понеделник, април 30, 2012

Winners :)

Hi dears! Lets jump right to the point of this post - giveaway winners! Thank you everyone who joined my little giveaway, even if it could have beem better organized. I'll try to make it better next time! To kinda make up for this I decided to ask the Rafflecopter to pick two winners :D The first wins the stuff listed in the previous posts about the giveaway, and the runner up wins one piece of felt, one ribbon pack, some thread and a bookmark made by me :) I hope you're cool with this!

събота, април 28, 2012

[Book Review] The Replacement

You remember, some time ago I told you that I'll be writing some book review as part of the book challenges, and asked you wether you want them here or I should keep them hidden in the Shelfari? Well noone objected (and now is too late mwahaha) and some people even said "bring it on". But before I start, I want to point some things out:
*The majority of books I read are translated. A credit should be given to the translator, as a good translation can add a lot to a book, and a bad wan can ruin it
* Many of those books are written originaly in English. I read them in Bulgarian. And now you'll be reading  my thoughts about it again in English. I'll try to do my homework and check for names, places and such, but as I usually don't have a copy of the original, some things may get lost. When talking about books more than ever I compare the thngs I write in English with the one in Bulgarian, and the English version often seems a little plain, like in places you just can't find the right word, and it annoys me. But again, I'll give you my best
*I've never tried to make a book review "for real" , even if I like to read various book blogs. Also, I'm terrible about spoilers. You read that? BEWARE there might be SPOILERS! I just don't know my measure. I don't know if there's a proper way to do things, but I guess a step in the right way would be to stob babling this and start typing the actual thing.

Original title: The Replacement
Author: Brena Yovanoff
Genre: teen horror, YA, urban fantasy, supernatural
"One of the best teen horror books for 2010" says the cover

And this is the story of...

                                ...Mackie, who is a replacement. Sixteen years ago, the real Mackie Doyle was taken and a fey child was left in his place. The replacement from the underworld lives and grows up among the humans, but slowly dying in this world. Mackie is constantly wary of iron, of blood and of consecrated ground. And of people who may find out what hides behind his impossibly black eyes. Because nothing good awaits those exposed as replacements in this town where cildren dissappear, people keep amulets and bells at their doors, don't like to go out at dark, and pretend everything is perfectly all right.
     So all that Mackie wants is to keep it low. But with his sickness going for the worse, and the baby sister of his classmate dissappearing , he will have to brace up and go under the hills, where dark creatures await and crave for worship and blood


First impressions:
     I spotted the cover of this book on the internet back in 2010 and loved it.  And I loved the title too, which is more important, as it matters more to me than the cover when choosing a book. Unfortunately, it wasn't published here yet, so I more or less forgot about it, but kept the mental image of the book, and when in the beginning of this year I spotted it on the bookshelves, I made a squee sound and promptly bought it.

And now after I read it...
     I am left a little dissapointed, because I think the storyline had way more potential. It is more definitely a teen novel. Gee, not that I'm acting old or something, but I think that if I had read this in the second year of high school and not the seconf year of university, I'd be more excited about it. It has it strong points. An old legend with a modern twist, something I always like. I liked how the Underworld was divided to the House of Mayhem ruled by Morrigan, who I can imagine in all her creepiness, and the House of Misery, ruled by the Lady. I liked the relationship between Mackie and his best friend, Roswell and also between Mackie and his father and especially  older sister. I think it was a very good call for his friends and family to accept him from the beginning to the end even knowing/suspecting who he is. And the thing I liked about the ending was that he's allowed and excepted in both worlds (without the Hannah Montana song in the background please!) without having to chose
    as for the things that didn't win me. This being a teen novel, the romantic story line is obviously a must, and here it was in my opinion, quite poor. Both romantic interests of Mackie - Alice - the pretties girl in the school and so on bla bla bla - and Tate - the sister of the missing child, which instantly qualifies her for the role of the real love, were both quite flat characters. Didn't enjoy it. I'd rather cut out that attempt for a love triangle at one place and replace it more explaining of the relationships between the two Sister Houses and between the Underworld and the World above. About how everyone was dealing with the situations. Also, the conclusion. Just like that? The girl beat the Cutter with a metal rod, and Mackie stabbed the lady with a kitchen knife. Where's my epicness? There could have been more to it.

Wow, am I being a mean reviwer? I hope not. I'm giving the Replacement 4 stars out of 5. And I want to add that if this ever gets filmed and with a good director, it can make a great movie, especially as I think there is a lot to show on visual level (at least in my head, it is so)


Thanks for reading, and if this book has crossed your way, I'd love to read what you think of it.
I read this book as part of the Horror/Triller reading challenge at Sweeping me  Where, just btw, you can always find book giveaways too.

Edit: This book also goes to the following challenges:
The fairy tale challenge - for the modern fairy tale category because it uses the fairy tale basis of fae stealing children and replacing them with their own kind
YA challenge
Book in Translation  - tanslated form English to Bulgarian
New Authors - first time reading Brean Yovanoff
Immortal Reading challenge - goes to the fae books


Now I will have my cup of tea, watch the Grimm episode I missed last night, and the write a translation of all the above. But first tea, and hopefuly, Monroe

After the ep: and so this episode gave the final unmistakable proof that Nick and Monroe are now best friends. Nick calls in the dead of night and asks him to bring a shovel. Monroe doesn't ask stupid questions and just proposes they pack the heads and send them via air mail.
~~~~~

След кратка почивка за чайче и последния епизод на Грим, цялото словоизлияние отгоре ще бъде преведено, честна блогърска! Само първо чайчето, и по възможност, Монро.
              

  И така.. след като последният епизод даде неоспоримо доказателство, че Ник и Монро вече са най-добри приятели - среднощното повикване да дойдеш и да носиш лопата винаги е било доста точен тест, можем да се върнем към първоначалната тема. Преди известно  време бях предупредила, че във връзка с няколко предизвикателства тук ще трябва да се  появят малко ревюта на книги. И така, без да имам каквито и да било претенции, че ме бива в ревюирстването, който глагол пък измислих преди няколко часа, ето го и първото, посветено на следната книга (но се пазете от СПОЙЛЕРИ)

Подмененият
от Брена Йованоф
Жанр: тийн хорър, янг адълт, мистерия, свръхестевено

Накратко, това е историята на...
                                           Маки, който е подменен. Преди 16 години истинският Маки Дойл е бил изнесен през нощта, а на негово място съществата от долния свят оставят едно от своите. Този подменен Маки остава да живее и расте в света на хората, макар от година на година тайнствената му болест да става все по несъвместима с нормалния живот. Той трябва да бъде непрекъснато нащрек за желязо, за кръв, за осветени предмети, както и за хора, които могат да накарат тайната му да излезе наяве. Защото нищо добро не чака тези, изобличени като подмени, в град Гентри, където изчезват деца, хората окачат подкови и звънчета по вратите, страхуват се да излизат много по тъмно и се преструват, че всичко е наред.
      Единственото, което Маки иска, е да остане незабележим. Но когато болестта му става все по-явна, а сестричката на негова съученичка е подменена, на Маки не му остава друго освен да слезе под хълмовете, където тъмни твари живеят от почит и кръв.







Първи впечатления

Тази книжка ми привлече вниманието със заглавието и корицата си още през 2010 някъде из интернета. Най-вече със заглавието, макар че и корицата си е интересна. Тогава още не беше издадена тук и я позабравих. Но си остана в някое задно кътче от съзнанието ми, и когато по-рано тази година я зърнах, веднага я награбих и я отнесох долу на касата



След като я прочетох...
     останах малко разочарована, защото според мен историята имаше повече потенциал. Определено си е тийн роман - хич и не напирам за възраст, но ако я бях прочела втората година от гимназията вместо втори курс в университета, сигурно щеше да ми допадне доста повече. Има си добрите страни. Стара приказка в модерен прочит, нещо, което винаги ми допада. Интересно ми беше как конфликтът е не толкова между горния и долния свят, колкото между двата Дома - на Яростта предвождан от Мориган, и на Мизерията, в който властва Господарката. Изобщо описанията и случващото се в Долния беше почти винаги интересно, за разлика обаче от описанията за горе. Харесаха ми отношенията на Маки с приятелите и семейството му, особено Розуел и голямата му сестра. От тях той е приет, въпреки че от началото още знаят или подозират за произхода му. А също така ми хареса, че накрая Маки бе приет като част от двата свята без да му се налага да избира _(макар че това се очакваше, но да не би да трябва да е все неочаквано, за да се хареса?)
     Някои неща от книгата обаче определено не ме спечелиха. Тъй като си е тийн история, ясно беше, че ще се върти и нещо романтично. Тук обаче тази сюжетна линия беше доста зле. И двата любовни интереса на Маки - Алис - най-хубавото момиче в училището и т.н- блаблабла - и Тейт - която пък е сестра на изчезналото момиченце, което моментално я прави кандидат за истинската му изгора - и двата персонажа ми стоят едни такива скучни, недовършени... А пък опитът за любовен триъгълник с удоволствие бих го разменила (както и още сцени от горния свят, равняващи се на поне 40-50 страници), за още сцени долу, или за вътрешна информация за отношенията между двата дома, между долния и горния свят. А пък завършекът. Пребиха мъжа на господарката с железен лост, а нея с кухненски нож. Е, и после с единия нокът. Ама се надявах на нещо по-така.




  
                  И така, не стана много представително ревю, но след полунощ са се появявали много по-непредставителни неща, и със сигурност с по-лоши правопис и пунктуация. А на "Подмененият" давам 4 звездички от 5. Защото си беше интересно, бързо четиво. А ако мозъчето ми не правеше непрекъснато паралели с една от многобройните сюжетни линии от "Американски богове", може би щях да му добавя още няколко стотни отгоре. Но за Нийл Геймън някой друг път.
А между другото, мисля, че с кадърни сценаристи и режисьори, от това би могъл да излезе хубав филм, особено на визуално ниво, защото според мен има какво да се покаже (или поне в главата ми нещата стоят така)

И така, благодаря за вниманието , дами и господа :D А ако тази книга някога ви е пресичала пътя, и имате нещо да кажете по въпроса, с удоволствие бих го прочела :)

Giveaway add-on - needle book

Hi there! Having a nice Saturday I hope?
Just dropping to show you the needle bookie that will go to the person who wins the giveaway! 
Thank you everyone  who shared their preference on the stitched thingy. Almost everyone was for the "usefuls" with needle book gathering most votes, and I think bookmarks were second. So here is your needle case! I hope you like it, because it's my first time making one and I wasn't 100% sure it was going to be ok. I'm going again with the colour pattern some of you may recognize from my TOS, pinkish and brounish, I call it Chocolate with strawberry filling and just stitching it makes me wanna have some!
I may make somekind of bookmark too, it all depends of time and other stuff

 











 

  

  

Здрасти, здрасти :)Надявам се всички си прекарват една чудесна събота. Аз се обаждам само да покажа книжлето за игли, което ще получи победителят от блог кендито.Благодаря на всички, които споделиха какво биха искали ушито като наградка. Мнозинството беше гласувало за полезните неща, като най-много желаещи май имаше за книжка за игли, на второ място се нареждаха книгоразделителите. И така, ето я вашата книжка! Надявам се да се хареса, защото всъщност за пръв път правя подобна. Някои могат да разпознаят цветовата схема от Дървото - розовко и кафяво - много си я харесвам и си е с работно заглавие Шоколад с ягодов пълнеж. Калорично шиене - като работя с нея, и ми се прияжда.
А евентуално може в последния момента да добавим и книгоразделителче, кой знае, зависи от времето и разни други ресурси :)

четвъртък, април 26, 2012

More photos, less talking

Hello dears!You know, this post was supposed to happend sometime right after Easter. But however I look at it, mmm it's not right after anymore. As an excuse I can only say that I had a bucnh of end-of-term exams, brains last Friday, phisilogy of blood and breathing on Monday, and upper and lower limbs tomorrow, all of this was maybe an infor you didn't need, but still wish me luck for tomorrow!
But for now I'll quitt talking and show you some very random, and quite outdated photos:
First look at the awesome book Jo from Serendipitous Stitching sent me! Just like this, out of pure awesomeness! This was my mystery mail, as you may have guessed! I couldn't help but read a page (or two, or more) instead of keeping it straight to anatomy, and it's oh so good!
Thank you Jo for being so awesome!!!
 

Then I have some eggs . Home eggs, eggs and granny's, and street eggs. The first photo was taken after the first battle round, so the number of eggs is quite low compared to what it used to be. My battle egg was green with dots, and I had all chances to make it for a win, but you know what happened? Mom dropped it while packing the eggs we were going to take to grandma's to continue the fight there. That's a conspiracy!!  So anyway, there were no real winners as all the eggs broke. but it has a good side too, because it's really sad when you just whant to eat some eggs and yours all refuse to break! XD
 
 In the end I went on fighting with the purple doted egg

 








 
And now how about a very outdated phopo, featuring the tree I put my martenichki on, it was just a month ago, and right next to the zoo. I can recognize some of mine, but I can describe them only with "that red and white ones"and I don't think this will help you spotting them. I usually prefer  the pink of white trees, but first is first, so this year it's yellow





















And now something more interesting, how about an add on to the giveaway? Just navy aida and some fancy pins. There are for days left if you're interested in enetering, you can do so here!



And what I have left... oh yeah, the Tusal piccy!


 
It's Daffycat is who's hosting thispiece of awesome useless fun, o you can alway visit her for more info!

петък, април 13, 2012

Bookmarks!

My bookmarks officially arrived! *happy dance all around* Maybe you've seen them already at Tiki Stitches,and if not, you should still head that way, because her photo is way better than mine. The patterns are, one again, from "the wonderful world of sprites designed by Dork Stitch"
as Tiki says there, I really like the sound of it! So here are my gloomy photos, taken just before the package went at the post at the Uni corridor on my Repetitorium
Photobucket

Photobucket


I made some experiments with decoupage doing these, and I think they turned rather good!

~~~~~

Книгоразделителчетата ми най-сетне пристигнаха и вече без всякакви угризения, че ще разваял изненадата, мога да ги покажа. Отне им месец и половина да стигнат (язък за мартеничките. Аз вече мартеници ще пращам с коледната поща) но много много се радвам, че не се бяха загубили.
Тези книгоразделители пристигнаха у Даян от Tiki Stitches, и тъй като нейните снимки са по-добри от моите, препоръчвам посещение и там. Моите снимки са правени в коридора на университета, малко преди да отпътуват, поради липса на по-добър фон - върху Репетиториума (= официални записки за тройка по анатомия, ама аз и толкова не мога да си напълня в главата). А схемичките са естествено от Dork Stitch :)
С тези книгоразделители на воля си поиграх с декупаж. Всеки е минат с тази техника. Последните два са магнитни, розовият беше планиран като филцов, ама.. не ми хареса как стана и в последния момент го направих и него на магнитче. Тези са малко по усъвършенствани от магнитния със Сиел, защото намалих броя на слоевете.

Благодаря на тези, които се записаха за кендито! Време има още доста, така че ако на някой му се прииска - тук ще го чака да се кендито до 30ти. Ако за някого не сработи приставката, а иска да се запише - нека да пусне мейлче или коментар, и аз ще го впиша :) Повечето, които коментираха за това каква наградка да ушия, се спряха на полезния вариант и избраха книжка за игли. Важите желания са винаги закон, а този път ще съм и законопослушна - схемата е избрана и се шие и с малко повече късмет до края на великденската почивка ще е готова.

А такам... някой случайно да е зарибен по Шерлок? А да си мисли, че от Бенедикт Къмбърбач би излязъл стахотен Доктор?
Я поггледнете картинките по-долу :))))
Сега какво ще кажете?
Шерлок е по Фокс Крайм, Доктор Кой май по AXN :D


Thanks for everyone who signed up for the giveaway so far! You have plenty of time still, so anytime you decide to join in, or to add and extra entry, you can do it -> here! If you have a problem with the widget, say it in the comment or mail and I'll add you manually from my side. And thank you for all the comments you've left! Lol I didn't mean you had to leave me full dinner report , although it was awesome to read them! Most of you voted for the Useful type, so it's set in stine now - it wll be a needlecase. Pattern picked and stitching, I hope to show it to you after the Easter break, that to say after Monday.
I got home for the Easter yesterday, and it seems I have a mystery package to collect from the post! But with the days out it will have to wait till the end of the holiday.. aww the anticipation! XD I don't know what it is, but the only thing from the international mail that I'm waiting for is a set of stickers from GetGlue. Do you know this site? I found it like a month ago, and I'm getting addicted to it! It something like.. oh well I'd say Twitter for movies and games and books, but I don't like Twitter, so! You can check in everytime you watch/read/do something and you can gather stickers which is pretty fun - and they can mail the real sopies to you!
View Topcho's check-ins on GetGlue

It's kinda scary to gather all the things in one place - when the heck I started watching all of these?!?

View Topcho's stickers on GetGlue

And as you can win stickers by watching trailers too, now I have so many titles in my wanna watch list!

The last thing that got me is Sherlock! I'm loveng this show, but I just can't help expecting to see the Tardis around the corner!
Ok, seriously, I want Benedict Cumberbact as the next Doctor.
Not that I don't like Math Smith, just
just...
And it goes well with the wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff!
Ok, you see where I'm going, right?
Look, there's a ginger version! The Doctor wanted to be ginger, right, so how about this?
And the 2 show are made by the same people, more or less, os pretty pretty pleeeaase?
Btw someone watched the DW new trailer? All looks cool but no River Song, at least in what I watched!
Ok, let's stop with the fangirlshipping. I hope you have a nice sunny weekend, Easter or not! Tomorrow we'll be painting the eggs, and if they look good I'll snap a photo :D

неделя, април 08, 2012

Giveaway time!



As promised, I took the photo, and knowing my skills (or the lack of skills) I think it's bearable!
I have planned to do a giveaway "justbecause" for some time now, but as I hit the 100 number, I decided to speed things a little - so now I'm showing you what I had for now, but I'll be adding more, first I want to stitch something for the winner, and second, add some more stuff, I have my eye on some beads for example, but whatever draws my attention. I want
So for now we have
2 squares of patterned felt
2 Forever Friends ribbons
threads
18 count navy aida
decorative pins
needlebook



How to enter
Use the widget below and check in for as many enties as you want. You can win max of 5 entries:
You get 1 entry for saying you want to participate - this first button unlocks the other possibilities
1 entry if you're a follower - with your blog, or by email, both count. The "follow by email isjust under the Follower widget on the left
1 entry if you post about this on you blog or wherever you like. It may ask you for link on this step. Just post the link on the blogpost where you mentioned it, or your home page address but only if it's posted on your sidebar
and 2 enties - just with one blog comment (cause it's on sale!). Tell me how you found my place on the internet, and say something about yourself. What do you like to stitch, what series do you follow, what book are you reading right now, what you had for dinner last night - as you wish! This option takes some thinking and writing, that's why you got two entries for this.
The giveaway will be running from now till the end of the month - plenty of time for you to enter. Yup, it's so much because I'm slow and I need to finish the stitchy thing!

I hope everything goes well with the Rafflecopter, I used it to enter giveaways on other blogs and it's very nice and simple to use. the reason why I'm using this way instead of the more traditional is (not because I want to make things harder) because of all the blogger changes that in my opinion made the communication between blogs and platforms more difficult and made many people lock their comment sections for users without blogger accounts. I don't know if there will be people like this wanting to enter, I just want to make it possible, just in case.


Now, one more question! What kind of a stitched item you would like to recieve? Something soft and stuffed like a little pillow or a biscornu? Something flat like and ornament or a flatfold? Something useful like scissor/needle case? Or something else? I'm curious to hear. I'll probably sit and stitch it this Easter weekend so for this you have time till like Thursday to say. I can't promise that the winner will get what we voted for tho, as she'll be picked after the item is finished.

Hmm this is it for now I think! Have fun and if there's something comment or mail me :)

Wipocalypse April

First, happy Easter to everyone whose Easter is today, happy Palm Sunday to everyone who is celebrating Easter next week, best wishes to everyone with flower names (I'm not sure if this is legit in other countries) late wishes to all medical workers for yesterday and hmm happy weekend to everyone who is not celebrating anything! A non- work day is alway worth the celebration. Unless you happen to be on work today. Then you poor poor thing deserve a big hug :(
Soo, with the way my Themalicious March went, you probably saw how most of the project on my Wipocalypse list

Storykeeper
One sheep open sleigh
Spring in Japan
Steam punk fairy
and the Hogfather

Lucky for you however, this post is not going to be links only, as I managed tp put some beads on my fairy. This weekend there was a lot of Grimm watching involved, and here's the result of catching up to the latest episode:
Finishing the wing does not seem so far now! At least somewhere this month, I hope.
What else I wanted to say... oh yeah! That you're all awesome! I mean, 100 followers. when I logged in and saw it, it made me WOW. Even if the count was close for some time now, I wasn't expecting it, especially as when I last checked it the number was going down, not up! XD So you got me excited, I'm now going to try and take something-like-a-decent photo of the giveaway stash I've been gathering and prepare the next post (that with a tiny lil bit of luck should be later today) so stay tuned!
And have fun!
And visit Measi's blog to check out more WIPocalypse!

~~~~
Такам... честита Цветница, и честит имен ден на всички с цветни имена, честит Великден, на тези, които го празнуват днес, на патерици честит празник на всички медицински работници, които празнуваха вчера, а на тези, които днес нищо не празнуват - честита неделя! Почивен ден, то не е ли за празнуване :D

Петък беше и дата за Уипокалпис на блога на Measi, аз обаче покрай Темалишъса предната седмица, показах почти всичко по списъка за Уипокалипса. Единственото ново, което имам да покажа, е прогреса на мънистената фея. Този уикенд имаше нещо като маратон по гледане на Грим, а това винаги е свързано с малко или повече пошийване, та ето го горе резултата. Вижда се края на етапчето, което си поставих за завършване - роклята и крилата.

Когато се логнах да пиша този пост днес - ме посрещна изключително приятна и неочаквана изненада - 100 читателя! Въпреки че броят им от доста време беше близко, не го очаквах, защото последно като проверих, имаше по-скоро тенденция да върви надолу, а не нагоре! Благодаря на всички, които са решили, че това блогче си заслужава четенето. А сега, стискайте палци да се покаже малко слънчицето, че да направя една поне относително сносна снимка, и да направим едно блог кенди!

вторник, април 03, 2012

Theme-a-licious March check in


Where did this mad, mad March go? I wasn't even able to stitch on every Wipocalypse project as planned. But it still was pretty mad, all of it, so let's see what I've managed to do. You've already seen what I stitched this month on
One sheep open sleigh
Spring in Japan
Steam punk fairy
and the Hogfather

Since then I worked a little on the Storykeeper. As I initially stopped working in that before finishing the page due to lack of threads that I'm still missing, I just went up with the black a few rows
And I'm almost there with the beaded dress of the fairy
I really wanted to work on TGE too, even picked it up, but in the end didn't find the time before the end of the month (and after the start of the next if I have to be honest). But still. only one missing, I think I was a good mad bunny this month, as I prefer bunnies to basketball (check origins of madness on It's Geek to me!)

~~~~
И пак е време за отчет по Темалишъс. За миналия месец темата беше Мартенска лудост, към която аз се включих с намерението да пошия малко по всеки от проектите по Уипокалипса. По някои вече постнах прогреса по-рано, това са
Oвчата шейна
Японска пролет
Стиймпънк феята
и Дядо Прас

След тях поработих малко върху Пазителката на истории, но само с черното нагоре във втората страница, тъй като ми липсват цветовете да завърша първата. С Аметистената фея имам малко повече прогрес като роклята и е почти завършена.
For this month it's
Amazon April
Dip your needle into the vast swath of fabric dedicated to your BIGGEST projects!



Right now I have a few projects I consider big, but as I don't want to ruin my puny try for rotation, I will stick with the Amethyst fairy as planned and if I finish the part I want to before the end of the month, I will pick my other fairy which is def my biggest project right now.

I hope you had a nice and stitchy March and even a better April!

~~~~~
Темата за април е "Амазония" като привиква да се спуснеш из дебрите на най-големите си проекти. Аз имам няколко в момента, които считам за големи, но тъй като не ми се ще да провалям и бездруго жалкия си опит за ротация, засега си оставам на мънистената фея, а ако успея да и завърша частта преди края на месеца, ще се прехвърля на другата фея, която наистина е най-големият ми проект за момента.

Надявам се всички да се имали успешен и приятен март, и да ви очаква даже по-хубав април :))
Related Posts with Thumbnails