Favourite books of 2015

I have had a great year with books and thus it was hard to choose my favourite.This is because quite many of the books become my favourite this year. Before I present to you my list, I would like to say that these books are not necessarily published in 2015, they are just books that I've read in 2015 although a few was published in 2015. I've decided to choose a top 10 to share with you guys. These books have such great stories to tell and some have pulled at my heartstrings. I highly recommend these books and I'll insert links to my reviews of those books too. The list below are not in any particular order but I have to mention that my most favourite book of the year would be Six of Crows.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo - The story is set in the Grisha world but these characters are not related to the Grisha trilogy. They are a band of bad people who are trying to work together to prison break an important person. How will they pull off this task when that prison is the hardest place to break out of? They also have many conflicts with each other, can they actually work together without killing each other first? What I love about the book is it's action packed, the characters have very interesting past, and as you read along the story you will find out how they pull off their heist. My full review: click here

A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray - A girl chases a boy across multiple dimensions because he killed her father. I love the world that is built in the story, all those parallel dimensions are so unique and special. The characters were also people with personalities that grabs your attention. It was a fantastic page turner as you want to follow the heroine on her quest for justice. This is the first book in the firebird trilogy. My full review: click here

Ten Thousand Skies Above You by Claudia Gray - The second book in the firebird trilogy. The romance in this book was so so good and of course the parallel dimensions that are new in this book was really well built too. This book also talks about morality issues. A new danger and a new adventure in the second book that totally grasped my attention. My full review: click here

Review of 2015

Before I gather my thoughts for this post, I always look back at what I've written at the start of the year, my resolutions and my review of the previous year. I realized that 2014 was a tough year for me but I had support endlessly which I'm forever grateful for. Thinking that 2014 was tough, 2015 was worse, it was bitter sweet. Sadly it was more bitter than sweet, never would I have thought that I would have to go through this in such early stages of my life. I saw that I put importance on health and not taking life for granted in my review posts which somehow along the months I suddenly have forgotten. 

For the first 9 months of the year, there were some struggles but it had not crossed my mind that it was hard or tough and this was until an incident changed my life forever. My significant other passed away on 22nd October. That was the worst day of my entire life. I cannot even put words to how I felt that morning when I received the news. His heart stopped beating in the morning where he was in the hospital.

It's still hard to talk about what happened so I'll write it in a different post on a different day. When he left, I lost my best friend, my lover, my family, my soul mate and a big chunk of me. The pain is still here and will continue to be with me as 2016 goes on. His death truly reminded me that health is important and during all days that has passed since my family have been supportive. I am forever grateful to my family especially my mother and my sister who have been with me. They truly showed me so much love and care.

I just one day at a time, I do not want to think too much. For now, I just want to grief his death so I didn't bother to think about the resolutions that I have set out for 2015. Honestly, I tried my best and with the events that happened I don't really care whether I succeed or failed but I will evaluate myself. Below are my 2015 resolutions and my progress.

• Eat healthily (I did manage to drink more water, less soda and also ate more vegetables)
• Exercise once a week (Nope)
• Plan my week and try to execute the plans (Worked for some weeks not all the time)
• Plan more blog posts (Failed)
• Learn more web development (Learnt a bit of javascript but have not practice it) 
• Be more positive (I think I was for a brief moment) 
• Grow more as person (I do care less what people think)
• Always think before I speak (Yeap)
• Control my emotions (Nope)
• Read 50 books (Only managed 43 books)

In the end, I feel that nothing matters anymore without him by my side. I just carry on and live while hoping that I will see him again someday. I will forever remember 2015 because of the pain and devastation that has struck my life.  To those who had a great year I'm envious of you, and to those who had a terrible year I pray that it will get better for you. What I plan to do for the year I will post about my resolutions for 2016. but it won't be much as some days I have motivation, some days I have none. 

Favourite books of 2014

For the year of 2014 I managed to read 50 books and completed my Goodreads reading challenge. I was quite proud to have read this many books and I believe it's the most books I've read in a year in my life. Out of all the books I've read there were good ones, okay ones and definitely awesome ones. The list below are books that I absolutely loved and would not hesitate to read it again and again. The list below is not in any order and some books are not published in the year 2014 either.

1. Vicious by V.E Schwab - A story about two good friends then turned enemies in the future. It's exciting, unique characters and great plot. Page turner, hard to put down. My full review: Link here
2. Champion by Marie Lu - The last book of the Legend trilogy, I loved this book the most but the first two books were just as good, I gave all 3 books 5 stars. I choose this book because of the ending which made me cry. The whole series is action packed with a fantastic plot.My full review: Link here
3. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell - This is a adult book which was really funny, cute and enjoyable to read. I really laughed out loud in public and people were looking at me weirdly. I absolutely enjoyed the book from start to end, my favourite type of romance plot.My full review: Link here
4. The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern - A really special and magical book. I love the characters of the book and all the different perspectives in the story. The setting of the story is just so beautiful and magical, I wanted to work in that circus.My full review: Link here
5. Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo - This is the second book of the Grisha trilogy and my favourite out of the 3. All 3 books have gotten 5 stars from me. This book is action packed, great characters, wonderful world and an exciting plot. I love the relationships in this book and plot twists. This was one book that was hard to put down. Full review to come soon.
6. To All the Boys I've Loved before by Jenny Han - A story about a girl who wrote letters to boys she loved but it's just for personal keepsake. Things got weird when the letters were mailed out to the boys. This story is super super cute to read especially the female lead in the book. The plot is simple yet lovely and fun to read. A definite page turner for me.My full review: Link here
7. The Rithmatist by Brandon Sanderson - The first book that I've picked up by this author and imediately I knew I'm gonna love the books he writes. The idea of the story is well done along with the world that is built. The plot is mysterious and the plot twist of the book just hooks you to wanting the second book. When I read this book it felt like a movie that I'm watching. My full review: Link here
8. Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins - The last book of the "Anna and the french kiss" series which had a very good ending to all. I love the plot of the book, it was very sweet, cute and quite real of a relationship. My full review: Link here
9. Since you've been gone by Morgan Matson - A story about a girl completing a checklist sent by her best friend who went missing when summer started. The story is about growing, friendship and stepping out of your comfort zone. It was such a fun book to read and so suitable for the summer. I got hooked so fast and to the ending I wished it was longer.My full review: Link here
10. Delirium by Lauren Oliver - I love the first book the most out of the Delirium trilogy. A dystopian setting where the world sees love as a disease. When teenager reached a certain age, a cure is given to remove getting the disease and then a match is picked by the system for the person to be with. This story's idea was unique to me and it has a good meaning behind the book. I enjoyed the plot twist and how the story progressed.My full review: Link here
11. Half Bad by Sally Green - It's about a boy uncovering his roots and choosing a path. It's also a book where the character is always put into bad situations. I like how this book is not all happy and colorful with sad and painful things happening. I love how the character grows in the story. It's not your typical magic related/fantasy book.My full review: Link here
12. The Archived by Victoria Schwab - The first book of the archive duology. A girl is given a duty by her grandfather to protect the archive. This book has action, mystery and great characters. The story is unique and I loved every bit of it especially the character interactions.My full review: Link here
13. The Unbound by Victoria Schwab - The second book of the archive which I also love, it was hard to choose between both. This book was also action packed and filled with more human emotions. I like the new characters introduced and also another side of the male lead was included which made things so much more interesting. I literally could not put down the book.My full review: Link here
14. Bared to you by Sylvia Day - An erotic novel about a woman meeting a man who she knows nothing about but she fell in love with him. They both have their own demons and how they try to overcome it together. I compared this series to fifty shades of grey and I like this one quite a lot because the characters are more deep and real. I liked how strong and weak the characters can be at the same time. Full review to come soon.

I'm so happy to have read so many great books and discover some new authors along the way. Those books really gave me a new world to explore and great enjoyment imagining it. For the year 2014, I truly fell in love with young adult books and authors such as Holly Black, Victoria Schwab, Brandon Sanderson, Morgan Matson, Marie Lu and Jenny Han. I'm looking forward to reading more books by these authors and I've already have a good series by Brandon Sanderson sitting in my TBR pile. I will post another blog post for my reading goals of 2015. The following link is to the books I've read in 2014: Goodreads link

Favorite books of 2013

My year in reading was fantastic as I was picking young adult titles that were new and unique to me. I usually read more adults books and this year after I picked up Divergent I researched for more books like these. I also Youtube people's book hauls, to be read and much and was expose to the booktube community. I was amazed as I did not realise there were so many channels doing this. I am so grateful for the books they introduced and reviewed as it help a lot to know what young adult books to buy. Most books I stumble upon are young adults book that are in the highlights shelves in the book store. Because much of those titles were made into movies hence I also followed the trend and read those books. 

This was also the year I join Goodreads and I was amazed with the database where there are a lot of ratings for books. It also recommended some good titles for me based on my genre interest. I'm quite happy with my reading progress and I hope I can do better in 2014. The books that I'm mentioning are not in any order and I love all just the same.

1. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell is a young adult contemporary book about two teenagers falling in love. It's cute, innocent, realistic and many many things about youth. It's certainly a story that is unique and touching. Here is my review: http://www.anythingbuteverything.com/2013/07/eleanor-park.html
2. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell is a young adult contemporary book about a girl going to college and she finds it hard to give up fanfiction while her twin sister does it easily and also does not want to spend much time with her. This coming of age story was super fun to read and it's adorable too. My review: http://www.anythingbuteverything.com/2013/10/fangirl.html
3. The coldest girl in coldtown by Holly Black is a young adult paranormal book where vampires are all quarantined and those suspected of the disease too. This is one vampire story that is unique and refreshing characters. The female protagonist is absolutely kick ass and brave.  Here is the review: http://www.anythingbuteverything.com/2013/10/the-coldest-girl-in-coldtown.html
4. Lola and the  boy next door is a young adult contemporary about a girl who got nervous when the boy next door is back. An adorable female character with a nice guy that is her neighbor and they used to be friends until something happened.  This is book can make you feel jolly because of the young and innocent love. My review: http://www.anythingbuteverything.com/2013/12/lola-and-boy-next-door.html
5. Insurgent by Veronica Roth is the second book in the divergent series. Although this book was published last year it was this year that I read the series and out of the three books I felt that this one was the best. The plots were good and there were good character developments. My review: http://www.anythingbuteverything.com/2013/05/insurgent.html
6. City of Glass by Cassandra Clare is the third book in the mortal instruments series and I felt that the plots were the best in this book. The characters were also fantastic as they grow quite a lot in this book. I've only read the first 3 books and this one is my favorite. The series is a good and unique to me. My review: http://www.anythingbuteverything.com/2013/10/the-mortal-instruments-city-of-glass.html
7. Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare is the last book of the infernal devices series and this is my favorite book of the series. The whole series was fantastic but to choose the last book was the best one. The plots were good, characters are well developed and the ending was the best I could ever hoped for. My review: http://www.anythingbuteverything.com/2013/12/clockwork-princess.html

If you were to ask me to pick one out of those books, I would pick Clockwork Princess as my favorite for the whole year. The series was a fantastic prequel to mortal instruments and the ending was perfect. I also love the characters and the setting so so  much. The relationships between all the characters truly touched my heart and made me emotional at the end. I would definitely read this series again in the future. Truly a job well done by the author and I can't wait for more books from her.

Review of 2013

It felt like time really flew by quickly this year. It has been a tough year at the beginning months and those events really help me grew and gave me more insights. After some struggles, the following months was more calm and I'm grateful for that. The thing that changed was  my attitude and my maturity that I believe have been better now. Nearing the last few days of the year, I would think back and review my year, assessing how well I've progressed. Then I look at my resolutions post that I made at the start of the new and see whether I have achieved any of it. Sadly I only manage just a few. 

• Exercise more (hopefully twice a week)  did not achieve this
• Eat healthily (more greens, more water, more fruits and less fast food) I did it! I actually ate very little fast food which is less than 10 times
• Read 50 books I manage to read 37 books where 2012 I only read 27 and there were many great books, great reading year!
• Separate my book reviews elsewhere I did not work on it at all =(
• Blog more often I did not blog more than 2012 sadly
• Become more positive I think I am slightly more positive but there is room for improvement
• No excuses for laziness I did get lazy in my skin care sometimes but I did not slack on my book reviews for every book I read in 2013 I did a review.

I think I could have done better especially on exercising. In terms of getting closer to my dreams, I am quite far behind. Overall, it's been a calm and good year for me as I know there are many who have to struggle more. I am quite fortunate to be where I am now and I'm thankful to have the people I love beside to support me. As I end the year feeling grateful of my life and slight regret on my laziness, it is a must that I have new resolutions which I will do in a new post. Goodbye 2013 and thank you for being good to me.

Pocket Harvest

After many many months Kairosoft have finally released an English version of Pocket Harvest. I was truly waiting for earnestly for this game and when it was out I couldn't wait to get my hands on it. When I first run the game I was already kinda disappointed with the song. A little about my kairosoft games obsession, I can tell every games's theme song, I don't need to look and you just start the game I can tell you what game it is. That's how much I love their games and this song was a bit disappointing.  

Never mind about the song then where I was hoping the game play is good. So the game starts where you plant crops and make money from harvesting it. Then you start saving up to purchase land that are nearby you. When you enough to use, the land you purchase will have a shop there. Those shop specializes in certain crops and you can plant those crops in the vicinity of the shop which is highlighted when you select the shop. Something fun about those shops is that they give out missions and when you manage to harvest the amount wanted by the shop you will be rewarded. Other things you can do in the game is to upgrade your crops to make them have better rankings. There is also the option of investment where you unlock more buildings and also visitors to the farm.

The reason to upgrade the crops is to take part in contests and ensure that you have better chance to win. Winning gives you items which helps your crops, farm and your employees which can up their stats. You can also create special items to sell in your shops but before that you will have to unlock the Lab that extract things from the crops as ingredients. You can also use those ingredients to create items instead of getting them as rewards. 

Overall there can be many things to do in the game but it's very repetitive because you have to keep upgrading crops, leveling up employee stats and such.  I don't particularly love this game because it's nothing new at all hence I think this game is not really worth the money at all. I was really looking forward to a new idea in Kairosoft but I was disappointed. Below are some pictures of the game, hope it gives you some insight.

More screenshots here

Loreal Hydrafresh Moisturizer

First of all my skin is in the combination zone where my t-zone usually oils up a bit when I wake up in the morning. Sometimes the tops of my cheeks oil up too but not really bad. I've been using Estee Lauder's Hydrationist moisturizer for years and it is a costly jar of 50ml truth to be told. But it really works, after applying it, my skin always feel so soft and supple. My jar was on the verge of finishing and so I thought of trying a cheaper alternative since I had a friend who was using this and her skin looked good.

The price difference is almost 10 times so I think it will be worth a try and if it doesn't work I would just restock back on my Estee one. The texture of the Loreal moisturizer is of gel type but leaning slightly towards watery. When you rub it on your fingers before applying it seems like it's water. When applying to your face there is a mild cooling effect which is sort of nice but leaves my skin with a tinge of stickiness. There is also a faint smell that I can't describe what but it's okay for me. After testing it for weeks, this moisturizer does not break me out but it does not keep my face moisturized for long. Usually after 3 hours where I work in air con room, my t-zone oils up and so I needed to blot my face quite often.

I think it's a good drugstore brand but it's not good enough for my skin since I've been pampering it with higher end brands. But for someone who is in high school, this is really affordable. In order not to waste it, I will finish this jar before I buy back the Estee Lauder one since it works best for me.

Dream House Days

Do you love playing the Sims but sometimes hate that you have to control their every move? If you let them be then your characters will do stupid things like not going to work. Fortunately for Android users, Kairosoft have released another free to play game on Google Play and it's a simulation game. I love that this game allows you to design homes without controlling your residents. Somethings you do have power over which is what clothes they wear and also what jobs they are doing.

I didn't know much about this game until my friends told me about it and once I got it installed then played it, it was love. I spent quite some hours getting to know the game and it's not as easy as you think it is. The tough part is giving the residents comfort yet not losing in terms of profit. It's hard to manage because I always did not manage to get everyone to pay the full rent all the time. The element of surprise in this game is the furnishing, the jobs and also the clothing available.  Not to forget that the trophies you win in the game also contributes to the end game points which is on year 20 of the game.

My first game was just lousy because I was just learning the game and many resources were needed to unlock furnishing. After you're done with it, there will be items sold in the Pumpkin store to help ease your following new game. The two things that I feel is needed is to unlock the fast speed which requires 50 tickets and the next would be transferring your data over to the new game. What the transfer of data will do is it will retain the level of the furnishing and also the level of a job when you make that purchase which cause 20 tickets. It is important because the job level determines the salary of your residents and the furnishing level determines the rent and comfort of that object.

Update: Dream House Days: Special Rooms; Dream House Days: Tips