2013 Book Challenge 42/35: How My Summer Went Up in Flames

When Rosie found out her boyfriend, Joey, was cheating on her, she went to his house, burned the mementos of their relationship in his front yard which accidentally caused Joey's car caught fire. The result- a restraining order saying that Rosie could not be anywhere near Joey and that there be no any form of communication between them. But Rosie wants him back and she feels the need to explain to him what really happened (that she didn't set his car on fire intentionally) but that is against the restraining order; so, the parental units let her go on a road trip to Alabama with three boys- Matty, the boy next-door who obviously has the hots for Rosie and two boys who, until the day they left for the road trip, were complete strangers.

I get that Rosie's parents want her to stay out of (legal) trouble but letting your daughter go on a road trip with complete strangers? At least they should have let his younger brother come, right? So they trust Matty but what if in the event that Spencer and Logan (that's their names) aren't pure of heart, Matty may not be able to protect her. So maybe I'm just paranoid. I guess her parents must have done some background check on the boys or something. Well, my "greatest fear" didn't happen and Logan and Spencer are actually nice boys.

Obviously, a love triangle was bound to happen among Rosie, Matty and one of the two brothers. Although at first I was sure it would be between Matty and Logan, there were moments where Spencer might have been a contender. We know right from the start that Matty likes Rosie but she doesn't feel the same way about him and when Logan entered the picture, super etchapwera na si Matty. It was an entertaining read, only I felt that Rosie and Logan's relationship started a little abruptly. At first, they were always fighting and there weren't even sweet moments between them and then suddenly they just realized they were into each other?

It wasn't really that swoonable and after reading all of Rainbow Rowell's books, certainly I found this lacking although not bad ;)

2013 Book Challenge 42.5/35: This Is A Love Story

Does a re-read count in the total read books in a year?

Inspired by the last movie I watched, She's The One, I immediately started reading my favorite love story, Jessica Thompson's This Is A Love Story. First read the book February this year and finished it in record time- two days! I literally spent two (actually, more like one and a half) days reading it. I knew I wanted to reread it but not this soon; however, the movie made me want to 'relive' the frustration, ergo, the re-read.

So the all-encompassing emotion in this book is frustration. FRUSTRATION. I felt it the first time I read the book and I felt it again the second time. The frustration was never mitigated. I was actually telling myself (Ha. I really sound pathetic, don't I?) that if loving feels like that (ie. frustrating), then I think I am lucky enough to have enough felt it. If by living it vicariously by reading this book it already feels taxing, what more if you experience it first-hand? Parang I want to say, "No, thank you."

Am I the only person I know who likes frustrating storylines? If you are just like me and is into frustrating, secret crushes and time-traveling husbands, I highly recommend that you read this book ☺

"You know... loving someone that much and having, well, to pack it away into a little box and pretend it isn't there."

Update Time!

I noticed that most of my posts are all about the books I've read and there's nothing about what's happening in my life and while there's really nothing of significance happening in it, allow me to bore you with the most mundane things.

First off, my favorite TV series have all premiered (except for Suburgatory). I was most excited about Hart of Dixie but I must say I am a tad bit disappointed with the first three episodes. First, there was no Jonah Breeland. I was so rooting for him and Zoe but look what Zoe lugged into Bluebell

The boyfriend, Joel, seemed very much like a nerd (not that I don't like nerds because I adore nerds but nerds who look like John Cusack, Shia LaBeouf or Dan Humphrey from GG Season 1) and as of now, he is not showing any signs of asshole-ness, but still the question is- WHERE IS JONAH BREELAND? Can we like break this two up and put Jonah in the scene? I am so itching to find out what ever happened between Zoe and Jonah over the course of five months in New York City, what ever happened during that night after the wedding. I need to know ASAP. But all I could do is wait, albeit impatiently.

And gaahd, do not get me started on George Tucker. During the latter parts of the second season, I was already iffy if my vote is still on George (because Wade really seemed to like Zoe and he's sort of growing on me (but I still think the abs did it for me LOL) and Jonah is charming and cute) but I feel that my loyalty is with George and I am the only person I know who's rooting for him. I guess I didn't love him unconditionally. I was against his relationship with Tansy and I am definitely against whatever it is he has with this Linley. Right now, George Tucker has lost my vote. I am definitely rooting for Jonah, 100% percent.

How I Met Your Mother is, as usual, very funny and never fails to pick me up on a bad day. However, it's impending end makes me sad. It always happens with series I love- you can't wait for it to end so you'll know how it'll end up but when the end is near, you don't want it to end just yet. I do not feel the same with New Girl. I am disappointed with the first few episodes and I am so bored with what's happening in that show. Now that Jessica and Nick are an item, there's nothing to look forward to. I dunno...

Awkward. Now, this show has come back from hiatus and the continuation of its third season was kick-ass. It was a little expected but I didn't know it would be this soon. Come to think of it, Jenna has always had problems with being faithful. She cheated on Matty with Jake. She cheated on Jake with Matty. And now, she's cheating on Matty with Colin. Clearly, the girl has never been contented with what she has. I guess Sadie might be right on this one~ that Jenna could be a hideous skank. But then again, Colin is soo fine

ahjumma moment :P

Last season I never even liked Colin but after reading The Duff and thought of Colin as Wesley Rush, he suddenly becomes hot. Haha. Plus, although I found Matty cute before, this is how he looks like now

Now, don't you agree with me that Colin is so much hotter than Matty? Well, first it was Jake who suddenly didn't look cute and now, Matty. Matty, show your abs.. quick! Haha. Omigosh, I am officially an ahjumma. But still, Colin's hotness doesn't justify Jenna's cheating. I am so excited for the next episode ☺

So now we're done with my series. Oh, I joined a bazaar in a mall first week of October and I just recovered my rent for the space. I don't know if I'd join their next bazaars being that I never ROI. I really thought this time would be better since it's nearer Christmas and people might be in the mood to shop for gifts already. Well I was wrong. People still aren't buying for Christmas gifts and there was typhoon in the metro at the time and I was feeling under the weather. But I was able to give out my cards so I just hope I'll get orders from those two stints.

By the way, a leasing manager is interested in giving me a space in a mall. I don't know. I don't think I'm ready yet and I don't know if I can pull off a mall space. Mall rent is helluva expensive, for one, and I need to pay someone to man the shop. Personally, I don't think this is possible given my financial state and my sister and I are more interested in doing consignment deals where there is no overhead expenses. However, my mom thinks I should do it. Sabi niya she'd help me but I'm just very skeptical right now and knowing my mother, if I remind her about helping me on this one, moral support na naman ibibigay sa'kin nun.

I've been feeling very lethargic and a little down in the dumps recently. I don't know if the hormones are to blame or the meds. I am usually happy at this time of the year because I love love love Christmas. I love hearing Christmas songs on the radio and the smell of tinsels. I don't what is it with this year that I do not feel the same. I hope by next month I feel better. I was thinking nga maybe I should visit tumblr more often again for inspiration, be positive shizz. Speaking of tumblr, I got this in my email last week

Wow that was already five years!?! Amazing. I started tumblr when only very, very few people were into it. I love tumblr and love it more than Pinterest and I have so much to be thankful for it because it is where I get my feel-good shizz from. So baka nagpaparamdam lang si tumblr, alam niya na medyo down ako ngayon kaya sabi niya, 'Hi, andito lang ako.' Haha.

{source}

Stop comparing where you're at with where everyone else is. It doesn't move you farther ahead, improve your situation, or help you find peace. It just feeds your shame, fuels your feelings of inadequacy, and ultimately, it keeps you stuck. The reality is that there is no one correct path in life. Everyone has their own unique journey. A path that's right for someone else won't necessarily be a path that's right for you. And that's okay. Your journey isn't right or wrong, good or bad. It's just different. Your life isn't meant to look like anyone else's because you aren't like anyone else. You're a person all your own with a unique set of goals, obstacles, dreams and needs. So stop comparing and start living. You may have not ended up where you intended to go. But trust, for once, that you have ended up where you needed to be. Trust that you are in the right place at the right time. Trust that your life is enough. Trust that you are enough. -- Daniell Koepke

I seriously should stop checking Facebook all the frickin' time because the yabang people are getting to me. I was with a friend last week and we were talking about yesteryears and our lives today. I told her that I may have regretted a lot of things I have done or haven't done but I have never regretted not pursuing the law degree. Maybe just once when all my friends and classmates were graduating law school and passing the bar, but after that not anymore. Maybe this time I'm just thinking too much. I should stop thinking too much and start working. But I feel so weak and bloated and lethargic. Maybe I should start exercising. That'd be like hitting two birds with one stone- I'd lose some weight and when I exercise I'd produce endorphins and endorphins will make me happy. Ergo, I will zumba tomorrow. No excuses, okay?

So yesterday I watched a movie with mommy. Usually I do not go with my mommy because almost always, we end up bickering about the most walang kwenta things like commercials on TV or opposing opinions about just about anything. Well, I was feeling sad nga and I needed a pick-me-upper and what better pick-me-upper than watching a movie. I did pay for it pero keri lang, libre naman ni mommy ang merienda-cena. So we watched She's The One. First and foremost, ang ganda ng skin ni Bea. Second, kudos to finally having a nose job because she looks so much better now. Her schnoz used to bug me big time (I have ugly schnoz, uglier than her then-schnoz, but then again I am not on TV) and I really wanted her to get a nose job and finally she did. Yay! Now she looks so much prettier and I do not get distracted by her nose anymore.

Regarding the movie... it was pretty okay, nice. Alam mo bilib talaga ako sa Star Cinema movies. After TGIS, I never really liked Dingdong Dantes but this movie made me not not like him. Feeling ko mas may future siya sa ABS or GMA needs to hire better writers (with dramas with titles such as Yesterday's Bride, they definitely need new writers). The movie was a little bit cheesy and there was this part where it got super cheesy that I almost puked. That was the part where Enrique Gil met the girl in the rain aka Bea after posting his plea online. If I were the girl, sobrang mako-kornihan ako. Ang jeje no. Anyway, being a story about best friends who were secretly in love with each other (sadyang dense lang sila), I am reminded right away of my Sienna+Nick story, so I am now re-reading This Is A Love Story.

It was a nice story. Medyo cliché but I guess everything's a cliché nowadays.

Just a an update on something new: AC, AD and I ate at this new Mexican restaurant in Kapitolyo- Silantro. Because I love silantro (wansoy) and I love love love its smell- I enjoyed the food tremendously

nachos with lotsa cheese!!

pork ribs. ribs talaga.

burrito

All with silantro dip. Nom nom  nom~

And on that note, I bid you adieu ♥ Here's wishing to a better tomorrow!

2013 Book Challenge 41/35: Fangirl

{image via Goodreads}

Because my experience with the first two Rainbow Rowell books was SOOO GOOD, I just had to read her last existing book as of the moment which is Fangirl. Actually after Attachments, I was deciding between this title and Eleanor & Park on which to read next. More raved about Fangirl so I saved the best for last. I loved it just the same just not with the same intensity as Attachments and E&P, so I gave it only 4 stars. I guess I forgot to throw my expectations out the window before I started reading. Or, I just got super bored on the Simon and Baz parts.

I know, I know... the Simon and Baz angle of the story actually has its own following but personally, I got bored reading those parts. It's like, I want to know NOW what's happening with Cath and Levi and not what is happening with Simon and Baz's love life. Snippets (which should be very short, imo) of the Simon Snow story are okay but please not that lengthy. Like for example, there's this part where Cath is reading snippets of fan fiction to Levi and something's happening (sounds pervy, I know, but it's so not like that LOL). Not something like a tangible thing, but something as in something happening in the moment. Argh. So hard to explain.

What I really really like about Rainbow Rowell's books is that relationships develop over a period of time. Sure, there was attraction-at-first-sight but they didn't act on it right away. I loved how the story builds up to that moment of Cath and Levi's first kiss, like you have been waiting for it to happen for forever and finally the moment is here and then your life is changed forever. Haha. Wala lang, affected lang talaga ako. But seriously, I liked the fact that the characters got to know each other first by being friends or in their case, her roommate's best friend which makes him her friend. There was no wanting to jump each other's bones at first sight. There was no I've-loved-you-since-we-were-three-years-old either. I liked that.

And Levi. Okay, I was a little bothered with his receding hairline (at 21!) but that boy is so nice that I have decided to accept him, receding hairline and all. If Paula Cole wants to know where have all the cowboys gone, I seriously want to know where have all the nice boys gone. Are nice boys like unicorns (mythical, never really existed) or just dodo birds (have gone extinct)? Well Levi might have had his momentary lapse in judgment at one point but he is only human and he did redeem himself, right? If I were to judge Levi in comparison to all the YA teenage/adolescent boys, he is way far better than the most of them. He's right there with Marcus Flutie, Park and Nick.

I am done with all Rainbow Rowell books, now what? Her next book doesn't come out until June of next year and I seriously need an awesome book to distract me from the wait.

2013 Book Challenge 40/35: Eleanor & Park

It's been a few hours after I was done reading Eleanor & Park and somehow I still find myself wanting to cry. Oh yes I am that affected. I enjoyed Attachments TREMENDOUSLY and although against my will (and that is because I needed to do an awful lot of grown-up things to do like work and, seriously, starting a really good book won't let you do that), I picked up another book from the same author (Rainbow Rowell). Thank God for the down time while manning my booth and also that whole day I got sick so staying in bed the entire day and reading was justifiable, I got to finish another awesome awesome read.

{goodreads}

Honestly, if I have never picked up Attachments, I would never had attempted reading this. I judge books by their covers and this cover doesn't make me want to pick it up and read it. Plus, Goodread's blurb goes like this~

Set over the course of one school year in 1986, ELEANOR AND PARK is the story of two star-crossed misfits – smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try. When Eleanor meets Park, you’ll remember your own first love – and just how hard it pulled you under.

What first love?  Unfortunately (or fortunately), this 30-something manang didn't have a first love and there was no pulling under whatever ever happened. So okay, I do read these YA books because we aim to live vicariously but the blurb just didn't make me want to read it. Basta thank God I did because then I would have missed out on this super awesome book.

Set in 1986. Eleanor met Park in a school bus and the their first meeting wasn't pleasant at all. Because Eleanor looked weird, Park tried to steer clear of her at first- he didn't want to share his bus seat with her, didn't want to talk to her, didn't want to have anything to do with her- to avoid being made fun of or bullied. Being the only Asian in school, Park already felt different and he didn't want to further complicate things by having the "wrong" associations. But something happened during the course of sharing a seat of an hour-long bus ride.

"He tried to remember how this happened- how she went from someone he'd never met to the only one who mattered."

 You see, this is what I love in stories such as this (and This Is A Love Story), love that has slowly developed into something beautiful. I happen to like love-at-first-sight stories, so what I sort of frown upon is how teenage couples in most YA reads are so sexually active and at times, promiscuous. With the exception of The Duff because I really liked that one. But you see the beauty of how their relationship evolved, that it's not just about sex, baby.

For Eleanor, I have the girl from Brave in mind. The Brave girl may not be fat but I guess it's the hair. I can't think of any peg for Park because I seriously cannot imagine a half-Korean guy with green eyes. I think of my Hallyu crushes and I really put a face or at least borrow a face for my Park. I usually have a vivid imagination but I really cannot imagine an Asian guy with green eyes. My imagination has been challenged.

Park. Seriously, I should stop crushing on fictional characters. Actually, someone told me I should stop reading romance novels/ love stories because they are ruining reality for us. WHAT? You mean there are no nice guys in real life? But you see, I really really REALLY want a nice guy like Nick (TIALS) or Lincoln (Attachments) or Park. Props to Park's Korean mom for raising such a nice boy. Nice, cute and unassuming.

{via Siminiblocker.com}
one of the best art work based on the book ♥

Eleanor has legit reasons to sulk her life away. Her biological father isn't much of a father, her mother is putting up with the abuses from his stepfather and her stepfather is a drunkard who lusts after her and writes inappropriate things in her books. None of those "I want freedom" angst (I am referring to you, Bailey Gray, ranting about your college scholarship and that your mother buys your underwear. Bailey, Eleanor doesn't have and can't even afford a toothbrush, for crying out loud!). You can see how Park became a big part in her life, how he became the sunshine after the storm.

"Nothing was dirty. With Park.
Nothing could be shameful.
Because Park was the sun, and that was the only way Eleanor could think to explain it."

"Ever since the first day they'd met, Eleanor was always seeing him in unexpected places. It was like their lives were overlapping lines, like they had their own gravity. Usually, that serendipity felt like the nicest thing the universe had ever done for her."

and he was always there for her. He never intended to be her hero, he just did what he thought he had to do. I love him and his family for how they were to her. This time, I think I understand why she was clinging to him like that. And it wasn't even the annoying kind of clinging. You see, words really aren't enough to relate my experience while reading this book. Usually I do not think highly of young loves but with this one, I did. Omigaaahd, especially the last few chapters of the book- I was already crying.

Universe, how could you split up this adorable couple? Why why why!?!?

'I just can't believe that life would give us to each other,' he said, 'and then take it back.'
'I can,' she said. 'Life's a bastard.'

This story, I can imagine how it could affect you until old age, unless you meet another great love, hehe. Three year olds falling in love with each other, that I will never ever get in a million years. But this, omigaaaah, this is beautiful. I really am super affected. Plus, that it's sort of an open-ended ending and those three words could be anything. I'd like to believe it's "I love you," but it could also be, "I am sorry."

"He'd stopped trying to bring her back. She only came back when she felt like it anyway, in dreams and lies and broken-down deja-vu."

this is me after finishing the book, only with tears in my eyes

 P.S. Please throw all expectations out the window to fully appreciate. Remember, expectation is the root of all disappointments.

2013 Book Challenge 39/35: Attachments

So cute. Reminds me so much of This Is A Love Story which happens to be also one of my favorite books, but still it's entirely different. It's also frustrating but not as frustrating as TIALS so no it didn't make me want to throw the book (and I wouldn't since I am reading it on my Kindle). It's very entertaining and fun and of course, nakakakilig. So I really really loved the story and relatable- they're the same age-ish as me! A deviation from my usual YA reads and guess what, they're not as horny as those teens.

Makes you wonder if guys like Lincoln exist in real life. I super want my own good guy like Lincoln or that lead male character in About Time. I seriously don't know why girls are attracted to the bad boy types. I never liked bad boys. Actually, I think my types eventually turned out to be gays. Most of them. So is it time to throw in the towel and accept the probability of spinsterhood because even the boring, good guys do not like me. Haha. Going back... I'm crushing on Lincoln even if in my imagination he looks like Wreck-it Ralph. He's just so nice. I was rooting for him the entire time and I really wanted Beth to leave his boyfriend, Chris, judging from all the stories about him. However, there was this brief moment where Chris became this sweet and nice boyfriend to Beth and I wouldn't really want them to break up (just so she could be with Lincoln) plus, he reads her movie reviews everyday. But then that was just momentary.

Beth and Jennifer are funny. If I were in Lincoln's place, I would also read their emails. They are hilarious. It'll be just like reading a funny person's blog only it's not. Gosh, I found myself laughing every now and then over their email thread exchanges and I do not care whether or not the lady sitting next to me finds me weird cos I'm laughing all by myself.

Here's my favorite part- Lincoln likes Beth and Beth likes Lincoln back. Well, maybe Beth doesn't like-like Lincoln that much at first, she just thinks he's cute. I just want them to be together because they'd be so perfect for each other because really, they liked each other without knowing that they liked each other. Actually, alam pala ni Lincoln. But still he didn't make a move on her because there is a boyfriend in the scene. Well, even if there was no boyfriend, he is too shy to take the first step. Gaahd, all those kilig moments~

Just. Like. This.

There was a time when I thought that this book wasn't going to end well for Lincoln but it still did and at the time he expected it the least. Actually, if Beth hadn't done what she did, they'd probably wouldn't end up together. To which I say, for everything there is a season.

I give five stars ☺ Man, I really am a sucker for secret crushes. Maybe because that is the story of my life. Hoho.

P.S. I am SOOOO tempted to start Fangirl (also by Rainbow Rowell). I think I need an intervention.

2013 Book Challenge 38/35: Waiting for You

Alternate title: So So So Scandalous. Oh yes, the prude in me is alert alive awake and enthusiastic. A lot of 'sexy times', if you know what I mean, but very serious ha, unlike The Duff which is also heavily-sexed up but fun. Well, this is medyo serious stuff which I think they're too young for.

I may have said this before but I just do not get it when three year olds fall in love, like, for realzzz. I can't even remember what happened when I was three, what more romantic feelings towards someone.

I loved you then, you know that, right? We were only three but I loved you then.

My three year old nephew barely even knows how to construct one coherent sentence and I swear maloloka ako pag sinabi niyang in love na siya. And what's more nakakaloka is that these supposed young love has affected these two, Dylan and Bailey, until their adolescent years. Bakit?? How much impression would a fellow three year old have on your life? So really there have been lots of books where this happens and seriously, I just don't get it.

So I get it, Bailey hates her life. She feels like a puppet and her parents are the one pulling the strings. She can't even choose what underwear to wear so I guess it's really easy to feel suffocated in such a set up. But she's already 17, 18 and off to college, meaning living in a dorm, away from her parents and free to do whatever she pleases and if that includes Dylan, so be it. Another thing I do not get is letting go of the opportunity to pursue higher learning in photography which is what she really wants to do. She has endured seventeen years of manipulation, what's three more months? I guess nauna ang tawag ng laman. Haha.

With Dylan, gets ko pa ang angst niya. His mother was killed by the next-door neighbor, his father isn't much of a father to him and his brother ran away. But you see, I just don't get it why these people choose to self-destruct. Well, maybe not in Dylan's case because he turned out okay. Marami lang siyang issues but he really just a free-spirited artist who just goes whereever the wind takes him. There was an opportunity for him to pursue college but he didn't take it as well but then again it wasn't him who applied for that scholarship.

Another thing, why is one's virginity an issue? So I'm still shocked how these teenagers are very makamundo whilst still very, very young, but why is there a stigma to those who haven't done it yet. Actually, it's weird because if you've done it, you're a slut and people who haven't yet, are so atat to get rid of it. So one of the items in Bailey's summer bucket list is to lose it to Dylan. What's funny is that she (and Dylan) still consider herself innocent when they have practically done everything except "it." Innocent and pure mo mukha mo.

It still is a cute love story just with very angsty and horny teens. Keeps you wanting to know what happens next and why Dylan is holding up on Bailey, nyahaha. Currently reading Attachments by Rainbow Rowell and I swear it is going to have a five-star rating from me. Ending this now so I can get back to the awesome book.

Some people who believe eighteen is young are the same people 

who think true love doesn't happen that young. They don't believe

there's a love strong enough to last through tragedy.

[I am that person. Ha.]

2013 Book Challenge 37/35: Stealing Parker

Omigosh, read this one in record time! I started it Sunday night and I was done with it Monday night. That's fast. Maybe for some, a day or two is just enough to finish a book but for me, that is a feat. I consider myself a slow reader.

I liked this better than Chasing Jordan, the first book I read by Miranda Kenneally. These book heroines, they're always intelligent and beautiful. Can't they write something with a normal-looking girl who still gets the guy? So yeah, that's just me complaining. Whatever.

Parker is this pretty, smart (she's the valedictorian), sporty (she's one of the best softball players in campus) girl who has just recently underwent a life-changing event which was her mother leaving them for another woman. That alone is already distressing and tough for a 17 year old, add to that the ridicule she and her family get in church. This totally reminds me of Amanda Bynes in Easy A

And to make matters worse, her bestfriend Laura is one of the those people who ridicule her. But who cares about Laura when you have hot guys with sexy abs as your friends, right? Well, maybe except for his best boy friend, Drew, who turned out to be gay. But you get my drift- who needs an insecure bitch for a friend when you're surrounded by hot guys? Mamatay silang lahat sa inggit. Haha. But kidding aside, she should be thankful for the "scandal" because she was able to weed out the fair-weather friend. Drew has been a good friend but of course later in the book we find out what his Achilles' heel is.

This is the second book I've read this year wherein the mother left her family in search of her own happiness. My sister understands this wholly, while I do not. My sister is also pro-divorce. I am not. She says why punish people by not granting them freedom to get out of a situation they're not happy with. I get that but sometimes there are other factors to consider such as collateral damage- when there are kids involved. I think that before you think of your own happiness, consider your children's happiness first. You can at least talk to them before just exiting from their lives or wait a little longer until they're older and (maybe) more understanding of the situation. Look what happened to Ryan as a result of the mom leaving.

So mabalik tayo sa hot boys and a hot teacher. Let's talk about the hot teacher first. Brian, the 23-year-old assistant coach for the baseball team, may be the adult but what man would resist when a beautiful, hot and young girl is practically throwing herself at him

Parker started it. She kissed him first. He resisted her advances. He gave in eventually, though. But you see, he's only human and maybe a bit of a perv but still he's like just six years older than her and if she were 25 and he's 31, it's perfectly okay. But then again she's only 17 so it's not. But I guess he also kind of encouraged her by flirting. So it was nakakakilig at first when it's just harmless flirting but when they their relationship advanced into something physical, he became scary demanding more than what Parker is willing to give. So kahit gaano pa siya ka-pogi, he automatically became this creepy old guy taking advantage of a young girl.

Before it was confirmed that Drew is actually gay, I thought he may have feelings for Parker and he was interested in her and just didn't want to spoil their friendship because that's what almost always happens, right? Plus, I thought Drew confided in Will (Corndog) that he likes Parker which made Will tell her not to hurt Drew's feelings. That is why I really really thought Drew liked Parker. Turns out it was Will/Corndog who Drew was interested with which is not-so-good news for Parker who started to liked Will. It's complicated talaga. Haha. I momentarily hated Drew for hating Parker for liking Will. I mean, what if she really likes Will and Will also likes her, does she stop liking Will who also likes her back just because of Drew even if Will is not interested in Drew in any way? Unfair lang.

I gave it four stars because I liked-liked it. I super enjoyed reading it and I really liked Parker. And Will.

2013 Book Challenge 36/35: The Moon and More

The third Sarah Dessen book for the year. Gosh, am I in a roll. Reading books is both a good and a bad addiction. Good because when is it ever not good to pick up and read a book? NEVER. I actually regret that I started late. But it is also bad because once I have started one, consider me useless. And the worst part is I am not a fast reader so it could pretty take up most of my time. When I completed my goal of 35 books this year, I vowed to only read books when I actually have free time, meaning only when in long lines or waiting for someone or something. Well, I wasn't able to keep my part of the bargain because I just finished two more books. Though I have an excuse for that- I've had this recurring, debilitating headache for two days, so I had time.

Not my favorite Dessen book but I enjoyed it still. Sarah Dessen's books are not only just about teenage crush/love, they're also about other problems teens undergo such as parents' divorce, school, dealing with death, etc. Though I have nothing against cutie patootie love stories such as Meant to Be (remember, I live for the kilig, ha!).

Another thing I am not very happy about Dessen books, the characters' names. In Lock & Key, there's Ruby and Cora. Here, it's Emaline. Trivial, I know.

So it's Emaline's last summer before she goes to college. She's lived seventeen years of her life almost the same day in, day out and for the summer, she wants to spice it up a little. She overhears tourists' conversations and thinks her life is boring compared to theirs. As they say, be careful what you wish for, you just might get it and in Emaline's case she did. Although she wanted something different, she didn't really planned for.

First issue: the father. I really hate it when people do not reply to my messages be it text messages, emails or PMs. I mean, please have the courtesy to acknowledge receipt, diba? I hate it when people make me deadma. With Emaline's case, her father sort of ignored her graduation invitation, wasn't even there, didn't even bother to send her a congratulatory message and what's worse, he left her high and dry regarding her Columbia application.

Riight??

So I really really hate her father for being a tight ass and I don't think his jerkiness is because of Emaline because he is also like that to Benji who is only ten years old. She realized that her father's attitude towards her has actually nothing to do with her, it's just the way he is.

Second: boy troubles. In most of the YA books I've read, the new boy is always the better choice, the better guy. So when Theo entered the scene and we found out that Luke sort of cheater on Emaline, I thought that Theo would be the one. But eventually, he became this annoying guy who gives everything an annoying title. Meanwhile, while I was first annoyed with Luke in the beginning because he was always shirtless and it seems that he likes the attention he gets from being shirtless, he eventually came around and showed his sweet, non-jerkface self. I was sort of vying that Luke and Emaline get back together but I guess it's better that they decided to be just friends as of the moment.

I may have not liked Emaline's name but she is a likable person. Another character I loved was Benji. Seriously, who would not like Benji? He's really sweet that Emaline has been endeared to his little brother even if she wasn't planning on it in the beginning. Even if her father was a big disappointment, the good thing she got from him was Benji. If Columbia had pushed through, it would've been Benji and Columbia, but Columbia fell by the wayside so it's just Benji.

I gave it three stars. I liked it but I didn't like- like it. If I liked-liked it, I'd give it four stars and five stars if I loooved it. So although I enjoyed reading it, I just liked it; ergo, the three-star rating.

"Life is long. Just because you don't get your chance right when you want or expect it doesn't mean it won't come. Fate doesn't punch a time clock or consult a schedule."