This and that...

Hi there :)

So it's been a few weeks since I last posted. The good news is that I've been reading! Actually, this week, I've been on a roll :) A book a day! Woohoo! It's been a long time since that happened. Unfortunately, none of these books really compelled me to write a review. So I thought I'd just let you know what's been going on with me :)

Back in February, my work place moved. Montreal has been building 2 super hospitals - one for the French system and the other, English system, Basically, they're merging a few hospitals into a huuuuge one... and the research institute where I worked moved in there as well. It was quite the experience - especially since, of course, research was the first to move. The move itself went quite smoothly, but the rest... Let just say that people who take decisions never listen to the right people ^_^; The whole organization was a mess and there are some issues with the new buildings. Sigh. We were scheduled to move beginning of February and ended up being delayed by 2 weeks... which is fine, as long as we're told. And not just the week before while we're packing!! Also, you'd think the super hospital would be huge. I mean, it is big, but you're merging 3.5 hospitals into 1 and just looking at it, we already know it's too small.... Oh and the road work. Seriously, couldn't they have done it at the same time while the hospital was being built?! Instead of waiting till the hospital opened to start it. There's an overpass right next to the hospital that is going to be closed for the next two years. They still haven't figured out the light configuration to access the hospital. Anyway, I'll spare you all the details.

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I've started going to the dentist again ^_^; Apparently, it's very common for the dentist to fall into the cracks when people become a young adult. You know, when you start having your own insurance and taking charge of your own life - making your own appointments. Well for me, the dentist fell into that crack for about 10 years ^_^; Oups. The good news is I didn't have any cavities. I did need some gum treatments, but overall, nothing major - especially considering I haven't been to the dentist in so long. The only thing though is that I had to remove my wisdom teeth. All four of them. Grrrr. I had braces when I was younger and was told that I wouldn't need to because my wisdom teeth came out straight and all. In the end though, it seems my jaw wasn't large enough and so, they had to go. Seriously, is it only me or dentist offices are quite pushy? Can't I think about it? Do I have to take that decision right away? I was able to brush it off for a year due to insurance... but yeah, had to do it and it happened last Friday. Once again, I was quite lucky. They were all  half-out already, so I guess it wasn't as bad and so, I didn't bruise, didn't swell that much. Pain was quite low and stuff... And now, a week later, I'm almost all recovered :) Except I'm craving all sort of food LOL.

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I've been on a spending spree ^_^; For my birthday, my friends decided to go shopping LOL. In the past year, we had a Premium Outlet opening near Montreal and so, that's where we went. Didn't go crazy, but did buy a few tops at Banana Republic. Then, last week-end, Bench was having a sale - 30% off on everything in-store... and I went a bit crazy. And now, of course, for this long week-end, they're having 40% off. Sigh. I'm so tempted to go back!!

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Let's talk books now!! This is a discussion topic I've been keeping up my sleeve for a long time and just never got around to talk about ^_^; So why not now? :P

Last year, during the Chapters closing sale, I was looking for two particular YA books - On the Fence by Kasie West and Breathe, Annie, Breathe by Miranda Kenneally... and this came to my attention. Ever notice how author's names on the spine of YA books are not prominent?! Actually, a lot of books only have the author's last name on, not even their full names! And not very big. Most of the time, it's the title that takes up most of the space... Why is that?! If the cover is out, then sure, it's easy to find the book you're looking for... but when there's only the spine?! It's not as if I know what the spine looks like to be on the look out for it.

While in romance books, there's much more balance on the spine, between the author's names and titles. In fact, in some instances, the author's names are even bigger. I think it makes it easier to look for books. Also, I find it's a weird marketing strategy...

What do you think?

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Okay, gotta run... I'm late for work. But last question, it's a long week-end here in Canada and I think in the States as well!! What are your plans? I have a surprise birthday party on Saturday and get-together with my cousin from Quebec City on Sunday. Otherwise, going to relax, read and perhaps shop LOL.

Hauling Sunday CXVII

Hi everyone!

Sigh, week-end is almost over... Nooooo! Why does it go by so fast? I planned to spend the whole week-end writing reviews, building up a cache of posts... Unfortunately, it did not happen :( Mostly because I've been so tired... I spent Thursday and Friday cleaning out my new lab. As you know, I switched lab at the beginning of the year since my previous boss went back to China. While I started a new position, I had not "physically" moved to my new lab yet and it's to be done this week. But my new lab is like disgusting. There's so much junk everywhere, every drawer is full of stuff... So I wanted to de-junk the lab before I moved and jeez, it's a lot of work. Thrown out sooo much. I was so pumped up on Thursday evening that I did not go to sleep till 1am. I was tired but not sleepy... and then yesterday, went out with friends and again went to bed very late. It's kind of sad how I cannot stay up late anymore otherwise my body and mind are paying for it ^_^;

I'm also going to Annapolis in September for a wedding :) My sister and I are flying to Washington DC and then driving to Annapolis so that means renting a car... and I'm trying to figure out what insurances I need for it. Should I apply for a new credit card that includes some of the coverage? Ugh... anyone has advice? I need to call my personal car insurance to see what coverage I have, but it's soooo much mumbo jumbo! LOL. At least, I have time to figure that out...

This week was a slow week book-wise. There was another 25% off at Indigo and I went to the bookstore to see if there were any books that I wanted... and I ended up buying this one :)

Yet another Harlequin Kiss that caught my attention :) I have to say, I really do love their covers. Anyway, this one sounded interesting... hopefully, it'll be a winner!

What about you? Got any new books this week?

Busy week!

Awwww, no review this week :( I'm going to try to write a few this week-end to make it up, but no guarantee ^_^; I really wanted to write a book review the whole week, but just didn't have the time and energy.

It all started last week-end with my sleep pattern being all messed up. I ended up going to bed very late on Friday night, waking up early and therefore napping during the day... which resulted in going to bed even later on Saturday night and repeat the whole process again. In addition, I worked on last Sunday so I could have Wednesday off to attend my sister's convocation day. So yeah, I was just out of juice by the time Monday rolled in... And then, yesterday was the annual event that promotes awareness for men's health. I've talked about this event a few times on this blog because I had to collect samples for our research. Last year was nice because while I did participate, I didn't have to collect... but this year, my new boss decided to do it and she sprung the news on me at the last minute. I was in charge because I had experience, so I had to plan everything out, make sure we had all the equipment and so on. It found it more stressful this year because I wasn't at work on Wednesday - the day before - for last minute preparation and also, because it was new people who would do the processing of the samples. Anyway, long story short, I again did survive. However, let just say that on Monday and Tuesday, I went to bed really early to recharge and store up energy for the event ^_^;

And last but not least, my sister graduated on Wednesday! Yay! This was her second bachelor, this time in administration. It's not every day you graduate so my sister wanted a nice outfit for the day... and so it was shopping time LOL. My sister had a specific idea of a dress in mind, but she couldn't find it. She then lowered her requirements to "dress with pockets" but that's not obvious to find either. In the end, she settled for a cute skirt with pockets... but she didn't have any top to go with it. Funny how when you don't look for something, it abounds in store, but as soon as you have an idea in your mind, you just can't find it! But in the end, she found her cute outfit :) And as usual, convocation turned out to be a nice family day :)

Congrats Emilie!

And so this is why I didn't review anything. Barely read as well! However, I definitively plan to catch up this week-end! What about you, how was your week?

Hauling Sunday CVI

Hi everyone!! How are you doing?! It's been a while I haven't shared my life with you LOL. I thought this post would be the perfect time to catch up! The last few weeks have been quite busy work and social-wise and I didn't really know where to start, so I just didn't. While it was busy, it was a good busy though, so I can't complain... at least, not too much :P

So let see... Two week-ends ago, I went tubing with my friends :) I'm not such an outdoor-sy person, but if it's to be with my friends, I'll participate :) It turned out to be a lot more fun than what I remembered! And we ended up being so lucky because the weather was so nice :)

Then, last week-end, I ended up going to sugar shack twice :) Once with work and once with my friends. Got an overload of sugar. Of course, I could have gone only once... but seriously, everything to avoid working is worth for me. Especially since back then, I was still "practicing" and I was running out of material to practice on. The menu is always similar no matter where you go: ham, omelette, potatoes, maple syrup, maple syrup toffee, etc. But some places are better than others and the one where I went with my friends was really yummy! I have a feeling we'll definitively return :) And perhaps even this summer since they have an orchard.

Also, curling has been keeping me very busy :) I've been meaning to post about it, but I thought getting back into a rhythm for reviews was the priority. The season is almost over (3 more weeks), so perhaps I'll recap my experience then ;) I've been playing a lot lately, averaging three games a week. This past week-end, since it was Easter, we had a long week-end... and my curling club usually hosts a tournament. Since I miss a lot of events to which I wanted to participate, I decided to sign up. It's been really fun :) All in all, I'm really happy because I feel I've come a long way in a year and I'm definitively signing up for next year :)

As for work, well it finally picked up. After weeks of practicing, I finally officially started on "good" samples. And of course, to celebrate, I cut myself on the blade ^_^; Sigh, it was such a stupid mistake... a moment of inattention. Once again, I was lucky because the cuts weren't deep. Two of my co-workers had taken a first aid class and decided I did not need band-aid, they could do it...

I'm the one who added the smiley faces LOL. While they tried their best, let just say I wouldn't have been able to work with those bandages... So they had to come off LOL.

Finally, my latest addiction has been the online game, Candy Crush ^_^; I don't know why I keep getting addicted to those games... For a while, it was Bejeweled, then Tetris, Words with Friends... Lately, I've been doing some jigsaws online... and last week, our admin showed me Candy Crush on her iPhone and the next thing you knew, there I was playing it on FB. By the way, a big thank you to those who have helped me unlocked the next stages! The game is very similar to Bejeweled, but what I like about Candy Crush is that you have goals that need to be reached... and there are different stages, so it makes it more challenging. However, there's a few things I don't like about it... such as when your friends send you extra lives, how to you claim them?!

And in the middle of everything, well I'm reading :) I try to read as much as possible and I have to say, so far, 2013 feels like a good year! (Hopefully, I have not just jinxed it ^_^;) Here are the new books I've gotten since my last Hauling Sunday post:

 Not many books, but ones that I really wanted. Still, there's a lot more books that I want to buy, so I hope Chapters has a "Buy 3, get the 4th book free" sale soon! And the list just gets longer since it's the beginning of the month! Check out what Ames and I are looking forward to add to our TBR pile in April over at Breezing Through :)

What about you? How have you been? Read anything good lately? What books are you going to pick up this week?

My new job

Hi everyone :) How are you doing?

As you know, back in January, I started a "new" job.  I'm using quotation marks because having only switched lab, this means it's the same environment: same co-workers, same department, even same desk! LOL. The only things that have really changed are 1) my boss - much more easy going than my previous one (yay!!), 2) which account my paychecks come from and 3) the project/experiments.

So, many of you have asked about how it was going with my new job and I thought it'd be fun to share what I'm doing with all of you :) In this new lab, I'm more of a technician than a research assistant. Since the lab has been established for a long time and employs quite a few people, there's already a system for the ordering and the maintenance of the lab. I help out a little, but there's not much for me to do in that aspect. Actually, I haven't really been hired to join the lab. Instead, I'm more affiliated with the biobank. My new boss is the director of a biobank that collect blood, urine and prostate samples from men who have prostate cancer and have undergone a prostatectomy (removal of the prostate). And my job is to cut slices of the frozen prostates. Yes, it is as exciting as it sounds - not very LOL.

First, let me introduce you to my new best friend and the reason I haven't been blogging and blog-hopping as much as I've wanted: the cryostat. This is the machine that I use to cut the tissue and the most important feature about it is that the illuminated chamber that you see is at -20C (-4F). Yes, it means that I regularly freeze my hands ^_^; I blame the cryostat for my lack of blogging because I used to get incubation times with my old project, but not anymore. Plus, the cryostat is not next to a computer, so I cannot multi-task :P

So once the prostate is removed from the patient, it is cut in multiple sections. Each section is frozen in  OCT, a compound that is very similar to transparent liquid glue at room temperature, but hardens into a white solid substance at low temperatures. It is molded to form a block. The thing is tissue is not always smooth and the way it is frozen in the block, I might be cutting a while before getting the whole tissue surface. Below is a perfect example: on the left is what I saw at first and on the right is the whole tissue surface that I obtained. Sometimes, it's very easy to get the whole tissue and other times, I really need to cut a long time and re-orient the block so I don't waste too much tissue. The case below was a hard one and I don't think I got it all, but just couldn't cut more ^_^;

Once I have the whole tissue, I need to get a slice. The required thickness is 0.5uM. Luckily, I only need to set the machine to get the thickness that I want LOL. Again, sometimes it's easy to get the slice because it'll come off smoothly. Other times, it bunches on the blade and I need to use the forceps and brush to smooth out the slide - I hate when I have to do that because I usually have a lot of wrinkles. Anyway, once I have the slice, I transfer to a microscope slide... Something I'm still not good at. It sounds so simple, but you have to be quick and those wrinkles, grrrr.

After I've transferred the tissue to the slide, well because the slide is at room temperature, the OCT will melt... and is then washed away. Using a series of chemicals, I then stain the tissue so we can observe the cells and see the amount of cancer present.

I've been practicing cutting and staining since I started in January and I'm still practicing right now LOL. It sounds and looks quite easy, but each step has its challenges. Right now, my biggest challenge is figuring out whether I've gotten the whole tissue surface yet ^_^; Another challenge is the consistency in staining since it's done manually. Sometimes, a slide is pinker than the other ^_^; And I always have the impression that only half stained well. But apparently, it's good, so go figure. Anyway, everything is going to take practice and I'm getting there :) Since I've been practicing, the people have given me non-cancer samples. Apparently, cancer samples are easier because they are smaller... Right now, I'm doing one block a day... Could probably do two a day, but we don't have much samples for me to practice on LOL. Eventually, I'll have to go up to 4-6 blocks a day.

And there you have it, my new job :) It's fun because it's something very different than what I used to do, but at the same time, it's very repetitive and not sure how challenging it's going to be. Later, when I'm good at this, I might pick up something else, a side-project... but for now, that's my focus :)

Quick update...

Hi everyone!!

Sorry I've been MIA this week! It really wasn't my intention! I had plans, but you know me and plans... I've been so busy trying to tie things up at work. I almost managed to get everything done, but at this point, it doesn't really matter anymore, because I just had confirmation that I'll be working for a different supervisor, but using the same lab! :) So I can finish everything such as packing after the holidays. I'm officially starting on January 7th :) Yay! So I just wanted to share the good news with everyone :)

Another reason why I haven't had time blogging is because I finally got out of my reading slump! Finally! I really got engrossed in my book and decided I should enjoy it while it lasts :) And I also had curling. Phew. However, I'm off starting this week-end with no plans in sight and I might be snow-bound... so I'll work really hard on having some posts ready! Look forward to it!

What about you? Are you surviving the holidays madness?!

Review: 'Twas the Night After Christmas by Sabrina Jeffries

Phew, I made it!! I really wanted to have this review up this week :) It's really been fun to review Christmas-themed novels, really put me in the mood for the holidays. However, there's one week left before Christmas, and I've run out of books to review... Does anyone has a suggestion for next week's review? :)

I've been quiet this week and I'm really sorry about that. Life has been really busy the past week and I realized I haven't been very chatty about what's been going on in my life lately and that some of you are wondering... so here's a quick update :) First, my health. So the dizziness has gotten a lot better in the sense that it's not constant anymore. I do still get spells from time to time, so it's not completely gone... but it's a lot more manageable and I can function a lot better. I think given enough time, it'll really go away. *knocking on wood* I bumped my knee pretty hard earlier on Monday and have a major bump on it. Sigh, since I started playing curling, I don't recognize my right knee anymore LOL. I've put a knee pad on my Christmas wishlist, hoping that it will solve this issue :) And ugh, my latest bother is my left heel. This time, it's not curling related... I've been getting twinges in my left heel if I stretch my foot a certain way or walk a certain way. It's not painful or anything, but it pulls... I have no idea why... It started on Tuesday and I think it was my boot or something. Sigh. Once again, I'm ready to move on to the new year, health-wise LOL.

Second, work. Work has been really busy. As you know, the lab is closing at the end of the year... but what me and my co-worker just found out is that my boss is going away on vacation next Wednesday. Yes, next Wednesday!! The good news is that I won't have to work between Christmas and New Year, but the bad one is... He's gone next Wednesday! There's some stuff to take care of and so we're trying to do that before next Wednesday. Ugh. And that's pretty much why I haven't had time to blog this week. By the way, for those wondering about my job prospects... There's a really big chance that I'll be working in another lab in the same department. There's two positions that just opened... so I'm just waiting for confirmation. I'm supposed to get news before Christmas, i.e. next week. As soon as I know, I'll share :) If I don't get anything here, then I'll start looking after New Year... but in either case, there's a high possibility I'm going back to school...

However, at the moment, my biggest issue is that I'm in a reading slump T_T I have not read a single book this week, sad :( So if you have any suggestions, they are really welcome!! Especially with lots of free time coming up. I've been meaning to get reacquaint with my TBR pile, but I've had no time ^_^; Seriously, I totally blame the publishers and their release schedule LOL.

Anyway, enough about me. Here's the review, enjoy it!


'Twas the Night After Christmas by Sabrina Jeffries

published by Simon & Schuster in October 2012

Pierce Waverly, the Earl of Devonmont, has been estranged from his mother for most of his life. When his mother’s new companion, Mrs. Camilla Stuart, writes to tell him that his mother is seriously ill, he goes home. But when he learns that the lovely widow tricked him in order to effect a holiday reconciliation, he refuses to stay—unless she meets his “terms.” Somewhere between trying to seduce the beautiful Camilla and struggling with the cruel memories of his childhood Christmases, Pierce discovers that not only does forgiveness go two ways, but that love can blossom even in the coldest of winters.

Genre: Historical romance
Series: Hellions of Halstead Hall, Book #6

The Story: The blurb for the book is quite accurate, but here is my version :)

Pierce Waverly, the Earl of Devonmont, has been estranged with his parents for most of his life, but without Pierce knowing why. The only thing he knows for certain is that from the age of 8 years old, he never got to spend time with his parents when he was on break from school during the holidays or the summer. Instead, he was sent to his cousin's, Mr. Titus Waverly, home. When he reached his majority, Pierce returned to the family estate, wanting to learn how to manage his estates, and was kicked out by his father... And when his mother didn't offer any explanations for their abandonment after his father died, Pierce decided to continue on with the estrangement and cut her out of his life. Thus, he ignored all the letters she sent and whenever he returned home to Montcliff, he made sure to avoid the dowager house so their path wouldn't cross.

Mrs. Camilla Stuart is Lady Devonmont's new companion and is quite outraged at the Earl of Devonmont's attitude towards his mother. Seeing how Lady Devonmont dotes her son, Jasper, and how often she reminisces about Pierce, Camilla decides to give what her employer wants most for Christmas: her son's presence. Therefore she pens an express to Pierce telling him how seriously ill Lady Devonmont is. However, Camilla never expected the events her note has instigated...

My Opinion: When I first found out that Pierce Waverly was the hero of 'Twas the Night After Christmas, I wasn't very happy. Not because I had anything against the character from his brief appearances in To Wed a Wild Lord and A Lady Never Surrenders - a rake who doesn't commit; if I did, I would not have many historical romance books to read! LOL. It's simply that after A Lady Never Surrenders, I thought the Hellions of Halstead Hall series was over and was looking forward to Ms Jeffries' new release... Honestly, I felt the whole series had been a bit underwhelming and therefore, would have welcome a new premise. Instead, the series seemed to have been extended and with the main storyline wrapped up, I wasn't sure what to expect from 'Twas the Night After Christmas. I actually wasn't going to pick it up... but you know me and new releases, LOL, I'm just drawn to them. So in the end, I gave 'Twas the Night After Christmas a go and guess what? I ended up being pleasantly surprised and enjoyed the book a lot more than I expected!

While 'Twas the Night After Christmas is branded as the 6th book in the Hellions of Halstead Hall series, in reality, for all intends and purposes, the book is actually a stand-alone and I think that is why the story worked out so well. Yes, some of the previous characters showed up, but Ms Jeffries limited their appearances. As for Pierce, his link to the Sharpes was tenuous and he really had nothing to do with the overarching storyline. As such, Ms Jeffries didn't have to recap previous events or re-introduce characters. In fact, as a stand alone, she didn't even have to set the scene up for subsequent books nor worry about sequel baiting... Which means she had all the time of the world to focus on the characters, story and romance of 'Twas the Night After Christmas and she did. I truly believed this focus was key and made the difference, because frankly, the story of 'Twas the Night After Christmas wasn't ground-breaking, but Ms Jeffries was able to deliver something solid and enjoyable :)

Overall, I enjoyed the holiday themed of 'Twas the Night After Christmas. It worked for me. The story wasn't overly sweet, but there was just enough Christmas traditions incorporated to put you in the mood of the holidays. Also, I think in such books, it's always nice to have a kid, because they're the ones who believe in magic :) And in this case, Jasper was cute and acted like a 6 years old boy. LOL, I loved his first encounter with Pierce, it was so funny. By the way, I also liked the grown-up characters. My heart broke for Pierce in the prologue when his parents did not come to pick him up for the holidays... and he didn't understand why. I find his behavior towards his mother - the resentment, bitterness and anger - justifiable. There was a lot of misunderstandings and assumptions on Pierce's part, but what can you expect when you abandon a boy and he grows up with gossips? Plus, he gave his mother the opportunities to explain, to tell him the truth: when he reached 21 years old and when his father passed away, but she never did. So you can't expect that when she's finally ready to move on, he's going to listen. I also believed that all Pierce wanted was an explanation or the truth from his mother, even if it shattered his hopes... to live with the unknown, that's hard. In the end, it all worked out and the reason why I'm satisfied with the resolution in 'Twas the Night After Christmas, it that contrarily to A Fool's Gold Christmas, despite everything, Pierce still loved his mother, still cared for her. He cherished the memories he had from his early childhood. In addition, to a certain degree, what Pierce's mother did was for his well-being and future. So all in all, the circumstances were better. I do wish that his mother had explained the whole situation to Pierce earlier.  As for Camilla, I did like her as well. She did overstep a little bit when she wrote that letter to Pierce, not knowing the whole story... but it was done with good intentions. What I liked about Camilla is that she never lost sight of what mattered: her son, Jasper. She refused to become Pierce's mistress, even though she was attracted to him, because of Jasper. I think that deep down, that is something Pierce admired because his mother couldn't do the same.

As for the romance, this is where it becomes a bit trickier. I thought that Pierce and Camilla had good chemistry and they balanced each other well. I liked that they spent time together, got to know each other. What I did not like though is how the whole thing began. As soon as Pierce found out the letter was a lie, he intended to leave... but in the end, he stayed, but that was conditional to Camilla spending time with him. Part of it was because he was attracted to her, that I'm sure of... but another part, it was to strike back at his mother and well, I found that part a bit despicable on Pierce's part and it colors the romance a little bit ^_^; It's one thing if you don't want to marry, have no heir and therefore, your mother doesn't get grandchildren... That's your business, your decision... but it's another when you involve someone else.

My Grade: B. Life can be so ironic at times :) At first, I wasn't planning to read 'Twas the Night After Christmas because I thought it was the continuation of  the Hellions of Halstead Hall series which I felt had run its course... but in the end, it turned out to be the best book of the series in my opinion! :) It was a nice Christmas-themed book and I felt Ms Jeffries focused on what mattered the most: the characters and the romance. I'm really glad I picked up 'Twas the Night After Christmas because I had a good time reading it and I hope you do as well! :)

Hauling Sunday XCIII

Another quiet week for me :) My boss came back so work finally picked up! In a way, I'm happy because I was really getting uncomfortable not doing anything. Anyway, it's good to be busy... and I will be since we have stuff to complete by the end of the year. I don't know if I mentioned on the blog, I know I told some of you already though... Long story short, my lab didn't get its funding renewed and the department was unwilling to support us till the next grant application. As a result, it will be closing down at the end of the year :( I've been looking at the positive side of this news... Yes, there is one. Initially, I was planning to stay at this job for 2 years, but it's been already 4 years... I don't think it's a bad thing for me to look for something different or at least, reassess what I want my future to be, so I'm taking this as an opportunity. Anyway, my contract ends at the end of the year. So far, I'm looking at the easy way out and looking at the other labs in my department. I should really start looking for a new job and it's something I was planning to do starting October (got the news end of August), but it's not easy given the market and the fact I really can't leave my current job immediately. So instead, I'll see where life leads me... but it's some scary stuff and I feel worried from time to time... Especially since I haven't told my parents yet - nope, my parents do not read my blog. I don't want them to know yet because they'll be stressing and there's nothing much they can do about it. Ah well.

Anyway, that in part explains why I've been buying less books. I'm really trying to only get the ones that I absolutely want and not be too impulsive. Also, I'm waiting for a good promotion to get the books that are less urgent but still on my list. However, I have been impulsive this week and gotten this:

Together for Christmas by Lisa Plumley - I've been in the mood for contemporary romance and the review I read for this book was really good. Since Together for Christmas is from Kensington, it means the promotion codes do apply when buying an ebook... and I got it for a really good price :) 

And that's it for this week. This week was actually rather boring. I'm looking for the coming one since I start curling this week! I'm really looking forward to it :) 

What about you? What new book did you get?

Review: Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire

Friday, Friday, Friday, yay!! I'm glad it's the week-end tomorrow :P I feel like I have been slacking off a little on reviews this week, although at least, I did have a few posts :P Basically, I blame work. The summer semester has officially started and I have two summer students this year. So the week was busy with orientation, supervision and training. It wouldn't be too bad if the two of them had the same level of lab experience, but they don't. Ah well. The good news is one of them is a reader!! Yay, someone new to share my love of books :) She mainly reads fiction, but not romance. Can't have everything, LOL, but it won't stop me from pushing some on her :P I also realized that I'm getting old. Duh, my birthday was yesterday, LOL, but I don't feel old. However, we were discussing manga and there's a lot of very popular titles that she hasn't read and my co-worker S and I are telling her she should read. While we were talking, I realized the reasons she hadn't read these manga is that most of them are done series - now. However, when S and I read them, they had just started or were not too far advanced. I guess a 10 years difference is big LOL.

Anyway, I really wanted to have at least a review up this week. This one took me the whole day to write, but it still counts :P Enjoy!

Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire
published by DAW in March 2012

Ghoulies. Ghosties. Long-legged beasties. Things that go bump in the night... The Price family has spent generations studying the monsters of the world, working to protect them from humanity-and humanity from them. Enter Verity Price. Despite being trained from birth as a cryptozoologist, she'd rather dance a tango than tangle with a demon, and is spending a year in Manhattan while she pursues her career in professional ballroom dance. Sounds pretty simple, right? It would be, if it weren't for the talking mice, the telepathic mathematicians, the asbestos supermodels, and the trained monster-hunter sent by the Price family's old enemies, the Covenant of St. George. When a Price girl meets a Covenant boy, high stakes, high heels, and a lot of collateral damage are almost guaranteed. To complicate matters further, local cryptids are disappearing, strange lizard-men are appearing in the sewers, and someone's spreading rumors about a dragon sleeping underneath the city...

Genre: Urban Fantasy
Series: InCryptid series, Book #1

The Story: In this world, paranormal beings are known as cryptids and are the targets of the Covenant of St. George. This organization - several centuries old - exterminates all "monsters" without discrimination, no matter the consequences on the ecosystem. A few generations back, the Healy clan broke off from the Covenant because they realized that some cryptids were harmless and actually necessary for the well functioning of the ecosystem. The Covenant didn't care much about the breaking off, but when one of their Hunters, who was sent to kill the Healy clan, saw the light and sided with the Healy, well the Covenant took issue and started to fear "propaganda" and therefore, the Healy clan was considered persona non grata.

Nowadays, the Healys are known as the Price family and each member has dedicated his/her life to cryptozoology - the study of cryptids. The exception is Verity Price, age 22. It's not that she has no interest in cryptids... Only her true passion is ballroom dancing. She's convinced her parents to let her pursue her two passions. As a result, Verity has moved to New York City where she'll be able to compete and audition for Broadway while keeping an eye on NYC's cryptids. However, she soon learns it's hard to juggle the two when a Covenant Hunter - Dominic De Luca - appears in her city, scouting the area for a purge, and female, virgin cryptids start disappearing. When Very realizes that Dominic is not responsible for the disappearances, the two join force to investigate and run into snake cultists... which strongly indicates there is a dragon, a cryptid species thought extinct, in town...

My Opinion: I'm always on the look-out for new authors to read and one name that keeps popping up for me is Seanan McGuire. I've really been wanting to give her a try, especially since Li is a huge fan of her urban fantasy October Daye series. However, I've been holding up because I simply don't like fae/fey/fairies - I don't know why, but they just don't do it for me and never had ^_^; So when Ms McGuire had a new book from a new series that did not involve fae/fey/fairies coming out, I knew this was it :)

Overall, I think Discount Armageddon was an interesting book. I really liked Verity's character :) She's young, but she knows what she wants and she's going after it. She's also smart enough to figure out when she needs help and calls home for advice. The girl is gutsy, smart and fun. What more can a reader ask? I also loved the Price family! That family is totally wacky, but it makes for great fun LOL. In Discount Armageddon, except for one of Verity's adoptive cousin, none of her relatives showed up in New York City. Instead, they interact with Verity via phone conversations. Given how unconventional and boisterous the family seems to be, I think it was a good idea from Ms McGuire to introduce them in small doses :P I admit, at times, I found the background on the family a bit confusing and I wished for a more detailed family tree (there's one at the beginning of the book). Seriously though, I cannot wait to find out more about them and see them in action! :)

As for the story, I thought it was okay. I liked the mystery plot involving the dragon. However, I think the flow and the feel of Discount Armageddon was bogged down by all the cryptids introduced and their descriptions. It wouldn't have been so bad if there hadn't also been the background on the Price family and the Covenant, information about the training Verity has gone through and some explanations about how the ballroom world functions ^_^; I mean, it's a lot of information at the end of the day, almost all given from Verity's POV, so that means a lot of monologues. If there had been more action, it might have balanced out, but as it is, it just slowed down the book in my opinion.

One thing I'm not sure about in Discount Armageddon is Dominic and the romance. Dominic was an okay character. I liked that he wasn't too stubborn and was willing to work and cooperate with Verity. It was refreshing that he didn't treat Verity like the devil incarnated. At the same time though, Dominic and Verity come from two different sides and have completely different ideologies about the cryptids. To see them getting along so well and fast was unexpected. I expected and almost wished for more animosity given the situation and that we'd see progression in their relationship throughout time. Yes, that would have made it a bit typical of urban fantasy... But to have them trusting each other so fast, it didn't really work for me :( I felt it was very impulsive of Verity to jump into bed with Dominic. I don't think he has a hidden agenda, but she really doesn't know him well... it's dangerous in my opinion. Finally, I felt Verity and Dominic lacked a bit of chemistry which didn't help things for me.

Oh, I cannot end this review without mentioning the Aeslin mice. They are cryptids that look like mice but who can talk and have their own religion. They were really cute and hilarious... and I'm also glad I'm not so great at visualizing things LOL. They were a character on their own and one of the best parts of the book :) I'm looking forward to reading more about them, Sarah (the adoptive cousin) and Verity!

My Grade: C+. While I thought Discount Armageddon was an enjoyable book, I didn't love it as much as I wanted to. I think part of it is due to Discount Armageddon being the first book in the series and another reason was the too high expectations. I'm definitively going to give the second book a try, hoping that the series will get better.

I'm home!!!

Hi everyone!!

How are you doing? I'm back home!! Yay! Actually, I've been home since Wednesday night ^_^; Sorry I haven't blogged earlier! I wanted it to, but recovering from the trip - most specifically the bus right - took precedence LOL.

So can you believe that I made it for 4 days without internet?!? Yep I did :) LOL, great detox. There was wifi actually, but I had no gadget to connect to ^_^; No laptop, no iPhone or iPad... I do have a cell phone that could... but I don't know how ^_^; Plus, checking emails on the phone is not the greatest. I was hoping to borrow my labmate's laptop, but after days of hanging out together, we just went our separate ways in the evening... Booo.

Overall though, it was a great experience. It was the first time I went to a scientific conference and I think it was good. Not as fun as RT or RWA, but good LOL. Basically, this was the first Canadian Cancer Research conference on such a scale. There are many agencies in Canada funding cancer research and they usually each have their own conference... but this year, they forgo theirs and unite their efforts to make 1 big conference. There was about a thousand persons registered... This is much smaller compared to the American equivalent, but a good effort still considering this is the first conference. The conference was all about building bridges - making connections, seeing what is done here and elsewhere and what is the trend. And the caliber of the speakers was quite impressive as there was two Nobel Prize winners!!! I mean, seriously, it's hard not to be impressed LOL. But those two aside, I mean, there were some impressive names... Of course, my favorite talks were the ones with humor. Some of them are really well articulated and fast on their feet.

While some of it was really interesting, some of it was also really boring. I mean, sitting in hotel chairs from 9am to 5pm and listened to a myriad of talks... it's really long!! Also, some of it was a bit scary. Let just say that once I came back, I did google the symptoms of breast cancer, colorectal cancer and so on ^_^; Also, this conference was all about precision/personalized medicine. It's kind of funny when you think about it, but there is trends in research as well and that was it. The idea is with genome sequencing now more affordable, researchers are sequencing different tumors of a same cancer - the ones that respond to treatment and the ones that don't and compare them. They're trying to look for the mutations that will allow to predict whether a patient will respond to a treatment and which one in order to avoid over-treatment and toxicity of chemotherapy. Of course, in theory, this is awesome... but whether it'll really be feasible - not just from the science POV, but ethically and so on... That'll be interesting to see.

So that was pretty much it for the conference. Oh, the poster session went well. However, it was just too crowded... and I'm really glad I didn't have to present any poster. Basically, there were 477 posters for 2 sessions of two hours!!! Everyone registered to the conference was given a booklet the size of half a phone book with the abstracts (summary of what the poster was about). So people could know beforehand what was there and go see the posters that they were actually interested in. Posters were put up on panels in the morning and people had the whole day to peruse... and from 4 to 6pm, people presenting would stand next to their poster and people could ask them questions. I saw a lot of people just standing there and looking bored. I'm just glad I wasn't one of them ^_^; My labmate had about 8 persons coming up to him and my boss, about the same numbers. Although in the case of my boss, it was all the big names in our field, so that's encouraging.

The best moment of my trip? When Cindy and Bob drove up to Toronto to have dinner with me!! It was awesome to catch up with Cindy and Bob and it was really nice of them to do so! :) For those who worries, she's doing fine!! And she should be back to blogging soon :) There, I've said it Cindy. You can't back out anymore! :)

Since I had Thursday and Friday off, I decided to just relax... and tackle my room. My room has been in such a messy state, I really couldn't stand it anymore. You think I'm exaggerating? Just ask Ames! I have some pictures of my room, but really it's just too embarrassing to share... But just to give you an idea of how messy my room was... I received a really big package from Chapters/Indigo while I was away... and I didn't even notice the box in my room... cos it blended in so well with the boxes of books that I've gotten from RWA! Yeah ^_^; Hopefully, I'll be done by Monday LOL. However, in my defense, I have to say I'm making progress :)

I'll also be taking a lot of breaks to blog and blog-hop! It's good to be back home :)

Oh and for those who are wondering... Yes, I had time to read while I was away! LOL, it's kind of funny cos everyone's been asking me that question LOL. But with no internet, let just say books were the only way to keep me from going insane with boredom LOL. I read To Wed a Wild Lord by Sabrina Jeffries,  Tis the Season to be Sinful by Adrienne Basso and re-read Count to Ten by Karen Rose and River's End by Nora Roberts :) 4 books in 4 days. Not bad, right? :)