Tempt Me at Twilight by Lisa Kleypas

Hi folks. Another review on Lisa Kleypas' novel, Tempt Me at Twilight!

Tempt Me at Twilight is her latest book. I bought it on 24th (and it's my so-called personal Christmas present lol) and the disease of don't-really-want-to-finish-Ms-Kleypas'-novel-because-the-fear-of-nothing-to read-afterward strikes again. lol. But finally, I managed to finish this book....but with lethal disappointment. ( Sorry Ms Kleypas T_T)

Again, I don't want to spoil you guys but sorry, this time Ms Kleypas failed to dazzle me into Hathaway's world, as her previous works of 'Seduce Me at Sunrise' and 'Mine Till Midnight', which I found very captivating and irresistibly... absorbing. The interactions between the main leads, Harry Rutledge and Poppy Hathaway (lolled at their names, again, sorry Ms Kleypas) seems dull, and the attempts to make readers to fall in love with those two characters are..well they are not working for me. Harry is one complex hero, or should I say...a villain? and Poppy, the most conventional sister in Hathaway family. I felt sorry for the other character, the one who supposed to be the 'hero' (but he's super weak! lol) . And for the first time, I kind of skipped a little few pages, here and there because I felt they were not really necessary, to be included in the story. I hate to skip, but well I couldn't help it. However, there are few memorable lines and events that make this book worth to read. :)

I would say this book is not at her best (my all-time favorite is 'Devil in the Winter'), yet I don't really regret buying this one. :) My personal rating : 3.0/5

How to make sushi ( MY WAY, OF COURSE XD)

I did it! XD My sushi looks like crap, actually.

But definitely taste good :p

Here is how I did it :D

Ingredients :

1 pot of sushi rice ( not exactly measured)

Crab sticks

Oinarisan ( Tofu pouch)

Corn

Mayonnaise

Wasabi

Roasted Seaweed

Seasoning

1st step : Wash, rinse and cook the sushi rice. Make sure you only rinse it once or otherwise the rice will lose its stickiness. :D.

2nd step : Boil some crabsticks and the tofu pouches :D

3rd step : Thoroughly mix the cooked rice with some powdered vinegar.

4th step : Place the roasted seaweed on the bamboo rolling mat, and spread the cooked rice evenly on the roasted seaweed. You can put whatever you like on the spread, too. (e.g crabsticks, wasabi, pickled cucumber)

5th step : Carefully roll the spread. And cut the rolled spread! :D

Final step : Fill the tofu pouches with rice (add some seasoning, wasabi and stuff in it too :D Be fun lol), mix the corn and mayonnaise for toppings, carefully cut the crabstick..etc etc...and TADAA! MY FIRST ATTEMPT TO MAKE SUSHI!

But it was really really really really tiring. LOL.

Wild Ones by Fujiwara Kiyo

Hi everyone!

I just finished this manga a few days ago..It's very nice but the art reminds me of Fruit Basket O_o.. At first, everything is kinda fast-paced...but it gets slower and interesting... try reading it, it's available online. I don't wanna spoil it. :D

Summary

From Viz:

Sachie Wakamura just lost her mother, and her estranged grandfather has shown up to take care of her. The only problem is that Grandpa is the head of a yakuza gang! Sachie tries to continue living her normal life, but she can't run far since Rakuto, one of the most popular guys in school, is part of her grandfather's gang and her new protector. Soon, Sachie finds herself falling for her bodyguard. But she's the granddaughter of Rakuto's boss, so he can never show his feelings for her. Can Sachie find a way to fit into her new family and seize her chance at romance?

Epic Asian Drama Parody. LOL

Try watching this parody....I couldn't stop laughing. I'll die. The 2nd hero, apparently 'he' is a girl. But lol, she managed to pull out as a 'hot guy' O_o

Kimi Ni Todoke.

Schweet. That is what in my mind after watching a few episodes of Kimi Ni Todoke (Reaching You). Fully recommended for shoujo manga and anime lovers. :D

Summary (as taken from wikipedia)

Sawako Kuronuma, is called Sadako by her classmates for her resemblance to the character from The Ring, has always been feared and misunderstood because of her appearance. There are rumors that Sawako can see ghosts and curse people. But when her idol, popular boy Kazehaya, begins talking with her, everything changes. She finds herself in a new world, trying to make friends and talking to different people and she can't thank Kazehaya enough for giving her these opportunities. Slowly, but surely, a sweet love is blossoming between the two as they will overtake any circumstance or clear obstacles in their way.

Ryo by Ueda Rinko (Spoilers ahead)

Read at your own risk. Spoilers ahead.

I wish i can scream like a banshee right now.
It is because, I HAVE WASTED MY TWO DAYS READING A MANGA CALLED 'RYO', JUST FOR A CRAPPY ENDING WHICH NEARLY EVERYONE DIES IN IT (except one guy named Kaizon), and i was like WHAT THE HELL???!!!!

Huhh.. I wish you guys could understand my feelings. I know, some would say I am totally over-reacting and stuff, because it is just a manga, a comic and why would you make such a fuss about it..yada yada yada..NO!!! IT IS NOT JUST A MANGA! For those who does not read comic books, you wouldn't understand how a comic, a good storyline and happy ending can affect one's behavior and to tell you what, we are psychologically affected by it too!!! ( And I am severely affected by the crappy ending!)

Okay, okay. The manga is called Ryo, by Ueda Rinko.. I love how she manipulates the ancient Japanese history and fits it in a love story. The fact that the two main lead Ryo/Yoshitsune and Benkei, as in the history, they are not a couple but they had a Master-vassal relationship going on between them. Ryo/Yoshitsune in the manga is a girl whereby the historical Yoshitsune is actually a guy! Bzztt... but that's okay with me, who cares what happened in the past?

The story started out well when Ryo was dragged to the past by Benkei after she learned that she is Yoshitsune of Genji and she is needed to defeat the Heishi/Taira clan. She was raised as a boy until she was 15 years old so that Koremori of Taira (one hell pitiful character) wont have a chance to marry her and take the reign of feudal Japan.

But this Koremori guy, was determined to have Ryo/Yoshistsune as a wife even though it was said that Yoshitsune is a guy and lots of thing happened... and why I said this Koremori guy is pitiful? I dunno... this dude was like in the writhing pain, he was in love with Ryo/Yoshitsune for so long, he always believed that Yoshitsune is a girl (and it turned out she is).. He was in love with a ficlke and wishy-washy girl so in the end he died killing himself after he saved the girl in the battle (Yoshitsune rejected his love and this Koremori guy wanted Yoshitsune to kill him 2 years later because he's not able to bear with the fact that Yoshitsune did not love him, which then Yoshitsune was not able to execute Koremori...and he ended up killing himself). Tsk tsk tsk.

To sum up the ending.

Benkei - Died while they were on the run, killed when Yoshitsune's brother (the bro has gone crazy after his wife dies and wanted Yoshitsune to be his) arrow cut tru his throat.

Ryo/Yoshitsune - Died when she saved the true Ryo from the future ( true Ryo supposed to be dead from a car crash)

Aoi - A guy from the future, he tagged along with Ryo/Yoshitsune to the past. He was killed by Yoshitsune's brother.

Koremori - Suicide.

The Brother - Killed by Yoshitsune.

Blue Eyed Devil by Lisa Klepas

Wow.

That's what in my mind after reading Blue Eyed Devil by Lisa Kleypas. In my previous post, I have mentioned that I kinda skipped this one, as this one is the second installment of Travises Saga. Well, thought about it and why not give this novel a try, though? And it turned out this is one of the best contemporary romance novels that I have ever laid my hands on.

Blue Eyed Devil is the story of Hardy Cates, the villain guy from the first book, Sugar Daddy and Haven Marie Travis, the only daughter of Churchill Travis. And as usual, the story is written from heroine's point of view where the plot starts off at Travis Mansion, celebrating Cage and Liberty's wedding (from Sugar Daddy). The characters are introduced neatly, both old and new, one by one as we get to know the relationship between Haven and Nick, her fiance and of course, our hero, the goddamn sexy Hardy Cates.

And why was I wow-ing this novel? Yeah, this book is also about how a woman, married and alone, deals with domestic, emotional and verbal abuse from her husband, not to mention that she has to deal with the narcissistic authority at her workplace, as well. I would like to say that actually, this novel touches the critical point of narcissism, where the person who has this type of personality disorder tends to think he or she is normal and does what is right, but actually the act itself is beyond norm and cruel. They are not aware of what 'normal' really is. And reading the novel, it was like I am in Haven's shoes, experiencing her suffering, and stuff.

One flaw that I could point out is the romance between Hardy and Haven, is kinda fast-paced and it can be longer, though. I mean, realistically, Haven or any women out there should take a little while to heal and stuff after they had gone through such a pain-in-the-ass experience.

Emm. Other than that, I will rate this novel as 4.5 stars. And seriously, definitely, a keeper. :)

Smooth Talking Stranger by Lisa Kleypas

Another contemporary romance novel from Lisa Kleypas, my favorite historical romance novel author ( alongside Julia Quinn, Judith Mcnaught, etc etc) and a third installment of Travises Saga.

Smooth Talking Stranger is a story about yet another Churchill Travis's son, Jack Travis. Jack Travis is the only soft-hearted family member in the Travises and as usual, one of the mega-millionaire in Houston, Texas and one of the family's uncomplicated playboy (oh yeah..). The story is told in Ella Varner's point of view, (Ella Varner is the heroine, here here)..

The plot started with an introduction of Ella Varner's perfect life, her boyfriend Dane, her job as a columnist until one day, Ella is disturbed with her mother's phone call, the flight and the new-born baby of her beautiful sister, Tara Varner. Dane comforts her to go to her mom, Candy Varner to help out and see what she can do about it, but its not easy for her as Candy is her living hell and the source of every single problem of her in the past.

She helps to babysit the new born baby, Luke and it leads to a meeting with Jack Travis, one of the candidates of Luke's father. Jack protests that he did not sleep with Tara, but Ella keeps pushing him to do the DNA test which eventually, he agrees to do it but there is something that Jack really wants from Ella....

I read this novel for 2 days, because I don't want the story to end! Ya, stuff like this happens when I read Lisa Kelypas's novels, and because I have read almost all of her novels, I couldn't bear with the fact that I won't be able to read her new story in a short while... sobs.

By the way, I'm going to quick review the novel (even though I kinda skipped Blue Eyed Devil, the second installment). The characters are well-depicted, and I love how Ms. Kleypas portrays Jack in the novel. The heroine, is quite okay, she's a tough one (yeah, I know I screamed those words in my mind,' WHY THE HELL YOU KEEP PUSHING JACK AWAY EVEN THOUGH HE'S NICE TO YOU!!!'). Ah, forgot to mention, Luke, the baby. Even though he could not talk at all, but every time he's in the scene, I smiled because he acts so cute and I don't think of him as a nuisance for both Ella and Jack, at all. And cameo of familiar characters from previous novels, too ( kinda as a follow up from previous stories).

The plot? hm.. okay, though. Won't tell you much because I can't spoil it for you, you have to spoil it yourself. :P But overall, I will give this book 4/5 stars. Not the best contemporary ever because I have read a better one than this, but you can consider Smooth Talking Stranger as a keeper. :D

The Rose (Qiang Wei Zhi Lian) - SPOILERS AHEAD

The Rose, year 2003 Taiwanese Drama, is an adaptation from Bara no Tameni manga by Yoshimura Akemi. I have reviewed the manga a long time ago.. at first I didn't know that they have made out a drama over this manga. But then, even though after I knew the drama exists, it still didn't manage to provoke me to watch it, no matter how much I love the manga because I don't really like the lead actress, Ella from S.H.E. She played Bai He. But yesterday, while browsing thru mysoju.com, I decided to give The Rose a try, and I was very excited and shocked to see my favorite Taiwanese actor, Joe Cheng is in the drama, as my favorite character in the manga, Aoi-san!

As far as I can remember, this drama is rated as 18+ because of the incest theme, mature issues, homosexual and countless four way pre-rape act done by both male actors (four way = the older bro to sis, the younger bro to sis, the older bro to younger bro, and the younger bro to the older bro. Yeah. Believe me.). But I'm 21 years old and I am a pervert, so I don't really care about it. Both guys were super sexy and super funny when they tried to rape each other. Kinda turned on while watching those two bros, rather than when the sis is involved. Haha.. Ah, he older brother, Han Jin (Chinese equivalent of Sumire) is played by a hunk named Jerry Huang.

I totally root for Han Kui and Bai He (and I am sure that 99.9% viewers and fans root for them too). Btw, in my opinion, Kui is the most pitiful guy in the history of drama and manga because the first woman he really loves is his own long-lost biological sister, Bai He and that explains the incest stuff. He also got tangled up by his homo feelings to Han Jin, and well, that explains the homosexual theme and stuff. In the end, Han Kui lost to his older brother, Han Jin. Tsk tsk tsk.

Joe Cheng as Han Kui (chinese equivalent of Aoi)

Aoi from Bara no Tameni

Another Review on The Dark One, by Ronda Thompson.

Yet another personal review from me, of The Dark One by late Ronda Thompson. Before this one, I have reviewed a novel that has been the best historical romance ever for me, Silent Melody by Mary Balogh. Being a historical romance-freako, I suddenly thought of something. Why can’t I add up some twist to it with a little bit of paranormal romance? So, I read this one as a starter and…well, actually it’s not really that bad. I mean, I can see Twilight things are going on in the plots…which it made me feels like, I’m currently reading a werewolves-and-regency romance version of Twilight. But the plots are a little lot CHEESY. Lol.

The story opens up at a London Ball (not specified where it was as other historical romance), Lord Armond Wulf, Marquess of Wulfglen is out to Society since a prostitute was found dead in his stable. Society of London thinks that he murdered the poor woman (his brothers and him are shunned out from Society because of the dead parents and the ‘insanity curse’, that’s why they assume it that way), but actually there is no real proof to it. Armond has attended the ball in the company of an old family friend, a dowager duchess. No one could be more surprised when a beautiful young woman, Lady Rosalind Rutherford, approaches Armond and asks him to ‘please ruin me! I need to save myself from my stepbrother!!’.

Lady Rosalind Rutherford is newly arrived in London, summoned by her nasty stepbrother Franklin, who is now her guardian. Franklin has squandered Rosalind’s inheritance and is about to marry her off to settle his gambling debts to ‘someone-that-I-don’t-really-remember-his-name-and-I-dunno-why’. Rosalind, to free herself from her stepbrother, needs Armond to do the deeds because of his own shattered reputation. By ruining herself…ehem…or to be bold, by losing her virginity, she will not be able to marry that ‘someone-that-I-don’t-remember-his-name-and-I-dunno-why’. However, Armond’s conscience prevents him from carrying things too far, and Rosalind is returned to the bosom of her cruel stepbrother without losing her virtue.

Armond can’t take his mind off thinking of Rosalind, met her during a tea party and Armond notices the bruise on her cheek. Armond visits Rosalind in her bedchamber after hearing her weeping (they are next-door neighbours, lol) , only to find that a woman was found hanged in the house – a servant who had been abused by Franklin. The body is placed at his stable, AGAIN, and he is arrested. Rosalind knows Armond couldn’t have committed the crime, because he was with her all night, though only to comfort her. She admits this to the authorities and then, Armond and Rosalind are married. Armond tells her he will never love her, and it will be a marriage of convenience unless she wishes otherwise – it’s her decision.

Armond, and his three brothers, Gabriel, Jackson and one missing brother (still why can’t I remember the names?!!) are anciently cursed with werewolves stuff and they have made an oath to not to marry because Armond’s father committed suicide due to the curse and his mother died of a broken heart. He’ll never risk his own heart and Rosalind’s life but…well.

One thing that I don’t really like is Rosalind. She is just plainly and passively drawn by the author. It makes me wonder that MAYBE, her stepbrother is one of the main characters, instead of Rosalind herself. I mean, her character is emotionally underdeveloped that other characters can shine brightly than hers. Much as I sympathized with her problem, she spends much of the book as a rather passive puppet.

The Dark One has been a quite benchwarmer for me in exploring a twist of paranormal and historical romance, but it’s not enough for me, though. I’ll say this book is 3 out of 5 because I manage to finish it. Anyone? Recommendations?

Konnichiwa minna-san! (Japanese-freak mood) :D

O-genki desu ka? Hajimemashite?
Watashi-wa nihongo no mood desu! hohohohohoho.
I'm sooo freaking happy because I'm able to register for Japanese classes!
I even bought the text book! Yay! So happy!

Even though I felt stupid because sensei made us read out loud the hiragana charts on the first class, I grinned excitedly all the time. XD Lol I can't help myself. Haha!

For your information, I've always wanted to learn Japanese since I was in secondary school, ya, like everyone else, manga and anime influenced me. XD. So, here am I 7 years later, the dream's fulfilled. Muahahhahha. I know I will not able to speak Nihon fluently, but I will, someday. Yes. The day WILL COME. XD. The day that Ai-chan will truly understand and able to directly read the untranslated japanese mangas will come! XD. Ahhhh!!! Happy!!!

Nihongo 1 fer starters.

Well, I'm home, right now. I miss my cats. I miss Ms. T the most. She's the first cat who slapped me. Yeah.

Ms. T in slumber.