I'd have to say that I just experienced the best Christmas I've ever had. I thought I would write it down so that I'd remember it forever! Although, I don't think that it would be very hard to forget. Don't feel like you have to read this- It's a post for me really.

I did have to work EVERYDAY aside from Christmas, but as you may have heard me mention more than a few times, this is my first Christmas day off in what would have been 6 years. That alone was enough to make it memorable. I went all out this year, bought presents early so I wouldn't be stressed, wrapped them nicely and took my time, baked up a storm with my boyfriends mom, and had a couple members of MY family ( they're not big on getting together) up for lunch the week prior to the 25th.

I spend Friday night ( the 23rd) with Shaun's close family friends. Usually I get so nervous I can hardly speak, around Shaun's friends and family, but this time I just relaxed and tried to enjoy myself, we were at a party for crying out loud! He's so lucky to have such great people around him and I feel grateful to have spent time with them, sometimes I just get shy. I got my hair done that day, ( and they curled it and it looked really pretty!) which usually helps my confidence. I just let loose a little finally around those people and it felt so good. The next morning didn't feel so good however.

I had to work Christmas Eve, and my customers were grouchy, it was SO busy, there were only 2 staff on, and I was re-experiencing my cake vodka from the previous night over and over again. Never, EVER again will I drink UV cake vodka. I think I'll still be called 'cupcake' for quite some time though.
Anyways,after the disasterous ( but memorable) day, I went back to Shaun's mothers house for some food and relaxation. We also watched Miracle on 34th street, which is one of my favourites.

Christmas morning was AMAZING. Shaun and I have been together for more than a year, however last year he was in Victoria with his Dad, and I worked, sp this was really our FIRST Christmas together. This year we had the whole deal. Shaun made breakfast, ( Eggs Benny with salmon lox to DIE FOR) and we had a bit of champagne and OJ. He got me a new Camera ( I posted my favourite Christmas picture below) and a gift certificate ( a gracious one!) forLulu lemon
( Lulu Lemon started here in British Columbia- fun fact of the day) . Were going on a shopping/family visits/new years trip next week and I cant wait to buy some new lulu pants!~ Shaun can't wait for me to get them either ;)

We were spoiled absolutely rotten by our families. I don't think I've ever gotten so many gifts in my life. And then we spent the evening at Shaun's auntie's house where they had a fresh turkey, plenty of wine and some amazing family to visit with.

I just love his family to bits. They are so warm, and kind, and hilarious, and laid back. I still get shy around them but its easy to tell how amazing they are. Good people. I just felt like this Christmas was absolutely perfect. Relaxing, enjoyable, and warm. All the things I hoped it would be and more. I am sad its over but excited for 2012.

I hope you all had a great Christmas and cheers to reading some great books in 2012!

I'll leave you with my favourite holiday pic I took on the new camera- Shaun's brother swimming in the mounds of wrapping paper!

hosted by Alison Can Read and Parajunkee!

Question of the Week: If you had to spend eternity inside the pages of a book which book would you choose and why?

Well. After just finishing Kagawa's The Iron King ( see previous post!), I think I could kick it in the Nevernever with Ash for awhile. DONT tell me what happens next :P And yes, I will be reading the rest of these soon enough!

Merry Christmas everyone! Hope Santa's good to you! Cheers xo

Meghan Chase has a secret destiny; one she could never have imagined.Something has always felt slightly off in Meghan's life, ever since her father disappeared before her eyes when she was six. She has never quite fit in at school or at home.When a dark stranger begins watching her from afar, and her prankster best friend becomes strangely protective of her, Meghan senses that everything she's known is about to change.But she could never have guessed the truth - that she is the daughter of a mythical faery king and is a pawn in a deadly war. Now Meghan will learn just how far she'll go to save someone she cares about, to stop a mysterious evil no faery creature dare face; and to find love with a young prince who might rather see her dead than let her touch his icy heart.

I can not, CAN NOT get enough of books like The Iron King by Julie Kagawa. All of the characters were so interesting, and this book was just full of so much story potential. I'm glad there are 4 books (and two ebooks) because this one story just didn't cover enough ground for me.

I really felt that Kagawa put elements of everything fantastical into this one story. I almost wished she toned it down and developed it a bit more and this is what I am hoping for in the upcoming books ( don't spoil it for me I know most of you have read it!). It was like LOTR, some anime, HP, Chronicles of Narnia, and every other fantasy book/movie/tv show all in one. Not super original but exciting none-the-less.

I was left with so many questions at the end of this! What's the deal with Meghan's "dad" Paul?! I'm dying to know. The whole Oberon being her real father thing and then *SPOILER* the memory of her father disappearing just made no sense to me, and left so many questions. I'm confused about a lot of things but I think some of my questions will most likely be resolved in upcoming books.I felt a lot of the magical parts, like the park that was the sanctuary from Virus for example, and the various chases through the woods, were a little vague also, and I would have really liked more description. as I have mentioned, I am crossing my fingers for Kagawa to slow down and tell me a really awesome story within the next books.

What surprised me was how much I LOVE ASH! Usually I am making fun of the romances in YA, ( and pretty much every book) and rarely do I ever find myself falling in love with the character. I mean I like Jacob over Edward, but neither made my heart skip a beat like Ash does. I think I've found my man! Or... we'll see at least. Did you ever peg me for an Ash girl? I just really loved how Kagawa wrote their chemistry and it did it for me. Also, he's a prince :)

If Goodreads had half stars, this book is a 3.5 for me, but since it doesn't I'm giving it 4, for excitement and potential but just not quite enough. If the other books live up to my expectations and build on what I already know from The Iron King, this series has some 'seri-ous' (pun intended) 5 star quality.

Goodreads Summary:
In Maggie Stiefvater's Shiver, Grace and Sam found each other.
Now, in Linger, they must fight to be together. For Grace,
this means defying her parents and keeping a very dangerous
secret about her own well-being. For Sam,
this means grappling with his werewolf past . . . and figuring out a way to survive into the future. Add into the mix a new wolf named Cole, whose own past has the potential to destroy the whole pack. And Isabelle, who already lost her brother to the wolves . . . and is nonetheless drawn to Cole.

At turns harrowing and euphoric, Linger is a spellbinding love story that explores both sides of love -- the light and the dark, the warm and the cold -- in a way you will never forget.

YAY! I finally came around to this series! This book was WAY better than the first one. Less Sam and Grace awkwardly falling for each other and more story developing! I am actually looking foreword to reading Forever, and then Scorpio Races as well.

What really did this one justice for me was Isabel & Cole. Not only do I totally love their characters, but it was AWESOME to get their POV. The whole book could have been about those two and Id have been just as happy. I am totally pumped to see what happens in Forever! There is just something about Isabel I love. How she found out what was going on in Mercy Falls, tries to help, and gets involved even though she hasn't been bitten. I admire her. Shes definitely evolved from book one and I am totally into it!

Grace has never really done it for me but I am starting to like Sam a lot more too. His constant lyric writing kind of annoys me but I like how he's stepped into Beck's role a bit and I'm hoping to see more of that in book three.

As long as Forever is all about the torturous love between Grace and Sam, and actually has some beef to it, I think I'll like it.

AND THE PRINT WAS IN GREEN! I had no idea, and thought this was awesome.
3/5

Well. I am really tempted to write a rant of a post about how much I hated Stephanie Perkins' ( the hyperlink is to her blog where she begs you to buy her books) Anna and the French Kiss.

Where, oh where, to start? Firstly, I didn't like Anna. I thought she was unintelligent, ( everyone at least knows a little bit of french/about Paris!) and very ungrateful. I would have LOVED to go to a boarding school in Paris in my senior year! I was just building and building with rage as she rattled on and on ( and like, and like, and like a daft 13 year old like totally) about disliking her life. Her thoughts about His Holiness, St.Clair, made me want to vomit also. I found her very un-relate able, and unbelievable. I just didn't understand her at all. I thought her hair sounded ugly also. It sounds funny, but it's true.

Which brings me to the other half of this book that I hated, St.Clair. What a TOOL. If ANY guy I knew was trying to flirt/hook up/waste my time like that when he had a girlfriend, I wouldn't spend one thought on him, and he sure as hell wouldn't be spending the night in my bed. In my opinion, if I were Anna, I would see his behaviour as a huge character flaw and kick him to the curb. She has very horrible taste in men in my opinion.

I could go on ( and on) about all the reasons I didn't like this one, but I think I'll stop there and move on to the positives. I thought it was awesome when Anna put a Canadian flag on her pack, made me feel pretty patriotic. Best part in the book. Perkins' writing isn't bad either, I'm not hating on that at all, the story actually flowed well for nearly 400 pages of Anna annoying me.

Mostly, I just realized how much I love reading. That even though I was curled up on my couch spending time with a book I hated, I was still enjoying myself. I was relaxed, it was a quick read and it's another book done of my tbr list. I guess that's when you really know you've got a true love for reading, when it almost doesn't matter what you're reading, your just grateful there was time in your day you could. On that note, I have A LOT of books beside me I'm going to pound out before they're due back to the library, so you'll be hearing from me soon. <3
As for this one, it gets a 1/5.

Here is the goodreads synopsis for those ( unlike myself) who may enjoy it.

Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris - until she meets Etienne St. Clair: perfect, Parisian (and English and American, which makes for a swoon-worthy accent), and utterly irresistible. The only problem is that he's taken, and Anna might be, too, if anything comes of her almost-relationship back home. As winter melts into spring, will a year of romantic near - misses end with the French kiss Anna - and readers - have long awaited?

So hard to find time to sit and make a post this time of year. Like our whiteboard calender on the fridge is just COVERED with plans. I sort of love it. Even if I'm hungover more than not.

I am reading a really sh*tty book right now though so I'm definitely stalling. I'm halfway through though so should be too painful to finish it up, and boy are you gunna hear about that one.

What I DID find time here to post about was our CHRISTMAS tree. We went a found one today and I never remember how much I love having the tree up until it's that time of year again. I haven't had a real tree since I was very young despite my begging and pleading, but this year Shaun and I decided to spend Christmas morning here together, just the two of us, and I dint have to go work for the first time in what would have been 6 years so I'm f^cking PUMPED for Christmas day. Ill go to any party, buy everyone all the gifts I can afford, bake, countdown, play carols ( love Soma FM's Christmas Lounge, SOOO groovy), and do about everything I can to make this one as awesome as I can.

So I am apologizing for not having a review up in a while, but at the same time wanted to share with you my Christmas cheeeeeer! And I'll leave you with a cute picture of Shaun hauling our tree out of the forest.

As weird as this may sound to you. I somehow missed the whole Harry Potter thing. I was probably sneaking out of school to get stoned and walking through the forest with my friends. But yeah, I missed it. I saw the movies because I used to work at a movie theater and saw EVERY movie. I really liked the movies but felt my experience with Harry just wasn't the same as those who have read those delightful stories.

I tried to deny wanting to read them, I really did. I put it off and put it off and then just gave up on the idea of reading them. I obviously know what happens so I didn't really see the point in reading the books. HAHA!

So last week Shaun mentions he has never seen the movies. I was in utter shock at this fact, and wasn't quite sure how to handle the situation until I came up with a BRILLIANT idea. To read a book, then watch a movie, read the next book, watch the next move, etc! I know! Such a good idea!

So this weekend I read the very first Harry Potter, and truly fell in love with it, for what it was meant to be. I absolutely LOVED Hagrid and The Weasleys especially in the first book. It took me less than 48 hours easy to fly through it, and I am so grateful I did. I am excited to keep on going slow but sure ( i don`t intent to read them back to back) and really appreciated Rowling`s writing and the characters she created. Chamber of Secrets here I come!

In compliance with FTC guidelines, I disclose that I received the book for free through Goodreads First Reads!!!
( thanks Simon & Schuster Canada!)

The Placebo Effect
by David Rotenberg

Goodreads Summary:
Decker Roberts has the dangerous gift of detecting the truth (synaesthesia). But when his carefully compartmentalized life starts to fall apart he has to go on the run and figure out why he’s being targeted. There’s also a government agency hunting him down who seems to know everything about him and other people of “his kind.” How will Decker find out which truth was endangering his life? Who betrayed him and revealed all his secrets? Decker needs to find answers quickly, before knowing the truth turns from a gift into a deadly curse.

Well, let me start off by saying this is the first ARC of anything I have ever read so I was really excited to read it. This one will be published January 3rd FYI.

Our MC, Decker Roberts, has the unique ability to 'see' if someone is telling him the truth. Because of this unique gift, how he acquired it, and who else has acquired similar gifts, everyone is after him. This book had so many unique characters in it, a sneaky pharmaceutical company with a dirty head honcho, a hot national service agency agent keeping tabs on our MC, and a couple of crazy people. You know, the usual.

This book takes you through the events in Decker's ever complicated life as we follow him through it. However, we have pretty much no clue ( like Decker) what is going or happening until it happens. This made Rotenberg's book fairy fast paced as I was always wanting to know what was going to happen next. I did feel lost sometimes, but once the story started unravelling about 100 pages in, I really got into it.

Aside from a couple Dan Brown books, I have never read anything all that suspenseful and mysterious. Its definitely a lot different from appearing circuses, magic spells, and chicks who date werewolves, but to be honest, I really liked this change of pace, and enjoyed this one more than I thought I would.

My favourite parts were the little Canadian jokes thrown in to the dialogue and also the very brief mentioning of Vancouver Island as that's where I live. Its always fun to read about a place your familiar with and see what other people's (authors in this case) opinions of it are. For the record, I really don;t see many beat up old Volvo's driving around, but that part in the book made me chuckle!
3/5 for me. I DID like this one but it gets three for hyping me up and kind of fizzing out at the end.