Books: Mockingjay (The Hunger Games), Specials & Extras (Uglies series)

P.s: Never read my reviews if you don't want any spoilers!

I'm really behind on posting book reviews! Mockingjay was supposed to be up months ago but I've only got around it now lol No worries though, coz I re-read the whole Hunger Games series and now the story is once again fresh in my mind! (Okay fine, I finished re-reading it weeks ago and have since then read at least 3 or 4 books but still!) There's nothing to it honestly, I just love this story so much! The characters in the book really grows on you and I still kinda hate Collins for killing some of them off. Ugh. It hurts!

 

Mockingjay by Susan Collins

Mockingjay is the third and final installment to The Hunger Games series and is my second favorite book out of the three. I just love the way Collins describes the tension between Peeta and Katniss when they rescued him from the Capitol after you know, President Snow tortured Peeta for 'information'. Ever since the first book, Katniss has been thinking of never having any kids and yet towards the end, she has 2 kids with Peeta which I think is very sweet but she had them to please Peeta. So I guess she never wanted kids after all.

I have mixed feelings about the ending. I like that Katniss ended up with Peeta because I've never really cared for Gale (which is unfortunate because in the movie Gale is better looking wtf). However, Katniss's perspective of her 'new world' is quite grim and she talks of her children playing on a graveyard and how she learnt to move on and 'keep busy'. I guess I was hoping Collins would write something more positive like how the people don't starve anymore and are happier and stuff. I mean sure, people died but that was years ago before her children are born. It's kinda sad to see her so hung up with the past and instead of living life to the fullest with her family, she's still living in the past (kinda). But I guess once you were a tribute, those things stay with you forever so I can't blame her.   

To sum up, here are the parts that I love about Mockingjay:

- Anything regarding Peeta and his recovery

- Katniss and her team fighting their way to the Capitol

- Moments between Finnick and his wife

- Katniss shooting and killing Coin

Specials by Scott Westerfeld

I didn't know this was the final book where Tally Youngblood was featured as the main character! Specials is the third installment in the Uglies series. Turns out the final installment, Extras is all about this Japanese girl and it was three years after the third book, Specials happened. 

So this is where it gets interesting, Tally is finally a Special! She was operated on and have strong ceramic bones and super speed, which I think is pretty cool. They gave her sharp teeth too and her team consists of five or so other Specials just like her, including her best friend Shay. They also have these tattoos on their body and arms which flashes with light according to their moods. I really have no idea what that looks like so use your imagination for this. ;) Anyway, there's a catch. They make you stronger and faster with animalistic features and instincts yes, but they also alter your brain into thinking that you are the superior species and the others are weak and disgusting.

This is obviously a huge problem because the love of her life, Zane is still a Pretty unlike her. Even worse is that Zane was 'crippled' after his brain injury which causes his hands to tremble and that made it harder for Tally to see past his imperfections. Her mission throughout this book is to get Zane to be turned into a Special just like her so that they can be together because she simply can't stand looking at him as a Pretty. Anyways, shit happened and Zane died. It's a real bummer because Tally was trying so hard to remember him as the person she loved instead of just another weak Pretty (thanks to the brain alteration).

Towards the end, all the Specials were cured of their brain alterations except Tally. She and David decided to live in the wild and protect nature. If you didn't know, in Tally's world preserving the nature is extremely important because they knew the dangers of excessive cutting down of forests. Tally lived in a futuristic city 'three hundred years in the future'.

Favorite parts of Specials:

- Any moment depicting the use of Tally's special abilities

- Moments between Tally and Zane 

- When they first arrived at Diego city

- Tally's journey to the city

Extras by Scott Westerfeld

Extras is set 3 years after Specials and follows a Japanese girl named Aya. I was kinda disappointed that the author didn't continue with Tally's story but I guess her quest was done. This book did feature Tally nonetheless as Aya gets to meet her. It's interesting to read Aya's view of Tally because before this we readers get to be in Tally's head and know exactly what she is feeling and thinking but from a third person's view it can be interpreted differently. I'm not a big fan of Aya however, she seems very nosy to me and maybe that's coz she's a journalist or something along that line and is always looking to uncover new and interesting stories about other people.

In this book, Aya pretended to be friends with this secret circle of girls who did really crazy stuff at night. Basically she wanted to write a story about them but in the end she started to really love doing all those stunts but was discovered by the girls and was shunned instead. That's all I'm gonna tell you, read the book to find out what happened!

Overall, Uglies is a pretty good series in general although I find myself preferring The Hunger Games and Delirium. 

Books: Entwined + Pretties

Been doing a lot of beauty posts lately so I figured I could share with you guys my thoughts on a couple of books that I've recently bought and read! I go through phases where I'll be really into books and I'll drop whatever I'm doing and just read and read the whole day. Then I'll go back to my usual routine for a few months just to jump right back into it again. It's always either books or youtube. lol

 Entwined by Heather Dixon

I bought this a few weeks back along with Pretties by Scott Westerfeld from a visit to Best Eastern. I almost squealed when I saw this! Been wanting to read it ever since Elle from Allthatglitters21 on youtube mentioned it briefly in one of her book hauls. I bought quite a few of the books she recommended mainly because most of them are good!

Entwined is inspired by the classical story '12 dancing princesses' and the majority of the storyline follows the fairytale less some of the other parts. I read this book not knowing what to expect and it surprises me that the author would include magical objects in the storyline like the magical sugar tongs which hops around and also the big clock.

Azalea, the eldest of the 12 sisters found a secret entrance to a place where she and her sisters can dance every night without the King knowing. So this place is guarded by this enchanting vampire-like person called the Keeper. It's understandable that Azalea would be attracted to the Keeper. I mean, this story is set in what, the 17th century?? In that era, Azalea's bound to fall in love with anyone who came in contact with her! lol I don't wanna give away any spoilers but long story short, there's something really wrong with the Keeper and soon enough Azalea started to find out stuff about him...

Give this a read if you're interested in stories like this. I'd give this a 7/10. It's kinda fun creating faces for the characters in your head! lol 

Pretties by Scott Westerfeld

This is the second installment of the Uglies series. Pretties picked up where the first book left off, where Tally agreed to be turned pretty so that the people from the Smokes can use her to test out the medicine which cures pretties. Apparently when you've been turned pretty, doctors mess with your brain too making you dumb and kinda stupid. To keep the peace.

Anyway I'm kinda disappointed the author didn't do much to describe the new pretty Tally. All I know is that after the surgery, Tally was given silver colored eyes and that's it. She's taller too but that doesn't really help with the visualization of this new and improved Tally. haha maybe I'm too fussy but given that Tally is the main character in this book, I really think they should've describe her more than they did. I'm also surprised to learn that the majority of this book is focused in New Pretty Town. I thought David, her first lover would save her from that place. 

I'm looking forward to reading the third installment, Specials. Because Tally is gonna go under the knife again! But this time she's gonna look animalistic. Like a cat, or a leopard. Specials have more built to them and are stronger and faster than any of the other types of people so I'm kinda excited to see what this new (again) Tally can do! As for Shay, she can GTH. lol I don't really care for her character to be honest.

I like this better than the first book, Uglies! A solid 7.5/10!

Books: Uglies & The Hunt

So I just recently decided to pick up a book again after not reading for over a month. Can't help it, it's either this or youtube. Gee I'm so productive this holiday. Anyways if you know me you'll know I can read the whole day non-stop; but only if the book is good of course!

Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

This I bought before the holidays which is a few months back and I only recently (yesterday lol) finished it. The one thing that attracted me to this series is the fact that it revolves around people getting plastic surgery. People as in every single one of the population in the country. That alone is enough to make me read the book! haha

The story is set hundreds of years after us, like The Hunger Games. And after the people turn sixteen, they will undergo plastic surgery to look pretty. They even have towns called Uglyville where uglies below the age of sixteen live and New Pretty Town where the newly-turned pretties live. From what I read in the book, all the young pretties do is basically party their ass off. Believe it or not they also have 'middle pretties' for adults and older pretties. 

To put things short, the storyline centers around a girl, Tally who wanted to be pretty when she turns sixteen but by then her best friend, Shay escaped so the authority will only perform the surgery on Tally if she managed to find Shay. So off she goes into the wild to look for Shay and stuff. Pretty interesting but I bet the second book of this series will be even better! Can't wait to get my hands on the other three books!

The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda

I just finished this earlier and erhmahgerddd the cliffhanger is good! I'm not sure how new is this I just picked it up at the '2nd at 50% off' section in Popular. The main character is obviously a guy, Gene and he lives in a world where humans are basically almost extinct and vampires rule the world. Funnily enough, the word 'vampire' didn't come up at all in the book. Because a vampire is considered 'people' and a human is called a 'heper'. Gene is able to live among the vampires without them finding out about his true identity but of course we all know they are gonna find out soon enough.

The way the author Fukuda wrote this is very descriptive and I feel like I am watching a movie! But I guess the 'people' are more like creatures than anything because they 'devour' humans, not only drinking the blood but actually eating humans! Honestly though, this book really reminded me of the movie Daybreakers where the streets are empty during the day when people sleep and they go to work at night. There's even one chapter in the book where Gene talks about going to school at night and he can't see what the teacher wrote on the board! Apparently these things can see in the dark pretty well.

This is a really interesting one and I can't wait to read the next installment of this series! I think I say that for just about all the books that I read haha but seriously. This one's good. ;p

"He's much slower. The sun is melting away not only his flesh, but his muscles. His legs have become squishy bags of pus now, his calf and thigh muscles quickly disintegrating. With a cry. He leaps up at the closing glass wall."

 - Excerpt from The Hunt by Andrew Fukuda

I'm back!

Finally, I can blog again! My last paper was yesterday and personally I think it was the toughest just because I have a paper to sit for every day from Monday to Thursday straight! So by Thurs my brain is already overheating and not really functioning properly but I'm glad I pulled through without any massive headache lol (The headache happened last night and I'm still having it now wtf)

I'm so excited for this 3-months long holiday! But I haven't really planned what I'm gonna do yet so now I'm just happily enjoying my morning with a cup of tea beside me. :) Oh and I bought a couple of books before the exam and now I can finally read them!!

 

Delirium and Pandemonium by Lauren Oliver

Yes, Pandemonium is still wrapped in plastic I can't bring myself to open them! This is an interesting one Ain recommended me and even Elle from Allthatglitters21 talked about this book. It's about this girl who live in a world where love is a disease and people have to go through this thing so that they can be cured of it. Interesting huh? 

Mom bought me another book when she went down to miri a few weeks ago, it was one of The Immortals series by Alyson Noel. The fourth installment, to be exact. lol So random! Luckily Sharon has the first book and I'm still currently reading that one. If it's good I'm gonna get the second and third installment. If it's not, then I'll probably download the pdf files and read from there! :p Personally I'd always go for the actual book than the e-book. Holding a book and reading them makes me feel smart wtf

Really need to get a bookshelf. Funnily enough, I only started buying books when I entered UBD. Before that I can never bring myself to buy a book because of opportunity cost lol Now I sometimes find myself choosing a good book over makeup. Makeup is fine, but I'm just trying to use more of the stuff that I have right now. Because I currently have 9 different sorts of foundation and BB Creams but only 1 face. 

But I'm so very the curious about Skin79's Snail Nutrition BB Cream and Missha's. Ugh.

Anyway, here's a random FOTD! Taken when I went to watch Battleship with the siblings. Battleship is awesome!!

  

Books: The Hunger Games - Catching Fire - Second Installment

This post is centered around the second installment of The Hunger Games trilogy, Catching Fire. Please click here if you wish to read on my thoughts for the first Hunger Games book!

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Gale, Katniss and Peeta!

Catching Fire tells us about what happened after Katniss won the Hunger Games. That's all I can say about the second book without giving out any spoilers lol basically it also tells on what impact the games have on her life back home in District 12. And also the sudden turn of the story towards the middle of the book which is really surprising!

What makes me wanna read Catching Fire ASAP is what Peeta said to Katniss at the end of the first book. Asking Katniss to hold his hand one more time for the audience. Here's how the author Collins describes it, "His voice isn't angry. It's hollow, which is worse." I don't know about you but that's what makes me curious as to what is going to happen to their relationship because throughout the first book we read of Peeta revealing to his feelings to Katniss in public. The first book also tells us how much he loves her through the things he said and the things he did for her. So... Yes I'm curious how he can suddenly be so emotionless towards her!

To be honest, out of the trilogy, I'm least fond of Catching Fire. Don't get me wrong, I love The Hunger Games trilogy but if you were to ask me which book is my favourite I wouldn't say Catching Fire is. Out of the three, Catching Fire is imho not the most exciting book but it is still very very enjoyable, of course. Don't be discouraged by what I say if you haven't read Catching Fire because it is still pretty amazing I'd say!

I'm pretty sure whoever who managed to read the first Hunger Games book will read the whole series because there is no reason not to especially when the story is freakin mind-blowing! I have yet to meet someone who only read the first book.

Catching Fire by Suzzane Collins

Please STOP reading if you don't wanna read any spoilers from here on out! I wanna share my thoughts to those who have read them. :)

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So... are you guys as surprised as I am to find out that Katniss has to compete YET AGAIN in the Hunger Games?? It's totally mad what Snow will do in order to destroy Katniss! Even I myself, wonders if she is gonna survive this time around but knowing that there's a third book assures me she'll survive. After all, we all know she's a fighter! Sometimes I feel like Katniss is emotionless. She does come across as robotic to me when she does things like attempting to drown Buttercup the cat when she first found it.

As surprised as I am about Katniss and Peeta going for another round of The Hunger Games, I love Collins for introducing new characters into the book. My favourite new character that she brought in in Catching Fire is Finnick! At first I was quite skeptical about him because of the way Katniss sees him but once they were in the games and finding out a little bit about his past he really doesn't seem all that bad! The only thing with characters in a book is that you have to make up your own mind on how they look like! It's hard for me to imagine because he doesn't exist in real life.

The saddest part of the book is... yes of course, when Mags the old lady from Districk 4 who came with Finnick sacrificed herself to spare Katniss and Finnick the burden of saving her life. When she kissed Finnick on the cheek and runs off into the poisonous mist it was already heartbreaking for me but finding out that she used to be Finnick's mentor is just... ugh. Why?!! Gawd. Collins is good at making me cry wtf

Towards the ending it gets really confusing for me. The part where she's trying to do things about that metal cylinder and stuff. I'm not following and I don't know what's really happening at that point because everything seems so hectic and messed up like too much is going on. Like one minute she was still in the games and the next she's at this hospital and the others were there too. I was thinking how come because I thought there were supposed to be only one survivor in the games. Maybe it's really not that confusing though, not really sure because it was already 4am+ by that time when I was reading and I was fighting to stay awake to finish the book lol Everything gets explained in the third book, Mockingjay so that's alright.

Catching Fire by Suzzane Collins

I guess that's all I have to say about Catching Fire. The clothing that Cinna the designer made for Katniss seems really spectacular from what I read! I really hope they manage to make it look as awesome as they sounded in the book! The dazzling dresses and the ones that are on fire...

Btw I watched The Hunger Games movie during its premiere at The Mall this thursday thanks to Jim and I gotta say it's pretty awesome! I give it an 8/10! They did quite well with the scene where Rue died and also during her training before the games. The only thing I'm disappointed with is her costumes but that's okay, I still love it!

Books: The Hunger Games - First installment

After feverishly reading The Hunger Games books over the week, I knew I have to blog about them. Too good, too good!

I knew these books have been out for a while now and my friend Jim has been pushing me to read it every single time the mention of books are brought up. But I was always "ya ya I know, it's awesome." or "Laterlah..." or "Really that nice kan?" haha Till the point where he had to send me the links to download the pdf format of the three books so that I have no excuse not to read them. I mean, I know I will read them eventually because I trust what he say is a good book but gawd I don't like reading e-books!

So I finally gave in and went to Best Eastern at The Mall to reserve them once I found out they are shipping them here to Brunei like finally. Thank God I did! Now it's my turn to annoy my sisters and telling them it's really good and they're all "ya ya I know, it's awesome." Circle of life wtf

The Hunger Games by Suzzane Collins

If you haven't read The Hunger Games, well it centers around this girl called Katniss living in a post world war 3 country I guess. After the destruction of America, they started everything all over. They called the society a Dystopian society because of the amount of control the government holds over the people and how poverty is very common everywhere. They called the government the Capitol and there are 12 districts in which each of this district is in charge of producing certain products. Katniss is from District 12 and they produce coal, for instance.

Anyways, every year the Capitol arranges 2 people from each district, a boy and a girl to compete in The Hunger Games. Rule is simple: The last one standing wins. They choose the participants from each district using 'lucky draw' style. Not so lucky for the people unfortunately. Somehow in the end, Katniss is to compete in The Hunger Games.

This books basically lets you in to her mind and you get to know what she was thinking in her head. It's an amazing experience where you feel like you're right beside her in the games and you see what she sees. Really gotta applaud Collins for her creativity! She created a world out of words and when I'm reading them I really feel like I'm watching a movie wtf

If you haven't read The Hunger Games, go buy a copy now!! It'll be one of the most amazing journey you go on! In your mind only of course, but it's good for you. ;)

Okay, please STOP reading if you don't wanna read any spoilers from here on out! Coz I wanna share my thoughts to those who have read them :)

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Honestly, I am quite surprised at first of how Katniss seems to be oblivious to the fact that the guys have feelings for her when it's so darn obvious to the rest of us! But seeing the life that she's living and what she's been through I guess it's not really her main concern.

The saddest part of the book for me is when Rue died. Gahh it's so sad I literally have tears rolling down my cheeks in the middle of the night at like 3am in the morning! haha Collins is good with developing her characters and it's really sad because we get to know the characters and sometimes we grow fond of them so I felt very wtf (and betrayed) when Collins killed her off. But then again, we all knew Rue will die sooner or later. Sigh The lyrics of the song Katniss sang to Rue when she died is priceless. I hope they made a real song out of it!

Also, Katniss pulling out the berries so she and Peeta can die together when they changed the rules is such a small gesture but it offsets something so big. Why should Snow blame her when she and Peeta are supposed to be madly in love anyway. It shouldn't be a big deal because that's what people who are madly in love do.

After the end of the first book I was really anticipating to read the next one because I was so curious as to how Collins will play out the second book of the installment, Catching Fire. I'll do the review on another blog post that's for sure. :)

The Hunger Games by Suzzane Collins

The hardcover design is so much more impressive than the paperback ones! :(

Room decorative pieces and The Hunger Games!

My sister Shala has been sprucing up her bedroom lately and I think I've been infected by her decorative mode. I've always enjoyed watching room tours on youtube especially those who really put an effort towards decorating. I know for one Elle from Allthatglitters21 is very much into room decoration but there are also others which are very good!

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Don't we all wish we have the room space to put whatever furniture we wanted in our bedroom and also having various types of furniture to choose from? Most of the time we have to work with whatever space we have and we don't have the luxury of choosing delicate pieces or whatnot because it's not practical to have them in the room. Plus it'll look out of place too. Sometimes. Unless your room looks like the ones above which means you are a lucky b*tch and I hate you wtf

Anyways I went to WW Mart at Citis Square yesterday and saw that they were selling these decorative pillows for only BND$3.90! Before this I was thinking of buying them for my bed and saw that Hua Ho is selling for more than BND$10 for one! I mean sure, of course the ones in Hua Ho are of better quality and stuff but really, I wanted to buy them just for decoration so of course I'd go for the cheaper alternative. Maybe when I'm older I'd go for more expensive ones but for now I'm surviving on a student's budget! lol

Plus the ones sold in WW Mart have different designs, colors and textures depending on your taste and they also sell the cases for the decorative pillows which comes in different colors and designs as well. In case you don't like the original.

Grey decorative pillows from WW Mart

I think decorative pillows are a great way to give your room a more 'put together' look. I used to like really loud colors for my bedding like bright pink or bright anything. Now I just want it to look like the ones you see in the magazine T__T


Also recently I got this in Sengkurong for half its price and had it put up in my room! Love that the painting is in 3D. The only downside is that this piece is extremely heavy I don't wanna put it on the wall over my bed because I'm afraid it'll fall down in the middle of the night when I'm sleeping and ruin my face. Not a pretty sight.


Bought this one yesterday! I really like this painting. I've actually seen images of this on the internet so I'm guessing that they just print it off the internet and made it into a painting? No idea. I'm so glad I found it!


These are a few of the ones that Shala got for her room. I think they're not bad, but I still like mine better! har har har :p


On a random note, I finally got the first book to The Hunger Games Trilogy! So relieved that I booked this beforehand because I went to Time Square's Best Eastern and initially wanna pick up the book there but they were sold out! Then went to The Mall's branch where they told me the book was reserved there. The saleslady told me I was lucky I reserved it because it was sold out there too! I've just started reading this last night and am liking it so far!