Monday, December 31, 2007

Happy New Year 2008!!!

LOL, I'm happy with myself :) For once, this year, I'm not late...

I wish everyone a very

HAPPY NEW YEAR 2008
filled with love, good health, money and great books!!

I'm sorry I've been kind of absent... it wasn't in my plans. My plans were to blog till you guys got sick of seeing my posts when checking your google reader... but then, nothing ever goes according to plans :) but i'll be there, hopefully, starting from tomorrow... with tons of reviews! I've really been slacking on my reviews :( So that's what I'm going to be doing starting from tomorrow...

Also, me curious to know what you guys are doing tonight? LOL, cos me, I'm cleaning my room... finally... my messy room LOL :)

ps - my Duodecimal list is up at Sybil's blog - The Good, The BAd and The Unread :)

Tuesday, December 25, 2007

For once, I'm not late...

Hey everyone!!

how is it going? I'm not very good at this, but for once, I'm not too late :)

I wish everyone a....


MERRY CHRISTMAS!!!

I hope that you're having fun and that you're safe :)


Thursday, December 20, 2007

No more for 2007...

Hmmmm, guess where I went today?

If you said bookstore, you're right :) (Sorry, no prize - it was too easy to guess LOL) In my defense, I'll say that Chapters and Indigo are really going all out this year for their Holiday Season... They had a booklet with coupons (nothing really interesting except for a 25% off coupon on a book), also 20% off on one book if you buy over 40$... as well as all those mystery cards (you have to buy over 50$ in able to use them and usually get 5$ off) and for three days, they had a "buy 3 books, get the 4th book free" sale. Seriously, how can you NOT buy books?

So what did I get? The following...

- The Wicked Ways of a Duke by Laura Lee Guhrke
- Hello Doggy! by Elaine Fox
- Beware of Doug by Elaine Fox
- Guys and Dogs by Elaine Fox
- Carpe Demon by Julie Kenner
- California Demon by Julie Kenner
- Savor Me Slowly by Gena Showalter
- One Night With You by Nicole Jordan

I have to say, I'm very surprised and pleased this year that books are coming out early! I mean, The Wicked Ways of a Duke and Hello Doggy! were both supposed to come out after Christmas... Savor Me Slowly, in January 2008... so yep, me very happy... Also, The Wicked Ways of a Duke was the last new release that I was looking forward to... and so it's official, this was it for 2007... no more book buying for 2007 (except for manga!). Hopefully, I'll be able to stick to it :)

Aside from that, tomorrow is my last day... and after that, I get one week off! YAY YAY YAY! I'll try to catch up on my reviews during that week :) and some other stuff...

Oh and before leaving, here are pics of the snow we got! In about 2 weeks, we got almost a meter (100cm)... but you want to know what's the worst? Apparently, it's going to be 9 degrees C this Sunday and it's going to RAIN!!! Ugh, that means everything is going to freeze up after... No fun at all... and traffic has been insane lately! It seems like it's just going to get worst :(


Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Catching up

Hello everyone!

I've been such a bad blogger!! Between normal life, renewed passion with wuxia novels (i.e. kung fu novels), snowstorms, reading and the holidays, oh and of course work, I have difficulty keeping up with everything. Either I post or blog hop, but I don't have time to do both as usual :(

So here I am, catching up... I had promised some reviews for yesterday, but since I didn't go to work, it didn't work out :( See, Sunday was our annual Christmas Gift Exchange... and we got a snowstorm... bleh... An additional 40cm of snow to the 40cm we got 2 weeks ago. Let me tell you, it's been a couple of years since I've seen SO MUCH SNOW. It's white everywhere and driving is hell. I'm presently stuck at work because there was too much traffic for me to go downtown to pick up my sis! I'll be posting pics of how it looks tomorrow or the day after... so anyway, I was one of the few that braved the weather and still went for our gift exchange. Out of 12, 5 made it... the exchange of gifts lasted 10 minutes LOL! Turns out that I picked M and M picked me... so we exchanged our gifts while the others watched us... very anti-climatic gift exchange... Then I stayed over at my friend's house because there was just no way I was going to make it back home. We played board games, Wii and watched a movie... and ate a lot. It was quite enjoyable. Sometimes it's for more fun when you're in small groups.

So I got Elijah last week... still haven't started it yet... and I got mail yesterday!! Blood Dreams and The Haunting of Josie, both by Kay Hooper!! :D I'm reading Blood Dreams right now and hoping I'll be done with it tonight. I also went to the bookstore today... See, everytime I get a package by mail, they give me a mystery card... basically, a mystery card is a card that contains 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 or 1000$... however, in order to use it, you have to buy over 50$... I've also had several coupons that I wanted to use... and so I went to buy books, even if I have too much of them. So I bought:

- Hot Mama by jennifer Estep
- Worth Any Price by Lisa Kleypas
- A Dangerous Beauty by Sophie Nash
- On the Loose by Tara Janzen
- Cast in Secret by Michelle Sagara

and one more book... but I can't remember the title. Oh and also, the Black Jewels trilogy by Anne Bishop... the new edition with the new covers... I just think they're sooo nice that I had to have them :D

My resolution for 2008, try to lower my book hauling ^^; I definitively have to start buying less books. But then, you never know LOL... I've been telling myself that many times... and it never seems to work. Sigh.

By the way, you remember my architect friend doing her master thesis? The one I've been helping? Well here are some additional pictures :D

See how ingenious you have to be to make some of the buildings! Seriously, some of them were really hard!

And here is the final product!

So what do you think? the last picture has her panel... cost her 100$ just to print it! It's hard to be a student... :)

Saturday, December 15, 2007

Books - yay!

Hey everyone :D

Quick likttle update to say that I'm still alive, but nothing much to say... work is boring, my reading is going slowly too... I did finish 2 books this week and am on my third one. I will try to review them on Monday...

Apparently, we are getting another snowstorm tomorrow :( another 30 to 40cm of snow!! Ames, I think that's your blizzard of Thursday! It's bad, because I'm supposed to have my annual Christmas Gift Exchange with my friends... hopefully, we'll make it back and forth.

Book-wise, I'm really happy though... because guess what i found yesterday at the bookstore? Elijah by Jacquelyn Franks! This book was supposed to come out on Dec. 26 if I'm not wrong!! So happy... also, guess what is in the mail, on the way to my house? The Haunting of Josie and Blood Dreams by Kay Hooper!! Yay!!! Those two are also early!! So seriously, me extremely happy.

So how's your week-end so far?

Tuesday, December 11, 2007

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AMES!!!


It's Ames' b-day!! and for the celebration, I've borrowed her two babies! Unfortunately, I'm not very talented... but it's the feelings that count right? As for the quote, don't ask me, but ask Holly LOL :)


So Ames,


HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!

HOPE THAT ALL YOUR WISHES COME TRUE THIS YEAR AND THAT YOU'LL HAVE A WONDERFUL YEAR AHEAD OF YOU.

Monday, December 10, 2007

Being Sick Sucks!

Hi people :D

Yep, I'm still alive... luckily. I'm still sick, but I am feeling better. My throat and nose are almost all recovered... my throat is almost done hurting and my nose, not as stuffy anymore. Yay! So I'm at the last stage... where my body is kind of weak, my mind not that sharp and sweaty when I wake up... so being sick definitively sucks. I stayed home today and I'd like to do so tomorrow too, but I don't think I can :( I'd just like to recover all my energy before going back to work... but it doesn't seem like it's going to happen.

The worst is that there's a lot of havoc at work :( Lots of trouble btw some co-workers and my supervisor... so there's a lot of tension in the work atmosphere. Luckily, it's almost Christmas... sigh. I can't wait. By the way, the Indian girl at my work place that's on a contract - some of you will know who I'm talking about - is not getting her contract renewed. Sigh. So that is another problem too. It shouldn't be a problem... because we are not assured to be renewed at the end of the contract. The trouble is that knowing that she's not getting renewed and planning the year ahead (2008) and NOT TELLING HER. It just spells very unprofessional you know. By the way, the Christmas party on Friday? Boring. The food wasn't even that good and it was buffet style... so they were choosing tables to go to the buffet based on games. I mean, of course, you can't have so much ppl going at the buffet at once... but at the same time? You know. Ah well... it's in the past now.

I haven't been reading much... several reasons for it... I'm sick and tends to fall asleep. Also, I spent my whole week-end helping my friend with her model... I'll post pictures when she send them to me, but in my opinion, it won't be before Wednesday :P Deadline is tomorrow 5pm... and by that time, I can assure you she won't have slept for at least 48 hours :P Hard to be a student! :P Also, lately, I'm not sure which books to read... I have been re-reading Hikaru No Go again and again... but I still hope there'd be more to the manga. Finally, another reason I haven't been reading much is that I'm really in the mood for reading kung fu stories... from a particular author named Gu Long. See, those novels are in Chinese and they have been translated... the thing is that the translations aren't always great and accurate, but the worst, they're most of the time incomplete. So now I've found a website that has almost all of his work translated in viet - although I know that it sometimes differ from the Chinese version. My problem is that Gu Long is sometimes known to be depressive ^^; I've read some of his novels and wished to read the sequels, but at the same time, I'm afraid that reading his sequels will ruin the "endings" I had in mind. So it's a hard choice :(

So how was your week-end?

Friday, December 07, 2007

Book Binge contest - Christmas Meme

Okay, being sick has thrown off all my habits and rythm. But better now than never... hmmm, that doesn't sound right. ah well, don't pay attention to me, my brain isn't working that properly. Anyway, here is my entry for the...


So by now, you've probably seen so many entries of this contest... if you're still wondering why it's so popular, head towards Book Binge and you'll discover that the wonderful ladies at Book Binge are offering as the grand prize...

A new eBookwise eReader!



aren't they just wonderful and generous ladies?


Book Binge Christmas Contest


The Christmas Season is upon us and we have one burning question: Have you been naughty or nice this year?

Regardless of your answer, we are inviting our lovely readers a chance to win an eBookwise eReader!

All you have to do is answer a few simple (okay, 10) questions on your blog/journal and leave the link to your Meme in this post. If you don't have a blog or journal, you can email us your answers. The winner will be chosen on January 5th, so you can enter up until 11:59pm on January 4th.

Merry Christmas!

XOXO

Casee, Holly, Isabel & Rowena



Christmas Meme: **My answers are quite boring and I guess that I don't have much Christmas spirit in me :( **

1. What is your favorite Christmas romance to re-read each year?

I have none ^^; Any recs?

2. What is your favorite Christmas movie/show?

Euh, none either ^^; When I was young, for me, Christmas vacation meant that I could rent chinese tv series... as a result, that's all I would watch.

3. What is your favorite Christmas cookie?

Definitively gingerbread :D that is the best!

4. When do you start Christmas shopping?

Hmmm, usually the week before Christmas.

5. Do you re-gift?

Sometimes, but only chocolate or food. usually, those come from acquaintances and are re-gifted to acquaintances.

6. What is your favorite Christmas song?

Euh... jingle bells?

7. When do you get your Christmas tree?

We've stopped setting up a Christmas tree ever since my grandparents died.

8. Wrapping presents: Love it or hate it?

Love it!!!

9. Who is the hardest person to buy for?

My parents... but I guess my mother is the hardest.

10. Christmas tree: Real or artificial?

Real.


__________________________

Don't forget to leave a comment on this post with a link to your blog for this Meme and urge all your readers who might participate to do the same. If we don't see the link, your name won't be entered. For those readers who don't have a blog of their own, you may answer the questions in the comment section here, or email us your answers.

The winner will be chosen at random on January 5th, and your prize will be mailed within a week after the winner emails us w/ their snail mail address. Because the prize is large, shipping will be regular ground, which may take longer than usual. Our Canadian readers may enter, but shipping will take even longer for them.

Unfortunately, our *international readers (besides Canada) can't enter. We apologize for this, but it can't be helped, as eBookwise isn't approved for sale outside of the U.S. and Canada. We emailed them, asking if we shipped one internationally if the user would be able to buy/download books, and were told it's against regulations for them to ship outside the U.S. or Canada. In addition, "the device will not work with wall current in many countries, may not be compatible with some foreign telephone systems, and shipping it outside the USA and Canada automatically voids the manufacturer's warranty".


So I'll kick off the Holidays Seasons with this post... and wish everyone Happy Holidays!! Anyone who's going on vacation soon?

Thursday, December 06, 2007

Lightning reviews I

*This was supposed to go up earlier this week... but I'm sick :( so it cut down my internet time a little bit :( I seriously hate being sick...

Okay, so let me try my hand at real lightening reviews :P I have a tendency to go off, so dunno if it's going to work LOL :)


Blood Brothers by Nora Roberts
published by Jove in November 2007

Genre: parnormal romance
Series: Book 1 of Sign of Seven trilogy.

To be honest, I was a bit disappointed by the book, probably because I had high expectations. I believe that one of Nora Roberts strength is how well she writes relationships - siblings, parents/children, friends, etc... and she did very good with male bonding relationships in the Chesapeake trilogy... However, I thought that in this book, she was a bit off - love wise and friendship wise. The premise/idea is good though... however, I didn’t like the pacing – everything seems so rushed. For readers that want to know where this trilogy stands compared to the others, I think that this trilogy is more similar to the Key trilogy (with all the paranormal stuff, the guys vs. evil and having to stop it, their previous lives, etc.) than the Chesapeake trilogy. So if you did enjoy the Key trilogy, give a try...

Grade: none yet... I think I'm going to wait till the whole trilogy is out


Mouth to Mouth by Erin McCarthy
published by Brava in 2005 and 2007

Genre: contemporary romance
Series: None

I think Rosie nailed this down when she said that this book was cute and sexy. I thought that this was quite an enjoyable read and it's always fun for me to read about a character that is deaf, mute or blind... because they live life so differently. Lauren was cute and not annoying in claiming her independence. Russ was a great hero except for his inferiority complex because of money... I guess the only thing I'd have liked to see a bit more is how Sean, Russ' little brother, and Russ relationship changes... I thought that their issue was resolved too quickly, that it was too rushed.

Grade : B


California Holiday by Kate Cann
published by Avon in March 2005

Genre: YA, contemporary
Series: Beach series, Book #2

You know how some books are soooo good, you just have to blog about them? Well this book was just sooo bad that I have to rant about it. Usually, Avon is good at delivering romance. I mean, they're not all great, but at least, they are romance... So what went wrong with this book? Seriously, I don't consider this book a romance... First, the heroine wasn't even old enough to have a drink... Secondly, the hero - if we can call him like that, didn't appear before half-way through the book... and seriously, I didn't see much love btw the two of them. This is the story of Rowan who suddenly gets fed up with how her parents "idolized" her little brother, she decided to take a year off and be a nanny in the States (she comes from England). Once in the States, she turns into a nanny, baby-sitter and maid... she can't take it anymore so quits her job without notice (that was sooo irresponsible) and takes the iguana with her (they were going to put him down)... she runs into the hero and they start working at a hotel resort. Hero has a gf already... they were off, but now they're back together... so Rowan is waiting on the side... then, hero breaks it off with gf and get with Rowan... but he won't communicate... and when it seems that he's getting back with the gf, Rowan is fed up and takes off again... goes to Mexico where she can free the iguana... Hero runs after her. Ugh... bad, bad, bad book.

Grade: E


Her Sexiest Mistake by Jill Shalvis
published by New American Library in November 2005

Genre: Contemporary romance
Series: None

I couldn't finish this book. I just didn't like the heroine, Mia Appleby. The lady is ashamed of her background and has done her best to become sophisticated and get away from the trailer park where she grew up. She has a high position job in advertising and men are only bed partners for her... So she sleeps with her new neighbor, Kevin McKnight - our hero, and then brushed him off. Then, whenever something didn't go well in her life - problem at work, never-seen teenage niece showing up at her doorstep, she'd used Kevin for sex.... and I hated it. Kevin was a great guy... but I just couldn't stand Mia.

Grade: DNF

Monday, December 03, 2007

Snow and buildings

Boy, we got some snow today! About 40cm of snow... which apparently, equal approximately to 15 inches. It started roughly around 2am in the morning and has snowed almost the whole day... It was definitively hellish this morning to get to work... it took me 4 HOURS to get in... I left at 6am and only got in at around 10ish... Let me tell you, 4 hours is very long when you need to go to the bathroom!!! What are women supposed to do when they are stuck in traffic with no exit? I was stuck on a stretch of the highway for 2 hours! Luckily, it provided me a good excuse to go home early and I did it in about an hour... Not bad when it usually takes me 45min. So basically, a very, very long day. Sigh.

My week-end was okay. As you've seen, I blogged LOL :D I also read the 23 volumes of Hikaru No Go all over again. I just love this series... Definitively in my top 3! Love it, love it, love it. It's also quite realistic in my opinion (okay, except for the ghost part)... since we follow Hikaru and his growth... You see him grow, makes new friends, changes, etc. If you're a fan of manga, you definitively want to give this series a try. It's basically about a young boy, Hikaru, who becomes haunted by a ghost, Fujiwara Sai (he's sooooo handsome!!). Sai lived a thousand years ago and was the emperor's go teacher. (Go is a boardgame where you have to construct territories and stuff like that... so lots of strategies involved). For some reason, he committed suicide, but still wants to play go. About 140 years ago, he haunted another young boy who became the best go player in history - Honinbo Shusaku; unfortunately, Shusaku died young and Sai still couldn't find the Hand of God... so he gets another chance with Hikaru... who doesn't know how to play. However, he learns how to... and also makes a great rival, Toya Akira... both chased each other (or more like Hikaru chases after Akira and Akira, after Sai)... and both embark on the path of a professional go player. I know that summarized like this, it sounds boring... but definitively give it a try! Manga has a way to make things that look boring into really interesting (eg: go, football, baking, etc.). Okay, so anyway, if you have a chance, give it a try :)

On Sunday, I went and help a friend... she's a student master in architecture and next week is her presentation... She needed help with her models... so I spent my day makes little buildings :D I did 24 of them!! but it was all the easy, square ones... My other friend came in a bit later and she did the roof tops. Here are some pics...


Afterwards, we went to eat Japanese as it was an acquaintance b-day. All in all, it was a nice week-end... I just didn't get to sleep that much :( Which might explain why I'm starting to get sick... my immune system is weakening and becoming more susceptible to my sis and dad's germs LOL :)

Saturday, December 01, 2007

Books to look forward to in December

It's December already... scary no? And it's freaking cold!! Apparently, -15C tonight... which is nothing compared to other places... but still freezing. Also, we got snow... not too much, but we'll definitively be spending a white Christmas... especially with the amount of snow they are forecasting for tomorrow night (apparently 30cm, ugh). Not really looking forward to it...

Books are another story though. As you can see, November was a so-so month. Also, there weren't many books I was anticipating. December, however, is always a great month since it's Christmas... So here are the books I'm looking forward to:


Blood Dreams by Kay Hooper - Dec. 31 (Hardcover)
*I've already pre-ordered it LOL

This book was supposed to be released in July, but was pushed back in December. I really can't wait for it. It's the first book of the new Blood trilogy of the SCU (Special Crime Unit) by Kay Hooper. Apparently, this trilogy is going to be a bit different as in the plot of the three books are connected (as in, it's a continuous story). Definitively looking forward to it and I hope we'll see some previous characters. I know that Bishop is in it (duh)... and Hollis.


The Haunting of Josie by Kay Hooper - Dec. 26
*I've already pre-ordered it too :P

Another book by Kay Hooper. This is a re-print of one of her earlier works. I don't know much about this one to tell the truth... but to have the name of Kay Hooper on the cover is enough for me to look forward to it.


Elijah by Jacquelyn Franks - Dec. 25

This is the third book of the NightWalkers series featuring Elijah... This series focus mainly on demons, although there are other paranormal creatures. If I'm not wrong, the heroine is a werewolf... actually, the queen of werewolf. I enjoyed the first book (Jacob) very much - thought it was different... Gideon was an okay read... so I don't know what to expect from Elijah... however, the sneak peak at the end of Gideon was interesting :)


The Wicked Ways of A Duke by Laura Lee Guhrke - Dec. 26

This is an historical romance... 2nd book in the Bachelorette series, although I'm not sure if book 1 and 2 are connected. The back blurb is very cute and had made me very curious.
Once upon a time, there was a seamstress named Prudence who lived in a lodging house, worked very hard, and dreamed of a better life. Then she inherited a fortune, met a handsome duke, and fell in love. Her life was wonderful, and it seemed as if she was destined to live happily ever after.

Then she found out money can’t buy happiness, handsome dukes can also be wicked, lying scoundrels, and a broken heart hurts like hell. Will Prudence ever find true love and happiness? Will the wicked duke mend his ways? Will she take him back or kick him to the curb?
I've liked Laura Lee Guhrke historical romances so far, so I'm definitively looking forward to this one :P

Other books that are worth mentioning: Queen of Dragons by Shana Abe (Dec.26)... third book of the series. I'm actually not sure about this one. I liked the first book well enough (The Smoke Thief)... Dream Thief was okay... so I'm still undecided about Queen of Dragons. I guess I'm going to wait and see what are ppl's opinion of it first. Hello Doggy! by Elaine Fox (Dec.26) had a cute blurb... and Get A Clue by Jill Shalvis (Dec.25) is released in paperback format. I've heard good comment about this book.

So there you have it, the books I'm looking forward. January also looks like a promising month. So definitively some good reads in the future. Now, I'm wondering... these books are all coming out btw Christmas and New Year... is there any guarantee that I'll definitively find it in the bookstore on their release date? I sure hope so! I've already pre-ordered two books online... Blood Dreams because that way, I save a lot of money... and The Haunting of Josie because last time I pre-ordered a Kay Hooper, I received it almost 2 weeks in advance :P I hesitated buying Elijah and The Wicked Ways of a Duke... because these are coming out on Dec. 26... and you never know about mail btw Christmas and New Year... so there might be more chance for me to get my hand on them in the bookstore...

So there you have it :D Books that I'm looking forward to :D What about you?

November Reads

Okay, so quickly before I grab a shower and go to work :) Here is my list of books read for the month... quantity-wise, it was a good month... quality-wise, not so much. Lots of ups and downs.

So here we go for the list:

1) Not the Marrying Kind by Hailey North: C
2) Daisy's Back in Town by Rachel Gibson: B-/C+
It was funny, because these two books had basically the same plot...
3) The Séance by Heather Graham: B-
4) Sex & the Immortal Bad Boy by Stephanie Rowe: B
5) Can you Keep a Secret by Sophie Kinsella: C
6) Creation in Death by J.D. Robb: B+
7) Secrets of a Summer Night by Lisa Kleypas: B
8) The Marriage Lesson by Victoria Alexander: C-
9) If Angels Burn by Lynn Viehl: D
10) Dark Need by Lynn Viehl: C
11) Cath a Mate by Gena Showalter: C+
12) Good Girls Don't by Kelley St.John: C+
13) California Holiday by Kate Cann: E (really bad book, I don't know why I finished it)
14) The Boy Next Door by Meg Cabot: A-
15) Boy Meets Girl by Meg Cabot: B+
16) Every Boy's Got One by Meg Cabot: C-
17) Her Sexiest Mistake by Jill Shalvis: DNF
18) Blood Brothers by Nora Roberts: B
19) Mouth to Mouth by Erin McCarthy: B

So as you can se, a so-so month... although I managed to read 19 books. I'll try to review a few of them later tonight :D as well as come up with the books I'm looking forward for December :P