2016 Reading Challenge: Ugly Love

Because I've yet to read a book by Colleen Hoover, so... I wasn't expecting much from the book and even if it has a 4.33 rating on Goodreads, I now know better than to keep my hopes up. I kinda already have an inkling that there would be plenty of sexy times but I wanted to know if it would be of the Rock Chick kind or more similar to Alice Clayton's Wallbanger.

Tate just moved in to his brother's apartment and living across his brother's unit lived a hot guy who also happened to be one of his brother's bros. Ang convenient, I like. Haha. So nothing really happened on the first night (nako ang mga characters sa YA/NA novels mas mabilis pa sa alas cuatro makadiga) but we already know Tate has the hots for the boy. Initially, it was more difficult to discern things from the boy's point of view since he's not revealing much, puro from six years ago yung nasa POV niya ng story. Well, from the POV six years ago, we knew that he still hasn't moved on from Rachel and thinks he's not capable of loving another but due to their undeniable attraction to each other hence the no-strings-attached chukchakan relationship.

What I liked in this book is, of course, the will-they-or-won't-they plot. We know Tate already likes Miles for real but given rule# 2 which is Don't expect a future, she's just getting what she can from their setup. Well, we also know Miles also likes Tate in that way because sometimes he slips up but when he catches himself, he clams up right away. So there's another reason why I was easily breezed through the book- I wanted to find out what ever happened to Rachel and why that huge of an impact on Miles's life.

Ugly Love is more like Wallbanger which I also liked. I'd rather have those gorgeous, abs-rocking, polite (well, mas polite kaysa sa mga Rock Chick boys) than those Rock Chick boys cos seriously with those boys, it's practically rape. Diba nga no means no? And sorry cos I think I'm biased since Dog the Bounty Hunter comes to mind when I think of Rock Chick and who wants a piece of that?? Aside from Beth anyway.

I totally get where Tate is coming from haha... I mean, choosy pa ba siya?

So three stars because I enjoyed it and it made me stay up until three in the morning so I could finish reading it. Initially gave it four stars but after comparing with my other four-star-books, I reckon it only deserves three. I liked it but I wasn't gushing about it afterwards. I was like, what to read next nuninuninu... I'm still three books behind schedule. Anyway, looks like I'm picking up another title by the author but maybe not this month.

Next on this list; Emery Lord's The Start of Me and You

2015 Reading Challenge: The Art of Lainey

Much better read than Transcendence. Thank God. Although hindi kasing-level ng favorite books ko and not worthy of a 4-star rating, I liked it nevertheless.

To cut the story short, popular high school soccer-star, Lainey Mitchell was dumped by equally hot and popular soccer-star boyfriend, Jason. Upon the suggestion of her best friend, Bianca, she uses Sun Tzu's The Art of War to win ze boyfriend back. They sought Micah's participation. While Micah wasn't exactly Lainey's type, we all kinda knew where this pretend stuff's leading to, yes? So yes, I enjoyed it. Thanks to Micah but not so much to Lainey. Why, you ask? Lainey comes off across as someone who's very self-assured bordering on narcissism, but to be fair to her she kind of calls herself on it towards the end.

The book's theme is somewhat appropriate to my situation now but alas, not in the "love" department. We're moving locations again and I'm considering this as a new business venture and The Art of War may also be used in the business setting and those little Sun Tzu snippets sort of reminded me that I am not prepared for the move. Guess I have to go read my copy and win the battle I'm fighting.

Soooo... my favorite character in the book is, obviously, Micah. Of course, mohawk boy has his own issues but deep down, he's a real softy.

Micah in my mind
{image credits}

O diba ang cute niya? But guys with mohawks, piercings and tattoos aren't really my type and even if one shouldn't judge books by its covers, we judge anyway. I judge them anyway. So, Micah I like and if he does look like that mohawk boy above, bongga si Lainey. Cos if Lainey looks like that girl on the cover of the book, lugi si Micah. Hahaha.

Anyhoo, just found out that this book actually has a prequel, Infinite Repeat, told from Micah's POV and I'm dying to read it. Micah said Lainey's totally not his type but I hope a little Lainey-crush is hiding somewhere there during his Amber days.

So three stars for the book. I hope to encounter more of these stories. Ang babaw ko talaga.

2015 Reading Challenge: My Name is Memory

Book reco by my cousin who noticed my propensity for books with uber-frustrating storylines. I reckon I needed a break from my usual YA reads and though, technically, My Name Is Memory sort of also belongs to the YA section given the ages of our characters, it still was a different kind.

Did I like it? Hmm... I'd say not so much. At first I found it boring, slow. Got bored on Daniel's retelling of his and Lucy's past- how he was miserable for a kagillion years- and it just goes on and on from North Africa to Pergamum to the Belgian Congo and so on and so forth. I was like, 'Okay, I get it. You're miserable.' These parts reminded me of Before Ever After (which I didn't like very much). I suppose these retellings were necessary, but did it have to be sooooo tedious?

So I took a break and read Winger then got back on MNIM and thankfully, things were faster-paced this time. I think this was at 72%. Just imagine- 3/4 of the book was a snoozefest. The remaining 28% was interesting enough for me to finish it today but man, I wasn't a fan of that ending. With that kind of ending, I thought the author's definitely going to publish a sequel but after seeing that this was published five years ago, maybe not.

I just wished the author extended Marnie's brother's exposure here. Actually, I would have liked it better if he turned out to be present-day-Joaquim. That even without the ability to recognize souls, Lucy's and present-day-Joaquim's are still intertwined and eventually, Daniel will join the cast. Hindi yung bigla na lang susulpot si Joaquim. Felt that was too abrupt. The story also reminds me a little of a short story I made for our Phil Lit class in high school- masyadong mopey.

This wasn't a frustrating love story. It was annoying. All that eklavu and no ending? Irita. I just watched Love, Rosie last night and that my friend, is how you do frustrating. I am definitely going to read the book.

2015 Reading Challenge: Dear Girls Above Me

Done with my fifth book for 2015- huzzah! I'm on a roll. I must reach my quota this year- 50 books in 52 weeks- at kailangan ko ng pondo cos I'm sure all reading activities will be on hold the fourth quarter of the year as you know I'll be busy with bazaars and orders.

So. Dear Girls Above Me, I can't even remember how exactly I knew of this book but definitely not on Goodreads. Either I stumbled upon it on of those book blogs or while I was killing time in National Book Store. Read the blurb, it caught my fancy et voila!

Funny story of Charlie's everyday life living with two noisy albeit entertaining girls. Charlie thinks he could hear these girls loud and clear due to some architectural design or flaw... whatever... but then again maybe these girls are just really loud. But then again they're entertaining in a bimbo-ish kind of way but still funny, right? And he wouldn't have the material he needed for his Twitter and his book, riiiight? The girls also seem nice. Yun lang, are they still friends with Charlie even after the publication of this book? I'd definitely take offense of this book if I were on of those girls because, HELLO! my bimbo-ness and whorish ways were sort of brought out into the open for the entire world to read. But then again the book's "inspired by a true story" so maybe Cathy and Claire weren't actual depiction of the girls who lived above his unit- or sana he could've just issued an all persons fictitious disclaimer. Haha!

3 of out 5 stars. Fun read but what I'm looking for right now is kilig. Ha.

2014 Book Challenge: The Beginning of Everything

After the reading slump (which I blame on Finding June), I am actually thankful for the power outage last week because finally I had time to catch up with my reading. It was also a good thing that I got to charge my Kindle just a day before the three-day blackout.

Cassidy Thorpe reminds me of that broken girl in one of Katie McGarry's novels, Eleanor from Eleanor & Park and Summer in the movie 500 Days of Summer. She's this quirky, pretty girl who's in a world of her own. She's described as redheaded so I don't what is it with these red-headed girls and why are most of them seem like broken? Is being "damaged" a stereotype on redheads, just like blondes are being stereotyped as ditzy.

The story, however, reminds me of that Julia Montes movie- A Moment in Time. [SPOILER ALERT] Boy meets girl. They fall in-like. One character discovers that this one tragic event in his/her life was caused by the object of his/her affection. Enters existential crisis/ guilty mode phase. Only the book and the movie had different endings. The movie had a happy ending (as what is typical of a local love story movie), while the book didn't. Well, we could say that in the book we could apply the ol' cliché "Everything happens for a reason" because if it weren't for Cassidy, Ezra would still be sulking in his room and feeling sorry for himself.

If I were to judge American teens based on this book (and other YA books I've read), I think I can deduce that high school is one big act. I can't quite relate because in my experience, friends I have since high school are some of the best ones I have until now. Well, Ezra's experience helped him know who his real friends are and I think he remained friends with them even until after graduation. But you know what I mean, why hang out with people you don't really jive with? In fairness to Ezra, he wouldn't know that his jock friends and cheerleader girlfriend were the of fair-weather kind.

So yeah, it was indeed the beginning of everything that was real in his life- at least for the moment. He he he. I give it three stars.