Monday, March 21, 2011

Forgive and Forget by Margaret Dickinson [Review]

Forgive and Forget
by Margaret Dickinson



2.5 stars, out of 5.


 At the start of the 20th Century a typhoid epidemic ravages Polly Longden’s home town leaving her motherless and with a father lost to depression. Recovering from shock and in mourning, Polly must abandon her dreams of independence to run the family home.  Working from dawn until dusk and with only pennies to live on, Polly’s life has never been so tough. So when she catches her brother stealing and her sister brings shame on the family Polly is at her whit’s end. Help comes from local policeman and neighbor Leo Halliday whose gentle patience and kind words soon win Polly’s heart.
But Polly’s dreams of marrying Leo and starting a family of her own are soon shattered. During the railway riots of 1911 her father’s hot temper leads him onto the wrong side of the law and Leo is forced to take drastic action. Torn between her family and the man of her dreams, Polly must choose between love and loyalty.  Letting Leo go could be the hardest thing she’s ever done unless she can forgive and forget, but at what price…?



 Forgive and Forget wasn't really swoon worthy. No pulse racing, OMAGAWD HES SO HOT AND THEY'RE SO CUTE TOGETHER moments.
Nor was it the ughhh-I-HATE-THIS-STUPID-NOVEL *throws-it-across-the-floor* type.

It was simply an above average book, which had the potential to be waaayyy better.

The story is pivoted around Polly Longden, a wonderfully brave and strong heroine, who through all the numerous twists and turns of her life struggles for her happily ever after.
Polly is thirteen, when we first see her. A young little thing who has been pulled out of school to care for the family while her mother is at her death bed, suffering from typhoid.
After her mother's death, we are shown how Polly struggles with managing the household chores, deals with her uncooperative siblings, has to go through loved ones dying several times and has a really really horrible life- to put it bluntly.
The sadness of her life is brightened up by the presence of her one true love, Leo Halliday but, just when it seems Polly and Leo will get their happily ever after, Polly's father messes it all up and Polly, once again is forced to sacrifice for family.

It was good book I suppose, what with all the twists and turns and the whole true-love thing and the [SPOILER] happy ending [OVER, SPOILER].

But I hated the fact that the romance and ''love'' elements in it just did not make me feel at all!
First of all, the the love story needs to be way more developed than it is now.
I mean, WHO is Leo Halliday? What is he all about? Why does Polly love him so much? What makes them click? Yeah hes kind, polite and very, very fair in his dealings, but really Polly? That's it? What do you guys have in common? Wheres the RELATIONSHIP DEVELOPMENT? And you can't even blame the book for being short.
It was 400 pages long, and starts from when Polly is thirteen, and ends in her mid twenties.
I thought it would be a Judith McNaught type romance, with tons of breathless moments and sexy scenes, plus fun hero-heroine interactions, but what I got was a sweet, but very 'proper' romance which is really like an after thought.
So that just pulled the rating down a whole lot.

Forgive and Forget is supposed to be a historical novel, and over here it does not disappoint. The best part about the whole 20th century setting is that the history is woven in the story with such grace that you don't mind reading about it at all, it doesn't feel like a history lesson, and you get to experience it just the way Polly does. The railway riots and World War One both affect Polly's life and you can feel the frustration if the people in that day an age very clearly.


Over all, the history and Polly's sacrifice and strength through all the muck shes pulled through are what actually make this novel. The plot is good, so give it a read! [If you aren't too fussy with the gaping-holes-in-romance thing!]

Thanks to the publisher for providing the review copy!

xx

CLG

Saturday, March 19, 2011

bludi pakiz. AND A NEW BOOK BY CECELIA AHERN!

Whenever I get an email from formspring.com stating that ''someone has asked you a question on formspring!'' I get really excited. Random people are interested in my blog! They wanna ask me questions!
Then as soon as I check the questions out, I feel like picking up a stick, like one of those sticks Sue threw at Mercedes in this week's Glee and gouge my eyes out with it. Here, dear followers, are the screen shotS.





But what can ya do right?

I KNOW. How about this? HOW ABOUT YOU GUYS ASK ME SOME QUESTIONS THAT WOULD BE FUN TO ANSWER?
Trust me. I dont bite.
Well, not over formspring anyway. See the lil box on the top right column of the blog? Enter thy questions there.

A lot of people come across my blog by searching up beautiful things like 'hot pakistan clg grlz' or 'hot sucking paki clg glz'.
First I couldn't figure out why they would look for 'clg' girls, wtf is that anyway? Then I realized it was probably college girls, and I face-palmed because really, wouldn't any sane person wanna look up hot sexy clg chix while wanking off to this? [Report abuse, please].

How silly of me.

In other news, I hacked my ten year old cousins Gmail and Facebook because he was being SUPER DUPER ANNOYING.
Yeah you guys, I really am a sexy-computer-nerd like that. ;)
HOT PAKI CLG GRL WID BRAINZ!


LOL. Jk.
His security question was 'What is my name?'.

Ten years olds.
*Shakes head*

In book-news, I finished reading the second book in the Hex Hall series, Demon Glass yesterday. It was SO good!
And my friend just told me about this lovely book and I almost swooned. I LOVE CECILIA AHERN. I DIDNT KNOW SHE HAD ANOTHER BOOK OUT! But apparently its true, it came out on the 3rd of this month:



 A gorgeous new Cecelia mini-book which contains two powerful and unforgettable short stories.

Girl in the Mirror
Lila knows how lucky she is to have found the man of her dreams. But when a secret from her family's past comes to light on her wedding day, her destiny changes in the most unexpected of ways….

The Memory Maker
They say you never forget your first love. But what happens when those cherished memories start to fade? Some people would do anything to hold on to the past and, for one heartbroken man, that means finding a way to relive those precious moments…


I cannot wait to read it.
Cecelia Ahern's books have NEVER disappointed.  Yes, the beginning are ALWAYS slow, no matter which book you pick up, but the middle and especially the endings are all worth suffering through the sluggish beginnings.
Plus the covers are always so pretty.
For the Paki readers: You can actually order the book from Liberty Books and they'll deliver it at your doorstep! Click Here. Or if you live in Karachi, I'm sure you know there are several Liberty Book shops in all the major malls, so go pick up a copy from there.

Thats all for now folks.
Tell your UK budz about this blog because theres gonna be an awesome book-giveaway soon, but only for UK addresses. [I'm sorry, its the publishers fault].

XX

CLG

Friday, March 18, 2011

a day in the life.

Esgeezee says:
ok
so ima go now
do you have a wc in this computer?
 
He says:
wai
i should flush ma faze?
in it?
 
Esgeezee says:  
WEBCAM?!
 
He says:
oh
LOL
HAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA
no.

http://esgeezee.tumblr.com/

xx

CLG

Sunday, March 13, 2011

Orgasms and then some.

Today my sister, cousin and I went for a good, old fashioned girls day out.
First we hit my mamee's (aunt's) beauty salon and got manis and pedis done. It was fun. Then we bought movies and shizz and finally went to have tongue-orgasmic ice cream at this really awesome cafe.

I had the Strawberry Sexbomb. And it was exactly like its name- SEXALICOIUS BABAY! [except it wasn't named that but- it totally should have been].



While we were sitting there, having our respective tongue orgasms and talking about nothing really important, two REALLY HOT GUYS came down {we were the only people sitting in the basement} and sat at a booth directly opposite to ours.
[Cue the 7th grade giggling and I'm-not-checking-you-out-but-actually-I-am look.]
So while we were busy contemplating if the first guy was cuter than the second having a mature conversation, the second guy got up and went upstairs. The first guy stayed where he was though, and as I got a better look at him, I realized that it was 99.9% probable that he was younger than me.
Ugh.


:C
{I'm sure Furree Kat knows what I mean}

THEN something really weird happened. 
He got up and walked over to our table and then, as cool as you please, looked straight at my 13 year old cousin and said 'Hey, whats your name?'
My cousin, Dania was just staring at him with big goo goo eyes and and going like 'Uhhhnnhhh?' 
And so I knew I had to take over.
So I asked him in a smiley, oh-you-naughty-guy-you way why the FUCK did he wanna know?
Him: 'Because shes REALLY HOT'
And he said 'really hot' in a breathy kind of, I'm-so-knocked-out-by-her-hotness way.
Hah. Me and my sister were inches away from ROTFLOFAO but, 

i obviously had to shoo him away.
I mean, WTF RANDOM HOT GUYS CANNOT COME UP TO MY INNOCENT/ADORABLE/LOVES TO BAKE COOKIES COUSIN AND HIT ON HER. Nope. No way. Not on my watch.

Him: 'I thought maybe she'd like to go to coffee with me..?'
Me:  *shakes head* while smiling and scrunching up my face in a I'm-sorry-but-NO kinda way.

So with one last heart stopping (probably for all the tweens out there) grin, he walked away.

As soon as he left, all three of us exploded into this:


I know, how tween could we get right?
Shut up.
It was fun. 

The whole ride home Dania and I kept bugging my sister (shes 16) for being jealous because the guy came up to DANIA, and not her, since shes the one who's always boasting about how all the guys have secret crushes on her an what not.
Twas priceless.

But its so weird to see guys thinking Dania is hot and actually coming up and telling her that. I mean, shes my baby cousin who is nice to EVERYONE, even me, on my bitchy days! [And I have a LOT of those.] Shes sweet, kind, polite, loves to bake and is innocent as hell. Probably as close to a Disney princess as you'll ever get. Plus she has the classic, neglectful parents and was later worriedly asking me if she had been wearing 'REVEALING CLOTHES' or if she had been looking like a girl from a 'ganda, non-shareef khandan'.
Ah.
My heart literally turned to goo at those questions, and I assured her that no, she was dressed up fine and the guy probably thought she was just really pretty. Which for the record is true. She was just wearing a gray tee, with a darker gray and white wrap, with black skinnies and knee high boots.

hmm. 
okay. so that WAS hot. but not in the COME-ON-GUYS-DATE-ME way. I don't think so anyway.
But who knows with guys?
They're crazy. Everyone knows that.

Cookies Dania baked and I [sorta] helped with:

Sugar Butter Cookies


Sugar Butter cookies with CHOCOLATE.
cue >Eye Orgasm.



Well that's all that happened today.

A few days ago I read The Iron Queen, the 4th book in the Iron Fey Series and the one line review for it?

IT WAS FUCKING.AWESOME.

I loved the book so freakin' much its not even funny anymore. 
A TOTALLY brain orgasmic experience, if there ever was one.

Click Here for my almost-review of the series.

Right now, I'm reading Runaway by Meg Cabot. And if you know me, you know I LOVE Meg Cabot.
I also read Two Way Street by Lauren Barnholdt and I loved it, so I'll probably review it soon.
Click on the book names to know more about 'em!

XX
CLG


From Dictionary.com:

or·gasm [awr-gaz-uhm]
–noun
1. Blah blah blah.
2.
intense or unrestrained excitement.


Monday, March 7, 2011

Angel Burn by L.A. Weatherly


Willow knows she’s different from other girls, and not just because she loves tinkering with cars. Willow has a gift. She can look into the future and know people’s dreams and hopes, their sorrows and regrets, just by touching them. She has no idea where this power comes from. But the assassin, Alex, does. Gorgeous, mysterious Alex knows more about Willow than Willow herself. He knows that her powers link to dark and dangerous forces, and that he’s one of the few humans left who can fight them. When Alex finds himself falling in love with his sworn enemy, he discovers that nothing is as it seems, least of all good and evil. In the first book in an action-packed, romantic trilogy, L..A. Weatherly sends readers on a thrill-ride of a road trip — and depicts the human race at the brink of a future as catastrophic as it is deceptively beautiful.

3.5/5 stars

Angel Burn was an amazing novel. It was incredibly fast paced, full of nail-biting, heart stopping moments, lovely protagonists and a tender, deliciously sweet romance.
I loved how the concept of Angels was woven into the story, not as cliched protectors- but as predators. The idea was/is completely unique and refreshing.

This book was so good I read it in a single day- I started in the morning and could NOT pit it down until I had finished. Some parts had me going all mushy inside, while others made me sit at the edge of my seat, they were so intense! The novel was full of action and never dragged at ALL, which is pretty amazing
considering its 460 pages long.

Things I loved:

Alex.
I love love LOVE Alex! At first I wasn't too sure about him, he seemed too indifferent in the beginning, somewhat like a robot, but the author, L.A Weatherly made his character develop pretty well, into something so adorable yet sexy-dangerous.
Plus I love reading books which are from both the girl and the boy's perspective. Its really interesting to read of how the guy thinks and acts. And so I had a wonderful time looking at things, and Willow from Alex's perspective.

Willow was pretty awesome too, with her quirky car skills and her purple lavender personalty! Sometimes, I felt she was being too, I don't know, 'swoony' but then I thought, would I have been doing what Willow is doing here? And eight out of ten times the answer was, yes, I wouldn't be able to help myself. [concerning the
romance and some weepy bits].

The best part? It was one of those warm-fuzzy-feelings-and-big-smile-at-the-end books, my FAVOURITE kind.

Overall, Angel Burn is one hell of a young adult book, kinda chick lit [but maybe not really]. SO GO BUY A COPY/EBOOK of it asap.
Be kewl. Not fazewl.


-{This book is the first book of the Angel Trilogy, but its brilliant enough to be a stand-alone novel too. I will def be reading the second part though, its supposed to be released in October, this year!}

I am so happy and thankful to Candlewick Press and Net Galley for giving me a chance to review such a gem of a book.

XXX

CLG

PS: I shall be hosting a giveaway soon, so all the UK followers? And people with addresses in the UK? GET READY FOR A CHANCE TO WIN YUMMY BOOKS!

Friday, March 4, 2011

try this at home.


































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