Mail Week : 24

So, another mail week has passed. Full of strikes (which still haven't ended), thus I only got mail every other day... But still, I received 6 letters and 5 postcards :3

I'll start with the letter / parcel I was still owing Hiroko from Japan. 

1 A4 sheet / 2 pages written

PLUS
souvenirs from Amsterdam, drawings, free goods from Dokomi, my penpal sheets and some goods from Yves Rocher she asked for!

My first received letter this week was from Elle, Netherlands

 2 A5 sheets / 4 pages written

My reply:

 2 A5 sheets / 4 pages written

From Rikke, Denmark:
1 A4 sheet / 2 pages written + some small presents

 

 My reply:
2 A5 sheets / 4 pages written, plus a postcard and photo of Amsterdam.

From Eleonore, Sweden

2 A5 sheets / 4 pages written

My reply:

2 A5 sheets / 4 pages written

 

From Tina, Slovenia

1 A4 sheet / 2 pages written

 

My reply:
2 A5 sheets / 4 pages written, plus photo

 

From Wahnnetta, UK

2 A5 sheets / 4 pages written

 

My reply :

2 A5 sheets / 4 pages written + photo

Also I received a big parcel from Yuki, Japan

including a 2 A5 sheet /  pages long letter
PLUS

2 makeup sets, a kitchen tool, jewellery and she has written into my travelling notebook :3
Also she used awesome Moomin stamps!

And here come the great postcards:

First Anne from Finland:

And as we are PC penpals, this is my reply:

 

Then from an IG swap:

 And these Lily sent to me, after I gave them to her to write to me :3

And the stamps / cancellation used

 

This is all for this week, please also check out my fashion blog.

Lisa~

Book Review 18: Sweep in Peace by Ilona Andrews

For all of you who don't know, the Innkeeper Chronicles are a free online fiction by Ilona Andrews, regularly updated on their blog. Later this will be published as a book as well, but on 7th June the last Chapter was added. YEAY!!! 

As I read this as it was written (more or less), I am sorry if I forget anything, but here you go:

Sweep in Peace (Innkeeper Chronicles #2) by Ilona Andrews

Things to know:

• I read the original English version
• I read it whilst it was written (last chapter June 2015)
• I don't know how many pages this has as I read it online, sorry
• It is set in Texas, USA
• I started: End 2014? some chapters were already up at that point and ended it: 7th June
• Book 2 of the Series

Sean has left for an adventure, and Dina is in her Inn, with only one guest as always. She worries about her magical Inn, as it needs guests to survive. Not only because of finances, but because the magic of the Inn is stronger with people in it.
Then George, an Arbiter appears who asks Dina to host a peace treaty discussion at her Inn, which no body else would host.
Dina has to agree to save her home, but this is were the mess starts, as having three different parties at her Inn, who'd like to kill each other means a lot of stress...

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I love Ilona Andrews, their books made me read again when I was 16. I hated reading so much beforehand! (And if you wonder why I am writing "their", it's because a wife and husband duo is behind this name).

The way this was published online for free made me take my time to complete the story. Usually I start a book, and when I like it, I read it in one or two days and I am finished. Here I couldn't do that. Even though I loved the story, I couldn't read more, as the authors were still in the writing process. It made me think about the story more, but also it gave me a tiny insight of the work authors do. This is a great Idea the two of them had!

I love how the characters develop in this story, and how you only get information slowly. Thus the tension also only builds up slowly.

There is nearly no romance in this book, which made me a little sad, but I guess this will be picked up in the next book.

Honestly, if you like fantasy go check out their page:  http://demo.ilona-andrews.com

This is all for now,

Lisa~

Amsterdam Trip 4th - 6th June 2015

I went to Amsterdam with University for 3 days. It is such a great city, I really want to live there one day, I felt so at home :3

On 4th June we all met 9 am and wanted to drive to Amsterdam. It's a 2 1/2 to 3 hour bus drive. BUT because someone overslept, we only left past 10 am. Then we went into a traffic Jam and and and... we planned to be there at noon, but only arrived at our hostel around 2.30pm -.-
We stayed in the Stay Okay Hostel next to the Vondelpark. A really great location, as the museumsplein is also really near. The food there was good too (for a hostel) I pre-ordered veggie food and there were no problems. I know others ordered gluten free and lactose free food which was also no problem :) The food was also really healthy.

 I can't tell you a lot about prices, as most of it was sponsored. We only payed 99€ for 2 nights, 2x each breakfast, lunch package and dinner, 2 museum entries, a boat tour, cinema ticket and transportation. REALLY CHEAP!

So, let's carry on with day one.

After we finally arrived we left our luggage in our rooms (4-beds). Sorry I took photos of practically everything except for the hostel and rooms xD

Then we made a student-for-student tour which we had to prepare first.
We walked to the main sights which were awesome. 

 After Dinner we went to the Eye Bioscoop (cinema) to watch a crime-comedy.

The cinema also has a museum inside and is located here:
IJpromenade 1 

(IJ is pronounced eye, get the joke?)
you can also find information here:

eyefilm.nl

Here are some pictures of day 1:

Rijksmuseum

Flowermarket

CHEEEESE!!!

In front the Eye Bioscoop

After only a little bit of sleep, we had to wake up early to eat and then meet as a group 9.30 am. We split into smaller groups and went to museums we could choose from.

 For day one I chose the Stedelijk Museum. It shows modern art (e.g Lichtenstein) and it also has a wonderful Matisse exhibition at the moment called "The Oasis of Matisse). This exhibition is there from March 27th to August 16th. If you  are interested in art, and in the area anyway, you should really go there! It's an awesome exhibition!

You can find the museum on the museumplein, it is opened everyday from 10am to 6 pm and on Thursdays until 10pm.

The Usual prices are: Adults 15€, Students 7,50€ and under 18 year olds are free.

Due to the Matisse exhibition everything is a bit more expensive at the moment though:

Adults  20€, and Students 10€

After the Museum Visit we had a bit of free time and met again around 2.30pm for a boat tour which started 3pm. Loved it, a must do in Amsterdam!

After Dinner we had a free evening, but as soon as we were free a bad storm came. 3 seconds outside and we were as wet as if we jumped into the water, so most of us stayed at the Hostel bar xD

Here some pics from day 2:

At the Museumsplein

Entry to Stedelijk

On the last day we had to wake up really early because check out was 9am -.-
After that we were able to leave our luggage and again we split up to go to different museums. This time I went to the Rijksmuseum, which is a must see in Amsterdam in my opinion!

It somehow reminded me of the Louvre in Paris by the way xD
The Rijksmuseum is opened every day from 9am to 5 pm.

Adults pay 17,50€ and under 18s can go for free.

After that we were free until 5 pm YEAY.
I had about 4-5 hours of free time which I spent shopping, eating and sightseeing.
As I was really busy looking for stuff and writing postcards, I didn't take a lot of photos xD
Here is one, plus the Starbucks Cups I bought <3

Well, I arrived home just before 10pm, and had to wake up the next morning early as I had to work starting 5.30am xD

It was a fantastic trip, I loved it.
I didn't want to leave at all xD

Lisa~

Book Review 17 : Allegiant by Veronica Roth

Yeay, I am picking up with reading :3 So happy >.<
This time I'll review "Allegiant" by Veronica Roth, the 3rd and last book of the famous "Divergent" Series.

Allegiant by Veronica Roth

German Version

 

Things to know:

• I read the translated German version, the original is English
• It was published October 2013
• It has 512 pages (English 526
• It is set in Chicago, Illinois (USA), in a future time
• I started: 1st June and ended it: 6th June 2015
• Book 3 of a triology

So, first of all I'd like to remind you again, that this is a review about the last book of the series, thus there will be spoilers to the first 2 books. You are warned! I won't tell you the end of this though :P

After everyone in the City saw Edith Prior's video, 2 main groups are founded; Those who want to stay in the city, lead by Evelyn, and those who want to go out and meet the other people. Though the latter group is doing everything in secret, as Evelyn has all the power.
Still, Tris and Tobias decide to leave together with Christina, Clara, Peter and Uriah. Tobias also rescues Caleb and forces him to go with them. 

As they leave the city, they are picked up by two people from the outside world, one of them being Amar, Tobia's educator and friend, who should be dead. 

As they go with Amar, they find out what really happened, what the fractions are about and what a divergent really is.
I can't tell you more, as those would be massive spoilers.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I Personally would give this 4.5 / 5 Stars. I totally loved it!! 

The only minus point be the switching between Tobias' and Tris' views, which was kind of confusing at times. But this is really needed in the book, and every chapter announces who's point of view the next part is. 

All the main characters develop in some way, human decisions are made, which seem realistic to me. 

As you already know if you read a previous book, this isn't a book where happiness is the main point, rather the decisions people make and what effects those have. 

I also love the ending. It's just logic. I won't go into more detail here sorry.

Honestly read this! I love it so much. One of the best books I've read this year!

I'll end this review here, as anything else would spoil something >.<

I hope you like this!

Lisa~

Mail Week: 23 + NEW Giveawaywinner!!

Even though there was a national holiday in between, I still received 6 letters and 2 postcards with special cancellations this week :)

But first I'll start with letters I was still owing to people from last week:

To Vicky, Germany.

4 A5 sheets / 8 pages written

 To Edith, Portugal.

2 A5 sheets / 4 Pages written

To Kimmi, Canada.

2 A5 sheets / 4 pages written, plus postcard and stickers.

 

Now to the letters I received and replied to this week:

From Karen, USA.

2 A5 sheets / 4 pages written + postcard

 

My reply.

2 A5 sheets / 4 pages written

 

From Melissa, USA

2 A5 sheets / 2 pages written

 

My reply:

2 A5 sheets / 3 pages written

 

Su Wei, Malaysia.

1 A5 sheet / 1 page written + 2 postcards

 

My reply

2 A5 sheets / 2 pages written + postcard

 

Kwan, Thailand

1 A5 sheet / 1 page written

 

My reply

2 A5 sheets / 2 pages written

 

Fee, UK

1 A4 sheet / 1 page written

 

My reply

2 A5 sheets / 4 pages written + postcard

 

Perla, Spain

1 A4 -ish sheet / 1 page written

 

My reply

2 A5 sheets / 3 pages written + stickers

 

 

And here are the postcards I received from Lily, Finland + special cancellation <3

I gave her the cards to write to me :)

Well, this is all the great mail for this week :D

Just so you know, as the Giveaway winner never replied to me, I pulled a new name out of the hat, and it is Elle !!!!

Please, Please, Please send me a message. 

I'll update my fashion blog tomorrow and on this blog I'll also update my travel experiences of Amsterdam, so stay tuned :3

Lisa ~

P.S. Next week mail will go on a strike (no end announced) so I have no Idea when I'll start receiving mail again, or when my replies reach my dear penpals.
I hope it won't be too long :(

Book Review 16 : A World Without Princes by Soman Chainani

Oh gosh, I am so behind on my book reviews >.< But Uni is so stressy, I had to work a lot and I just didn't want to read... But now I am finally back reading!!! And I hope nothing comes in my way again until I catch up with my goal (I should be reviewing book 22 now ARGH).


But anyway, here is the book I'll review this time:

A World Without Princes (The School for Good and Evil #2) by Soman Chainani

Things to know:

• I read the original English version
• It was published April 2014
• It has 433 pages
• It is set in The School for Good and Evil and Gavaldon of the Woods beyond
• I started: 28th April and ended it: 1st June
• Book 2 of a triology

Agatha and Sophie have returned to Gavaldon and are celebrated like heroes. But after a time, this wears off and Sophie's father is going to get married. During the celebrations Gavaldon gets attacked and wanted posters of Sophie appear. Agatha does her best to protect her friend, but the town eldest give Sophie to the attackers and Agatha follows her. 

They end up at school again, but it is no longer The School for Good and Evil, it is now The School for Girls and Boys. After Agatha decided for her friend and against her prince, something changed in the world of fairy tales. Girls no longer want Boys and the other way around. The Genders have become enemies, not good and evil.

In the school for girls, Aggie and Sophie are celebrated as heroes and role models again. Sophie loves this, Agatha wants to go back home. The problem is, for peace to be restored their story has to finish. There are 2 possible ways for this to happen, either both girls wish for return home together, or Agatha kisses her prince. But Sophie likes to be celebrated, and Tedros wants to kill Sophie to make sure Aggie can't decide for her again...

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

I'd like to make sure once more that you know this book is supposed to be for children (around 8-12 as stated on book 1). 

I didn't like book one that much, book two wasn't better in my opinion. First of all, why would Agatha trust Sophie, if the latter tried to KILL her? It doesn't make sense to me. Then, why would good and evil team up even though they hated each other a couple of months ago, to fight people who they were friends with before, or even in love with. And why is it about killing each other? Those are children under the age of 16! WHY?
The only really good thing is, how the sexist view was changed. This book shows, girls can be boys as well, and the other way around. I loved that part actually xD
The rest of this review would be very similar to the one from book 1.

Should you read it? Nahhh... I mean if you read book one already okay, but otherwise I wouldn't recommend it... maybe to pre-teens or something >.<
But I have to say I'll probably read book 3 to finish the triology. Not because I like the series that much, but rather because this book had an open ending and I need a finishing line... honestly I get mad otherwise, I know I am strange!

This is all for now, I'll be glad to answer questions and I am always glad to get nice comments :)

Sorry for the short review >.<

Lisa~