Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella

Synopsis :

Audrey develops a anxiety disorder as a result of an unpleasant incident and she can't leave the house. she can't even take off her dark glasses inside the house.

Then Audrey meets Linus, her brother's gaming teammate and she finds that she can talk through her fears with Linus in a way she's never been able to do with anyone before.

With his friendly, orange-slice smile and his funny notes, he starts to entice Audrey out again - well, Starbucks is a start. And with Linus at her side, Audrey feels like she can do the things she'd thought were too scary. Suddenly, finding her way back to the real world seems achievable.


This is what I say :

This is Sophie's first YA genre.

I can't say I like it.  I actually got a bit confused with it as I was waiting to find out what 'unpleasant incident' that caused Audrey to develop such disorder.  It was never mentioned.  It was just hinted that it was truly, really unpleasant and that quite a few girls were involved.  I think Audrey was bullied in some ways by these girls and it was be a horrifying experience.

Even then, I can't really find the 'umph' in this title.  Perhaps the author is being careful on how she would write this seeing it's a bit off the beaten track fro her.

The script narration part was unique and interesting and certain gave the book some dimensions.  

Other than that, I still prefer the 'old' Sophie Kinsella although I guess it's a good try by the author to attempt something different.

I read this during my recent weekend gateaway and it was just the right book...neither too light nor too heavy.

Second Time Around Books - Book purchase #5

Image from my insta-story

The Second time Around Book Fair is annual event in my city for the past ten or so years.

Initially, when the fair was here, there would be quite an excitement in the household for the princess and I.  Unfortunately, as time goes by, the excitement also got less and less and this year, we didn't even talk about going at all.

This could due to the fact that the titles and selections are not very exciting after a while as the books are not very new and for me it's also due to the fact that I have many unread books lying around that I am not motivated to go.

Having said that, I nearly purchased a few titles while in Kinokuniya in the capital city last week.  Kinokuniya's selection is just too fantastic.  I found books that I am not able to find in mainstream bookstores.  I have to physically forced myself out of the bookstore!

Anyway, I did have a bit of time the other day after dinner and since I was in that part of the city, I decided to drop by The Second Time Around Book Fair just to 'check it out'

'Check it out' I did and I walked away with two books :

• Room by Emma Monoghue which is a best seller and this particular copy is super new.

• The Shadow of The Wind by Carlos  Ruiz Zafon.  I love this series originally written in Spanish and translated to English.  I read The Shadow of the Wind years ago (more than 10 years) and and I read the second title the Angel's Games about 5 years ago and what I really want is the third book Prisoner of Heaven but I can't seems to come across it all these years.  Anyway, I am happy to get my hands on The Shadow of The Wind.  Going to read it again...soon.....

Anyway, both titles cost about US$4 only for both copies so it's a good purchase.

With that, this made my books purchases for the year at 12 books. *pretty happy".

Work Trip To The Capital City

I will have to make a trip to the capital city early December.

It is a most unexpected trip as I wasn't sure if I can obtained the approval to attend an event to which I wanted to, similar to what I attended last year.  To my pleasant surprise, boss gave approval.  (so, boss, in reading, thank you very much! Much appreciated for the opportunity).

The event will be held in the same venue as last year's but I have booked myself in a better hotel nearer to the venue and hopefully much safer.  It was a pay '2 nights for 3 nights offer' so it is an extremely good deal as it's just 5 mins walk to the event venue.

At the same time, I am extremely excited to check out the wonderful year end Christmas decorations which will be be up especially at the two bigger malls in the city as both malls are within walking distance from the hotel too.

Since I am on my reading marathon, one of the titles is coming along with me.  Just don't know which one yet!

Reading Marathon 2018

As at this time tomorrow, I am a 'free being' :) I would have submitted my assignments and with no examinations this semester, I am officially done for this semester. *doing the happy dance*. It's a pretty tough semester with much distractions but come what may, I did my best.

I will thus start my book marathon.   I started it last year and I thought it would be interesting to continue it this year.  The thought of dedicating a whole month to reading sounds very appealing.

Having said that, I still have a lot (and I mean, a lot) of other commitments so I really do not know how I will do but for this marathon but let's just give it a go and evaluate from there.

I have also kinda identify the following titles to take part in my marathon :

• Death In Holy Orders by P.D. James - been in my shelf long enough

• Take A Look At Me Now by Miranda Dickinson - didn't make it to my recent gateaway

• Dark Places by Gillian Flynn - ditto

• The Copper Beach by Maeve Binchy - it has been a while since I read this author

• Simple Genius by David Baldacci - just to have at least one thriller in the marathon

These are pre-selected based on my intention.  I did this selection in between my assignments (as part of self motivating!) I really do not know if I would stick to this selection but I will give it a try.

You might however think '5 titles only mah...what's the big deal?  What kinda reading marathon is this with only 5 titles?' 

If you think like that, I quite agree with you as I had the same thoughts too but I didn't have time to select more titles so yes, there should be at least a couple of titles more.

All I can say is let the race begin!

Weekend Gateaway #4 2018

Image from web.  Credit to the creator. 

Due to some prior commitment this year, I wasn't able to make any long distance holiday plan. In fact, I wasn't able to really make any plans at all as my time depended on some external schedule which I can only know for sure pretty recently.

Thus I can only make short weekend plans as and when I am able to and this trip would most probably be the last weekend gateaway for the year but if possible, I might squeeze in another trip to the capital city.

This time round is just a flight away to the lion city as a reward for the princess after a hard fought public examination. Initially, we were supposed to travel to Osaka but due to some circumstances I wasn't able to bring her to the land of the rising sun this year so a short couple of days trip to somewhere nearer would have to do for now.

We are pretty excited as we have not travel just the two of us for quite a while and to be honest, she has no idea where we are going as it's supposed to be a surprised!  She thought she's pretty clever (which she is) with her guesses and deduction but she mustn't forget dealing with the queen here and she still has much to learn! *smirk*

Anyway for just these few days, I plan to bring just one book with me due to luggage restriction and it's just a short trip.

After much consideration, I decided to bring along either......

Take A Look At Me Now by Miranda Dickinson or Dark Places by Gilian Flynn. One is a chic lite and the other one is a psychotic thriller.  It's a short trip so I can only bring one.

Which shall it be?

Or perhaps I will bring a totally different title along with me at the very last minute.

You will only know from my forthcoming posts :)

In the meantime, can't wait for some R&R (although it's just for a few days)!

Throne of Glass (Book #1) by Sarah J Maas

Synopsis :

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin.

Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for four years and then be granted her freedom. Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilarating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her ... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead ... quickly followed by another. Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined. 

This is what I say :

I heard a lot about this author. In fact, I was recommended her books a few years back when she was in my country for some promotional tour.  I wasn't keen to at that time but have been keeping an eye out for her titles ever since but most of the time, her books are at retail price so I didn't explore further.

I happen to come across this copy as a e-book recently so decided to give it a go.  Throne of Glass is the first book of the series that features assassin, Celaena Sardothien.  From here, the story evolved to another six or so more titles in the series.

Even though classified as young adult fantasy fiction, I quite enjoy this as while Celaena might be an assassin, she is still an eighteen year old girl and there's some level of naivety in her that can be endearing.  However, don't let that fool you as she can just cut your throat at the next sentence.

I think the author doesn't know yet how her character will evolve and thus unable to pair her with either Prince Dorian or Captain Westfall although personally I would think she's better suited for the captain but then we never know.

I quite like Celaena as a character and I quite like the storyline of Throne of Glass.  If  I have the chance, I will get hold of this collection.

The first book is followed by the second title, Crown of Midnight.

Books Blessing

Recently, I posted on Sidney Sheldon's Rage of Angel that I just read and I mentioned that it was a gift from a relative.

Actually, my aunt gave me more than just one book....she gave me a few and I thought I'll share them with you here.

Yes, they are all Sidney Sheldon's title and they are all double titles copies.  Needless to say, I have read all these titles and some of them even a few times with If Tomorrow Comes being a long time favourite and Windmills of the Gods both of which I re-read a few years ago and even Nothing Last Forever which I just re-read last year is here as well.

These are all keepers and I am sure I would want to re-read them again in the near future.

Thank you aunty CK for remembering my love for reading and thank you for these wonderful books.  Much love to you.

On the other hand, although I didn't buy them, these books does add on to my collections and I need to rearrange my collections on my shelves once again