This contest is closed. Winner announcement: click!
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Another giveaway! Hurray!
So the awesome and totally random Ransom Riggs was in the Philippines recently. If you missed having your book signed, then here’s your chance to own a signed copy of “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children”!
MECHANICS:
If you are a WordPress user, all you have to do is follow this blog and leave a comment on this post to let me know that you want to join the giveaway, and that’s your contest entry right there! If you already follow this blog, just share the link to this giveaway on your blog or Twitter or Facebook or Tumblr or whatever social networking service, then leave a comment with a link to your post/tweet.
If you are not a WordPress user, you can either subscribe to this blog by clicking on the link at the bottom of the right sidebar or you can just follow me on Twitter (@almeldiel). Leave a comment to let me know that you subscribed or comment with your Twitter username, and that’s your entry right there! If you’re already a subscriber or if you already follow me on Twitter, then just post a link to this giveaway on your Twitter or any social networking site and leave a comment with a link to your post/tweet.
Once I have validated your entry, your comment will appear on this post.
The winning entry will be chosen by a random draw and will receive a signed trade paperback copy of “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” by Ransom Riggs. We had this copy signed during Ransom Riggs’ book signing last 3 March 2013 at Fully Booked in Bonifacio High Street.
A mysterious island. An abandoned orphanage. And a strange collection of very curious photographs. It all waits to be discovered in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, an unforgettable novel that mixes fiction and photography in a thrilling reading experience. As our story opens, a horrific family tragedy sets sixteen-year-old Jacob journeying to a remote island off the coast of Wales, where he discovers the crumbling ruins of Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children. As Jacob explores its abandoned bedrooms and hallways, it becomes clear that the children who once lived here – one of whom was his own grandfather – were more than just peculiar. They may have been dangerous. They may have been quarantined on a desolate island for good reason. And somehow – impossible though it seems – they may still be alive.
You have until 31 March 2013 (11:59pm) to send in your entries.
Barring any unfortunate interventions by sheep on the loose or cranky bartenders, I should be able to announce the winner by April Fools. (I just hope you believe me if you win.)
This contest is open only to residents of the Philippines. (Sorry, foreign friends!) If you live outside the Philippines but you have a friend or relative with a Philippine mailing address who will be willing to receive the prize for you, then you’re welcome to join the contest.
The winner must reply to the notification e-mail within 3 days from receipt of the notice, otherwise, the prize will be forfeited in favor of the second person on the random list generated to determine the winner.
Spread the word, and May the Odds Be Ever In Your Favor!
✻ ✻ ✻ Disclaimer: (To satisfy the WordPress.com Terms of Service) This giveaway is not sponsored and is not being posted in lieu of paid advertising on this blog. (I don’t have advertising at all!) I bought the book and paid for it out of my own pocket and had it signed at an event that I attended. ☺
Lauren Kate is back with a new book, and it looks and sounds magical!
Never, ever cry. . . . Eureka Boudreaux’s mother drilled that rule into her daughter years ago. But now her mother is gone, and everywhere Eureka goes he is there: Ander, the tall, pale blond boy who seems to know things he shouldn’t, who tells Eureka she is in grave danger, who comes closer to making her cry than anyone has before.
But Ander doesn’t know Eureka’s darkest secret: ever since her mother drowned in a freak accident, Eureka wishes she were dead, too. She has little left that she cares about, just her oldest friend, Brooks, and a strange inheritance—a locket, a letter, a mysterious stone, and an ancient book no one understands. The book contains a haunting tale about a girl who got her heart broken and cried an entire continent into the sea. Eureka is about to discover that the ancient tale is more than a story, that Ander might be telling the truth . . . and that her life has far darker undercurrents than she ever imagined.
From Lauren Kate comes an epic saga of heart-stopping romance, devastating secrets, and dark magic . . . a world where everything you love can be washed away.
Publication Date: 22 October 2013
Eureka’s name should have been Alice…who went to Wonderland and cried a lake into existence. (^_^)
My tiring but book-tastic weekend is over, but…hey, it’s another Bookmark Monday!
Today’s bookmark was sent to me a few years ago by the awesomest person in Cebu City, Marivic a.k.a. Miss A.M.! Thank you! *mwah! hugs!*
This is a thin wooden bookmark with a carved wooden owl that’s designed to perch atop your book. And it’s made in Cebu City, of course! At least I can say I’ve been there. (^_^)
I took a shot of this with my signed copy of Ransom Riggs’ “Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children” to commemorate Random Ransom’s visit to the Philippines.
Speaking of Random Ransom…in my giveaway this month, someone is going to win a signed copy of “Miss Peregrine”! Stay tuned for the mechanics. (^_-)-☆
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And once again, I apologize for the quality of the image because I still haven’t resolved my uploaded image quality problems here on the blog. Everything looks fine in my computer, but they pixelize once they are uploaded to WordPress. If there’s a kind soul out there who can help me solve this, please message me?
Shout-out to Leia: Thanks for the help with the coverage and for force-cajoling me into ordering that cake. (^_^)
Unravel Me (Shatter Me #2) Author:Tahereh Mafi Read Date: 27 February 2013 Goodreads Reading Status Updates:click! Rating: 4 out of 5 stars. But only because of Warner, who’s worth maybe a whole star, maybe more. (What?! The rest of the book was only mildly interesting.)
tick
tick
tick
tick
tick
it’s almost
time for war.
Juliette has escaped to Omega Point. It is a place for people like her—people with gifts—and it is also the headquarters of the rebel resistance.
She’s finally free from The Reestablishment, free from their plan to use her as a weapon, and free to love Adam. But Juliette will never be free from her lethal touch.
Or from Warner, who wants Juliette more than she ever thought possible.
In this exhilarating sequel to Shatter Me, Juliette has to make life-changing decisions between what she wants and what she thinks is right. Decisions that might involve choosing between her heart—and Adam’s life.
*SPOILER WARNING FOR PRETTY MUCH ALL THE MATERIAL IN THIS SERIES*
So I thought that life-changing decision they were talking about in the synopsis will be something really epic, but as it turns out, it’s just Juliette finally succumbing to Noble Idiocy.
I first encountered the term when I got into Korean dramas, and perhaps one of the best examples is illustrated here: Noble Idiotic Cancer-afflicted Characters. If you’ve read “Unravel Me” and that scenario sounds familiar, well…now you have a term for it.
I was annoyed with Juliette for most of this book, and to be honest, I really wanted to punch her in the face. If only she weren’t so powerful and so…fictional.
First, there’s that noble idiocy. (I am a monster, I can kill you, therefore, we cannot be together. *gives Adam torturous looks for the rest of the book*) I do understand her plight and her genuine fears, but I was disappointed that she didn’t even give herself or Adam a chance to at least be trained or to even actively find a solution.
Juliette: ‘I can’t help but wonder what my life would’ve been like if someone had taken a chance on me.’
Me: Well, sister, you will keep wondering if you aren’t even willing to take a chance on yourself.
I liked, though, that Adam wasn’t willing to take all this bullshit from Juliette and kept insisting that he wanted to make things work. (Although sometimes, I think he’s just sexually frustrated. Sorry. I mean…right?) At least he redeemed himself after making the mistake of not telling Juliette that he wasn’t as immune to her as they thought.
Second, she was just so emo. It’s the book’s saving grace that Tahereh Mafi got Kenji and Castle to call Juliette out on being a selfish, whiny, anti-social brat. I really, really appreciate Mafi hanging a lantern on that. It’s a pity because you would’ve thought she’d be a bit more optimistic and proactive now that she has a Professor X in her life. You know, just a bit? Not to mention an awesome awesome friend in Kenji. If Kenji dies in the next book, I will seriously cut a bitch.
Also, I do think Mafi writes beautifully, and sometimes the similes and metaphors are so pretty they touch my heart, which is proven by the many tabs now sticking out of my copy of the book. But there are times, too, when it all gets cheesy and overbearing. Emo Juliette + Juliette’s voice in melancholic prose = a particularly trying time inside the character’s head. I do get that this is part of the character’s DNA, but I just wish there was some semblance of evolution in this aspect now. It was acceptable to see her so introspective and defeated only when she was locked up in an asylum. I don’t expect her to stop being this way entirely because then, she wouldn’t be Juliette. But maybe just…a little more positive? A little more willing to change her circumstances and to fight back? I loved when she was being funny and light-hearted and even sarcastic—those are some ray-of-sunshine moments!
The character who I did not expect to be such a fancy thinker was Warner (omo, he reads Shakespeare!), although reading “Destroy Me” changed that perception. Oh, Warner Warner Warner. There’s some hate for him out there as a love interest, especially post-”Shatter Me”, and I understand that. In fact, I approve. I felt the same way!
But I, like Juliette, find something compelling about him that I cannot name. He’s been described by other readers as a psycho, a warfreak, a megalomaniac. Well, he does own up to being a murderer and a troubled, unforgivable person, but people give him too much credit.
Anyway, that doesn’t mean he can’t make you swoon. After all, bad boys are attractive, right? And Warner is a very bad boy who you just might want to do bad things with. CHAPTER SIXTY TWO. ‘Nuff said.
Juliette: ‘I don’t know why my heart is losing its mind.’
Me: Damn. My heart lost it too. But I know why.
I don’t know why she keeps giving Warner flack about going Darth Vader on her Luke Skywalker, by the way. (*in Darth Vader voice* Join me, and together, we will rule the galaxy…) Warner wants her to realize the true potential of her powers. Sure he wants to do it for World Domination (or so he says), but what about Castle? Castle wants her on their side so they can overthrow the Re-establishment, but he also admits that they will do it when they’re ready to rule. So both sides want Juliette on their side so they can gain power. Castle may have more noble intentions, but sometimes, when it comes to Warner, I think Juliette doth protest too much. It’s a good thing she’s not a hypocrite about her other feelings for him.
‘Warner is the one person I can be completely honest with. I always feel like I have to protect Adam from me, from the horror story that is my life…But with Warner, there’s nothing to hide.’
I am not yet too hopelessly romantic to think that Juliette will end up with Warner just because I like him, of course. Author Kate Evangelista once said that there seems to be an unspoken rule that the heroine must end up with the one who saved her first, and that was Adam.
Actually, I’m still not convinced that Warner will be good for Juliette in the first place. As of this book, he does have his own agenda despite his feelings for her, and nothing can erase his past, his crimes, and his family background. Basically, if Juliette was still living with her family, her mother would tell her to stay as far away from Warner as she can. And until things change in the third book, I’d have to agree with her.
I personally like him because he has more potential as a character, he has more depth, and he’s been brutally honest about what he’s really like so far, and I appreciate that. And also, yes, that compelling something I still cannot name. And the feels. But being on Team Warner/Team 62 doesn’t mean being on board the Juliette/Warner ‘ship entirely. In this book, for me, it just means I’m rooting for the character.
It’s telling, though, that the times when I liked Juliette in this book were when she was with either James or Kenji.
I also like that in the love configuration, it’s Juliette who is the more powerful entity. In most YA love triangles, it’s often the girl who’s the normal or weaker one—the human—and it is often the boys who have power or wealth or who are supernatural beings. This is a nice variation to the trope. I hope that she lives up to the hype when we get to the last book.
I should probably stop talking about the romance now. I just couldn’t help it because the plot didn’t really move forward as much as could be expected from such a thick book, and the romance constitutes a good chunk of it. You can’t even really argue for character development taking up a lot of space because there wasn’t much growth or change in Juliette.
Okay, let’s talk about abilities. The gist: the series has gone all dystopian X-Men on us.
Yes, I did expect to see a lot of mutants because the story is now set in Omega Point, but I didn’t want EVERYONE to be a mutant! Sure, I was willing to accept that maybe Adam was, and I kinda saw the Warner revelation coming after that. But even James?! Being Adam’s brother is not an excuse.
The only normal major character in this is Supreme Commander Anderson. And who knows, maybe he’ll also find out later that he’s a mutant, especially considering how his kids turned out. Statistical probability just got thrown out the window. It’s all just so…to quote James himself, convenient.
Sometimes I feel like the Omega Point and mutant rebel action plot thread belongs to a different story. I think it’s because of Juliette’s voice, which is so personal, internal, and emotional; it fits the romance aspect more than the action and secret mutant rebellion scenes which are best narrated in a more straightforward voice to be better appreciated. I’m hoping that Mafi will be able to more smoothly intertwine internal Juliette with heroine Juliette and the outside world.
I also hope that Juliette will live up to her potential, not necessarily as a powerful being, but as a proper heroine in the next book. Nothing like almost-death to get you motivated, huh?
♪♫ ♪♫ ♪♫
And now to Score The Book. This has everything to do with Warner and Chapter Sixty Two. Sorry, Juliette.
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Read this book:
Only if you’ve read “Shatter Me.” Reading “Destroy Me” is optional, but recommended.
Destroy Me (Shatter Me #1.5) Author:Tahereh Mafi Read Date: 26 February 2013 Goodreads Reading Status Updates:click! Rating: 3.75 out of 5 stars
In Tahereh Mafi’s Shatter Me, Juliette escaped from The Reestablishment by seducing Warner—and then putting a bullet in his shoulder. But as she’ll learn in Destroy Me, Warner is not that easy to get rid of. . .
Back at the base and recovering from his near-fatal wound, Warner must do everything in his power to keep his soldiers in check and suppress any mention of a rebellion in the sector. Still as obsessed with Juliette as ever, his first priority is to find her, bring her back, and dispose of Adam and Kenji, the two traitors who helped her escape. But when Warner’s father, The Supreme Commander of The Reestablishment, arrives to correct his son’s mistakes, it’s clear that he has much different plans for Juliette. Plans Warner simply cannot allow.
Set after Shatter Me and before its forthcoming sequel, Unravel Me, Destroy Me is a novella told from the perspective of Warner, the ruthless leader of Sector 45.
*SPOILER WARNING FOR BOTH THIS NOVELLA AND “SHATTER ME”*
It’s great that we now know more about Warner and why he did the things he did in “Shatter Me”, even though he turns out to pretty much be your usual villain who dons a mask of cruelty to hide a troubled past (and present) to the point of driving the love of his life away. It’s a little too cliché, actually, but there’s something compelling about Warner that I am gravitating toward—especially compared to Adam—so I will just have to accept this.
Also, he picked up a dog and happily fed it, so now it’s gonna take something truly devastating to make me hate him after that. Gorgeous, emotionally compromised men who are nice to women (when they’re not possessed by bouts of noble idiocy or necessary pretense), children, and dogs: there you have it, ladies and gents, my literary male character kryptonite.
The passages from Juliette’s notebook are a great addition here, by the way, as there really isn’t much of the actual content of the notebook in “Shatter Me”. They shed a little more light on Juliette’s captivity (pre-Adam) and how she dealt with her isolation.
“Destroy Me” seems like such an apt title for this novella because, dude, Warner was just crumbling right before my eyes. He falls apart so many times that it’s painful to read. I personally don’t think it’s necessary to paint him this way—in a level of pain that is almost close to Juliette’s—when he didn’t suffer as much as she did. And this difference is magnified even more when the revelations in Juliette’s notebook entries are put parallel to Warner’s trials and tribulations. Sure, he empathizes with her, especially with how they were both treated by their parents. But when you consider how he is in a position of power and privilege, he comes off as too emo, no matter how helpless he actually is when it comes to Juliette. I can still sympathize with him as a reader and understand his motivations as a character even if he were written just a little less emotionally than this.
I wrote about how the portrayal of love can still be epic and thrilling and intense without being suffocating, as Laini Taylor pulled off so well in “Daughter of Smoke and Bone”, and Maggie Stiefvater also did in “The Scorpio Races”. I loved how measured but still swoon-worthy the romance there is, and I wish there was a little of that kind of calculated restraint here and in “Shatter Me”. But the intensity and heightened emotions seem to be part of the style and the theme of the series, and it certainly isn’t something alien in dystopian YA, so I suppose it all comes down to personal preferences, but I just had to say it.
And I thought it was just Juliette, but is thinking in very dramatic similes all the rage in this world? (Loved them at first, but they can get exasperating.) I dread to hear what Adam is thinking.
But…okay, I’ll bite, because I’m a sucker for this tortured love thing sometimes. I’m on board for “Unravel Me”, but the payoff better be something that will rock my world.
Read this novella if:
You’ve read “Shatter Me”.
You’re curious about Warner.
You were waiting for a Warner shower/bath scene. (What?! It’s his turn.)
✻ ✻ ✻ Share Your Story in the Pensieve: What is your literary character kryptonite? (What kind of characters do you most gravitate toward?)
Filipino-American author Lysley Tenorio visited Manila earlier this month for a talk, and to sign copies of his short story anthology, “Monstress”. The event was made possible by National Book Store.
In case you missed it, here’s an audio recording of the talk and Q&A, which was moderated by Ms. Xandra Ramos-Padilla, Purchasing Director for Books for National Book Store.
…for all the victories that some of these characters might have, I think there is also an inevitable sense of defeat and vice-versa. No immigrant experience is truly wonderful or truly miserable… leaving home is difficult, and it’s always a complicated process. It’s never black and white. It’s not always that idea of leaving a country for a seemingly better country.
Lysley Tenorio Talk and Q&A – 9 February 2013 (Run Time: 28 mins 55 secs)
If you don’t like audio streaming, Direct Download from here: click!
I liked the stories in “Monstress”, by the way. I loved the quirky, sometimes strange, sometimes whimsical, sometimes larger-than-life characters and stories, and how the author managed to convey something very real about alienation, leaving home, and trying to find your identity, through them. I hope to post a proper review after I finish writing my article about this event for GMA News Online. *crosses fingers, tries to ward off procrastination and writer’s block*
Related: My friend Ron from RonReads.com and Manila Bulletin also posted a transcript of his interview with Mr. Tenorio here ⇨ click!
Sorry: I really don’t know what Chrome and WordPress are doing to my photos. They all look fine in my computer, but pixelized here.
SCHOLASTIC UNVEILS FIRST OF SEVEN NEW COVERS FOR THE HARRY POTTER BOOKS IN CELEBRATION OF
THE 15TH ANNIVERSARY OF
HARRY POTTER AND THE SORCERER’S STONE
NEW TRADE PAPERBACK EDITIONS FEATURING COVERS BY AWARD-WINNING ILLUSTRATOR KAZU KIBUISHI
COMING SEPTEMBER 2013
New York, NY (February 13, 2013) – Harry Potter fans and young readers just starting their journey through the world of Harry Potter will have something new and exciting to add to their bookshelves this September. Scholastic (NASDAQ: SCHL), the global children’s publishing, education and media company, today unveiled an all new cover for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone – the first of seven new covers to appear on U.S. trade paperback editions coming in September 2013 to celebrate the 15th anniversary of the U.S. publication of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, the original book in J.K. Rowling’s best-selling Harry Potter series.
The stunning art for the new editions is by critically acclaimed artist Kazu Kibuishi, best known for his #1 New York Times bestselling graphic novel series, Amulet. Kibuishi is a longtime Harry Potter fan who called this opportunity, “more than a little surreal.” Each of the seven new covers will depict a distinctive and memorable moment from the respective book. The collection, which will also be released in September as a boxed set, will offer new readers just reaching the age to begin the series a glimpse of J.K. Rowling’s magical world and the epic story they are about to enter.
“The Harry Potter covers by Mary GrandPré are so fantastic and iconic,” said Kibuishi. “When I was asked to submit samples, I initially hesitated because I didn’t want to see them reinterpreted! However, I felt that if I were to handle the project, I could bring something to it that many other designers and illustrators probably couldn’t, and that was that I was also a writer of my own series of middle grade fiction. As an author myself, I tried to answer the question, ‘If I were the author of the books – and they were like my own children – how would I want them to be seen years from now?’ When illustrating the covers, I tried to think of classic perennial paperback editions of famous novels and how those illustrations tend to feel. In a way, the project became a tribute to both Harry Potter and the literary classics.”
The inspired original art for the series, created by the talented Mary GrandPré will continue to be featured on the U.S. hardcover and digest paperback editions.
According to Ellie Berger, President, Scholastic Trade Publishing, “The brilliant artist Kazu Kibuishi offers his unique vision of the world of Harry Potter, making each cover an incredible adventure that will transport new readers just discovering Harry Potter for the first time directly into the rich world of J.K. Rowling’s imagination.”
Scholastic also announced that in November 2013, the company will release the first boxed set of the complete Hogwarts Library in the U.S., including Quidditch Through the Ages, Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, and The Tales of Beedle the Bard. Sales of the Hogwarts Library will support two charities selected by the author, J.K. Rowling: Lumos, a charity founded by J.K. Rowling which works to end the institutionalization of children, and Comic Relief, a UK-based charity that strives to create a just world free from poverty.
Fifteen years after the first U.S. publication of J.K. Rowling’s first book, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone in September 1998, there are more than 150 million Harry Potter books in print in the United States alone and the series still hits bestseller lists regularly. The seven Harry Potter books are published in over 200 territories in 73 languages and have sold more than 450 million copies worldwide.
About Kazu Kibuishi: Kazu Kibuishi is the Eisner-nominated creator of the on-going #1 New York Times bestselling Amulet series of graphic novels, as well as the comic collection Copper, both published by Graphix/Scholastic. He is also the founder and editor of the Flight Anthologies, a critically acclaimed comic series; and the creator of Daisy Kutter: The Last Train, which was named a YALSA Best Book for Young Adults. Kazu Kibuishi lives in Alhambra, California with his family. Visit him at http://www.boltcity.com and on Twitter at @BoltCity.
For more information about Scholastic visit our media room.
For more information about Harry Potter and the new paperback releases, visit http://mediaroom.scholastic.com/harrypotter, where a downloadable image of the new cover for Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is available.
There were a lot of cover reveals these past few days but these are my favorites.
First up: The much-anticipated sequel to Maggie Stiefvater’s “The Raven Boys”, called “The Dream Thieves”.
There is no synopsis for this book yet, but Maggie announced that it will be published on 17 September 2013. And also, that’s Ronan on the cover, which is interesting, considering no particular character was featured on the cover of Book 1.
If you’ve been feeling neglected by the Goddess of Love lately, don’t worry — Hannah Maquiling, college sophomore, is in training to take over. The Original Goddess is missing, but Hannah is Interim Goddess now, and she should figure out how to solve humanity’s love problems soon. Quin (God of the Sun) is still her mentor, still really hot, but apparently isn’t as honest about his other earthly relationships as she thought. It’s frustrating, and enough to make her check out possibilities with Diego (God of the Sea) and Robbie (Cute Human).
In the meantime, she’s decided to spend some of her precious training time helping to break up a relationship, instead of putting one together. Why? Because the girl in question happens to be her best friend Sol, whose boyfriend is stealing not just from her, but from other people on campus. Sol didn’t exactly summon the Goddess, but this is what power over Love is for, right? Surely it’s not just about matchmaking, but ending doomed relationships too. (Even when it’s not what people want.)
The new covers were designed by the lovely Tania Arpa, and photographed/modeled by Rhea Bue. This is a great choice for the international editions because it immediately gives you that YA vibe, and it is rather eye-catching.
And this is the cover for IGoL’s Philippine print edition published by Summit Books:
While this isn’t my favorite among the covers of IGoL released so far, it’s still cute, and when displayed with Mina’s other books that were released by Summit, this one blends in with the aesthetic of the others nicely.
This edition should hit the bookstore shelves today, while you can check buying info on the other editions here: click!
And last, but definitely not least: The 15th Anniversary Edition of “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone”! (But but but…I don’t even have the 10th Anniversary Edition yet!)
This was designed by author/illustrator Kazu Kibuishi. Scholastic plans to release a boxed set of trade paperbacks of all 7 books with covers designed by Kabuishi come September of this year. The hardcovers and digest paperbacks will still be published with Mary Grandpré’s art. Kibuishi talks about the covers here: click!
I like the look of Kibuishi’s art, and this actually makes me want to check out “Amulet”. I love that he picked the Diagon Alley scene to illustrate because it captures that sense of awe that Harry felt when he first set foot in the Wizarding World, which is what I felt when I read this book for the first time. The only thing that threw me off here is the color scheme, which immediately called to mind Grandpré’s “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix” cover.
I felt a tad disappointed that only 2 people actually sent in entries to the giveaway [mechanics and entries: click!] even though the page got a lot of hits and many people said they wanted to join. But I got good news from Mina V. Esguerra yesterday! She said that she wants to give prizes to both contestants, and so…
Claire wins the signed copy of “Fairy Tale Fail”, while Mina will send Nicole another one of her books. Congratulations, ladies! Please send your owls to thegirlwhoread(at)gmail(dot)com so that I can get your mailing details.
Thanks for joining, and may you get a little taste of a romantic fairy tale today. ❤
This is a painted bamboo screen bookmark from Vietnam. It would be cute if you could actually roll this up like window blinds if you want to start reading, and roll them back down to mark the page.
Again, Thank You / Salamat / 감사합니다 to my globe-trotting friends for this one. I wish that next time, I can say “I got this bookmark during my trip to [insert awesome destination here].”
Gorgeous, emotionally compromised men who are nice to women (when they’re not possessed by bouts of noble idiocy or necessary pretense), children, and dogs: there you have it, ladies and gents, my literary male character kryptonite. 
I really don’t know what Chrome and WordPress are doing to my photos. They all look fine in my computer, but pixelized here. 
