JULY 2017 BOOK HAUL x BLOG RECAP!

Hellooooooooo from this side of the planet! HOW ARE YOU? Hope you are all doing awesome! I bought a bunch of books this month, because July is a sale month here, so here are the books I got!

BOUGHT: (BOOK SALE STORE)
- Airhead (Airhead #1) by Meg Cabot
- Being Nikki (Airhead #2) by Meg Cabot
- Runaway (Airhead, #3) by Meg Cabot
- The Iron Trial (Magisterium #1) by Holly Black and Cassandra Clare
- And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini
- Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and Through the Looking-Glass (Penguin Classics) Reissue Edition by Lewis Carroll,‎ Hugh Haughton, John Tenniel

FULLYBOOKED SALE, 2ND BATCH HEHEHE
- Captivate (Need #2) by Carrie Jones
- Revelations (The Elysium Chronicles, #2) by J.A. Souders
- Horde (Razorland #3) by Ann Aguirre
- Vengeance Bound by Justina Ireland

On a separate blog post, I shared what are the 8 titles I bought from the Fullybooked's 10th Anniversary sale!

I bought 19 books in total this month ehehehe. Hoarding will never stop any time soon, I guess hohohohohohohhuuhuhuh

JULY 2017 BLOG POSTS RECAP

July 01 - Fullybooked's 10th Anniversary Sale Haul!
July 03 - Rainy July Reads!
July 06 - 4-star review of poetry book This is How it Starts by Dawn Lanuza
July 09 - My Biblio, UP Town Experience!
July 12 - 5-star review of Ana Tejano's Fall Like Rain
July 15 - 4-star review of potery book The Last Time I'll Write About You by Dawn Lanuza
July 19 - 5-star review of P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han
July 26 - 5-star review of Always and Forever, Lara Jean by Jenny Han
July 31 - July 2017 Book Haul x Blog Recap

HOW WAS YOUR MONTH?

REVIEW: ALWAYS AND FOREVER, LARA JEAN BY JENNY HAN.

Title: Always and Forever, Lara Jean
Author: Jenny Han
Series: To All the Boys I've Loved Before #3
Edition: Hardbound
Publication: May 2nd 2017 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Source: Bought from National Bookstore
Pages: 336
Genre: Contemporary, Realistic Fiction, Romance, Chick-Lit

Synopsis:
Lara Jean’s letter-writing days aren’t over in this surprise follow-up to the New York Times bestselling To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before and P.S. I Still Love You.

Lara Jean is having the best senior year a girl could ever hope for. She is head over heels in love with her boyfriend, Peter; her dad’s finally getting remarried to their next door neighbor, Ms. Rothschild; and Margot’s coming home for the summer just in time for the wedding.

But change is looming on the horizon. And while Lara Jean is having fun and keeping busy helping plan her father’s wedding, she can’t ignore the big life decisions she has to make. Most pressingly, where she wants to go to college and what that means for her relationship with Peter. She watched her sister Margot go through these growing pains. Now Lara Jean’s the one who’ll be graduating high school and leaving for college and leaving her family—and possibly the boy she loves—behind.

When your heart and your head are saying two different things, which one should you listen to?

PURCHASE THE BOOK HERE:

Amazon ▴ Barnes and Noble ▴ Book Depository ▴ Fullybooked

Always and Forever, Lara Jean is a suprise follow-up book for the To All the Boys I've Loved Before series. It wasn't supposed to come out but Jenny Han loves her readers she gifted us another one that we will treasure forever. However, I think PS was the perfect ending.

I am thankful that I get to spend so much time with Peter K in this book and we get to see old characters again. But since I marathon-ed the books, the gap between PS and Always is so obvious I felt like I was reading a totally different series. I felt it. And half of the book kind of dragged for me. It was just so fortunate that Peter K's retorts made me laugh and love him even more.

The last seventy pages shattered me. I wasn't expecting it to be this raw and I felt so much pain for myself and for Peter. He didn't deserve that treatment, no he did not. He's worth it too just like Lara Jean and I couldn't help but shed a tear or two because damn heartache is real.

Also, I am going to miss Stormy.

Always and Forever, Lara Jean is best read if you miss the characters so badly. This series just became one of my favorite series of all time and thank you, Jenny for making me love the entire cast even more. Bittersweet ending, I know I wouldn't be able to say goodbye just yet. I keep making up stories in my head because I NEED A BOOK IN PETER K'S POV!

Other posts you might also want to check out:

To All The Boys I've Loved Before review

P.S. I Still Love You review

Jenny Han in PH Book Signing Event in 2014

My live tweets thread during my readthon

"Peter will love Lara Jean with all his heart, always"

"Pack light and figure the rest out as you go."

"I guess that's part of growing up, too--saying goodbye to the things you used to love."

REVIEW: P.S. I STILL LOVE YOU BY JENNY HAN.

Title: P.S. I Still Love You
Author: Jenny Han
Series: To All the Boys I've Loved Before #2
Edition: Hardbound
Publication: May 26, 2015 by Simon & Schuster Books for Young Readers
Source: Bought from Book Outlet
Pages: 337
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, Realistic Fiction

Synopsis:
Lara Jean didn’t expect to really fall for Peter.
She and Peter were just pretending. Except suddenly they weren’t. Now Lara Jean is more confused than ever.
When another boy from her past returns to her life, Lara Jean’s feelings for him return too. Can a girl be in love with two boys at once?

In this charming and heartfelt sequel to the New York Times bestseller To All the Boys I've Loved Before, we see first love through the eyes of the unforgettable Lara Jean. Love is never easy, but maybe that’s part of what makes it so amazing.

PURCHASE THE BOOK HERE:

Amazon ▴ Barnes and Noble ▴ Book Depository ▴ National Bookstore ▴ Fullybooked

The first time I read To All the Boys I've Loved Before was back in 2014 and it was an underwhelming read to me. I was all hyped up about the book but then I didn't get anything from it. It was such a bummer I didn't enjoy it as much as I wanted to. Fast forward to 2017 and after re-reading it in prep for books 2 and 3, I was like, OMGGG?? WHAT WAS I THINKING BACK THEN?? WHY AM I JUST NOTICING PETER K NOWWWW? I LOVED IT SO SO MUCH?? The experience this time was absolutely different I still feel my heart go wild whenever think about this book! Like, I couldn't believe my review back then. PETER K LEGIT CAPTURED MY HEART AND GOD DAMN IT, I AM SO EXTREMELY JOYFUL TO HAVE MET LARA JEAN AND PETER K THE SECOND TIME AROUND!

I have so many feelings and thoughts about PS I Still Love You I can't map them all out properly. Just like TATBILB did to me, I am a huge mess right now. THIS BOOK IS PERFECTION. A quick read but packed with everything I needed in a story. It's just amazing to see how much a book can do damage to your well-being (in a good bookish way).

PSISLY isn't what I can put in the Middle Book Syndrome List. It's one of the best sophomore books I've read in a while and it just makes me so happy that I loved it. The amount of awww, oh, and OMG expressions I've uttered while reading blew me away because this one is THAT good. But there are just some points I didn't understand (but didn't make me love this any less)

- How can Peter let Gen manipulate him?
- How can he let her get away with everything when he says he is over her?
- How can he put Lara Jean in a position where she feels she's just his option? (LIKE, REALLY, PETER K?)
- How can Lara Jean not trust her get and still believes nothing is going on between Peter and Geb when she saw it with her own eyes? (COME ON)
- How did Gen become the victim?
- How can Gen's manipulative and abusive behaviour not discussed and given attention to? Nothing she did is okay.

Even though I didn't get much of Peter K in this book, I appreciated Lara Jean's development here. She's not that naive anymore and she's a much better sister to Kitty in this book. Her relationship with her family is one aspect I am thrilled about and I'm absolutely happy to have been given plenty of that. I still adore Kitty so much for being a child and an adult all at the same time! You get me? She is so fierce and she made everything happen!

Jenny Han wrote the love triangle in a quirky way. I was so against it being the center of the story, I couldn't help but feel angsty towards Peter K. I do love him its just that his actions are ridiculous to me (regarding Gen). Lara Jean did put up a fight and to be honest, she made the right choice BECAUSE THAT IS THE CHOICE I WANT HAHA

P.S. Still Love You made me fall in love with Peter K harder (and Lara Jean). This story keeps making me squeal and I still have butterflies while writing my review! It is absolutely the perfect follow-up installment and man, I wish I read it sooner!

*I call this sophomore book because I read it long after Always and Forever, Lara Jean was released. This was supposed to be a duology.*

"I know now that I don’t want to love or be loved in half measures. I want it all, and to have it all, you have to risk it all."

"People come in and out of your life. For a time they are your world; they are everything. And then one day they’re not. There’s no telling how long you will have them near."

"You have to let yourself be fully present in every moment. Just be awake for it, do you know what I mean? Go all in and wring every last drop out of the experience."

"It doesn't become important until you don't have it anymore."

REVIEW: THE LAST TIME I'LL WRITE ABOUT YOU BY DAWN LANUZA.

Title: The Last Time I'll Write About You
Author: Dawn Lanuza
Series: Standalone
Edition: Paperback
Publication: 2016
Source: Bought from the author
Genre: Poetry

Synopsis:
Should I be
Thankful
Or
Regretful
That my only idea
Of love
Is
You?

PURCHASE THE BOOK HERE:

 ▴ Amazon ▴

This is the first poetry book I owned and I quite enjoyed it. It wasn't as deep as opposed to what I am accustomed to but it still pinches the heart greatly. The lines are written as if you wrote them yourself in the middle of the night while nursing your broken heart and this one is absolutely relatable!

Made these by the way:

"I meant to keep you but I didn't want to be kept. You see the problem?"

"You are the dream but I've had wake-up calls"

REVIEW: FALL LIKE RAIN BY ANA TEJANO.

Title: Fall Like Rain
Author: Ana Tejano
Series: Standalone
Edition: Paperback
Publication: September 29th 2014 by Createspace Independent Publishing Platform
Source: Bought from the author
Pages: 164
Genre: New Adult, Romance

Synopsis:

Rain De Castro has been in love with her best friend, Mark Velasco, for almost the entire time she has known him, but she's clearly in the friend zone because he's happily in a relationship. Or so she thought, until the news of his break-up reaches her. Now that Mark's single again, she decides that it's time to get out of the zone. But when her cousin Lissa comes into the picture and sets her eyes on Mark, Rain feels troubled when he gets a little too friendly with her. Rain is determined to fight for what she feels this time, but is it worth the effort if it's a losing battle from the start? Will she back off to give way for her best friend's happiness, even if it means losing him to someone else again?

PURCHASE THE BOOK HERE:

Amazon ▴ Romance Class ▴ Book Depository ▴ Author's Website

THAT ONE STORY THAT MADE ME WANNA GET DRUNK.. TO KILL THE FEELINGS.. BECAUSE THEY ARE ALL OVER THE PLACE.. AND IT FUCKING STINGS TOO MUCH...

So ummmm. Man, this is heavy (for me, at least). I'm sobbing so hard right now because this book is my story. I wish I wrote this but thankfully Ana did because I just got no writing talents. Oh, gosh, I'm trashed. This story is so freaking familiar I wanted to change Rain's name to Kate. I looooooved it. I'm so disgustingly incoherent right now omgggggg what am I even trying to say

*inhales, exhales*

Fall Like Rain is a book that made me feel waves of emotions that were all too familiar to me: dancing around a feeling I have been trying to deny to myself, reading too much into simple things, at war with myself all the time, weighing two sides of a story to justify a certain action, jealousy, disappointment, expectations and a lot more. After reading this, it felt as if I was drowning with my own feelings. Like I said, I wanted a drink after I read this. It's so SO real to me because this is MY experience. Ana, what are you doing to me? My heart is so fragile stop breaking it (also don't stop?).

I related so much to Rain and Mark's story because six or seven years ago, I was in the same exact place as Rain. Holding everything back to save a friendship that is too important to me is one of the hardest things I ever had to endure. OMG I can go oooooon about this but no, I won't. #SoMuchHugot There's really this magic in the way Ana writes and I think I've said that over and over but you can't go and be wrong when it comes to Ana's books.

This is the ending I have hoped for myself. Only it didn't happen. Ouch HAHA. Thereby the slight bitterness and the reason for the tsunami tears.

Fall like Rain is an amazing take on how fate finds ways to connect hearts that are meant to be. It's a story of uncertainty and dispair turned to happy the-best-thing-ever and it-is-finally-happening moments.

"Because you're here and I don't have to look for you anymore."

"But what if this doesn’t work out?" I asked, my voice cracking a little. "What if he still doesn’t choose me?"

"Only best friends can keep this dancing game on for so long."

BOOKISH HAVEN: BIBLIO, UP TOWN DILIMAN.

Last April, I attended a #RomanceClass event in UP Town Center in Quezon City. The #AprilFeelsDay2017 event was the second RC event I was able to go to because there is no way I would pass this one up. It was also the first time I went to that place and boy, I fell in love. The place was the perfect venue for the Feels event because it's cozy and warm.

Since it was my first time there, I wasnt expecting anything special aside from the typical mall boutiques. But something special was there. The event was just beside Biblio, a local book seller of bargain books! It was the first thing I went into before I actually registered in to the event. Of course, you know me guys, I love rummaging book sale tables so this store wasn't any different but different altogether.

I've read about Biblio in a online article last year but I didn't think I would be able to visit or rather stumble upon its branch in UP Town. I mean, I legit squealed when I saw it. Then I immediately scanned the wallshelves and I was just sucked into the vortex of books.

What I liked most about Biblio is their wall display. My bookish heart couldn't take it at first but it's just a brilliant way to display it and I also liked that they sell other bookish materials like bookends, notebooks, paperweights etc. I really wanted to buy the vintage bike bookends though.

I was able to buy 3 books from this branch and got a free coffee! If I didn't have any events to go to, I would have stayed a little bit longer. They have various titles from all genres! They even have encyclopedias (I think) there!

I am scheduling another trip there in the next coming months and this time, I will savor my stay bahaha I dunno what I'm
saying but it's definitely a nice place to spend time at!

Here are the books I bought from Biblio!

REVIEW: THIS IS HOW IT STARTS BY DAWN LANUZA.

Title: This is How it Starts
Author: Dawn Lanuza
Series: Standalone
Edition: Kindle
Publication: June 24th 2017 by Indie Sisiw Books
Source: Bought from Amazon
Pages: 62
Genre: Poetry

Synopsis:

Not all
heartbreaks
have to end
with you
broken.

PURCHASE THE BOOK HERE:

Amazon

Another short masterpiece by my lovely Dawn! This is my second poetry book by her and I loved it! I just feel so sorry for my heart after reading this. The things you read in here would either rip you apart or uplift you (but mostly rip you apart). Don't be fooled by how quick this read is because the feels could probably smack you down. Exquisite book! The cover and illustrations are cute and I know this would be perfect once printed! Can't wait for the print copy!

"We're no longer present in the future
We once imagined in the past."

RAINY JULY READS!

We are now into the second half of 2017! How did that happen so fast? Well, I'm just glad summer is over because I seriously cannot with the heat! But here are four titles I cannot wait to get my hands on this month!

The Color Project by Sierra Abrams (18th)

I heard nothing but praises for this book and it is such an honor to be given an eARC of this! Thank you Sierra for the galley and early congrats to you!

Lucky in Love by Kasie West (25th)

I haven't established yet a very strong relationship with Kasie West's writing but I am hoping so much that this book would bridge it! The ARC looks so cute! Thank you Scholastic Philippines for my galley!

The Library of Fates by Aditi Khorana (18th)

Another story in Indian Folklore? OMG that premise is just so perfect and intriguing! I AM SO SOLD Y'ALL huhuhuhu it's so exciting that we have amazing stories coming out like this one!

What to Say Next by Julie Buxbaum (11th)

I looooved Tell Me Three Things and it was impossible not to feel things while I was reading it! What to Say Next I wouldn't pass up on! Can't wait to grab my copy!

What titles are you looking forward to getting this month?