James Fahy: Crescent Moon

You guys know how much I love vampires. And you know I love postapocalyptic worlds. And if we add dystopia, what do we get? Heaven for our eyeballs and minds? Yup!

This is a second book in Phoebe Harkness series and I must say that the author has outdone himself. The book number one was very good but oh my goodness the places we go in the second one!

The wallflower-ish doctor from a paratoxilogy lab, who wants nothing more than to be left alone with her research, gets tangled up in some GO politics and instead of doing her regular job, she kinda has to work as a bridge between the species of New Oxford. Ever heard of not shooting the messenger? Well, you are probably among the rare few ;-)=

Phoebe is a very realistic character and is very easy to like immediately but what I found surprising, however, was the positive feelings I developed towards Cloves - she's one tough cookie with a sailor mouth who does everything for her personal gain only yet I grew fond of her. She works for the story really well.

Furthermore, the humour of the book is amazing and the allusions to our pop culture as well as to classic pieces of art are woven into the text seamlessly so that you start cracking up in the least likely situations and you even start googling stuff because you're sure you've already heard of the Voynich Manuscript before but was it in the supernatural context? *headscratch* (see, it will effortlessly make you smarter).

But don't get the idea that this is a funny book. Or a romantic one (as in, ohhh, the vampire is having a shower right behind this wall, those suds sliding down.... *headshake* hello reality!) Far from it - it's actually as scary as hell. As I mentioned in the review of the first book, the bonewalkers are terrifying and I'm not going to change my opinion. Give me an angry shape-shifter or a creepy faceless girl any day but those robed masked weirdos supposedly doing everyone's bidding are the most suspicious crowd.

The book doesn't end on a cliffhanger so you can choose if you continue reading the books or not but I sure want to because something far bigger is coming and I can't wait to see it!

GENRE: postapocalyptic dystopian horror goodness with fun as a cherry on top

FANGS OUT: dark and clever
FANGS RETRACTING: keep them out, you'll need them
TOTAL SCORE:

Portugal 2016

I somehow don't have time to post stuff these days. That's why you are reading about my trip to Portugal from September now when it's not even the same year. But better late than never, right? On the bright side, I won't remember as much as if I was writing it right after coming home, so I'm going to keep it short.

Good thing I managed to save my Instagram stories, otherwise I would have no pictures to show you. I mean I would have but they would bore you to death since they are just azulejos or gargoyles and grotesques. We could call it a selfie story because I'm in an unhealthy amount of pictures. :-)=

So here is me being bored at the airport on the left (yes, my love of avocados is endless and if you say 'cados are tastless boring fruit, I'll fight you to death). And on the left you can see Lisbon at night. Pretty, huh?!

Our first steps (apart from finding our hotel) weren't in Lisbon, however. I managed to persuade my colleagues we all needed to see Coimbra - a picturesque university town. I heard no complaints so that made me happy - it was all just my scheme to see one of the coolest libraries in the world. And that I did. It has its own bats! And on the left you can see a pic I managed to take while the security was busy telling other people not to take pictures. Apart from the unique library we walked around the university complex (more tiles for me, yay) and we enjoyed almost getting lost in the little streets surrounding the university. Unfortunately our time was running out and we didn't visit the botanical gardens which is a shame but the train timetables are what they are. 

Oh, that reminds me - the public transport - from the centre to the station looks like it exists but the times written on the noticeboard are just for fun and for tourists to have something to complain about (not just in Coimbra, everywhere we went) and don't have to apply for the particular bus stop - we were sitting at one but the scheduled bus was leaving from a stop 50m up the road so that we barely managed to get on our train to Lisbon.

What's this? Sorcery? :-)=

Anyway, we got back to Lisbon and went for a walk through the streets (more azulejos, yay!) and got to eat some really delicious food (basically everything I ate in Portugal was fish or sea monsters so naturally I had difficulties getting in my pants on my way back home).

Selfie with a giant. Let's count my chins.

The next day we were picked up by our Portuguese colleagues and basically went round Lisbon from one restaurant to another while staring at sites (so we saw the main stuff

and I even waited in a looooong line to get to a tiny elevator to walk narrow steps where two fat people can get stuck while passing each other by to get to the feet of JESUS! 

As I learned he was built later than the one in Brazil so that was a bummer but I pride myself on the fact that I'm the only one of our group who is not claustrophobic or isn't afraid of heights so yeah. I went. They didn't. More food followed, I feel bad knowing some of the species I ate are on the brink of extinction but how can I not eat them?!

Anyway, the next day we were taken on a tour round the coastline (which is very dramatic and full of rocks and the beaches are good for surfers but the normal swimmers might die there.

Yes, I have a sushi sweatshirt and I'm an adult.

Before I went to Portugal, I had been instructed at home not to swim in the sea since the end of September is already too cold for swimming. 

Well, maybe for the natives but not for us... but as a joker I am I was dragging winter clothes with me all day so that I could send some pictures home, saying no one should worry, I have winter clothes for swimming with me :-D= . I must admit I was a sight putting on gloves and a hat wherever we went. Everybody laughed at me. And on one beach, there was a guard because the waves were too high but I needed a pic with my feet in the water and they kept whistling at me to get out of there. So I did. After a big wave came to my unsuspecting self and kissed my butt. Yup, my dress was wet that far up.

It was a good thing that we then went to Cabo da Roca where it was windy and my dress got dry. But I had to hold it down al the time.

Sintra followed. The downtown was packed with tourists even at this time of the year and we soon went up the castle. Now that was something. It looks like a weird hybrid of sorts. Each part is a different colour and there are so many azulejos! And wind :-)=

The days which followed were work-based so I don't really want to show pictures from our meetings and pubs though as I was getting bored at one restaurant, I acquired all the shells around me and started building a tower from them. The waiter looked horrified when he saw it, took it away and then I saw him taking a picture of it. I hope I didn't commit a crime or anything.

Pena Palace

A view from Sintra Castle (Pena Palace)

This also reminds me-one night our hosts took us to a different town to have supper. One of them borrowed that 8-passenger vehicle from a local basketball team and took us there. Since the South isn't famous for people's driving skills, everybody was afraid to sit next to the driver (in Czech we call it a Seat of Death BTW) so I had to sit there and witness it all from the front seat. But the drive to the town was uneventful. What was full of events, however, was the time when we entered the town and our driver got a call that not everything was ready so he had to make the ride longer. He proceeded by entering the oldest part of the town despite all those road signs prohibiting vehicles to go there. It was up the hill to the casle and the streets very soon became unbelievably narrow. We reached a place where it was impossible to turn left or right because the street was made even narrower by scaffolding on a house. So our driver started to go in reverse down the steep hill. He scratched and dented one side of the car because he didn't hear my scream warning him of steps on the right, he hit a flowerpot right after and so he decided he had to go up the hill again. We were desperate to get out of the car but he had none of it and somehow managed to turn left around the scaffolding and get to a place where he could turn the car. Needless to say we all jumped out of the car and never wanted to go with him again.
We walked around the castle for a while and then he got a call to get us to the restaurant but he said he needed to go for one of his friends first so we were left at such a small square where we decided to hide and give him some trouble for our suffering. We hid behind a stone wall and waited. There was an old man sitting on a bench a observing everything with interest so we made a "psst" sign not to tell on us. Soon we heard a car and José asking the man but the man didn't tell him. Of course, we had to get out of our hiding after a while because we didn't want to be left alone in a foreign town but it was funny how eight absolutely mature (or at least adult by age) women can have childish joy from this.

Tejo River boat trip

Afterwards, we were greeted by gin and tonic picnic (that's why we had to drive around and almost die) - that was super awesome and I think we all got a little tipsy from the stress. But that's how our hosts were - full of mysteries and cool surprises.

Oh, and one more thing apart from my expanding waistline, I learnt to eat olives! I hated them till Portugal but as they were fresh or were pickled in a better way, I realised I loved the black ones. The green ones are still not a hot thing for me but I'm getting there :-)=

Pumpkin Bundt Cake

Uh oh. Someone has forgotten to post her creation while it was seasonal. But hey, pumpkins are still in the shops so you can make it even in winter. Though the taste won't be as good as in autumn. So you should probably wait. Sorry.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups shredded pumpkin
• 2 cups flour
• 5 spoons honey
• 1 cup sunflower oil
• 2 handfuls chopped walnuts
•  2 eggs (separated)
• salt
• juice from 1/2 lemon
• 2 tea spoons baking powder

1)  Use the egg whites with a pinch of salt and beat them till soft peaks form.

2) Mix all other ingredients and then slowly fold into the egg whites.

3) If you don't have a non-stick bundt mold, use butter and flour to coat the entire surface (inside of course) of it and then pour the mixture in it.

4) At first, bake it at 200°C for 10 minutes. Then lower the temperature to 170°C and bake for about 50 more minutes.

Beverley Lee: The Making of Gabriel Davenport

Instagram ruined me. I've ever read books. We already know that. But my research of what to read next always included google. Now? I log in and the barrage of pictures attacks my feed and there's just everything. To say nothing of the bookstagram-friendly authors who actually communicate with their followers. Without this particular social medium I'd never know they even exist! This book was an instabuy. Yup, even vampire-friendly authors don't shy away from bookstagram community.

This was bloody brilliant (oh, the puns) for a debut novel - writing this in the middle of snowy winter I regret reading it in the fall. Because it's so atmospheric and had I read it in winter, I would have been more spooked. That's the only regret I have. Because even thought the book spans many years, the main twists and deadly things happen during winter or very cold weather conditions. So I recommend you read that in winter to get the right feeling. And by that I mean get ready for a fright.

Ever since Pandora people know to avoid opening mysterious boxes. I guess someone in Britain didn't get the memo and ruined many a life because of it because somehow something very dark, ancient, and incorporeal got its hands on freedom and wants a human child.

I can't tell you much more without spoilers because it's quite short and powerful read. And the vampires? Well, the story isn't primarily focused on them so they play a small (yet important) role. And I believe the sequel will explain more about their nature.

So if you want to read a good winter horror with an occasional fang, I suggest you grab this. Before the tables turn and it grabs you.

GENRE: horror

FANGS OUT: dark and gloomy
FANGS RETRACTING: need more info about vamps
TOTAL SCORE:

Road Trip to Budapest 2016

Neusiedl am See

I'm incorrigible. Every time I return from a journey I say to myself that I'll write a blog post immediately but look at this. This was in the summer and yet I'm writing this on New Year's Eve.
This year my friends and I couldn't make our schedules meet for longer than five days so we decided to hit the road and get abroad but not that far. Once we got on the highway connecting Vienna and Budapest, it was so easy. 

4 iconic things: Buda castle, the Danube, old tram and the Joker ;-)

We made a stop in the half or our journey - in Austria in Neusiedl am See - to refresh ourselves and to stare into water for a bit. I must admit we could have stayed a bit longer were it not for one member of our party who started to burn in the sun. It was hot but still... Weird.

We arrived to Budapest in the afternoon and found our hostel in the centre as well as cheap parking space quite easily. Our first walk was along the Danube and then we searched for a place to eat some traditional food. We found a restaurant and placed our orders. When the food arrived, the waiter warned us of hot pepper on the food. I thought he was talking of the dry stuff which the food was dusted with so I tried to blow it away. But my friend took a bite of fresh veggies on the side (where there were a couple of slices of green

This dude reminded us of Karl Marx so we called him thus.
What's very funny about it is the cross in his hand. Get it?
No? Then I'm sorry. This is a nerdy joke for social scineces
majors... 

pepper) and started choking. We didn't know whether to call the ambulance or not. He became red. He couldn't talk. This proceeded for ten minutes. I tried the pepper too because I couldn't believe it would coax such a reaction out of someone (it was no jalapeño) and half of my tongue was on fire first and then I lost sensation in it. So I can only tell you how only half of my leco tasted. :-)

The next day we embarked on a trip up the hill. There is a Hungarian statue of liberty watching over Budapest so we went there. It was 30° at 8 am already and the storm clouds which threatened to spill over made sure the humidity was unbearable once we started sweating our way up. When we

Liberty Statue on Gellért Hill

got there, there was a group of Asian tourists in the first photo spot and they were just getting their cameras out of their bags which meant they arrived seconds before us. While we were drenched with sweat and were happy they came first in big numbers (so that we could take a breather and look less shiny in pictures), they were perfect. No sweat stains on their clothes, no runny make-up. Nothing. They were photo ready. Just how?! What country were they from that they found this exercise in humid hot conditions normal and didn't break a sweat? We found out later that there was a bus stop at the top so their group cheated. :-D=

Later we went to see Buda castle, which is biiiig and again on the top of the

You know I have a thing for these ;-)=

hill. But there were escalators. And an art exhibition so our souls were fed. Later we emerged at a different end of the castle and saw an awesome funicular. We waited for it to go up to take pictures and one of my friends decided to have an ice-cream while we waited. It was the only thing she had and we didn't so that must have been what caused her diarrhoea later. That sucked but only slowed us down a little.

We went to see the Parliament building (it's stunning) and the The Shoes on the Danube Bank memorial. After seeing St. Stephen's Basilica we went on a souvenir hunt and came across a big water fountain or whatever it was and were more than happy to dip our feet in it. 

Our last day started by seeing the synagogue and trying to find the Hungarian National Museum. We got lost for a bit and walked in a different direction (yay for maps where there aren't the little streets) but we found it and learned something of the Hungarian history.

At Buda castle

Then we went to see the Central Market Hall to get the feeling where various things were because we wanted to buy the fresh goods upon our departure the next morning. It was packed with people, chilly peppers, wreaths of garlic, sausages and other very odour-emitting products. Last souvenir hunt followed.

There was a beheaded snake under the fountain below "Karl"

Early in the morning of the next day we went to the market to buy stuff for our families and went home. We didn't see everything in Budapest, far from it. But what we saw we liked. It was beautiful and I see why people had problem saying if it's Prague, Vienna or Budapest which is the most beautiful city in Europe. I can't honestly tell.
Now let me tell you a story of our departure. As I was mentioning earlier, there were storm clouds everywhere making the air not so lung-friendly. And in the morning of our last day, the sky was dark and we knew it would start raining any minute. The check-out was at 8:00 and we waited ... and waited ... and waited for the dude to come in and open the reception to give us our deposit and documents back. He came about half an hour late. As we were dragging our luggage (now full of meat treats and wine) to the parking lot (about 2km away), very heavy raindrops started to fall. It was so dark suddenly that we didn't even see the corner where to turn. Needless to say that before we reached the car which now seemed very far, the rain seemed to "fall" up from the ground. The dirt surface of the parking lot made sure we got mud on our legs. Thoroughly wet and dirty we went home.

I don't know what's creepier - that the penguin has bigger boobs than me or that the penguin has boobs o_O

Every day I'm bookstagrammin' ...

The Parliament

The Market - food was downstairs and other goods up on those narrow "catwalks" ;-)

We sooo didn't want to get out of the water

The Hungarian National Museum and us chillin' on a red bench

The Basilica ceiling

Castle Hill Funicular

I have a ton of building decorations' pics but you don't want to see them, do you?

Felicity Heaton: Vampire for Christmas

Wow, he's grabbing her boob! Is this porn?
And shouldn't be there an article in the title?

I tried to get as much as possible from my Kobobooks experience and found out that there are free books in there as well! I typed in the word "vampire" and suddenly was flooded by a plethora of free e-books. That's very cool if you ask me. So now my e-book reader is full of who-knows-what. And I'm going to read it all and tell you about it. Since it's Christmas, I grabbed this story (and just like yesterday, I read it one year in advance).

There are two demon/vampire slayers who hang around in the cemeteries with stakes in their hands. One of them is a vampire and one of them is just a bad-ass woman. Sounds familiar? I know! My pubescent obsession with Buffy is back here! Fortunately, there are some dissimilarities. No Chosen One for us this time. 

And these two have been hanging around together for two years and while the vampire is too scared to say anything about his stalkerish obsession with the woman, the woman is slowly realising he is the one. Even though he is of the species who butchered her family. Oh, the conflicts. Never forget the stakes in the back pockets of their jeans. I mean, they work for an agency which keeps demonish vermin at bay and all they have is stakes? Really? I forgot to take a look when it was published. Maybe guns and more potent stuff was out of question back then.

Anyway, these two seem to speak volumes with their eyes. I bet you all had that moment (way too often) in your lives when you looked into someone's eyes and had no frickin' idea about what the other person was thinking. Well, here you see everything. You don't need dialogue when you have eyes. If life was so simple. 

Add some cheesy eye-staring and kisses while slimy demons are attacking with slime (really, that's all you got demon?) and you are in for some flashbacks. I loved this kind of shows when I was growing up. I don't find them so amusing now but for the nostalgia it brought I'm gonna be lenient in my rating.

GENRE: The Buffy-ish Genre

FANGS OUT: oh, the sweet memories of our teenage years
FANGS RETRACTING: out of date and kinda pathetic when you think about it too much
TOTAL SCORE:

Cynthia Eden: A Vampire's Christmas Carol

It's kinda spooky to write this since Eden gave her readers a free e-book for Christmas but I already had a post for that day which means I'm writing this post one frickin' year in advance. Merry Christmas from the past and present and future!

But it matches the book's tone because it was written based on Dickens's idea of three Christmas visitors who want to redeem a person. 

This time, we have a vampire who accidentally caused death of his loved one and turned into a crooked avenger. It's not like he kills innocent people, or wait... how can he be so sure? Being someone's judge, jury and executioner may alter the way he sees the world. His not-so-dead-as-we-thought beloved tries to sacrifice everything she has once she learns of his future. 

So, through three people (I use this term loosely since I don't want to tell you about all the supernatural shocks you are gonna get) he is shown his past, can glimpse what he has become and scarily enough sees what the fate may have for him in stock if he doesn't change. Well, that's the whole point of those visitors. To torture him what he already knows and to scare him away from his fate.

But will love be enough to redeem one soul? Will the sacrifices made be enough to help? Just read and you will see. I mean, it's a short Christmas read, do you really think this piece will crush your emotions, destroy your Christmas mood, and make you stop reading vampire romance? ;-)=

GENRE: Christmas Romance

FANGS OUT: Well, if you like that magical time around Christmas, it's for you!
FANGS RETRACTING: I'm not a fan of "magical" Christmas time.
TOTAL SCORE: