Night of Cake and Puppets (Daughter of Smoke and Bone #2.5) by Laini Taylor

I couldn't even read this. After I downloaded it on my Kindle I just looked at the book cover art the whole night. Okay, stared. I stared. And ogled. And almost drooled. That was how happy I was when I got it. And shocked because I've been waiting for the final book of the trilogy and I never even heard of a 2.5. I suck at being a fangirl.

So yeah, I was staring at it and I was squealing (deep inside, Rhoda, stop looking over your cubicle!).

I mean, what Daughter of Smoke and Bone fan wouldn't?! It's the Zuzana & Mik story! Zuzana isn't the main character ... but that's just what they want us to think. Because in reality, she's made us all into puppets to do the things that she wants us to do. Like falling in love with her voodoo eyes and her rabid sense of humor and extremist wit.

Guess it's a good thing I didn't know about it right away because it came as a very pleasant surprise. The bad thing is that now I want to cry thinking how long April 2014 is from now.

2014 Goodreads Reading Challenge

Three books to go and I'm already thinking of my goal next year. I think I will do 2 books per month whose authors I have never read. To add a little flavor (yes I'm this bored), at least one of those authors should have initials that start with the first letter of the month. So maybe a Jennifer <insert-last-name-here> or an <insert-first-name-here> Johns for January (or June or July). All in all I should read at least 24 books (God I'm good at math!).

I said "at least" because there are a few books I've been waiting for that will come out some time in 2014 so I'll just add those to my goal as I go on. Like this book below whose cover makes me wanna cry. I wish it's April already.

I'm also waiting on the last installment of the Books of Beginning by John Stephens. I just checked and it has a title now! The Black Reckoning. It's the Emma book we (fans of Books of Beginning) are all waiting for. I wonder if Daniel O'Malley will release book 2 of the Checquy Files? Or if Markus Zusak will finally release Bridge of Clay.
Anyhoo, I'm sure there will be no shortage of books to read. What books are you waiting for come 2014?

The Morrow Secrets (Tallitha Mouldson 1) by Susan McNally

I took me forever to get through this. It's not the book. It's me. It's interesting enough. I love fantasy but this is hard for me to get into. I get so lost the whole time I don't even know how to write a decent-enough review.

A few months ago I went on training to write product descriptions. We were assigned to go through the manual before discussing it. I had issues with that manual. Chapter one would mention a certain process in passing like we should know what that is already and when we get to chapter 10, whoever wrote the manual suddenly feels the need to explain what the process is all about. It's annoying because I spent a lot of time on the first chapter trying to understand what I was missing and when I finally got to where it was explained I have to go back to first chapter and say, oooooooooh. That was kind of how this story was for me. When I realized that the Grand Morrow's "butler" was a shrove I was like wait what? What's a shrove? And then it gets explained ... I dunno ... a few paragraphs after? Maybe on the next chapter? I find that so annoying.

Maybe I'll try to read this again another time.

Weekend Shmeekend ... a little R&R in the comforts of Makati

I'm kind of embarrassed that I've lived in Makati for 8 years and I've never been to the Salcedo Saturday Market and the Legazpi Sunday Market so I did both this weekend with the help of a couple high school buddies. It wasn't anything fantastic but I liked going from stall to stall and just look at what's there. 

Predictably, this alcohol-dependent woman got herself:

TADAAAAH!: Japanese Ale

Not a big fan of beer but it was there and it's alcohol and it was spelling my name ... ok, my name isn't Hitachino Nest but it's alcohol. It's supposed to taste bitter and sweet and smell spicy according to that nice lady who was selling it. She's right about the bitter part. It's not sweet at all. Budweiser is sweet. Red Horse is sweet. German beer, in general, is sweet. This? It's just bitter. Oh and it looks like iced tea. I don't have a photo. I drank straight from the bottle but spilled some when opening so I know it looks like iced tea. Google it. it is 250pesos a bottle. She had other Hitachino Nest stuff ... I didn't get the name of the stall because I was too happy to be holding alcohol after how many weeks (which felt like forever). She'll probably be there again next week.

Non-alcoholic ginger ale

This is from Stanford x Shaw Brewing. It's goooooood. They give out samplers if you wanna try before buying (and if you don't believe me). It tastes like, well, ginger ... and lemon. It kind of reminds me of Boones Farm products, if you know that, except this is non-alcoholic (but Boones has so little alcohol content anyway it feels like drinking soda). This is 200php for a 600ml (I think) bottle. They were nice enough to offer to keep it in their ice chest, in case you want to go around the area first before going home, because you're supposed to keep it refrigerated but we were going home anyway. They also said to consume it within 2 weeks and I said they didn't have to worry about that. Heh.

Satinka Naturals: Beeswax Moisturizing Lip Balm

Wala lang. Ang mahal kasi ng Burt's Bees and I'm cheap like that so I got this instead. Haha! It's a 10g stick and costs only 100php. They have it in lavender, mint and grapefruit. These would make nice christmas giveaways.

I also bought a lot of other stuff like ... food. I mean, you can't go there and not eat. I especially loved the Ilocos empanada, I haven't had that in forever and it's good to know I don't have to travel far to get it when I'm craving for it (I just have to wait for the weekend). They are 50pesos a piece.

I noticed another stall selling sandwiches for 150php at the Salcedo market that sold sandwiches for 120php at the Legazpi market. I guess these are food they weren't able to sell the previous day. The stalls in both community markets are almost the same, but the Sunday market has more choices and it's bigger but the Saturday market looks more organized from the stalls to security to layout.

The Legazpi Sunday Market

The Salcedo Saturday Market ... from the outside

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Also went to the spa that my sister and her friend frequents. Like beer, I'm also not big on spas. I have issues with strangers touching me but I like to occasionally pamper myself especially since I stopped using lotion when I started pole dancing. We had the Nature Scrub (that left me bruised), the Tightening Body Wrap for detox and that's supposed to help loose skin (if done continuously) and a hair spa. I liked the body wrap thing. It felt comforting and secure being wrapped in the ...erm, white clay wrap thingy. I should've gotten a massageas well. Anyhoo, maybe next weekend. For rates, try their website. 

Myriad by Mona Hanna

Reading Myriad is like skipping sentences and paragraphs to get to the good parts. Except you're not really skipping anything. The story just took the term fast-paced seriously. I didn't see "short story" in the list of genres so I didn't realize this is one. It's 95 pages, though. Long enough for print, I guess. I'm a book nearer my goal this year so I'm not complaining. Lol.

I liked that it's a stand alone. I also liked that it's free! Check it out on Amazon, it might still be. If you're looking for a quick fantasy read (wait that didn't sound right, heh) this might be something you'd like.

I think if the author worked on the plot more it could be a whole novel. As it is, it was just okay.

Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler

What guy, in any universe, would read a "letter" that is 300+ pages long explaining "Why We Broke Up"? To start with, he's a jock and he's not really fond of reading. That wasn't a stereotype. It was stated in the story. She's the ex-girlfriend, she should know he doesn't like to read. So ... yeah. 

I had a lot to say about this book while I was reading it. I forgot most of them so I'll just say stuff at random (like I don't normally do that). 

On Min's classic films obsession: I think it's amazing how anyone can remember all those films and compare a lot of situations and even facial expressions to a specific scene. I had to Google a lot of those movies, mind you. Then again I'm not a movie buff to begin with.

The prose was ok ... ish. It got boring at some parts so I guess that's why, in some reviews I read, they said Min was whiny. I dunno. I'm pretty sure every brokenhearted girl got whiny at some point. So I forgive her. Lol. I think it's just too long an explanation. The prose was sort of a mix. Some parts were raw and some ... literary. It was a bit funny when the prose goes Yoda.

Onion rings, they were 

Put it in water, I could have done

I liked the end part where she described all her insecurities because that's what happens when you're brokenhearted. I didn't like that her insecurities amounted to about 2-3 pages.

This wasn't the insecurity part. Posting that would amount to copyright infringement or something.

Honestly, I bought the book because it had illustrations. I'm fickle like that. Also because the price dropped. Lol. It was Php699 when I first saw it a year ago. Regular price now is Php489. I'm actually happy I waited. Because I didn't like the book. I liked parts of it. Like the illustration and some quotes and the ending but not the book as a whole. Because again, why would a guy read this? And also because after everything that she said, after explaining the differences they had and how hard it was living in different circles and all those other long explanations of why they couldn't be together ... they really only broke up because ***SPOILER ALERT*** he cheated on her.

If anything this is a good YA book because it also discusses sex among teenagers and it clearly states that if you have sex when you're a minor your bf will end up cheating on you. I kid. I kid.

Agnes and the Hitman by Jennifer Crusie and Bob Mayer

 You know how some movies would start with a scene where there are a lot of people talking at the same time? Or there are multiple conversations going on at once? Or there are two people talking on the phone and the screen is split into two. That was kind of how this book started. Or, I think, that was what it was trying to do. Except in movies, scenes like that makes sense. Here, I felt like an outsider. I don't necessarily have to relate or be involved in a story for me to appreciate it but the first 20% of the book didn't sit well with me. It got better for me when LL came into the story. I liked her character.

Loved this part lol

One thing I wasn't sure if I'm going to love or hate about the story is Agnes's cooking. The pancakes and ham in that one breakfast scene made me hungry and crave for ... well ... pancakes and ham. I liked the ending too so it kinda made up for the beginning lol.