November 2015 Rewind

23:38 Cilla 4 Comments

• Megamorphs #4 - Back to Before by K.A. Applegate // ⋆⋆⋆⋆
• Ruin and Rising (The Grisha #3) by Leigh Bardugo // ⋆⋆⋆⋆
• Project Princess and Princess in Pink by Meg Cabot // ⋆⋆
• Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare  // ⋆⋆⋆⋆
• 3 Agatha Christie Audiobooks // ⋆⋆⋆

• Makeover! I changed the theme, tinkered with the layout and added social media buttons (add me on Twitter if you haven't!), and added a gorgeous new header courtesy of Bear&Fox from TheDarkArts.net. I'm thinking of tweaking more of the little things, but for now I'm content with this.
• I wondered how personal is too personal when it comes to talking about ourselves while blogging.
• These are the seven book adaptations I need in my life ASAP. (I can now cross Mockingjay Part 2 off this list!)
• Let's discuss how aging changes your perspective of a book. Also, if you no longer enjoy a book after a re-read, was it worth ever reading in the first place?
• Let's talk quotes. These are my top five from the books I've read in the past year.
• The Blogger Positivity Campaign has started! We're in Week 3 now and there are still two more weeks to go, so stay tuned for that.

• One of my more difficult classes at work wrapped up this week. I'm SO relieved, especially because - if test scores are anything to go by - most of them seemed to actually have retained what I taught in class. One kid who had previously failed the class managed to pull through this time - by the skin of his teeth, but his relief was quite touching. 
• Ten million years late, but I finally caught Marvel's Agent Carter on TV (yay morning re-runs) and I'm so hooked.
• Jess Glynne's Don't Be So Hard on Yourself was my soundtrack of the month. Her voice is just gorgeous, and the lyric of that song is spot-on. I also listened to Justin Bieber's Love Yourself, and it is now stuck in my head. I'm not a Belieber, but I definitely do not mind his current music.
• I stressed out about grad school applications. It sucks to not have so little control over such a big aspect of my future.
• I hunted for Winter in three bookshops, gave up and ordered it online, only to find it three days later in the first bookshop that told me I had to order online. -.-
• I also went around the mall with a colleague to hunt for the Harry Potter adult colouring book. She was planning on giving it as a birthday present, but she so excited when we found it, she ended up buying two. If I had that kind of artistic inclination in me, I would have bought one too!
• Did anyone else fall in love with this little James Bond expert on Ellen? And Daniel Craig in the process?

• I added locations from Clockwork Princess to my Around the World Challenge. My map is still very much centred on the European and American settings, unfortunately.
• Posted one discussion for the 2015 Book Blog Discussion Challenge. Or two, if we counted one of the posts I did for BPC.
• So far, I have read 39 books out of my goal of 25 for the Goodreads reading challenge. It's a small amount compared to what some other readers have, but I'm still quite pleased about it.

• A review of Winter. I finished this recently and just haven't gathered the energy to write a review, choosing to catch up on sleep I lost while reading it. (It was well worth it) 
• More posts to spread the love with BPC! 
• Definitely at least one discussion post. 

BPC: Dear J.K. Rowling

22:49 Cilla 8 Comments

3-in-1 Review, or, That Time I Became Obsessed with Agatha Christie Audiobooks

15:29 Cilla 4 Comments

A couple of weeks ago, I discovered that I could borrow e-books and audiobooks from one of the Melbourne libraries I am a member of. Cue joy and excitement, and about an hour spent browsing the catalogue. I stumbled upon several Agatha Christie's full cast dramatisation in the audiobook section. Curious, I decided to borrow one, and that kind of resulted in an obsession. I didn't stop to write down my thoughts between books, so I've decided to post them all in one!
Title: One, Two, Buckle My Shoe
Author: Agatha Christie
Publisher: BBC Audio
Source: Borrowed from the library
Synopsis: What reason would an amiable dentist like Dr. Morely have for committing suicide? He didn't have emotional difficulties, money problems, or love trouble. What he did have was an appointment with Hercule Poirot, who is not persuaded by the suicide story and has therefore taken it upon himself to questions the good doctor's patients, partners, and friends. All he's come up with is the numbing fear that Dr. Morely wasn't an unlikely victim at all. Nor the first.


Review: ⋆⋆⋆
One, Two, Buckle My Shoe was only my second audiobook experience, and my first with a full-cast dramatisation, so I really wasn't sure what to expect. I ended up loving the production. The sound effects did a great job at setting up the mood and surroundings, and the actors are excellent. That's probably not surprising to anyone since it is BBC, but still.

As for the story itself, I kept losing track of who's who, but that's partly because I'd listened to a portion of the story in a dentist's waiting room where I kept getting sidetracked. I love the way the story followed the nursery rhyme though. Overall, It was a fun read, particularly since the format was so new to me, but for me it didn't quite blow my mind.


Title: A Pocket Full of Rye
Author: Agatha Christie
Publisher: BBC Audio
Source: Borrowed from the library
Synopsis: A handful of grain is found in the pocket of a murdered businessman! Rex Fortescue, king of a financial empire, was sipping tea in his 'counting house' when he suffered an agonising and sudden death. On later inspection, the pockets of the deceased were found to contain traces of cereals. Yet, it was the incident in the parlour which confirmed Jane Marple's suspicion that here she was looking at a case of crime by rhyme!


Review: ⋆⋆⋆
I enjoyed A Pocket Full of Rye more than I did One, Two, Buckle My Shoes, but I confess I'm quite partial to Miss Marple. Has anyone else noticed the way she praised whichever policeman she was working with and downplayed her own intelligence so the man kind of felt like he arrived at the solution himself? Poirot never did that. He never had to.

Other than that, I love that this one opens up with the full rhyme; not having been brought up with Western nursery rhymes, I was totally unfamiliar with this one and would not have seen the brilliance of the story. This one is a little more predictable for me though; the revelation of the murderer didn't shock me.


Title: And Then There Were None
Author: Agatha Christie
Publisher: BBC Audio
Source: Borrowed from the library
Synopsis: First, there were ten - a curious assortment of strangers summoned as weekend guests to a private island off the coast of Devon. Their host, an eccentric millionaire unknown to all of them, is nowhere to be found. All that the guests have in common is a wicked past they're unwilling to reveal - and a secret that will seal their fate. For each has been marked for murder. One by one they fall prey. Before the weekend is out, there will be none. And only the dead are above suspicion


Review: ⋆⋆⋆⋆⋆
And Then There Were None is on a whole other level. I see now why this is Christie's most popular work! It's clever in the puzzle-building of the story, and chilling in the way the murders unfolded. The audiobook really highlighted the madness of the whole thing. We follow Vera Claythorne for the most part of the story, a woman haunted by a decision she's made in the past. We get flashbacks and hear her talking to herself, and that adds to the creepiness and suspense. I really tried to guess who the murderer was, but I couldn't at all!

This is my favourite Christie story so far, and the audiobook does such a good job at bringing it to life. If you're easily creeped out like I am though, do not listen to this at night with your lights off.

Things I Have Learned From The Book Blogging Community

09:42 Cilla 12 Comments

Welcome to my first post - or second really, with the introduction - of the Blogger Positivity Campaign! I started out thinking I'd write things that I have learned about the community. Then I realised that I have picked up quite a bit of new knowledge about blogging itself in the short time I've been here. So I'm going to run with that idea now. :D

Here are some of the things I have learned from the book blogging community:

How to make things look pretty

I'll be the first to admit that I don't have a natural talent for aesthetics. I know when something is unpleasant to my eyes, but I won't ever be able to come up with a gorgeous layout and theme all on my own. So when I gave this blog its' first makeover, I read a lot of tips about what a well-designed blog should have. I didn't take all of the advice, because not everything works for me, but still they all really helped. I like to think the current theme is an improvement on the previous one, even if it is still not perfect!

What those mysterious words mean

DNF, NA, ARC, pub date, link-ups - these are some of the phrases I had never heard of until I started reading book blogs. The first time I read the phrase 'pub date', I thought that person was talking about an actual date in a pub.

How to talk to strangers online

That sounds kind of dodgy, but it isn't really when it's applied to book bloggers. I'm pretty shy, and talking to people I don't know - even when it's just a matter of leaving a comment on someone's post - doesn't come naturally to me. Most bloggers are so lovely when they respond though. Plus, there are plenty of discussions about the importance of meaningful comments around and how bloggers love getting those (I'm starting to experience that myself). Now, I don't feel like what I'm saying would be seen as superfluous, and I do try to talk to other bloggers more!

The tricks to managing social media

I'd had Twitter, Instagram, and Goodreads long before I started blogging, but I had only known the basics. I had never heard of Tweetdeck, for example, let alone the fact that you can schedule tweets! (I still don't schedule tweets, but that has more to do with my organisation skills.) So I keep saving blog posts related to social media for reference, and I find that I learn something new every time.

How to be an organised blogger

I like to think I'm a fairly organised person in life, but I've been struggling to get my blogging schedule in order. Thankfully, there are dozens of organisation posts out there by book bloggers. I have gotten myself a Google calendar and a blogging notebook, and started planning my posts weekly. I'm still not quite on top of things, but I'm learning!

Now I kind of feel like an intern running around eagerly, hoping to learn the masters' ways to greatness. I like the learning process though. Thank you to every book blogger who has taken the time to write a tutorial or share tips on tackling a certain aspect of blogging!

Blogger Positivity Campaign: Introduction Post

09:12 Cilla 14 Comments

I couldn't resist signing up for this campaign when I came across it. Jillian at Jillian's Books came up with this idea to spread love and confidence among the blogging community. I haven't been blogging for long, but I wanted to be a part of something so positive and hopefully help uplift other bloggers out there!

Anyway, to kick things off, let's start with an intro!


I am Cilla, a Pisces, Potterhead, writer, and book hoarder. Paved With Books was born about six months ago, when I looked up at my family's ridiculous amount of owned books and thought that perhaps reading the books they love is one way to understanding them - and myself - better. While the reading is all about my family, I hope this blog will help me connect with other bookish people around the world. Plus, I love reading, I love writing, so it makes sense to start writing about reading!

I'm making an effort to pick through my unread pile rather than buying new books, so I end up with a little bit of everything. When I get books for myself, I gravitate toward YA and fantasy, but I also like a good mystery and contemporary.

Fun fact about that picture above: the author of the book is a professor of mine, and I got him to sign it for me. It's all about the psychological benefits of the seven deadly sins, backed up by dozens of research - a pretty cool read all around, though it did get me some weird looks when I was reading it at the airport!






At the moment, I blog from Surabaya, Indonesia. It is not the touristy part of Indonesia with the beaches and gorgeous views; it is the metropolitan part where it is too hot and there are too many motorbikes. That said, I get to complain about it because it's my home. A visitor does it and I tend to go 'rawr' on them. xD



A friend on Goodreads, Cam, started posting her reviews, and I loved reading them. That was the first lure. By following her link, I started reading her blog, and the term 'ARC' popped up somewhere there. I asked her about it, and she told me about NetGalley. The idea that you could get free books in exchange for giving it your honest opinion was the second lure. I couldn't shake the idea after that, but it took me about six months before I actually took the leap.



I'm still a baby to the blogosphere, but everyone I've interacted with has been really kind.

• Disney animated movies make me happy, especially the classics. Beauty and the Beast is my favourite, but I also have a soft spot for Tangled and Tarzan.
• I currently teach English as a Second Language. It's challenging, but it also makes me more protective of people who struggle with English. You don't realise how difficult a language is until you see people trying to learn it from scratch.
• I have been a member of a play-by-post Harry Potter RPG site for six years.
• Hugh Jackman is my ultimate celebrity crush. 
• I love Nancy Drew video games. I'm absolutely terrible at them and always need help, but I LOVE them. 

• Erika @ Books, Stars, Writing, and Everything in Between. Erika is super sweet, and her reviews are so much fun to read!
• Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction. I love Nicole's thoughtful discussion posts, and she's really one of the kindest bloggers around.
• Jamie @ The Perpetual Page-Turner. Jamie's is one of the first blogs I read when I first started, and I love the way she writes her posts as if she's talking to a friend.
• Alyson @ Harry, Jane, and John. Alyson reads a lot of interesting books, and I love her reviews.
• Shannon @ It Starts at Midnight. Shannon's blog is so fun to read, and she's also a really friendly person!

Top Five Quotes I Loved From Books I Read In The Past Year Or So

15:00 Cilla 12 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is an original meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. Click here for information.

I absolutely love quotes, so I was excited when I saw the topic for this week's TTT. Unfortunately I have been pretty slack with noting down quotes lately, and I can only think up five. I really love these five though, and hopefully you will enjoy them too!

1. "What is infinite? The universe and the greed of men." - Leigh Bardugo

If you haven't heard (and if you don't live around here, chances are you haven't), Indonesia has recently had a terrible bout of forest fires that led to terrible haze in the region. The sad thing is, this is an annual activity. People slash and burn forests to open up fields so they can plant, regardless of the damage to other human beings and nature. Every. Year. This quote keeps ringing in my head every time I read a news article about the fire.

2. “Beliefs are the roads we take to our dreams. Believe you can do something-or believe you can't-and you'll be right everytime.” - Jodi Picoult, Sing You Home

This quote reflects something I've been working hard at for a long time - positive thinking. I have a tendency to worry and talk myself out of doing things, and it's cost me opportunities in the past. So I'm trying to believe in myself more these days, and hope it will lead me the right way.

3. "Power isn't about doing something terrible to someone who's weaker than you, Reiner. It's having the strength to do something terrible, and choosing not to." - Jodi Picoult, The Storyteller

I don't have much to say about this except that I agree with this 100%.

4. “Maybe there isn’t such a thing as fate. Maybe it’s just the opportunities we’re given, and what we do with them. I’m beginning to think that maybe great, epic romances don’t just happen. We have to make them ourselves.” - Marissa Meyer, Cress

I love this quote in context of the novel, with the skittish dreamer of a heroine who grew to find her strength. I also love this as a reminder to seize opportunities that come my way. The romantic part of me still believes in fate, but I also believe in making things happen for myself.

5. "You do it because the doing of it is the thing. The doing is the thing. The talking and worrying and thinking is not the thing." - Amy Poehler, Yes Please

There are so many quotes I love from Yes Please, but this struck me the most. As mentioned above, I am a worrier. I worry and think and talk about it, but I don't do it. I like to keep this quote in mind to push myself and just do.

Book Talk: Too Old (or Too Young) For That Stuff

18:00 Cilla 4 Comments

No book is really worth reading at the age of ten which is not equally – and often far more – worth reading at the age of fifty and beyond. - C.S. Lewis.

I first read the Princess Diaries series when I was eleven. Now at twenty four, I'm revisiting the series to prepare myself for its latest installment, Royal Wedding. The further I get in the series, the more aware I am of how different my feelings are about them to the way my eleven-year-old self responded to Mia's adventures. For instance, I grew impatient with her obsession about whether her boyfriend is in love with her or loves her as a friend, whereas before it had never bothered me. You can read my thoughts of each book so far here+, but basically I now struggle to fully connect with Mia. I don't want to say it now since there's the new book where she's about my age, but it is entirely possible - at this stage of my re-read - that I've outgrown this series.

The opposite happened with my re-read of Animorphs. When I read it the first time, it was just a fun, big adventure with aliens and cool powers. The second time around, I noticed the psychological issues the heroes were battling with. Here, my being older actually makes the reading experience better.

These got me wondering if Mr. Lewis is right with what he said above. I suppose it depends on what he meant by 'worth reading'. For me, a book is worth reading when it can make me feel something (other than boredom, that is). If it makes me cry, laugh, or think about something, it's not a waste of my time. In that sense, Princess Diaries is still worth reading, for it makes me reflect on my own teenage years. I still root for Mia to reach this level of confidence:



Also, just because I love a book less when I'm older, does it mean it wasn't that good of a book to begin with? I'm not sure. I have had friends whom I loved while we were close, but we parted ways anyway as life takes us in different directions. Sure, in hindsight, one or two of those friends might have been less-than-stellar people and I am better off without them, but most of them were perfectly nice. We just don't fit together anymore. Books are kind of like that. I change as a person, so my interests and tastes change too. I'm a Psychology graduate, of course I notice the morality and emotional aspects of Animorphs now. I no longer agonise over boys and my body the way I did at fourteen (thank goodness), so I don't share Mia's angst any more. It's not them, it's me.

I can only think of a handful of books I read at ten years old that I'm sure will always strike a chord with me, no matter how old I get. Harry Potter is not a story I'd ever outgrow, nor is Little House. For everything else, ask me again when I'm fifty.

Review: Clockwork Princess

10:00 Cilla 2 Comments

"You hear that, James Carstairs? We are bound, you and I, over the divide of death, down through whatever generations may come. Forever.”  

Wishlist Wednesday: A Madness So Discreet

10:00 Cilla 0 Comments

Title: A Madness So Discreet
Author: Mindy McGinnis
Publisher: Katherine Tegen Books
Synopsis: Grace Mae knows madness.

She keeps it locked away, along with her voice, trapped deep inside a brilliant mind that cannot forget horrific family secrets. Those secrets, along with the bulge in her belly, land her in a Boston insane asylum.

When her voice returns in a burst of violence, Grace is banished to the dark cellars, where her mind is discovered by a visiting doctor who dabbles in the new study of criminal psychology. With her keen eyes and sharp memory, Grace will make the perfect assistant at crime scenes. Escaping from Boston to the safety of an ethical Ohio asylum, Grace finds friendship and hope, hints of a life she should have had. But gruesome nights bring Grace and the doctor into the circle of a killer who stalks young women. Grace, continuing to operate under the cloak of madness, must hunt a murderer while she confronts the demons in her own past.

Why I want to read it:

I was first made aware of this book's existence by several excellent reviews of it around the blogosphere (Bookmarklit/Next Page Please/Girl in the Pages/Perpetual Page Turner). While their good words added to my interest, I knew right away I wanted to read this based on the synopsis above. The combination of historical fiction and mystery is right up my alley. I don't necessarily have the stomach for gruesome details -- I'm addicted to Castle but will never go near Criminal Minds, if that gives you an idea of my taste in the crime genre -- but I love a good whodunnit.

In addition to that, one of the classes I took in university was a class on the history of psychiatry. One of the things we learned was how the asylum came to be and was transformed over time, and I found it incredibly fascinating. So I'm really interested to see how the asylum will be depicted in this novel.

Also, look at that cover! I'd thought it was chilling before I noticed the hand on the girl's ankle. Without the hand, I'd thought she was falling, or trapped, but now I realised she is being pulled under. Either way, it has intrigued me even more.

Top Seven Book Adaptations I Need In My Life

10:00 Cilla 13 Comments

Top Ten Tuesday is an original meme hosted by The Broke and The Bookish. Click here for information.

I decided to take this week's topic and twist it a little bit to include adaptations that are out there that I haven't watched yet, ones that are in the process of happening, and ones that I wish would happen. Even then I still can't think of ten, but I came pretty close!





1. Cinder by Marissa Meyer. I was really excited when I heard Cinder has been optioned for a movie, but I'm also really wary. It will be amazing to have a YA movie with such a diverse cast of characters, and I'm curious to see how they would depict the way Cinder looks at the world. On the other hand, I love this book and series so much that it would absolutely break my heart if the moviemakers didn't do it justice.

The Princess Diaries Book Club 5: Project Princess and Princess in Pink

11:39 Cilla 2 Comments

Title: Project Princess (Volume IV and a half)
Author: Meg Cabot
Publisher: HarperTeen//Gramedia Pustaka Utama for my Indonesian copy
Source: Bought from a Gramedia bookstore a couple of years ago.
Synopsis: What on earth is that princess up to now?

Most princesses would prefer to spend their spring breaks in Gstaad, or some other equally unpronounceable European hot spot.

Not this one, though. Hammer in hand, Princess Mia embarks on an epic adventure for one so admittedly unhandy: along with her cohorts from school, she's off to build houses for the less fortunate. It doesn't take Mia long to realize that helping others—while an unimpeachably noble pastime—is very hard work. Will her giving spirit prevail? Will the house collapse due to royally clumsy construction? And most importantly, will Michael stop working long enough to kiss her


Review: ⋆⋆

(I actually found a decent image of the copy I have this time - yay!)

The most important thing to know about this book is the reason for its existence, as quoted from Meg Cabot's website: 'Meg's proceeds from the sale of this book go to help build the first ever permanent home of The Lower Eastside Girls Club of New York City. This non—profit community organization provides a range of innovative programming for girls and their families living in downtown Manhattan.'

So by buying this book you could do a bit of good, and you'd get about half an hour entertainment. There's not much to this novella though. It was a quick and faintly amusing read, but there wasn't much of a point to it in terms of character- and story-building. Only read this if you're a die-hard Princess Diaries fan.


Title: Princess in Pink (Volume 5)
Author: Meg Cabot
Publisher: HarperTeen//Gramedia Pustaka Utama for my Indonesian copy
Source: Bought from a Gramedia bookstore a couple of years ago.
Synopsis: In her heart of hearts, Mia has but one wish: an evening spent with Michael in a tux and a corsage on her wrist in other words, the prom. Michael, however, does not seem to share the dream that is the prom. Worse still, a service workers' strike (with Grandmere and Lilly at the heart of it and on opposite sides) threatens the very existence of this year's prom.

Will the strike end in time? Can Mia talk Michael out of his anti-prom views? Most importantly, will Mia get to wear her pink prom dress?



Review: ⋆⋆

I've said before that I can relate to Mia's tendency to obsess over details, but goodness if it wasn't a struggle to relate to this particular obsession over prom. That might be because proms aren't ever a thing where I grew up, or because I don't understand her reluctance to just be straight with Michael. Mia seems to view him as the most amazing guy who has ever lived, and we see him demonstrating his affection and understanding to her often. Yet she assumes he's going to ditch her at the smallest hint of trouble. It's unsurprising given Mia's low self-esteem, but it doesn't make it any less frustrating to read, especially on the heel of Princess in Waiting.

Lilly, on the other hand, is one character I've quit trying to understand by now. Whereas before I've regarded her as a bad best friend and rather a hypocrite, now I just think she's actually cruel at heart. I mean, I don't care that she's a genius feminist and fourteen year old, nothing justified what she did to Boris. I was so glad to see that Mia thought the same.

Continuity has been a niggling issue with this series, and I'm seeing it in this installment. I was disappointed that the plot point in which Lilly got producers to option her shows fizzled out and was dismissed within a sentence, especially since it was such a big deal when it was introduced. I suppose that's staying true to the entertainment industry, but still. Also, this is a blink-and-you'll-miss-it detail, but it irked me: Tina's brief love interest was named Peter Tsu in Project Princess and then Peter Hu in this one.

The further I am into this re-read, the more I wonder if all teenagers are this dramatic, and if I was the same way to have loved it so much.

Book Talk: How Personal is Too Personal?

10:30 Cilla 10 Comments

(I hesitated to tag this as Book Talk, as this isn't quite about books and more about blogging, but this is the tag all of my discussion posts are under, so anyway.)

In the process of giving this blog a makeover, I began reconsidering my About page. Writing introductions are always difficult to me. I have a hard time deciding what might be interesting enough to share, or what might be interesting but utterly irrelevant. Add privacy concerns to the mix, and the struggle is complete. The current blurb I have is already a revised version of my first draft, and I'm still not happy with it.

The same concerns surfaced when I was writing my October Rewind post. How much personal happenings should I include? Or should the post be strictly filled with book-related things? I personally enjoy getting to know a little bit about other bloggers' lives away from reading and blogging, but I have also found that I tend to skip over anything too detailed.

There are some personal details that I definitely wouldn't share, such as my last name and birthday. You knows, things someone might be able to use to hack into important accounts... I'm also disinclined to share photos of my face, though I rarely feel like posting a selfie anywhere online anyway. However, everything else seems to fall in a gray area. I don't mind talking about my love for certain TV shows, for instance, and I don't mind talking a little bit about where I'm from.

I don't think I've quite figured out a balance yet, but hopefully it'll come with some practice!

Review: Ruin and Rising

11:00 Cilla 2 Comments

Title: Ruin and Rising
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Publisher: Orion Books
Source: Periplus Bookstore
Synopsis:

The Darkling pressed a kiss to the top of my hair. "I will strip away all that you know, all that you love, until you have no other shelter but me."

For Alina, time is running out. To destroy the Darkling, she must find the elusive firebird, and she must find it soon.

The Darkling's power is growing. And so is his connection to Alina. Can Alina escape the hold he has over her? Does she want to?

Mal is the only person Alina can rely on. But could giving in to the bond between them be the most dangerous decision of all?

Review: ⋆⋆⋆⋆

I am not ruined. I am ruination.

What a conclusion. A quick glance over the rated reviews on Goodreads indicated to me that many were disappointed by this book, but I personally found a lot to love about it.

Alina's raggedy team has dwindled in number; they're broken and exhausted, but also open in the way none of them had been before. Where it was difficult to determine anyone's motivation in Siege and Storm, here it is clear. Even if their actions might not always be predictable, you could understand their motive. The same can be said for those outside of Alina's circle, including the Darkling. Also, the fact that we only have to follow a few allowed more room for character development all around. Genya and Zoya are my favourites in terms of growth. And of course, there is Alina.

Alina is one resilient woman, and she is the embodiment of the title. When we left her last, she was almost ruined, and despite the many losses she's endured since then, she rises to the challenge she'd been tasked with. The way she wields her power and captivates an audience is so far from the shy girl she was at the start of the series; she's not only become a leader, but also her own person - not just one half of Mal-and-Alina.

Speaking of Mal, all I have to say is I KNEW IT. Not that I predicted what happened exactly, but I knew something was going on there. Anyway, he is the picture of solidity in this book and I'm glad we have the less-angsty version of him back. Nikolai is still my favourite of Alina's suitors, but I never really saw him or the Darkling as competitions for Alina's love. She's always had such different responses to all three men that it's clear to me who her heart belongs to. (As a sidenote, I know the Darkling is supposed to look really young, but since we found out he's like hundreds of years old, I keep picturing him as Jason Isaac-like.)

The rest of the book didn't disappoint either. The world-building continues to amaze me, and the blend of science and magic is so much fun to read. I loved the scenes where they discussed their strategies. The battle scenes are the highlights of the book though. Bardugo has a skill for twists; I never see them coming, and they're always so destructive! The battle at the Spinning Wheel had me gasping (and swearing) out loud. That final battle actually brought me to tears; I love that ending. It was not a neat happily-ever-after for all of the characters, but then a war never ends like that.

My only struggle with the book was that I kept getting confused and had to backtrack to check if I had missed something about Morozova's history. That could have been thanks to my attempt at speed-reading though. All in all, I left this series feeling satisfied, and I'm definitely going to be on the lookout for more books by Leigh Bardugo in the future.

Review: Megamorphs #4 - Back to Before

11:30 Cilla 0 Comments

Title: Back to Before (Megamorphs #4)
Author: K.A. Applegate
Publisher: Scholastic Paperback
Source: E-book
Synopsis: Jake's finally weakened. After a grisly battle, the Drode offers the Animorphs' leader an escape from the terrifying pressure. He'll reverse the decision to start the Animorphs. Now, there's no morphing, no missions, and no knowledge of the Yeerks. That is, until very strange things begin to happen and Jake, Rachel, Tobias, Cassie, Marco and Ax are forced to confront their new reality


Rating: ⋆⋆⋆⋆

"Power enough to win? No. Power enough to fight? Ah yes. Just enough, little Jake, here is just enough power to imprison you in a cage of duty, to make you fight."

I said it in the review I wrote for Animorphs #41 that I was getting tired of time-travelling in all its forms. So when I started reading this and saw that it is all about an alternate timeline again, I pretty much rolled my eyes. (This book was supposed to come before #41, but I imagine my reaction would still have been the same.) Nevertheless, the premise was an interesting one: what if our heroes never took that shortcut by the abandoned construction site? What if they never met Elfangor?

The thing I love about the Megamorphs editions is how we get to see through everyone's point of view instead of following just one like usual. Here, that format lets us see what each of the Animorph's life would have been without that encounter with Elfangor. Tobias' life, in particular, was heartbreaking. We never got to see how badly bullied and abandoned he was, given he became the red-tailed hawk in the first book and never went back to school. To me, this highlighted how Animorphs gave him people who genuinely cared about him.

The answer to the 'what ifs' is complex. In this timeline, the kids were not haunted by nightmares of battles or the guilt of killing, but their lives weren't necessarily better. Just because they weren't given the power to be soldiers, it didn't mean the war didn't exist, or that they didn't have to fight. I finished this book feeling that even if you could go back in time and change a pivotal moment, some things are just meant to happen.

Wishlist Wednesday: Remembrance

11:30 Cilla 2 Comments

In Remembrance, the seventh installment of the Mediator series, all Susannah Simon wants is to make a good impression at her first job since graduating from college (and becoming engaged to Dr. Jesse de Silva). But when she stumbles across an ancient murder, old ghosts—and ex-boyfriends—aren’t all that come back to haunt her.

If asked, I'd always cite The Mediator as my favourite Meg Cabot series. In theory, the ghostly plotlines should've put me off, as I am a big scaredy cat at heart. However, I fell in love with the kick-ass heroine, the dreamy love interest, or the fact that none of the ghosts was described in gory details.

Funnily enough, I don't remember the individual plotlines that well. I recently lend these books to a friend. She loved them, but her attempts to engage me in detailed discussions about them were often met with "...huh?" So I'm putting this on my re-read list, and hope I'll get around to them before Remembrance comes out next year, February 2.

Read an excerpt from Remembrance here.

October Rewind

11:41 Cilla 2 Comments

I've never done of these monthly wrap-up before, mostly because I didn't know what I might put in this sort of post. Reading everyone else's has been lots of fun though, so I am giving this shot. :)

I Reviewed:

Other Going-ons On The Blog:
Personally, This Month: