75 Signs of a Book-a-holic

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I got this list from a friend‘s tweet a couple of days ago, and thought it was funny. I’m not sure everything applies to me, though. So maybe I’m not a big bibliophile as I thought I was? :P

Here’s are some noteworthy items in the list, ones that I can really relate to, with my personal comments. :) The full list is here, so just click to see the complete list. :)

75 Signs You’re a Bibliophile

1. You actually completed an English degree.

Comment: Oh, I wish I did. Well, okay, I don’t wish, but if I didn’t take up Computer Science, I’d probably have an English degree.

7. You have a little vein in your forehead that throbs whenever you hear about sparkly vampires.

Comment: This one made me laugh out loud. Haha yes, there’s a vein! Sparkly vampires made me stop reading about vampires altogether. :P

9. Your loved ones tire of you spouting clichéd “The book was better” diatribes.

Comment: It’s a good thing I have a lot of friends who also read the book before any movie version came out. :P

11. You have a crush on David Sedaris or Sarah Vowell.

Comment: Will you kill me if I say I haven’t read either? *hides*

14. You’d read in the car if you could.

Comment: I read in the car! Then again, I don’t drive, so I can read all I want. :P

15. Better yet, you take public transportation for reasons other than cost and the environment.

Comment: Oh, so true. :)

16. Used, local and specialty bookstores are your kryptonite.

Comment: It’s my kryptonite because it never fails to make me sneeze! :( Allergies go away! I have yet to master the art of bargain bin diving.

17. The New York Times Review of Books is among your browser bookmarks.

Comment: Not yet, but I have a lot of book blogs in my bookmarks.

18. You start a book blog just for the ARCs.

Comment: Hey now, it’s not the only reason! It’s a perk, but I haven’t received any ARCs yet, and the blog is still alive. :P

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Posted in: Reading Quirks

Sweet Caroline

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Sweet Caroline by Rachel Hauck

Sweet Caroline by Rachel Hauck
Thomas Nelson, 320 pages

When a Southern waitress inherits the Lowcountry cafe where she works, she suddenly has to balance more than just her next food order.

Caroline Sweeney has always done the right thing–the responsible, dependable thing–unlike her mother who abandoned her family. But when her best friend challenges her to accept an exciting job adventure in Barcelona, Spain, Caroline says “yes” to destiny.

Then, without warning, ownership of the run-down cafe where she’s been waitressing falls right into Caroline’s lap. While she’s trying to determine the cafe’s future, handsome Deputy Sherriff J.D. Rand captures Caroline’s heart.

But when her first love, Mitch O’Neal, comes back to town, fresh from the heat of his newly-found fame as a country music singer in Nashville, Caroline must make some hard choices about love and the pursuit of the sweet life.

I had reservations with Rachel Hauck’s other novels because my reaction to her first novel, Lost in Nashvegas was just lukewarm. I liked it, but it didn’t amaze me or blow me away and I haven’t picked it up again since I read it the last time. I read Sweet Caroline with low expectations, just so I won’t be disappointed with this buy.

I’m kind of glad that I didn’t have much expectations, because I was really pleasantly surprised by this novel. Sweet Caroline is quite…well, sweet, for the lack of better words. Everything in this novel is just sweet and charming, from Caroline to the Frogmore Cafe staff to the other secondary characters to the town itself. This is one of the few times I really appreciated the setting of a novel, and it’s in a Southern town again. I love the quirkiness of the town, the Frogmore Cafe and everyone else in the story, as it provided me with a very warm feeling, almost like I was one of the Beaufort residents. It was almost like the book was welcoming me into its arms, inviting me to join them in their different town adventures.

Caroline is definitely a character, one I’d love to be friends with myself. In a way, I think a lot of women in their 20’s could relate to her, because I definitely did. She’s far from perfect, and most of the times, she had no idea where to go or what to do. But when extraordinary opportunities come knocking, she felt overwhelmed, and she didn’t know what to do. Don’t we all have that same reaction? Despite her confusion, Caroline chose the smaller thing over the big thing, and she proved to be faithful with that. My favorite part of the novel is when the staff were preparing for Hurricane Howard, and Caroline planned to feed the people of Beaufort for free, knowing that there wouldn’t be enough power to cook their meals in the next day. Caroline’s generosity is something to emulate, and I think she wouldn’t hesitate to give her staff a personalized grilling toolset if they really, really need it.

Caroline has a big heart, one that learned to forgive as she got to know the God of forgiveness. I loved how she came to know God, how she got to know God and how she learned to believe that God loved her so much. It was something out of the ordinary, yes, and I guess some people won’t believe those things happen anymore…but then who knows? I’ve heard more drastic stories, and if God wanted to get someone’s attention, then I bet He’d go all out on it. It almost felt like the words uttered to Caroline were for me — and maybe they were? I’d like to believe that they were lessons for me, too. For example, I could replace Caroline’s name with mine in this line, and relate to it almost 100%:

“You are so blessed, Caroline…I mean this: God is looking out for you.” (p 195)

Despite its sparse prose, the novel was still well-written, and easy to understand. There were no complicated words or long descriptions, and most of the lines were funny and crazy. I especially loved Caroline’s Head and Heart conversations:

Head: Interesting development.
Heart: For once, I agree with you.
Head: What do you think he’s up to? And, we’ve agreed before.
Heart: Do we risk it?
Head: No. Stay in neutral, heart.
Heart: But he’s changed. Really.
Head: Don’t make me come down there. (p.225)

These conversations were just right for Caroline because for other characters, I don’t think it would work. :P

The romance factor is also very, very juicy. This is a little bit of a spoiler, but I can’t not share this:

As the house lights dim for the second half of the performance to begin, Mitch offers his hand. “May I hold your hand, Caroline?”
Gulp. I nod.
His hand is firm and broad; his fingers lock perfectly with mine. “Mitch,” I say, barely above a whisper. “I’m afraid of falling.”
He presses his lips to my ear. “Don’t worry, I’ll catch you.” (p. 235)

I practically swooned when I read that part! :) Heeee. But if you think it will end up the way it seemed from that part…well, there were still more surprises down the end, and those made the novel stand apart from others. It’s not really just a love story between two people. It’s a love story between a woman and her God, and a story of how a woman found herself through the love of Someone who loves her more.

Sweet Caroline is sweet, from the first page up to the last. I laughed, cried, and felt like I lost a friend when I closed the book. Good thing Rachel Hauck gives us another chance to visit Beaufort with a companion novel for Sweet Caroline, Love Starts with Elle. And it’s good that I have a copy of that. :P

I’m glad I read this novel, and I’m glad I gave Rachel Hauck another try. :) Sweet Caroline is a light, thought-provoking read, and in some instances, the title would make you break out into song, too. :)

Rating: [rating=4]

2010 Challenge Status:
* Book # 58 out of 100 for 2010

My copy: paperback, $5.00 from Amazon

Cover image & Blurb: Goodreads

→ Rachel Hauck’s website

CymLowell

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Sixteen Moons

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Beautiful CreaturesBeautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl

Lena Duchannes is unlike anyone the small Southern town of Gatlin has ever seen, and she’s struggling to conceal her power and a curse that has haunted her family for generations. But even within the overgrown gardens, murky swamps, and crumbling graveyards of the forgotten South, a secret cannot stay hidden forever.

Ethan Wate, who has been counting the months until he can escape from Gatlin, is haunted by dreams of a beautiful girl he has never met. When Lena moves into the town’s oldest and most infamous plantation, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her and determined to uncover the connection between them.

In a town with no surprises, one secret could change everything.

I hardly ever start reading a book without first having some idea of what it is about. More often than not, the book’s cover and title do a good job of that, and if they don’t, the blurb at the back definitely will, and these factors determine whether or not I buy a book. That wasn’t the case for Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl (first book of the Caster Chronicles). I’ve been seeing this book around but I didn’t pick it up because I couldn’t figure out what it was about. It was always shelved beside the other vampire young adult (YA) romance books, and I wasn’t in the mood to read another Twilight. The cover was beautiful, like its title, but neither told me what those “creatures” were. The blurb wasn’t enticing either – it still sounded too much like the other supernatural YA romances out there. I only picked it up when I heard that a sequel was coming (with an equally beautiful cover) and when I saw that almost all of the book blogs I followed were excited about it. I decided to see what all the fuss was about.

Beautiful Creatures is narrated by Ethan Wate, who hails from Gatlin, a small Southern town where everyone knows everyone. His mom’s death caused his father to become a recluse who left him under the care of their superstitious housekeeper, Amma. Unknown to Amma, Ethan had been having strange dreams about a girl he had never met, dreams which left physical evidence even when he woke up – dirt on his bed, water around him, and even a song on his iPod. When Lena Duchannes moves into town, Ethan is inexplicably drawn to her, even when all his friends were ostracizing her. Despite Lena’s attempts to push him away, Ethan presses on, determined to find out the connection between him and Lena, and maybe help her blend in. But in the town of Gatlin, it’s never easy to fit in, especially if you have a secret as big as Lena’s.

Vague, I know, but after I finished reading the book, I understood why the book’s summary wasn’t any more detailed: revealing any more would spoil the story. Beautiful Creatures has an excellent plot, one that even some of the most critical book bloggers praised. At first glance, the book seems like it’s the typical boy meets girl–with an added dose of superpowers–but it’s much more than that. While the romance is an integral part of the story, it wasn’t there just for the sake of having the characters fall in love, as it connected Ethan and Lena to their pasts. Underneath the romance is an intricate web of details: the social groups and hierarchy of the town, the history of the curse that links Ethan and Lena, and most of all, the supernatural world that lies under the unsuspecting eyes of Gatlin residents. Aiding the plot significantly was the setting: Gatlin is a living, breathing setting that almost felt like another character – and perhaps it was. Garcia and Stohl definitely took time to build this small town, complete with histories, eccentricities and secrets. It was almost as if the residents of Gatlin (save for Ethan, Lena and her family) were one entity being represented by different personas, united in one purpose: to drive away anything that tries to shake things up. Click here to read the rest of the review.

Rating: [rating=3]

2010 Challenge Status:
* Book # 54 out of 100 for 2010

My copy: ebook, $9.99 from Amazon Kindle Store

Cover image & Blurb: Goodreads

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Waiting on Wednesday: Sweet Valley Confidential

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I don’t remember myself as much of a reader when I was really young, up until a classmate brought some colorful little books to school, ones that immediately got me curious. That was the first time I was introduced to Sweet Valley. I started begging my parents to get me those books (back then they cost Php59.75 — a little over a dollar), and they got me one every month. I was enchanted by the adventures of the Wakefield twins, and I seriously wanted to be one of the Wakefields. I decided I want to be a writer after I found out Elizabeth wanted to be one, too. Copy much?

I was more into Sweet Valley Twins and their middle-school/junior high adventures, because my mom didn’t want me to read SVH and anything older than my age. I tend to shy away from them, because of that, so I missed all their other juicy adventures while in high school. When I try to re-read any of my Sweet Valley books now, I wonder why I liked them so much when it’s mostly inconsistent and Jessica and Elizabeth are like the epitome of all Mary Sues in the world.  I guess I can never look back on something that got me to start reading.

So, after the long intro, here’s my Waiting on Wednesday this week! “Waiting On” Wednesday is a weekly event hosted by Jill of Breaking the Spine that spotlights upcoming releases that we’re eagerly anticipating. Thanks to Trashionista for the heads up!

Sweet Valley Confidential

No official blurb yet, but here’s what I got from Trashionista:

Is Liz a hot young journalist engaged to pro-basketball player Todd Wilkins and planning the sweetest backyard wedding? Is Jess gracing the covers of international fashion magazines and breaking the hearts of wealthy jet-setters? After the perfect childhoods, how will the real world affect the lives of the Wakefield Twins? We’ll find out soon enough.

Squeeeee. Talk about reliving my childhood! This is set ten years after the series ended. Which series, exactly, I’m not sure — probably SVU? I’m also not sure if the Elizabeth in London series is included. I think Francine Pascal is really writing this one. I don’t have to explain why I am excited for this, right?

You can read the first chapter of the book by signing up at the official website. I finished reading it yesterday and I am so curious. I wonder if anyone in the Sweet Valley gang is already shopping for unique baby shower invitations..hmm curious! 2011 can’t come fast enough!

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Cresties vs. Norms

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She's So Dead to UsShe’s So Dead to Us by Kieran Scott
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Number of pages: 278
My copy: ebook, from Amazon Kindle Store

When having money is all that matters, what happens when you lose it all?

Perfect, picturesque Orchard Hill. It was the last thing Ally Ryan saw in the rear-view mirror as her mother drove them out of town and away from the shame of the scandal her father caused when his hedge fund went south and practically bankrupted all their friends — friends that liked having trust funds and new cars, and that didn’t like constant reminders that they had been swindled. So it was adios, Orchard Hill. Thanks for nothing.

Now, two years later, Ally’s mother has landed a job back at the site of their downfall. So instead of Ally’s new low-key, happy life, it’ll be back into the snake pit with the likes of Shannen Moore and Hammond Ross.

But then there’s Jake Graydon. Handsome, wealthy, bored Jake Graydon. He moved to town after Ally left and knows nothing of her scandal, but does know that he likes her. And she likes him. So off into the sunset they can go, right? Too bad Jake’s friends have a problem with his new crush since it would make Ally happy. And if anyone deserves to be unhappy, it’s Ally Ryan.

Ally was hoping to have left all the drama in the past, but some things just can’t be forgotten. Isn’t there more to life than money?

* * *

I’ve been reading so much fantasy lately that I remembered just recently why I avoided them before: information overload. Okay, it’s not information per se, but all these different worlds and creatures and everything out of the ordinary took its toll on my fluffy-loving brain that it declared a break. When I tried to pick up another novel that had to deal with supernatural creatures, my brain crossed her arms and shook her head. Loud and clear: Not now.

I had to fold. After all, this is my brain. So last Sunday, I realized something: I don’t have anything fluffy to read.

Okay, that is an exaggeration. I do have some non-fantasy books on my ever-growing TBR list, but somehow, I just didn’t feel like reading them. This always happens, and I know from experience that this is where the urge to get a new book always, always comes in…and by the end of the day, I have a new ebook loaded in my iPod Macy — Kieran Scott’s newest novel, She’s So Dead to Us.

And enough of the introduction. Or maybe not. I’ve read only one Kieran Scott book, under her pseudonym Kate Brian, the first book in the Private series. I didn’t like it. I think Gossip Girl wasn’t on TV yet when I read that book, and I didn’t read the series, so I wasn’t really much into scandalous rich people boarding school stories. I didn’t bother picking up the next books in the series, and consequently, I didn’t pick up Kieran’s other books.

I’m glad I picked up She’s So Dead to Us, though. The title piqued my interested because of the “dead”, and I thought it had zombies in it, but it didn’t. Instead, She’s So Dead to Us tells the story of Ally Ryan when she comes back to Orchard Hill after abruptly leaving when her dad lost their money and her friends’ parents’ money on a deal gone wrong. Ally is no longer rich, but still she hopes that the years of friendship would be a stronger than the amount of money she has in her account and somehow slip back into her old life.

At first glance, this seems like one of your high-society rich-girl scandalous stories with spoiled rich guys who can get anything they want and girls who buy everything they want with their credit cards and down slimming pills so they’d always be a size 1, just like Kieran’s other series. At first I thought it would just be the story of Ally’s rise back to popularity, so I was ready for pretty much a lot of fluff. However, I was surprised to find out that this novel isn’t all just fluff — it’s actually quite deep. It was more than just a story of a formerly popular girl trying to regain her popularity. In fact, Ally didn’t really try to gain it back. We see how much Ally has grown up and keeps on growing up as the book goes by, and it’s good to see that in a character. What used to be all about money for her is different now that she’s on the other side of the fence. She saw and felt how it was to be a regular student in Orchard Hill, and she saw how she could be so mean when she was a part of the rich clique. I’m glad that Ally wasn’t written to pine after her old status, because I feel that’s too used already. It’s nice to read about a formerly popular character who wasn’t just all about popularity back then — in fact, I don’t think Ally ever complained about being unpopular. What she really wanted then was to have her friends back. Never mind the money or the popularity; she just wanted to be with the people she grew up with.

Of course, it wouldn’t be that easy. I think Kieran really knows about the various social standings inside an American high school because even I was intimidated and pissed off at the popular clique. I’ve read and watched these popular cliques on TV, but Kieran’s portrayal felt the most real I’ve read so far. What I really liked about the antagonists in the story is they’re not just against Ally because she left them. There were deeper issues under Ally’s abandonment, dealing with the repercussions of Ally’s dad’s actions and their effects to the other families. I was particularly intrigued with Chloe and Shannen. Chloe, Ally’s best friend, is equivalent to the good side of Blair Waldorf in Gossip Girl: she’s the princess everyone wants to protect, the one who ended up being almost like Ally’s friend. Then there’s Shannen, Ally’s partner-in-crime, who is the evil side of Blair: her issues with Ally run deeper than the others, and she was a hateful character, really…yet I wanted to get to know more about her. That’s the good part of the “villains” in this novel; they’re not just villains to go against Ally. They were there because they felt that Ally hurt them, and they are having a problem seeing through all the mess to remember their friendship with her. It’s also easy to just focus on one major antagonist for Ally, but all of them had personalities of their own, even the ones they call the Idiot Twins. Not only that, but they also had a personality as a group, which may or may not be the same as their own personalities. This is peer pressure in a clique demonstrated at its finest: when one moves, the other follows, and it takes someone really strong to break the pattern.

As for Jake Graydon…I liked him, but I felt there was something lacking in his narration that I can’t quite figure out. Jake is someone who seemed to be always caught in the middle, one who everyone wishes who would make the right choice and yet not make the right one. In a way, Jake is a typical male, and I hardly got to see what’s inside his head. Not that I mind that much, because Ally’s parts are always better. I hope I see more to his character in the sequel, though.

A sequel — yes. Apparently, this is going to be a trilogy. This better be, because it can’t just end where it ended — total cliffhanger! A word of warning to those who hate to be left hanging…you may want to stay away from this for now, but don’t. If you like YA/chick lit, you shouldn’t miss this one. It’s too good of a read not to recommend. :)

Rating: [rating=4]

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