Timeless by Alexandra Monir

What would you do if you have fallen in love with a man who only existed in your dreams? What if you found out that he was real but existed in a different time? What would you do to be with that person? What would you give to be with that person forever? 

Michele Winsor had a recurring dream. She had been having the same dream about a handsome blue-eyed man in a mirror and a skeleton key. She feels that she knows the person in the mirror but she couldn’t tell who it was, where they met or how she knew him. As for the key, she doesn’t recognize it at all. But she was curious as to why she kept on getting the same dream but that wasn’t going to be answered until later in the book. 

Michele lived a simple life with her mother. She never knew who her father was because he left them when she was young and never returned. Still she was happy and contented even if they weren’t living the lifestyle of the rich and famous. 

Her life crumbled after the death of her mother Marion. She didn’t know how to move on because she was the only family she ever had. 

Now that her mother passed away her legal appointed guardians now were her grandparents who lived in New York. She was told that she had to leave her friends in California and move to New York to live with the Winsors. 

The Windsors were filthy rich. They were considered as one of the richest family in New York. Michele didn’t know how rich they really were until she arrived at the Winsor mansion which was too ostentatious for her taste. She preferred to be with her mother in their bungalow in California but she knew that wasn’t going to happen anymore. 

The Winsor mansion was not only huge and extravagant but it also holds her family’s history. At her room in the mansion, she found out that most of the Windsor girls actually stayed in her room even her mother. She was exploring her room when she came across a locked drawer. She didn’t have the key but she had an idea. 

Rummaging through her mother’s stuff she found a key. The same skeleton key she had seen in her dreams. She tried to use the key to open the locked drawer which miraculously opened the drawer. 

Inside the drawer was a diary. As she flipped through the first entry she was unexpectedly sucked inside the diary where she landed in her own bedroom back in 1901. 

As she goes back in time, she learns about her family and most of all she learns about who the man in the mirror is. 


REVIEW: 

After reading “The Time Traveler’s Wife” I haven’t read any other books related to time travel. I loved the Time Traveler’s wife but reading it got me confused with all the jumping of time and stuff. With Timeless it was different; the flow of the book was fluid and continuous. It was not confusing since it was happening continuously. This book was narrated in the third person which I thought was great. Everything that was happening to Michele in the past and in the future was simultaneous so it won’t confuse you unlike in Time Traveler’s wife. 


The story started off with a dream which I really liked. 


Michele Windsor was down to earth and very simple. I liked that. She was raised well by her mother because even if she knew that she belonged to a rich family that didn’t get to her. She was a very likeable character. She falls in love with Philip. She continues to travel back in time not only to be with him but also to help the Windsor girls with their issues. She learned that what she does in the past definitely affects the future so she made every action and moment count. 

Philip Walker was the man in the mirror. He was the blue eyed guy that Michele has been dreaming of. He fell in love with Michele even though he knew that she was from the future. He was a musician which drew me to him. He was everything that a perfect gentleman should be. (You would see why I said so). He kept his promise and that made me so happy by the end of the book I was still crying. I thought he wouldn’t be able to do it but he did! :) 

Marion Windsor was a cool mom. She kind of reminds me of myself. I am a single mom and I know how hard it is to raise a child all on your own. She did a pretty good job in raising Michele. She didn’t go back to her parents after Henry left. She continued to live the life she chose even if the love of her life left her alone leaving her with a key and their daughter. 

Dorothy and Walter Windsor were Michele’s grandparents. I think they were definitely keeping something from Michele regarding her father. Michele somehow has a clue because of what happened when she was in the past but still I think there was something else that they were hiding. 

Caissie Walker was a good friend. I mean its not every day that you meet someone who would believe you if you say that you could travel back in time.

This book was the first in the series so you should expect that the ending was a bit of a cliffhanger but in a good way. I didn’t expect how it ended to tell you honestly. 

I was in tears as I was nearing the end of the book. I thought that it was not going to have a happy ending. Boy was I so surprised! I won’t go into details on that because that part would ruin everything. The ending for me was the highlight of the book. 

Love knows no boundaries. Love knows no time. Love knows no obstacles. To be with the person they love they would do anything or everything they could to be with that person. No one or nothing could ever tear two hearts apart. 

I have been listening to one of Joshua Radin’s songs “When I find you” which fits Timeless. 

“Oh I need you to know today 
I’ll wait for you always. 
Oh I need you to know today 
I’ll wait for you always. 
Coz when I find you 
I’ll find me” 

This book is totally a 5! I hope the next book gets released soon. 
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The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa

Now that Meghan is the Iron Queen, Ash could no longer be her knight. Iron was poison to the regular fey and aside from that he was banished from the Iron Realm. But before he left Meghan, he made a promise that he would find a way for them to be together. 

Ash wanted to be human so that she could be with Meghan in the Iron Realm. 

Grimalkin, the cat-who-knows-everything, leads Ash and Puck to the person who could tell them how to get a soul because in order for one person to be human, he/she should have a soul. They need to find the Seer who could tell them where Ash could get a soul. 

Ash, Puck, Grimalkin, the Seer and an unlikely character have to journey to the End of the World to earn Ash’s soul. 

The road to the end of the world was not easy. They encountered obstacles and hindrances along the way. 

The biggest struggle that they encountered was not the tests or the creatures that they faced but it was Ash himself. 

THE REVIEW: 

The Iron fey series was really an addicting one. I used to wonder why people were addicted to this series and now I know why. 

I must commend the author for making the ending so damn good! :) Making the ending told in Ash’s point of view was just GENIUS. 

I was not sure how long Ash’s journey has been but it did say a lot of things about him. The author really did a good job in filtering out the need to know about Ash in the first three books and completing all the missing pieces of Ash in the fourth book. Ash did things that he was not proud of but was never mentioned in the first three books but in the Iron Knight everything about him will be revealed. 

I was a little disappointed in him on most part of the book because of something that has to do with his past. I won’t mention anything because I don’t want to ruin the surprise. There was this side of Ash that you will see here that you haven’t seen before. 

The process that he has to overcome to be human was not easy. But I find his trials very necessary for him to have his soul. It was brilliant. 

Puck showed how much a true friend he really is. I love Ash to the core of my being but still Puck would always be my FIRST love. He never left Ash’s side. I think he came with Ash not just because he was guilty about what happened to Ariella or he was doing it for Meghan but because he wanted to be with his best friend again, possibly rekindle their friendship. It was touching really. Even though Ash was pushing him away, he still stood by Ash all the way. 

Grimalkin was the best cat ever. I wish I have a cat like him. Hahaha. It was funny because this cat got them out of most of the troubles that they encountered. What would they do without Grimalkin? 

The Seer? Hmmm. I didn’t like her at all. Tsk tsk. No further comment on that 

The Iron Knight was an excellent read. It didn’t disappoint. It went way above and beyond my expectation. There weren’t really enough words to describe how I felt for this series. Too bad it’s over. But I heard there would be a spin off. I wouldn’t miss that for the world! 

A SOLID 5 FOR THE IRON KNIGHT! :) 

Darker Still by Leanna Renee Hieber

“I was obsessed.

It was as if he called to me, demanding I reach out and touch the brush strokes of color swirled into the canvas. He was the most exquisite portrait I’d ever seen – everything about Lord Denbury was unbelievable… Utterly breathtaking and eerily lifelike.

There was a reason for that. Because despite what everyone said, Denbury never had committed suicide. He was alive. He was trapped within his golden painting.

I’ve crossed over into his world within the painting and I’ve seen what dreams haunt him. They haunt me too. He and I are inextricably linked – bond together to watch the darkness seeping through the gas-lit cobblestone streets of Manhattan. And unless I can free him soon, things will only get darker still.”

Lord Denbury’s portrait was the talk of the town. Everyone was curious to see the mysterious lifelike portrait of Lord Denbury. Everybody including Natalie Stewart.

Natalie never uttered a word after her mother’s death. All she had was a journal which she uses to collect her thoughts and communicate to others.

When Natalie heard about Lord Denbury’s painting she was as curious as everybody else was about what the portrait would be like. She was not a firm believer of the supernatural until she sees the portrait. A very strong urge to touch the portrait overwhelmed her. When she finally did touch the painting she found herself tumbling over to a room different from where she was moments before she touched the painting. She was inside the portrait with no other than Lord Derbury himself.

I loved Dorian Gray. It was one of the reasons why I got extremely excited to read this book. Darker Still was a very beautiful and engaging read. A novel like this was not something that you come across every day. It was very unique but not entirely original. I still loved reading every moment of it. Ms. Hieber’s writing was incredible.

The characters were very likeable.

Natalie was my kind of heroine. I’ve mentioned in all of my previous reviews that I admire girls who ooze with girl power and Natalie was a perfect example. Despite her inability to speak (at first) she did not let people talk down on her. She wanted to prove to everyone that she has the capability to do things even if she can’t speak. She was brave and daring. We usually read about girls being saved by the guys but here it was the other way around. Natalie was determined to find a way to save Lord Denbury and she did of course with the help of Mrs. Northe who I adore as well.

I admit it. I have a thing for English guys. Hahaha. Jonathon Whitby, Lord Denbury. *Sigh*. The gentleman in distress. Obviously if I was in Natalie’s shoes I’m sure I would have done the same thing. I would have risked everything if the price would be the blue-eyed Lord Denbury. Hahaha. Way to go Natalie!

The whole book was an amazing read. The setting, the story, the characters, the plot, the pacing of the story was perfect for me.

Five stars!!! :)

The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

WOW!

Surreal. Amazing. Unique. Remarkable. Surprising. Astonishing. Outstanding. Gosh I am not sure how I could put it in words.

I loved every minute of reading this book. There are no words to perfectly describe how I felt as I was reading this.

Mara knew there was something wrong with her. She knew something was happening to her and she doesn’t know what.

Mara and her friends decided to stay in an abandoned asylum one night. The building collapsed killing her friends but she on the other hand miraculously survived.

She convinced her parents to move to get away from everything that has happened. She was diagnosed with Post Traumatic Stress Disorder which was common for trauma patients but what her family doesn’t know that what she was experiencing was more than just PTSD.

Mara was seeing things. She gets nightmares. She hallucinates about her dead friends. You think that’s weird? That’s not the weird part. You will have to read the book to find out. :)

Mara was a great character. Not everyone could handle the trauma that she went through. Losing your friends like that could really push you through the edge. She was a strong person and I liked characters like that. I liked the way she talks. She has that I-won’t-take-crap-from-anyone kind of attitude and I liked that.

Then there’s Noah Shaw. My Noah! I found my new book BF! Ahaha. What makes Noah different apart from being good looking? Well he’s sweet and he is not a hypocrite. He was honest to Mara about everything even about sleeping with other girls (I think). He genuinely wanted to help her because he understood what she was going through. Noah was the type of guy I would fall head over heels in love with and seriously am right now. :)

I could understand why Mara’s mom was always looking after her. She wanted to protect Mara. She was a mother it was natural for her to feel protective of Mara. Her brother Daniel was so cool. I wish I had a brother like him too bad I’m the eldest. I liked her friend Jamie and I hope I get to see him in the next book. And as always there is the Queen Bitch. Hahaha. There would always be one and in this book it was Anna. If I met someone like her I would crush her skull myself (how morbid). Just kidding!

I think the book was well written. I could almost feel what Mara was feeling as I was reading. Ms. Hodkin wrote this book in a way that you would feel what the characters were feeling. Sometimes when Mara was having these hallucinations I could sometimes feel my heart pounding with excitement anticipating what would happen next.

For the ending, you have to watch out for the ending! It caught me by surprise. Honestly!

This book is definitely a favorite. I can’t wait for the next book. I give this book a perfect 5! 

The Next Day by John Porcellino

Summary from Goodreads:


Every year, nearly one million people die from suicide. More than 20 times as many people attempt it.... What if they had waited just one more day? The Next Day is a groundbreaking graphic novella constructed from intimate interviews with survivors of near-fatal suicide attempts. In this poetic and profound philosophical exploration, four seemingly ordinary people each offer haunting personal insight into life, the decision to end it, and what comes after. The Next Day graphic novella is an exciting hybrid of documentary film and comic book, cowritten by former social worker Paul Peterson and filmmaker Jason Gilmore, and illustrated by acclaimed cartoonist John Porcellino. Here is a preview look at this moving work.

My Review:

This graphic novel was based on a series of interviews with four people who survived suicide attempts. Each character have their own story to tell. 

Suicide is definitely a very sensitive topic. When I was reading this I remembered Jay Asher's Thirteen Reasons Why. Hannah comitted suicide and she died. The characters in this novel however did not. They were given a chance to make things right. To improve themselves. 

The book dealt with a very heavy topic but the illustrations made it a comfortable read. I loved the concept. A real eye-opener. 

"I was constantly yelling at the voice in my head. It's a real voice but it's your own reality. We're all living in our own reality"

Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Author: Stephanie Perkins
Release Date: December 2010


I’ve always wondered what Paris would be like. City of Love. It’s the perfect place to fall in love and Anna was definitely not expecting to.

Anna was sent to a boarding school in Paris catering to Americans students. At first she didn’t know how she would fit in but because of Meredith everything seemed to go well until she met Etienne St. Clair.

When she was in Paris her relationship with her best friend got messed up because of a certain somebody but what frustrated her more is her relationship with St. Clair. She knew he has a girlfriend but she couldn’t help falling for him either way. I am a sucker for happy endings so I am HAPPY to tell you guys that this book has a happy ending! YEY!

St. Clair was the gorgeous popular guy that everyone likes. You might say its kind of a cliché but its not. St. Clair unlike other guys in YA romance stories wasn’t perfect which was cute. He was afraid of heights, he was scared of change and he was not TALL! Most guys in books were tall and handsome and fearless but he wasn’t which I really liked plus he has that beautiful English accent. I mean who the hell says “ass” in such a beautiful way? Ahahaha. “You are an arse!” :)

Now there’s Anna. I don’t actually know how it feels like to be away from your family because I never experienced it so I sympathized with her situation. I just didn’t like her blowing up on her best friend like that. People make mistakes and she shouldn’t have reacted that way towards Bridget. I didn’t blame her for falling in love with St. Clair but I just don’t think it was fair that she blamed Bridget for everything. It wasn’t Bridge’s fault just like it wasn’t her fault falling for St. Clair. It just happened. But all in all I like Anna and her addiction to old movies, her outgoingness, her love for her family (even though she doesn’t really like her father).

The most prominent cliché that I noticed in this book was Amanda. There was always going to be a stupid stuck-up b*tch somewhere in a book. Hahaha. She was like one of those mean girls whose face you want to shove down the toilet. I know it was mean but bear with me. Also there was that Dave person who I thought was good news but turned out to be BAD! I wanted to kick his “arse!”.

The friends were great. I loved the way things turned out with Rashimi and Josh at least they still remained friends. I liked Meredith too because she didn’t hold any grudges towards Anna. At first yes but then again she gotten over it and I really liked her for that. She has been a good friend from start to finish.

The story was great and so was the setting. I love PARIS! It is definitely one of the places I would visit once in my lifetime.

I would give this book an perfect 5 for the great characters, great setting and great story.


Favorite Quote: But the most notable aspect of my new education is the one that takes place outside of class. The one never mentioned in the glossy brochures. And
that is this: attending boarding school is like living inside a high school. I can’t get away. 

Zeke Meeks VS. the Putrid Puppet Pals by D.L Green

Author: D.L Green
Publisher: Picture Window Books
Release Date: January 2012




As a kid I loved reading Sweet Valley Kids. Yeah. Yeah. Don’t laugh I loved those books. I even have a whole box of books dedicated to the Sweet Valley series believe it or not. I think those were the books that triggered my interest in reading that is aside from the Disney fairy tale books. I loved those too.

Anyway, I got this Advanced Readers copy from Netgalley which was cool. You might be asking why I would like to read a kids book. To tell you honestly I didn’t know what I was thinking. I just wanted a fun and easy read and this book did not disappoint. Reading this made me miss being a kid.

Zeke Meeks and his best friend Hector Cruz doesn’t sit down during recess. So when Zeke found his best friend sitting down with Owen Leach one day he was surprised. They were playing Puppet Pals. Everyone was playing Puppet Pals. Zeke was not at all happy. He didn’t like Puppet Pals.

It was a funny read. No, let me rephrase that it was a hilarious read. I am already 22 but still I enjoyed this book so much. The illustrations were perfect for the book. At the end of the book there was also an instruction as to how you could make your own Puppet Pals. Haha. Cool!

I give this book 4 stars. :) 

Elemental: The First by Alexandra May

Author - Alexandra May
Publisher - Pauma Publishing
Release Date - July 2011


The story was about a girl named Rose who seemed like a normal teenager at first only she wasn’t. Rose had an ability she was not allowed to share with anybody outside her family. She could heal people. Her gift seemed great at first until she found out that her gift could also harm or even kill. 

Moving in with her grandmother Daisy at Warminster had been good at first. After a while she started hearing about people disappearing. One of her friend’s father disappeared as well and that’s when they decided to do an investigation of their own. Aside from helping Jez find his father, she was also trying to research on Halika Dacome.

I liked this book. I found it very refreshing to read something with no angels, demons, vampires, werewolves and fairies. This book somehow reminded me of the Lorien Legacies (I am Number 4 and The Power of Six). The both have involvement of extraterrestrial entities.

Rose was a very strong character. I have always been a fan of girls who could take care of themselves and Rose was exactly that girl. She loves her family even though she knew they lied to her about everything. She felt betrayed yes but still her love for her family prevailed. There was a certain point in the book though that I disliked her. I didn’t like the way she pushed Morgan away. I wasn’t entirely sure why she needed to do that. I thought her excuse was lame. She didn’t act that way at all with Aiden except after she heard what Aiden did to Morgan’s sister.

At first I was so convinced that Aiden was the bad guy so imagine my surprise when he wasn’t (a little spoiler there, sorry!). That was one good thing about this book too. It was not predictable. I thought the author gave too much away during Aiden’s scene with his grandfather but I guess I was wrong again about that one. The author didn’t give anything away; she just wanted us all to think Aiden was bad news.

Morgan on the other hand was exactly how I imagined he would be: handsome, dependable and all. I wanted Rose to pick him. I just got a little turned off during the last part of the book. Turned out he was the one keeping secrets. I felt as betrayed as Rose. Bad Morgan! I still liked his character either way.

Her friends Hanna and Mira were cool but then again like with Morgan I felt betrayed too because after all that time they knew all about Rose.

I am still curious though who the spy is. We all know who ordered to ran over Miranda but who told him that Miranda has maps? That is one question I want to get answered in the next book. I also want to know who Rose if going to end up with of course. :)

For this book I give it a 4! :) 

Life Goes On

Don't let it break you. No matter how hard things get, life goes on.

A Place Called Zero by Jonathan Christ

Jonathan has just been dumped by Nicole. He was devastated knowing he gave everything he has just to make her happy yet still she left him. The morning after the break up he decided to take a walk. During his walk in the park he met Shafin, the man who changed his life forever.

Each and every one of us will reach a point in out lives when we begin to question why certain things happen to us, particularly the bad things. We often blame other people of the situation that we got tangled in just for purpose of convincing ourselves that what happened was not our fault.

I actually think that way. I tend to blame people for my mistakes and misfortune. I won’t be a hypocrite. I blame them because they somehow caused my failures but after reading this book it changed my perception on things.

I learned from this book that there is no success and failure but only success and learning experience. Most of the time we tell ourselves that things happen and there is nothing we could do about it. We just deal with the hurt but we never really move on from it. But there is something we could do. We could change the way we view the challenges that we encounter or the people who have hurt us. Instead of blaming someone who has hurt you thank him/her instead because he/she have taught you something that you won’t learn at school even if attending that school costs a fortune. I think that’s why a lot of people are screwed up including me (sorry for the term). They fail to acknowledge the value of the experiences that life gives us.

This book also dealt with our dreams in life. Sometimes we don’t know what we want to achieve and that’s why we tend to take detours. We get lost but eventually we find our way back once we realized what we really want in life. Some reaches their goal sooner than others which doesn’t really matter. What matters is that you get to where you want to be.  As Shafin have said, “Whatever you desire, understand that not only you can achieve, it should be yours.”

This book only has 39 pages but within those 39 pages you learn. It was a very short and inspiring read. A very recommended read.