Fifty Shades of Obsession

So just a quick update about E.L. James' fantastic series. I was scouring the web for reviews and discussions about the series and came across this great video that depicts all the characters of the book. It shows a perfect Anastasia and Christian, just like I imagine them. In fact, Christian is even better, hotter than I had imagined, I wish I knew this guy in real life. Only Mia's character is somewhat off  but that could be just me!
You can watch the video here.
P.S. I feel like I'm really getting obsessed with this series lol

Books I'm Reading

As a new college term has begun, my fiction time has been cut down to be replaced by psychology and neuroscience books. And though I do enjoy learning about the brain, the mind and how they work, I would much rather read about the heart and its feelings. *sigh* I am an incorrigible romantic and nothing pleases me more in life than a good, genuine, romantic fiction. 

Here are some of the books that I am reading currently:

Fifty Shades Darker By E.L. James The sequel to Fifty Shades of Grey.

 Daunted by the singular sexual tastes and dark secrets of the beautiful, tormented young entrepreneur Christian Grey, Anastasia Steele has broken off their relationship to start a new career with a Seattle publishing house. 

But desire for Christian still dominates her every waking thought, and when he proposes a new arrangement, Anastasia cannot resist. They rekindle their searing sensual affair, and Anastasia learns more about the harrowing past of her damaged, driven and demanding Fifty Shades. 

While Christian wrestles with his inner demons, Anastasia must confront the anger and envy of the women who came before her, and make the most important decision of her life.

I have read about first hundred pages of this book and think it is absolutely, bloody fantastic. I can feel that there are going to be some really mind blowing twists as I go ahead and some fabulous love scenes. Can't wait to finish it.

The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith Who would have guessed that four minutes could change everything?

Today should be one of the worst days of seventeen-year-old Hadley Sullivan's life. She's stuck at JFK, late to her father's second wedding, which is taking place in London and involves a soon to be step-mother that Hadley's never even met. Then she meets the perfect boy in the airport's cramped waiting area. His name is Oliver, he's British, and he's in seat 18C. Hadley's in 18A. 

Twists of fate and quirks of timing play out in this thoughtful novel about family connections, second chances and first loves. Set over a 24-hour-period, Hadley and Oliver's story will make you believe that true love finds you when you're least expecting it.

It is a new release and has come out only a few days ago I think. I have read only first 20 or so pages but  I can feel that this going to be one of those YA novels that is going to totally blow me off my boat or whatever. I can already tell that Oliver is going to be on  my "Want-this-hero-in-real-life-badly" shelf. Well not shelf, that sounds objectifying lol. But whatever, you know what I mean!

Entwined by Heather Dixon I know what your thinking...I'm gonna say it before you do. I'm almost an year late in reading this one. But I don't know somehow I just skipped on this one last year. 

Azalea is trapped. Just when she should feel that everything is before her . . . beautiful gowns, dashing suitors, balls filled with dancing . . . it's taken away. All of it.

The Keeper understands. He's trapped, too, held for centuries within the walls of the palace. And so he extends an invitation.

Every night, Azalea and her eleven sisters may step through the enchanted passage in their room to dance in his silver forest.

But there is a cost.

The Keeper likes to keep things.

Azalea may not realize how tangled she is in his web until it is too late.

The concept of this book,  a fairy tale with a contemporary touch-up, can be very challenging and a author can get it right or they can simply bomb it. I hope, for my sake mostly, that the latter is not the case for this book. 

So this is the roundup of the books I am currently reading. I have this really bad habit of reading 3-4 books at the same time and I keep hopping from one to another. Maybe it is because it gives my brain the time to unconsciously analyse the plot and get a feel of every character. Or maybe I'm just impatient and have concentration problems lol.  But I hope I get these books finished before the end of this month, I have a really long list of latest releases waiting for me!!!

Laters <3<3<3   

Jessica Park Replied to My Review

Oh.My.God.
I can't believe this! I just checked a comment from my review on Goodreads website and saw that Jessica Park, author of Flat-Out Love, herself has liked it and replied to it. I'm so excited and happy!!!

Here's what she wrote: 

I have no idea how to tell you how much I love this review. Just... you're amazing. Thank you so much for taking all the time to write this (and for including pictures, LOL!). It means the world to hear this kind of feedback from a reader... to know that you "got" the book the way I dreamed that someone would. 

Huge thanks,
Jessica 

This is so great that she takes out the time to actually read reviews given by us, the readers and not only the professional critics. More respect for her <3<3<3  

And on a side note E.L. James, author of Fifty Shades of Grey, also liked my review for her book.

This so great that all these contemporary authors give so much of time and respect to their readers and really try to get to know their audience better. 

Fifty Shades of Grey By E.L. James

I normally feel disturbed and at odds with the whole S&M or BDSM thing due to many personal reasons and, therefore, was very skeptical about reading this book. But due to so many recommendations from friends and the good reviews, I decided to give it a try. And let me just say E.L. James is one woman who knows what the heck she's doing. Christian Grey is a character beyond all my imaginations. So alpha, so sexy, so brilliant and so messed-up. But never once during the whole book did I feel outraged over the kind of relationship he wanted Anastasia to have with him. And this just goes to show how well the author has developed his character that I am prepared to overlook the theme. This is one guy I would love to meet in real life, what a dayumm strong character! And Anastasia, though majorly overshadowed by "Dear Sir", is by no means a weak heroine. She is definitely, passionately attracted to Christian and gets all jelly-boned around him but don't we all have that one guy whose proximity does that to us?! But she still has her brains in the right place and knows what she does and doesn't want as can be seen during their email exchange. I absolutely loved her in the ending when she takes a stand and absolutely refuses to take the bullsh*t.  Though I know Grey is emotionally scarred and has reasons for wanting what he does. It just gives me no amount of pleasure to know that there is hope for this relationship because one of these person has their head screwed on the right way. 
In some ways this story hit too close to home. But kudos to James for tackling the theme, the plot and the characters so marvelously that she made this book quite an engaging read. And though it's kind of hard for me to read too many books at a stretch on this topic, I'm gonna read the sequel as well. I have heard splendid things about it and I'm really anxious to see where this relationship goes. And also probably just to read more of Christian Grey (*sigh* major drooling *sigh*). 

P.S. I feel this song is just absolutely perfect for this book what with Grey playing sad pieces all the time.

Hungry Ghosts-I Don't Think About You Anymore

For your reference, the book: Fifty Shades of Grey By E.L. James

Though please be advised the book contains a lot of adult content, strong erotic scenes, explicit language and of course BDSM. So people who are not comfortable with such content or  have bad experiences with BDSM or sex in general or who have had an abusive past may not like it.

Flat-Out Love By Jessica Park

One Word. Wow. 
Yeah that just about sums up my feelings after finishing this fabulous book by Jessica Park. First off, I rarely ever review a book but with this one I'm going to make a well-deserved exception. When I was starting this book I wasn't too sure what I was getting into, you can never be sure with YA(Young Adult). I mean I had read the amazing reviews given here. But boy was I blown away by the plot, the writing, the characters and the energy of the book. Jessica Park has a gift for drawing her readers in with her melodious (yes, MELODIOUS) writing. I was literally hanging-on to her words, devouring them like my favorite Belgian chocolate. I finished this book in one go, in six hours. I didn't even want to get up to pee lol. And mind you this is right after I came back from the New year's eve party. I just could not put it down!
The story begins with Julie moving to Boston to attend Whitney College. There she is forced to move in with the family of her mother's college friend Erin Watkins. The Watkins family members are seemingly normal but completely eccentric and unique bunch of individuals whom Julie can't seem to figure out for the life of her. From absentee-parents Erin and Roger to unusual Celeste and suffering Matt, this book is full with rich characters that are so real that I felt they were people who actually, truly existed in my world. Julie's character has become one of my most favorite of all time, she is strong yet so vulnerable. I experienced life alongside Julie as she tries to help out Celeste, uncover the secret of the Watkins family, deal with her dysfunctional relationship with her father and try to experience college life and ingenuous love. The book deals with various personal issues of the characters and their psychological reasoning has been dealt with perfection. I could not find any major faults with that aspect and this is considering that I am a psychology student.
Another really wonderful thing about this book is the relationship Julie has with all the various people, they are genuine and tangible. I can feel the force of every interaction literally reach out and touch me and make me realize that I have had many a similar conversations in my real life. Not so much the ones she has with Celeste but the ones with Erin, Finn, Matt and the others. And the romance, oh the romance! I have fallen in love with this author just for the way she developed the romance in this book. So unpredictable and so beautiful, a true touch of magic in the ever so ordinary life of a girl (though there is absolutely nothing ordinary about this book). The kind of love every girl dreams about, the one that builds up slowly in your life and then one day sweeps you off your feet. 

Well not something exactly on that tangent but you get my point!

Not to get distracted, the book is a marvelous piece of literature, yes, literature, and everyone should read it. This book is by far the best YA I have come across in a long time. And for that matter, it should not even be considered a YA because this book has a huge scope. The plot never became uninteresting, the characters never came across as whiny or made-up, the writing never lost its focus and the climax, oh god the climax, hit me so hard I was like...

But seriously, by the surreal ending I literally had tears in my eyes and I rarely cry. I'm going to re-read it very soon and it's going to have an exalted place in my actual library with the rest of my collection of selected classics and contemporary novels.

Here's the book for your reference: Flat-Out Love -Jessica Park 

I suggest you buy this immediately and treat yourself to this gem of a work on a nice rainy day with a cup of hot chocolate :)