't know what is. Plus, I'm not the kind of person who can tolerate such obvious torture.

But now that DramaCrazy is gone, I need to find somewhere else to satisfy my drama cravings.

Ok, it's been a while since I've written anything. Lately, or just late last week, I've been fangirling on SHINee--a 5-man boyband from South Korea. I'm not new to K-pop, but I wasn't a fan either. I like J-pop more, which is probably because of the animes I watch. :D

I've had a long-standing love affair with this famous coffee shop. From the very first cup of Cafe Latte (yes, I remember the first cup of coffee I ordered, since I was a noob, I played safe) to their latest blended drink--Salted Caramel Mocha--I've never wavered in my affection for this java megacorp.

Since 2006, I've been collecting their annual planner. Amassing sticker after sticker as soon as I can, so I can get hold of their beautiful planners in as little time as possible. Even if that means drinking a cup a day (drastically draining my weekly allowance, of course), or asking friends who weren't really interested in acquiring the planner to hand over their stickers to me instead.

It's that time of the year again, and I've had a slow start in collecting the stickers for the planner because usually I'm there on the very first day. But this year, I'm taking it in stride, since I still have the 2012 planner to fill out until the end of the year, anyway.

What got me excited was the new colors that the planners came in. Green is my favorite color and will definitely get that planner...soon. Only 16 more coffees to go!