Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl: Beautiful Creatures

Book review, World of Books February 3, 2013 1 Comment

beautiful creaturesAs I mentioned recently, lately the YA titles I read are those I learn about trough movie trailers. As I somehow managed to miss them beforehand.

But now I’ve read several of those, I can’t help but wonder if possibly I skipped them because at that moment they didn’t sound appealing? It’s quite possible too that I am just frustrated by the amount of book series appearing nowadays. Isn’t there anybody out there anymore who can write one book and finish the story inside of that one book?!

I should feel lucky with this series as all the books are already out as far as I could tell. I mean, there are 4 already so I’m guessing it’s done. I certainly hope it is. Not that at the moment I am planning to read on. I just don’t have the capacity to try to follow another book series.

Ok, rant over.

So, you might get the idea from my introduction that the book is not that interesting. 🙂 And I can’t really say that, as it held my attention almost to the end, when it became obvious we weren’t going to see the story end in this book (I wasn’t aware of there being more than one book at that time).

If you haven’t seen the trailer for the movie – the story is basically, in Lena’s family each child is claimed at their 16th birthday for Light or Dark without the child having any claim in their choice (sort of punishment for past magical misbehaviour). And Lena being rather powerful is scared that she might get chosen as Dark.

Of course, then she and Ethan fall in love and they try to reverse the spell or get around it somehow. The whole story is pretty much told from Ethan’s perspective. Which is something I found refreshing and possibly the excuse I could find for what seemed lack of proper characterization perspective (or depth) as guys aren’t usually good at that. I mean, explaining their (and other people’s too) emotions and their background.

One fact I enjoyed, which has nothing to do with the quality of the story actually, is that Lena is an Aquarius with her birthday being one day after mine. 🙂 I know, a silly thing to make you enjoy the story, but what can I say? I like those kinds of details. 🙂

I wonder now what the movie will be like? What I could tell from the trailer and now after reading the book, it seems it might be one of those movies where the story and the movie go of on different tangents.

In the end, even though I enjoyed reading the book (most of it, it felt the story sort of lost its edge in the end), I don’t feel compelled to read on.

Hidden memories – Memoire Liquide

World of Perfume January 31, 2013 Comments: 9

Epices Precieuses and Hommage

It is easy finding the Memoire Liquide site but it is not easy at all finding any information on their perfumes. The most helpful site was Surrender to Chance and they didn’t have Epices Precieuses listed.

So, I’ll go with that one.

Epices Precieuses, if you go by notes, should work like a charm for me. 🙂 And if I only had the beginning of it, I would have loved it.

Notes: ginger, pink pepper, cinnamon bark, clove buds, nutmeg and cardamomnutmeg and cinn

It starts sweet (I thought of the amber kind) and boozy, lightly spicy and with cinnamon, hinting at some fruit as well. The one that is sweet and can be immersed in alcohol for additional enjoyment. The closest idea in my mind was date. Very soon what I thought was ambery sweetness turns into nutmeg sweetness and the clove also comes out to play. I honestly can’t say that I smelled pink pepper but the spiciness was present in the opening, so I guess it did its part.

It starts losing the sweetness rather quickly but the clove and nutmeg do not lose their place. Soon, some woodiness starts peeping through, and I thought initially if the cinnamon bark  could be responsible (bark is wood after all) but I’m thinking there must be something else in there. Here is where I could actually smell the ginger in the background.

And this is pretty much where the development stops and it remains woody and lightly spicy (ginger hints possible).

 

Hommage

is another thing entirely. The development is pretty much the same as with Epices Precieuses.

Notes: frankincense, myrrhe, amber, musk, sandalwood

It’s probably me, but as I’m very careful with incense (it takes everything over for my nose), I don’t usually like those perfumes.It just so seems that this is the one of those perfumes that reminds me a lot of the smell of Cockta (the local soda drink, containing incense, I checked).
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It even smells, in the opening, lightly caramel-like and sparkly. Sweet and incensey at the same time. At some point the sweetness actually reminded me (again) of sticky-fruit type of sweetness but that didn’t last long.

Basically what I get from this is the smell of Cockta. So, deciphering the notes was pretty much beyond me, I got stuck there. 🙂

P.S. It only just occurred to me that the name of Cockta might seem strange to natives speakers of English. 🙂 Is it?

Chris Ashbrook: The Darker Gold

Book review, World of Books January 27, 2013 1 Comment

darker goldSometimes I wonder if I am being unfair toward the books I read as I expect of them to be as wonderful as some other of my favourites.
But if all of them were my favourites, how would I decide which ones were top?

I really believe all the books I read should fall under ratings of three to five stars. If it’s less than three, chances are I am never going to finish it. If I finish it, it must be at least good enough to merit three stars.
And even though I read this one without reading something in between, I think that’s because nothing at the moment catches my fancy much.

I wonder if anyone else thinks about books “clicking”. What I mean is that sometimes, everything fits together and the book just clicks as good.
This one didn’t. The thing is, for me, nothing clicked. I kept reading, expecting for everything to fall together, but it didn’t. Nothing did actually.
Characters felt unfinished, story felt unfinished, dialogues were sometimes unbelievable (in trying to convince the other side especially), and the whole premise of the story was unsatisfyingly described. Much was left to the imagination of the reader, which I don’t really mind if everything else functions, but in this case, it feels like the editor didn’t do a good job of editing the book.
That said, I obviously didn’t find it bad enough to stop reading. There is actually much working in its favour, from Ludlum-like spy world, to the fantastic premise of some of James Rollins’ books, everything is in there to make it into a thrilling book. It just doesn’t seem seamlessly connected into a whole. Which is something I found really frustrating.
Possibly it’s just my expectations, but after reading some of Rollins’ early books, I know it’s fixable (he had the same problem with making a book seem a seamless whole).

That’s why I’ll give other works by Mr. Ashbrook a try (this is his first full-length novel), I’m sure he can only get better. 🙂

Does every perfume smell perfect?

I've been thinking, Perfume thoughts January 22, 2013 Comments: 17

It’s a thing I asked myself today.
Today I applied Cuir de Russie and forgot about it, as it seemed to have blended with my skin, unlike yesterday, when Back to Black first choked me with tobbacco leaves and then presented the bad kind of honey note. I guess my skin killed it.

Anyway, it got me thinking, does there come a time when you apply a perfume and it fits like a glove and practically seems perfect, even though you applied it before and were underwhelmed? Or just ok with it.
Or, a better way to explain it – you know you have a mediocre (at best) perfume but you put it on and it seems perfect? And you wonder how that happened.

The next time you apply it, the magic is gone.

So, that’s what got me thinking – does every perfume have its day of being perfect?
The only problem being finding what day it’s going to happen.

What do you think? Am I being optimistic (idealistic)? Did it happen to you?
It happened to me. Keeps on happening actually. But I can never guess when or why…

On loving snow

I've been thinking January 20, 2013 Comments: 6

And my wonderful perfumista friends.

Last week we had another freaky snowfall which I enjoyed immensely (not many others did though).

So I want to share with you some of the photos a wonderful perfume friend of mine made – Sanjin KaÅ¡telan. 🙂

Enjoy!

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A very big thank you to Sanjin for letting me post his pictures! 🙂

James Rollins & Rebecca Cantrell: The Blood Gospel (The Order of the Sanguines series)

Book review, World of Books January 19, 2013 1 Comment

Seems I am not such a huge fan of Mr. Rollins as I realized this wasn’t a Sigma series book only after it downloaded to my Kindle and I opened it. 🙂 And I was wondering the whole time how come another author managed to cooperate with him on it. Now I know.

I enjoyed the book but I’m not so sure the ending couldn’t have been a bit better – I was a bit underwhelmed that I was going to have to wait for another book to see what happens next. Because in Sigma series, I get the feeling that the story of the particular book is sort of finished while here, even though there is a type of ending to it, I hated all the unfinished threads I wanted to know about which will possibly be handled in the next book. I’m guessing there will probably be more than one sequel so blood gospelnot all of my questions might get answered.

Generally speaking though, the idea is an interesting one and from the beginning I was already wondering what’s the deal with the priest that he is so obsessed with blood and seems to hate women. Both of those questions got answered. 🙂

I loved the description of the places where the story takes place – it really made me wish I could visit them myself (and as soon as possible).

I liked this quote particularly:

“The Church had many locks and many secrets to hide behind them…”

I believe that to be true in reality as well. One thing that is fascinating about this book is that at the same time it is both pro and contra Church. It is rather realistic in that regard.

In the end, I enjoyed it a lot even though I had many things I wished were done differently (not to say better). It is a typical Rollins action packed story with an interesting premise, albeit this time not believable. In the Sigma series I find the strange ideas around which the books are based seem rather possible. Not this time though.

Is it just me or do you also notice how many times in books things seem to happen conveniently for the characters? Never though when I’d like it to. 🙂

P.S. I just have to say I love it when historical persons make an appearance in a book of fiction because they fit into the story. 🙂 This time around it’s Rasputin and Elizabeth Bathory.

 

Pic taken from Goodreads James Rollins profile.

Kim Harrison: Once dead, twice shy

Book review, World of Books January 15, 2013 Leave a comment

This review has been half written for some time now and I decided to finish it, rather then let it linger forever half-written. (plus, it feels good finishing things).

“My name is Madison Avery, and I’m here to tell you that there’s more out there than you can see, hear, or touch. Because I’m there. Seeing it. Touching it. Living it.

Madison’s prom was killer—literally. Now, thanks to a mysterious amulet, she’s stuck on Earth: dead but not gone. She has no idea why the dark reaper who did her in was after her, but she’s not about to just sit around and let fate take its course. With a little skilled light-bending, the help of a light reaper (one of the good guys . . . maybe), her cute crush, and oh yeah, her guardian angel, Madison’s ready to take once deadcontrol of her own destiny once and for all, before it takes control of her.

Well, if she believed in that stuff.”

I find the idea and the beginning were quite interesting – a YA novel with light and dark reapers, a missing body, amulets and trying to figure out who is doing what and why.

There were some typically teenage parts (that can be rather frustrating) being scared of talking to other people/teens, being so very smart that never listen so in the end they  turn out to be seemingly stupid for being able to make all the bad choices.

My favourite part was the character called Ron for short and who resembles a wizard (among things) – I thought is he redheaded as well? 😉 Of course that I instantly thought of Harry Potter, even before the wizard part came into action. 🙂 (HP is never far from my mind)

This is the first book in the Madison Avery series and I can’t say for sure that I’ll be reading on.  The characters just didn’t come alive for me and the story tries to connect the paranormal and normal life in a way that didn’t make it believable for me.

That said, one of the ways I decide whether a book was good is if I read it without starting to read something else – this one didn’t let me start another book (then again, it’s not very long either).

I can’t say I won’t be reading on, but having so many choices at the moment, I don’t think it will happen anytime soon.

Unexpected, surprising gardenia – Wildwood flower by H&M

World of Perfume January 13, 2013 Comments: 9

I wanted to call it a cheap find but as I received it in a swap, I actually don’t know how much it costs but being an H&M perfume, I imagine it’s quite affordable.

And I must say, quite good too!

Finding any information on the perfume proved quite impossible. I wonder why doesn’t the H&M site have any perfume related information on it?!

So, if I go by my nose alone, I’d say it starts strangely. Once I spray it on, I can smell the white flower (gardenia in this case) in the divljiair around my wrist, but when I put my nose to the wrist, I can’t smell a thing. 🙂
That lasts only for a minute and then there is the most intriguing opening. I can smell the gardenia in there (Une Voix Noire being my reference gardenia) but it is hidden among some fruit and nettle?! I mean that is the first thing that pops into my head. There is a light fruity sweetness to the opening but it’s not overdone, it’s rather subdued when you think of the fruitiness that surrounds us these days. I might not be nettle that I’m smelling, but there is a slight bitter feeling subduing the sweetness. It could be just an almond note, as there is both a sweet nutty creaminess to it and a light bitter/herbal note.

But at all times there is the gardenia in the background filling your nose with its body. Each time you breathe it in, it fills you up completely. Not that I mind. At all. 🙂

Several times during its development I was scared it was going to turn into, in my case, much detested, clean muskiness but that never happened. There must be some of it in there as I feared the perfume veering towards it but luckily, it didn’t. It is pretty much linear but I don’t mind at all.

The fact that there is a slight saltiness to that nutty note and that the drydown displays some vanilla and amber I’d say, make this a really lovely perfume to be had for a probably very small amount of money.

 

Now, let me know – who has any experience with H&M perfumes (they aren’t available here)? Can you point me in the direction of some other hidden gems among their line?

And does anyone know who made this? The perfumer behind it I mean.

 

P.S. A big thank you to Oktopusy for sending this! 🙂

Justin Cronin: The Passage

Book review, World of Books January 10, 2013 Comments: 8

Honestly, I don’t remember the last time I read such an engrossingly haunting and incredible book.
And before you go thinking it’s something lovely, it isn’t. Not even close.

It’s basically a horror story of what we as people can do to ourselves. Well, in my opinion not a true horror story, most post-apocalyptic stories feature some kind of deformed human predator which in this case are the virals (which is possibly why some people call it horror).
I’ve seen reviewers calling this a vampire story but I would never refer to it as that just on the account of virals who have some similarities with vampires but in my mind only barely. passage
The scariest part of the story for me was the fact that people keep tinkering with things they don’t really know anything about because they feel they can gain something out of it. And thinking that they have it under control. But that is only an illusion.

Which is pretty much what happens here and how world descends into apocalypse. It’s also very scary reading about the atrocities people can do to each other. And I’m not discussing virals now but people.

The beginning reminded me a lot of Terry Brooks Shannara world building – the World/Void books. Here we follow a slow decline of the world through all the bad choices we, as the people, make.
In the beginning I got very upset that I had to wait for understanding of different story lines. I mean, the different story lines make perfect sense in the way they build up to a full story but it takes a while for that to happen. Until then, you are hooked trying to figure out what will happen. And that lasts until the end (which is long time coming). 🙂

It also took me some time to figure out the story is not happening in present day but in close future.
The really scary part of this book is the fact that it’s possible. Probably not as imagined in this book but the virus tinkering is a quite real possibility.
Can I just add that the collective of the twelve reminds me a lot of the Borg? 🙂 Couldn’t help it, the association just appeared. I don’t want to spoil the book so I won’t be explaining this further, if you read it, you’ll know what I meant.

If you enjoy post-apocalyptic worlds, I would highly recommend this. While reading it, it might feel like you’re in the Twilight zone but it will be worth it.

Why I think WordPress is better than Blogger

I've been thinking January 6, 2013 Comments: 21

After several months of using wordpress, I am not one bit sorry I switched over. I found there are many more benefits from using wordpress than blogger and here are some of them.

The first thing that surprised me is a wider network of sharing. I mean, blogger has tools for sharing posts as well but wordpress seems more networking oriented without you having to do much about it. And it counts all your facebook and twitter followers as followers of your blog as it posts automatically on those platforms as well. I love that! 🙂

I’m guessing this networking is also why I’m getting more spam than I did on blogger but wordpress catches it so I don’t have to really worry about that. Blogger doesn’t do it that efficiently.

One more thing is customizing the look of the site. It takes a while to learn to do it on both platforms but Blogger’s tool is so incredibly slow and unprecise that WordPress is undisputed winner here. The only minus is, WordPress doesn’t have as many free templates as blogger does.

I learned to work around the fact that WordPress can’t position the photos I add to posts where I want them as blogger did, but that isn’t difficult to manage. The good thing is, all the photos you added to posts are there, saved in wordpress so you don’t have to look for them on your computer (where I do not keep good track of them) but can be re-used very easily.

I don’t use the proof-reader built into wordpress often, but I am grateful it’s there. It certainly catches some of my misspellings before they are published. And even though I don’t really use recommended links, I like the possibility.

The one thing I am still having some problems with is following the blogs I did through blogger – I haven’t given it much time, I know wordpress has a reader tool as well, but I’m just not using it properly yet (or at all). 🙂

Generally, I find WordPress more manageable and offering easily implemented features. Works faster too (especially when it comes to customizing appearances).