Long weekend.. yes!!

Listening to: Take Off - 2PM
Feeling: Content

Ah, the long weekend. Finally. Waking up every school day at 6:30am was starting to take its toll on me. But thankfully, the weekend is here so I can catch up on sleep. Last night, I went to the night market with some friends and watched a cosplay fashion show. Some of the cosplays were really awesome. I really liked one who did cosplay of a character from Pandora Hearts and wielded this really cool red scythe. Another that I loved was Snow Villiers from FFXIII. There were some singing performances that I didn't like as much, but it was kinda cool that I could name some of the songs that they sang. There was a trivia thing going on where you could win tickets and I was tempted to go up, but I was worried that I wouldn't know the answers, so I didn't bother. Unfortunately, the questions were generally pretty easy such as, "What is the color of Charizard?" and "Who is the main character from Dragonball Z?" The girl who went up got the first question but was unable to answer the second, which resulted in me banging my head against KS' shoulder repeatedly. 

In between shows, we went around the stalls and bought some stuff. I stopped at this stall that sold really cool necklaces. Coincidentally, I was wearing a very similar style of necklace because my awesome sister had gotten it for me overseas, but I bought another necklace that had the eiffel tower on it.  

I also had for the first time, a potato hurricane stick. There were several seasonings you could choose such as Salt & Ketchup, Salt & Vinegar, Korean Spicy, White Cheese, Cheddar Cheese etc. But as a big fan of ketchup and potatos, that's what I chose. Eating it wasn't as hard as I thought. All you had to do was to kind of peel it away from the spiral. And had a red bean taiyaki, which is a japanese fish-shaped pastry, which was pretty good.

So yeah, yesterday was pretty awesome. What should I do today? It's kinda cold and grey outside, so I settled for making some instant miso soup and curling up on the computer chair and wrote for my fanfic. Should probably be doing some bio textbook reading, but I'll do that later.

Book Review: Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children - Ransom Riggs

Published June 7 2011 by Quirk Books

Goodreads Description

A mysterious island.

An abandoned orphanage.

A strange collection of very curious photographs.

It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a deserted island for good reason. And somehow—impossible though it seems—they may still be alive.

I've always been intrigued by the cover of this book. It just wasn't something that I saw everyday and it wasn't until that I actually picked it up to read it did I discover that the girl was actually floating in the picture. I had originally thought that it was just some sort of shadow behind her. Anyways, I read the summary inside the book jacket and was immediately taken in by the mysterious wording that promised a good suspense read and it was.

Originally, when I read the brief description mentioning "family tragedy" and "journeying to a remote island", somehow I pictured Jacob Portman being stranded there by a mechanical failure of a sort, but it wasn't like that. Instead, the book started off with Jacob listening to his grandpa tell incredibly unbelievable stories that left him hanging for each word. Some of them spoke of an invisible boy, whose clothes that he wore were the only aspect of him that were visible. Others included a boy who had bees living in his stomach and whenever he opened his mouth, they would fly out. Naturally, they were just stories, right? With his grandpa's age, it was even harder to believe those old stories. But when an unexpected event occurs, Jacob starts to question whether or not they were some form of truth.

By piecing together small hints that his grandpa gave, Jacob eventually ends up on the island in his grandpa's stories. And there, he discovers the ruins of the old children's home, where his grandpa had once stayed. At first glance, it seemed impossible that anyone could live there. And when Jacob asked around, it turned out that that very spot had been the location of a bomb during World War II and all its residents had perished. And yet, there was something about that home that called to Jacob, which leads him to meet the peculiar children, who had somehow escaped the disastrous event and were still living, nearly 70 years later... at the age that they were during that day.

The writing had me hooked right away. Everything was so suspenseful that I had to know more. What added to the book were the photographs that were a little terrifying, yet intriguing. They showed some of the peculiar children, who had very interesting talents, such as the ability to float, the talent of manipulating fire and various other skills. The way the photographs were taken were striking too. There was an air of mystery in them that made me anticipate what the next photograph would be like.

As awesome as the writing was, I did find some of the plot to be rather confusing and I was unable to keep up with what was going on exactly. For the characters, there wasn't a particular character that I felt attached to, since there wasn't a lot of detail for each of them, other than their peculiar abilities. And because of that, I bumped it down a few notches. Nevertheless, it was an interesting read and the photographs were definitely worth looking at.

Source: Borrowed

Rating: 4 coffee cups (Enjoyed it immensely)

Thank god it's the weekend!

Listening to: Baby I'm Sorry - B1A4
Feeling: Content

After a long week full of midterms and exams, I'm so so glad that it's over. This weekend has been pretty great so far and I'm a little sad to see it end. On Friday, I met up with JL and we hung out at a local Chapters, where I got some books to fill my bookshelf. It was definitely great to see high school friends again! After some catching up on each other's lives, we called it a day and I prepared for the next day, where I had the honor of meeting Richelle Mead, one of my favorite authors! For authors that I really love, I usually stalk them both on Facebook, twitter and their respective blogs and I'm really glad that I did this week. Due to exams, I wasn't on as much and I nearly missed her announcement that she was coming to a nearby city to do a signing. I did a double-take when I read the news (only like 3 days prior the exam), but after some denial, I realized that it was actually happening!

So I got to the bookstore two and a half hours early to see that there were already like 10-15 people ahead of me in the lineup waiting to see her. Amazing, huh? According to the staff, the first few people had been waiting even before the store opened. The wait was rather uneventful, but I spent the time reading over my bio lab teaching script and finally, we got to see her in person! Richelle did a brief reading of The Golden Lily, her newest book (that was released last week and that I was super pumped to read) before doing a Q&A session and finally the signing.

Unfortunately, due to the number of people (like 200 or so), she was only able to sign 3 books per person, so out of the 8 books that I own (by her), I could only get 3 signed. A little disappointing but understandable. Oh well, hopefully she'll come back again soon.

During the lineup, they also had a spray tattoo artist, so I went and got one. Originally, I debated on whether or not I should have the golden lily tattoo on my right cheek (like the way Sydney, a character from the book, had hers), but then once I saw that it lasted 3-4 days, I changed my mind and had it on my arm instead. It looks pretty sweet!

It was quite entertaining to see that some of the hardcore fans had gotten official VA gear such as t-shirts, book bags and other stuff. Some of them had the Team Adrian Ivashkov or the Team Dimitri Belikov thing going on. I should probably do a review on The Golden Lily soon, since I have so much that I want to say about this book. And another review for this other book called Miss Peregrine's Home for Particular Children by Ransom Riggs.


I really really can't wait for this week because another book that I've been dying to read (Before I Wake by Rachel Vincent) is being released this week!! And I won a pre-order of a copy from the Soul Screamers Reading Challenge so I hope I can get it soon!

Another Sunday

Listening to: La Campanella - Liszt
Feeling: Tired

Not much was done today other than cleaning out my hamster's cage, reading some reviews, and making mac & cheese, which I offered to my dad (since it's Father's Day and all), but this was kind of how the conversation went:

Me: "I'm making mac & cheese right now, you want some?"
Dad: -looks at the cheddar, the parmensan, the butter and the milk that is added- "No thanks. There's like a billion calories in there. It's so high in fat." 
Me: "I have yet to discover a mac & cheese that isn't high in fat."

It turned out alright, but I'm not a huge fan of mac & cheese and since I haven't had it in a while, I forgot what it was like. 

Spent the rest of the day going through some old videos of the variety show, We Got Married (season 1, of course), and alternating between studying for my midterms and final. While biology isn't so bad, psych is definitely really boring. Especially since it's everything that we've been through already, so it's just a review of concepts. But as boring as it is, it's mandatory because my psych class ends in a few days (which I cannot emphasize my joy that it is over!).

My fanfic chapters seem to get longer and longer recently, but I guess it's probably because there's been a lot of stuff going on, so I wanted to throw them all in. And I'm very thankful that the response has been really awesome. Only about 9 or so more chapters to go before I can go onto my next project. :)

I can't wait for the 26th because Before I Wake (Soul Screamers #6) comes out that day and I'm gonna go buy it in between my classes!

 Image credit: Google

Novella Review: Never to Sleep - Rachel Vincent

 Published January 1, 2012 by Harlequin

Goodreads Description:

Don't Close Your Eyes.

Sophie Cavanaugh is not going to let her freak of a cousin's strange psychiatric condition ruin high school for them both. Not after all the work she's put into cultivating the right look, and friends, and reputation. But then, Sophie sees something so frightening she lets out a blood-curdling scream—and finds herself stuck in a bizarre parallel world where nothing is safe and deadly creatures lurk just out of sight, waiting for her to close her eyes and sleep...forever.

Could this world be real? Or does insanity run in the family...?

 

Never to Sleep is a novella by Rachel Vincent that takes place between the events in If I Die (Soul Screamers #5).

When I first realized who the narrator was, my initial reaction was that of someone biting into a sour lemon. "Why Sophie?" I kept wondering. After all, she was my least-liked character in the Soul Screamers universe. I even liked Avari, the hellion of avarice better than her. But I gave it some thought and realized that out of all the characters that have been introduced, Sophie's the only one that has been kept in the dark and how frustrating that must be. So what would Rachel come up?

The short story starts out Sophie's recreational activities, such as dancing and enjoying the life on top of the social ladder, however, a surprising turn of events appear shortly after she crashes into a handsome individual by the name of Luca and everything turns for the worst when Sophie and Luca landed into a realm of nightmares. You guessed it: They landed in the Netherworld.

So generally, we get to see Sophie's rude introduction to a parallel world where the majority of plants desperately wanted to feed on you. And where you can never shut your eyes if you wanted to live. Was "insanity" a hereditary gene that Sophie had gotten from her crazy cousin, Kaylee? She apparently seems to think so because there's no way that this was all real. But unfortunately, it is. And Sophie has to come with terms with that or else risk never returning to her world where the scariest thing was the jealousy of your friends who wanted to be the "queen" of the social ladder.

Generally, Sophie's personality doesn't change in the slightest during this novella. There were many times that I could recall gritting my teeth because her voice is so annoying. She is a self-centered, conceited brat who can think of no one but herself. She blames Kaylee for ruining her life just because she could. I felt quite sorry for Luca who was stuck with her because Sophie was probably one of the worst people you could get stuck with in a world whose inhabitants wanted to eat you. But at the same time, I was amazed with his ability to put up with her because surely, if it was me, I would not have been able to do that. If you took her annoying commentary aside, it was almost refreshing to see what Sophie thought of the Netherworld. We already knew (for the most part) what Kaylee felt whenever she went there, but from someone who knew absolutely nothing, it was a different feel.

What I quite enjoyed in this novella was the mention of a certain imporant event in If I Die that had me rejoicing because it was only a matter of time that it happened. I was also quite surprised by the outcome of the novella and what Sophie learns by the end of it. Maybe her relationship with Kaylee will change because of it. Either way, we'll find out in Before I Wake (Soul Screamers #6).

Source: Owned

My Rating: 4 coffee cups (Enjoyed it immensely)

Busy busy busy..

Listening to: The Immortals - Two Steps from Hell
Feeling: Normal

It's been a while since I last posted anything, but the past week has been rather busy and it didn't help that I had a small cold that lasted for the first half of the week. Worst timing ever, considering I had a psychology midterm on Monday, an important psychology paper due on Wednesday and my biology papers due on Tuesday. However, after that, my week went smoother and definitely less stressful. One point however that caused some stress to rise in the stress meter was the fact that I didn't realize that I had to do something called Research Participation for my psychology class. It's worth 6% of our grade and what you have to do is take part in a research study held by older students or teachers. The studies are mainly less than half an hour, and they give you 1% of the 6%. In other words, you have to do 6 of those studies. Or you could do one hour studies which give you 2%, one and a half hours which give you 3% and so forth, though they are rarer. And you had to sign up for those sessions. If you missed your appointment, you would have to pay back those credits that you would have gotten. So, I've spent the last week running to and from research participation studies. Since the class is an intersession course, our teacher told us just the other day that we had to finish by June 18. Thankfully, at the moment, I've gotten 4 out of 6 percent. Only two more to go (which I've already booked.. so I'm pretty much in the clear).


With a midterm the next week and more midterms and a final the week after, it's going to be busy soon. So I took some time to go out to eat with my dad this afternoon. And this is what I ate... Tonkatsu Teppanyaki!! 

I'm really looking forward to Tuesday, June 12th because The Golden Lily by Richelle Mead will be released! And somewhat luckily, I have a 4 hour gap between classes that day, so I'll be heading off to the mall's bookstore to buy it/read it. I've been waiting since the release of Bloodlines, the first book in the series and that last line there, as casual as it may be to the unsuspecting, was like a bomb. Seriously, I nearly threw the book at the wall because of that one line. And to think, the release of the second book is ALMOST HERE!!!!


Lastly, I wanted to write something regarding my fanfic. I'm super super thankful to everyone who reads it and encourages me to continue writing it, because I really do love writing it, and it pleases me to no end to know that there's someone out there who cares about my story. And thank you, KG, for letting me bounce ideas off of you and working with me through them. I'm always worried that I'm boring you to no end with my constant jabbering about writing and fanfiction. Chapter 21 is on its way. 8 full pages down... about 3 or so more to go. (These chapters seem to get longer and longer) But in the meanwhile, even if no one sees this, I'm really thankful that people are willing to wait to read my stuff. You guys are bloody amazing!

Psychology....

Listening to: Heart of Courage - Two Steps from Hell
Feeling: Bored

Well, I'm currently wasting time before my next class begins. I wish that these gaps between my classes weren't so long. The longest one is a 4 hour gap on Tuesdays between my bio lecture and a mandatory bio tutorial. Oh well, at least I got something done yesterday, which was a few physics problems, some textbook reading and fanfiction writing (though I didn't progress as much as I had originally thought). 

And I feel bad that I haven't updated for nearly a month now. Ugh, making things flow smoothly from one sequence to another really sucks. I mean, I have all the events planned out in this next chapter, but making them connect as smoothly as possible is rather difficult. Relaying the characters' emotions is quite difficult too, but not as much. I guess it's also partially due to the reason that the thrill of writing this fanfic is starting to fade after 20 chapters. I'm just ready to end it and commence on my next project, which would probably be called either "Storms" or "From the Beginning to Now". I originally thought of using flashbacks to tell my story, but it's probably just confusing to the reader, so when I do start that fanfic, I'll start from the beginning of everything. But that probably won't happen for at least another half year, because I have about another 10 or so chapters to go with Never Alone.

The point of this post was mainly to rant and let off some steam about my intersession course, Psychology 100. It's an introduction course, which I don't have much of a problem with, but more to do with the length of it. Since it's an intersession course, it's like 6 week summer school, where the course ends sooner than the usual courses that last for 3 and a half months (if you include the exams and stuff). Meaning that there's a lot of stuff that I have to do for this course. Which includes two midterms, a quiz practically every 2-3 classes, 6 hours of classes per week, research assignments and a heck lot of reading. Not to mention that my final for this class is during midterm session for regular classes. I think that the intersession course is a pretty good idea for someone who's planning on getting a summer vacation and is only taking that one class, but for anyone else who's taking other courses with it, it's not that great. I've been putting off my other subjects, Bio and Physics because Psychology is taking over. I really really can't wait for psychology to be over, so not only do I get to focus on two classes rather than three, but I'll also have some more free time to get caught up with my bio textbook readings.

 Image credit: Google

Arts and Crafts Update III

Listening to: Brand New Day - Forty Foot Echo
Feeling: Happy
 
It's been a while since I posted anything art/craft related, so here are my most recent updates... though it's actually been a few weeks since I completed them.

(This is a cellphone strap for a friend who requested a tiger. Originally, I thought that it looked more like a fox with stripes, but I guess it doesn't really matter since she loved it all the same! ^_^)

(Found various shoes on Google and decided to practice my shoe-drawing skills since I can't draw shoes whenever I draw people. I still don't like drawing the flats... Loved drawing the adidas high tops since I have a pair like them!)

 (Another weakness of mine: Drawing hands. My drawing club pres suggested that we draw things that we sucked at, so I decided to do both various hand postures and shoes. Photo references come from artsyposes.com)

Book Review: If I Die - Rachel Vincent

Published September 27 2011 by Harlequin

Goodreads Description

The entire school's talking about the gorgeous new math teacher, Mr. Beck. Everyone except Kaylee Cavanaugh. After all, Kaylee's no ordinary high-school junior. She's a banshee—she screams when someone dies.

But the next scream might be for Kaylee.

Yeah—it's a shock to her, too. So to distract herself, Kaylee's going to save every girl in school. Because that hot new teacher is really an incubus who feeds on the desire of unsuspecting students. The only girls immune to his lure are Kaylee and Sabine, her boyfriend's needy ex-girlfriend. Now the unlikely allies have to get rid of Mr. Beck…before he discovers they aren't quite human, either.

But Kaylee's borrowed lifeline is nearing its end. And those who care about her will do anything to save her life.

Anything.

Um, wow. Where do I begin? There's so much that I have to say about this book that I'm pretty overwhelmed at the responsibility of doing the book justice. But what I do know for sure is that: THIS BOOK FALLS UNDER THE CATEGORY OF DROP-EVERYTHING-ELSE-AND-READ-IT-ALREADY-BECAUSE-IT-IS-BLOODY-FANTASTIC!!!!! (see the five exclamation marks there? Just in case my point hasn't been received). It's been a really long time since I've read anything that was this good lately, so be prepared for a lengthy book review that goes over why this book deserves such a praise (and probably a lot of fangirling too).

Like the book's description, Kaylee and her friends don't get a break in their abnormal lives when their classmate, Danica, suddenly falls over, bleeding massively on the ground. It turns out that Danica had a miscarriage, one month into her pregnancy. But the question is, who was the father if it wasn't her boyfriend? Danica refuses to say, but Kaylee knows that something's wrong because Danica wasn't someone who would do something like that when she loved her boyfriend. Not to mention that Danica's insides were so messed up from the miscarriage that she wouldn't ever be able to have kids in the future. Something was definitely wrong here. To make matters worse, they find out that their new gorgeous math teacher isn't human; Mr. Beck is an incubus, a netherworld creature who feeds on desires and lust. Was it just a coincidence that he also happened to be Danica's teacher and was tutoring her when she had problems in math? After learning so much about the world that Kaylee lives in, she knows that there are no such things as coincidences.

But before Kaylee gets time to even digest the information that her teacher is an incubus, another bomb gets dropped on her. This time, it was the news of her upcoming death. That's right; Kaylee was going to die in six days. Her extended time was already up.

Instead of constantly grieving about her lost time, Kaylee decides to put everything right. And it's no small list. Not only did she have to find a way to prevent her dad from trying to exchange his life for hers, but she also had to keep her enamored best friend, Emma, away from this teacher, who is looking less and less innocent by the second.

Turns out that Mr. Beck, the incubus, is doing all he can to get himself a son, an heir incubus, because he's also running out of time. However, if the fetus does turn out to be male, they generally end up in a miscarriage or they kill the mother carrying them before they are born because of a human's inability to give birth to one. So, that means more than one poor girl out there is carrying a potential monster baby. And not all of them will make it. Some will die, while others will be so messed up from the miscarriage that they won't be able to ever have kids again, like Danica. So Kaylee has taken it upon herself to end Mr. Beck's extracurricular activities before her time ends.

I was really impressed with Kaylee's character in this book. Although she knew that she was going to die, Kaylee didn't fall into a state of denial. Instead, she accepted it calmly, because there was no way that she would be able to get a second extension. Despite her calm exterior, there was the occasional overwhelming feelings of panic and fear, but it was only expected of someone who only had a matter of days left to live. Kaylee also decided to do everything she could to make the her passing away safer and easier for everyone. And that included her boyfriend, Nash. She knew that there was one person out there who would be able to be there for him after she was six feet under and Kaylee accepted that fact.

Instead of leaving others to deal with the problem with the incubus, Kaylee was determined to end it before her death, so she could go peacefully, knowing that those she loved were safe. And so, she spent the last of her days plotting and researching anything that had to do with Mr. Beck.

Her relationship with her father tugged at my heart. I really felt the pain that they went through at the news of Kaylee's death. Aiden Cavanaugh finally had his daughter back after thirteen years of absence, only to lose her not six months from their reunion. He had already lost her once and couldn't bear the thought of losing her again. And so, Kaylee's father does all that he could, even begging the reapers to take his life instead of his daughter's.

Another character that shone in this book was of course, everyone's favorite not-so-dead reaper, Tod Hudson. Although they were not supposed to deliver news of one's impending death to the receiver, he did so because Kaylee was someone that he cared deeply for. And it hurt him that there wasn't anything that he could do. There were no second extensions.

Tod has been wrestling with his humanity throughout the series because after being death for more than two years, it was starting to slip away from him, leaving him numb and unfeeling. Normally, it was difficult for Kaylee to read Tod's emotions because he refuses to let anyone see them, but in this book, Tod feels so much that even he isn't able to control them. And some of his feelings start to show themselves to Kaylee.

But what really captured my heart was the fact that he was always there for Kaylee when she needed him. He knew that despite Kaylee's cool and calm exterior, she was terrified about dying. And he would support her in whatever she did, no matter how crazy or dangerous it seemed. There was a major part in the book where Tod did something so unbelievably heroic that it blew my mind away. He knew the risks that he was taking, but he took them anyway, for the sake of the girl that he loved. And for that, Kaylee was finally able to really see him.

The book was really fast paced and despite it being a re-read for me, I couldn't put it down at all. Each page had me craving for more. It was just that unbelievably amazing. Not to mention loving everything that happened in book that had to do something with the goodness that is Tod. It was about time that he got the spotlight and I was ecstatic with the result because he deserved every second of it.

Rachel Vincent did an OUTSTANDING job with this one and I loved reading every word. I am so so happy that I got a chance to read this really amazing series because I would have totally been missing out if I didn't. Now, I'm waiting anxiously for the next one, Before I Wake, because not only am I positive that it will be mind-blowing-fantastic, but also because I love her characters enough to want to know what will happen to them.

Some of my favorite quotes:
-"You just say the word, and I'll make the rest of the world go away. I'll take you someplace safe, where no one else can reach us." (page 140)

-"There's a good kind of crazy..... It's the kind that makes you think about things that make your head hurt, because not thinking about them is the coward's way out. The kind that makes you touch people who bruise your soul, just because they need to be touched. This is the kind of crazy that lets you stare out into the darkness and rage at eternity, while it stares back at you, ready to swallow you whole." (page 244)

-"... I would do anything for the girl who granted my dying wish." (page 280)

Source: Owned

My rating:  5 Coffee cups (Loved it and couldn't put it down... if I gave off the scale ratings, I definitely would for this one!)

Book Review: My Soul to Steal - Rachel Vincent

 Published on January 4th 2011 by Harlequin

Goodreads Description:

Trying to work things out with Nash—her maybe boyfriend—is hard enough for Kaylee Cavanaugh. She can't just pretend nothing happened. But "complicated" doesn't even begin to describe their relationship when his ex-girlfriend transfers to their school, determined to take Nash back.

See, Sabine isn't just an ordinary girl. She's a mara, the living personification of a nightmare. She can read people's fears—and craft them into nightmares while her victims sleep. Feeding from human fear is how she survives.

And Sabine isn't above scaring Kaylee and the entire school to death to get whatever—and whoever—she wants.

When I read this book for the second time, I noticed a lot of things that I didn't realize the first time around. I guess it's because the first time through, I had been more focused on the plot rather than everything else, so I'm pleased to get the chance to see everything in a bigger perspective.

It started off pretty fast and I couldn't say where there was a time that I found that the pacing was slow. I'm starting to find that as the series progresses, the faster the action. Anyway, onto the review:

The main conflict of this book is between the constant war between Kaylee, and a new character, Sabine Campbell. When she first arrives, she was so happy to see Nash that it rang some bells in my mind. Especially their reactions to each other upon their reunion. There was no way that they were just friends. To Kaylee's horror, Sabine was Nash's ex-girlfriend, but technically, as Tod put it, "they never did" break up. So where does that put Kaylee? Especially when she wasn't so sure about her relationship with Nash considering what had happened between them in the last book. To make matters worse, Kaylee lost a major advantage to what she would have had over Nash's ex. Sabine wasn't human either. In fact, she was the living personification of a nightmare.

And indeed, she has the abilities to give nightmares to anyone she wishes. So any guesses to who Sabine directs most of them at? If you guessed Nash's current girlfriend, then pat yourself on the back. But like the true heroine that Kaylee is, she refuses to give Nash up. The harder Sabine pulls, the more determined Kaylee is to keep Nash at her side. How does the guy feel about this? Well, let's just say that he's at a loss between the two girls. After a major descent from the top of the social ladder, Nash is left with very few friends, with Sabine quickly promoted to the "best friend" position. However, his current girlfriend doesn't like that fact. So what's a guy to do? He can either keep one of them or lose them both.

I have to admit that the set of characters in this book annoyed me most when I compare them to the other books in the series. If you read Rachel Vincent's Niederwald or Fearless, you would have already had the chance to meet Sabine Campbell. Back then, I sympathized for her character, after everything that she has gone through. In some ways, Kaylee seems to have it good. She has a family who cares for her, a best friend that she can always depend on and a pretty good life in general. On the other hand, Sabine doesn't have a permanent family because she unintentionally scares them to the point that she can't stay with a family for too long. However, despite those reasons, it still irritated me whenever Sabine came into the picture. It's something about her in-your-face type of personality and the way she talks that makes me grit my teeth.

As for Kaylee, I can see why she refuses to lose to someone like Sabine, but on the second read, I started to feel that she was a little over the top with her stubborness. Yes, she had something strong and special with Nash, but after the incident in the previous book, that bond became fragile. Almost to the point that it would break with the smallest amount of applied pressure. Despite being told that over and over, Kaylee refused to give Nash up. Even when it was pointed out that perhaps Nash wasn't the best thing for her, Kaylee snapped at her friends and was hurt by their betrayal. Not to mention, quickly jumping to conclusions that Sabine, the mara, was dangerous and a potential threat to them all. In normal circumstances (like if Nash's ex-girlfriend was determined to take the "ex" part out of the equation), Kaylee would have thought things through a little more, such as getting as much information as she could get and talking it out with others instead of pointing fingers. But unfortunately, her extreme dislike for Sabine made her skip all of that and become reckless.

Nash in this book didn't win any favors from me either. Personally, I thought that he was rather useless throughout this book since he couldn't decide what to do regarding the love-triangle that he was in. But I guess that I would also have to cut him some slack after all he has been through. Again and again, he made several promises to Kaylee, only to break them in the end. And as a result of that, Kaylee was provoked mercilessly by Sabine on several occasions. He wants to strengthen his bond with his girlfriend, but I just thought that he needed to get back to the Nash that we met in the first book. Which seems like an impossible feat as of the moment.

And Tod? The not-so-dead reaper? There were a lot of hints about him that I didn't see on the first read, so I'm delighted to be able to catch each one on the second time through. The oh-so-subtle hints regarding his character made me love him even more. He truly cares for his friends and family and tries to do the right thing, even if it meant being hurt in the process. His selflessness only adds to his character. Whenever Kaylee is in need of a friend who knew everything that had gone on, Tod was the perfect person. So yes, Tod has deserved his time in the spotlight.

In general, I liked this book well enough. The conflict between Kaylee and Sabine could be a little long after a while, but it really did give me a bigger look into both of their characters. That they both have darker sides to them. The characters in general grew a lot since the last book. Probably due to the fact that they went through hell to survive until now. The relationships between the characters was probably the most important aspect of this book as we learn a lot from reading their reactions towards one another. Rachel Vincent has done an amazing job (like always) to make anyone really passionate about her characters. To give a damn about what happens to each of them and feeling their emotions as if they were our own.

As an ending note, I have to say that I really really can't wait to read the next one, as it is my favorite book out of the whole series.

Source: Owned
My Rating:  4 and a half coffee cups (Loved it)