Thank You So Much, My Secret Santa!

I received another wonderful package in the mail yesterday! It's from my Secret Santa and this time round, I found out who she is since her name is stated on the card (which was attached onto the gift package). My Secret Santa is Joanna of It's all about me (time)!

She sent me two books from Amazon, and they are books which I have been coveting for a long time:

• The Love We Share Without Knowing by Christopher Barzak
• American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang (Graphic Novel)

I can't wait to read them! Thank you so much for the gifts, Joanna! I really love them all! Here's wishing you and everyone a Happy Holidays!

Book Blogger Holiday Swap: Another Gift Has Arrived!

I am still wondering about my Secret Santa when I received another mysterious package in the post earlier! This time round, the package contains a scented candle (Orange & Cinnamon - which smells wonderful to me) and a Christmas tree and a star erasers. As in the last package, it contains an invoice and still no name of my Secret Santa. Both packages are sent from the UK, so I am not sure if my Secret Santa is a UK blogger, or did he/she merely order these gifts from the UK.

Now do you have any idea how the secrecy is killing me? I want to thank my Secret Santa, but I have no idea who he/she is!

To my Secret Santa: Once again, thank you so much for the gifts! I really appreciate them all! (Could you please reveal your identity?)

:-)

A Gift From My Secret Santa!

I received a mail notice on Tuesday telling me there is a package for me, since I was not at home when the postman arrived. I called the post office to reschedule for another delivery the following afternoon since I would be taking some time off from work.

I knew it would be something from my Secret Santa because I have not ordered anything online lately. When I received the package from the postman (it is a 'she', actually), I was thrilled and I was anxious to find out who he/she is.

I opened the package and found a lovely purple handmade journal packed in a cardboard protector. There was an invoice from the gift company but I could not find the name of my Secret Santa.


To my Secret Santa: Thank you so much for the gift! Could you please leave a comment here or drop me an email? I would like to know who you are! :-)

Also, I have not heard any news from my Holiday Swap Giftee yet so I am worried if my package was lost in the mail.

Finally, I want to thank Nymeth and her BBHS team for hosting this wonderful event!

Happy Holidays!

Momoka Typhoon by Fujita Kazuko (桃花小妹 - 滕田和子)

ISBN-13: 4711552447392
Publisher: 长鸿出版社股份有限公司
Published: October 2009
217 pgs



I participated in Rhinoa's Manga Challenge some time ago but I have yet to read and review any manga so I thought I would read/review at least one before the end of the year.

I chose Momoka Typhoon (by Fujita Kazuko) because I enjoyed watching the first two episodes of Momo Love, a Taiwanese drama based on this manga series and I want to read them aside from watching the drama as well. Anyway, this is a story about Tian Zhong Tao Hua (a Chinese girl's name translated from the Japanese) and her relationship with her five elder brothers and a guy whom she loves.

Being the only girl in the family, she is most well loved and is always the center of attention in the Tian Zhong family. This is no surprise considering their parents wanted a girl and as for the rest of the siblings, they felt the need and responsibility to protect her because they love her so much. Though Tao Hua appreciates her brothers' love, she feels she has no control over her freedom because whatever she does she is being scrutinized.

Yu Yi, being the youngest brother in the family is often being bullied by the other brothers and they have assigned him to spy on her. Tao Hua and Yu Yi share the closest bond and though she feels sorry for him, there is nothing much she could do about it.

When Tao Hua started to fall in love with Shi Lang, who is also a friend of Yu Yi, the rest of the siblings began to plot ways to split them. Torn in between the older brothers and Tao Hua, Yu Yi has never felt so helpless in his life but he feels there should be a resolution to all these so he lied to Tao Hua that Shi Lang already has a girlfriend, hoping that this news would shatter Tao Hua's dreams so that she would forget about him. Unfortunately, things do not go as anticipated as Tao Hua has other plans and the rest of the siblings vowed they would not leave this matter rest.

I have to say I enjoyed reading the manga more than the drama, not that the latter is not nicely done, it does and it has my favourite actor in it (Jiro Wang). I think the main issue lies with the different culture and certain scenes in the drama have to change to suit the chinese audience. I have nothing against this and I feel both have succeeded in creating a wonderful comedy. However, I am disappointed with the cast of the role of the third and the fourth brother because they are not featured as twins as originally seen in the manga but I suppose that is not a big issue since I understand it could be difficult to find artistes who are twins (I have thought of two actors who are twins but I am not telling).

(Image taken from Asianpopcorn.com)

I bought the 2nd installment of the manga series yesterday and I can not wait to read it!

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Note: There will be no Teaser Tuesdays today since I am still reading Fishing for Bacon by Michael Davie and Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban by J.K. Rowling. I cannot promise that I will finish them by this week but I will definitely try!

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Book Bloggers Holiday Swap is here once again! For those who are not aware of what this is, it is an annual Secret Santa gift exchange between book bloggers and BBHS is in its third year now!

Please visit the link for more details (and registration) and please note you have until November 12th to do so! So what are you waiting for? I know you want to participate!