Book Review: Scandalous

Scandalous
by Tilly Bagshawe

Genre: Adult, Chick Lit, Romance
Publication: 2010 by HarperCollins
Format: Paperback, 406 pages

Sasha Miller comes to Cambridge with a dream and leaves on a mission. After falling for the lies and charms of her Director of Studies ′Theo Dexter′ she finds herself betrayed, humiliated and nursing a bundle of broken dreams. Heading to the US she is determined to rebuild her life.

Years later, Sasha emerges from Harvard Business School with one thing on her mind, the downfall of the now famous Professor Theo Dexter.

Meanwhile Theo′s long suffering wife Theresa also finds herself betrayed and cast aside for a younger and prettier model. Unable to cope she returns to Cambridge a broken woman and tries to rebuild her life away from the scheming Theo Dexter.

One night Sasha turns up at Theresa′s door, she wants revenge at any cost, will Theresa help her?

From the deepest betrayal comes a shocking alliance.

Two vengeful women, one very unlucky man ...

This is the first Tilly Bagshawe work I’ve read. I have to say that I wasn’t expecting much from it. But I was hooked with the summary and decided to give it a try. Betrayal and revenge. Wow! These weren’t the usual combination I always read in my chick lit. I’m excited! 

The beginning of the Scandalous by Tilly Bagshawe was a bit slow. It began with young Sasha Miller coming to Cambridge with her passion on physics. Later, she fell for her Director of Studies, Theo Dexter lies and become entangled with him. But Theo broke her dreams and heart with his betrayal. Determine to destroy Theo for what he did, Sasha headed towards US to rebuild her life with a plan to destroy her professor for what he did.

I love the characters, mostly Sasha. It was great to see how she went through with everything after the betrayal.  The storyline was a bit predictable, but still, the book was enjoyable and I admit that I could not stop reading this book once Theo betrayed Sasha because that is where things are getting interesting.

Overall, Scandalous is a nice fun read. I would definitely recommend it.

November Clear Your Shelf Giveaway Hop

The "Clear Your Shelf", hosted by  I Am A Reader, Not a Writer is here! I have a few books that I would like to clear out from my bookshelf and I would like to pass them to anyone who are interested.

• There isn't any rule for this giveaway. If you're interested in the book, just simply fill in the form below. But, it would be nice if you follow me via GFC too :)
• You may fill in one form or both form if you're interested.
• This is an International giveaway.
• Winner will be notified via email.  Winner will have 48 hours to respond before another winner will be selected. 
• I'm not responsible for any lost package.

When You Open Your Eyes
by Celeste Conway

A consuming passion turns dangerous in this lush and lyrical novel set in Buenos Aires.The more you love, the more you stand to lose….

Tessa’s head over heels for Lucien, the son of a French diplomat. Sexy, artistic, and daring, he brings out a completely new side of her. With him, Tessa feels beautiful and exotic. So when Tessa’s strict father forbids her to see Lucien, she’s determined to keep their relationship a secret.

But as Tessa gets caught up in Lucien, he becomes increasingly volatile. What she once found alluring about him now feels alarming. Tessa must figure out how far she’ll go for Lucien before she risks losing not just him, but everything she loves.

Hush, Hush (Hush, Hush #1)
by Becca Fitzpatrick

For Nora Grey, romance was not part of the plan. At least, not until Patch came along. With his easy smile and probing eyes, Nora is drawn to him against her better judgment. But after a series of terrifying encounters, Nora’s not sure who to trust—she can’t decide whether she should fall into Patch’s arms or run and hide from him. And when she tries to seek some answers, she finds herself near a truth more unsettling than any feeling Patch evokes. For Nora stands amid an ancient battle between the immortal and those who have fallen—and choosing the wrong side will cost her life.

Be sure to check out the other giveaway stops on this blog hop:

The lucky winner for the "Clear Your Shelf" giveaway are: Michele Shroyer (When You Open Your Eyes), Michikit and Nuzaifa (Hush, Hush). Congratulation! Thank you everyone for participating :)

Book Review: Wolfsbane

Wolfsbane (Nightshade #2)
by Andrea Cremer

Genre: Fantasy, Paranormal, Romance, Young Adult
Publication: July 26th 2011 by Atom
Format: Paperback, 390 pages

This thrilling sequel to the much-talked-about Nightshade begins just where it ended. Calla Tor wakes up in the lair of the Searchers, her sworn enemy, and she's certain her days are numbered.

But then the Searchers make her an offer,one that gives her the chance to destroy her former masters and save the pack and the man she left behind. Is Ren worth the price of her freedom? And will Shay stand by her side no matter what? Now in control of her own destiny, Calla must decide which battles are worth fighting and how many trials true love can endure and still survive.

I love Nightshade. In fact, as soon as I finished Nightshade, I bought the second book, Wolfsbane as soon as I could. I could not wait to learn what was going to happen to Calla after she ran away from her pack to save Shay.

Calla and Shay are now with the Searchers. Calla wanted the Guardians to be given freedom and the chance to make their own decisions. For that, Calla and Shay has joined forces to help the Searchers to save her fellow pack from the Keepers. And the Searchers needed Calla’s pack to help them with their war against the Keeper.

Wolfsbane had quite a slow start. The first part of the book was a bit confusing with lots of information dumping on the Searchers and Keepers, Guardians, Scions… Then, I was introduced to a few new characters from the Searchers – Connor, Adne and others. It was a bit confusing to figure out who’s who.

But, things began to get a lot more interesting when Calla went back to her place and find out that everything has changed with her pack. It was quite surprising to learn what had happen to Calla and Ren’s pack after Calla escaped with Shay. The part where Calla, with the aid of the Searchers went to save her pack from the Keepers was interesting as there was a bit twist with Ren (not that I wasn’t expecting them).

Wolfsbane is a good continuation of Nightshade (But, I wasn’t really happy that Ren didn’t make lots of appearance in Wolfsbane). Andrea Cremer had solved a few questions regarding Keepers and Searchers. But I really wanted to know more about Scion (not that I like Shay that much). I hope that I get to know about them soon!  

#26 Teaser Tuesday

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!


My teaser this week:

I couldn't imagine what they had done in less then five minutes to displease Maxon, but I was suddenly grateful I'd chosen to be honest.

Just like that, we were down to twenty seven. - page 133, The Selection, Keira Cass

I'm reading The Selection by Kiera Cass this week. I've seen a few good reviews on the book, and decided to give it a try. I still am not sure what to think of this book.

What's your teaser?

Random Acts of Kindness - November

(RAK is also known as Random Acts of Kindness. It is hosted by Book Soulmates).

So... Here's the rules for joining RAK:

Please read carefully & follow all rules!  Thank you!

• Please sign-up each month that you can participate (and by participate, we mean give as well as receive).
• Show off your participation by grabbing our RAK button (code is in the right sidebar).
• Create a wish list (on Amazon, Goodreads, or your blog, etc) and post it in the Google Doc located in each R.A.K post for the month.
• If you choose to do a R.A.K for someone, check out their wish list and contact that blogger directly for their information.
• Once you receive a RAK, send us an our new email to [rakbybooksoulmates @ gmail . com] so that we can update the Google Doc. IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT YOU SEND EMAILS TO THIS ADDRESS!
• E-book participation is limited to files being gifted directly to a person from the e-book store. Amazon's Kindle Store is set up to allow this, as well as the Kobo store and we believe Barnes & Noble with Nook as well.
• At the end of the month, SHOW US YOUR R.A.K by making a "RAK Wrap-Up" post.  This post should include who you SENT gifts to as well who you RECEIVED gifts from :)

OPEN TO EVERYONE including all our International brethren!

Remember, there's always the Book Depository and they offer FREE shipping!

Here's my top 5 books in my wishlist!


1. Blood Red Road by Moira Young
2. Tokyo Heist by Diana Renn
3. Innocent Darkness by Suzanne Lazear
4. Dixieland Sushi by Cara Lockwood
5. Anna Dressed in Blood by Blake, Kendare

Book Review: Talisman of El

Talisman of El (Talisman of El #1)

by Alecia Stone

Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Young Adult, Paranormal

Publication: May 20th 2012

Format: ebook, 251 pages

WHAT IF YOUR WHOLE LIFE WAS A LIE?

One Planet.

Two Worlds.

Population: Human ... 7 billion.

Others ... unknown.

When 14-year-old Charlie Blake wakes up sweating and gasping for air in the middle of the night, he knows it is happening again. This time he witnesses a brutal murder. He's afraid to tell any one. No one would believe him ... because it was a dream. Just like the one he had four years ago - the day before his dad died.

Charlie doesn't know why this is happening. He would give any thing to have an ordinary life. The problem: he doesn't belong in the world he knows as home. He belongs with the others.

Charlie is an orphan who has been from home to home. And now, he’s living with his foster parent, Jacob. Things were pretty okay as he live with Jacob. He made a few enemies and friends, Alex and Richmond. That is it until Jacob begins to show his true colors.

Charlie also had a secret. He had dreams that appears vivid to him. When he Derkein, a man that appears in his dream, he knew that the dreams were real. Charlie and his friends, Alex and Richmond than discovers another world as they were trying to save Derkien from death while escaping from Jacob. Along their adventure, Charlie discovers that he wasn’t really who he thought he is.

Talisman of El is a fantasy, adventure young adult books with a bit of magic and mythology. The book started out pretty good. I was hooked with the story when I learned about Charlie and his dreams – that he can see the past. But once Charlie and his friends entered the Arcadia, I started to lose my interest. I have to admit that I’ve put down the book once, before I decided to give it another try. I think that the middle part was kinda confusing, especially when the characters from Arcadian entered the story. I have a hard time focusing on who’s who. Some of the actions and Arcadian's scenery confused me. I had to reread a few scenes twice to know what was happening. In the end, I get bored, and started to skimming around. There are some parts where the dialogue seems awkward and some humors that didn’t quite suit the scenes. I also thought that Charlie and the relationship between other characters were a bit unnatural. I think it would be great if the author could spend more time developing their friendship. 

Overall, Talisman of El was an okay book. I think I enjoyed the starting and the ending. (I really like the ending!) It had potential to be more than that, but I guess, it wasn’t really my taste. Perhaps teens would find this book enjoyable.