This feature settles to be a weekly update of both my personal and bookish activities. Although I am sure that this won't be a regular weekly post, I am going to try my best to publish this kind of post if I really have interesting to share (I tend to be lame). So without further ado here it goes...

The Lost
Author: Sarah Beth Durst
Date of Publication: May 27, 2014
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Synopsis:

It was only meant to be a brief detour. But then Lauren finds herself trapped in a town called Lost on the edge of a desert, filled with things abandoned, broken and thrown away. And when she tries to escape, impassable dust storms and something unexplainable lead her back to Lost again and again. The residents she meets there tell her she's going to have to figure out just what she's missing--and what she's running from--before she can leave. So now Lauren's on a new search for a purpose and a destiny. And maybe, just maybe, she'll be found...

Against the backdrop of this desolate and mystical town, Sarah Beth Durst writes an arresting, fantastical novel of one woman's impossible journey...and her quest to find her fate.

“Love and loyalty runs deeper than blood.” 

A ghostly smile flickered across his face. "If you weren't so psychotic, you'd be fun to hang around." 

"Funny, I feel that way about you too." He didn't say anything else, but the smile grew, and he walked away.

“When I saw you fall..."

"You thought, 'Wow, she's a loser.'"

• Because of Low (Sea Breeze #2): Really entertaining. Gripping. It tackled a very sensitive social issue that concerns affairs in family. It was a hard subject but the writing made it lightweight. As soon as the story starts, Marcus Hardy instantly snugged all my attention. He's so charming, funny, gentleman (yes he's hot but he's more than oozing hot or yummy!). He loves his family and he was his family's strength in times of mishap. Willow is a strong heroine, I found myself liking her despite the fact that I feel that she was selfish sometimes (because of that thing with Cage). Their relationship wasn't rushed, as well as reconciliation that happened in the end. I loved that their relationship worked in progress. And man the s scene? You'll be surprise!

• Misbehaving (Sea Breeze #4): Kudos to this book! It made me misty-eyed. That says a lot to be honest. Once a story got me engaged, I know that it won't be long for me to call it as a very very good emotional book. It sort of wrecked me because the situation of Jesse is very poignant. Although she's known for causing trouble and the kind of "make-all-boys-kneel" because of his body, she still is a very vulnerable and insecure person. Jason is rich and quite famous because of his brother, but he isn't a jerk and cold prince in the making. He's also charming, playful, naughty (in a way), genuine and thoughtful. The chemistry between them is palpable, that I admit made me really like this book. Their relationship also went to a lot of downhill and while I enjoyed those parts (I was in a mood for a dramatic one), my heart also ached for them to be just together. Both Jesse and Jason amazed me. That and the "out of my league" plot made me really like this book.

Tease
Author: Sophie Jordan
Series: The Ivy Chronicles #2


Synopsis:

What happens when a girl who always calls the shots meets a guy who's too wild for even her?

A born flirt and good-time party girl, Emerson has never had a problem finding a willing guy. She's always chosen her hookups carefully, and she's never broken her three cardinal rules:

Never let them see the real you.
Never fall in love.
Always leave them begging for more.

Then Shaw comes along. A hottie from the wrong side of the tracks, he's immune to her flirtatious banter and come-hither smile. After rescuing her from a disastrous night at a biker bar, he doesn't even try to take her to bed—he calls her a tease and sends her home instead. Unable to resist a challenge, or forget the sexy, dark-eyed, bad-boy biker, she vows to bring him to his knees.

But instead of making Shaw beg, Emerson finds herself craving him. For the first time in her life, she's throwing out her rule book. Suddenly, she's the one panting for a guy she can't control—a guy who won't settle for anything less than the real Emerson and who forces her to do things she's never imagined, including facing a past she thought she'd buried.

 I like it but not the kind of like that I have so much emotions right now kind of feeling. Okay, there there. Never mind the rating because I myself am confuse of what I feel about the book. I love Foreplay. And that reason alone is enough for me to click the "Want to Read" button in all the books under this series. Even if you haven't read Foreplay which is the first installment, you can always jump into this.

I have to admit that I had a lukewarm relationship with the main characters here. Emmerson is a flirt and tease. She likes being in control and putting boys under her control. A horrible past made her recoil from relationship thus making her life in constant whirl of just hook ups and flirting then came Shaw. And I know you have an idea what happens next. It was a quick, steamy and compelling read. I admit that the angst and drama was totally a bummer for I didn't felt much affected. But the affection of Shaw towards Em is worth to stay glued in reading this. There was so much chemistry and ardent tension between them. The last thing I wanted to point out is, I hate cruel and negligent parents in books. This somehow affected my views. But all in all,  I thought it was okay and very engrossing. You can definitely read it in one sitting.

Rescued by a stranger.

Haunted by a secret

Sometimes, love isn't easy...

He watched her, but never knew her. Until thanks to a chance encounter, he became her savior...

The attraction between them was undeniable. Yet the past he'd worked so hard to overcome, and the future she'd put so much faith in, threatened to tear them apart.

Only together could they fight the pain and guilt, face the truth - and find the unexpected power of love.

A groundbreaking novel in the New Adult genre, Easy faces one girl's struggle to regain the trust she's lost, find the inner strength to fight back against an attacker, and accept the peace she finds in the arms of a secretive boy.

It happens once in a while that a boy I rarely encounter in books makes me gush and turn into a mush. I am not fond of emo-ish type of guys or what I also call, hot emo guys, but it was EASY to like Lucas. (yes pun intended). He is multi-talented, genuine but too broken. There's poignancy in his character and it made my heart ache for him. But despite that, he didn't fail to be a swoon-worthy lover. Jaqueline posses a balance of both strength and frailness. It wasn't impossible to like her character, but I still felt ~out~ of it (never mind that haha). What I liked the most about her is she didn't switch gear fast, she went through downhill because of her break-up with her ex-boyfriend, and she got a hung of it which is very realistic compared to other break-up situation in other books.

There's the right combination of romance and angst in this book. The writing is brilliant and easy to get lost in. I just like how their pasts didn't bring much of futile drama. This book conveys great lessons about standing up for your rights, girls fighting back, hope, forgiveness and love.

Synopsis:

Graceling meets Beauty and the Beast in this sweeping fantasy about one girl's journey to fulfill her destiny and the monster who gets in her way-by stealing her heart.

Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Cruel Beauty is a dazzling love story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.

Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.

With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.

But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle-a shifting maze of magical rooms-enthralls her.

As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.

So what I expected was like this:

World After (Penryn and the Days #2)
Author: Susan Ee
Pages: 314
Genre: YA, fantasy, thriller, paranormal, angels

Synopsis:
In this sequel to the bestselling fantasy thriller, Angelfall, the survivors of the angel apocalypse begin to scrape back together what's left of the modern world.

When a group of people capture Penryn's sister Paige, thinking she's a monster, the situation ends in a massacre. Paige disappears. Humans are terrified. Mom is heartbroken.

Penryn drives through the streets of San Francisco looking for Paige. Why are the streets so empty? Where is everybody? Her search leads her into the heart of the angels' secret plans where she catches a glimpse of their motivations, and learns the horrifying extent to which the angels are willing to go.

Meanwhile, Raffe hunts for his wings. Without them, he can't rejoin the angels, can't take his rightful place as one of their leaders. When faced with recapturing his wings or helping Penryn survive, which will he choose?

Jan 3, 2014.