Book in Focus: Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

Friday, June 26, 2015


It has been weeks since I finished Red Queen and I still haven't finished my review yet, so for now, I'll just feature Red Queen as my Book in Focus this week. *partyy*

As you can see, this book has a very simple but gorgeous cover. The first time I laid my eyes on it on my computer screen, I instantly have this urge to own this book because I am a sucker for beautiful book covers and it falls just slightly behind my most favorite book cover available on my bookshelf, and that is A Thousand Pieces of You.

You see that silver crown tainted with red blood? It's the most fitting illustration for the entirety of the book! It's tells all of the book and it's awesome! But the title is kind of not suited for the book and I'll talk about that in my upcoming review, but all in all, this is a WOW book.


The book without its jacket is kind of boring, though, it's gray and it's lifeless.


Despite the lifeless gray cover under the jacket, flipping it to the very next page just makes you forget all about it. I did not ponder on the meanings and what nots of this page, I just know it was cool. I was just actually hoping that there's a map on this book so that I'd have a better view of the new world I visited.


Here are some snippets of the inside of the book.


"In the fairy tales, the poor girl smiles when she becomes a princess. Right now, I don't know if I'll ever smile again."  -Mare Barrow, Red Queen

 Instagram Book Photography






A photo posted by @yaniegama on


PERKS OF BEING A WORMIEE [SHORT AD?]

Sunday, June 21, 2015


 BEWARE: I suck at video editing, and I am not good at directing and manning the camera so bear with me A-kay? :D

For our final project in school, we were asked to make a short advertisement on how we would tell the world to keep reading. This is not my original plan, but I think it worked out just fine. This was also not the project that we passed, because the one that we passed to the professor was not edited by me so originally, I was only the director and the cameraman but the video above was edited by me. I was browsing through my Note's gallery when I stumbled upon the pieces of the videos so why not stitch it together and make a Perks of Being a Wormiee, right?

So enjoy the video and tell me what you think?
HAHA, me, if I saw my fave book read by someone, I would try to tell her that I love the book, but
I would look suspicious and creepy, so I'll try not to do what I did up there. But so far, I haven't had the chance to spot book readers around the campus mainly because I haven't looked around. *sad and busy life with friends and school*

Credits to all my group mates, you're all so great! Mwa.x

The Heir by Kiera Cass Book Review

Wednesday, June 17, 2015


Title: The Heir
Author: Kiera Cass
Published by: Harper Teen on May 5th 2015
Genre: YA, Romance
Format: Paperback, 346 pages
My Copy Source: Borrowed
Purchase: Harper Collins | Barnes & Noble | National Bookstore [PH] | FullyBooked [PH]
Rating: 3 Roses
Princess Eadlyn has grown up hearing endless stories about how her mother and father met. Twenty years ago, America Singer entered the Selection and won the heart of Prince Maxon—and they lived happily ever after. Eadlyn has always found their fairy-tale story romantic, but she has no interest in trying to repeat it. If it were up to her, she'd put off marriage for as long as possible.

But a princess's life is never entirely her own, and Eadlyn can't escape her very own Selection—no matter how fervently she protests.

Eadlyn doesn't expect her story to end in romance. But as the competition begins, one entry may just capture Eadlyn's heart, showing her all the possibilities that lie in front of her . . . and proving that finding her own happily ever after isn't as impossible as she's always thought.
NON SPOILER REVIEW

First, it's been days since I finished The Heir and I still can't decide whether I'd be disappointed or not and with those days that has passed, I know one thing for sure, Eadlyn did not stick entirely, easily forgettable. For me, there were only 2-3 characters that were kind of memorable, or rather the ones that I still remember vividly to be exact. But of course I can't say their name... Or can I? Hmm, maybe I'll put a spoiler review at the end so if you already read the book please feel free to agree or disagree with me but if not, I suggest you should stop where the warning tells you to. Okay? Okay :)

I think it's already clearly obvious to everyone, and by everyone I mean those who have and haven't read the book that Princess Eadlyn is the next queen of Ilea since she is the eldest child of America and Maxon and she grew up knowing that she would be the most powerful woman in their nation so it gave her the free pass to be all bitchy and bratty and spoiled and everything negative that you can think of relating to those that I have mentioned.

You know why I said that I'm undecided? Okay, I'll tell them to you:

  1. First, the main character is not memorable enough even though you want to just slap her in the face most of the time. Even with enough violence you cooked up inside your head with ways on how to hurt Eadlyn physically, the whole of Eadlyn just can't stay in our heads for more than 1 minute because, no, she just don't have a space in there.
  2. Second, I know that Kiera Cass is the queen of frustrating characters so I kind of know what I am heading into before I read it. So.... my fault for being this frustrated.
  3. Third, three of the guys are major stand out and I can still remember them clearly and rooting for one of them to be the one for Eadlyn.
  4. Fourth, there were actually other potential guys that are given enough attention to be elaborated in the book but I guess they're just fillers because it's still a bit pretentious to me and they  just don't fit the part.
  5. Fifth, I am the queen of half full half empty (I'm both), and in this fifth reason I am going for the half full. You know how we always say people deserve a second chance and there's always room for improvement? There's still the fifth book for the second chances and improvement for our bratty little soon to be queen of Ilea.
  6. Lastly, I believe the important thing is to watch Eadlyn grow, learn from her mistakes and I guess we would look back to this book and talk about how far she has ventured from being this irritating and selfish character to the most sophisticated and selfless leader Ilea has ever seen.


With the last numbers, I think you could easily say that I'm still looking forward to the next book despite the disappointment that The Heir has brought me. I am still hopeful.

You see I have contradicting emotions with this book and I don't like it but I don't hate it either. It's an okay read and comparing to the first three books which I finished in a span of 5 hrs to less than a day, I finished The Heir in two days I think. Woah, 2 days for a short read! That's because I wasn't exactly thrilled and excited to turn the pages of the book that I just found myself putting it down for long hours without much excitement when I pick it back up. It is that for me, my opinion lies on a balance and I'm in the middle of these emotions, it's a love-hate relationship I've built with Kiera Cass' books right here.

I don't love the entirety of the book the way I kind of did for some parts of the first three books. I know, it's a new perspective being from someone who holds the selection and not from one of the competitors. Eadlyn holds a lot of weight on her shoulders and she vents everything out by being a bitch to everyone who she thinks is way below her. She's not the "queen-type" and that's the freaking hateful part of the story but the best thing that would happen is, she'll find her "queen-ly" manners and attitude the hard way and the selection way!

All in all, a love-hate but I was looking at the long run when I included the "love" because I was looking at the bright side and that is not yet available because the fifth book is not yet out. I'm hopeful though. Please Kiera. Please, I know you're good in the frustrating department but give your fans something to love without all these rants. Hahaha, although it's good we have something to talk about.

Before I head on to the spoilers section of my review, I'll share about how my bet last May didn't make it to the cut! (Check out my bets and why I chose them) Hahaha damn, Kesley Timber! You're just a name in the book! You and Eadlyn did not even talked. Hahaha, Oh well. I was hopeful, really, and I was a bit dismayed when I first read that Kile is Eadlyn's childhood friend. I was like, ugh, predictable! But hey, Kiera Cass, good job with what you did! You did not let Kile have all the advantage. Thank you for that bit of spice in the competition.

SPOILER!!!

I actually don't have much to spoil here. I mean, just look at what I've written up there! Way too much for my rants!

I remember 3 or 4 guys. I forgot the name of the other one in there, the one who gave Eadlyn a proposition? Yeah, that guy, he knows that Eadlyn's heart is a wild beast, cannot be caged, hard to capture and he knows that picking a love interest is not her first priority in this stupid selection so he asked Eadlyn to pick him. Basically, the proposition was that Eadlyn would pick this guy for he would totally understand if she would not have feelings at all in return for the comforts that being a prince consort (did I remember right? not a king because she's supposed to have the highest position and a king overthrows that nominally) would provide him. He's kind of a poor and he would love to have the opportunity to live a more than comfortable life in the palace. Hmm, sounds fishy. I don't know if there's more to that but I just can't trust him completely. He may have some evil plans in his pocket for all we know! No Eadlyn! Please don't fall for this, you'll find your love, trust me. What's the point of the book right? Hahahalolz.

Next, hmm. Henri! Yuhs, he's adorable! He's cute and he's sweet! I would have love him for Eadlyn because he's everything positive,although it's kind of impossible for him to be a ruler of Ilea if he doesn't speak the language. I mean, have you watched The Prince and Me 3? In there, for Paige to be the queen of Denmark, she must know at least a bit of the language and recite the constitution in their language and in this movie, at least the prince and Paige has a common language and the people of Denmark speaks English too so it's possible.I mean, come on Henri, I know you're cute and all but it would be too hard but your presence is pretty much loved in the selection.

Erik is kind of sweet too. He's Henri's translator and he basically can just be a part of the selection! He knows what to do on the right occasions and he's sweet and nice and he listens. Would it be a-okay if he can be a part of the selection? Umm, maybe not, it would be unfair to Henri. But anyways, Erik and Eadlyn can be best friends! Yay!!!

Lastly, Kile! At first, before the book came out, I was hesitant to like him because it's unfair! The advantage that he had over the others is soooooo! But then came the book, and yeah, it wasn't like the two of the are the best childhood friends ever, they just grew up in the same palace but they don't really have the interest to like each other and so it's a great way to actually have a story between the two of them because they might probably end up with each other so right now, I'm #TeamKile. Yes, it would be a great love story if they kind of hate each other but found a friendship in the selection then eventually find love in each other. Ya kno what I'm sayin'? 

I think the list was narrowed down by a lot even though there are still 11 I think in the palace? But then again, the potentials boils down to about 3 of the gentlemen only.

I think I blabbed way too much in this review and I should stop now and to be fair, I gave this 3 roses because I'm on a love hate relationship with Kiera Cass right here.

P.S. Eadlyn you're so frustrating. So like your Mom! Guess it runs in the blood. =)))

It's been so long since I last posted a review so here's a long review to make up for that! Bye!! :)


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