Aloha, booknerds! I know, I know, I have been so MIA these past few weeks, er, months. Since January, my posts have been irregular. My last blog post was almost 3 weeks ago (gasp!) and I haven't visited other blogs as well. Much as I'd like to apologize, I know I shouldn't because as one blogger said before, "it's your life, it's your space, you can use it or not." Or something to that effect.

Life has been super crazy lately -- but good crazy. This April was spent traveling and planning trips. I joined a tour group (where I knew no one -- another feat for my introvert self!) and I had such a blast that I ended up signing up for more tour groups. I also visited Cebu recently. Traveling has been eating up some of my reading and blogging time. As much as I appreciate how reading allows me to explore different worlds, the actual act of going out and seeing the world is so much better. Of course, the ideal way of doing it is bringing books with you on your travels. And since I love traveling and plan to do more of it, I am setting up a new travel blog which I hope you'll also check out. :)

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="569"] Checking Banaue Rice Terraces off my bucket list :)[/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="555"] Awesome new friends[/caption]



[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="639"] Philippine Taoist Temple in Cebu[/caption]



[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="399"] Aguinid Falls was the best![/caption]

Speaking of Cebu... you know my friend, Laila, who's guested on this blog a few times last year? We finally met in Cebu (she was my tour guide hahaha) and we met up with Roseby of Blah Blah Notebook, who's also from Cebu. I went home with 3 books and lots of bookmarks courtesy of these ladies. Booknerds unite!

On the bookish front, I finally finished Clockwork Angel! Although I still think it was dragging, for the most part I liked it. I also finished reading The DUFF and this amazing dystopia I got from NetGalley, Material Girls.

I can't help but think that 2015 is looking really good. I've been going out more, meeting so many new people, learning new things, and gaining new bookish and non-bookish friends... and that's a reason to celebrate, right?

Aaaand, did you know that I also celebrated The Bookshelf Intruder's first blogoversary? Well, not entirely true. You see, I migrated from Tumblr to Wordpress in February last year. But I started getting active in June. So, is my blogoversary in February or June? I don't know and I don't really care that much -- I'm just really happy that I got this far because it sure wasn't easy work and that I met awesome people along the way. :)

In celebration of all these awesome, crazy things that's been happening in my life (and also as a form of apology for being MIA), I'm giving away a copy of Stephanie Perkins' Lola and the Boy Next Door to one lucky PH reader. For international peeps, you have a chance to win a book of your choice from Book Depository.

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Terms:

1. You must be at least 13 years old to join.
2. No cheating! Don’t pick up entries for something you haven’t done.
3. Please use a valid email address because I’ll be sending you an email if you win. If the winner doesn’t respond to my email within 48 hours, I will choose another winner.
4. I am not responsible for any items lost in the mail.

a Rafflecopter giveaway
a Rafflecopter giveaway

Good luck and I hope you stick around as I slowly but surely come back to the book blogoverse. :)

blogoversary bookish friendships Features Giveaway Musings Travel Updates

8:58 AM

Some part of me died over the holidays. That is my only explanation for going MIA for three weeks. I've tried reading a lot of books but never finished one. I had no enthusiasm for blog rounds (I miss all of you, blogging peeps), and I didn't know if I even wanted to continue blogging. Yes, the past few weeks have been so tough and nothing made sense.

But I will spare you the details because despite the nature of my situation, I know that other people have it so much worse. As Mr. Robinson would say (from Meet The Robinsons), keep moving forward. And that's what I'm doing now. Moving forward with life. I am proud to say that I've got back on my feet and doing okay. I'll just start where I left off, I guess. 2015 is gonna be so much better than 2014, I swear.

I just finished reading Have a Little Faith by Mitch Albom for a book club I joined. This is my first offline book club so I'm excited. This book finally ended my book slump. It was an easy read despite its underlying themes and it was simply beautiful. Will post a review soon. :)



I am also back to doing blog rounds and I know I have a lot to catch up on. You can help me, you know. Tell me how you've been, what the highlight of your past month is, just how much I missed. Looking forward to reading your comments, guys! :)

Features Have A Little Faith holiday Mitch Albom Musings Updates

10:00 AM

Where I've been = where I always am. The office or at home.
What I've been doing = working, working, sleeping, a little bit of reading

So that's what happened last week. I basically left the blogoverse to work. It's the busiest time of the year anywhere and since our office is taking a Christmas break, I had lots of work to do before I officially take my leave. I ended up sleeping in the office one night just so I can do more stuff. :-|

My last post was 11 days ago, and I haven't been able to comment on blogs either. But I expect things to be a bit lighter this week so slowly but surely, you will see blog posts again and I will be visiting blogs again. I missed you, guys!

I haven't done much reading either. I finished 3/5 of my holiday reading list and started reading book 4 (Baby, It's Cold Outside) but there is too much detailed sex so I don't know... I DNF'ed it and I probably won't post a review of it. I'm also getting a bit tired of all the holiday-ish reading and writing (for work) that I've been doing so I decided to put my holiday reading list on hold. Instead, I'm reading an early Christmas present from Laila, Miss Fortune Cookie by Lauren Bjorkman:



It's pretty, isn't it? And so far, I'm enjoying it. :)

I also bought My Name is Kim Sam Soon by Ji Su-Hyun, a Korean novel which was made into a TV series (which I loved!) and is now available in English.



So there. I'm excited to get back on track and catch up with the rest of you. Let me know how you've been in the Comments! :D

Christmas Features holiday Holiday Reading List Ji Su-Hyun Kim Sam Soon Lauren Bjorkman Miss Fortune Cookie Recaps Updates

1:33 AM

I'm going to the beach! :D

By the time you're reading this, I've already (I hope) landed in Coron, Palawan and preparing to see this...

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="486"] Source[/caption]

...and this.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="539"] Source[/caption]

I've been looking forward to this trip because I didn't have the chance to go to the beach last summer. Most of you probably know how busy I've been lately so this trip is absolutely necessary for my sanity. Time to de-stress and take a break from work and technology.

I'm not abandoning YOU though. Here are some quick updates that I'd like to share with you before I go:

• I'm reading Fairytale Apocalypse by Jacqueline Patricks and so far, it's good.


• I'm listening to The 5th Wave audiobook (which I got for free on Audible). It's good, confusing at times, and definitely scary. I avoid listening to it at night time. I'm a wuss, I know.


• I watched If I Stay three weeks ago and I loved it! I didn't cry as much as I did when I read the book, and I still love the book more than the movie, but I did love it. I know some people are not so happy about it, and I can understand why, but I am happy about it. And the soundtrack? Lovely. Been listening to it for a few weeks now and I just love it.


• Also watched The Maze Runner last week. I'm glad that it remained faithful to the book (I love that book, it kept me up all night) though I did feel that there wasn't enough character development. This is understandable; I've always believed that books are better than their film adaptations, most of the time. That said, I think The Maze Runner (the movie) was good. There were several scary, suspenseful parts and I'm glad I didn't watch alone. The Grievers were not what I imagined but they were okay. Over all, I enjoyed the movie.


• Jennifer E. Smith and Lissa Price came to the Philippines last week. Sadly, I wasn't able to go to the signing. But Laila came to the rescue and had my books signed by Jennifer. Her handwriting is sooo tiny but I'm not complaining. Thanks again, Lai! :)

• Lastly, Dre of Sporadic Reads is looking for co-blogger(s). I would have applied, but it's not a secret that I'm having schedule problems as well so instead I'm spreading the word. If you're awesome and you love books and blogging, apply now!

That's it for now. Will be back with a review and a clearer, rested mind and body next week.

Have a great mid-week, guys! :)

Coron Fairytale Apocalypse Features If I Stay Jennifer E. Smith recap Recaps The 5th Wave The Maze Runner Updates

1:00 PM

Hello, lovely booknerds! I'm sorry for being MIA these past few days. There's too much happening in my life (heavier workload, moving to a new house) and sadly, the blogging had to take a backseat, at least for a short time.

Aaand, I also went through a short reading slump after reading Landline. I was reading too much romance and I thought maybe, I should give Gone Girl a try now. But the slump hit me and I couldn't get past the first 2 chapters of the book. Then I tried reading something else, and then another... It was so frustrating and inconvenient (especially since I try to follow a blogging schedule). This isn't my first time to experience this, but I wasn't blogging before so it felt okay to not read for weeks or even months at the time. But now that I'm blogging, I wanted to get over it as fast as I can. So I looked for a book that's short enough so I won't feel overwhelmed. Ta-da!!! I chose The Giver by Lois Lowry. It was short, generally reviewed as a great book, is one of the first dystopian novels ever (and I haven't had a good dystopian in a long time), and has a movie version that's showing this month. PERFECT!

I'm through 60% of the book and I'm not rushing. So far, so good. I've read Gathering Blue before so I'm kind of aware of the weirdness of Lois Lowry's world. I hope after I finish this, I'll be ready for another book.

Now, for the pretty news... I won Read Philippines' YA July Challenge! The prize? 14 bookish bookmarks with my chosen designs. Laila gave me a sneak peek of the printed bookmarks last weekend but I still squealed with delight when I saw them.

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="515"] Basically...[/caption]

Because how can you not be giddy with happiness when you see these babies? They're sooo beautiful!



Thank you so much, Laila, for coming up with a great challenge and equally great prizes! You're awesome! :)

Speaking of awesome, apart from the bookmarks (I still can't get over how pretty they are), I also received a London postcard from this amazing lady from Google, Lindsay, who had a short visit in the Philippines last May. The postcard made me go awww... I can't wait to visit London and see these beauties in person! It also reminded me of The Geography of You and Me. How cool is this?



This weekend will still be busy because of the moving, but next week will be better, I promise! Don't forget to visit soon for my review of The Giver and possibly, new discussion posts.

Ciao! :)

Bookmarks Gathering Blue Lois Lowry Musings Postcard Reading Slump The Giver Updates

12:30 PM