Insatiable

Meena Harper was already running late and she thought she would enter a train that would have been crammed with people but to her surprise it was practically empty. It would be her lucky day if in her train ride she can avoid eye contact and human interaction all the way till fifty-first street stop. Unfortunately something caught her attention, a girl with white pumps that had life size plastic butterflies on the toes. She was definitely out of town as there was a roller suitcase in front of her. When she saw Meena, she removed her purse to offer the seat next to her. That was when Meena's heart sank because that girl was going to die by the end of the week.  

Meena took the seat and striked a conversation with Miss Butterfly. Meena asked her was it her first time visiting the city and the girl took out her mobile and showed Meena the picture of her American boyfriend. She said that the guy was going to help her obtain visa. Miss Butterfly also mentioned that her boyfriend will help her become a model/actress at the same time. Grand Central Station was announced in the loudspeaker and it was where Yalena (Miss Butterfly) was meeting her boyfriend. Meena searched through her handbag and produced her name card telling Yalena that if she ever found herself in need of help just call her. Meena being kind hearted went down the train and helped Yalena with her suitcase. As she bid her goodbye, she reminded Yalena that she could call anytime but keep this card a secret from her boyfriend. After that, Meena headed back to trains to take a new one to her destination where she was going to be late for her work.

As usual Meena grabbed her morning coffee and bagel before heading into the office. Today she hoped would be a good day as the head writer position for "Insatiable" was available. Meena worked hard all the time and it's time she got a promotion as she needed more money for her apartment loan. It was an apartment bought by her and her ex but then things didn't turn out well so now it's Meena's and she's paying for the place. Other than that, her brother who lost his job to the recession is living with her and Jon had no luck looking for new jobs. While Meena was eating her bagel, her colleague popped in and broke the news that Shosona is the new head writer. Shosona does not produce good work and always leaving work early. But Meena thought it isn't a surprise since her aunt and uncle are the executive producers and co creators of "Insatiable".

Meena head into Sy's office which is her boss as they had an appointment. The meeting was to let Meena know that the network is going to change the direction of the TV series as they were losing viewers to a show called "Lust" which had vampires as their main story line. With that show ratings going up, it's naturally that "Insatiable" will include a vampire as the main actress' love interest from now on. Meena was upset with this direction as she has always loved how "Insatiable"'s story was and hated vampires because it was not real in the first place. But she had no choice as if she wants to keep her job she would have to listen to the new head writer now.

Lucien Antonescu is a professor who teaches history in the University of Bucharest. He teaches at evening time and many female students who takes this class is not really interested in history but with Lucien himself as he is the most handsome professor and the girls all feel that they will melt when he is around. One of his students was asking him a question on the history of Romania and then he got a phone call suddenly which made him so furious that he chased that student away. The student was terrified as she thought she saw his eyes turned red with anger and usually Lucien is a very nice professor which have never throw his temper like that. The student tried to pry into the office to check on the situation but the professor simply disappeared into thin air.  Lucien received news that someone in New York is killing girls in the way that will reveal his secret to the world. And that is the existence of vampires in reality. As the prince of darkness, he  will have to investigate who is disobeyed him and might bring chaos to the order that he has maintained for hundreds of years. Lucien had no choice but to fly to New York to solve the problem himself.

Meena had a terrible day where she did not get the job she wanted and then in the afternoon she was invited to a dinner party hosted by her neighbor which she usually want to avoid. As she reaches her apartment building, she scouts around hoping that today of all days she would have a quiet ride in the elevator, but right as she enters her neighbor Mary-Lou shows up and for the whole ride she has been talking about "Insatiable" giving Meena all the ideas to add into the show. Mary-Lou also asked Meena whether she will be attending the party and Meena has yet to decide.  That night Meena could not sleep as she worries about Yalena so at 4 am in the morning she took her dog for a walk out in the streets.  As she nears the church, she saw a handsome man across the street and thought why would there be someone out so late. As she turns to look at the church which was under renovation, suddenly Meena could feel danger coming her way. A colony of bats were flying towards her and things happened so fast she thought she was going to die from the attack. The screeching of the bats were so loud and she could hear thudding at the back, the handsome man which she saw earlier was hugging and protecting her from the attack. Meena couldn't stop thinking that this man is going to die for her and it was scary. What's to happen to that man? Why didn't Meena foresee his death?

Insatiable by Meg Cabot is not your typical vampire story, it's mysterious, packed with romance and lots of action. When I first heard of this book, I thought "Oh why she followed the trend of "vampires" and came out with a book like this", I wasn't interested at all. But then being Meg Cabot's loyal reader I bought the book to give it a try. This book is not about the vampire but about a special girl who has special powers but not a pleasant power at all. Meena has a power which can see the future, but only one aspect which is when someone is going to die. It's not a power that benefits herself but to help people. This book does not have one main male character but two who are enemies. I love how the female interest of this book has two male interest for her. I love how a demon hunter is introduced in the story too that it's not about the vampires being vegan or good ones but they are bad in general and the good guys are the demon hunters.

It's very hard to describe how much I love this book,  I can truthfully say this is one of my favorite from Meg Cabot and the story is just unique to me. I know there's a vampire theme to it but I feel this book is better than twilight. I do like twilight but Meg Cabot has always been my favorite writer as she not only has romance, she includes mystery, action and also humor to her stories. I felt that the plots of the story went really smooth, the climax totally got me excited. I had no expectations for this book but it totally captured my heart. I have purchased "Overbite" which is the sequel and I can't wait to read it after I'm done with my current book. I really love the characters of the book, especially Meena and Alaric. Looking forward to see how their relationship evolves. I will definitely re-read this as when I was reading it, I repeat some chapters.

Remember me?

Feet aching from wearing boots that did not fit and soaked wet because of the rain, it was a bad day for Lexi Smart. Lexi and her friends are trying to hail a taxi home as Lexi's boyfriend "Loser Dave" did not show up to pick them from a clubbing session. It was raining really bad and it seem that Lexi was the only one trying hard while Debs and Carolyn were singing "Dancing Queen" together and Fi was making out with a guy. Desperately Lexi called out for taxi and one happened to pass by so she chased after it. A man was going to hail the cab which made her ran down some steps quickly resulting in her slipping and tumbling down the stairs.

Lexi woke up the next day feeling that her head was splitting, things are kinda foggy and her mouth is parched. She isn't aware of the time and how long she has been awake or asleep. She just lie still as the headache is really bad and she keep recalling the past. When she manage to open her eyes properly, she realized that she was on a hospital bed. She panicked as she could not recall much of what happened and how she ended in the hospital. A nurse came to help and gave her something to drink. When asked how she ended there, Lexi couldn't answer the nurse as her memory is foggy. As Lexi passed back the cup, she notice that her nails are nice and pretty not bitten down as usual. Maureen then gave her a plastic bag that contained her belongings and inside was a Louis Vuitton bag which Lexi said it wasn't hers.

The next day Lexi woke up feeling hazy still but she managed to remember that the nurse is called Maureen. She was still confused but felt some comfort when her mother showed up to visit. Her mother looked older to her which she felt it was odd and things got odder when her mom mentioned Amy and Eric was going to visit soon.  She didn't know who is Eric at all and when she went through her hand-phone which looked advanced for the year 2004. In her phone there were all kinds of messages from a person E but Lexi had no idea who that person is. The doctor came in to check up on her and asked many weird questions, and he revealed to her that currently is the year 2007. She had the biggest shock of her life as so many things happened which she could not recall, she is married, working as a Director in a company and her figure looks really good.  She had an accident driving her Mercedes car and ended up in the hospital 5 days ago. To her it seems like time skipped three year for her and she is totally different in her outlook and living a different life. The last thing she remembered was year 2004 the night she went clubbing with her friends and got stood up by her boyfriend.

The doctor told Lexi that she will need time to recover and being exposed to things that should be familiar in her daily life should help. When it was time to leave the hospital, she decided to go home with Eric her husband instead of living with her mom. She wanted to know what kind of life she is currently living in. Her house was amazing with high class furniture, high tech electronics and best of all she had her own closet with plenty of branded clothing but all in dull colors such as black, beige, khakis and so on. She was living the dream life with a good career, wonderful house, handsome husband and not being poor. It all seemed too good to be true but when she went back to the office, all her friends ignored her and people were afraid of her. She found out that she is a bitch boss from hell in her department and everyone hated her. Things weren't as good as she thought because she couldn't remember how to do her job, couldn't remember people who was acquainted to her in this new life. What was she going to do as a secret was revealed to her?

Remember Me? by Sophie Kinsella is a book about a person who lost three years of memory and how she learns to cope with the changes in her life. Lexi is totally blank on what happened and it's difficult on her to just live her life as it was. The current her is the Lexi in 2004 not the one that is in 2007, hence many aspects are totally new to her. This book is kinda realistic to me as these incidents do happen to people in real life. There could be a person who lost a big sum of their memory and they struggle to continue back their life. I love how the writer gives the reader a point of view into people who have amnesia and how their life could turn out to be.  I don't feel that this book is like her usual funny writing but no doubt there are a bit of humor in it. It's more towards how dramatic things turned out for the character that keeps me entertained. The book really captures my attention as I want to know more how Lexi tries to live her new life that seems so dreamy. It has a really good climax and slowly more details are revealed in the book that keeps you reading. Overall I enjoyed this book but it's not a book that made me laugh so hard my stomach hurts like Twenties Girl but still it's a good book. My favorite from Sophie Kinsella is still Twenties Girl.

Nail of the week - 4

Christmas is coming soon and I decided to paint my nails in the mood of the festive seasons. I used a skin food red nail polish with a slight shimmer in it. One coat was thick enough as the color is very opaque and then I topped with some glitter because it makes the polish more christmas-ish like light shimmering everywhere. The glitter is from The Face Shop and it's quite nice and cheap too. Next week I plan to continue doing my nails in themes related to Christmas.

Nail of the week - 3

Sorry to have posted this a bit late, but I had this color for a whole week now and I loved it. It's Revlon's Creme Brulee (No.915) which I feel is on the champagne color side with a small hint cream color. But sometimes in different angles and different lighting it looks different that the bottle.With classic lights, it looks slightly on the bronze side but very light. I love how this color make my skin looks fairer than usual and the tiny specs of shimmer makes the color more eye catching, just like a bubbly champagne I guess. But the name suggest similarity to the desert? But it's definitely on the nude range of colors, perfect for the fall season.

Shopaholic Takes Manhattan

Becky is not as financially troubled as she used to be because she managed to pay off all her debt and landed a job as a financial guru in the Morning Coffee TV show. At the show, she gives financial advices to callers who have various financial problems. It's a fulfilling job where she gets to help people. Becky is busy trying to pack her luggage as she will be going on a weekend trip with Luke to the country side. She is having trouble because she can't decide what to wear and she practically wants to bring her entire closet. Her best friend Suze came out with a good idea which is to pack clothes that is wearable at any occasion and Becky agreed but thought that she was missing a pair of shoes that would fit that category. So Becky remembered a pair of beautiful sandals from LK Bennett and she went out to buy it. Once she reached home she was still in a dilemma in packing and a courier guy came by to deliver a package to Suze. It gave Becky the idea to courier her clothes to the venue she's staying so that she can pack light and show Luke she can pack light.

After her show on Friday, Luke came to pick her up and slipped in that he would not have the whole weekend with her as he had a meeting set up there. Becky was upset because she thought they could enjoy themselves together and got out of the car and in the end she got persuaded by Luke to go on the trip still. Once they reached their destination which is Blakeley Hall, Becky was concerned about her delivery and it did not make it. She was in trouble as she did not have anything to wear the next day. Luckily for her the next day, Luke gave her back a CK T-shirt which she left at his place and she wore it as a dress with a headband as a belt that was found in her make up bag. While Luke had his meeting, Becky went to visit a cathedral St.Winifred to pass the time. Back from her trip, she went to the reception to look for her package but bumped into Alicia Billington. Alicia mentioned she popped in for an introductory meeting with the new associates which made Becky curious about the situation. Alicia continued saying there was new business to be established in New York which caught Becky by surprise but acted that she know about it to Alicia. Then she manage to escape from talking further when the reception called her name to collect her package.

Becky did not dare to ask Luke whether he will be leaving for New York since he kept it a secret from her. She also had no chance to ask since Luke flew to Zurich for business and it pondered her mind a lot.While she was browsing magazines at home, she saw in Tatler that Luke was featured and went on to read the article. In the interview, it was stated that Luke was single and it made Becky even more paranoid that he was going to leave her behind and forget about her. She desperately called him and asked about that interview and was told from Luke he wanted to keep his love life private and Becky then understand. Luke said he will talk to her more on Saturday where he was to attend Becky's neighbor wedding with her.

Saturday came and Becky went to her parents' home first and saw that many were preparing for Tom and Lucy's wedding reception at the garden of the Websters. She went in her house and was asked where Luke was because Becky's parents have yet to see him even though they had been dating for some time now. Even her neighbors was looking forward to see Luke as they think that Becky made Luke up for the reason that she couldn't get over Tom. When she went upstairs, Lucy's mom was doing her hair and reading the Tatler which shown that Luke was single. Angela thought that Becky was lying and delusional and asked where was this Luke. Becky told that he was going to show up as he was on his way back from Zurich today. After that awkward talk with Angela, Becky decided to sit near the back at the church ceremony and while the vicar was talking her phone rang and everyone thought Becky interrupted on purpose. She darted outside and the call was from a pre-recorded ad and turned off her phone. It was embarrassing to enter back, so she went to the Webster's garden to wait for the reception to start. When the party started, people were asking where Luke was and Becky lied that he was already there and they missed him. She mentioned he was at the dining table, then at the bar which no one seem to have spotted him at all.

It was time for picture taking and a group photo was requested. Becky was asked to join in with Luke and then everyone combined their stories to find found out that he was wasn't present. Lucy greatly accused that she made it all up and was very happy about it because she was triumphant over her. It made Becky sound like a lunatic and she couldn't hold up any longer and walked away quickly to the other end of the garden. She could hear from far that her parents were scolding the people there and left the wedding immediately. When Becky was far enough she sunk down to the grass and cried. It felt like she sat there for ages and everyone was enjoying themselves. She could faintly hear her name being called but was not convinced it was Luke and he showed up in front of her. She was happy and sad to see him as he was 4 hours late. Luke said that the bride Lucy was shocked till speechless when he congratulated them. It was clear to everyone that he exist and they were all whispering about it. Luke told her the big news that he was going to New York and asked her to come along with him.

Shopaholic Takes Manhattan by Sophie Kinsella is another hilarious and fun journey into Becky Bloomwood's life. On to New York she will go, where she'll find that it's a shopping heaven of designer brands and all sorts.  Can Becky really hold her urge to shop in this new foreign land? Well I won't tell but I have greatly enjoyed every bit of the book. Some parts of the book I found it was not important but then it plays a part to get the story going. Of the people she met, I was really happy how the writer can cover a little bit of basis with them and yet made them relevant. I was shocked nearing the back chapters of the book as the climax was just so well thought of. I am really satisfied with this book as I love how it continued to make Becky's life interestingly messy yet it's not a doomed situation. It was a good ending for me and I look forward to the writers other books on Becky's colorful life as a shopaholic. But if you asked me to compare then I think the first book was the best as it is the first time we read about who Becky is and her life's challenge. This book just continues on with her story and a bit about how she grew as a person. Good read but the chances of me picking it up again will not be in this near future.

Bijoux cupcakes

Cupcakes has been a trend for quite some time replacing cakes for tea time and some other pastries. I think a few years ago I've reviewed this shop Cupcake Chic's cupcakes and I love it but it's not a store that can be found everywhere. I went to KLCC on Friday last week as I had some Kinokuniya vouchers to use and decided to try Bijoux. Bijoux is a store where beside cupcakes, there are cakes and cookies and also some light food sold. There is one that is very near my home but I've always been reluctant to try. Since I had a friend that day to try with me, I bought 7 cupcakes in total. The normal promotion that is on going in the store is buy 5 free 1. Another one that I bought was for charity, it's a purple day cupcake and all the proceeds of the cupcakes goes to NASOM (National Autism Society of Malaysia). Below are the pictures I've taken of the packaging and the cupcakes itself. Bijoux features quite a number of cupcakes but most are repeating flavors such as vanilla and chocolate. 

Regular cupcakes of the store

Purple Day cupcake : Chocolate frosting with chocolate cake

Top: Vanilla frosting with vanilla cake
Bottom: Cupcake of the month : Cookies and Cream

Top: Coffee frosting with coffee cake
Bottom : Cream cheese frosting with vanilla cake and raspberry filling

Top : Vanilla frosting with chocolate cake
Bottom: Red velvet cupcake

I love the designs of the cupcakes it looked so yummy sadly it's doesn't taste as fantastic as it looks. The frosting tasted really good where the it's creamy and true to the flavor. But unfortunately, the cake is dry and when you chewed it tasted slightly powdery because of the dryness. The price of the cupcakes are RM 6 each. The only thing acceptable is the frosting and the design is lovely. It's too bad the cake is dry and with that pricing I wouldn't try again for some time. Probably like a year's time with the hope that they will improve on their cake. 

Nail of the week - 2

I'm wearing Revlon's Gray Suede this week and it makes my hands look slightly darker than they are. I would describe this color as a pink that is mix with a gray color. I used Sally Hansen Hard as Nails as my base coat, then applied two coats of Gray Suede and ended with Sally Hansen Dries Instantly 30 second Top Coat. IF you look closer at the polish it has a light shimmery finish and I love it. This color is definitely suitable for fall as plants and flowers are starting to change it's color. Couldn't take better pictures with my room lighting. Will try to retake the pictures on the bottle.

Another color that is so so similar is Essie's Lady Like - http://www.essie.com/shop/lady-like-p-396.html which is in their Fall collection. The website describe this as an elegant soft mauve. This is the link where missglamorazzi who is a Youtube beauty guru wore the Essie one and you can tell the similarity.

Candylicious

Candy in different shapes, in different colors, in different flavors, love them all!! Candylicious is a large store that sells candy, yeah the name says it all, HAHA. I first came across this store in Singapore when I visited Resort World Sentosa. The decorations for the store is just adorable and makes you crave for candy so much. When you enter you'll just see rows and rows of candy all organized based on brands. There's M&M's in different colors and also merchandises. Below is a picture taken outside the store which was in Singapore since photography is not allowed inside. 

I really love the candy there but buying it in Singapore Dollar is kinda costly but all is not despair. Last Friday I went to KLCC and saw that it was opened at the old spot where Toys' R Us used to be located at. It's not as  big as Singapore but still big enough to carry the candy I love from this store. The decoration is not as fabulous but not lacking either. It's a cute candy store that you would not miss. So I went into the store and bought my favorite candy and the best part it was cheaper to purchase it here. Below are pictures of my haul.

The plastic bag with "Eat Happy" as their slogan

Rock Candy

Closer shot of the rock candy

Rock Candy and Lollipops

The two green rock candy is Sour Apple, red is cherry, pink is cotton candy,  blue is raspberry, clear is original flavor.  Lollipop left to right : Fizzymix sherbet (lemon), Americola Sherbet, Fizzymix sherbet (no idea what flavor), Fizzymix sherbet (cherry), Lemon Ice-ball

My favorite rock candy is cherry and sour apple. Some of the lollipop flavors are new so I'm excited to try them out. Have a happy sweet week!! I hope I won't spoil my teeth :P