Wednesday favorites: The Fall of Lisa Bellow

     Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC. Here is my honest review:

     When I started reading this book, I thought it was going to be something psychological in the way All the bright places was: you go inside the characters mind, you know something is totally wrong there, you see improvement, but in the end you get an ending you sure didn’t see coming. But I got a surprise when I understood from the first chapter that the book is going to be dark, in one way or another, is going to be mind challenging, because you will start to think about things, and is going to be a masterpiece in the end.

     I think it’s a mind challenging because it makes you think, it makes you think of the book as fiction, but it makes you think it can happen in real life. And then you get in the skin of the main character and you ask yourself: how would I react if I were to be in her situation? How would I react at an age of 28 and how would I react at an age of 14? Yes, I don’t really like that person, I could care less about her/him, but what if I would have been the one in her/his place? How would I want people to react to the whole situation? How would my mind feel about the tragic events? And so on. The story takes you from one point of view, with some basic ideas, and then each idea takes you to a new point of view, with other ideas. It’s like a whole complex math formula that you unfold at chapter one, and you must solve it and get a result before the end of the last page. That’s why, we get to see both the point of view of Meredith on the situation, but also her mom’s point of view. No one wants to be in a life or death situation, so when “life” chooses you, you are relieved and happy, but you are also marked with distress because “death” could have chosen you. It didn’t happened, but there was a possibility for it to happend. 

     So, did I like it? Yes, absolutely yes! I didn’t actually knew what to expect of the book, because All the bright places kept me focused with the love story, so I was in a way afraid I might give up on the book after the first two chapters, but that wasn’t the case. I really couldn’t put the book down, unless I needed to sleep or to work.

Wednesday favorites: The Mortal Instruments

    For the past a month and a half I read all the books from the Mortal Instruments series, and I have to say the journey was magical, full of emotions and heartbreaking from the beginning till the end. I bought the first 4 books over a year ago, but I never had the time and the heart to start reading the books, because I saw the movie and I knew I will be amazed by the books and that I wouldn't want to put the first book down without having the next one to read, without having the last book of the series.

     I can't talk about each book, because the story starts in book one and ends in book 6, so we have a continuous story line that can't be broken into 6 parts. You discover the magical world of shadowhunters and you begin to wish for it to be true: you want the runes of the shadowhunters, you want the magic of the warlocks, you want the power of the vampires and you want the beauty of the elves. In other words, you want everything.

     You can't help but notice the development of the main characters: Clary becoming from a normal person, a mundane, to a powerful shadowhunter, one that possesses special powers that will help her put order in the disturbed world of the shadowhunters, one that will remain in the history; Jace, becoming from a person that only knows how to fight, how to push everyone away, how to be prepared to die every time he goes in combat, to a person that knows how to love and how to live for the person he loves; Alec, becoming from a person who is afraid of expressing his feelings and who follows the rules of the Clave, to a person who wants to fight along everyone and who fights for the one he loves and for them to be together; Isabelle, becoming from the cold queen, that will step on your heart with her high heels, to the girls that finally finds love and is not afraid to reject it, but actually to embrace it; Simon, becoming from a simple mundane, with a normal life next to his best friend, to someone able to accept the changes in his life.

     Of course, there are other characters, important to the action, that need to be mentioned like Luke, Jocelyn, Sebastian, Maia, Jordan, Valentine, but the above 5 are the ones that matter the most. The action revolves around those 5, even if at times the books give you the impression it is either about Jace, Clary, Valentine or Sebastian. The main 5 makes the story happen, it makes it spin. 

     Yes, I am impressed by the books, and do I need to mention? Hi, I'm Alexandra, I'm 28 years old, and I freaking love the story of the Mortal Instruments series. Oh, and I need to say I am impressed by something else. I am Romanian, so it was a shocking moment for me when Jace and Sebastian we talking in Romanian. I had to read that part 3 times before my mind to fully process what I was reading. I mean, one, they are really talking in Romanian even in the original book in english, and two, it's a book where vampires exist, but they are not the ones talking in Romanian. This is a plus, a big plus from me, because Cassandra didn't use the ultimate stereotype everyone uses in a book with vampires: vampires come from Romania.

     So, if you want to be hooked up in a series for some time, please start reading the Mortal instruments. You won't regret it.

Wednesday favorites: Fear Me, Fear Me Not

     I received this book as an ARC from Elodie herself, so here is my review.

     I freaking love this book. I can't say it's one of the best books I read so far, but it's definitely different and special: you have romance and you have thriller, all in one book. It kept me on needles as I was reading more, as I was turning from one page to the other, as the action was moving to the next stage.

     And I have to admit, I'm putting this book in the category of books that I couldn't predict. I thought the killer was someone else, but then I got the surprise of my life when I got near the end of the book. I was so not expecting that, at all. I was like "What???!!!!", as more secrets were revealed, as more action was passing. And I am good at predicting, even when authors hide their little secrets in the titles of the chapters.

     I do like when writers use a lot of details when they describe their characters or when they want you to know more about them, which is not the case right now, but I guess that didn't fit with the theme of the book. So, it definitely isn't a normal romance book. And also, I loved that the characters had a history together, and it doesn't start with your typically boy/girl meets girl/boy for the first time and they just fall in love.  

Synopsis:

SCREAM meets FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS in this new young adult romantic suspense novel by Elodie Nowodazkij. 

Fear is power. They fear me. They don’t fear me enough. Every year a girl disappears in Gavert County, Texas. Their bodies are found days, sometimes months, later with an angel wing carved on their face. They call me “the Angel Killer” and I’m on the hunt again. But this time, it’s personal. 

Seventeen-year-old cheerleader Erin Hortz has been warned about the Angel Killer all her life. She never walks alone in the dark. She doesn’t talk to strangers. She doesn’t accept drinks at parties. All she wants is to finish her senior year with a win at the Miss Junior Queen of Hearts pageant, capture the perfect light over the lake with her new camera, and finally catch the attention of her best friend Nadia’s brother—former football star Dimitri Kuklev. Since his injury, they’ve been spending a lot of time together. And getting to know the real Dimitri—not the one she put on a pedestal in her diary is better than she could ever have imagined. And she’s falling hard. 

Nineteen-year-old Dimitri’s injury brought him from football superstar with universities from all around the country knocking at his door to not knowing what he wants to do with his life. Taking classes at the local community college is supposed to get him back on track, but all he wants is to be on the field again. The only person who seems to understand him is the one he swore to keep in the friend zone: Erin. His sister Nadia’s best friend and the reason why he can’t keep a girlfriend. Between their early morning jogs, their time spent at the lake laughing, and their late night conversations, he’s having a hard time remembering why it’s such a bad idea. 

But when Nadia doesn’t come home after a party, Dimitri and Erin know they must find her before it’s too late—even if that means risking their own lives and everything Erin’s ever known.

Because the main suspect is Erin’s father.

Wednesday favorites: All Souls Trilogy

     Yes, we are kicking off this new start with a Wednesday favorites, and, because I am a big fan of books, I am going to talk about my most favorite trilogy of all times: All Souls by Deborah Harkness.

           A small introduction about the trilogy

     The trilogy consists of 3 beautiful books (well, it is a trilogy) called: A Discovery of Witches (Romanian: Cartea pierduta a vrajitoarelor), Shadow of Night (Romanian: Scoala noptii) and The Book of life. In these books we find a fantasy world full of witches, vampires, demons and humans. The story follows Diana Bishop, an alchemical history professor at Oxford University, who comes across a long lost manuscript, which turns her world upside down. She is actually the witch of this story, a witch that refuses to use her powers, not only because of the lost of her parents, but because she can't really use complicated spells. Because she later found out that the manuscript is actually the one that tells the story of how witches, vampires and demons were created, she starts a journey to retrieve again the manuscript. In this journey she discovers more about herself, she falls in love with the charming vampire Matthew Clairmont and, in the end, she has a huge impact on the world that belongs to all the fantasy creatures.

          My personal opinion 

     The books, the story, the characters are simply mesmerizing.I enjoyed reading this book so much, that I wished for the story to be actually true. I wanted Diana and Matthew to be real, to have a real love, like the one in the books. I always loved stories that have the impossible to be in love with each other theme, something like Romeo and Juliet, but without the tragic ending, but I never wished for the characters to be real. These books captivated me so much, that I couldn't put them away for a second. I had everything in them: those small moments when you start laughing out hard because you read something so funny, or those moments of climax that made your heart skip a beat or that took you close to crying. Deborah did a great job at describing the characters, their emotions, their personality so good that I swear, sometimes you could just imagine how Diana or Matthew felt, or what they thought, like you could anticipate it.

     I highly recommend you these books. For those who are from Romania, you can only find translated the first two books (I read the 3rd book from Amazon because I couldn't wait that long for it  to be translated) on different book selling websites or even in libraries (I bought mine from elefant.ro).

     If you have any favorite book, please tell me about it, and maybe, someday, I'll write about it. 

I'm back!!

     Can you guess who's back?? Can you?? Can you?? If not, I'm just going to tell you. I am back!!!! Yes, I'm back, I'm here to stay, this time, and we are going to do some changes around here. I know it's been over a year since the last time I wrote anything here, I'm sorry for that, but don't ask me why I stopped doing so. To be honest, I don't even know!!

     I love to talk about stuff that I love, or hate, about events I went to and I can go on and on and make a huge list, so I want to do that again.

     So, I'm going to set some rules to myself:
1. I will make a post every Wednesday, called "Wednesday favorites", where I'm going to talk about something I really love, like a book, a movie, a song etc.
2. I will make a post every Saturday, called "Let's talk about", and here you know how things will go since I have many posts like that. 

     I think I will make a Facebook page, so I can promote my blog a lot more than before (I will give you the link to that when it's done).

     Also, we should talk more with each other. You can comment on the post, here on the blog, or, when it's going to be done, on the Facebook page, because I will like to get to know you guys more and see what you would like to see me talk about (and here I can talk about stuff that I hate too), or if you like the same stuff as I do.

     See you Wednesday!! :)

Small Kpop MV review: MBLAQ - Be a man

      Oh my God!! I never felt so excited to write something like I am right now. Really, my fingers are shaking so bad because they have to keep up with my thoughts and my mind, what mind? It's a complete mess in my head ever since I listened to MBLAQ's new song "Be a man", not to mention listening the whole album.

     My God, I freaking love their album. This comeback blew me away. It's the first time I like all the songs of an album ever since since 2010, when I started to listen to kpop, and ever since I first came in contact with music. The boys are so great.

     I love the mature look they have adopted, and I hope they will use it for the rest of their career. I love the same look during the Smoky Girl comeback, but they totally nailed it for this comeback. When I think back of their debut song, and compare it to this new song I'm like: "WOW!!! This is the best way to prove how much they evolved since their debut, how much they changed in matters of both singing and looks.". MBLAQ proved to be the definition of evolution.

     In my opinion, Cheondung changed the most when it comes to physique. I remember he was this tall but skinny guy, and now look at him, he looks manly. And Joon, he had just a couple of lines, back in the days, and now he sings, and I can't help but say it, so seductively. Another one that became more manly is Seungho, and he even raised his voice more than before, which means he evolved more in terms of singing. 

     All in all, I think "Be a man" is like a lullaby about break up, that doesn't make me want to cry or bring sadness, but it actually smooths me and makes me put the song on repeat.

 

Led Apple in Bucharest

15.02.2014 will be a date that will remain forever in my mind. Even when I will get old, I will tell my grandchildren about this day. This is so important for me because I went to my very first kpop concert, and, to top it all, it was a Led Apple concert. I know they may not be that famous, but I know this band since they debuted and I know they went through so many changes and when I heard they will come to Romania I was really happy.

I felt sorry I didn't go to the airport to wait for them, even if the airport is 5 minutes away from me, but the concert made me forget about it. While we were waiting to get in, someone from the korean staff came out to take pictures of us and to film us, and we started to yell "Led Apple".

The fun part started when the guys came on the stage. Youngjun playing our anthem on the guitar blew my mind away (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPr0WZr35NI). At first I was like "What is he playing? Is it our anthem?". I just couldn't believe it, because I went to concerts before and even jrock bands didn't do something like that for us, but here he was, on the stage, rocking the hell out of our anthem and I really felt the need to sing my heart out to it.

The screams during the concert were unbelieved high, even I surprised myself with how loud I can scream (I usually do scream a lot at concerts but now I was at my best) and for how long I can let out those screams (I got to the point I couldn't hear myself scream but still feeling the air getting out of my lungs).

I totally loved Kyumin's solo. This guy can express the song so much through his voice, that I could feel myself almost crying (glad I didn't cry because my make-up would have been ruined). It was like he was singing the song to every girl in the room and he wanted that girl to know how much he loves her.

I also loved Hanbyul's and Youngjun's solo (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WjyPkY2w6sI) It was probably the most emotional moment of the concert. Hanbyul dedicated this song to us, but we couldn't help it and we sang along with him. Our voices can be heard so well, and it was like we dedicated the song back to him.

Also, another great moment was when Youngjun, Gwangyeon and Hyoseok decided to rock the stage. My inner rocker came out, so I enjoyed this moment at maximum as well.

Oh, at the beginning of the concert, Hanbyul told us about his first crush (and the only one as he said) that was romanian (I didn't expect that - this concert was full of surprises) and he also joked about Kyumin not knowing english well and that even his korean pronunciation is wrong. He said he thought Kyumin doesn't know any language at all, but had the surprise of his life, when he heard from the romanian staff that Kyumin pronounces romanian really well. He really did know how to pronounce "Va iubesc", "Multumesc" and I think Hyoseok said "Salut".

The guys said goodbye to us in the end, but we started to scream "Led Apple" and the guys came back on stage again. They sang, I think, one more song and then our surprise came out. On the background there was a video from us and the romanian staff came out with the cake. I think the boys started to cry because Gwangyeon was wiping his eyes with a napkin, and Hanbyul was covering his eyes.

After the concert, the VIP ticket holders were able to get autographs and I was one of the lucky ones to hold that kind of ticket. I got them presents (for each one a drawing of themselves and some heart shaped chocolates) but we weren't able to give them the present personally.

While I was getting my picture with the boys signed I was doing small talk with them. Kyumin said "Thanks!" and I told him "No, I should thank you for the concert.". I asked Hanbyul to give me a hug but he looked around and he saw someone from the korean staff and told me "I can't", BUT (there is a freaking big "but" here) he took my hand in his and kissed it. Really, that was the moment when my heart went BOOM and I was in heaven. I'm telling you, I died and came back to life because of him.

All in all, it was a great experience that I want to be able to have it again, so, God, please, let there be another Led Apple concert in Romania, somewhere in the future.

 

 

EDIT: Ok, maybe our screames during the show were a litle to overboard, but we screamed because we wanted to show them how much we love them. I can not go to a concert to just sing along with the band playing or to respect the fanchants. I want to scream, to make myself heard, to attract the attention on me and to show the band I am there for them, for their music and I want to tell them I don't give a damn about my voice. The boys had a really big interest for Romania, since they have looked up for things related to our country and for Youngjun to learn how to play our national anthem. They sure did had high expectations of us, but we blew their mind away, like they did to us. I love Led Apple ever since they debuted, and I am sorry they went through so many changes, but what I'm not sorry for is that they came to my country in this version and I don't regret going to their concert. 

I bow in front of Led Apple, 90 degrees!

(and I'm sorry I didn't do it at the meeting, but I will remember for sure to so next time, because there will be a next time. Hanbyul, I will make sure you will keep your promise about the concert and, maybe, on that new single called "Va iubesc!")

Sorry for those who feel offended by my words, it's not my intention to do something like that. I just want to express my thoughts, that's all.