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Monday 19 December 2016

Fallen by Lauren Kate

Fallen (Fallen, #1)Fallen by Lauren Kate
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I kept putting off reading this book because it had mixed reviews, but last week I was participating in a readathon and one of the challenges was to read the book you had the longest on your shelves. On my Goodreads, Fallen was on the top of the list so I took the plunge and decided to read it. To my surprise, I really enjoyed this book. The story is about a girl who’s new in a boarding school, she meets two boys, one extremely nice and the other one, not so much and there is a paranormal element. Reading this book, I kept finding myself wanting to know more, but to be honest I didn’t remember what was the premise so every new piece of the puzzle was surprising to me. I suggest you don’t read the synopsis if you haven’t already, I think the story is more enjoyable when you have no clue what’s going on and the synopsis basically gives everything away. This book will not change your life, but it’s an enjoyable read and I was left wanting more so I will definitely continue on with the series.

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Saturday 26 November 2016

Review: Bird Box

Bird Box Bird Box by Josh Malerman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I loved that book! The plot was original, I had never read something like this before. We follow Malorie who is a survivor of some kind of apocalypse. There are creatures out in the world who makes people go crazy mad with violence if they see them. It goes back and forth between when Malorie was pregnant and everything started to four years later when she has to leave her home to go somewhere safer with her two kids while being blindfolded. I would not categorise it as horror but it was definitely creepy and terrifying to imagine yourself in her position. Not knowing if the people you encounter are insane and want to hurt you or if they are just like you, frightened, trying to survive in this terrible world. Living in the dark for the rest of your life, cut off from everyone else, no water systems, no phones, no internet, with creatures luring outside waiting for you to see them and go mad. If you are in the mood for something eerie, then I suggest you pick up this book.

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Sunday 13 November 2016

Book Review: The Average American Male

The Average American MaleThe Average American Male by Chad Kultgen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My brother recommended The Average American Male to me and I am so glad he did, otherwise I don't think I would've picked it up. I really liked this book, it was refreshing, original and it made me laugh. I do have to warn you, this book contains mature content. It's crude, talks a lot about sex, but not in a Fifty Shades of Grey kind of way and it is mean to women. You follow a man through his relationships, you read what he is thinking and by that I mean it's completely unfiltered so be prepared. I loved to hate the main character , sometimes I felt sorry for him and other times I wanted to give him a big hug. The women in his life were difficult and even I wanted them to just go away. I understand how people can be offended by this book but don't be, every person is different, not every man thinks like that and not every woman acts like that. Think about it, if every thought that tumbles through your head was to be written in a book, it would not be a pretty story even if you are a good and respectable person.

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Saturday 29 October 2016

Book Review: The Shining

The ShiningThe Shining by Stephen King
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This was my first Stephen King novel. I was expecting so much from this book because everyone and their mother seems to think it's one of the scariest books of all time and maybe that is why I was so disappointed. The characters felt believable, everything they did and how they reacted was justified in my opinion. Nothing was thrown in our faces just to create an unnecessary plot twist, but I suspect all the hype surrounding this book ruined it for me. Maybe it was knowing the majority of the story before reading it, but I did not find it scary at all and I thought it dragged a little. However, I'm still planning to read other Stephen king's books because I've watch movies based on his books and his ideas are original and intriguing.

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Tuesday 4 February 2014

Gaming: Sims 2 Castaway DS








Let me start by saying that when I bought The Sims Castaway for DS, I thought it would be like the other Sims games, but on a deserted island. It ‘s not. There are specific quests that you have to accomplish in order to advance, you can’t build whatever you want wherever you want, you can’t have babies, you do not have a job nor money and you trade food and objects with the other castaways to get what you need to survive on the island. I didn’t mind because I happen to love playing this kind of games, but I’m embarrassed to say, that I thought some of the quests were actually very difficult and on a few occasions I did have to search on the internet for help. Other than that, it was a fun game and I give it a a 3.5/5 only because I got so frustrated at times with the quests. I wanted to add that I watched gameplays on YouTube on the computer version and I thought it looked more fun so I’m considering buying it eventually. I suggest taking the time to watch gameplays of the game for both the PC and DS if you hesitate on which one to buy.

Nina xx

Tuesday 21 January 2014

Book Review : Christmas at Tiffany's by Karen Swan









Synopsis: Cassie settled down too young, marrying her first serious boyfriend. Now, ten years later, she is betrayed and broken. With her marriage in tatters and no career or home of her own, she needs to work out where she belongs in the world and who she really is. So begins a year-long trial as Cassie leaves her sheltered life in rural Scotland to stay with each of her best friends in the most glamorous cities in the world: New York, Paris and London.



My review: I often fantasize of leaving everything behind and start a new life somewhere completely different and far away from home so when I stumbled upon that book on Goodreads, it immediately intrigued me. I was a little reluctant to buy it at first because I had never heard anyone else talk about that novel before but I’m so glad I caved and purchased it. That book made me dream like a little girl. I wanted to be Cassie and get to see all those beautiful places and meet new people from all over the world... You can relate to the protagonist because how she sees life, how she reacts to all that is happening to her, her relationships, it all feels real. She basically grew up being in a relationship and now that she is on her own, she’s completely lost and realises that she doesn’t know who she is anymore. With the help of her three caring best friends, she goes on a quest to find herself. We all have our moments when we look at our lives and ask ourselves if this is where we want to be and imagine starting over or turning your life in something completely different, but most of the time we just brush it off thinking this is real life, not a movie. Cassie had nothing to lose after her marriage ended so she did just that, she went as far away as possible from her old life. And by the way, if I had three best friends who lived in New York, Paris and London, husband or no husband, I would take a year off work and spend a few months in each City too. Throughout the book, Cassie grows a lot, she makes mistakes and life isn’t easy for her but she still gets up in the morning and carry on trying to be the best person she can be. I have to talk about the scenery, it was beautiful. I think the author did a great job portraying the different cities , the atmosphere in each places and the people who live there. It truly felt like she knew what she was talking about. You could almost feel the wind in New York and smell the food in Paris. And let’s not forget the romance. Ah the romance... It is a Chick Lit so you’ve probably guessed there is a love story, well more than one but it was not overdone, I didn’t find it cheesy and there was no insta-love which is refreshing. That is all I’m going to say about it because I don’t want to spoil anything. Overall, I loved that book, and I’ll definitely reread it someday.

I gave it 5/5 stars.

Nina XX

Saturday 4 January 2014

My Video Game Challenge!

The other day I was going through my video games and I realised that I did not complete most of them. You see, I love buying games as much as I love buying books but the thing is, it takes me a lot more time to finish a game than to read a book and I eventually lose interest in what I’m playing because of all the new games that are coming out.

I’m the kind of person who enjoy making lists because it motivates me and crossing things off a list is very satisfying.  So I decided to make one of all my video games and challenged myself to finish the games that I own before spending money on other  games. Honestly, I’ll probably fail that challenge but if it pushes me to complete half of the games I own, it’s worth it. The ones that are crossed out are games that  I don’t intend to complete or can’t finish. Either they have no storyline, or I only bought them to play online with friends and don’t want to do the campaign or they are games  that were given to me  but don’t interest me that much.

PS2
NEED FOR SPEED UNDERGROUND
PS2
RESIDENT EVIL CODE VERONICA X
PS2
RESIDENT EVIL OURBREAK
PS2
RESIDENT EVIL 4
PS2
CSI
PS2
SONIC MEGA COLLECTION PLUS
PS2
DANCE DANCE REVOLUTION
PS2
THRILLVILLE
PS2
GUITAR HERO 1
PS2
GUITAR HERO 2
PS2
GUITAR HERO 3
PS2
ROCKBAND (don’t have the guitar / drums anymore)
PS2
KINGDOM OF HEARTS
PS2
DESTROY ALL HUMANS
PS2
FINAL FANTASY X
PS2
CREG HASTING TOURNEMENT PAINTBALL
PS2
TOKYO XTREME RACERS


PS3
BIOSHOCK
PS3
BIOSHOCK 2
PS3
SILENT HILL HOMECOMING
PS3
OBLIVION
PS3
SAINTS ROW 2
PS3
SAINTS ROW 3
PS3
CALL OF DUTY MODERN WARFARE
PS3
SIMS 3
PS3
PS3
FINAL FANTASY REALM REBORN
GRAND THEFT AUTO V


XBOX
GEARS OF WAR
XBOX
BORDERLANDS 2
XBOX
SKATE 3
XBOX
DRAGON AGE II
XBOX
LEFT 4 DEAD 2
XBOX
UFC 2009
XBOX
NHL 11
XBOX
RECKONING
XBOX
CRACKDOWN
XBOX
CALL OF DUTY MODERN WARFARE 3
XBOX
FABLES 2
XBOX
FABLES 3
XBOX
ALICE THE MADNESS RETURNS
XBOX
RED DEAD REDEMPTION


WII
ALICE IN WONDERLAND
WII
ZELDA TWILIGHT PRINCE
WII
JUST DANCE
WII
WII FIT


DS
SIMS CASTAWAYS
DS
FINAL FANTASY IV
DS
CLUB HOUSE
DS
PROFESSOR LAYTON CURIOUS VILLAGE
DS
CLUE/ PERFECTION/ MOUSETRAP
DS
NINTENDOGS
DS
MYSTERY CASE FILES MILLIONHEIR
DS
CROSSWORDS
DS
DS
BATMAN LEGO
CAKE MANIA
HARRY POTTER LEGO YEARS 1-4


COMPUTER
SIMS
COMPUTER
A VAMPIRE STORY


Nina XX