COLLABORATION #1 (A photo and poem collaboration)

 

Photo Taken by: Genrei Paul Aquino

OBSCURE

By Shawna Reystine S. Canizares

Walking down the street, shadows whispering

“Can’t you fear darkness?”

 Such unyielding question, it bothered me.

I stopped walking and looked towards the horizon

Dazed.

Colors lit the sky, a blaze shining bright with the greens of the leaves

Oh how magnificent! If only it does not hurt my soul within

Black and white, Black and white

Too much light isn’t right

Ascertain, darkness got me tight.

A shed of hope is tucked somewhere

Nevertheless, home in darkness can’t be found anywhere

Opposing figures, darkness’ fixture

A wraith of satisfaction and peace

Darkness my friend, questions yield.

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HI GUYS I’M HERE AGAIN AND I’M HERE WITHOUT A BOOK REVIEW!

Instead, I’m here with a poem and a beautiful work of my friend.

Few days back then, my friend and I decided to do a collaboration of our works. It was supposedly for his Instagram account but then I decided I’ll also post our works here in my blog and so there it go. 🙂

I want to thank Genrei Paul Aquino for making this collaboration possible and for allowing me to use his photos as an inspiration for my poems. 😀 Keep it up man.

Go check out his Instagram people you’ll never regret it.

Here’s the link:  https://www.instagram.com/genreipaul/

I also want to thank Kyle Borbon, James Ceniza, Joseph Lopez, and John Ordeniza. This collaboration wouldn’t be possible if you guys did not exist in my life.

See ya soon guys! 🙂

– Shawna a.k.a BookishshimmyCaster

 

 

 

 

 

Snow Like Ashes by Sara Raasch Book Review

Author:  Sara Raasch

Pages: 416 pages

Publication: September 13, 2015 by Balzer + Bray (Paperback)

Rating:

4 stars

   What a surprise! Finally managed to sit and make a review for Snow Like Ashes. This is a hard book review though since I have finished the book weeks ago. I feel like I am a bit rusty since my focus right now is on the third book, which is doing better than the first two books. The third book really ate me up and I am already itching to make a book review for the last installment. I am really praying I can give the first book a justifiable book review. Therefore, without further ado let me start right away!

   I am admitting it folks the first book is the second best book of the trilogy. After reading the first chapter of the book, I decided this trilogy might be good. My assumptions never faltered throughout the whole book but of course, some frustrations cannot be helped. I was thrilled to lose myself in the book since the world behind it was new to me. Never read a book with kingdoms named Summer, Autumn, Winter, and Spring. But hey how about ACOTAR? You might strangle me right now but I never dared to read the series yet I am too broken from reading Empire of Storms. Don’t worry I will surely grab the series soon. *winks*

   Anyway, back to Snow Like Ashes the story does not only contain four kingdoms but it has eight kingdoms all in all. The first four are the Seasons and obviously it is where Summer, Autumn, Winter and Spring belongs. The other four are the Rhythm it is where the kingdoms of Paisly, Ventralli, Yakim, and Cordell belongs. Seasons and Rhythm are quiet the enemies. They do not like each other’s presence thus, the spurt of prejudices and some threats of war. Little did they know they all have the same enemy but in the first book, it was completely ignored since their egos and prejudices mattered more and the enemy has not yet unleashed his true power to the world. I am not disappointed with the setting but I just wish there is more to it. I badly want to know and study each kingdoms their culture, values, and ways. Ice Like Fire the second book, introduced some but It wasn’t enough. The third book however is understandable since its focus is on the war and the enemies and saving the world. Maybe Sara Raasch can create a novella behind the world of Snow Like Ashes and reveal its mysteries and wonders. I really hope so.

   The characters however does not really strike me at first.  I feel somewhat alienated since I am still trying to grasp their personalities and ways. I was expecting much from Meira Dynam the protagonist of the story but her personality disappointed me a bit, as the story goes on. Though reading the third book right now made me realize the author made her act selfishly for her character to grow throughout the trilogy. There were difficulties in Meira’s character and that just proves her character is not some supernatural being but instead she’s a human who is also having a hard time understanding and loving herself to the fullest without her doubts swallowing her towards the abyss. Mather Loren, the childhood friend and love interest of Meira was not truly convincing in the first book. I viewed him as a spoiled prideful brat and he does not deserve Meira at all. Making all those opinions nearly killed me when I read the second book through his point of view. I thank the heavens for Sara Raasch putting Mather’s POV in the trilogy and it made me understand his ways and personality deeper. His spoiled prideful brat image turned into ashes after reading the second book and my hate for him became nonexistent as I read the third book. He is more than the Mather you will know in the first book so just bear with your frustrations and let the possibility of change enlighten you especially when you deal with Theron Haskar. Theron the prince of Cordell and also a love interest of Meira, which makes him a rival of Mather. I was expecting a lot from him too and he will never fail you in the first book I promise, but I warn you not to let your expectations skyrocket just as I did. You will not be prepared enough for the dark days ahead. I’ll be actually satisfied how Meira and Mather’s story goes in the end but I already knew I will never be satisfied with Theron’s story. Overall, the characters were quite complicated in the first book, which I was expecting already and I clearly handled it well compared to the second book. That was a disaster for my sanity.

    The book was action packed and filled with trial and error strategies but it was a good start for the trilogy. The book has a surprising and thrilling conclusion, which is a good way to end a book and let the readers go after for the next book. Though I never thought, the second book would come out that way. *sigh* I really advise you to be patient and understanding with this trilogy believe me it is worth it especially when you will finally arrive in the last installment.

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I actually recommend you guys to read my review for Ice Like fire and you will understand my frustration and my points even more and maybe you can calm down a bit too.

 I’m planning to finish the third book tonight or tomorrow so stay tuned for my book review for Frost Like Night and I bet my review will be an avalanche of feels and relief! *laughs*

Thanks for giving your time people and I’ll see you all soon!

And don’t hesitate to leave your brilliant thoughts down below and let’s discuss this wonderful trilogy.

-Shawna a.k.a. Bookishshimmycaster

SunTag: The Mystery Blogger Award

   It’s quite a while since I’ve been nominated and I thank Amanda of ChocolatePages for nominating me and remembering my existence here in our planet. Seriously though, thank you so much Amanda! 🙂 This kind of post thrills me and I’m more than prepared to do this one. Hope you all will  get to know me even just a bit with this post.

Before anything else, let me just show you the following rules:

Put the award logo/image in your post.

 

List all the rules.

Thank whoever nominated you and leave a link to their blog.

Tell your readers 3 things about yourself.

Nominate 10-20 people and notify them.

 Link back to the creator of the award.

Ask nominees any 5 questions of your choice, with a weird or funny question.

Share the link to your best/favourite post of yours.

 

THREE THINGS ABOUT MYSELF:

a.) When I’ve got nothing to do and when I’m drowning in boredom I go to school for fun.  I tend to stay in our school library and it’s actually cool because they have fast internet connection and some carpets and couches to lay upon and we are also allowed to sleep in there too. It’s like my home but not really my home.

b.) HOME-SCHOOL-BOOKSTORE-HOME-SCHOOL-BOOKSTORE vice versa. This is always my route and nothing more. I only go to malls to visit a bookstore and after that I’m done. Well, not really because I also enter shoe shops after my book shopping but after that I go home immediately. There’s no reason for me to stay and I just can’t wait to read my book and tuck myself into bed. Is it possible for me to go inside a mall without a bookstore? My answer is nope. Not a chance buddy unless I buy food and some of my basic needs but what is a mall without a bookstore? IT’S BORING.

c.) I’d like to live in a castle someday and I’m dead serious about this. Aside from this lunatic wish I also love the Victorian era. It’s weird because I love to dress myself up with elaborate gowns during the Victorian period and sometimes I wish I could wear the outfit whenever I like and wherever I go. But of course I can’t wear Victorian dresses without humiliating myself first in public, but I’m trying to mix Victorian fashion with modern day fashion whenever I dress up. I also love to decorate my future house in a Victorian way or I can also live in a castle you know. I’m soooooo attracted with this era because of its elegance or as my mum would say maybe I’m a reincarnation of a Victorian princess. Well, who knows but it’s not bad to hope right? *laughs maniacally*

AMANDA’S QUESTIONS:

1.) What is your favorite day out of the whole year?

    Hmmm… I don’t really give some thoughts about my favorite day and maybe I just don’t like to have a specific favorite day because for me everyday is my favorite day. It is my favorite day because I’m still alive and kicking, I still have my family and friends beside me, I still have many books to read, more poems and stories to write, and a lot of things to learn, discover, and explore. There are days that are bad but I don’t like to focus myself about the bad instead, I think of it as an opportunity to improve and better days are coming ahead. Everything happens for a reason and sometimes reasons may come vague or clear but I believe there is a reason behind every things and so I never ever dare to falter. Hope is such an amazing force to include in your armory when you battle against the trials of life.

2.) If you had to stay somewhere alone for a week would you choose a white sands beach or a green forest?

       I’d rather stay in a white sand beach obviously. Green forest is nice but there’s a tendency it will creep me out due to my wild imagination. Just thinking about it makes me squeal an “eeek.” While a white sand beach is an open area and just listening to  the waves and smelling the aroma of the sea makes me want to lay on the seashore until midnight. I can already imagine myself laying down on the sand while sipping an iced tea while reading.

3.) What would your ‘last meal’ request be?

      A carbonara with egg sandwiches and three glasses of iced tea. Bring on the macaroni salad and the mango float and of course a book. Books will be always a part of a meal. A meal is no fun without a good book to read. my friend.

4.)  There has to be a bookish question, so what is your all time favourite book?

       This is a hard question Amanda and a torture. *cries* Hmmm… my all time favourite book would be… Wait. Can I skip this question? Like I love all of my books but— alright, alright then I’ll just face this challenge head on! My all time favourite book would be the Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling. This series started my bookish escapades and without this series I might not be a hardcore reader and there’s a big chance I’ll never discover my passion for reading and writing. I’ll probably have a boring life to live so thank the heavens and thank you mum and grandma for pushing me to read since I was born and for letting me eat the Harry Potter series during my childhood.

5.) Where is your favourite place in the whole world?

       Home. Well, the continent of Europe can be but there’s no place like home. Home is where my I can find my family, home is where I learned many things about life, home is where I stumbled but still managed to get up no matter how cruel life is, home is where I grew up and home is basically my life. Without home I’m lost and a person without a soul.

MY FAVORITE POST:

     I don’t have one because all my posts are my favorite. I worked hard in each every post and poured my heart into it. Just explore my blog and you’ll see. 🙂 Have fun!

NOMINEES:

parttimebooknerd

cadburypom

booksmashed

bookishendeavors

rosieamber

bookiemunchie

bewitchedreader

suereadingcorner

headinthecloudsheartinthebooks

clairehuston

Here are MY QUESTIONS nominees:

1.) Who is your favorite Disney Princess?

2.) What is your favorite Disney song?

3.) What is your favorite classical book?

4.) If you are given a chance to choose a fictional character to marry who would it be?

5.) If you are going to to write a book what would be its genre?

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Finally dooonnnee!

  Again, I’d like to thank Amanda of Chocolatepages for nominating me and do visit here blog people! 🙂

   For my nominees have fun doing this post and thank you for having your blog and sharing your thoughts and feelings about books. It makes the book blogging community alive and filled with color.

Until my next post people! 🙂

See ya!

– Shawna a.k.a BookishshimmyCaster

Ice Like Fire by Sara Raasch Book Review

Author:  Sara Raasch

Pages: 478 pages

Publication: October 13, 2015 by Balzer + Bray

Rating:

3.5 stars

*Breathes heavily*

    Oh golden leaves! How I love this expression from this series! Hello, people I am back and thank the heavens for I finally have a laptop charger. My laptop got broken unfortunately, due to my careless lifestyle with my things sometimes. I am admitting it folks and I truly regretted being such a careless person sometimes.  *sniffs* Anyway, while I have been away for weeks I incredibly busied myself with reading! I became a hermit in our household and locked myself inside my cave, which is my lovely room and read until my eyes were bulging until now apparently. I am congratulating myself for accumulating more dark circles under my eyes than I have before. Come on pat my shoulders people. Sooo… if you have visited my Goodreads account, after I finished reading the third book of the Fallen series I managed to read six books while I was waiting for a new laptop charger. Here I am though on my way to the third book of the Snow Like Ashes trilogy.  Before that, let me have this book review first to share because this trilogy gave me many things.

The first few chapters of this book were somewhat exciting and quite interesting just the few okay? Because as the book goes by it became boring and all of the characters were just talking! It was insane because when an action comes up it disintegrated immediately. I could not get the book at first and I was having a hard time to understand the characters. I was not used to these dragging events and I am growing impatient every single time I turn the page. A lot of things were off and questionable so basically some things does not make sense at all. I almost grew tired of it and actually lost hope for the series but I still cannot put the book down, so I did not gave up entirely because I am not that kind of person. I am just impatient. So, I took a break and read book reviews to enlighten me with my infuriating situation and was glad to see some readers were having the same symptoms while they were reading the book thus, making my instinct correct to be patient with this book.

Crossing my fingers the whole time was totally worth it. *laughs maniacally* As the book comes towards its end it slowly made sense. I was not expecting it after all! Most pages of this book are in a deep slumber and who would ever thought it would seek its revenge and will leave you like a broken glass? NO ONE APPERENTLY! NO ONE! I realized the deep slumber made the book unpredictable, unpredictable to its inevitable huge mess that will make you scream for your broken heart and dead expectations. If I can screech virtually to all of you, I would! This explains how Sara Raasch redeemed the book through its last few chapters. It gets lively, fun in here, sad, and gory and it just makes you scream for more chapters please! Or nope I’m taking it back I am absolutely reserving it for the last installment for this trilogy! I swear to the river of Styx it was mind blowing and you can literally feel the punch of the words in your heart, gut, and soul.

When the story is in a deep slumber, it is expected the characters would follow suite. How frustrating right? They look so weak, whiny, and unreasonable. Yes yes , I know they should be a huge mess after the events of the first book but I was clearly not expecting this kind of helplessness. It was too much and I do not even know if I should jump right inside the book and shake them out from their trance or kick them until they will come to their rightful senses. It was eating my sanity bit by bit and I just closed my eyes to let the light of patience come through me. It actually worked thank the heavens and again I did not regret it especially when the book comes to its last few pages. The cowardice, helplessness, fears, pities, a stronger force suddenly cut off every negative vibes. A force, which brought optimism, bravery, and hope to the characters and to the readers. I salute Sara Raasch for this beautiful redemption. Feeling alive with hope and quirky with excitement, I cannot wait to immerse myself in the next book with hope safely tucked inside my fragile heart and wishing to have a worthy conclusion and more redemption to come. I am absurdly hoping dangerously high than the universe itself. *puts sunglasses*

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So so so… that’s it for this book review and I’m hoping I could get myself together to create a book review for the first book! I’ll do my best!

Anyway, have you read Renee Adieh’s The Wrath and The Dawn? Omigoodishness! Can I tell you how good and smoking smexy hawt was it?! AHHH! Okay I need to stop! This is for a next blog post! But oh heavens it was too good and— okay, okay should really reserve this rant for the future. Whoot!

Thank you for having your time folks and please do not hesitate to comment down below and why not? Let us discuss this mind blowing second book of the Snow Like Ashes trilogy.

See ya’ll soon!

– Shawna a.k.a Bookishshimmycaster

Passion by Lauren Kate Book Review

Author:  Lauren Kate

Pages: 420 pages

Publication: May 8, 2012

Rating:

5 stars

    Let me start this review by congratulating myself because I’ve managed to finish the third book in three days! I’m internally screaming right now because I’ve finally moved on from my one year reading slump. Okay, okay I need to calm down but I must admit that my mind is in whirlpool right now. It’s been a while since I’ve read this fast and my eyes has taken its toll but I’m alright, this just needs a rest and some music. Gotta hit up my Sheeran playlist later. Now, let’s dive in to my review cause I’ve got loads of things to say. Exciting!

   First of all the prologue. This is one of the most important thing to me because it’s the introduction of the book and it is where the magnetic pull effect happens. The prologue did not disappoint me at all especially when the characters that were introduced first were the infuriating villains. It gave me some feeling that this book would be more intense than before and there are more challenges to come. This is actually expected but meeting the villains in the prologue is something intimidating. It gives you this kind of nervous feeling and adrenaline that keeps you awake and it definitely continued throughout the whole book which made me restless and out of breath. Once you’ve read the prologue you’ll never be able to put the book down and no matter how much I love to sleep, I pretty much avoided it again and again because I’d rather have the adventure given by this book. This is the whole effect of the third book and it seriously ate me up and I never regretted it.

   If you think the second book was an adventure, your definition of adventure should level up. This book offers an extreme knock-your-feet-off-the-ground-that-will-make-you- forget-about-oxygen adventure. Why? Because it involves time traveling and not just any simple time traveling but it is a heavy time traveling that will lead you back from different eras up to the ancient civilization of Earth. Can you imagine that? It really left me breathless because each adventure contained adrenaline and intense events and I don’t even have the time to collect myself first because each chapter is an adventure. EXTREME ADVENTURE.

   The main character Lucinda Price is now in real action and she needs to go back in time in order for her endless questions to finally have a real and honest answers. She needs to go see it for herself or else she will still be clueless and in doubt with her current situation. What makes this book wonderful is that it really draws you inside the adventure of Luce. You don’t just get to sit back, relax, and read but you’ll be part of the story and learn so many things. I’m a person who is fascinated with history and Lauren Kate portrayed history in this book brilliantly. Even though the story focuses about Luce and Daniel’s love life, Lauren Kate managed to connect history within their story beautifully. It all made sense and somehow realistic because the pieces were put carefully together. You can really see the mind of Kate working thoroughly to have this wonderful and fascinating book.

   The big surprise with this book, as if those things I mentioned above are not enough surprising HA! Anyway, the big surprise was DANIEL GRIGORI our lovely Daniel finally got to have his own point of view! With the given circumstances, of course Daniel do really need to have his own point of view and I’m more than glad to finally get to know his character deeper. Having Daniel’s perspective really got me to trust his character and avoid doubting his decisions and declarations. I can now clearly see his motives and his personality. I even get to have more assurance than before and it really answered a lot of my questions that were really bothering my brain cells since the first book. Lucinda Price however made me prouder of course. We saw her in action in the second but in this book, she toughen up and became more mature than before. We can really see she finally got to balance her emotions and let her mind lead her for certain situations. Although, there were still some tidbits of her old self but it’s okay because without those characters she’ll not be Luce at all. She’s not acting like a helpless damsel in distress anymore. You’ll see her pick up a sword, run from a war zone, a nurse in a war zone, and do some crazy things that you’ll never imagine that she will do at all. Ahhh! I’m so proud of her. I can finally see how the author made the story work on different angles.

   I am satisfied on how Lauren Kate wrapped up the book by having a little reunion within Luce and Daniel’s circle of friends. The dilemma between Luce and Daniel’s relationship was finally solved and all of Luce’s doubts were finally ended same as with Daniel’s. Now that their relationship got finally intact and secure Luce, Daniel, and the rest of their circle have greater challenge to face. This is not all about Luce and Daniel anymore but it’s more than that because it affects all of them. I’m so pumped up to see unity and trust building within their circle. Their circle is composed of complicated members and experiences, but the author made those things as a factor for them to unite and stay closer to defeat what needs to be defeated and to finally have justice in their lives. It really got more interesting and thrilling. As what I’ve said each book is getting better and better. I can’t wait to read the final book of the series!

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That’s it for this review and I need to go in order for me to read the next book!

I think it will take more than three days for me to finish reading the book because I want to take time digesting the events and take it slow.

It seems like I’m not ready to let go this series yet.

The world of angels, demons, and nephilims is too fascinating and I want to stay there for now.

Until my next post guys!

Don’t hesitate to share your thoughts down below about the magnificent third book of the Fallen Series.

See ya! 🙂

– Shawna a.k.a BookishshimmyCaster

Torment by Lauren Kate Book Review

Author:  Lauren Kate

Pages: 452 pages

Publication: September 28, 2010, Delacorte Press

Rating:

4.5 stars

      I can’t believe I already finished the second book so fast! Well fast enough for me since I’ve been in a reading slump for a year. So why the fast paced reading? Well guys good news! The second book is way better than the first one. I was really disappointed with the first book as you could read in my Fallen book review, but the second book did not fail me. As what I said in my previous book review, I was hoping for the story to develop and to grow deeper and indeed it did. The story and the characters jumped higher than my expectations and I was so glad I did not gave up on this series. Well, I don’t give up easily when it comes to books and I always give it a chance no matter what.

    The prologue got me instantly. It was written in a way that you can’t get your hands off the book anymore. From the state of dullness and annoyance I was immediately snared and hypnotized, and it was a great prologue compared to the last book. Why? because the pages contained an intriguing and dark event that bothered me and at the same time made me excited. It was kind of expected but it is still unbelievable. To make it simple, the prologue simply captures the attention of the readers by being surreal and giving the readers more questions and mysteries to solve. However, the author gave a strong assurance through the prologue that our questions from the first book will be finally answered. As a reader who is too keen to have some answers and finally got a crystal clear assurance, I crossed my fingers and hoped for the best as I hopped into the story.

     I totally did not put my efforts into waste crossing my fingers because the characters and the story developed thoroughly especially Luce Price the main character. There are times that I still get annoyed with Luce’s behavior but in this story at least she is now in action. Daniel however seems to be distant. He’s actually distant in the first book but in the second book it seems like I can’t even grasp anything from him anymore. Maybe because he doesn’t have any point of view in the book aside from the prologue and the last chapter of the book. It was quite unfair because I also want to understand the motives of Daniel and his feelings towards Luce and the more I read Luce’s point of view the more Daniel became distant and unreachable. I really don’t want to be a biased reader because mostly, I want to be in the center weighing both sides in order for me to understand them and put all the pieces together. I know this is a kind of strategy created by the author and at first it taken me aback because I’m not used to it, but now I think it’s a brilliant idea. It may frustrate the reader but the frustration makes you desperate to go on and proceed and finally have some answers and peace of mind.

     I am absolutely in love with the change of setting of the book. From a very dark and gothic setting we now jump into a paradise. I did not expect this happening since the series has that dark aura radiating, but Lauren Kate made an excellent job in fitting a lighter setting. It actually put me into ease after the creepy, gothic, and punk setting in the first book. The setting successfully made a democratic environment compared before. Although, the setting changed into a lighter one but the dilemmas absolutely did not. It became heavier and darker and I am again frustrated with the fact that they still keep on babying Luce which makes her blind with the reality. I am so glad to finally see Luce using her stubbornness into a good use. She may be called reckless but at least she is trying to find a way to help Daniel and the world. Luce doesn’t care about the risks because she is mostly driven by her emotions and that’s what makes her reckless and stubborn but when we look at the brighter side it is somehow selfless for me. That is where I proved that Lucinda Price is starting to grow.

     With the change of setting comes the new characters and I’m more than happy to see new personalities popping out into the life of Luce. Aside from the whole badass undefeatable angel squad of Luce, it’s good to see her mingle with normal people. Well not one hundred percent normal but at least they’ve got some normalcy in their veins. Luce’s circle of friends actually became bigger and more meaningful. I finally found myself laughing within the last few chapters of the book because of the immediate gathering that took place. Another shenanigans of Lauren Kate that I did not expect at all. Other characters were absolutely given a chance to display their personalities and assured me that I can trust them throughout the series. There’s also no denying my heart got slightly broken because of the situation of Luce and Daniel’s relationship, but the last chapter concluded that there’s nothing else than can tear them apart. Luce made another stubborn and reckless act but I think it is for her good and for the good of everyone. She must go away first and discover some things for herself in order for her to understand things and create a plan on how to save herself, her love ones, her Daniel, and the world from destruction.

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It was a great read and I’m now into the third book. I’m still hoping the series won’t deeply fail me and I’ve got a strong instinct it won’t.

I’m bowing down to Lauren Kate right now.

I hope you enjoyed reading this book review and don’t hesitate to bring out your thoughts down below. 🙂

I had fun again and until the next post!

– Shawna a.k.a BookishshimmyCaster

How does it feel to be a left out in the book community?

 Hello fellow bookish citizens! I can really feel the heat of summer. Isn’t it great? Despite its heat I’m so glad summer is finally here. I can finally do what I want to do without academic stuffs stressing my physical and mental health out. Well, I’m absolutely exaggerating but there’s some truth in there. School can just steal away your time for your hobbies sometimes but it’s okay as long as you know how to manage your time! Right?

 Oh, come on some support folks Spongebob supports me! Kidding. Just trying to lighten up the somber mood of mine. As you can see I’ve been in a hiatus for six months. You can actually prove it by scrolling down below and see the records there. It was a busy, frustrating, laughable, stressful, mind blowing, oh put all the other adjectives both good and bad you can describe about school life. All I can say is I had fun and I had a lot of memories that I could keep and treasure last school year. It was all academics, fun, and games until I felt some guilt and emptiness. I’ve been away from the book community for a long time. This community has a huge part in my life and it’s so toxic to be away and not able to communicate and keep in touch in this community. So in this post I’ll be listing down the things that I’ve felt while I was away in this community. Let’s get down to business!

1.) CONSCIENCE GNAWING DOWN AT ME LIKE THERE’S NO TOMORROW.

      

       Every time I open my laptop and social medias there’s a tiny voice whispering inside my head saying: “Go check out your blog!” “Make a blog post woman! It’s been a while!” “Why you laughing and enjoying when you just totally left something important to you.” Well, I really find this annoying and upsetting at times but when we unravel the meaning behind it, it just mean I still care. I still care for my blog and I just can’t find a right time to make a post. When I have time, I don’t have any ideas what to write since my mind is focused somewhere else specifically school stuffs. I also don’t like the idea of making a blog post just because it’s a kind of responsibility but instead I want to write a post because I’m into it and I’m passionate about it. This kind of idea makes me connect with my readers even more and it makes me more real and not fake. That’s how I see it and that’s my opinion though, peace out people. It’s just that I don’t want to make a blog post that is half baked because I did it halfheartedly. It’s quite a dilemma since I really want to always keep in touch with my readers and the book community.

2.) READING SLUMP RAGING ON ME AND I’M BEAT.

       This is what I hate the most and I can also conclude 2016 was not my year for reading a lot of books. You see, I’ve been targeting to read 100 books in that year and I decided to cut it down into half. I should’ve know better though cause reading slump ate me up and it was a pure torture. Let’s see, I’ve just read less than 20 books and I hated myself for it cause I really want to read more as in M.O.R.E. I’ve tried a lot of methods to get off my reading slump but it always switches on and off. I finally accepted defeat and let the slump take over me that year. I still read books but in a very slow paced manner. Worst case scenario is when I read a certain book within three months. It was awful because the story was good and it’s my taste. I just can’t get into it because I was so distracted with things and unfocused. It’s like I’m eaten by a black hole where I was shut out to the things that I love. Thankfully, I’ve finally got over my reading slump this 2017 and I’m hoping I could read more books than I have before.

3.) ENVY. ENVY. ENVY.

        Annoying as it is I just can’t help to envy my fellow bookish people because they’ve got a lot of time to read many books as much as they like and go make some blog post anytime. I mean not all people in the book community can do these things instantly but at least they got some spare time which I envy the most. I may have some spare time but I just use it for me to have some sleep after a stressful event from school. I tend to avoid opening my Instagram sometimes since the book community is so active right there aside from Twitter and Facebook. Facebook and Twitter can cover up the book community but in Instagram? It’s way too inevitable.  Too depressing right? But I know I can change this kind of fate if I’ll know how to manage my time and let some unnecessary things stay out of my life. It’s all about the balance actually and I’m starting to act and learn some things about it.

4.) MOTIVATION AND DETERMINATION TO BECOME A BETTER BOOKISH CITIZEN.

          The good thing about failure is it keeps you motivated and determined to become a better person. It goes in two ways actually the positive way and the negative way. It might be tempting to give up and leave everything behind but when I imagine myself me without books, me without my book blog, me without bookstagram, and me not in the bookish community, what I am then? A soulless person of course. Another exaggeration but it actually describes everything if I’ll give everything up. We all have something we cling upon and it seems like books, blogging, and even writing are the things I cling upon. It’s part of me and without these things it’s not me at all. I can’t express myself without these things. So instead directing myself in a destructive path I decided to change the course of events and I geared up towards my home which is reading, blogging, and writing. It motivated and gave me determination to improve and not to take this community for granted.

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Such an emotional blog post indeed. *laughs*

I really had fun making this blog post and I hope you guys have learned something in it.

Did you guys felt these things? Or nah? Or just in a different manner?

I’m actually excited to read your thoughts down below and talk about it.

Thank you guys for reading my posts.

Until I post again!

See ya! 🙂

– Shawna a.k.a BookishshimmyCaster

Fallen by Lauren Kate Book Review

Author:  Lauren Kate

Pages: 452 pages

Publication: September 28, 2010, Delacorte Books for Young Readers

Rating:

3.5 stars

    Before I start this book review I’d like to say hello guys! It’s been a while again and I’m so pumped up to have my first ever book review for this year. Cheers for that and cheers for me to have finally found some time to make a blog post after many months of missing in action. I’ve got a loose schedule nowadays since it’s summer break and I can finally tuck myself into bed peacefully with my pillows and blankets, read more books, have time for my blog, and write some stuffs so I’m trying my best to make this summer productive while having fun.

     Now into my book review, I’ve started to read Fallen last Sunday and finished it today. Basically, it took me one week to finish the book. While I was in the first few chapters, I decided to watch the movie adaptation of Fallen which I regretted in the end. I’ve got a lot of expectations from this book and these expectations are in a form of questions. The movie gave me some ideas about the book and it also made my expectations higher since the movie did not explain the story well and it’s expected because it’s a movie. There’s a huge line between movie adaptation and the book and I already knew that, but the reason why I watched the movie is to have some ideas about the characters and its story. I totally regretted watching the movie because my ideals for the book got turned off and as I continued reading I am starting to get annoyed by the characters.

   Luce Price the main character, I can understand her at first but as I start to know her character better it annoyed me on how cowardly she is. No offense though and I don’t know if I’m being biased right here but I just can’t get some parts of her character. I know that she’s clueless about everything and I don’t know why it annoys me so much and I also know I shouldn’t  get annoyed because it’s somehow part of the story process. I just can’t help myself but I’m actually doing good on making my common sense work in order for me to just get into her character. All I can say is maybe because the story is just slow paced and I’m not really used with slow paced stories, maybe that’s why I got annoyed and frustrated with Luce.

    There are also many questions that are hanging everywhere inside my head and I know I shouldn’t push through yet because you know this is just the first book of the series. I can say that Lauren Kate did a great job in keeping her readers intrigued and frustrated because she hid a lot of secrecies and mysteries behind the story. Most of the series that I’ve read, I’ve observed that most questions were already answered in the first book and new questions will be formed in the other books but it’s still connected. Whereas, in this series it’s totally different because the questions are continuous. All of your questions will not be answered by the first book and when there’ll be some answers, it is very very  vague. In other words, this book will not leave you satisfied but instead it will really leave you hungry for answers and frustrated because of its vagueness. Believe me or not, this is how I interpreted the book and I don’t know if it’s a good thing or not. You’ll really not have an idea about what’s happening just like the main character. There are no other point of views so it’s really up to you and the main character on how you’ll unveil the secrets and mysteries. I just hope as the series goes deeper, answers will be really provided and somehow in the end there will be no loose ends.

      I think I’m just not used with this kind of format where readers are always left hanging and frustrated. I’m a reader who usually loves fast paced stories and with different questions per book inside my head and right now in this series same questions are still hanging inside my head. It’s really bothering me and it keeps me frustrated but I think I just need to stretch my patience a little bit longer. I also hate the way the other characters make Luce so clueless, vulnerable, and somehow unimportant then immediately important in certain events. Like why? How could you do that without an explanation? Why always the vague expressions and answers? JUST WHY? It frustrates me because it makes Luce so coward and a dependent useless main character. Sure, she finds way to solve the mystery but she gets interrupted and unfocused that in the end it took too much of her time. She’s a smart witty character I admit but I just hope as the story goes I’ll find her finally doing a real action for the dilemma and somehow she’ll learn how to keep her balance and emotions aside. I really really hope so and I’m crossing my fingers right now.

    I’m looking forward to see Luce grow in the story and get to know the other characters even more especially Daniel Grigori and Cam Briel. They also play a huge part in the series since they are the love interest of our very own main character Luce Price. Though, I really want to call Luce with her real name which is Lucinda. It sounds classy and ancient it’s definitely my taste.

   I think this is it for my book review and I feel relieved. I finally ranted everything out and now I can continue reading the second book peacefully.

We can also discuss and rant more about the first book down below just feel free to comment. 🙂

Thank you guys and next time again!

–  Shawna a.k.a BookishshimmyCaster

The Crown by Kiera Cass Book Review and Rant!

Hello there! How are you doing guys?

Me? How am I doing?

Never mind how am I doing guys… my midterms… it broke my hopeful heart.

BUT IT’S OKAY!  😀 Midterms is finally out and I’ll be saying hello to pre-finals soon!

For now, I finally have a free time to make a post, read books, watch anime, take pictures of books, and surf the heavenly internet.

Oh, how I miss this and guess what everyone? Semestral break is fast approaching! I’m so pumped up for sembreak and I really do wish they’ll not make it into one week break. That is somehow awful cause I want a 2-3 week break!

Say I’m demanding but blimey, I’m so done with school stuffs I want to go rest for a while.

Now, let me stop ranting about this and let me rant about the fifth and final book of Kiera Cass’ The Selection Series: The Crown!

Author:  Kiera Cass

Pages: 279 pages

Publication: May 3rd 2016 by: HarperTeen

Rating:

Woooaaah! A very stunning and lovely book cover isn’t it? It just made my heart pop with excitement and I can’t help to make my expectations for this book grew higher back then.

BUT THEN DUE TO PURE EXCITEMENT AND FOR NOT BEING ABLE TO PURCHASE THE BOOK A SOON AS POSSIBLE… I SPOILED MY HELPLESS SELF.

*WARNING: SPOILERS ARE ON THEIR WAY SO IF YOU DON’T WANT TO GET SPOILED LEAVE IMMEDIATELY! 😀 SAVE YOURSELF BEFORE IT’S TOO LATE!*

Now, now. Where are we again? Oh yeah right. Me being spoiled.

After that spoiling incident, I don’t know what should I feel or think! *cries*

So here’s what happened we all knew that in the fourth book, our lovely queen America got a heart attack and princess Eadlyn was forced to make The Selection process a little bit faster. The situation got quite complicated and in the fifth book, the boys were narrowed down into the Elite immediately and these boys are Kile, Henri, Hale, Fox, Ean, and Gunner.

I was practically cheering because of course my two favorite boys got in, and those boys are Kile and Henri! But then… again I spoiled myself and discovered that Eadlyn did not end up with these two boys nor with the other four boys. MY MIND, HEART, AND SOUL WAS BLOWN AWAY INTO THE DARKNESS OF DESPAIR! Because… why? why? why? not Kile or Henri!

I was really rooting Kile for Eadlyn and you can clearly see their chemistry in the previous book! I’m not blind or numb in order for me not to see their chemistry. *cries* It was a real waste for me back then but still I did not give up and hoped that Henri will end up with Eadlyn. But then then it turns out they did not end up with each other too. AGGGH! It was sooo frustrating and I almost decided not to read the final installment of the series.

Thankfully, I gave the book a chance to explain itself and in the end it was justified. I already saw the twist coming when I was reading the fourth book a few years back. I did not took it seriously because it was a really insane and heart wrenching plot twist. But when I read the whole story of the book? My perspectives changed and I was satisfied in the end. The book did not only contained this one major twist but there are a lot more. You’ll be surprised and maybe you’ll get scared for Eadlyn’s fate but you’ll see how she will deal with things maturely. She is much more a stronger person in this book and finally, she really did open her heart already. She’s not the stone cold princess anymore.

For my part, I may say the plot twist was heart wrenching but don’t get me wrong guys no one died okay? Jusr relax! It was just heart wrenching for me because the twist was so far away from my expectations. I may saw it coming but I clearly avoided the possibility. The Crown is the shortest and the most fast paced book of The Selection series and somehow wanting for more chapters can’t be helped.

Hail Kiera Cass! This book is bloody brilliant because of the twists that will really make you roll with a lot of emotions and feels.

The book gave me justice by answering my questions and for making me realize a lot of things in life. This is what I love about books though, it will not just give me happiness but it will give me a lot of realization too.

That’s it for this post everyone and please don’t forget to smile each day!

Cause I’m trying my best to smile each day too! HAHAHA! 😀

See ya’ll on my next blog post everyone!

-Shawna 😀

A message for my countrymen.

 

 

I’m a person who does not care about the world. Why? Because the world is so chaotic and I cannot handle it. I have my own personal problems and I don’t want to make the problems of this world my problem too. Why it is a problem for me? It is a problem for me because I can feel the pain of those people who suffered from the chaos. I want to help them, I want to fight justice for them, I want to make this world peaceful for them but instead all I can do is to watch the news and be slowly killed by the pain because I cannot do these kind of things yet. To avoid this pain, I decided to shut myself out of this world I focused on my own problems. I don’t watch or read the news anymore. If I heard a bad news about the society whether it was political, social, or economical I don’t mind anymore. I’ve been numb to these things for years but everything changed when September 2, 2016 came.

I’m having a normal Friday night watching anime and just chilling around but then when I opened my Facebook I was shocked by a live video. It says: “Disturbing graphics. Explosion at Roxas Night Market.” I almost laughed because I thought it was just a hoax, a really bad hoax because dude why would you make up something that would really affect the public? It’s not funny. But when I watched the video I can’t believe what I’m seeing. My city was in chaos people were panicking, they were in terror, in confusion, in shock, in pain. I for one was also confused. Why did it happen? What’s the reason? Am I seeing things? What should I do? This is my city. I was in denial but as the live video continued it broke my heart. I was so nervous and scared I even panicked as I approached my mother to tell the news she was also shocked. Everyone was shocked. We tuned in to CNN Philippines and kept on updating myself and my family about the incident through Facebook and Twitter. A lot of people were still debating about the explosion. By that time, it was not yet confirmed by the police if it was a bomb or a LPG tank that caused the explosion. But as I look through the photos and videos it was horrifying. Dead bodies, injured people, traumatized people. It was too much and my years of numbness shattered. It woke me up.  I realized that I can’t be numb cause this kind of pain is inevitable.

This is now different; this is my city they are messing with. I need to take an action and voice out. I read articles, watched the news, scroll through Facebook and Twitter to be updated. I can’t help myself to be scared but then there’s a spark inside my heart that wants to fight for the people who were unjustified.  I cried for those people who lost their lives. It was all unexpected. They were at the Night Market to have an income, have fun, and to eat. It was all peaceful intentions but suddenly it was ruined. Innocent lives were immediately lost and in critical danger. All walks of life were in that market. A mother, father, son, daughter, students, professional workers, vendors, and more. Roxas Market is a kind of place where you can see different walks of life. It is unusual to have that kind of place within a country but then it was terrorized. These people were innocents and I know these people still have their own goals and dreams in their lives. They still want to do something in this world, they still want to achieve something, and I’m pretty sure they still want to make something right in this world but it was stolen from them. The chances were stolen from them and the most painful thing? THEY ARE INNOCENTS. Why do this? Why kill innocent lives with dreams? Why kill innocent lives with families to take care of? Why kill innocent lives with loving parents from other town who always wait for their children to come back home? Why kill innocent lives who works to have income to raise their families WHY?! WHY?! WHY?! With just one click and everything vanished.

I am also disappointed with my fellow Filipinos who laughed at the incident. It really angered me to see them mocking my city and my fellow Davaoeños. What the hell is wrong with you people? WHY DO YOU MOCK YOUR FELLOW COUNTRYMEN? Why do you need to show your insecurities hence, your IMMATURITY DURING THIS CRUCIAL TIME? When Paris and other countries were terrorized you showed your empathy or is it really empathy? I really don’t know. But now your countrymen were terrorized you just laughed and mocked! What a HYPOCRITE! Now, don’t blame the president or either question the president. The president knows what to do and so don’t act as if you’re smarter and wiser than our president. Please just stop and please stop tainting the name of the president. You voted for him now you stabbed him again, I say WHAT A HYPOCRITE! I won’t dwell with this problem anymore. Please stop this nonsense and wake up! WAKE UP! Davao City is not the only place that is in danger but THE WHOLE COUNTRY IS NOW IN DANGER.  Filipinos should unite, we should unite against terrorism. A country without unity is a country that will be filled with unjust, chaos, sadness, terror, hatred, and fear. WOULD YOU LIKE THAT? WOULD YOU LIVE IN A COUNTRY WITHOUT UNITY?! NO, YOU DON’T! WE DON’T! WE SHOULD WAKE UP!

 

I went to the heart of the city earlier and it was a mournful situation. The streets were empty, the mall was quiet, people are disturbed. Eventually, I could see that the city is paralyzed. I can feel the emptiness and the sorrow of the people, of the city. Wherever I go it’s like the attack that happened yesterday is a cursed shadow that will always follow us. The pain, injustice, and sorrow it was too much. My heart is aching, all of our hearts are aching but it does not end here. Do not let these awful things consume us. Instead we should use these things as an inspiration for us to do better for our city and for our country. Use these things as an inspiration to UNITE AND TO STAND UP AGAINST THESE SCHEMES. We mourn now and then we fight! Do not let that spark in your hearts die. USE IT! BECAUSE THAT SPARK IS HOPE. Hope that can bring us unity, peace and, justice. Soon enough it will not just be “Davao Life is Here” but it will be “Philippines Life is Here”.

This incident woke me up and it slapped me with realizations. I wrote this to raise my voice and to encourage and motivate people.

DAVAO CITY MY CITY, YOUR CITY, OUR CITY. DAVAOEÑOS MO BANGON KITA!

PHILIPPINES LET’S UNITE!

P.S. This is not a book blog related but I need to post this I want to help my countrymen.