After going to the Stephanie Perkins book signing last Sunday, 6th of July (Recap Here). I start hearing conversations about the next book signing by a certain author named Alex London, ever heard of him? I've heard of Proxy before and maybe of it's sequel Guardian but I haven't read any of these yet. Not even a page. Seems promising from what I've heard on Facebook, a lot of my mates have been talking about how good they are and how much feels they contain (Shout-out to Arielle! :D) So I'm intrigued by these, I'll probably buy and read them near the first weeks of August.

I can't go to this book signing though, but I'll definitely attend Jennifer Smith Lissa Price's this 20th of September. :D






What: Alex London Book Signing Event
When: August 30, 2014, 2 pm
Where: National Book Store, SM Aura
Registration starts at 10 am.

Join Alex London, author of the young adult dystopian novels “Proxy” and “Guardian”, for a book signing event on August 30, 2014, 2 pm, in National Book Store, SM Aura. Registration starts at 10 am. The event is made possible in partnership with Raffles Makati, Metro magazine, Chalk magazine, Sweep and SM Aura. Follow National Book Store on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram (@nbsalert) for more details. Tag #AlexLondoninPH to join the discussion.



About Proxy


Knox was born into one of the City's wealthiest families. A Patron, he has everything a boy could possibly want—the latest tech, the coolest clothes, and a Proxy to take all his punishments. When Knox breaks a vase, Syd is beaten. When Knox plays a practical joke, Syd is forced to haul rocks. And when Knox crashes a car, killing one of his friends, Syd is branded and sentenced to death.

Syd is a Proxy. His life is not his own.

Then again, neither is Knox’s. Knox and Syd have more in common than either would guess. So when Knox and Syd realize that the only way to beat the system is to save each other, they flee. Yet Knox’s father is no ordinary Patron, and Syd is no ordinary Proxy. The ensuing cross-country chase will uncover a secret society of rebels, test both boys’ resolve, and shine a blinding light onto a world of those who owe and those who pay. Some debts, it turns out, cannot be repaid.

A fast-paced, thrill-ride of novel full of non-stop action, heart-hammering suspense and true friendship—
just as moving as it is exhilarating. Fans of Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider series, James Dashner's Maze Runner, Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking series, and Marie Lu's Legend will be swept away by this story.






About Guardian
In the new world led by the Rebooters, former Proxy Syd is the figurehead of the Revolution, beloved by some and hated by others. Liam, a seventeen-year-old Rebooter, is Syd’s bodyguard and must protect him with his life. But armed Machinists aren’t the only danger.

People are falling ill—their veins show through their skin, they find it hard to speak, and sores erupt all over their bodies. Guardians, the violent enforcers of the old system, are hit first, and the government does nothing to help. The old elites fall next, and in the face of an indifferent government, Syd decides it’s up to him to find a cure . . . and what he discovers leaves him stunned.

This heart-stopping thriller is packed with action, adventure, and heroics. Guardian will leave you breathless until the final page.

A fast-paced, thrill-ride of novel full of non-stop action, heart-hammering suspense and true friendship—just as moving as it is exhilarating. Fans of Anthony Horowitz's Alex Rider series, James Dashner's Maze Runner, Patrick Ness's Chaos Walking series, and Marie Lu's Legend trilogy will be swept away by this story.

About the Author


Alex London writes books for adults, children and teens. At one time a journalist reporting from conflict zones and refugee camps, he is now a full time novelist living in Brooklyn, NY, where he can be found wandering the streets talking to his dog, who is the real brains of the operation.

For more FAQs, the event's Facebook page can be found Here.

Title: Fangirl

Soon to be available 2014

Plot Synopsis:


Love ignites in the City That Never Sleeps, but can it last?

Hopeless romantic Isla has had a crush on introspective cartoonist Josh since their first year of the School of America in Paris. And after chance encounter in Manhattan over the summer, romance might be closer than Isla imagined. But as they begin their senior year back in France, Isla and Josh are forced to confront the challenges every young couple must face, including family drama, uncertainty about their college futures, and the very real possibility of being apart.

Featuring cameos from fan-favorites Anna, Etienne, Lola, Cricket, this sweet and sexy story of true love--set against the stunning backdrops of New York City, Paris and Barcelona--is a swoonworthy conclusion to Stephanie Perkins's beloved series.

 (If you haven't seen my post about Stephanie Perkins's book signing last Sunday, It's advisable to see it first. Here's the recap.)





I got so engrossed by this novel that I sometimes forgot to write notes for this review, so please pardon the lack of flavour and coherency.


A lot of people has been talking about this book for months now, on Facebook, on the Internet and in real life. And I totally understand why;


First of all, I like how Isla Martin goes to all this trouble just to meet-up again with Josh Wasserstein to apologize to him. It kinda reminds me of, well, me. ( In a positive way! not the stalker kinda thing! XD ) To me, this shows how much she cares about him and about how much she'd go just to see him again. (Chapter 3 and I'm already feeling the feels!) She's walk to the ends of the Earth just see him, to hear him, to touch him, to be with him,

During the first chapter you'll be thrown head-first into the middle of Isla and Josh's summer, It's kinda confusing for a while because it's in Isla's perspective and she's totally bonkers on painkillers for her extracted wisdom tooth. (Is this considered a spoiler?). You'll be introduced pretty quickly to her crush on Josh. Which, if you remember in Anna and the French Kiss, she was seen a few times and already she's been hinted at having a romantic interest in him.

I like Isla Martin's character (Because I can relate and because I actually like her as a protagonist),  She's a fun, smart and quirky girl she's but kinda socially awkward  and she's reluctant to take on risks. (* Minor Spoilers*) But in the end she eventually finds herself and becomes courageous and she finally finds  her "Happily Ever After" With Josh, someone she can't ever stand to be without. She likes to read books about adventure and danger but she can't bring herself to take risks and live a little. Which is why her being with Josh balances them both out.

I was a bit shocked when I saw that this novel had quite a number of swear words, about one curse word per chapter. It's a bit strange to see that much profanity in one of Stephanie Perkins's books, but of coarse you have to bear in mind that this is the "Advance Uncorrected Galley". But I like how much more you can express with swear words in your literary arsenal.

I love the flirting and the romance in this book, (Although it is more fast-paced than her other works) It's got the right amount of flirtation and kissing. You'll see that Isla and Josh were once shy to confess to their mutual attraction to each other but once they let it out, it's like a dam bursting in love and affection. They become inseparable lovers but can their love for each other last when college is just around the corner?

Concerning Josh. To me, he strikes me as a bit reckless, brash and rebellious. I mean, I don't blame him. If your father was a powerful man and your family was always distant with you, I'd be rebellious too. But back in Anna and the French Kiss, he was introduced to us as that cool, laid-back, artistic kinda guy. He's still pretty much the same except his character development really hit the peak near the middle of the book.

This is one of those books that you can't help but read in just one sitting, it's also a book that you don't want ending, you just want it to continue and continue and continue.

"There," He says. "I've been waiting a long time to do that."

Not nearly as I've been waiting.

Hey guys! Laurence Tan Aka: The Lucius Flux here with my mates Godwin, (of Machinations of My Muddled Mind) Pamela, and Jerzon in Glorietta 1's National Bookstore. (initial time of Arrival)

Unfortunately, I arrived late due to the heavy traffic and my being lost upon getting there. and I got 4th place. Jrrzon was first and Pamela was 2nd. If only I arrived 20 minutes earlier I could've made it. So near yet so far. So much for that ARC copy, eh guys? *Deranged laugh out of anger and disappointment and sadness* But atleast I wasn't 177th like the Mafi-Riggs-Rossi book signing last summer *Frustrated Sigh*.  Thanks Obama, 'ppreciate it. 

Me and Godwin planned our whole escapade weeks before the event, I knew him before from the Tahereh-Ransom-Veronica booksigning and from our mutual friend Luigi.

Most people camp in line to get their books signed earlier so that they can leave early OR because of awesome ARCs (Advanced Reader's Copy) being given away, which in this case is Isla and the Happily Ever After, which is coming out this August.

Apart from that, We were just talking about our blogs and  books, events and stuff and we looked around for books and generally had a whale of a time. I used my phone a lot of times during this part of the camping.

This continued all through-out the night, us talking and going for bathroom breaks. UNTIL, the unbelievable happened. At around 12:30 Am, STEPHANIE AND JARROD PERKINS THEMSELVES SHOWED UP TO OUR SIDE OF GLORIETTA!!!! One minute we were dozing off and reading books, the next the author of the booksigning and her husband shows up out of nowhere and the girls in our group were simply JUMPING AN SQUEALING like a bunch of schoolgirls about this turn of events!!
We quickly crowded around them and started taking pictures of them, with them, and with all of us. Most of the girls in our early birds group hugged them both, but it would be kinda awkward for us 3 guys, lol.

We literally "stayed up all night to get lucky"

But prior to this booksigning camp-out, I ordered 2 custom shirts with "Anna and the French Kiss" on it for a mate of mine and for my personal use. Fast forward to the present, I asked them both to sign my shirt and they totally did it! Someone else from out group asked them to sign her phone case and Godwin asked them to sign his Autograph book.
Maybe it was out constant posting of our pictures to #StepaniePerkinsinPh? Whatever the case may be, we're still grateful for Stephanie and Jarrod for dropping by and taking selfies with us! :D




After a few more pictures and hugs, they departed back to their hotel and left us not bored and sleepy but pumped-up with book adrenaline and Novel energy, we stayed up all night talking about how this was better than the signing, a personal visit from the author and her husband!! Can't get any better than that!


We definitely didn't sleep at all until the signing.


Registration started at around 10-ish. It was a really long night if you just sat there, staring at the skies with no clear thought to ponder. At this time, my phone's battery was about 30%, I thought that it would last for the entire duration of the book singing, how wrong I was.

At around 2:10 Pm on Sunday, Stephanie Perkins finally arrived to National bookstore after her long-awaited visit to Manila! She was briefly interviewed by the staff of National Bookstore and the people from Bloggers Forums where she stated that she may or may not continue the Anna and the French Kiss series, cross your fingers that she'll write another one!

When she was asked if she had any advice for aspiring writers, she said "Learn to read like an author" Learn to know how and what to make readers feel, how and why did the author write this sentence and so forth.

Then the fans asked her and Jarrod to kiss, they did!! Crowd erupted in thunderous cheers and screams of hundreds of fangirls (And boys!) at the display of their romantic kiss!!

NOTE: I am NOT photobombing them! XD

And then the interviewer announced that the following names walk up to the stage. She counted them off; "Jerzon, Pamela, Godwin . . ." and then "Laurence . . ." ?! It's like that feeling when your about to get your honors or something. I was like "Wait-wait, WHAT?! WHAT! Who, me?"
I nervously got to the stage then Jerzon gave me the mic. In my panic, nervousness and unpreparedness, I said the only things that popped into my mind: "HEY GUYZZZ!" followed by two seconds of awkward silence from my lack of vocalizations and then i passed it back to Godwin. *Internally screaming mathimatically* Talk about awkward. XD

And then they gave us each a ARC (Advance Reader's Copy) EACH for the 7 Early Birds. AND a cool tote bag with a Anna and the French Kiss/Lola and the Boy Next Door/Isla and the Happily Ever After design (Which I gave to Luigi) AND a special picture with the Author herself!









During the actual signing, I approached Stephanie Perkins in my  Dark faded polo shirt, my signed Anna and the French Kiss shirt, a bunch of rubber bands on my arms and a star on my left hand. She asked me "Did you guys sleep?" To which I replied with "No, we were too hyped for your booksigning!" ("Thank You!") and "It was our pleasure!".








Next came the idea of asking her husband, Jarrod Perkins, to sign our books. So after what seemed like a hundred guys, I reached him and told him "Hi. Thanks for coaxing Stephanie to write her awesome books!" And he replied with something that I didn't quite catch. and he asked me if I slept during the camping, which i replied with "I only napped for twenty minutes." And here's what he wrote on my books:





And here's what Stephanie Perkins wrote:




AND I HUGGED STEPHANIE PERKINS!!!

Kudos to National for posting this for me to find! I still can't believe it! Ohmygosh!

It was a tiring but definitely satisfying and fun experience, I met a lot of people and made some friends. And don't forget the ARC! As I wrote and finalized this a day later, I'm still feeling a bit groggy from the Fanboy Fever and Booksigning hangover. And Stephanie Perkins is actually more beautiful in real life than in her pictures!! :D

Top: First Eleven with Stephanie and Jarrod Perkins Bottom: From left to right: Pamela, Jerzon, Vanessa, Kiana, Cerise, Kimberly, Charm, Feather, Me, Godwin.

This was a really fun event and I want to go to more. Thank you guys for making a memoreable Day/Night/Day!  Thanks to Bookstorebug.wordpress.com (Aka: Feather) for some of the pictures!

For the book reviews of Anna and the French Kiss and Lola and the Boy Next Door, please visit Godwin's posts on these: Here and Here.

(My previous post on the event here)

And Thank you Stephanie Perkins for visiting the Philippines and for making generations of teenagers/young adults swoon with your novels and Thank you Jarrod Perkins for coaxing Stephanie to write said books! Stay awesome!


ATTENTION: MY ISLA AND THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER BOOK REVIEW IS NOW OUT: CLICK HERE

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!)