Just Me

DOUBLE STANDARD by Judith McNaught
Publisher: Harlequin
Date of Publication: 01/28/1991
Summary:

In the exclusive, glittering world of business superstars, Nick Sinclair was a legend...

The ruggedly handsome president of Global Industries handled his business the way he handled his women — with charm, daring and ruthless self-control. A man used to the very best, Nick hired Lauren Danner, and assumed the proud beauty would soon be another easy conquest. But Lauren's flashing wit and rare spirit dazzled him — and slowly, against his will, he was intrigued, challenged — and in love.

Yet Lauren was living a lie, a charade that became more dangerous with every passing moment. Trapped in a web of deceit, she fought her growing love for Nick. Her secret could destroy his fragile trust — and the promise of life with the most compelling man she had ever met!

Facts: I had no idea what the cover is showing until I am well on the tenth page of the book. I first I thought it was just blobs of reds and blacks. And because I do judge books by its cover, I didn't didn't pick this one up at the bookstore but online while I was browsing the summaries.

Beautifully, beautifully written.

Judith had done it again! She's... the bomb.
This books starts out with Lauren being a totally innocent naive virgin who believes that the dashing Nick Sinclair, who makes her swoon with his charms and kisses, is really in love with her. Naturally, because she's in love with him, it's logical that she should give him her body, too. Yes, she's a virgin. She hasn't been with anyone because she believes that physical relationships must happen after love.

Nick on the other hand, cast her aside after that one night with her. Hurt and betrayed, Lauren sets out to take her revenge of Nick, unknowingly teaches him how to love for the first time.

I love this book because it's realistic. It captures the very thoughts of the characters. If these characters were to be real, this would have happened. It's different from other books because well, throughout the first 1/3 of the book, I kept asking myself "why is she so quickly in love with him? If they fall in love that easily, what is there to read? After all, this is a romance book, right?" Not until I read the part when Nick casts her aside and lies to her that I realized I have been reading only Lauren's side of the story, which is obvious to why they are so supposedly quickly in love with each other.

Afterward is a heart warming tale about a man, being cast away by his own mother, learns how to love and allow to be loved in return. I don't want to go too much into detail because it would give everything away (and I'm tempting to do just that).

This book is another of my fav. books of all time. So I'd of course, recommend it to everyone.

The good is that I can blog whenever I want which is a huge thing since I'm on a tight schedule. A very tight one. It's neat ang fast.

The bad? It's slow, tidious and the keyboard on itouch doesn't rotate so it's really hard to type. Plus I don't know a lot of HTML code so it's going to look really plain. I'm not even sure if I'm doing this right even...

Oh dang it I'm suppose to review the ap bio princeton book today. Okay gotta finish cleaning up.

The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown

While in Paris on business, Harvard symbologist Robert Langdon receives an urgent late-night phone call: the elderly curator of the Louvre has been murdered inside the museum. Near the body, police have found a baffling cipher. Solving the enigmatic riddle, Langdon is stunned to discover it leads to a trail of clues hidden in the works of da Vinci…clues visible for all to see…and yet ingeniously disguised by the painter.


Langdon joins forces with a gifted French cryptologist, Sophie Neveu, and learns the late curator was involved in the Priory of Sion—an actual secret society whose members included Sir Isaac Newton, Botticelli, Victor Hugo, and da Vinci, among others. The Louvre curator has sacrificed his life to protect the Priory's most sacred trust: the location of a vastly important religious relic, hidden for centuries.


In a breathless race through Paris, London, and beyond, Langdon and Neveu match wits with a faceless powerbroker who appears to work for Opus Dei—a clandestine, Vatican-sanctioned Catholic sect believed to have long plotted to seize the Priory's secret. Unless Langdon and Neveu can decipher the labyrinthine puzzle in time, the Priory's secret—and a stunning historical truth—will be lost forever.


In an exhilarating blend of relentless adventure, scholarly intrigue, and cutting wit, symbologist Robert Langdon (first introduced in Dan Brown's bestselling Angels & Demons ) is the most original character to appear in years. The Da Vinci Code heralds the arrival of a new breed of lightening-paced, intelligent thriller…surprising at every twist, absorbing at every turn, and in the end, utterly unpredictable…right up to its astonishing conclusion.

I wasn't so hot on this book when I picked it up mostly because I'm not into mystery and thriller and what not. In fact, I picked the book up and put it down then never thought of it again until yesterday when my friend lent me this book.

I spent the WHOLE day today just READING this book. I love how each chapter ends with a hook and it keeps you reading. Dan Brown's book always starts with something explosive like, someone dies or something explodes but this one is just... unique. I love the conversation and the occasional French conversation. It's entertaining even thought my French sucks.

The one thing I love most about this book is that it's fast-paced. Unlike Stephen King or Dean Koontz books, Dan Brown explodes out with action and keeps movie. Other mystery books... I have to practically force myself to read the first ten chapters before I actually get into the book. This one just got me right in the first chapter.

Besides the HUGELY gorgeous plot, I love you Dan Brow drop a few interesting facts like the one about PHI and Mona Lisap's painting where the horizon is lop sided. I wonder how much research he did to write that book. In the end, the one thing that startled me the most is *****SPOILER ALEART****** is the revelation about The LAST SUPPER.

An art lover myself. I used to gaze at the painting many times but I NEVER see a single woman in that picture and when I read this book. It's just like, BAM! right there! In your face! I love how Dan Brown just throws facts in your face, facts that are so obvious but for some reason, not many people realize.

Over all, it's a GREAT GREAT GREAT GREAT book. I'd recommend it to everyone. Well, except middle schoolers since they are quite hard to follow sometimes, especially with the French names and conversations.

I can't believe I'm actually recovering from this food poisoning disaster. I thought I was going to die, well, at least that's what they told me. Food poisoning. I can't help but wonder though, what kind of food poisoning that it would damage my stomach tissues? Apparently I had too much acid in my stomach and it kinda... ate into my own stomach. Hmm...better cut low on sugary drink. I guess the reason why it was so bad (went to the hospie for 2 days and the rest of the week recovering) was because I didn't eat anything for the whole day and then decided to down a whole large cup of strawberry smoothie. But hey, I didn't know!

So I haven't done anything since the Pertinence giveaway... But I have been doing a lot of reading. That's all you can do when you're in bed. Okay.... that sounds kinda wrong but oh well.

Springbreak!!! WOO!!! (and to think that I only finish 2 books is...depressing but hey, I got some stuff done for school so it's not even half as bad.)

First off, Bought: the Greek's Innocent Virgin by Sarah Morgan.

Summary:
At Angelos Zouvelekis's command, café waitress Chantal will play the part of his bride-to-be. He will shower her with exquisite jewels and silks.and she will repay him in kind!

He wants his recompense in the bedroom! Angelos worships Chantal's body, although he thinks she's a devious gold digger. But his arrogance is shattered when he discovers Chantal is a virgin..

Angelos bought this innocent, and now he intends to keep her - whatever the cost!

I can't really say much about the bookcover. I don't know. It's just... different from the other bookcovers that I've seen over the years. I'm not saying I don't like it or anything. The background is nice... but that's pretty much it. I just... can't comment about this type of cover. My appologies.

I finished it in one sitting [and lying] as soon as I got the book. Seriously, I just got hooked by the title. Overally I really, really love the characters. They're well built. The story is very shot but I think I know a lot more about the characters than other books that go on and on for pages about the surrounding and minor characters. I especially like the heroine. She's strong, she's determined, and she is VERY stubborn. She wants to be independent from the hero and even thought they're having a relationship, she never ever wants to take money from him.
I think I like this story because I can relate to the heroine. This is how I ( and I believe many other women) want to be like. We don't want to be dependent on our husband financially.
The hero on the other hands amuses me throughout the book. I enjoy reading about heroes whose lives are so organized and suddenly someone sweeps into their lives and turn everything upside down. The hero found himself at a loss whenever he looks at her and he also admires her for her strong will, but I guess what I like the most about him is that he loves him so much he doesn't know what to do with himself (or "the time when they're not in bed" --> taken straight from the book).

In the end, I really enjoy reading about about this book although some would think that the plot is pretty typical. I totally agree with that. But hey, typicality is nice sometimes. This book is a perfect example!


AND LASTLY, is a few personal news. I got the replies from all the colleges that I apply to. Well... I GOT ACCEPTED TO ALL OF THEM! INCLUDING UVA! HOW SICK IS THAT! So yeah, I'm still undecided about whether I should go to UVA or VCU (because of some personal reasons) BUT I'm going to see both colleges tomorrow! YEP. That's it!

Busy, busy, busy. I've been busting my butt on exams and tests. Thank god after this exams hell week I'll get to have a relaxing springbreak! Yeah! But first I have to get through this week which doesn't look so hot right now.

I found my Bio binder and whatever binder that I lost! Yeah!

I also bought Gone with the Winds And several collections of horror+folktales+ grimm's tales whatever you call them. And oh, some horror stories too. Can't live without a little fear in love <3

So I've got less than a min. to write therefore the last thing would be to say that my next update would be about a book.

Oh, despite how much I dislike VIRGIN STAR, I actually finished it (yes, I did skipped some pages and details, but I finished it nonetheless.) so I'll write a REVISED REVIEW on that book next time since I feel like I didn't do justice on that book. I guess my mood was foul then b/c I didn't exactly do well on one of my tests (GARR!!! School is poisoning my brain and destroying my social life!)

In the end I used 5 min to write this but oh well. Gotta take a bath before wrestling with Spanish!

Until next time!

There's your gorgeous cover.

Here's the summary:

Three years ago, Sophie Mercer discovered that she was a witch. It's gotten her into a few scrapes. Her non-gifted mother has been as supportive as possible, consulting Sophie's estranged father--an elusive European warlock--only when necessary. But when Sophie attracts too much human attention for a prom-night spell gone horribly wrong, it's her dad who decides her punishment: exile to Hex Hall, an isolated reform school for wayward Prodigium, a.k.a. witches, faeries, and shapeshifters.

By the end of her first day among fellow freak-teens, Sophie has quite a scorecard: three powerful enemies who look like supermodels, a futile crush on a gorgeous warlock, a creepy tagalong ghost, and a new roommate who happens to be the most hated person and only vampire on campus. Worse, Sophie soon learns that a mysterious predator has been attacking students, and her only friend is the number-one suspect.

As a series of blood-curdling mysteries starts to converge, Sophie prepares for the biggest threat of all: an ancient secret society determined to destroy all Prodigium, especially her.

And if you wanna know about the awesomest giveaway for this book, follow this linky.

Deadline is MARCH 2 so get over there NOW!