The House of Night series is set in a world very much like our own, except in 16-year-old Zoey Redbird's world, vampyres have always existed. In this first book in the series, Zoey enters the House of Night, a school where, after having undergone the Change, she will train to become an adult vampire—that is, if she makes it through the Change. Not all of those who are chosen do. It's tough to begin a new life, away from her parents and friends, and on top of that, Zoey finds she is no average fledgling. She has been Marked as special by the vampyre Goddess, Nyx. But she is not the only fledgling at the House of Night with special powers. When she discovers that the leader of the Dark Daughters, the school's most elite club, is misusing her Goddess-given gifts, Zoey must look deep within herself for the courage to embrace her destiny—with a little help from her new vampyre friends.

I found and read this book last summer while I was searching around our attic for a decent book to read. At first I didn't think much of it, the first few paragraphs were kinda vague to me but then once Chapter 5 kicked in, things got really interesting!

This is the first book out of many from the House of Night series by P.C. Cast and her daughter Kristin Cast. At first glance you might think "Wow, this looks so Gothic and depressing, meh.*Chucks it our a window* " But in actuality, while it is slightly 'Gothic' or 'dark' setting-wise, the plot itself is actually quite normal, even cheerful in some parts of the book.


Ok, Imagine being an average teenager in a world where Vampyres are common but not tolerated and then one day a creepy guy 'Marks' you as a Vampyre (With a fully visible crescent on you head, no less. It's like a sign shouting "HEY! DEADLY VAMPYRE HERE!" I don't
know about you, but that would really mess up my day) and then you find out that going out in the sun is extremely painful, that you are shunned by your friends, your boyfriend and even your own parents don't want to be near you and that you actually need to go to special boarding school for Vampyres
in a 4 year process of transforming into an adult Vampyre or you die. Literally die. Painfully. As if going to a strange new boarding school wasn't bad enough.
(And there are also frats/sororities/groups like the "Dark Daughters" and the "Dark Sons" there, BTW.) That's what Zoey Redbird experienced during the first book of series.

Your previous life basically ends after you get marked. You have to go to a different school from your friends, you sleep during the day and you study during the night, your History classes are replaced by Vampyre History and not to mention the craving for blood. Oh, yes. When they smell the intoxicating aroma of blood they go mad with desire, it's like the best smell in the world to them, and the most divine drink of all.

But Zoey Redbird is a different kind of Vampyre, she's got a full crescent moon and already she craves blood. These traits aren't usually gained that early by Fledgelings, they usually manifest during their 2nd or
3rd year.


Zoey makes friends with Stevie Rae (A legit country girl with an accent! How cute is that?! XD) less-than-straight Damien, Erin and Shaunee (Both of whom are like twins separated at birth! They even fill in each other's sentences!)

And if being a freshmen in a vampyre boarding school wasn't tough enough, there's Aphrodite. She's the leader of the Dark Daughters and she's a complete bitch (Pardon my language) to Zoey and her friends, and practically to most other people. She might seem like a beautiful, nice and like-able person on the outside, but on the inside she's a snobby temptress who's a damn bitch.


This novel bassically tells the story of what it's like being a teenage Vampyre Fledgeling attending school with other Vampyres and their daily life in the darkness. There's the usual teen drama, comedy, romance and some darker elements in the plot of this, all beautifully and masterly wrought to create an amazing novel!


TL;DR: Definitely a great book and I would recommend this to people who likes to read about Vampires, romance and teen-drama in Young Adult novels.




The door opened and oh my dear sweet lord I do believe my heart totally stopped beating. I'm positive my mouth flopped open like a moron. He's one of the most gorgeous young lad I've ever seen. He was tall and had dark hair that did that adorably perfect Superman curl thing.  His eyes were an amazing sapphire and blue . . .


(Join The House of Night Philippine's Facebook page here)

I'm not that big of a fan of Sam Tsui and Kurt Hugo Schneider, but their live performance in the SMEX last June 25 could be summed up in just one word: AWESOME!
My sister and our mate Deryk are HUGE fans of these guys so I decided to give it a go! (Plus our tickets were free!)

Below is their video prior to arriving in Manila. Hope you enjoy! :)



They also had a special guest perform their opening: Rita De Guzman! I don't know her or her songs but they were funky and jazzy! She did a good job of setting up the mood!

In case you don't know who Sam Tsui or who Kurt Hugo Schneider is, they're both famous Youtube personalities who possess amazing skills in singing and playing instruments. They also do covers of songs like "Don't you worry child" By Swedish House Mafia, "Man in the Mirror" by Michael Jackson and "Don't Stop Believing" by Journey.


The Youtube sensations' visit to Manila was definitely a success that they felt that visiting The Philippines again was a must! And from what I saw at their concert, 'a warm welcome' doesn't do them justice! There were fangirls screaming and squealing and it was utter pandemonium. Near the end of their concert, they started flinging wristbands and they even gave away a SIGNED T-SHIRT! Signed by both Sam Tsui and Kurt Hugo Schneider! I didn't get any because I was seated near the middle of the hall. :(

Their songs were performed PERFECTLY! (Even if they didn't play "Don't you worry" by Swedish House Mafia) They even performed a duo of the Cup song as seen in the movie "Pitch Perfect"! They literally can play any instrument.

Some of the songs they sang were from their new album, such songs as "Shadow", "Where ever you are", "Wildfire" and "Don't want an Ending" among others.

Unfortunately, I lack videos or pictures of the concert because I deemed it unfair to the persons watching behind me.
The concert lasted for about 1.5 - 2 hours because instead of starting at 8:00 Pm they started at 9:10 Pm, but that was ok with us.


All in all, it was a pretty fun concert. I hope they do another tour here in Manila!

Alright!

You guys probably know Stephanie Perkins and her books right? No?
*Sigh* Well, . . . She wrote these amazing Young Adult books like Anna and the French Kiss and Lola and the Boy Next Door and her upcoming book called Isla and the Happily Ever After (Which will be released on August 14 of this year) Which I will most likely be camping in line for when it comes out.

I had both of her books on my To-Read list for a while and then I checked my Facebook one day and BAM! Stephanie Perkins book signing!

To be honest, I convinced a lot of my school friends to attend this event including my mate Luigi. (Who at first, thought it was meh. But now he's totally hooked!)