Saturday Pages: ARC Review of Rain by Amanda Sun!

Hey guys! Welcome to Saturday Pages!

This week I've been catching up on my review pile, so today I have another ARC for review! As such, it also counts for my 2014 Review Pile Reading Challenge! I didn't have this one ready for release week cause I was dealing with the Ruin & Rising hangover, but I want to give big thanks to Harlequin Teen for approving so many of my requests on Netgalley!

Rain by Amanda Sun

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


First of all, thank you so much Harlequin Teen for approving so many of my requests on NetGalley!

I had this one on my review pile to have it up on release week, but then Ruin & Rising and its massive hangover happened, so I ended up ignoring my review pile for a while and did some comfort reading... But now this week I've decided to go back to crack on my ARCs!

I liked Ink quite a bit overall, although I ended up giving it 3 stars cause some things really managed to annoy me enough, and with Rain it seems like we're exactly at the same point. There are some parts of the book that I absolutely adore, and others that annoy me to no end and make me want to skip pages to avoid them.

Let's start with what I loved in Ink and continued to adore in Rain, first of, the Japanese contemporary part. I've never been to Japan, but I feel like we really get a very authentic and real look at Japan, with it's everyday traditions and customs and all the little Japanese words here and there (I might end up learning a lil Japanese with this books, as a side perk!), and also how genuine the way Katie feels like an outsider. I've spent months in India, and no matter how comfortable or how welcome I was everyone, there were always little things that made me stand out or reminded me I was foreign, so I could relate with Katie. Even more imagine studying in a country where you have to learn a language with a complete different alphabet and way to write... challenging to say the least!

I also loved the whole mythology about the Kami, and all the revelations we got on this book and how it opened for what I feel will be an epic battle in the conclusion in the next and final book.

What I wasn't keen at all was the romance and the teenage angst. Katie and Tomo with their starcrossed lovers bit and then all the added satellites around and all the drama that was created and added on top of the Kami?? Wow, it was just too much for me. Not a fan of drama, and some of them were petty teenage woes and ended up making me want to skip paragraphs. Katie and Tomo took the whole bloody book to finally realize that secrets are no good and communication is key, so I'm hoping most of the drama has been left behind now!

I feel like the teenage drama mixed with the Kami threat is a bit too much for me, so I'm hoping the next book with focus more on the Kami and less on the drama!

I am quite curious enough about more information on Katie and her dad (hopefully) and more answers on that front, as well as the big confrontation I expect will happen, and even more information about the Kami and their myths. So, I'll be awaiting the third (and I think final) book.

I'm giving this one 3 stars, cause after all the likes and dislikes it comes to a bit of a happy middle of sorts!



View all my reviews

Petal Mix Accessories!

Monday is here again, though when you've worked the weekend, there isn't all that much of a difference! ;)


Today, I'm gonna show off another of my self-presents for turning 30! All my self-presents this year had been in my Etsy favourites for quite a while, and this Petal Mix headband wasn't an exception.


I discovered Petal Mix while doing a search for Japanese items. And I found this shop with gorgeous hair accessories, done with a modern twist in the Japanese art of tsumami kanzashi.


She has brooches, barrettes, hair clips and headbands, all with absolutely exquisite detail! I'm so in love with this style of hair flowers!


I decided to get myself a headband, for those days when you don't really want to do much with your hair, but still want to give it a fabulous look! I went with the Hot Chocolate headband, with a dark brown flower that will look well with my dark hair, and not pop out too much!


I love how well packed and protected my headband arrived, packed in a box and protected with tissue paper. And the flower is done with such an attention to detail, absolutely lovely!








And it does look pretty well on me, I have to say! I think it's gonna help me eradicate the bad hair days! ;)






If you like my headband, drop by Petal Mix's Etsy shop and take a look, you'll probably fall in love with something too!

Looby Lou Crafts!

Inspiration for a blog entry doesn't always come when you want it or have the time for it, so whenever it comes, you have to work with it, even if it means using the draft feature now and then!

I found Looby Lou Crafts while doing a search on Etsy. What was I looking for? I wasn't really specific, I've always liked oriental styled things of all sorts and this time I just typed Japanese and started looking at all that the Etsy search engine was offering me, and let me tell you, it is indeed a way to find some gems in there, if you have the time and patience to look through a bunch of pages!

I saw one of her Obi belts, loved it, hearted it and went on looking through the pages. Then, later that week I went through my favourites, and decided to look closer at the Obi belt and her shop. I did my regular thing, read the profile, shop policies and feedback, as well as a bunch of the listings themselves. She doesn't only offer Obi belts, but also headbands, bags, purses and hand muffers! All of them in beautiful Japanese/Oriental fabrics.

I was absolutely in love with her shop, and with a particular Obi belt in a green butterflies fabric, so I decided to send her a convo and ask her if she could also make me a matching headband, and if she shipped to Spain (since she's in the UK I thought she would, but better to be sure, too many sellers don't ship here). She was really nice and helpful, and really willing to work with me. She set up a custom listing, and after a pair of days, my Obi belt and matching headband were completed and on their way! When the package got home, not only it was really nicely wrapped (that always makes me feel like I'm getting a present, even if it's from myself to me) but left me speecheless on well made, well stitched and constructed both the Obi belt and the headband were!

I was so absolutely in love with both things that I decided that:

1.- I needed more things made in that same fabric (I got a custom Meow Kiki dress and a Dolly bag)

2.- I needed more of her headbands! They don't fall off you head (not even when I get my hair straightened) and since the fabric placement is different on both sides of the headband, they're fully reversible and look like a different headband.

The Obi belt looks absolutely gorgeous to give another look at my custom Meow Kiki dress, and it would look perfect also to give some colour to a full black dress, or a combination of black shirt and black pants.

I finally got me another three of her headbands, taking advantage of a combined listing of three headbands she was offering in a her shop a few months later. They are thin headbands, though she also offers thick ones, and I had such a hard time choosing just three from all the gorgeous prints she offers in her shop! Finally chose my three, and once again, custom made for me, in a pair of days sent, and another pair of days, and they're here! Gotta love Royal Mail!

Here you can see all of my headbands & the Obi belt together.

And here you can see a pair of the headbands happily sported by me, both in Spain and India!

All photographs courtesy of Gaurav S.