I’d like to wish all my friends and readers a very Happy New Year!

May 2011 brings you happiness, prosperity, good health and more books!!

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page.
• You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
• Please avoid spoilers!

I have just finished reading Rachel Cohn & David Levithan's Dash & Lily's Book of Dares. Since this book is so good and that I haven't made up my mind what book to read next, I decided to share two passages instead of one for this week's Teaser Tuesdays.

I could have sat next to you on the subway, or brushed beside you as we went through the turnstiles. But whether or not you are here, you are here - because these words are for you, and they wouldn't exist if you weren't here in some way.
(Pg 95)

* * * * * * * *

Snarl must have had me under some kind of spell because sneaking out in the middle of the night, on Christmas night no less, to a dive club on the Lower East Side was about the last dare that pre-notebook Lily ever would have taken on. But somehow, knowing the Moleskine was tucked away in my bag, containing our thoughts and clues, our imprints to each other, somehow that made me feel safe, like I could have this adventure and not get lost and not call my brother to save me.
(Pg 110)

Main entrance of Jurong Bird Park

Don't you love these little guys?

The King Penguins. Can you also see one swimming in the water?

These flamingos made a spectacular sight!

Assorted colourful parrots.

Watch some various birds performing at the Pools Amphitheatre.

Waterfall!

My husband captured this little fellow hopping around while he was taking some pictures. I love its pose... so adorable!

Another eye-catching scene.

Pelicans. They remind me of some scenes from Finding Nemo.

Eagles always look fierce and dominant no matter how they pose.

Well I hope you all have a wonderful week ahead! Can't believe this week is already the last week of 2010! I hope to finish reading David Levithan and Rachel Cohn's Dash & Lily's Book of Dares so I can add it onto my 2010 reading list. And then, there would be my 'Best Of' list which I would be posting in a few days' time.

I don't have the habit of setting New Year Resolutions since life can be so unpredictable but I'm hoping that next year will be another great reading year for me. And it would also be a year dedicating to my TBR pile since they are always growing and I need to make a dent out of those before they got out of control! (More bookshelves, please!)

Happy reading everyone! I'm off to read some more from Dash & Lily's Book of Dares; it gets better the more I flip through those pages!

It's Christmas tomorrow and since I won't be blogging then, I'd like to wish everyone a Happy Holidays, and may your holiday season be blessed with peace, love and joy!

Merry Christmas!

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page.
• You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
• Please avoid spoilers!

"Yeah, a beer," he said, rubbing a hand over his bearded chin. "It's hot. I was thirsty. Thought maybe you'd like to join me..."

"You? You want me to have a beer with you?" she repeated, her hand darting back and forth between the two of them in a nervous fit.

(Pg 14, Beautiful Disaster by Laura Spinella)

•Tillykke med fodselsdagen! (Danish)
•Happy Birthday! (English)
•Bonne Fete! (French)
•Haerzliche Glueckwuensche zum Geburtstag! (German)
•Hau`oli la hanau! (Hawaiian)
•Buon Compleanno! (Italian)
•お誕生日おめでとうございます(Japanese)
•생일축하합니다 (Korean)
•Fortuna dies natalis! (Latin)
•生日快乐! (Mandarin)
•Gratulerer med dagen! (Norwegian)
•Parabens! (Portuguese)
•Feliz Cumpleanos! (Spanish)
•Chuc Mung Sinh Nhat! (Vietnamese)

Today is my birthday; I can't believe it is another year again. How time flies!

I celebrated my birthday with my family during the weekend, so today will be like any other ordinary day to me since it is a working day for me (there is an important meeting in the office today and my superior wanted me to be around, which is fine with me).

Well I hope everyone has a great day today! Just another four more days to go and it'd be Christmas!

2011 YA Reading Challenge (January 1st – December 31st)
I chose Option “Mini YA” where I need to read 12 YA novels. There is no need for a list so my choice will depend on my mood then.

2011 Book Blogger Recommendation Challenge (January 1st – December 31st)
I chose “Level 1” where I need to read 5 books from the 2010 Book Blogger Recommendation List. My choice is as follows:

1) Juliet by Anne Fortier
2) Room by Emma Donaghue
3) Crescendo by Becca Fitzpatrick
4) Personal Demons - Lisa Desrochers
5) Revolution by Jennifer Donnelly

The TBR Dare (January 1st – April 1st)
Of course I wouldn't want to turn this down, after all this is another good excuse for me to clear those piles away. For this, I pledge to read as many books from my TBR pile till the last day of the dare.

What about you? Which 2011 reading challenges are you participating?

Mailbox Monday is hosted by Marcia from The Printed Page where readers get to share the books that came into their house last week; this month the host for Mailbox Monday is Jenny Q of Let Them Read Books.

Here's what I received last week:

1) Beautiful Disaster by Laura Spinella (from the publicist)

2) The Matchmaker of Kenmare by Frank Delaney (from the publicist)

What books came into your house last week?

ISBN-13: 9780805090055
Publisher: Henry Holt and Co.
Published: September 2010
224 pgs
Source: Personal Library

Please let me go. I won't tell.

I am sure many of you may have read about a kidnapping story in one time or another, but have you ever read about the victim who is blind? I haven't, and that is why I find Girl, Stolen is so refreshing. Reading Girl, Stolen reminds me a little of a great story I read in June 2009; that title is Stolen by Lucy Christopher (one of my favourite (and best) reads for last year!). Stolen is about the journey and the relationship between a kidnapped girl and her captor as they travel along the Australian outback. It is a very character-driven story, filled with lots of emotional intense than anything. There is also something very disturbing about the story having the victim sympathised and feeling for the captor towards the end, but yet you couldn't help reading it. Lucy Christopher's prose and style is that wonderful!

Anyway, I have seen some reviews comparing this with Stolen and I can totally understand why as both have the same kidnapping theme, but what makes this story stood out is the heroine is a blind girl who have to rely on her cane or her guide dog through her daily life. Cheyenne Wilder is kidnapped while waiting in the backseat of her stepmother's car. Actually her kidnapper, a boy named Griffin didn't mean to kidnap her in the first place; he saw the car keys dangling in the ignition and decided to steal the car away, not stopping to check if there is anyone in the car. He is thinking that his stealing a Cadillac Escalade would make his father very happy, after all his father too steal cars and they would sell the car parts or replace the VIN numbers before selling off the vehicles again. Unfortunately he did not know of the complexity and the consequences about stealing a girl with the car too, and before he realised his mistake it was all too late.

Having no choice, he turns Cheyenne to his father once they are back into his house. Afterwards when Roy, Griffin's father learnt that Cheyenne is the daughter of Nike president, he decided to hold her captive and demand for a ransom. Before this happened, the relationship between Griffin and his father has never been good, but Griffin tolerate his father's hurling insults and abusive behaviour since his mother walked out of his life when he was young. He has no one to turn to, and he has no choice, so to speak. And after Cheyenne steps into his family and into his life, his attitude towards his stinking life has somewhat changed after witnessing her determination and courage to escape from their grasp. In the end, he decided to become her protector and accomplice for her escape. But of course I am not going to tell you anything beyond that, so let's just say this has been an intense reading experience for me.

Now that I have read Girl, Stolen, I felt that the plot and the style is very different from Stolen, despite that they share the same theme - kidnapping. Both of the emotional intense are wonderfully built, but their approach (direction) is different. Also, I find the thrill of this story is focused more on the escape than the relationship between the captor and the captive, while Stolen is leaning more towards the latter. Both are compelling read with a different reading experience, thus I cannot say which is better but if you are going for the thrill and suspense, Girl, Stolen will be it.

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page.
• You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
• Please avoid spoilers!

The only thing that might save her life was the fact that she couldn't describe what he looked like.

But if Cheyenne couldn't see, how could she escape?

(Pg 15, Girl, Stolen by April Henry)

I have to admit that this book didn't really catch my attention at the beginning; I think it has got something to do with the cover or probably the title but nevertheless I picked it up after reading a few reviews from other bookbloggers and you know what, I am glad that I did that! I really, really enjoyed reading this book!

Natalie Sterling takes her studies seriously. She is the kind of girl whom I think every teacher would like in a student. In short, she is sensible, responsible and she knows what she wants for herself. She has dreams, and at this point she badly wants to be Student Council President and she would perform her best to get this position. After all, she is sitting for her SAT and she wants to get into the best college. However, the competition isn't easy when you have a handsome football player who knows how to play dirty and one who has many supporters behind him.

But Natalie is not going to give up. With the help of her best friend, Autumn, they try every means to get all the votes they want. The friendship between Natalie and Autumn has come a long way, ever since Natalie has backed Autumn up after an embarrassing moment with a boy she hooked up with awhile back. That incident has changed Autumn's life forever, and due to this Natalie has further make it a point not to get involved with boys and love.

However, Natalie's life gets complicated after that a freshman girl whom she used to babysit goes to the same school as her, and Natalie is most mortified by Spencer's outspoken and outrageous behaviour that sometimes get herself into trouble. Well you see, Spencer believes that sexiness empowers girls and she feels that they should make full good use of it to get what they want. Natalie, on the other hand, feels that they could be liberated feminists through other methods that are not involving sex and sexiness. But then some things happened when you least expected it and soon Natalie finds herself caring for Connor Hughes, another football player and a friend of her rival more than she knows. Has she beginning to lose respect for herself, or is she just simply following her heart?

Not That Kind Of Girl is a compelling read about friendship, love, choices and well, girl power. I just loved the themes of this story; it is so honest and the characters felt so real to me. Natalie may come across as a girl who knows it all from the beginning, but that's what make her stand out in this story. I liked her postitive attitude, and she has that girl power attribute in her which will make any girl agree with her resolutions.

As you can guess from the plot, Natalie definitely has some tough decisions to make towards the end. And what makes this book such a worthwhile read is reading about Natalie's experience and what or how she deals with it in the end. In my opinion this is not just a YA romance but is also a book that makes you think about your choices in life and be ready to face the world no matter what choices you have made.

I'd be sure to check out the other books by this author.

Old Town Holiday Cookies

2 sticks of butter
1 cup brown sugar
½ cup granulated sugar
2 eggs
1-1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1-1/2 cups of All Purpose flour
1 teaspoon of baking soda
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¼ teaspoon nutmeg
½ teaspoon salt
4 cups corn flakes
1 cup chocolate chips
White Chocolate

- Heat oven to 350 degrees.

- Cream softened butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar.

- Mix in eggs and vanilla. In a separate bowl mix flour, baking soda, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt. Slowly blend dry ingredients into the butter/sugar mixture.

- Fold in corn flakes and chocolate chips. Drop rounded tablespoons onto baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes. When cooled, drizzle with melted white chocolate.

Happy Holidays!

TEASER TUESDAYS asks you to:

• Grab your current read.
• Let the book fall open to a random page.
• Share with us two (2) “teaser” sentences from that page.
• You also need to share the title of the book that you’re getting your “teaser” from … that way people can have some great book recommendations if they like the teaser you’ve given!
• Please avoid spoilers!

After Chad Rivington, Autumn never had another boyfriend. It saved her from a lot of needless heartbreak. And me, well, the whole thing just let me be a good best friend. Which was all I'd wanted to do in the first place.

(Pg 37, Not That Kind of Girl by Siobhan Vivian)

Anyway, when I knew that Strawberry Shortcake and her friend will be performing in one of our neighbourhood shopping malls as part of their holiday season celebrations, I was exhilarated and felt like an eight-year-old girl all over again. And what makes me happy is that my seven-year-old daughter likes this character too so the more I should go watch their performance, isn’t it?

I was lucky that I was able to get into the line so that we would have the chance to take a picture with these characters after their performance. The event was so much fun as it was filled with great music and loads of interactions between the performers and the children. Though it was only a 20-minute show, still I was glad to be there and that I had a wonderful time with my daughter as well as with the other children (their shouts of joy was simply contagious!).

Reading-wise, I had just finished reading Ella Minnow Pea by Mark Dunn on my way to work this morning. What can I say? It was a delightful read and the premise is so, so clever! I hope to have the review up this week.

I can’t believe that it is already December and that Christmas is approaching. Have you done your Christmas shopping already? I have not; I am such a slacker but then again, there have been a lot of things on my plate lately (I suppose this is a valid excuse, no?).

Well, I hope you all have a great week!