Clutching Books

Currently Reading:

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One look at her was enough to stop his heart…

If it was still beating. Angus MacKay has been undead for almost five hundred years and it’s not often something or someone, surprises him. Until Emma Wallace. The sight of this luscious agent from the CIA’s elite Stake-Out team was enough to stop Angus in his tracks. But then he discovers that she’s a vampire slayer, intent on killing the “monsters” who killed her parents. And it’s Angus’ job to stop her.

The only good vampire is a dead vampire. It’s been Emma’s motto since she committed her life to the destruction of these things. Now Angus MacKay want to convince her differently. Sure, he’s a sexy Highland warrior who seems to have stepped off the cover of a romance novel, complete with brogue, kilt and sword, but he’s also one of them. And it’s her job to kill him.

The war is on, but will it end in the destruction of one or both of them…or in total surrender to a passion for the ages?

Currently Reading:

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Nobody said love was perfect…

Roman Draganesti is charming, handsome, rich…he’s also a vampire. But this vampire just lost one of his fangs sinking his teeth into something he shouldn’t have. Now he has one night to find a dentist before his natural healing abilities close the wound, leaving him a lop-sided eater for all eternity.

Things aren’t going well for Shanna Whelan, either. After witnessing a gruesome murder, she’s next on the mob’s hit list. And her career as a dentist appears to be on a downward spiral because she’s afraid of blood. When Roman rescues her from an assassination attempt, she wonders if she’s found the one man who can keep her alive. Though the attraction between them is immediate and hot, can Shanna conquer her fear of blood to fix Roman’s fang? And if she does, what will prevent Roman from using her fangs on her…?

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After my encounter with the Dollanganger series, I chose to read something with romance and humor in it and I know Kerrelyn Spark’s novels will give me something that can make me forget for a while the Dollanganger series’ effects on me.

beachildagain asked: 1,7,14, 27, 38 =)

1.Favorite childhood book?

That book of fairytales, the first book I read when I was four or five, it was a big, heavy book but I’m not sure if it’s the Brother Grimms fairytales or Hans Christian Andersen’s or both. That’s the book that made me want to read more.

7. Do you prefer to read one book at a time, or several at once?

One at a time. I could get disoriented when I read several books at once. L

14. Favorite place to read?

My room. I can shut out the real world more effectively when I’m in my own sanctuary. J

27. Most inspirational book you’ve read this year (fiction or non-fiction)?

Hmm. This is tough. I can’t decide between one of the books in Dollanganger series and Circle Trilogy. I guess I’ll choose the last book of the trilogy, Valley of Silence. The end was just so beautiful it made me cry and it’s so rare that a happy and beautiful ending made me cry

38. Favorite fictional character?

I have a lot of favorite fictional characters but Gilbert Blythe from Anne of Green Gables is one of the best characters I encountered. At first, I was annoyed at him because of his mischievous character but I learned to love him. He is simple but so loving. I remember having a huge crush on him during my elementary days.

Garden of Shadows

I kind of changed my mind about the ‘evil’ grandmother in the Flowers in the Attic after reading this prequel. I learned a lot about her and how she became so cold towards a lot of people, especially her grandchildren.

But there was this characteristic of hers I don’t like. She let others decide for her and influence her. You see, she wanted to love the grandchildren but because of a certain John Amos, her cousin (oh how I hate this character), she believed that the children are the devil’s spawn therefore she have to harden her heart to avoid loving the children.

A lot of things were revealed in this book. Who would have thought that the very reason why the Dollanganger children suffered was because of Malcom’s mother leaving him, making him the man he was, very domineering and hateful. He used others for his own gain and he also used his power to have what he wants and he also became mad and obsessed with his mother who never returned.

This series is one of the best series ever. I never had read anything that was so tragic, heart wrenching and mind fucking but also enticing, thrilling and so beautiful at the same time. V.C. Andrew’s way of writing is simple and poetic but still the series kept me on the edge, making me want to learn and want more.

Actually, I don’t know what to do right now. I had put a lot of feelings for this series and now I felt so empty after finishing it. It was like a part of me was torn away. I just love this series so much. 

First step towards my dream.

Last night was one of the best nights of my life. I was so happy that I can’t stop from shaking. My hands were so cold and my heart were beating out so fast it was ready to burst out.

I can’t believe when I received the email from this company. I wasn’t expecting that it will happen to me. I kept on asking is this for real? are they really sure about their decision? My brain was in a fuzz and I’m functioning well from the surprise.

I swear I will practice more, I will work harder than before.

This is the first step towards my dream of being a writer.

Currently Reading:

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Olivia dreamed of a sun-filled love, a happy life. Then she entered Foxworth Hall…

V.C. Andrews’ thrilling new novel spins a tale of dreadful secrets and dark, forbidden passions—of the time before Flowers in the Attic began. Long before terror flowered in the attic, thin, spinsterish Olivia came to Virginia as Malcolm Foxworth’s bride. At last, with her tall handsome husband, she would find the joy she has waited for, longed for. But in the gloomy mansion filled with hidden rooms and festering desires, a stain of jealous obsession begins to spread… an evil that will threaten her children, two lovely boys and one very special, beautiful girl. For within one innocent child, a shocking secret lives… a secret that will taint the proud Foxworth name, and haunt all their lives forever!

The wicked curse of the Dollanganger family begins in… Garden of Shadows.

Dollanganger Series by V.C. Andrews

Flowers in the Attic

This book intrigued me the most because of the topic of incest. As I said before, I love to read books that involved taboo.  But this is not the only thing that interested me. I like how the grandmother in this book is so evil (because I can relate…sort of) and so paranoid, so superstitious who believed that these innocent children are the devil’s spawn, who also blame them for what their parents did and how the mother became so selfish, how she became blinded of the richness she once again received, neglecting her children so she could live exuberantly, making her Cathy, her eldest daughter hate her and eventually his oldest child Chris detest her too and her twins Cory and Carrie became estranged towards her, and how these children grew from healthy, beautiful and lively children to thin, depressed individuals torn between trusting, hoping for the best  and giving up.

The story is truly horrifying. Whose mother in their right mind will lock their children in her childhood’s home after her husband died and their own richness disappeared, for three years? I knew she has her reasons but still this is very wrong. Sure, she gave the children things, expensive things and their grandmother still give them food once that the children should make last the whole day but to be locked in that attic, to be not able to run and be basked in sunlight, it’s so sad. As the time passed by, their mother changed and their grandmother did something evil after catching them in an inappropriate situation. They were so starved and parched to the point that Chris has to slash his wrist so the twins could drink his blood, they also ate mice that they captured. There is also this scene where the grandmother whipped the two of the oldest children until the whip broke.

So tragic this story is. It is so filled with lies, pain, betrayal and false hope.

Petals on The Wind

All I can say is I have a lot of feelings for this book. There were scenes that are so shocking and so tragic too, more shocking than some of the scenes in the first book. I was always saying “Oh my God” each time I turn the page. M emotions are tearing me apart. But it was really good.

In this book, Cathy was so determined to avenge what happened to them to the point that she became so obsessed with her mother’s whereabouts, always tracking what she’s been doing. A very nice doctor took them in and adopted them. Cathy learned how to be an enchantress, thinking that she could use her beauty to hurt her mother. She was turning sixteen in the beginning of the book and in her mid twenties when the story finished. It took her a long time before she extract her revenge. I understood the part when she saw her mother thrice but she wasn’t able to do something because of fear.

She was able to do what she had to do but it seems that she wasn’t that satisfied, that it didn’t make her happy enough because of what she learned from her mother. The last scene where Cathy went into the attic of their new home gave me the chills. And also the part where Cathy was able to talk to her bedridden grandmother made me pity both of them.

If There Be Thorns

Cathy and Chris were able to provide themselves and their children a happy home where they could stay together, away from the people who became a part of their past. But the past doesn’t want to stay away from them. It haunts the two of them, mostly Cathy who always have nightmare and she has this sort of obsession with the attic. She even put a twin beds there just like the beds in the attic where they were locked years ago.

But this is the story of Jory and Bart, the sons of Cathy that she had during Petals on The Wind. Their story is darker than Petals on The Wind. Bart, the youngest son felt like he was being neglected by his parents who he said that loves Jory and their adopted little sister more. He always think that nobody likes him because he is clumsy and unattractive. He also loved to pretend that he was this or he was that. That’s why he was able to befriend their new neighbor, an old lady. But the butler is the real antagonist here. He made me so irritated for poisoning Bart’s mind. Bart became this little boy full of hatred. But to be honest, I can relate with Bart, being the least favorite in the family and all.

A lot of things were also revealed in this book. The confrontation between mother and daughter made me so sad. But the scene where Cathy cried and told her mother that she already forgave her brought tears to my eyes but it was already too late.

Seeds of Yesterday

Oh my gosh. This last book, this very last book is the most heartbreaking part of the series. I didn’t expect that it will end well though but still, it pains my heart that someone has to be ‘sacrificed’ for the others to be able to lead a normal, good life. I cried so hard last night when I was reading that scene and after reading the book.

There are even moments that I have to take a break from reading this book for my own sake.

Chris and Cathy are already in their fifties, and they stayed on the newly restored Foxworth Hall for Bart. They met their long lost uncle, believed to be dead, Joel Foxworth. Tragedy befalls one after another during their stay in that place. Hatred still rules Bart’s heart because of his mother and her brother’s relationship. He also hates his adopted sister, always humiliating her.

I really hate the character of Joel. He is such a religious freak and controls Bart. He believed that everything about Cathy’s family is evil. I am uncomfortable with people who based everything in the bible, that they taught more about God’s wrath than His forgiveness. Just because Cathy and Chris (and their sibling, Cory and Carrie) are a product of incest and that they also have an incestuous relationship doesn’t mean that they are evil.

There are a lot of scenes in this book that made sense about religious people who have a wrong way of spreading God’s word. 

I will discuss more of what I think about this series after I read Garden of Shadows, the prologue to the Dollanganger series.