My Reading Week

It has been one of those eventful period for me… bad news on one front, good news on another, catching a cold one week then caught up with the busyness of Chinese New Year!  By the way, Happy Chinese New Year to you all 😉  And just for fun (because I don’t actually have any faith in this), this is what the horoscope says the year of the Horse will bring us Monkeys…

… So Monkey will face some pressures in the year of  Horse.

Monkey is a smart animal. It should accept the challenges from Horse. If  Monkey can get on the horseback, then Monkey can go as anywhere they want…

Career: …, then the job pressure will  continue in 2014. You might have more errands. You might need to travel more.  You might have tighter schedule. Monkey people should use their intelligence to  challenge the stress…

Money: …There is no easy money in the Horse year, you must  spend your energy, sweat and time to exchange your reward. To travel out of town  might be a better idea  to locate your treasure…

Love: …If  you are married, then minor quarrel is possible, but that’s easy to avoid using  your wisdom.

Health: …Monkey people need to enough sleep and good rest for  their coming challenges. Monkey people might spend more time outdoor or away from  the home. You should drive very carefully on the road and try to avoid dangerous  sports.

There is minor unlucky star regarding family members in 2014. If you have seniors  in your family, then you should say hello to them often and make sure they have  good mood and health. If someone you love away from you, then  it’s nice to give them a call once for a while.

Oooh… dear, it’s not shaping up to be a good year for me!  BUT… I did end the year of the Snake with a very good luck.  You may recall, just over a week ago, for Truth or Dare, I went on a hunt for the elusive red cover of The Intern.  Well… I found ONE on Wednesday (the second last day of the year of the Snake! When I think back on it, I should’ve bought a Lotto ticket (lottery) -LOL).  The office was just so cold on Wed and as I still recovering from my cold, my nose was all stuffed up so all I wanted to do was to take a walk outside to thaw out somewhat.  As Dymocks bookstore was only a few buildings down the road, where else would my feet take me but there…?

I almost always visited the Young Adult section downstairs so as I approached the section, I spied something red sitting on the shelf… I really thought I was seeing things though I couldn’t stop myself from walking faster, my hand reached out though slightly hesitated just before I touched it (just in case, it WAS all in my head, you know…) then I grabbed it off the shelf.  I continued walking around the store with half my head in the cloud and the other expecting somebody… anybody… to come up to me about the special book I was hugging to my chest.

The next evening was the book launch so I begged the lovely people at Harper Collins to let me in despite the last minute’s (and very late) RSVP.  They were very kind and I managed to squeezed in along with a hundred other people!  It was a totally packed out event!  I mean, seriously, who would want to miss out on those cupcakes?  Or the Champers!  Seriously though, CONGRATULATIONS, Gabby, on the successful launch of your debut novel.  And yes, I am reading it though a little slow as I haven’t had much reading time…

My Reading Week

This week I decided that I wanted to do another detox thingy though not as strict as I did it 3 months ago. One of the consequence is that this is day 4 of NO COFFEE *GASP*  yep, I’m waiting for that withdrawal headache to hit.  I’m giving it 3 more days before I will be incapacitated (I’d probably need some panadol then).  Day 1, I was totally gung-ho, no coffee, lots of veggies, and as little sugar as possible.  Day 2, after having woken up super early for no reason at all…

Sooo…. I spoiled myself this week, latest residents being:

• The Fiery Heart (Bloodlines #4) by Richelle Mead
• Shame and Captives by Tom Keneally
• City of Dark Magic by Magnus Flyte
• Allegiant (Divergent #3) by Veronica Roth

On the Netgalley front, I’ve been behaving myself.  I’ve not requested any this week (a little sad about it but I really have to catch up first) and I’ve somewhat caught up with half of my reviews which means that my stats are back up, woo hoo!!  Nonetheless, there is one Netgalley title I received an invite for (blog tour in January) and it’s… *drum rolls*

King Cave (Forever Evermore #2) by Scarlett Dawn

I’m soooo excited about this title!!!  A Paranormal new adult kick-ass heroine and super bad hottie vamp 😉  Interested?  The first book, King Hall, is currently back on Netgalley, so GO REQUEST!

On the actual reading front, I managed to finish off the 2 romances I meant to read so this week (on the lead up to 1 Dec), I’m going to try to finish the following 3 titles (2 of which I’ve started this weekend):

• The Curse-Keepers by Denise Grover Swank
• The Deliverance of Evil by Roberto Constantini
• Infamy by Lenny Bartulin

      

My Reading (or rather Baking) Week

Phew!  Golly, I’m so glad it’s done and over with!  Over the weekend, my son had his 4th birthday party and as always, every year for the past 4 years, I’ve started baking at least 2 weeks before.  There is a theme and therefore, themed cookies and cake.  Hence, the intense pressure of it all.  I have to confess that the pressure comes from myself -The Perfectionist Queen :p

The theme this year was Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles and theme-related food includes:

1. Shuriken Cookies (thanks to Lizzie’s Cake Log for the tips though I used my own sugar cookies recipe)

2. Raphael (Ninja Turtle) Cake (thanks to homespooled for the instruction though I tried to make it look as if he was peeking out of a manhole but… well, it was an interesting result!)

3. Turtle Cupcakes (it was green tea cupcakes with chocolate icing which was meant to look like the shells but I didn’t have time to draw the lines)

4.  Swamp Jelly with sour worms (hubby says no one will get this reference so I’ll spell it out… Michaelangelo loves to cook and he comes up with weird & wonderful recipes with disastrous results)

The main meal itself were bought: Sushi and Pizzas (of course!).  I got some garlic bread too though as my son told me, “turtles never eat garlic bread.”  Hhhmmm, why didn’t I think of that?!

 

Now that it’s over, it’s time to knuckle down and write tons more of reviews (I’m so behind that my NG stats have fallen, boo!) so you can look forward to more chatter from me the next couple of weeks while it’s quiet before the Christmas festivities come blowing in.  PLUS, I’ve committed to read Game of Thrones with a couple of GR friends starting 1 December.  We’re aiming to read about 30% per week and then finish it off as we can fit it in between Christmas parties 😉  If you’d like to join in, you can find the GR discussion thread, here.

And now for the newly arrived:

Thank you, Harlequin Australia, for these beauties:

• Right as Rain by Tricia Singer (I’m late getting into these Aussie farm lits)
• Pawn by Aimee Carter
• Captivate by Vanessa Garden

Thanks The Reading Room for these review copies:

• Canton Elegy: A Father’s Letter of Sacrifice, Survival, and Enduring Love by Stephen Lee & Howard Webster
• The Screaming Staircase (Lockwood & Co. #1) by Jonathan Stroud (courtesy of Random House Australia via Netgalley)

Plus a number of Unexpected Approvals (!!!) on Netgalley:

• The Lost Sisterhood: A Novel by Anne Fortier (courtesy of Random House)
• Shadowplay (Pantomime #2) by Laura Lam (courtesy of Strange Chemistry)
• The Descent (The Taker #3) by Alma Katsu (courtesy of Gallery)
• The Power of a Praying Woman by Stormie Omartian (courtesy of Harvest House Publishers)

Let’s not forget the WINS that arrived too:

• Dark Heart by Tony Park (thanks, Get Reading!)
• Empower (The Violet Eden Chapters #5) by Jessica Shirvington (thanks, Date a Book)
• Almost Mine by Lea Darragh (thanks, ARRA & Harlequin Australia) 

This week, I’d be reading some looked-forward-to Romances (*sighs* be still, my heart!):

• Awakening (The Twins of Saranthium #1) by Lara Morgan (I’ve started it this morning and this, I think, will turn out to be a comfort read -that mix between fantasy & romance, love it!)
• Nobody but Him (Boys of Summer #1) by Victoria Purman

And to fit in between:

• The Deliverance of Evil by Roberto Constantini
• Infamy by Lenny Bartulin

My reading (or rather bookish) week

I am amazed that I still managed to fit in my bookish events with how crazy life has been with moving, arranging rental, and just overall “life”!!  But then again, how could you not FIT in bookish events!  I don’t know about you but it’s how I keep my sanity 😉

The week before, I happily went shopping for my “Divergent” outfit for the Allegiant launch in Sydney this past week.  I had to be able to wear it to work (at a corporate office environment) then onto the launch.  Embarrassingly, my (male) manager noticed the matching bag & skirt! I don’t know whether that means I don’t usually match or the outfit was a total stand-out.  I still didn’t win best-dressed but I had a fun time hanging out with Divergent fans 😀

 

Do you know your Divergent?  Which faction did I dress as?

We also had our bookclub meet this weekend and as we toured around Asia this year, we visited Indonesia via The Rainbow Troops by Andrea Hirata.  It was a busy weekend of cooking and eating Indonesia cuisine whilst somewhat discussing abovementioned book.  For the last 2 months, as each members took turn reading, I received feedback of how good it was but then it surprised me that the general consensus with the rating was only about 3/5 stars (disallowing the half-star).  Everyone found the book to be “inspiring” (it appears to be the Word of the Day) though there was a discussion as to whether the book was about the teachers or the children.  Everyone wonders though whether the rest of the books (a quartet) will be translated into English so I think an interest to progress in the series is a good indication of the book’s rating.

 

Menu of the day:

Gado-gado (salad served with peanut sauce)

Sate (pork satays served with a salsa type of sauce)

Semur sapi (some sort of beef stew)

Tempe Kecap (tempeh is fermented soy beans, cooked with beans and lots of sweet soy sauce)

Biji Salak (a dessert made from sweet potatos –kumara with tapioca flour served with palm sugar and coconut cream)

Putu Ayu (pandan flavoured with lots of coconut topping)

This week, I’d be attempting to finish reading the following books:

   

I’m still trying to ‘recover’ from my Netgalley splurge a couple of months ago! 2 of these are due to expire this week, eep!

I really would not have a clue when my blog’s anniversary is however thanks to WordPress who informed me 6 days ago that it’s been 3 years since I first started blogging (wow, who would’ve thunk!?).  So, in celebration… *drum rolls*

GIVEAWAY – 3 random book parcels (AU mailing addresses only)

Note: totally random books so neither you nor I will know exactly which one you’d be getting –I know which books they are but since they’re wrapped, I wouldn’t have a clue which I’m sending to whom!

Go to my Facebook page for the Rafflecopter entries (unfortunately, WP does not host this widget)

T & C:

1. You are over 13 yo
2. You have Australian mailing address
3. If you are drawn as winner, you have 48 hours to respond to my notification email
4. Giveaway ends midnight of 11^th November 2013

My Moving Month, Today’s Hunt +Giveaway (AU)

Sooo… I’ve pretty much have been offline for the last month due to lack of internet connection at our New Home.  Yay, we have moved!  Unfortunately, it’s a new-ish sort of area that we almost couldn’t get broadband! We were told that none of our neighbours could get any -wondered how they put up with that since they’ve been living here for over a year?!#firstworldproblem

In any case, we’re back online yesterday evening (Woot!) and here I am with plenty of update which I’ll keep short and stacks of overdue reviews!

Job move: I’m settling in well. Made some silly mistakes (as you would) but am otherwise enjoying the different environment and a more relaxed pace.

House move: All we’ve left is the dishwasher (delivered but not yet installed), a big stack of boxes to unpack in the garage (I’d bet that if I don’t unpack them, I probably won’t miss those stuff!), a bigger stack of boxes ready for disposal, oh, and the BLINDS… where are MY blinds?  Hoping to see them in the next fortnight.  Ah, I’m also needing an extra bookshelf.  I’ve been wondering why I haven’t seen any bookshelf giveaway?  C’mon, peeps, millions of Books giveaway but we also need bookshelf. lol

Today’s Hunt: Bloomsbury Australia organised a Book Hunt for The Signature of All Things and I just had to go.  I was mainly curious as to how they’d put this together and really to take some nice photos since there’ll be such lovely views at the Sydney Royal Botanic Garden.  When I registered and was given a set of clues (see below), I thought, “um, right, I’ll never find one!  I’m hopeless at treasure hunt clues / trivia / nature”.  Have not had Coffee at that stage either, ugh!  So, the strategy was to walk around and just read each board which described the things around the park and lucky me, I found one (yippee!!)…  Thanks, Bloomsbury Australia, for such a fun bookish event!  Please note, the token wasn’t as visible as shown below though it was on the same spot, it was hidden underneath the board.

  

It was a terrifically beautiful Sydney day 😀

Giveaway: Thanks to Harlequin Australia, I have an uncorrected proof of Nobody But Him by Victoria Purman to giveaway to one of you!  Aussies only, sorry, really can’t afford shipping to any other location.

At the age of eighteen, Julia Jones left her hometown — the small beachside town of Middle Point — with a head full of grand plans. Plans for an exciting life in a town that didn’t involve a main street with one pub or a particular boy named Ryan Blackburn.

But after fifteen years and a lifetime later, Julia’s forced to put her career and big-city life on hold when she returns home to finalise her mother’s estate. Which is exactly where she runs smack-bang into the town’s hero, Ry. As in Ryan Blackburn.

The sensible thing to do? Stay the hell away from him and head back to Melbourne as fast as her stilettos can carry her! But instead, Julia finds his offer of a helping hand and a hot body too delicious to refuse.

Soon, Julia’s ignoring her better judgement and diving into an ‘I’ll think about it tomorrow’ fling with Ry. But what she doesn’t realise is that tomorrow has a way of sneaking up on you…and that saying goodbye to her home town — and to Ry — is so much harder the second time around.

Just leave a comment below to enter above giveaway.  Please do not include your email address in body of your comment, just in the form, as requested.  Open until 9pm Sydney time (Tuesday, 24th September 2013) and if you respond to my email quickly enough, you may just receive the book the day before it’s released to the public 😉