RAMBLINGS | March HIATUS

Hi, book nerds and fangirls!

Fandomly Bookish is quite back after entering a hiatus throughout the month of March. I’m writing this blog post to share to you what I’ve been up to for the past month and what were the things that led me into having a blogging hiatus. Nothing to worry, though, for I didn’t get sick or anything. So yeah, let’s get down to it.

#NoWIFI

Yes, we don’t have WIFI connection right now in our house because we’ve decided to have it cut off due to weeks and weeks of crappy connection. I don’t know when we’ll have a replacement for it. And you know what? I’m actually kind of okay with that. Recently, I’ve also felt like I need some time to step away from being so active in my social media accounts and focus more on my life outside of it. I know it will take a toll on my blogging duties but on the flipside I’ll be able to take a break and just chill aka read more books. Speaking of books, I’ve read quite a number last month and I ended up not being able to write book reviews because, phew the pile and my fervor for reading pushed me to read the next book right after the one that I’ve finished. I hope I’ll be able to have time soon to go through those books again and write mini book reviews for it. I updated my Goodreads account and in there you’ll be able to see the ratings for those books. I hope those ratings can still help you in choosing your next reads.

#ConfessReleasePH

The whole month of February and for the most part of March, I’ve been constantly answering emails, communicating to a bunch of people, coordinating with the entire Colleen Hoover Philippines team to organize a release party and the first ever Filipino CoHorts gathering. This event definitely kept me busy every single day because our team is constantly tweaking the flow of the event (adding and removing activities), I’m always checking on my email account and constructing replies. I even felt the need of gluing my eyes and hands to my laptop and phone. Tiring but it was very fulfilling when you have an end result of a very successful event. The release party was definitely a huge success and I can say that everybody in attendance had a great time. The vibe of the event was very chill and friendly. There were games, great performances and everybody had a great laugh. I’m planning to write a blog post about this event together with another one which constituted for me to have the “best weekend ever”.

#OTRATMNL and nursing my PCD

After years of waiting, I finally had the chance to watch and hear One Direction perform live last March 21^st and it was so surreal. I still can’t believe it but when I scroll through my phone’s voice notes and listen to the ones I’ve recorded during the concert, it proves to me that that particular night really happened. It was real. I really had the pleasure of hearing them sing and talk live in front of me. I’ve been a fan of this band from the very beginning and for me to able to witness them performing was very fulfilling. Their voices were really beautiful and if you’re very keen into distinguishing the similarities/awesome differences between the studio version and their live performance, you’ll just be doing two thumbs up. They were perfect and they really deserve everything that they have achieved all through the years. I’m very proud to be a One Direction fan!

RAMBLINGS | UNTIL TRILOGY by Jonaxx (Queen J!)

I know that this is quite a late post already since Until Trilogy by Jonaxx ended last week. I’ve just been so busy with real life and I also need time to gather my thoughts about the completion of the three-part story of Klare and Elijah’s journey to love and happiness.

I think, it was a couple of weeks after I read Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews that a friend of mine gave me a heads up about Until He Was Gone. She said that the story contains a cousin falling in love with one of his cousins. That’s new for me, cousins. At first, I was unsure if I’d read it or not because … Come on! I feel like I’m subjecting myself for another round of constant heartache. But then she mentioned that it’s a Wattpad story written by Jonaxx, okay, I’m sold. If you’ve read my previous posts here in my blog, I’ve been a fan of Queen J for quite long time already. But well I got lost in a sea of Young Adult and New Adult books which resulted for me not being able to visit my Wattpad application. Yes, I've been missing in action. Then she further elaborated that it has interesting characters, a pair that I’d definitely fuss over with because of their chemistry and I’d die for wishing and shipping them to be together till the end of the story. But despite everything that she said, I'm more curious as to how Jonaxx is going to handle such a conflict for this book. This is a sensitive topic. Not an easy and common conflict to tackle. You have to brave enough to write it. How is she going to weave and surprise her readers? With those thoughts in my mind, I dropped whatever that I was reading at that time and started my journey. 

Now after several months, it’s done. Klare and Elijah’s story has been written already… How are you, guys? Still reeling over Until Trilogy’s ending? Then that means that I’m not alone. 

BUT BEFORE ANYTHING ELSE. I'm going to post a HUGE SPOILER HERE. 

THEY WEREN'T REAL COUSINS. I just want to get this out before I went on my merry way of gushing about my feels. If you're curious as to how it happened, then read the entire trilogy and don't just stop until you've finished Book 1 or Book2. Though if you've been a keen observer, I'm sure you've correctly pieced together some of the suspicious things that happened in the first book. 

Now, I can resume. Thank you so much, Queen J for sharing this trilogy to us. Thank you for this beautiful roller coaster ride that we’ve been riding for the most part of year. Every tear we’ve shed, every heartache and anger we’ve felt and just about any emotion that you’ve gotten out of us, were unquestionably worth it. Until Trilogy isn’t something we’re going to forget any time soon. Right?

RAMBLINGS | ARCs, Shipping Celebrities, Until Forever Trilogy and Mayon Volcano

There’s just a lot of stuff to talk about and I’ve chosen four thoughts that are constantly bugging me and flashing like a neon sign inside my head.

ARCs from HarperCollins. Yehey for review copies from HC! Thank you so much, guys! I received THREE ARCs in the mail two weeks ago but I didn’t have the chance to make a “Thank You” post about it! Actually, two of these books that I got weren’t exactly included in my request list but I’m still excited to dive into it. So what are the titles that I got, then? Hmmmm. I have a review copy of Sara Shepard’s The Perfectionist, The Dolls by Kiki Sullivan and The Invisible by Amelia Kahaney. I haven’t read any books coming from these authors (YES, I haven’t read The Pretty Little Liars by Sara Shepard *shame on me*!) so I really don’t know what to expect towards their writing style and how they tackle their stories. It excites me, though. I’ll probably read The Dolls after I write my review for His Wounded Light by Christine Brae tonight. Again, Thank you so much HC for these lovely books!

Rob - FKA Twigs. I guess this thing between them is real already, huh? </3

I’ve been repeatedly telling myself for the past years that I should stop shipping celebrities because it’ll just give me heartache when they don’t end up together. Like, shipping Zac-Vanessa and Ian-Nina. But ughh, I JUST CAN’T STOP. Now, I’m currently mending a broken heart AGAIN!

Since Twilight days, I’ve been shipping hard and waiting for Rob and Kristen to be together. I’ve been social media stalking them and even joining a team who blogs about their movie premiers, sightings and all that jazz. That’s how hard I fall for them. So, you can probably imagine how ecstatic I was when I saw photos of Rob and Kristen holding hands and just seeing them together in one photo back in the days. *jumps up and down* And you can also imagine how down I was when the July 2012 (I think) issue and April 2013 break-up news hit the web. *tissues everywhere*

During those tough times, I still have this huge hope that there’ll be a sighting (with photos) of Kristen and Rob together after that alleged break-up. I have high hopes and desperate for something or anything to surface. Plus, I have faith that they were still together, like together together, because there weren’t any rumors surrounding them regarding other guys and girls being linked to them. Well actually, I really don’t believe articles in the web. It’s like I (or I think, any fangirl in any fandom has) have this principle that goes like this, “pictures or it didn’t happen”.

Photo grabbed from Just Jared Jr.

AND THEN THIS. This one, hit hard. I can’t even. I can’t believe that it’s happening already. Huff … If Rob’s happy then that’s it. I respect that. I won’t result into bashing Rob and FKA Twigs because of them being involved in a relationship, like others fans that I can see on Twitter. Remember, we are just FANS. We don’t have a say on who they take on dates. But I’m like you, guys, I’m heartbroken too. I’m upset too. We are just experiencing something a normal and devoted fan who’ve been following Rob and Kristen for years. *virtual hug*

Though, I’m still holding on to that idea that this is just a phase, a bump or whatever you want to call it that, in Rob and Kristen’s relationship. I’m still holding on that they’ll get a forever. Ha! Who’s with me?

I don’t know, I’ll probably stay away from shipping celebrities from now on … I’ll just stick to fictional characters. Hahahaha :) 

Fandomly Bookish Recommends ... | Wattpad Authors and Stories [2]

WOW! Thank you so much for supporting my debut post last week under this weekly feature that I've created. I was really overjoyed and actually going nuts to see loads of people responding to my post. Seeing how people are agreeing, commenting and complimenting how I’ve written that blog post just warms my heart. I never really thought that it would spread on the web like wildfire. Phew!

*coughs* Avon, mah friend, you have a huge part in this blog achievement. I was so shocked that you truly posted it on that group (a group I didn’t know that existed until you’ve mentioned it that day. Tsk. Tsk. Bad!). Anyways, Thank you. Thank you.

And this. Massive thanks to Queen J and her royal supporters because without you, guys, reading and sharing that post it wouldn't exceed to a THOUSAND reads! Totally insane, right? But oh well, that’s just how awesome Queen J and her readers are (including me, yeah?).

Again, THANK YOU SO MUCH! *virtual group hug* 

I just hope that Non-Wattpad readers were also able to read this post so that there’ll be fruition with the goals of this feature and those are 1) for Filipino readers to learn how to appreciate works written by Filipino authors and 2) to promote Wattpad worthy-read stories. My feelings actually get hurt when I see people generalizing everything and continuously ranting on about how Wattpad stories are. Please. Stop. I want people to realize that not all stories in Wattpad are badly written and in “jejemon” style (said by some of my Facebook friends). There are actually good stories in Wattpad that really deserves the hype and of being published. Give Filipino Wattpad stories a chance, you guys.

So to those who’ve read my blog post, last week and will be reading this one … I hope you try and share it with a Non-Wattpad reader friend of yours. ‘Cause maybe there’s still hope that he/she will give chance and read a story or two from Wattpad. We never know.  

Back to what this feature is all about. When I saw that the number of reads for my first ever Fandomly Bookish Recommends ... | Wattpad Authors and Stories feature was increasing and increasing by the minute, I knew that I have to dig into Wattpad and look for more authors/stories that I can feature. And I really did that. I asked for recommendations from my friends and look into Wattpad PH related accounts for What’s New and What’s Hot. That’s why I got tons of new Wattpad stories to read and I’m so excited about it! 

One of the titles that got my attention was Akin Ka by @asherina_kenza. (Congratulations, Ash for getting Akin Ka published under Sizzle!) I remembered that I already have this story loaded into my Wattpad account and I just have to look for a time to read it. Luckily, I have time to read this one last week and I’m so glad that I did. Akin Ka is under the New Adult genre and that’s the type of book that I always read and deal with here in my blog. I read Akin Ka for two days straight and only to find out that there’s a prequel and sequel kind of story to it! Dagnabit! Nobody told me that!  Can you guess what I did?

Fandomly Bookish Recommends ... | Wattpad Authors and Stories [1]

I read Wattpad stories. Yes, you've read that right. I actually started reading stories from Wattpad way back when I was still a college student. Sophomore or Junior year, I think. It was around that time when Wattpad stories was selling like hotcakes in the online Filipino reader community. So you know, I just have to try and know what the fuss is all about.

I think some Filipino readers tend to shy away from Wattpad stories because of the previous experiences they had with some stories written and published on that site. It could be because some stories isn't up to par with their taste, the quality of how it was written and how some story lines get clichéd and all. Take a hint here, it's actually a hit and miss in Wattpad when it comes to the stories you'll find in there. You just have to be very patient in looking  for a writer (and stories) that'll really suit you when it comes to his/her writing style, on how he/she narrates and wrap up the story and how she treats her characters. It's like looking for a gold in a dark and scary gold mine. 

Photo grabbed from: Jonaxxstories Facebook Page

To help you out with your Wattpad dilemma, I've decided to make this feature in this blog wherein from time to time I will share names of authors and title of stories that I immensely enjoyed reading. This feature aims to promote Wattpad worthy-read stories to my fellow Filipino readers. 

Here's my first recommended Wattpad author: She's known as Queen J by her avid readers or Jonaxx in the entire Wattpad community. Queen J, wohoo! She wasn't the first author that I came across in Wattpad and her works weren't the first ones that I've read. But (I think) she's the only author that I constantly and consistently looked forward to on what she's going to lay down the table next. And yes, I've read every single bit of her works. Even her tweets and posts in Facebook. LOL!

I can still perfectly remember the first story that I've read coming from this author and it was her work entitled, DOWNFALL CHRONICLES. At first, I was undecided if I'll push through reading it because I've also had my fair share of stumbling across stories that scared the heck out of my braincells. But I'm very glad that I continued to read it because I didn't expect it to be like that. It turned out to be a very emotional read and a story that I'll forever remember.

FIRST TIME I WON SOMETHING AND IT’S AN ARC OF UGLY LOVE | Ramblings

Towards the last week of May, I entered the Twitter giveaway of Ms. Johanna Castillo (Colleen’s editor) for the ARC of Ugly Love. It was a simple contest wherein I have to retweet a tweet of hers and then I’ll be entered into the giveaway. I gave it shot and only to find out a few days after that I won the contest! WOOT WOOT! 

MY GOODNESS! I’ll get to read UGLY LOVE months/days before the release? Holy shit, yes! I was ecstatic.  From that day on, I was in contact with Ms. Johanna for the updates of the whereabouts of my galley.

The month of June entered and it’s still a no show on my doorstep. *messages Ms. Johanna*

I was getting really worried that it got stuck somewhere and I won’t be able to have it in my hands. I was shitless scared for it was the first time I won something  (IT’S A BOOK THAT I’M EAGERLY ANTICIPATING) and I’d probably end up not being able to receive it. That sucks, right?

Then entered the first week of July, still a no show. *wrings my hands*

July 21 came in. 

And to my surprise, there was a package waiting for me!!!

I was praying to all the Saints for the package to contain the ARC already! Phew, please! I slowly opened it and took a deep breath before I checked the content … AND TADA!!!! Rejoice! Squeals were heard. I was happy dancing around the house. Even my fangirl heart is tapping away inside of my body! 

I CAN'T EVEN DFHASJFIOAS!!! MY CoHo fangirl heart cannot contain
all the feels when I saw this baby! 

WIGS TO AIR DELIRIUM'S UNAIRED PILOT FROM 2013 ONLINE!

Yes, you've read that caption right! INVALIDS, WHERE ARE YOU???? 

Entertainment Weekly says, "Fans of Lauren Oliver’s YA dystopian tale Delirium, you’re in luck.

A TV show based on Delirium, which centers on a society in which love is considered a disease, was originally developed in 2013 at Fox. The network didn’t pick up the Emma Roberts-starring show to series, but now WIGS and Hulu are bringing its pilot online — but only for a month.

The Delirium pilot will be available to view starting June 20."

Check out Delirium's trailer: 

What do you think about this decision of Hulu to air Delirium? What can you say about the trailer? YAY or NAY? Comment your reactions below towards this surprise airing + trailer of Delirium!

[Time Check: 3:30AM] Short Ramblings: 

8 NEW 'THE FAULT IN OUR STARS' MOVIE STILLS!

INSURGENT CASTING NEWS: NAOMI WATTS to portray the role of Evelyn!

The Hollywood Reporter said, "Naomi Watts has signed on to join the next three films in Lionsgate's Divergent franchise.

The actress, who recently committed to star in Gus Van Sant's Sea of Trees opposite Matthew McConaughey, is joining the cast of Divergent sequel Insurgent as Evelyn, leader of the Factionless. Watts' deal calls for to co-star in the futuristic franchise's two final movies, which are based on Veronica Roth's YA novel Allegiant, the final book in the Divergent trilogy. 

Watts will jump right to Insurgent, which began shooting last week in Atlanta. Shailene Woodley, Theo James, Ansel Elgort, Kate Winslet and Miles Teller -- who all appeared in Divergent -- return for the sequel." 

READ their full ARTICLE here. 

The Divergent Franchise seems to be really packing it up with huge Hollywood names, Kate Winslet and now we've got Naomi Watts on our ship. Haha! What can you say about this casting news, fellow booknerds and Initiates?

[The Mortal Instruments] Cassandra Clare shared an UNIDENTIFIED SNIPPET on her Tumblr account!

With only days away from the release of 'CITY OF HEAVENLY FIRE', the last book of THE MORTAL INSTRUMENTS SERIES, Cassandra Clare shared an UNIDENTIFIED SNIPPET on her Tumblr account. The snippet involves SIMON and his constant ramblings to MAGNUS about "taking Alec back"! 

You better read it for yourselves then fellow Shadowhunters and bookworms: 

“Hi, Magnus. It’s Simon. You know me. Well, you called me Soames last time we spoke, but we’ve hung out. I’m calling to, uh … to—sorry if this is out of line—suggest that you maybe take Alec back.

“I think it would be good for morale. Honestly, Alec was really horrible to Clary when they first met, and if he turns all cranky again, I don’t know what Clary’s going to do. In those days, Clary had way fewer weapons and way fewer brothers.

“This time it’s different. Her boyfriend is on fire. She’s got enough problems. I guess what I’m saying is that we’d all appreciate it if you took one for the team.

“Not that I’m part of a Shadowhunter team. Shadowhunters don’t let vampires join the team.

“This message probably seems selfish, and also crazy. I honestly do feel bad for Alec. He’s a good guy. Much less annoying than Jace. I’ve always felt like, given the opportunity, we could be friends. Maybe bros. Maybe we could be bros who shoot arrows together.

“It may at this point be obvious that Isabelle forced me to make this phone call.”

The things that I would do to be able to read the full scene for this snippet. With the response of Magnus and all, or the next scene after that. So, I mean the entire book? Ha! :) 

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[The Hunger Games] FOUR NEW 'Mockingjay' Movie Stills released!

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RAMBLINGS: HarperCollins & ARCs ...

It's been a long time coming ... These are the ARCs that HarperCollins Publishers sent me!!! :)

I WAS UTTERLY SURPRISED when a package was dropped off of our house last Friday, May 2! I totally wasn't expecting it because in the previous email HC sent me, Ms. Megan (Hi!!!) said that she would be emailing us first if the ARCs are already in the mail. And I didn't have any clue if my request for the ARCs would be granted ASAP or not because THIS was my first time to be included in their list of bloggers that they would make an offer for ARCs. So, I'm such a clueless gal. 

Anyways, enough with that. I just want to THANK HARPERCOLLINS PUBLISHERS AND MS. MEGAN again for being so accommodating from the very beginning and for giving me this opportunity of reading and writing reviews for these books way before it's publication dates. This is a really huge deal for me, guys. I cry. After 12374748949383 years (LMAO!), I finally feel that I've accomplished something for my blog. :) 

Here are the titles of the books that they've generously sent me together with their corresponding book covers and synopsis: 

Title: NASH (Marked Men #4) 

Author: Jay Crownover (Website | Twitter)

Publisher: William Morrow

Publication Date: April 29, 2014 

SYNOPSIS 

Will their past determine their future?

Saint Ford has worked hard to achieve her childhood dream of becoming of nurse. Focused on her work and devoted to her patients, there’s no room for love. She doesn’t need a guy making waves in her calm, serene life—especially when he’s the unforgettable hottie who nearly destroyed her in high school. Dark, brooding Nash Donovan might not remember her or the terrible pain he caused. But he turned her world upside down... and now he’s trying to do it again.

Saint has no idea that Nash isn’t the cocky player he once was. Uncovering a devastating family secret has rocked his world, and now he’s struggling to figure out his future. He can’t be distracted by the pretty nurse he seems to meet everywhere. Still, he can’t ignore the sparks that fly between them —or how she seems so desperate to get away from him. But the funny, sweet, and drop-dead gorgeous Saint is far too amazing to give up on—especially since she’s the only thing in his life that seems to make sense.

When Nash discovers the truth about their past, he realizes he may have lost her heart before he could even fight for it. Now, Saint has to decide: is Nash worth risking herself for all over again?

Add Nash on your "to read" list in Goodreads, using this link. 

[Book to Movie] CHECK OUT 'FALLEN' MOVIE'S FIRST PHOTO OF CAM, LUCINDA AND DANIEL!

L to R: Cam (Harrison Gilberton, Lucinda (Addison Timlin) and Daniel (Jeremy Irvine)

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Ramblings: Diary Ng Panget The Movie

Ramblings. I don’t usually write local (Philippine) entertainment related posts here in my blog but for Diary Ng Panget (and future Wattpad stories turned into movies?), I’m definitely making an exception. I’m not much into the local scene of our entertainment industry but I do watch movies and TV shows from time to time. That’s pretty much it. Then Diary Ng Panget The Movie happened.

It’s a known fact that I’m very updated and active every time an international book (that I love/like) is being adapted into a movie. My Facebook account’s constantly blowing up everyone’s news feed with updates, set photos, trailers, TV spots and movie stills from those movies. I know and I admit it, I’m such a “Book to Movie” junkie. Here’s the catch, I have NEVER FOLLOWED (keep tabs/social media stalking people involved in the project just to get a glimpse of the cast on set and what scene they are currently shooting) a PINOY movie being made/shot, not until this one.

I’ve been a fan of Diary Ng Panget way before it was even published as a book and doesn’t have any movie company optioning it of turning it into a movie. There you go, imagine me flailing around the house when I learned about it possibly becoming a movie. So we have a Wattpad story, book and then add the fact that there’s a potential movie … go figure. That’s actually expected of me to go gaga over it. When their shooting went underway, there were days when all I can see on my Facebook wall are updates and set photos from Diary Ng Panget. March has been a very enjoyable month for me because of the updates and teasers we got for this film.

April 2 experience. This movie made me experience another FIRST. I have never stood in line and waited just to be able to watch a Pinoy movie, not even the Metro Manila Film Fest movies made me do it. When I watch movies, I usually avoid crowds and long lines because I’m a very impatient person and that’s just not my scene. Huff. But for Diary Ng Panget, I did it. I stood in line for about an hour and thirty minutes just to be able to enter the theatre house and watch the movie. Looking back to this experience, I can say that everything that I endured during that waiting period was all worth it.

Movie. Wow, when we were walking out of the cinema after we’ve finished watching Diary Ng Panget I actually felt great and was just surrounded with an air of satisfaction with how they adapted the book. It was very faithful; they were able to stay very close to the book and was able to justify the material that they have. Yes, there were scenes that didn’t make it in the movie BUT the good thing here is they were able to capture the WHOLE VIBE OF THE BOOK. They were able to translate it really well through the lines, the banters of Cross and Eya and just every scene of the movie screams something that Denny, the author, would make her characters say and do. The movie made me giggle, laugh out loud (with tears in my eyes), squeal (or bordering on screaming), clap my hands, made me go like “awwww” and it really invaded me with loads of “kilig” feels! I had lots of fun watching the movie. All good stuff, thumbs up!

The pacing of the movie is at times good but there were moments that it tends to settle in so fast and goes directly into another scene of the movie. But that’s common error in movies based on books, even Hollywood movies have that. There were also some scenes that I wished that were given a little bit more emphasis or at least prolonged the length of it. Like the “walis-dustpan” scene (and the scene after that), the hospital and the cemetery scene because those scenes actually showcases the different side of Cross and that could’ve added with his character building/development. Another scene that I wished they could’ve emphasized more is the Masquerade Ball that was held in Willford Academy because it was such a pivotal scene in the book and it also runs through towards the end part of the movie. Anyways, those were just my wishes and opinions. Seriously though, I think the DNP Movie team did a really great job in handling everything given the time frame they were allotted to work for this project. If I’m not mistaken, they started shooting last February 26^th (?) and the studio released the movie not even two months after they’ve shot it. So, congrats to you guys!

[Divergent] 11 NEW Movie Stills of Theo James as Four!

 

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NEW PHOTOS of Kristen Stewart with Tara Swennen for THR’s Top Stylists Issue!

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