First, let me start this book review by saying that I love stories about friends falling in love. Personally, it’s the best way to find love, being friends and eventually finding out that you actually like each other more than you think you do. That’s why when I read the blurb of Something Like Fate by Susan Colasanti, I got sucked in.

Lani and Erin are lifelong best friends — and total opposites. Lani’s a down-to-earth Taurus; Erin’s a fiery Leo. Lani likes to do her own thing; Erin prefers an entourage. They’ve always had wildly different tastes, from pizza toppings to guys.

That is, until Erin starts dating Jason.

From the minute Lani meets Jason, she can’t deny the amazing connection she feels with him. It’s like they’ve known each other their whole lives. She’s not sure if he feels it, too — but even if he does, he’s off-limits. Lani’s determined to ignore her feelings for Jason, no matter how powerful they are, rather than hurt her best friend.
Then Erin goes away for the summer — and Jason seems to appear everywhere Lani turns. How long can she keep running from the guy who just might be the love of her life?

Okay, so that isn’t a really good blurb to begin with but you get the drift…

I wanted to like the book. Believe me, I do. Every book I read I wanted to end up liking but that isn’t the case. This book left me wanting to hurl it to the wall or burn the book! It had one of the worse endings I’ve ever read. I don’t know if Miss Colasanti will make a book two of this horrible story but the main characters still in conflict with each other… Then there’s the case of the best friends, the two girls, Lani and Erin. The latter was the dominant one, the former the one who’s always out to please her best friend. These two are the worse best friend characters I’ve had the misfortune of meeting in a book. Lani was so obsessed with pleasing her best friend that she forgot she had her own life to live. While Erin had no qualms destroying her best friend’s life over a boy, walking all over her when the opportunity presented itself, and then realizing that, hey, how silly of her to be mad when there were too many boys fawning all over her and her best friend had one!

The only thing that kept me going until the end? I wanted to know what happened to the characters of Blake, Lani’s gay friend, Sophie the fat girl, and Connor the Canadian guy who wanted to date Lani but the girl was stupid enough to decline.

Trust me, you don’t want to pick this book up lest you are a masochist who enjoys inflicting pain on yourself.

I am giving Something Like Fate 1 out of 5 stars … just for loving the characters of Blake, Sophie and Connor in the story.

I feel bad that I didn’t like Keeping Her In The Light by Nicole Fuentes. It was just one of those books that dragged on and on and attempted too much but was only able to deliver too little.

It was supposed to be a psychological thriller. It’s about a woman abducted by a psychotic serial killer. The only way for her to preserve her life was to go along with the killer’s whims and psychological bombard of question and answer portions.

In the 16-year-old writer’s attempt to bring out a truly deep novella, she failed to focus and delve on the characters of her story. The protagonist didn’t know if she would act as the victim or act as a normal woman who sympathized with the antagonist. The latter wanted to prove if the Stockholm Syndrome is true so he tried to lure his victim to like him but at the same time his true personality would come out from time to time and his victim had varied responses to different emotions from him. This would have been good and well considering the story was about abduction and terror could do things to a person’s mind. But the way Nicole told the story… I tell you, your mildest reaction would be to just stop reading and forget about the novella. If you are a bit on the violent side, you’d most likely throw the book on the wall and kick yourself for ever buying and reading it!

I just find the story convoluted, too far fetched, too out there (and not in a good way) and just too trying hard to become an intellectual read.

I would have really liked to be able to promote this book from a fellow Filipino but it would be unfair of me to give you a positive review of it when it’s not really a good read (for me, anyway).

I am giving Keeping Her In The Light 1 out of 5 stars … for effort.

The last and final book in the Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer was partly annoying to me. Let me enumerate the ones that truly bothered me:

1. The idea of Bella’s pregnancy. It’s gross to be sucking on human blood like it’s juice!
2. That plea of Edward on Jacob to breed with Bella if need be just make her give up the baby that’s slowly killing her. That was not a great idea at all and was totally inappropriate.
3. Bella’s sick happiness on seeing Jacob. She was a married woman!
4. The baby’s name: Reneesme. I mean come on! There are so many names to choose from and I could understand it’s taken from the two characters’ names but it just sucked!
5. Edward calling Jacob “my son”. Eewww!

The rest of the story’s okay. I liked the parts where the Cullens and their vampire friends were training to fight. I liked that part when Bella realized that she had great blocking powers. I liked the fight part.

The book wasn’t all great but it’s a really good ending to the Twilight Saga. It could be interpreted as an open ended book because the Volturri‘s issue with the Cullens may be resolved but they could find another issue to pick on and that would mean another book for Meyer! But all in all, I do like the ending and how finally Bella was able to resolve her ‘inexplicable’ love for Jacob. And she became friends with Rosalie, finally!

I am giving Breaking Dawn 3 out of 5 stars

I will combine my book reviews on the 2nd and 3rd books in the Twilight Saga: New Moon and Eclipse by Stephenie Meyer.

I have mixed feelings on both books. On the one hand, I still have this overwhelming love for the character of Edward Cullen. Because I already read the last and final book in the saga, I can now understand why Jacob Black was that annoying. I can now understand why Bella Swan felt the need to be an ass and be torn between two men, or a vampire and a werewolf. When I first read New Moon, I had to put the book down for days before I could continue reading it again. It was just the need to finish the book and move on to Eclipse that made me read the whole damn book. Admittedly, I am Team Edward. I hated that parts where Edward was just a dim memory of Bella. With the storytelling, it’s the same as Twilight. Good, nothing spectacular. I am just one of those persons who don’t like a fickle-minded woman probably.

So I was able to finish New Moon and was happy with the ending. Bella and Edward were back in each others’ arms. I liked that ending a lot. I liked how Alice Cullen played a big role in the book again.

Moving on to Eclipse, I thought it would be a whole lot better but the idea of being torn between the one you declared to be your life (Edward) versus your bestfriend (Jacob) was, again, something I totally hated. I didn’t like that Bella played the hearts of those men. There was an explanation in the final book but since I didn’t know it yet, I could never appreciate the tug in Bella’s heart where Jacob was concerned. I liked the idea of the mortal enemies setting aside their differences to fight for a common goal. The newborn vampires of Victoria versus the werewolves and the good vampires. The scene where Bella realized that she’s also in love with Jacob, the one in the clearing while they were waiting for the fight to commence… that really bothered me. How could a woman be in love with another when she couldn’t live without another? Bella was madly in love with Edward and couldn’t live without him but she’s also in love with Jacob? Come on, girl! Pick one!

I like Seth Clearwater‘s character. I liked how he bonded with the vampires and became a central character in the last book. But I am getting ahead of myself….

So my final judgment: 50-50 like-hate both books.

I am giving New Moon 2 out of 5 stars
while Eclipse 3 out of 5 stars

I was reading this article about how an author got hurt reading bad reviews of her novel. She said that it took her months, years for some, to write the novel only for a critic to ravish it in one article. It hurt her so bad!

Some would argue that if you can’t take the heat, then you are in the wrong profession. I must admit, though, that some reviews are truly hurtful. Scathing reviews from people with a strong following can cause emotional scars.

I am guilty of one such review. It is of a book I was so excited about. I took the time to contact the author to be able to get a copy immediately. Imagine my disappointment when after only a page I was trying so hard not to throw the book on the wall! I was so disappointed I felt like burning the book because of the stupidity of it all!

I forgot that the author of the book was very young. I should have been more careful in my review. But in my defense, I was just being truthful. The use of the word “stupid” was harsh. I know that. But it sums up my review of the book. The story was plain stupid! I pointed out specific details why I thought so. I should have used another word but it’s the right one for me at the time. I will write another review of it soon. A milder version of the original one.

Have you written a bad book review you felt guilty a few months after?

When I read Twilight way before it became a huge phenomenon, I didn’t have a book blog yet. So basically this is my first attempt to review it.

Twilight by Stephenie Meyer.

I first read about this hugely phenomenal book in a livejournal account of someone I didn’t know. I cannot remember anymore why I read that blog (possibly because it’s about books) but I was there and I saw how so many people were talking about this vampire book.

I searched for a copy and found an electronic one. I read it and became a huge fan after!

Twilight was a mushy book with all the right ingredients thrown in! Edward Cullen was the ultimate gentleman. A boyfriend ladies would love to bring home to meet the parents. The only flaw: he’s a 100-year-old vampire. Bella Swan was the cool chick ladies would all want to be. Pretty, brave, good skinned. Men fight over her. And the one thing teens and young adults can relate to: an angst-ridden love affair! Bella wanting to become immortal just like Edward so they can stay together forever, but the latter didn’t want to turn her into a vampire like him because he values her life more. A mushy love story with the perfect lovers in it! A knight in shining armor (or a vampire with a sparkly, shining skin) always saving the damsel in distress (or the klutzy lady with the delicious smell to him)…

Twilight also has this Cinderella-type of element in it. Bella feeling all so simple and insignificant while her Edward was more than handsome and closer to being perfect! We all love some Cinderella-type story, of course. Tried and tested formula, I must say.

That is the appeal of Meyer’s Twilight. A love story between teenagers, albeit one was a teenager for a century, with the usual elements of passion and drama and danger. How can we all resist that?

I am giving Twilight 5 out of 5 stars.

I really feel that the spin-off Eclipse novella The Short Second Life of Bree Tanner is forced and corny! First off, why Bree Tanner? Is she significant? Is there anything in her very, very limited existence in Eclipse that warranted such a spin-off? Secondly, why her of all the very insignificant characters?? Why not the soldier who saved Jasper Hale‘s life? Or someone insignificant in the Volturi? Lastly, I do feel Stephenie Meyer is pulling a J.K. Rowling in this move to release a spin-off.

Can you recall that time when Ms. Rowling was asked if she ever considered creating a whole story about any of the other characters in the Harry Potter series? She said that she’s actually considering doing a novel for Neville Longbottom, the other one who was born at the same day Harry Potter did. Sure, Neville is a major character in the series. But it’s the same idea, don’t you think?

I just feel that Meyer is pulling a stunt with this Bree Tanner novella and is trying to be cool by opting to create a whole novel out of a very, very insignificant character.

I know you get my drift.

Diary of a Wimpy Vampire is a tale of a 15-year-old vampire named Nigel who’s nearing his 100th year on Earth. He still hasn’t tasted what it’s like to have a girlfriend and to be treated with respect. Unlike the popular vampire Edward Cullen, Nigel doesn’t have the good looks or the mesmerizing beauty associated with vampires. He also doesn’t have the speed, agility and strength normally possessed by vampires like him.

And then he met Chloe. She is his classmate in high school and he is in love with her! He plans on making her his girlfriend and telling her the truth about him. His quest to make her his is where the story revolves around.

Diary of a Wimpy Vampire is funny. I love how it is absolutely NOT what Twilight is all about. Nigel is a sensitive vampire who’s bored with his existence but was awakened by his love for Chloe. He can’t feed on human beings because he doesn’t possess the strength to do so plus he can’t mesmerize humans. And get this. He is grossed out by the thought of feeding on someone he might know!

If you want a quick, simple and funny read, I suggest you check out this book. If you want something that is NOT Twilight, then this book is for you. Of course, this book is intended for teens and young adults so it’s really a very easy read.

I am giving Diary of a Wimpy Vampire 5 out of 5 stars.