Liebster Award!! =D

The Liebster Blog Award is given to upcoming bloggers who have 200 followers or less. It helps people to get to know you as a blogger while introducing your blog to new viewers.

I was tagged/nominated for the Liebter Blog Award!! Thank you so much H.K from A Solitary Passion for nominating me! <3

Here are the rules:

1. Each person chosen must provide 11 facts about themselves.
2. Answer the 11 questions that the blogger who tagged you has given, then think of 11 questions for the people you tag.
3. Choose 11 people to receive the award and link them in your post
4. Be sure to tell these people that you've tagged them.
5. Remember, no tag backs (in other words: don't tag the person who tagged you.)

~11 Facts about me:

1. I'm a hopeless romantic.
2. I have trouble trusting people.
3. I keep a journal and I title my entries.
4. I don't like to plan ahead, because things almost never go as I plan. I'm a 'I'll cross that bridge when I get to it' kind of person.
5. I'm a sucker for blue eyes <3
6. I'm told that I'm too nice to people and that is why they use me. I'm beginning to think that's true......
7. When I truly like something/someone, I talk about it/them ALL. THE. TIME. My poor mom has to listen to me go on and on and on.....
8. I'm obsessed with saving the environment and helping other people. I do all that I can in my power to achieve these goals. 
9. Fifty Shades books are the only books I have ever skip-read. Too much repetition. And even then I could recite phrases from then because they were repeated so much.
10. When I was young I used to dream of becoming a singer, actress, archaeologist, journalist etc. In short, my dream professions changed almost every month.
11. I'm much more confident online than I am in person.

~Questions for me:

1. In one sentence: who are you?

Ans: I'm Hira.... Honestly, I'm really bad at about mes..... So I'm not sure how to answer this =/

2. What's something a lot of people do that you disagree with?

Ans: I don't like it when people back bite and I notice that a lot of people do it. It's so wrong....

3. What's something no one can take away from you?

Ans: My belief and trust in God.

4. What's a common misconception that people have about you?

Ans: That I'm bad at keeping secrets and I can't be trusted. I don't know why people get this impression of me 'cause honestly I'm very good at keeping secrets and I'm more trustworthy than most people..

5. Your favorite quote?

Ans: “I believe that everything happens for a reason. People change so that you can learn to let go, things go wrong so that you appreciate them when they're right, you believe lies so you eventually learn to trust no one but yourself, and sometimes good things fall apart so better things can fall together.”
― Marilyn Monroe

6. Do you believe honesty is the best policy? 

Ans: Yes, I do. I've learnt that you get into much more trouble if you lie and honesty can solve a lot of problems. But I'm not saying that you should tell everyone everything. I think it'd be better to say "I'm not comfortable sharing that with you." rather than making up a lie.

7. Describe yourself in 3 words.

Ans: Honest, hard-working & lazy.

8. Which dead author would you want to be haunted by?

Ans: Oh that's a hard one...... Can I skip? I'm skipping this question, sorry! I'd rather be haunted by a book character (namely Jesse) than an author. =P

9. What do you want to be known for?

Ans: I want to be known for my honesty and personality. I want to be known as a good friend and a good person.

10. What do you do when nothing else seems to make you happy?

Ans: Lie on my bed, hug my pillow tight and cry myself to sleep. Or talk to God, knowing that He's listening and He'll help me.

11.  Who do you think is the worst writer?

Ans: Well it's kinda mean I guess but out of all the authors I've read, I disliked Judy Blume's work the most. I've tried two of her novels and they've disappointed me every time. No more Blume for me.

~Questions by me:

1. Describe yourself in a sentence.
2. What's your guilty pleasure?
3. What's your favorite childhood book?
4. What is the worst punishment that you've ever received and for what?
5. What's your most embarrassing moment?
6. What is the worst book you've ever read?
7. What was your favorite cartoon as a child?
8. What is the most unusual/craziest thing that has ever happened to you?
9. What is the one thing you could tell us about yourself that others would be shocked to know?
10. Your biggest dream?
11. If a character from a book could come to life, who would you want it to be and why?

~Nominations:

1. ChickLitGirl
2. A Reader in Time
3. Literary Marie's Precision Reviews
4. Sarah's Shelf
5. Whatever You Can Still Betray
6. Wild Heart Book Reviews
7. You're Absolutely Write
8. The 828
9. S.I.K Book Reviews
10. Crystal Reads
11. Perpetual Chaos of a Wandering Mind

Summer Giveaway!!

I have had a giveaway by an author but I have never hosted a giveaway myself. So.... here's my first giveaway!!

Since it's summer so I named it the 'Summer Giveaway' =P And I'm about to reach 10000 page-views & 50 followers so I was going to host a giveaway for that anyway. (BTW a HUGE Thank You to all my followers! I know 50's not a big number but it's a start..)

Now for the prizes. I can't send a printed copy 'cause it's WAY too expensive and I'm only a student. So I'm giving away e-books! I own a lot of e-books because they are easier to get & manage, so I had trouble choosing which books to giveaway.

In the end I decided to giveaway *insert drum roll*

I chose this book because a lot of people seemed to love it, plus I have recently purchased this myself and I haven't read it yet.

Rules:

1. Giveaway is international.
2. It'll end on 15 July, 2012 (my birthday!) & the winner will be announced on 16 July.
3. You can only enter once.
4. To enter, fill out the rafflecopter form below.
5. It is mandatory to follow this blog and it contains two point value.
6. There are 4 other ways of entering, each containing one point value.
7. Winner will be chosen randomly.
8. Winner will be notified by email and must respond within 48 hours or a new winner will be chosen.
9. Winner will be e-mailed an e-copy (pdf) of Divergent by Veronica Roth.

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Reading Challenge Updates

Remember when I signed up for 3 reading challenges? Yeah, me neither. But then I saw the buttons in my sidebar and remembered! And now I'm going to update you on how I've done so far.

First off, Off The Shelf Reading Challenge. Here's my book list for this challenge:

1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin
2. Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte
3. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini
4. The Vampire Diaries-The Hunters-Phantom
5. Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

Strike-thoughed are the ones I've read so far. 

Next is Book Blogger Recommendation Challenge. My list:

1. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austin
2. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins
3. Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead
4. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
5. The Notebook by Nicholas Sparks

And the last one is Cruisin' thru the Cozies Reading Challenge. Now my school library is filled with cozy mysteries but it's summer vacations so I can't borrow and I can't get any books here. So now I'll finish this challenge when I go back to school and I'll keep updating as I read the books.

Did you sign up for any challenge this year? If yes, then how are you doing so far?

Book Review (ARC)~ The Substitute by Holly Barrington

Title: The Substitute
Author: Holly Barrington 
Publisher: Self-published
Publish Date: May 31st 2012
Format: e-book
Pages: 119
Links: Goodreads ~ Amazon

Summary: “The Substitute” is set in an alternate Britain, where Vampires and Mortals co-exist more or less in harmony. However, that may soon be about to change . . .

Emily Brown starts her new job at Pathway Software, and at first everything goes well. She makes new friends there and her bosses are impressed so things are really looking up for Emily. Until her friend is killed. Murdered. The official account said it was a gang hit gone bad, and rumours suggest she had drugs in her possession.

However another, unofficial, report suggests that the bullet wounds were all post-mortem, and the drugs were planted on her in the morgue. It also says that she suffered multiple broken bones, cuts, contusions and…vampire bites. Everything suggests that her friend died a brutal and vicious death at the hands of a number of vampires.

Vampire and Mortal relations are, on the whole, very good. Ever since The Compact, there have been eighty five years of unprecedented peace between the two worlds. But there are some dissenters, the foremost of which are the sinister Circle of Ixiom. And Emily is about to become their bitterest enemy . . . 

Rating: 7.5/10

Source: Received an ARC from author (thank you Holly!)

Cover Talk: It may not be 'outstanding' or 'out of this world' but I like it. It's simple and it relates to the story. So if I saw it on a book shelf, I would definitely pick it up.

My Thoughts: I have no idea why it took me so long to finish this book. Actually I do, it's because I received it in the midst of my exams and then immediately after my exams I went abroad on vacation, and since I didn't have an e-reader (which I finally have now, so yaay! =D) I couldn't finish this book earlier, even when it is a quick read.

I really liked the book. And it was really very good for a first book. The first half I found a bit boring. I'm really not at all into politics so I found the political talk, the history and the computer talk slightly boring and to be honest I didn't understand much of it either. But it turns out, it wasn't that important to understand it. The fun lies in the story....

I loved the idea! It was fresh and new and the best thing is that this book was different from all the other vampire books out there. They have vampire-mortal romance and hot mysterious vampires. I liked how this book was no where near that. That doesn't mean it wasn't a good read! As much as I love the hot mysterious vampires, I think this was a good break from all those same stories.

And hey! Who doesn't love a good spy story, right? Yes, this was a spy story. That you came to know in the second half of the book which I simply adored! The suspense, how little by little the secrets were revealed, everything!

I loved Emily! She was a smart, confident and witty girl and I totally found her believable. I've observed that when authors describe spies they usually describe them as perfect which I find a little exaggerated. I mean, they're spies, yes, but they're humans too! Holly didn't do that with Emily. She kept a perfect balance in Emily's personality where she was a pretty good spy, but she wasn't perfect and made mistakes too.

The ending was the best part for me! I finished the book a few minutes ago and I'm still excited from the ending! It was perfect!! I know I'm fan-girling right now and since I can't write what happened (that way I would be spoiling it for you guys) I can only say, I loved it!!!

I just wish there was more detail in the book. A little more detail in the descriptions would've been great. Oh and a squeal to the book wouldn't be a bad idea either...

All in all, the book was awesome and I definitely recommend it too my readers, who like spy stories and vampires (not the Edward kind)!

Extras: This is something new that I'm starting and from now on with every review I'll post something extra, like a picture or a video or a song..... something related to the book I have reviewed. (I don't know if any other reviewers do this, but I came up with this idea myself. So just as a note, I didn't steal this idea from anyone. But ideas can match and if someone else does this too then it's purely co-incidental)

Some characters in the book reminded me of actors and so I'm posting a few pictures of the actors they reminded me of (Note: it's not just the physical appearance but also the personality): 

Caradoc

Sebastian Roche (Mikael from The Vampire Diaries)

Emily Brown

Sarah Michelle Gellar (Buffy)

Sophia/Lily

Hilarie Burton (Sara Ellis from White Collar)

David

David Boreanaz (Seeley Booth from Bones)

Sally and Ella

Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen

Random (TV)~ Legend of Korra

So good news is that I have internet here!! =D That means I can blog!

Now, this isn't a book-related post but I'm a big Avatar fan and the season finale of Legend of Korra aired yesterday and I wanted to fan-girl about it so here goes.... (Note to people who haven't seen it yet, don't worry there aren't any spoilers)

First of all, are there any Korra fans out there? If yes, then what did you think of the first season??

Here's what I thought: at first I didn't like it much. I mean I LOVE Avatar. Like seriously I'm a BIG fan. But Korra seemed boring to me in the beginning. Everything was so slow. And the graphics were too dark.

But then as I watched further I started liking it. The story was great. I did't really like the pro-bending stuff and whenever there was a match scene I couldn't wait for it to be over (I'm not much into sports). But the Equalists and Amon and everything were incredible. How the story folded out, the mystery of who Amon really was and how it was all revealed in the season finale.

Korra's a strong character. She's a tom-boyish kinda girl and I really like that about her. She's headstrong and determined but she has a hard time being patient.

The other characters in the show were good too. Tenzin's kids were adorable! And Tenzin himself was a great character. Bolin is just so sweet. And Mako is so hot!! All in all I liked all the characters and their stories.

Now the romance. To be honest, I liked Mako better with Asami. And the Korra-Mako relationship 'just happened'. I mean at first they were so distant and then suddenly the 'loved' each other. I don't know why but I didn't buy it. And while we're on the topic I didn't like Aang with Katara or Zuko with Mai either. I guess I don't enjoy the romance in the Avatar series =P

The finale was awesome! And the best part was it wasn't open-ended. Oh and hearing Zuko's voice was like music to my ears! <3 Zuko's voice is the hottest voice I have ever heard and when I came to know that Dante Basco (the guy who voiced Zuko) was going to voice a character on Korra I was thrilled! And the character he voiced was Zuko's grandson General Iroh who obviously did have Zuko's good looks ;)

I can't wait for the next season! No word on when it's airing but I heard that half of it will be in Republic City and the other half, around the world. That means travelling! Yaay!

I'll leave you with this cute Mako-Korra kiss at the end of the finale. Though I didn't like their romance but now that they are together, they look kinda cute, don't they?

Vacation

Just a quick note. I'm going on vacation starting tomorrow. I may post reviews but I can't promise anything. I'm not accepting any books. And I'll be back in September. Will miss y'all!

~Hira