Requiem by Jamie McGuire

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Apparently, there’s more to the story than just giving back the Naissance de Demoniac to Shax, the Duke of Hell.

In Requiem by Jamie McGuire, we uncover a bloodline that traces back to Goliath, a friend who descended from a long line of Crusade Knights, a prophecy that disrupts the Balance of Heaven and Hell, and a lot more.

I could go on and on but that would just make me retell the whole story. So let’s just skip to the elements of the book that I liked the most–

1. The Ryels. BAMF Hybrids. They are absolutely amazing! Taking on a legion of demons and still get to protect their Taleh? Awesome, dude.

2. Nina Grey as the acting CEO of Titan Mercantile. One career woman coming your way!

3. Kim Pollocks and her abominable, inexplicable power to repel demons. Kickass!

4. The dreams of Nina were actually a premonition. It might have been a nasty disturbance in her pseudo-normal life, but damn, it saved their lives.

5. Claire Ryel is and will always will be my favorite guardian angel. Unforgiving, straightforward, fearless and yet caring. Not to mention her platinum blonde hair and damn hot boots.

6. Lastly, Jared Ryel. MNBVCXZSDF GHJKPOIUYT!!!!!!!!! REWQASDFGH JKMNBVCXSD FGHJOIUYTR EWQASDFGHJ KMNBVCXZAS DFGHJKPOIU YTREWQASDF GHJ!!!!!!!!! Translation: I love you, Hot Stuff!!!!!!!!! I’ll marry you right here right now, no questions asked!!!!!!!!!

And oh, somebody got knocked up. Hence, the war begins!

Reading Challenge: 8 out of 30

Questions

A Very Long Engagement | Photo from gaspardulliel.net

How does it feel like to unwillingly send off your fiance to a “job” that would certainly get him killed? How do you manage to have a tremendous hope when everybody’s been telling you that he’s dead? How do you keep on going after him when your eyes actually revealed his grave?

How could you still believe that you’re engaged to him when it’s no longer a shared memory?

#ohmyfangirlheart #couldnothandlethisheartbreak #engagedforever #gaspardjustgotomybedroomthisinstant

Providence by Jamie McGuire

Photo from tabithabookblog.blogspot.com

My five cents on the Providence by Jamie McGuire:

1. You know those sappy lines that make you cringe? The ones like “I’ll die if you die,” “I couldn’t live without you,” “I will love you forever,” “I will protect you no matter what”? Yes, these are all present in the book but McGuire found an excuse to put these into writing due to the roles of the characters: Jared Ryel being a half-archangel and Nina Grey being his Taleh (assigned human to guard). The rule was that the Archangels must guard their Taleh every single second. Once their Taleh dies, life will be drained from them as well. So these cheeseballs lines are actually literal on purpose. HAHAHA!

2. That scene where Nina drove to a nowhere land, deflated her tires, got soaked under the heavy rain just to get Jared’s attention was crazy! As in Travis Maddox kind of kuhraaazy!

3. Now let’s go to THAT scene where Nina was breaking up with Jared and he went utterly ballistic! “I’ll do what I have to do, Nina. If you want to go away, we’ll go. If you need intimacy, I’ll make love to you. I’ll give you whatever you want. I’ll give up everything I have. I’ll give up my family. We can get in the car right now and just drive–I won’t even look back. Just don’t ask me to do this. ” This is so wrong on so many levels and yet it’s so freakin’ good to hear from a guy! It poached, pierced and stabbed my heart. Seriously. Although the Travis Maddox style of begging a girl back is still incomparable. Haha.

4. CLAIRE. IS. A-MAZING! A FOR AWESOME!

5. What I love about Jamie McGuire is she always makes it a point that the couple resort to cohabitation. YAY!

Moving forward to Requiem. More of Jared Ryel, oh yeeeeuhh!

Reading Challenge: 7 out of 30

The Hunger Games Movie

To the citizens of Panem, we were once again brought to the edge of our seats as the 74th Annual Hunger Games finally happened in the theaters.

First off, let me greet you a Happy Hunger Games and may the odds be ever in your favor!

Photo from rottentomatoes.com

I was fortunate enough to bag some premiere (March 21st) midnight screening tickets in Greenbelt. But actually, I had a little fangirl crisis a day before the event, but I was rescued by my true friend, Abi. <3 Haha! I almost had no one to go watch it with! Can you imagine watching The Hunger Games alone and no one to fangirl before, during and after the movie? Not acceptable. Hence, my love for Abi just got deeper.

Fast forward to the next day, I watched it again with my sibs, Bigs & Aiah, in Glorietta. Before anything else, can I just say that the Glorietta crowd was more participative? Haha! Perhaps because more non-readers went to Glorietta and the hardcore fangirls watched in Greenbelt. I’m not implying any correlation though. It’s just that, I enjoyed watching with very reactive people.

Enough of my anecdote and let’s get to the “reel” deal. Let’s categorize my fangirl feelings into Liked and Disliked.

LIKED

Photo from rottentomatoes.com

1. JENNIFER LAWRENCE. This. woman. is. outstanding! She’s outrageous! She got the grit of a father-orphaned breadwinner, the innocence of a District 12 tribute plunged in the Capitol, the unforgivingness of a hunter and the heart of a sister, a friend and a team player. My nitpicking about her *body* was nothing and was the last thing on my mind when I was watching her shoot an arrow, get broken over a kill and grow anxious about Peeta. SHE. WAS. ON. FAYAH! “I VOLUNTEER AS TRIBUTE!!!!” –absolute muhfckn win!

Photo from geekygirlslovescifi.blogspot.com

Photo from tumblr

2. JOSH HUTCHERSON. The Hutch knows how to be Peeta. The true kindness in his heart, the pretend-face in front of the cameras, the charm (made me smile every single fckn time), the jawporn, everything. E-V-E-R-Y-T-H-I-N-G. Especially those pre-Arena and post-Arena interviews! Damn it, pretty boy, why are you so freakin’ charming?! Oh, and let’s not forget the rooftop scene where you smiled genuinely at Katniss as if she was the world to you! I DIEEEE. HENCE, I VOLUNTEER AS YOUR GIRLFRIEND AND I WON’T TAKE NO FOR AN ANSWER. Haha!

Photo from rottentomatoes.com

3. THE FLIRTING OF KATNISS AND GALE. Enough said!!!

Photo from brisbanetimes.com.au

4. KATNISS’ LOVE FOR PRIM. It was exceptional. Tremendously reflected in the movie. Great job!

Photo from thehungergames2012.wordpress.com

5. GALE’S REACTIONS TO THE “STAR-CROSSED LOVERS SHOW” IN THE ARENA. Haha! Definitely uncanny. Made my heart too giddy. LOL

Photo from saltypopcorn.com

6. ALEXANDER LUDWIG. Dude. Can I just say that if I was one of the Capitol residents, I would bet on him? This guy knows his sht. A legit tribute. HIS HOTNESS IS TOO MUCH FOR THE CAMERAS TO TAKE. HE SHOULD PROCEED TO MY BEDROOM THIS INSTANT.

7. ISABELLE FUHRMAN. “Where’s lover boy?” –this line sent chills to my spine!

Photo from thehob.org

8. RUE’S DEATH AND KATNISS’ GRIEF. Amazing and heart-shattering. No words for this. All the awards to Jennifer Lawrence!

Photo from tumblr

9. POST-GAMES. “I DON’T WANNA FORGET.” Peetaaaaaa, why are you doing this to me?! Come to me, Peeta. Come to meeeee!

Photo from hungergamesmovie.org

10. I LOOOOOOVED THE HAPPENINGS OUTSIDE THE ARENA. The dialogue between Snow & Crane, the explanation how Crane played the tributes inside the Arena and most especially–Haymitch’s “star-crossed lovers” suggestion to Crane. Wonderful. Loved it!

11. HOW CRANE DIED. Oh wow.

Photo from shockya.com

12. CRANE’S BEARD.

Photo from thehungergames.wikia.com

13. STANLEY TUCCI. One of the most flexible actors in this generation!

Photo from atlantaladylitwits.wordpress.com

14. LENNY KRAVITZ. Here’s a public apology for not liking you before. But after seeing you on the big screen, damn Dude, you rocked as Cinna! You’ve given him an undeniably different attitude that I couldn’t even put into words. A-mazing!

15. THE CAPITOL’S FONDNESS OVER THE GAMES. Made me feel rage towards those heartless people. I know you felt that too.

DISLIKED

Photo from thehungergames.wikia.com

1. When did District 12 get that bright and clean? I was thinking of a gloomy place, as if it was your worst nightmare.

2. WHERE THE F WAS THE ALMOST-NAKED PEETA SCENE? WHERE? WHEEEEERE?

3. They should have given more attention as to how Katniss & Rue’s friendship grew. The progression was a bit abrupt for my liking. Tsk tsk.

Photo from hungergamesmovie.org

4. Honestly, the intimacy of Katniss and Peeta, while just for a show, was not established very well. It seemed like cut-out papers all hastily pieced together to form a story. Yes. I demand for more kissing scenes. And Peeta’s humor despite his condition was lost. He was supposed to be naturally teasing Katniss! What the hell did just happen?

5. They obviously balanced the exposure of each scene to be faithful to the plot of the book. While this should be a good thing for the readers, I assume they also did it for the non-readers. Still, I believe that they could have lengthened or given more effort to establish the parts with Rue and Peeta inside the Arena.

6. Another little peeve was they hugely adjusted to the “PG 13″ market. DAMN GUYS. We could have aimed for an R13 or R15! The morbidity of the Games lost its glory.

7. This may be a nitpicking on my part, but the ending should have been heartbreaking for Peeta–that Katniss’ romantic gestures inside the Arena was just a ploy to keep them alive. That she was just ~acting. That scene was essential to my life! Haha!

After a long list of likes & dislikes–

VERDICT: Above Average. Rocks my socks! A pretty decent adaptation of the book. But personally, I feel that it could have been a lot better but yeknow, my hardcore fangirl standards can work with that. Okay, scratch that. I CAN WATCH THE MOVIE ON LOOP FOREVER. Hihi. <3

And now we wait for Catching Fire. On the lookout: WHO WILL PLAY AS FINNICK ODAIR?

Daz it. I’m always open for a movie discussion so we can all pour our fangirl hearts out! Just holler!

Signing off,

Nash Albacea
Irrigator
District 11 

It’s All Relative by S.C. Stephens

Photo from goodreads.com

After weeks of whining that I miss reading my books, I’ve finally finished my 6th this year: It’s All Relative by S.C. Stephens.

Here are my observations–

1. Damn it. If I felt that Thoughtless & Effortless were myopic, then this one’s extreme Kai-Jessie-Kai-Jessie on loop. There was a feeble attempt to change perspectives, but it didn’t help that much.
2. Too many introspection scenes for my liking.
3. I appreciated the UST level, but it felt like it was forced. Perhaps,  it’s because of the reader knowing the “truth” early on, hence, the tension was not so real while reading the book. But then again, would the reader stick with it if she found out about the truth just as late as the character did? It was a sacrifice Stephens had to make.
4. Seriously, the illicit love affair of Leilani & Mason could’ve been a much better story.
5. Stephens, obviously, can’t let go of happy endings. Everything just  falls into their rightful places, to the extent that the events were uncanny.

Despite the above, I still believe that Stephens has the most vivid imagery among the authors I’ve patronized recently. And I praise her for that.

Reading Challenge: 6 out of 30