Book Review: Falling For Hamlet by Michelle Ray

Title: Falling For Hamlet
Series: N/A
Author: Michelle Ray
Genre: YA Fiction, Romance, Retelling
My Rate: 1/5  a waste of my time
Published: October 1, 2011

Meet Ophelia: a blonde, beautiful high-school senior and long-time girlfriend of Prince Hamlet of Denmark. Her life is dominated not only by her boyfriend's fame and his overbearing family, but also by the paparazzi who hound them wherever they go. As the devastatingly handsome Hamlet spirals into madness after the mysterious death of his father, the King, Ophelia rides out his crazy roller coaster life, and lives to tell about it. In live television interviews, of course.

Passion, romance, drama, humor, and tragedy intertwine in this compulsively readable debut novel, told by a strong-willed, modern-day Ophelia. (Goodreads.com)

I wish I had never read this book. I actually expected a great deal out of this modern story-telling of Hamlet. I was pained every time I read this and maybe it's the fact that I am not a fan of the original Hamlet. But yeah, this book is basically Ophelia's modern re-telling but it basically stuck to the original and that for me, is kinda sad (because again, I didn't love the original Hamlet by Shakespeare). Another thing is that it was too hormonal and too dramatic. Way more dramatic than (original) Hamlet had ever been I guess.

Book Review: So Over You by Gwen Hayes

Title: So Over You
Series: N/A
Author: Gwen Hayes
Genre: YA Fiction, Romance
My Rate: 4/5  cool
Published: April 25, 2005

Layney Logan, girl reporter. That’s all she’s ever wanted to be. The only thing Layney dislikes more than swimming in the high school dating pool is letting her arch-nemesis and co-Chief Editor, Jimmy Foster, get the better of her. So, she’ll take his stupid assignment to go on twelve blind dates and she’ll prove to him she’s twice the reporter he is. Unless she listens to her heart...

Don't judge a book by its cover. I know I did (the cover's not very nice, that I almost didn't read it) but man, was I glad I pressed on.

CHARACTERS || I loved Logan and Foster, 'nuff said. They had a real love-hate relationship. Their bickering and sweetness made my tummy dance every now and then.The supporting characters weren't that bad either. I actually had a thing for Abercrombie model for awhile. But Foster can be really... spontaneous (I guess) but yeah, they can be really REALISTIC.

WRITING || It's gorgeously written. I can't explain enough, you'll just have to read it for yourself! But lemme tell you this: the lines here are witty, and outrageously funny!

OVERALL || Buy it if you're hormonal. Even if you lack the hormones, you'll get them soon enough. In my case, I didn't really like the whole revelation thing. They were too abrupt for me, like they came out of no where. But even so, the whole of the book will make up for that fail and you'll be happy to have read the book (despite reading this negative criticism) anyway. So READ IT, READ IT, READ IT!

I'm putting the synopsis because I want to, haha.

Book Review: Boy Meets Girl by Joshua Harris

Title: Boy Meets Girl
Series: N/A
Author: Joshua Harris
Genre: Marriage & Relationships
My Rate: 4.5/5 ohsum
Published: 2005

School has taken a toll on me and I want basically unable to post for a couple of days. But fear no more, as I am now back with a brand new book (and the blog's brand new look). So I received this book as a gift from Page, Christmas 2010. My relationship ideas were really challenged by it (although I was, and still am, really young.) in a good way. I've never read I Kissed Dating Goodbye or any other Joshua Harris book prior to this but I enjoyed it and got many things from it. I'm really happy to have read this book at this age (I'm seventeen going on eighteen) and plan to read it again in the future to further understand it.


At first I thought that me reading this book would be weird since I'm no where near the age of marriage--not even for the age of romantic relationships (in my opinion). I've never even had anything close to romantic. But I know it can get pretty complicated, my parents' failed marriage is a testimony to that. Because of this book, I was encouraged. And despite this book not being entirely age-appropriate, it really allowed me to embrace my singleness (even when people would think otherwise, as in their minds I'm but a hormonal teenager--not really the case in reality) and look forward to the one God has set for me. Out of all the marriage books for teens out there, this seems to be the most digestible. So I'm more than glad to have finished this read.


I really thank God that I was able to read this book (I can't say that enough). He revealed much to me everytime I flipped a page. This book talks much of glorifying God in marriage and the preparation of such. I really recommend it to my peers who, like me, want to have God-glorifying relationships in the future!

Book Review: Wander Dust by Michelle Warren

Title: Wander Dust

Series: The Seraphina Parrish Trilogy
Author: Michelle Warren

Genre: Romance, YA Fiction, Adventure

My Rate: 4.7/5

Published: 11/30/2011

I just got out of the hospital and am supposed to be resting today so I'm not at school. Caught a little virus and was there for four days. THE HORROR. But I kept myself busy by playing Tetris and reading a little. I finished Wander Dust in there too. HOOORRRAY! Read on for the actual review mateys.

CHARACTERS || I like the characters, just not a fan of their names. I mean, Seraphina, seriously? But I think it started to grow on me by the end of the fifth chapter. And I really pity the protagonist. She's so lonely I could cry! (not really) But yeah Bishop and Sam's okay. I hate the third wheel because I hate third wheels in general (but this girl's a whole new different level, I just wanna kick her in the shin). But aside from that, I really admire Sera's strength in controlling her feelings for Bishop. She's not like those hormonal, deluded female leads who are almost the ones jumping the male leads. She's goal-oriented and us girls (even the non-fictional ones) could learn a thing or two from her. As for Max Bishop, typical British hottie. The lady in black, the grungy gang kept me on the edge as I read them at night time. But by the middle of the book, I was a wee bit disappointed for the Lady in black--I really wanted more from her.

WRITING || I love how it's written and how it incorporates Egyptian myths and legends into the plotline. Historical events even. Fun to read, their world isn't that hard to grasp too. The mystery thrilled me. Her making a list of them was, in my opinion, very helpful.

OVERALL || I think it's a pretty interesting book. I've never read anything on time traveling before (I've seen the movie Time Traveler's Wife though, if that counts). The cover is quite attractive, if I may say so myself. I'm going to wait for the second book while I'm crossing my fingers this trilogy won't keep me up for several nights then fail me in the last installment (AHEM, Hunger Games).

i hope everyone had a JOYful Christmas

PENDA

...because I know I did! My Christmas Eve wasn't very festive, contrary to what we were accustomed too. Instead, we (a few friends, sisters, Penda) went caroling at the last minute. I had a fantastic experience (it was my first time) and recommend it to everybody else. It really helps boost your confidence and best of all, you sing for the Lord, bond with your friends and earn too. It gave me a great deal of self-satisfaction. A neighbor even invited us to sing inside their home! It was very spontaneous, our friends Randy, Arnel and Isaiah came to our house with a guitar and started singing a Christmas song (one that Isaiah was not very good at apparently xD) my mother then supplied us the idea to go caroling, I grabbed my bag and we rushed outside and by the time we started, it was already about nine in the evening. We then camped out to our neighbors and spent the first few hours of Christmas there. I am just so thankful, even while writing this. Jesus is the best gift in the world!

Remember Christmas isn’t for us, it’s for JESUS. And what can we do for Jesus on his birthday? I did what the three wise men did on the day of his birth: worship him. So brothers and sisters in the Lord, let us worship him!

Yeah! My playlist for tonight: (I mixed contemporary, praise and worship. i think i realize that xD)

• Adonai – Hillsong
• Jesus Messiah – Christ Tomlin
• My Help Comes From the Lord – The Museum
• Indescribable – Laura Story
• Everything To Me - Avalon
• All of the Words – Kutless
• Beautiful Lord – Leeland
• Desert Song – Hillsong
• We Are The Reason – Avalon
• Aftermath – Hillsong

Epic Fail.

PENDA

Okay so I made a siggy. But it turns out it looks awful with the layout (the color and the size) so I decided to not use it and just post it instead. Yeah, I'm supposed to be packing gifts for tomorrow (CHRISTMAS) but I'm here blogging and procrastinating. I must stop doing this. I hope everyone's having a marvelous Christmas!

Christmas: it's not the day, it's giving LOVE

PENDA

I would like to make clear what I think Christmas is. Well, it's called Christmas for a reason and not Clausemas or anything of the sort. Second of all, I would like to emphasize that though I don't believe that Jesus Christ was born on December 25 almost 20 decades ago--one of the reasons why is because Jesus was a Jew and Jews have 12/13 months corresponding to the 12.4 month solar cycle. That makes everything confusing because right now we're using the Roman Calendar. Plus if you look it up in the bible (in the gospels of Luke and Matthew), it was night time and the shepherds were still tending their sheep. Now, I know it's uncommon for snow to hit Jerusalem but it would still be very cold for them to be tending their sheep.

But if you actually stop and think, well isn't it amazing that a divine immortal actually came down to this world of sinners to save us all from our doom? He gave us a gift--a gift of salvation and eternal life. I choose to imitate him. I want to give to others just like he gave to me. Although I cannot, by all means, give people eternal life, the Lord has blessed me enough in abling me to give what I have abundantly--love, compassion and hope (for the lost). And don't stone me for wanting to celebrate his gift! And because the Philippines generally have no classes during the Christmas season, it is the perfect opportunity to give.


And since I'm just a poor student who has no income of her own, I decided to MAKE gifts! Like Pop-up cards! Yeah, you can go knitting (but I wont since it's perfectly sunny over here).

The other half still missing.

PENDA

Yeah so its been years... and it's still Penda. Anyway, I thought it'd be a splendid idea to blog today. YAY! So I'm going to tell you about my blogging history. Well, the most recent blog that I owned is this. And Page's blog... I won't even bother posting the link because for some reason, it's become an invite only blog. NOOO! Aside from blogs, I've also managed a forum and a some other websites not so far back.  Yeah. I should get on with the post instead of yammerin' about history, huh?

Okay so I was volunteering yesterday and realized, THERE BE NO PEGGY! Okay, I'm so for being too informal, I actually meant THE PEGGSTER IS GONE WITH THE WIND (ha)! Not that '39 Movie (although that's one of my fave classics--Rhett!), not dead either, no not even the book. I mean she was busy that I had to pack and repack relief goods all by myself (oh the horror!) Fine, fine I didn't really do it all by myself, many able men and women came to my rescue (thank you able men and women!) so we finished sorting everything the other day and distributed the goods yesterday. People were very desperate but we unfortunately couldn’t give everyone in a particular area everything because others might need them too. Saying no to these frantic people is so hard it makes my heart break but we had to think of the bigger picture. Yeah I just would like to take this opportunity to thank people for the support they’ve shown. May the Lord our God bless you according to His riches in heaven! <3

oh yeah, I'm going to post more pictures. Pictures from the Operation Blessing (where I'm volunteering) FB Page.

A Lesson from a victor.

PENDA

For people who don't know, a flash flood recently hit my city, Cagayan de Oro, and left hundreds of people devastated over their irrecoverables. These include vehicles, houses, furniture, appliances and more importantly, family members. Many of my friends and churchmates were affected by this tragic event. It breaks my heart to witness what is left of all those years of hard labor. But as our pastor puts it, let us not be the victims of this tragedy but rather, the victors. It's really an admirable thing to say since he and his family had suffered greatly under the hand (or eye) of the storm.

*pictures taken by our pastor on the first day of the rescue

the classic WELCOME post

PENDA

Ok, first of all, welcome everybody! Yeah, I just wanted to say that. Me and page have really been busy these past couple of days. I'm from a city called Cagayan de Oro in the Philippines and a typhoon just recently hit us. (Well, not really us--more like our city) and we haven't been really able to post. But I decided that today (2 hours shy of our church's wednesday service) I MUST POST and welcome all you lovely fellows to our blog *clap clap*

So I am not entirely convinced I should tell you about us (since we love being called mysterious *wink*) but I guess I could tell you a thing or two. Well, this is Penda writing this. My other half (not that kind of half) is called PAGE and if you didn't get the pun of our blogname then UGH. Okay, it's fine if you didn't get it but we thought it was really OHSUM. (well, better than Pending Page or Paging Penda anyway) So we're both Christians from Cagayan de Oro City (it's worth mentioning twice, really) and part of a group of friends called Girls at the Back. We met in high school and are now attending Xavier University (AdCU); I as a Nursing major and Page an English major (but not for long). We're both seventeen and if you're wondering, Page is older. And lastly, we're two of the growing number of youth in our church Blessed Hope Christian Community Church Int'l. Well, I guess that's enough for one day, so I'm going to shut up now... not.

So me and Peggy (yeah, that's what I call Page) decided to make this blog as because we found the need to share our thoughts to the blogiverse or the netty way (or whatever you want to call this digital realm). We both have writing on our favorite past time list and began doing so a couple of years back. Anyway , I'm not nearly done with the layout and we still haven't written our about us paragraphs but I promise you it wont take a while before we actually do so. Meanwhile, I want to thank you for heeding this message and I hope you come back again soon!

Advance Merry Christmas!

--I'm going to get myself a sig.

Penda