Pushing The Limits Read-A-Long: 1st week

I am so excited to be participating in the Pushing the Limits Read-A-Long hosted by Candace's Book Blog, Dazzling Reads, Page Turners, The Book Swarm and Bewitched Bookworms. Pushing the Limits has captivated me from the very first page so I'm really looking forward to this event. It's my first time to join a read-a-long but I'm sure it's going to be a blast. If you want to participate just head here.

Questions for the week:

1. The story starts out with Echo’s thoughts on how she wants to answer her therapist’s questions (snarky and caustically truthful) which are quickly juxtaposed to how she does (milque-toasty and banal).  Who do you think she hides the truth for more, her parents or herself?

I think in both ways, yes. Truth is something Echo runs away from, in my opinion. I guess if you're living with that kind of family and has a control-freak dad, you'll resort to that just to save yourself from an argument you know you couldn't win.

2. We see Mrs. Collins, the school therapist, interact with both Echo and Noah in the first few chapters.  From those interactions, what do you think of her?  Is she a prototypical caricature of state care?  Or do you think she’s there to make an honest difference in the lives of those she’s there to help?

I find Mrs. Collins really overbearing and somewhat pushy. But this could also means that she actually cares. Those traits didn't make her any likeable than Echo's parents but at least she can stand her ground when Echo's father go into an authoritative-crappy mode.

3. Noah has two friends, Beth and Isaiah, who have his back no matter what–through thick and thin–and he has theirs. Consequently, his life is a little easier because he has two people who know about his situation. Echo only has one close friend, and Lila will barely speak to her in school. Do you think Echo would have had an easier time coping and moving on if she had friends like Noah does?

I believe so. Friends could get you through the toughest times but it's important to note that they're still young and they have this thinking that the world revolves around them. I do see Echo as a quiet, introvert person after the incident so I think a friend who'd just be there by her side no matter what is a good thing.

4 . Echo fixates on a colorful ribbon that sits on the school counselor’s desk during their one-on-one sessions. Do you think this is a case of “Oh, look at the pretty ribbon. Let me zone out while staring at it”, or could it have a deeper significance!

There's something really curious about the ribbon. I think it wouldn't be there if it's not significant. I feel it's something really important to Echo...

5 .) Noah and the jacket… Already when Noah and Echo meet for the first time, Noah got angry when Echo forgot her Jacket (pg 34). Then on Echo’s Birthday party Noah gave Echo his jacket when he saw that she forgot hers (pg 54). There is a significance behind his anger when Echo has no coat and it tells already so much about Noah!

a) Why do you think is Noah so focused on Echo and her Jacket and what does that tell you about Noah’s character?

It's the first indication that Noah isn't what he seems! It showed his soft, caring side. He just didn't know how to translate it to something that is not crude or snarky. 

6. Echo wears gloves all the time to hide her scars. Not only for her sake, but obviously also for the others. When Noah sees Echo’s scars for the first time he’s shocked.

a) Do you think this was the moment he began to see Echo in a different light?

Noah clearly branded Echo as someone who is a stuck-up rich girl who plays dress up and who cares about social statuses or who dates who. So I think when Noah saw Echo's scars, she realizes that there's more to Echo than he thinks.

"Waiting On" Wednesday (6): Lucid

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases we're eagerly anticipating. 

Book: Lucid by Adrienne Stoltz, Ron Bass

Publication Date: October 2, 2012

Publisher: Razorbill

What if you could dream your way into a different life? What if you could choose to live that life forever?

Sloane and Maggie have never met. Sloane is a straight-A student with a big and loving family. Maggie lives a glamorously independent life as an up-and-coming actress in New York. The two girls couldn't be more different--except for one thing. They share a secret that they can't tell a soul. At night, they dream that they're each other.

The deeper they're pulled into the promise of their own lives, the more their worlds begin to blur dangerously together. Before long, Sloane and Maggie can no longer tell which life is real and which is just a dream. They realize that eventually they will have to choose one life to wake up to, or risk spiraling into insanity. But that means giving up one world, one love, and one self, forever.

This is a dazzling debut that will steal readers' hearts. - Goodreads

I know that from the first time I saw Lucid I just have to read it. From the cover to the blurb, it just grabs your attention and screams, "Don't you dare miss me!". So yes, October can't get fast enough, in my honest opinion.

What are you waiting on?

Leave your link down below so I can check yours out.

Review: The Glimpse by Claire Merle

Read from June 7, 2012
to June 8, 2012

Book: The Glimpse by Claire Merle

Publication Date: June 7, 2012

Publisher: Faber & Faber

Number of Pages: 432

Genre/s: Young Adult, Dystopia

In a near future, society is segregated according to whether people are genetically disposed to mental illness. 17-year-old Ana has been living the privileged life of a Pure due to an error in her DNA test. When the authorities find out, she faces banishment from her safe Community, a fate only thwarted by the fact that she has already been promised to Pure-boy Jasper Taurell.

Jasper is from a rich and influential family and despite Ana’s condition, wants to be with her. The authorities grant Ana a tentative reprieve. If she is joined to Jasper before her 18th birthday, she may stay in the Community until her illness manifests. But if Jasper changes his mind, she will be cast out among the Crazies. As Ana’s joining ceremony and her birthday loom closer, she dares to hope she will be saved from the horror of the City and live a ‘normal’ life. But then Jasper disappears.

Led to believe Jasper has been taken by a strange sect the authorities will not intefere with, Ana sneaks out of her well-guarded Community to find him herself. Her search takes her through the underbelly of society, and as she delves deeper into the mystery of Jasper’s abduction she uncovers some devastating truths that destroy everything she has grown up to believe. - From Goodreads

'We're linked,' she said. 'We could lose each other a thousand times and the universe would still bring us back together. Will you wait for me?'

I was entirely captivated by The Glimpse.

It's the year 2041 and many catastrophes had happened. There have been the 2018 Collapse, the Global Depression, and Petrol Wars that lead Britain to close its borders. The Mental Health Care system has so much power over the society and people are now being classified into two, the Pures and the Crazies. The Pures live in the Community with comfort and luxury while the Crazies has to live with the disarray of the City.

Ana is the daughter of Ashber Barber, the man behind the invention of the Pure test. She is a Pure or so she thought. When her father was accused of manipulating her test results, she was branded as a Big3 Sleeper. Only a binding could save her from being thrown out to the City. But Jasper the man she's being bound to has troubles. He knew something big, something that could shatter the credibility of the Pure test and weaken the hold of the entire Board of Psychiatric Testing and Evaluation. That's why Jasper was kidnapped and Ana has only 4 weeks to figure out how to find Jasper or they will never be bound and she will be shunned from the Community. 

That's how it all started. Ana was intent on getting Jasper back because she knows he is in trouble. So she sneaked outside of the Community and her adventure started.

The Glimpse reminded me of previous dystopian books I've read. It reminded me of Matched by Ally Condie because of the Binding Ceremony. It also reminded me of Starters by Lissa Price because of its technicality. But in my humble opinion, The Glimpse is superior. Mostly because The Glimpse plays to my love for psychology. 

The appeal for me of The Glimpse can be pointed out to its concept. I love the idea behind it all. That because the world is in shambles, the pyschologists and intellectuals will step forward and try to control the crimes and the escalating turmoil by controlling people's action. By mapping out every mental health disorders, they could now classify people into who's harmful and who's not. They could now control people because they believe they fully understand how the brain functions. They give psychotic medications to children and even neonates as a form of prophylaxis or preventive treatment without regard to the debilitating side-effects. At a young age, they become dependent to it and without it, withdrawal symptoms occur to the point of depression and suicidal tendencies. Isn't that positively chilling?

The characters are also part of the charm of The Glimpse. I just like Ana so much. She is intelligent, brave, and compassionate. She had to endure a lot of things. She had to live with her cold, calculating father and has been brought up to lies and deceptions. She had even forgotten what lead to her mother suicide because of the layers of lies her father coached her to tell.

In times where emotions has to be estimated and always reigned in for fear of being taken away by the Psych Watch, being in the City is like freedom to Ana. Yes, she was scared and wary but you could really see that her role was to shake things and to start changing the system.

The only thing that slightly bothered me was the "Glimpse" thing. I just felt that it was the carrots in the soup. Just floating around but I guess we will have more explanation about this in the next installment.

I could go on and on but this review would then be very long. The Glimpse is definitely something. It had me take down notes like I'm on cracked. It made me think so much and even though it's highly improbable for now to have a society like that, it's possible that in the future this could happen. It all really boils down to power and how this power could be very corrupting. 

The Glimpse is definitely something. Oh wait, I've said that already. Just reiterating. This is definitely a must-buy and a must-read, people.

Cupid's Verdict:

4 1/2 Cupids

An advance copy was provided by the publisher at no cost via Netgalley

Hi guys!

This is a really quick and hurried post because I'm actually in the library right now and the internet connection is sooo slow and I still have classes later. I'd just like to apologize for the lack of reviews and updates on the blog, classes just started a week ago and before I know it, I was sucked in. Plus, it doesn't really help that my apartment has no internet connection yet.

I'm working on it though and while I'm begging and convincing my parents that it's not really a bad idea, I plowed through my TBR. I've just finished 2 books and I'm close to finishing another 2 books. I'm just trying to find some time to finally go through my draft reviews and finalize them. I think they'd be ready by the end of the week.

So yes, I'm still alive guys in case you're wondering. And don't forget to enter the ongoing giveaway! :)

"Waiting On" Wednesday (5): UnWholly

Waiting on Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases we're eagerly anticipating. 

Book: UnWholly (Unwind Trilogy #2) by Neal Shusterman
Publication Date: August 28, 2012
Publisher: Simon & Shuster Books for Young Children

In a society where unwanted and troublesome teens are salvaged for their body parts, Connor, Risa and Lev continue to fight against the system that would 'unwind' them. Thanks to their high-profile revolt at the Happy Jack Harvest Camp, people can no longer turn a blind eye to unwinding. Ridding society of so-called troublesome teens might be convenient, but its morality has finally been brought into question and a new law passed. However, unwinding has become big business, and there are powerful political and corporate interests, not to mention the illegal 'Parts Pirates', that want to see it not only continue, but expand.


Connor, Risa and Lev each struggle to rescue as many AWOL teens as possible and offer them sanctuary. But life at the Graveyard is hard, rivalries bubble under the surface and the cracks are beginning to show.


And then there is Cam, a teen who does not exist. Made entirely out of parts from one hundred other 'unwinds', Cam is a 21st century Frankenstein, a rewound, struggling to find a true identity and meaning, and a place in society. But when a sadistic bounty hunter who takes "trophies" from all the 'unwinds' he captures starts to pursue Connor, Lev and Risa, Cam finds his own fate inextricably bound with theirs… - Goodreads

Most of us can trace our dystopian reading roots from The Hunger Games or The Giver or Divergent (?) but I can trace mine from Unwind by Neal Shusterman. I read Unwind without any idea what it was about. I haven't heard of it, I wasn't even familiar about the dystopian genre back then. Never did I know that Unwind would blew me away and would end up in my fave-books-evuh shelf. I also thought that it was a stand-alone novel.

But look now, after 5 years, the next installment will be born! I couldn't be any happier. So if you haven't read Unwind yet, you have at least 2 months to do so before the next book comes out. Prepare for an epic ride. ;)

What are you waiting on?

Leave your link down below so I can check yours out.

PSST. I have a giveaway going on. You might want to head there for a chance to win. I know you want to. ;)