Christmas Miracles

Merry Christmas!! I hope you had fun and a lovely time. As for me ... I got to be Santa this year and it was amazing!

 I didn't put on a red costume or a fake white beard but I made a list and checked it twice and I found out who was naughty and nice. Then I booked a ticket and the best surprise ever was in motion.

The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy book 1 & 2

The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy is a very interesting book. All of a sudden you may wake up and find out that your house is going to be demolished because a bypass needs to be build. But guess what, this is okay, because your whole world needs to be demolished too for the exact same reason! 

No harm done, right?

So, don't panic and grab the hitch hiker's guide to the galaxy, and you may have a chance to survive! Arthur Dent at least has a chance and that's mostly thanks to Ford Prefect!

Teaser Tuesday #10: The Restaurant at the end of the universe

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by A Daily Rhythm.

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Harry Potter: The beginning (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone)

It took me a while, but I finally read a Harry Potter book! If you'd asked me two years ago, I would have said that there is no way I'm reading those books, just because I loved the movies and I didn't want to ruin those beautiful feelings.

Yep, I didn't read the books on time and then I was convinced that it would be a mistake to read them. Who does really want to ruin story like that one, huh? Even if it was a story learned through a series of movies.

But then I had a change of heart.

Teaser Tuesday #9: The hitchhiker's guide to the galaxy

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by A Daily Rhythm.

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

My Birthday Riddle

It's the 28th of November again, which means that I'm getting older! Yep, I can no longer say that I'm 26 even though if you asked me yesterday I probably would have said so! But from this day on I'm facing the truth: I'm 27 and proud!

Gillian Flynn: The Grownup

When I saw that there was another book by Gillian Flynn, even if it was a short story, I just had to read it! So I ran to my favorite bookstore and bought a copy of The Grownup.

From the first paragraph, since I don't usually read the back cover synopsis, it was obvious that there's yet another troubled character. And I was hooked!

It starts like this: 

“I didn't stop giving hand jobs because I wasn't good at it. I stopped giving hand jobs because I was the best at it!”

Back in time

This is my 300th post and I keep looking at the number, stunned and wide-eyed.

It's been 3 whole years since I woke up one morning and said to myself. "This is it! Stop stalling; stop postponing something that can be done today."

And like that I created this blog, without really knowing the first thing about the blogosphere. 

Uncorked Thoughts

Don't you ever feel like random words swim in your head? Like there is something that needs to be heard but somehow it stays trapped inside your mind? 

I feel like that a lot so here's what came out when I stopped and listened to the words in my head ...

Teaser Tuesday #8: Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by A Daily Rhythm.

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Blue as Ink

It's November already and I feel blue. Like you took me by the hand and told me to dive in a pool of dark, blue ink and I trusted you and I jumped. So, I'm blue! 

Two reasons I can identify so far for that overwhelming feeling. Because this is the month I'm getting older and because it's actually November! 

Seriously?

Origin by Jennifer Armentrout

Daemon and Katy are not in a good place. And not because they are not getting along. It's just they are apart. Daemon is willing to do anything to get her back and he is really doing it.

It had been a while since I read a Lux book and to be honest I wasn't so thrilled since in this one the narration is changing. The first three books were from Katy's POV and here, we see Daemon's too. Well, I'm not sure how I feel about that. I loved the way Katy was talking about him and not being in his head was great. I didn't want to get to know him this good. I liked the mystery that was hanging in the air about him.

Teaser Tuesday #7: Vanishing Girls

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by A Daily Rhythm.

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Police by Jo Nesbo

Oh, Nesbo, Nesbo, Nesbo.

This time I am not frustrated with Harry Hole but with Jo himself! Oh, yeah! I mean really? After all those books and adventures we shared, this is how you decide to play it? This is how you treat me?

From the beginning of the book I felt tightness in my heart and cold sweat beaded my forehead. 

But let's go back to the beginning ... before it gets ugly!

Teaser Tuesday #6: The Robber Bridegroom

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by A Daily Rhythm.

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Precious little moments

I woke up today thinking of my MC. I try to see where she is now, what she's doing but the more I try to picture her, the more she slips away. I usually let her be, waiting for her to show me the way but this time, all she shows me is the last part of the chapter I wrote.

I fear that I may have damaged her more than the book requires. Is this even possible?

On Writing: Find your voice

Winter is coming as the temperature falls, the need to stay home and write warms my heart and makes me think about my stories. And when I think about my stories a mixture of happiness and melancholy envelops me and my heart sinks. 

I've written four books and God knows how many stories I keep pushing in my subconscious, letting them grow and mature like good old wines. So what do I do when I'm not writing? I'm rewriting, editing and working on my stories again and again and then even some more.

Teaser Tuesday #5: Origin

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by A Daily Rhythm.

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

On Writing: Stay focused

I feel an emptiness in my chest right next to my heart and I know it's because its wounded. It aches and the pain travels across my body but I didn't mean for this to happen! Yes, I am the one to blame but I am also the one who can actually do something about it.

I've been trying, for I would be dammed if I didn't, but as long as I try to fix this, I fail, and the wound in my chest grows bigger and bigger. Lately the pain increases by the hour and I fear that the hole next to my heart will grow so big that will swallow it entirely.

Teaser Tuesday #4: Police

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by A Daily Rhythm.

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Dracula by Bram Stoker

This is a classic read and a book I should have read so many years ago! Guilty, I know!

Dracula was written in 1897 and it's a Gothic horror novel. Of course we've read so many different horror stuff so Dracula did not exactly scare me, but I absolutely enjoyed it!

The story is told by multiple POVs and the interesting thing is that we actually read parts of diaries and letters and I had such a vivid feeling that I was actually reading a true story instead of just fiction!

Teaser Tuesday #3: Dracula by Bram Stoker

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by A Daily Rhythm.

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Peculiar Children and a peculiar book. Since I laid eyes on that book I wanted to read it. There was something strange and mysterious that made me want to grab a copy and explore it.

So I did!

It starts with a family drama but it's only the beginning for Jacob to discover the secret that his family is hiding all along. But can he believe? What happens when you find yourself unable to trust your own eyes?

Teaser Tuesday #2: The Tell-Tale-Heart by Edgar Allan Poe

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by A Daily Rhythm.

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers! 

Teaser Tuesday #1: Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by A Daily Rhythm.

Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) "teaser" sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (Make sure that what you share doesn't give too much away! You don't want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

Fever Series: Shadowfever

Oh, Mac! What are we going to do with you, huh? 

Shadowfever indeed, because this book was shadowed by possibilities. So, until the end we're trying to discover the truth and shed some light on Mac's future and past.

"Evil is a completely different creature, Mac. Evil is bad that believes it’s good.”

That's a very interesting theory. Who is bad? Who is not?

Karen Marie Moning kept us wondering for so long. Each book generated more unanswered questions until everything piled up inside my head and I felt like exploding. Who killed Alina? What Barrons is? What's the story with Seelie and Unseelie? Why the dark book is after Mac? Who was the forth Prince? Were the hell is V'Lane? What secrets does Rowena hide?

Well, this book has answers.

Stolen Summer

I wake up sweaty since the heat is unbearable. I hardly slept last night and my heart hammers as if something is wrong. 

I head straight to the bathroom and let the cold water run on my body. It's refreshing, so much that I chill but I stay there under the water until I can breathe again.

Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll

A couple of months ago I read Alice in Wonderland and so I had to read the sequel too. Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There, is a very strange book.

'Curiouser and curiouser', I think it fits for Lewis Carroll's books and then I keep reading.

Why do you write?

What writing means to you? Why do you write?

I want to know your story, your thoughts about writing. Do you write? Do you want to write? Do you keep a diary, do you write down your inner thoughts and secrets? Do you write a book? Many books? Why?

I follow so many talented and passionate people around the world, I read posts, opinions and advices about books and stories and plots. We write all day, we write tweets, posts, we write on Facebook walls, and I want to know ... why do you write? What urges you to do it?

On Writing: Rewrite it

So this it it, guys. The Hard Stuff.

Don't let yourself be fooled by editing. Be extra careful because time is precious and we do need so much time in order to properly write that book we have in our mind! 

When you finish that first heart-aching draft, and let it aside for a month or two, it's time for rewriting. Yep, rewriting and then editing because it's not the same. It ain't at all!

Seriously, editing can go on forever but now I know why! And I won't do this anymore!

Rewrite and then edit and maybe you'll have a book that you can proudly say it's finished! I'm heading that way.

Here's the thing. 

Fever series: Dreamfever by Karen Marie Moning

What can I say about this one, huh? Especially the beginning and the end left my jaw hanging open and my eyes wide with terror. What the feck, right? (as Dani would say.)

There are things in books that we never expect to happen because we're used to see the MC always protected or saved in the last minute by some magical power or some courageous character that has her back. I love that Mac isn't always protected and shitty things do happen to her quite often.

But this? Well, I didn't see it coming.

!!!!!Spoilers Alert!!!!! (only for the previous books! It's inevitable!)

Do you hear the magic?

I started my first audiobook.
 

Actually when I was a kid my mother had bought to me and my sister some amazing fairy tales. But it wasn't only a book. It was a whole series of books and tapes so you could see the pictures and listen to the story at the same time! We were thrilled! So we would sit on the floor, play the tapes and inspect the drawings on the hardback before us. It was a dream. I still remember the tinkling sound that warned us to flip the page. 

Dink!
 

Dive into the unknown

The first wave of heat is here. The sun is blinding, and it's hot on my skin, the air chokes me and I can't stand the tight jeans and sneakers. It's summer and I crave for the sea, even the sight of it.

So I need to make plans, I need to take some days off and march on the first beach I can reach. I don't know about you, but I prefer the quiet beaches, those peaceful places where you hear the sound of the water on the shore and even the cicadas or crickets resting on the nearby trees.

When I think of moments like this, calmness spreads inside me like a cool breeze on a hot, sunny day. And you do know what happens when a mind is at peace, right?

Fever Series: Faefever by Karen Marie Moning

This one is a game changer. And that's why I like it.

Since I read book one and realized that the MC was a blond, Barbie-like girl, I felt the urge to toss it aside and read something else. But a friend was urging me to read it, promising me that the rest of the books will make it up to me. 

And it did worthreading it.

New and Exciting

"London Baby!"

That's my sister's motto lately since this Friday I will meet her there! I'm excited, I'm flying from happiness despite that my wings are tired and I don't fly as high as I could.

It's in your head

I'm taking a break.

Lately I find myself a bit detached from the writing part of my life and that is not a deliberate choice.

It's just that there is no time and if you read my post last week, you know why. But I read. Not as much as I'd love to, but I do. Everyday even if it's just for half an hour, I read.

The Monstrumologist series: The Isle of Blood

Doctor Warthrop goes hunting the "Holy Grail of Monstrumology" leaving Will Henry alone for the first time. But what hurts the most is that Warthrop doesn't go alone, but takes with him his new eager for hunting assistant, Arkwright. Will Henry doesn't cope well with his doctor's decision and when some months later a letter arrives declaring him dead, Will knows that he needs to go and find him.

Think Out Loud: A little Ant

This is Think out Loud. It’s a weekly meme created to help bloggers break out from the blogging bubble. The rules are simple. We post whatever we want and let people know what’s in our mind. Visit the creator on Thinks Books and join too. It’s so cool to share your random thoughts.

Alice in Wonderland

A curious, dreamy girl in a strange world. I am ashamed but it took me a while to read this book. Now that I'm thinking about it, I recall a large brown hardback on the top shelf in my room when I was a kid. I remember holding it in my hands, flipping through the pages, running my fingers over the golden letters, but I don't remember reading it.

But it's never too late, right?

Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

There is a girl on the train. 

Same train, every morning. Watching out the window, inspecting the scenery, looking at unknown people. Every day. Until she starts noticing a couple. The same couple on their deck, drinking coffee, kissing or just sitting. Then what is unknown becomes familiar and when the woman goes missing, Rachel, just has to help the police because what she saw from the train may be the answer they're seeking.

My beautiful Cassandra

I have an announcement to make. It's one of those words that until you've said them aloud is like dreaming. Like a fantasy because it's so dreamy that you have the urge to pinch yourself while you secretly pray not to wake up from this dream. I pinched myself and the dream was still there so it's not a dream but a dreamy reality.

So here it goes.

Struggles in Life

 

One of the things I do every morning is to check the Goodreads quote. I happen to like a lot those few words that change every day and make me dream. So it has become kind of a morning routine. Today there was this: 

“One day, in retrospect, the years of struggle will strike you as the most beautiful.”

— Sigmund Freud

I've come to believe that this is quite true.

Idle days

I feel like I'm on pause. 

I'm not exactly shutting down, but I just stop for a while. My brain is frozen, my strength is limited and I feel like all I can do are those necessary things to help me get pass this day and maybe have some fun. I feel both physically and mentally tired. Have you ever felt like this?

Ignite me by Tahereh Mafi

Before I start talking about this book, I need to say that I was confused about this series. It was hard to make my mind about the plot, story and characters. But I wanted to finish the books and see the bigger picture. Well, now that I've seen it, let's talk about it.

Always spoiler free so don't hesitate to read the post! :)

Looking for Alaska by John Green

Miles "Pudge" Halter is going willingly to a boarding school. A choice he made in order to change his dull life and search for the “Great Perhaps”. The moment Pudge is stepping into Culver Creek Boarding School, his life is not dull anymore but crazy, possibly unstable, and anything-but-boring as the world of Culver Creek. But amongst the craziness there is Alaska Young, a girl that pulls him into her world and steals his heart.

Teleportation

Six days off work. Almost a week off is starting this Friday and I try to plan my trip back home. You see I'm going to visit my parents so I need one day to go and one to come back. That's two days I'm going to lose on the road! 

That sucks!

Think Out Loud: Breathing Summer

This is Think out Loud. It’s a weekly meme created to help bloggers break out from the blogging bubble. The rules are simple. We post whatever we want and let people know what’s in our mind. Visit the creator on Thinks Books and join too. It’s so cool to share your random thoughts.

Fever Series: Bloodferver by Karen Marie Moning

Mac is changing, I can see that. She realizes that her life won’t ever be the same again. Not long hours by the pool listening to music, no pink clothes and pretty pink nails. No pretty boys either. Dark are the only colors she must wear and she’s getting used to it.

Bombard

It's happening again!

Oh, I'm telling you it's here, slowly forming, developing and keeps me up at night. I lie in bed and instead of going to sleep I feel a wave of emotions running through my veins, and I'm telling you, it's not the blood that keeps me alive these days.

It's beautiful, new and makes me edgy so I want more, I can't help it! I'm addicted!

A new idea is haunting me!

Think Out Loud: Live

This is Think out Loud. It’s a weekly meme created to help bloggers break out from the blogging bubble. The rules are simple. We post whatever we want and let people know what’s in our mind. Visit the creator on Thinks Books and join too. It’s so cool to share your random thoughts.