Book Series Review: Archibald Lox by Darren Shan [Deleted Scene]

July 12, 2020 LuxeLeave a comment

Introducing Archibald Lox
A Major New Fantasy Series From
Internationally Bestselling Author Darren Shan

Darren Shan, beloved and bestselling creator of Cirque Du Freak, The Demonata, and Zom-B series, has announced the launch of Archibald Lox, his new fantasy adventure months ahead of schedule. While many publishers are delaying or outright cancelling new publications, and while supply-chain issues and school and bookstore closures are disrupting the course of traditional publishing, Darren Shan decided to release the e-book editions of his new novels all at once offering readers around the globe a literary escape from the Coronavirus lockdown.

“I am trying to bring a bit of cheer and levity into the lives of young readers,” said Shan. “I’ve been working on the new Archibald Lox series for a few years and had intended to launch it in Fall 2020. As the world has been forced to hole up due to Coronavirus, I thought I’d release the books sooner and give readers something to enjoy in their quarantine time.”

The Archibald Lox series begins with a scary chance encounter on a London bridge between a tween in foster care who is mourning the accidental death of his closest friend and a girl his own age who is being pursued by some menacing men before vanishing into a seemingly conjured hole in the sidewalk. The book’s hero Archie soon finds the fate of his world and the magical world of the Merge depending on him!

Content/trigger warnings at the end of my review may contain spoilers.

Araw ng Kalayaan: #JunkTerrorBill (+ #BlackLivesMatter)

June 12, 2020June 12, 2020 LuxeLeave a comment

Hello! How are you all doing? This pandemic has really taken its toll on every single one of us so I hope you and your loved ones are staying safe during these scary times.

I know that we’ve all had a very rough year so far. I understand how physically and mentally exhausting 2020 has been and all you probably want to do is curl into a ball and shield yourself away from all the bad stuff. However, as much as you want to do that right now, we are still in need of your help.

Most of you are likely to know of the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement, aiming to take down white supremacy all over the world. Meanwhile, another movement—which is #JunkTerrorBill happening here in our country, all the way in the Philippines—is lobbying for human rights as leaders of our country try to take advantage of the law to silence those who oppose of their inhumane acts.

Today, June 12th, is the Philippine’s Independence Day which commemorates our country’s independence from Spain in 1898. Maligayang Araw ng Kalayaan, my fellow Filipinos. But our fight isn’t over yet. I would like to take this opportunity to use my platform for awareness and as a small stepping stone towards change. Here, I share to you different resources and ways for you to help contribute to #JunkTerrorBill and the #BlackLivesMatter movement. Please read this blog post until the end.

I AM ALIVE!! + GREAT NEWS

June 7, 2020 Luxe2 Comments

Hi, you guys!!! It’s been so long since I’ve last made a blog post and being back from my incredibly long hiatus feel so weird and comforting and exciting, all at the same time.

Before anything else, I would like to profusely apologize for my absence. In abruptly taking my indefinite hiatus, I have consequently left a lot of responsibilities and I am sincerely sorry for that. Know that it is absolutely not my intention to neglect them and I will do my best to make up for my shortcomings! ❤

WHERE HAVE I BEEN? 🤔

So… It’s been, what, a year? Holy shit, it just dawned on me that I actually didn’t blog for a whole actual year. Yikes.

To be honest, I didn’t quite plan on taking a (very) long hiatus from blogging. I am completely in love with book blogging and I really didn’t want to stop doing it. However, as cruel as it is, life keeps getting in the way. Before this one, I have also taken up another hiatus before because of personal issues as well. I tried to promise myself that it won’t happen again but, alas, I failed.

I started my first year of university around the same time I took my hiatus last year. Taking up a degree with the stigma of being a particularly draining one and which I wasn’t entirely sure I liked, I hope you can imagine the extreme pressure I was constantly in.

I expected that college won’t be easy on me, so I think I made the right decision to take a break from blogging. I prioritized my academics above anything else in this decision so I really focused my energy there. I’m happy I decided to go for a hiatus because If I didn’t, I think I’d have continued just for the sake of routine and not really get to enjoy it as I normally do. Not to mention, I’d put up crap posts which doesn’t bode well for me and my perfectionist ass.

Now, I’m really excited to be back because I miss blogging and most specially, I MISS YOU GUYS! I missed this community so much and I hope I’m still welcome.

WHAT IS MY “GREAT NEWS”? 🎉

Well, considering the current state of our world with this pandemic, this hardly counts as great news. I know that there are more pressing issues and fantastic achievements out there but I’m just so over the moon when I received this news… Apparently, I got into the Dean’s List for my first year in college!!!

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After a lot of sleepless nights and countless emotional breakdowns, it’s so heartwarming to see that all my hardwork for college has been acknowledged. Sooooo excuse me while I treat myself to a good book and some junkfoods.

SO WHAT NOW? ✨

Now, expect to see a lot more of me and my blog! I really want to post a lot from now on, although I don’t want to put too much pressure on myself. I’ll be blog hopping a lot as well, to try and catch up with what’s going on with you guys!

How are you guys, by the way? I hope you’re all doing well, considering the circumstance we are all in. Please stay safe, physically and mentally, especially to those enduring this pandemic by themselves; we’ll get through this. If you need someone to talk to, please know that you are completely welcome to shoot me a message here in the comments, my email or on Twitter DM’s.

That’s it for now! I have a lot to catch up on, and again, it’s good to be back. Au revoir, for now! 😉

Blog Tour: Two Like Me and You by Chad Alan Gibbs [REVIEW + GIVEAWAY]

May 24, 2019 Luxe2 Comments

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Book Title: Two Like Me and You
Author: Chad Alan Gibbs
Publication Date: May 20th 2019
Genres: Contemporary, Young Adult
My Rating: 3 out of 5 stars

Edwin Green’s ex-girlfriend is famous. We’re talking cover-of-every-tabloid-in-the-grocery-store-line famous. She dumped Edwin one year ago on what he refers to as Black Saturday, and in hopes of winning her back, he’s spent the last twelve months trying to become famous himself. It hasn’t gone well.

But when a history class assignment pairs Edwin with Parker Haddaway, the mysterious new girl at school, she introduces him to Garland Lenox, a nursing-home-bound World War II veteran who will change Edwin’s life forever.

The three escape to France, in search of the old man’s long-lost love, and as word of their adventure spreads, they become media darlings. But when things fall apart, they also become the focus of French authorities. In a race against time, who will find love, and who will only find more heartache?

I received a free copy of this book in exchange for an honest review as part of the blog tour hosted by Xpresso Book Tours.

MY THOUGHTS

My initial reaction upon finishing this book was relief, partly because the whirlwind of suspense (about the main characters’ adventures) was over and I don’t have to constantly worry about them anymore. But also, I felt relieved mainly because I ended up liking the book despite the few troubles I had with it.

Just to get it out of the way, let me tell you that I did not feel a connection to any of the characters so that’s a major turn off for me. At that point, I was starting to get worried that I wouldn’t be able to enjoy this as much as I expected. Also, I felt that the book could have been a little shorter because it felt dragging for some times. But despite those, I carried on reading and I’m glad I did!

This contemporary book is unlike any I’ve read before. Since I mostly read romances in this genre, Two Like Me and You was kind of like a breath of fresh air for me. I love how it does not entirely focus on the romantic aspect despite love having somehow a significant role in the story. Plus, this book is jam-packed with adventure that keeps me biting my nails in anticipation. Most of the happenings here are ludicrous and absolutely unbelievable which gets the excitement constantly flowing! Not to mention, the World War II references were very interesting for me to read about.

Overall, I enjoyed this one despite a couple of points for improvement. I’d recommend this one if you’re looking for a crazy and fun contemporary read.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chad Alan Gibbs lives in Alabama with his wife, two sons, two dogs, and an embarrassingly large collection of Star Wars action figures. Two Like Me and You is his first novel.

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GIVEAWAY

Get the chance to win (INTL):

3 signed copies of Two Like Me and You

3 eBook copies of Two Like Me and You

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Favorite 2016 Reads & Bookish Resolutions for 2017

January 5, 2017June 13, 2020 LuxeLeave a comment

HAPPY NEW YEAR! Cue fireworks displays, popping balloons and Fake Love by Drake blaring in the background. (I am in love with that song at the moment, by the way.) I was supposed to post this on New Year’s Day but I didn’t get the chance to, so here it is 4 days later.

So, another year has ended already. It feels like 2016 came by so quick yet took too long to end at the same time. 2016 definitely wasn’t my year, let’s just leave it at that. Anyway, in this post, I will be sharing with you my favorite books I’ve read in 2016 and my Bookish Resolutions for 2017 ~~which you probably already deduced by reading the title.~~

Favorite Books in 2016

This doesn’t necessarily mean that the books I listed here are published during 2016 only. To be fair, none of these books are published during 2016.

I’ve originally set my Goodreads 2016 Reading Challenge target to 50 books but as the year went on and as school proved to be more of a problem than I’ve expected, I changed my goal to 40 books. And thank heavens, I achieved it ~~and read 3 extra books~~!

So among the 43 books I’ve read, here are my favorites:

I won’t waffle on about them anymore because this will get super long and most probably will end up repeating everything I’ve already said in my reviews. But if you do want to know more about these books and why I loved them so much, check out my reviews listed here in no particular order ( I did not write one for Me Before You but the link will direct you to my Goodreads update about it):

Bookish Resolutions for 2017

I’m not really the best at resolutions. When it’s December already, I always find myself setting goals I want to achieve the following year but he problem is, I NEVER DO THEM. I somehow always forget along the way. But this year, despite of my rubbish memory and lack of self-discipline, I came up with a list of bookish resolutions and hope that I did not set myself up for yet another disappointment.

Buy more physical books

I’m really fond of buying eBooks for the reason that they’re a teeny bit cheaper and are sometimes more convenient compared to physical copies. I’m actually planning on writing a separate post on this so I won’t ramble on much. But basically, I’ve recently just realized that I already spend too much time staring at my phone’s screen and eBooks don’t help when I want to decrease my “screen time”.

Blog more

Some might notice my lack of presence recently in my blog. I’ve posted like, what, 4-5 posts the past few months and that’s HORRIBLE. I normally post that many in 2 weeks last summer. WTF is happening to me?

Have more creative blog posts

This kinda falls under the previous one. I feel like all I post are book reviews and that gets boring.

Read more classics

I have never read a single classic book in my entire life. Why? I’m not exactly sure either. Maybe I’m intimidated by them. But nevertheless, I’m gonna give them a try sometime this year. Hopefully.

And that’s it. I’m kind of thankful for 2016 although it wasn’t really a great year, I learned a lot. But anyway, I’m so excited to see what 2017 has in store for me. Here’s to more memories created and lessons learned!

What are your favorite 2016 reads? Are you as bad as I am when it comes to New Year’s Resolutions? Do you mind sharing a few of your resolutions for this year?

Have a great 2017, everybody! ❤