Booked: "Matched" by Ally Condie

 I picked-up this book after watching Allthatglitters21 book haul. It was recommended to her by her subscribers and I thought that the book was interesting. The review says that if you like the Hunger Games then you will also like this book since it also has a dystopian setting and it has a little bit of romance. So I paid my local bookstore a visit and I searched for this particular green book and luckily I found it and decided to pick it up since I'm fresh out of books to read and I am huge Hunger Games fan.

Well this book is just what they said, similar to the Hunger Games in terms of dystopian romance setting but I found that it is not as exciting and thrilling as the Hunger Games books. It took me awhile to really get into the story and I did not have the feeling of not wanting to put the book down until about the last 5 chapters of the book. Throughout the book I was waiting for something exciting to happen that would change the destiny of the three main characters namely Cassia, Xander and Ky. Throughout the story I found that the romance build-up was kinda slow for Cassia and Ky and as for Xander, I did not see him exert himself to get Cassia's heart back not until the final 3 chapters. 

I am more excited for the second book since things were just beginning to heat up at the end of this book. The story line of this book was really slow for me but overall the author did a somewhat of a detailed picture of the society the book clearly explains the rules of the society and the reader can clearly understood how the society works. I feel that this first book only serves as a background or the stage for all the exciting twist that will happen to Cassia quest in finding Ky in the second book and also to Xander plans in getting Cassia's love back. Well at least that is what I expect for the second book. 

For the die hard Hunger Games fans that want action and excitement this book may not live-up to your expectation because of its slow pace. As for me I think I will still pick up the second to verify if my theory is correct that the story line will pick-up in the second book and since I'm also curious as what will Xander do to get the Cassia back. I always find myself rooting for the best friend to end up with the girl.

Summer Holiday of 2012 at Boracay Island Philippines

So much has happened over the summer and I had a fantastic time with my friends during our summer holiday at Boracay Island, which is one of the top summer destination here in the Philippines. We were so excited since we have never been there before.  We only get to the see the white sand beach and the beautiful scenery on the television but now we got to experience Boracay Island ourselves.

We took sometime off from our work in the middle to the end of march to go to Boracay and let me tell you the actual travel itself was exhausting. We had to take a 1 hour plane ride from our City to Ilo-ilo and spend the night there and the next morning after we had to depart around 6 AM and travel by land to Caticlan port for about 4 to 5 hours from Ilo-ilo and from the port we had to take a  very small boat to get to Boracay Island which was about 20-30 minutes. It was pretty exhausting but it was not a total waste of time because we got to explore a little bit of  Ilo-ilo's night life and see the scenery along the way.

Boracay island itself was breath-taking. The roads were a little narrow and the commercial building are quite small but it was a different story when you get to the beach. The beach has a complete life of its own.  I was wondering along the way where the shops were in Boracay but I did not expect them to be along the shore. There is a place there that I really liked it was called the "D-mall" because it houses a lot of shops and mini restaurants.

Boracay does not only have a beautiful beaches but the food offered here are also divine. We were able to  dine in a few inexpensive, moderately priced and high class restaurant and I have no complaints with the food. The seafood was delicious and the ambiance was just perfect especially at night where all the fun begins.   For those coffee lovers don't fret you can get your fix in various coffee shops including the ever trusty Starbucks along the beach.

Now the highlights in our summer vacation was all the fun water activities and the exciting nightlife at Boracay. We were able to do a lot of water activities that may have caused me a few bruises and sun burn but I really did not mind because I had the grandest time of my life. We did the Helmet dive, Para sailing, Jet-ski and the most exciting rush I had ever experienced, the Flying Fish! There were tons of other activities to choose from and in the night we got to witness the famous Boracay "Fire Dance" and we got to party at the hottest bar on the beach "EPIC".

Here are some of the highlights of our Summer Holiday of 2012 at Boracay Island.


Over-all I enjoyed my summer holiday and I would definitely come back to Boracay Island in the future.