3.08.2015

NEW COVERS: The Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare

source: Cassie's Tumblr page

HOW GORGEOUS ARE THEY? THEY'RE SO PERFECT I'M SCREAMING. I love the little details, the colors and basically everything about it! Even Cassie thinks so!

"These are some of my favorite covers I’ve ever had. These are etchings done by artist Mila Fürstová. Within each shape, you can see careful details: Clary and Jace separated on City of Bones, together in City of Heavenly Fire, Alicante in the rose on City of Glass." -Cassandra Clare, Tumblr

So sad that these will only be available in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland. (I think so.) These will be out on July 2015 through Walker Books.

But don't be too sad, readers who don't live in the UK, Australia, New Zealand and Ireland, Simon & Schuster is repackaging this wonderful series too, designed by Cliff Nielson. They have already released City of Bones' new cover which will be available on September 1, 2015 in bookstores.


source: Cassie's Tumblr page

without the text and all; source: Cassie's Tumblr page

I love this even more than the old covers but definitely not as much as the UK editions. It's really pretty though and it shows more of the book than the old cover did. So stoked to see the other ones which will include Clary, Simon, Alec and Isabelle! YES, YES YES!

Mark your calendars, bookworms. September 1st for the Simon & Schuster covers and July for the new UK editions!



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BOOK REVIEW: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart

source: Goodreads

So I just finished reading this book last Friday and here's my review:


It's really cute but is it just me or the background image is not high resolution? I hate photos that aren't in high resolution. But it's pretty cute and I think the two people are supposed to be Frankie and Matthew and then there's Alpha by the side bugging them? Typical Alpha.

I honestly do not know what to feel about the book. It was well-written, I liked it but I didn't love it. The humor, pranks and topics were pretty interesting. It was slow paced but it got more interesting the more I read.


I found the third person point of view confusing at first, or maybe I got used to first person points of view too much. I loved how smart, stubborn and witty Frankie is, the idea of Cities, Art and Protest and the little plot twists like how Alpha was the boy from Jersey Shore, the oath was a puzzle written by Senior and there was a book called The Disreputable History of the Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds.



So I'll start with the boys that were involved with Frankie. First off is Porter Welsch. Porter was sweet and caring. He was concerned most of the time for Frankie and that was cute. But I guess he's just the typical I'm-cute-so-I-can-flirt-with-anyone-even-though-I-have-a-girlfriend kind of guy and he sucks for that. So Frankie + Porter = NOPE!

I think E. Lockhart wasn't able to explore Frankie and Alpha's relationship or connection or whatever they had much and I find it a bit frustrating. Upon reading page 160, I immediately thought "ALPHA LIKES FRANKIE". Like I think Alpha gave hints but I guess there were more relevant things to discuss. Plus, Alpha's jokes (The menstrual unit and disks of dough, in particular) were really funny and who doesn't love funny characters? AND AND AND Frankie thought she and Alpha were alike. So Frankie + Alpha = OTP THAT COULD HAVE BEEN! (for me anyway)

I found Frankie's relationship with Matthew cute but I think Frankie fell in love with his face. I personally don't like Matthew's attitude. He seemed like a rich, bratty teenage boy and more like an alpha than Alpha to me. I don't know. So Frankie + Matthew = NAH. (I think I'm being a little biased here because I absolutely love Alessandro Tesorieri but whatever.)

The Loyal Order of the Basset Hounds. I loved the idea of this boy club. It showed how much boys could be the best of friends just like girls. I loved the friendship-ish theme (at least how it looked like to Frankie sometimes). I found it really cute when Frankie hung out with the guys. So Frankie + The Bassets = BROTP!

So there are two things that happened while reading which I thought were crazy:
  • While reading page 181, which is about halfway through the book, I just realized that they called each other "dog" because they were Bassets. I KNOW, DON'T LOOK AT ME LIKE THAT.
  • Jeannie, Porter's sister, got depressed over Alpha. Like come on there's so much more than those dogs, right? I don't know maybe I just don't understand heartbreak enough. (Though from the books that I have read, I should know what that is now.)

Lastly, I find it sad that Frankie thought her friendship with the Bassets were irreparable. I mean someone's got to think that she was awesome despite of her wrongs right? Like dude her pranks were awesomeness level 999999. I really, really, really liked Frankie's relationship with the Bassets.

"It is better to be alone, she figures, than to be with someone who can't see who you are. It is better to lead than to follow. It is better to speak up than stay silent. It is better to open doors than to shut them on people."
This book was awesome, an "okay" read, not entirely mind-blowing but let's call it that anyway. So I give it:


Four stars. :)


P.S. I'll try to make reviews based on the contents and not on how it was written as much as possible. And this is my first review so please excuse me if it sucks.



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3.01.2015

BOOK HAUL: February Finds


I bought a total of nine books this month yay!

I got:

  • Daimon by Jennifer L. Armentrout
  • Elixir by Jennifer L. Armentrout
  • The Treasure Map of Boys by E. Lockhart
  • The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks by E. Lockhart
  • The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
  • The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater
  • Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi
  • Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi
  • Into the Still Blue by Veronica Rossi


This is a pretty huge haul for me because I don't usually buy lots of books. (Believe it or not.) I used to buy books one at a time and just twice or thrice a month but not anymore, I guess so. Most of these were impulse buys because they were really cheap.

If you're wondering if I got Through the Ever Night, Into the Still Blue, Unravel Me and The Treasure Map of Boys from the huge Powerbooks sale, no I did not. I wasn't able to go to their large branches like Trinoma where there were tons of good books. I went to their SM Megamall branch but I didn't find any books I like. *sigh* I bought the three books from people who went to the sale and Unravel Me was traded for my badly beaten up copy of Thirteen Reasons Why. That was a pretty good trade for me because trading a brand new book for a really well-loved one? That's rare.


I've already read these books but I've decided to start collecting my favorites that I have read in eBook form in physical copies. Three down, more to go!


I traded these two for my copy of My True Love Gave To Me. But no worries because I ordered the special Valentine's edition. Now I need to buy the other books from the Covenant series. Hoping to win a giveaway of books 1-6 on Instagram though. *fingers crossed*


Not gonna lie, these were impulse buys. Haha. But the prices were cheaper than their bookstore prices so not bad, yeah? Plus, I've wanted these books for so long. I thought you could only buy them from Scholastic and they were unavailable during Scholastic's first visit to our school. The second time around, they were available but they were Php. 399 each. I got these two for Php. 300 each only. :)


Bought these for E. Lockhart's book signing. I promised myself I'd try to get as many books signed as I can so I'm collecting all of her available works here in my country. I still need We Were Liars, (weird that I still don't own that) The Boyfriend List and The Boy Book. I'm currently reading The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks, review will be up when I finish it.

How was your February haul? Comment below! :)


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BOOKSTORE FINDS: The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks + more from E. Lockhart


I'm very happy to tell you guys that The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau-Banks is already available in Powerbooks (their SM Megamall branch was the one I visited) at Php. 419! I haven't checked National Bookstore yet so Powerbooks is the safest option. I didn't expect to see copies of this book anywhere! I almost screamed in the middle of the bookstore when I saw this.

*screams*


I also saw The Boy Book, the second Ruby Oliver novel, worth Php. 325. I wasn't able to take a photo of it and look around that much because I was in a bit of a hurry. I didn't see The Boyfriend List too though I think they're selling it for the same price as The Boy Book. I'm really, really, really excited for E. Lockhart's book signing. Also, I'm currently reading The Disreputable History and I hope to read most of her books before the 22nd of March.

THIS made me even more excited

Are you coming to her book signing? If yes, go grab copies of her books now and see you there! ;)


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