[Book Review] The Diagnosis of Love by Maggie Leffler

Found another favorite author!

Introducing....

Taken from http://maggieleffler.com/

Maggie Leffler!

What a beautiful lady she is! I expect all authors to look like a nerd or a haggard old lady of sorts. Guess that stereotype does not apply on Maggie!

While I was reading through the first few pages, I goes "This is got to be an American author" AND I'M RIGHT! American books are more lighthearted and easy to read. I see the touch of American dreams throughout the entire novel, not a bad thing to say the least.

Maggie Leffler is the author of two novels published by Bantam Books, THE DIAGNOSIS OF LOVE and THE GOODBYE COUSINS. A native of Columbia, Maryland, Leffler graduated from University of Delaware with a major in English, a minor in biology and was team captain of women's cross-country, indoor and outdoor track. She was the recipient of a Wilmington Trust scholar athlete scholarship and part of a North Atlantic Conference championship-winning women's cross-country team. She volunteered with Americorps before attending St. George's University School of Medicine.

After completing her residency in family practice, she became a board certified family physician. Her essay, The Other Side of the Stethoscope, appeared in the inaugural issue of The Examined Life Journal of University of Iowa Carver College of Medicine. In 2011, she received a Presidential Citation for Outstanding Alumni from University of Delaware. She lives in Pittsburgh with her husband and sons. Maggie Leffler is currently at work on her third novel.

I felt in love with her debut novel - The Diagnosis of Love, published in 2007. Got it from the library and straight away I knew this is a gem as I flipped randomly through the books for snippets of what it has to offer.

Look pretty worn out - a good thing for a novel I must say.

Synopsis taken from Amazon:
This charming and accomplished novel chronicles a young doctor’s journey to heal her own heart–in a tale that will resonate with every woman who has ever tried to make a new start.

Dr. Holly Campbell is trying to outrun the symptoms of her life: her grief over her mother’s recent death, her chronic missteps at love, and, most of all, the doubts she’s had about her career since she started resenting her patients for being sick. So answering an ad for a residency program in rural England seems like the perfect escape.

By leaving home, Holly is following in her mother’s footsteps. But while her mother fled to medical school on Grenada, Holly has come to an odd little English hospital–where fate intervenes. For Holly no sooner learns that practicing medicine in England is like driving on the wrong side of the road than her twin brother’s runaway fiancée shows up on her doorstep, her grade-school crush turns up in her dormitory, and her mother’s old lover appears at lunch. How can Holly cure their ailments if she can’t even diagnose her own? Filled with the heartbreaking and healing powers of love, The Diagnosis of Love is the witty, warm, perceptive tale of a young doctor colliding with the past–and choosing her own future.

It looks like something that will make me tear - a real sobbing story of a young practitioner trying to search for her aim in life. It did make me tear once. I remembered once I was trying hard now to let a hot tear fall out of my eyes though to be honest I can't quite remember what make me so touched.

Thankfully there are more witty episodes in the book than heartbreaking ones! The lead in the book - Holly Campbell is so funny that every now and then I wish I can scan and upload the book on Facebook so that I can share this jewel of a book with my friends online! Good thing I did not do that, it will most likely put me on the wrong side of the law.

Here's an extract that I love:

"That's what they're called here," Ed said, and then nods. "A neighbor left a message that firemen were shooting his home with water."
 "Was it on fire?" I asked, horrified.
"No. They just...felt like practicing,"Ed says slowly...

And that's where I lost it.

It's the clever humor of Maggie that kept me enthralled.

Oh, and look what I found in the acknowledgement page:

"Who made every sky seem like something worth fishing"

How can she make it sound more magical? The way she played with words is almost a gift. I would had awarded her a Nobel if it is ever up to me.

Another thing I like about the book is the various medical quotes at the beginning of each chapter. It looks something like this:

Whether this is the work of the publisher or the author is unclear to me, but whoever that did this...KUDOS to you!

More often that not, these quotes are applicable in not just the surgical theater but life itself. Many of them send me deep in thought, which is a good thing cause I seldom like to work my brain lest the slightest movement cause it to be fried.

Verdict: 5/5
Go get it! What are you waiting for?

P.S. I am off to get her second book "The Goodbye Cousins" which came out in 2009. I am four years too late!

[Review] Skin Food Platinum Grape Cell (Gift Set Sample)

Just realized that I have a lot of samples in my closet (some from way back, courtesy of my dearest bitch Princess Milk who is an absolute darling during my Seoul visit).

I feel like clearing them before I touch on my recent purchase of snail cream (sadly that's the only skincare purchase I got there. I am very surprised and disappointed with myself T-T ).

Today I am touching on the first use of Skin Food Platinum Grape Cell. Sad to say I don't really like it. Mainly due to the packaging. More on that later.

Description of Skin Food Platinum Grape Cell Emulsion & Toner 
(taken from http://eng.theskinfood.com/)

• Skin Brightening & Anti-wrinkle.

• A premium anti-aging emulsion containing grape cells and platinum particles that brighten  and firm aging skin from the inside out.

Sounds promising! I am already at the age where I need a lot of help to keep my face from sagging so this is really going on my Christmas list if it really works as claimed. Not to mentioned that the design is super unique! Looks totally like a wine bottle! ^^

I am just testing using the gift set sample.This is the box it comes with. I am a huge fan of the color purple and I like the rustic feel of the embossed design on the box. Up to there I am truly pleased.

Here's where things starts to go wrong. And no I am not complaining about the obviously not fully filled bottle of toner. Both toner and emulsion are thick liquids. Usually in this case, manufacturers with intelligence and those who give the slightest damn will place it in a sealed foil package instead of bottles like this. Don't get me wrong. I hate the sealed packages with a passion. Just that it makes more sense in this scenario.

In the end I got really frustrated, not to mention that it hurts a lot , trying to dump the slightest bit of the emulsion and toner on my palm. I have to resort to using a cotton bub to scoop them out, is that their intention in the first place?

The retail bottles looks like it might be some kind of pump. Hopefully that will be better as something with such a thick consistency really ought to be packaged in something beside just bottles like this.

After application it gives a sticky feeling and it doesn't fade away after 20 mins. 

Pros

• Cool design.  Especially on the retail versions.
• Solution is slightly purplish!
• Sweet smell, between wine and grape candy.

Cons

• Solution is hard to retrieve (from sample bottles)
• Solution stays on skin for a loooong time.
• Sticky consistency

Verdict: Hmmm...don't think I will be purchasing the retail version. My skin seems helpless in absorbing the toner and emulsion. Got to look for other anti-aging alternatives then. :(

#update: Though I felt tightening on the 3rd and 4th day of using it, I did not seen any visible improvement in the texture of my skin. It MIGHT work as seeing as I am reviewing based on a gift sample, but as it might take longer than a week or two to show.

[Book Review] The Truth About You by Melissa Hill

Borrowed this book on a whim and never had I been more grateful for my impulse acting up.

This is the synopsis I've taken from "GoodReads.com":
One morning in the small town of Lakeview, Ella Harris finds a cardboard box on the doorstop of her cafe. At first she thinks it's her usual muffin delivery but is shocked to find that the box actually contains a newborn baby. But what kind of mother would abandon a defenceless baby like that, and why? Could it have been newly single Nina who, after being rejected by the father of her unborn child, has no choice but to return to Lakeview to stay with her estranged (and slightly peculiar) dad? Or was it Lakeview-born Hollywood actress Eva Seymour, who on the eve of her triumphant return home from LA, has a completely ill-advised fling with a handsome co-star. A baby is certain to ruin her hard-fought-for career. Or perhaps it's happily married Jess who, as the only non-mum amongst her friends, finds herself increasingly left out. Terrified that she will lose them altogether, she embarks on becoming a mother too. But is she really rushing into something she really knows nothing about?

I must admit. Doesn't sounds like much of a story when I first read the synopsis. It seems like there would be 3 different stories and many good authors are unable to weave the stories in a way that wouldn't confuse their readers. There's a nagging voice inside of me however, telling me to give this book a chance and that I will never regret it.

And I didn't!

Melissa Hill simply knocked the socks of me! It's been a week since I returned this book to the library and almost a month since I've borrowed it and the feeling of an exhilarating and satisfying read never left me!

There's so many twist and turns and I can still remember vividly : "I had the same suspicions! I though Jess was lying about the pregnancy all along!"

One thing I love about Melissa is that she didn't use bed scenes to attract readers, making the novel suitable for ages 12 onwards in my opinion. I detest novels with tons of bed scenes that often makes me doubt whether I am reading adult explicit novels or otherwise. Granted I am way overdue the minimum age to read adult explicit novels but that doesn't mean I would want to run into everywhere I go! It's books like <Fifty Shades of Grey> that makes me skip library for about 2 years when I used to borrow 20 books every week.

Melissa Hill  however is a master who led her readers on a rollercoaster ride skillfully with her writing and I can't act like some clever snob and said, " I knew this would be the ending!" or "I knew this all along!". Like a slave, I am helpless to her cunning use of words. There are many twist and turns in this novel and there's simply NO TIME to put down the book. I CAN'T. There's just no way to sleep peacefully until I finish the 412 pages, in one go.

Melissa you this CLEVER BITCH.

Photo taken from her official website : http://www.melissahill.ie/#

To Melissa:
I am simply going to hunt down the rest of your books now, especially <SOMETHING FROM TIFFANY'S>. And you better start writing more, 11 books just ain't enough!

[Review] CoC Eye Flower Lash & Brow Tonic

Been buying a lot of items of Qoo10 these days so I decided to dedicate a blog for others to make a better decision on their future purchases. None of my reviews are advertorials (nobody wants to pay me *cries) so you can be assured that they are all honest and heartfelt reviews that will hopefully equip readers with knowledge to make better judgement on the products.

My first review is on CoringCo Eye Flower tonic. 

According to the site, Eye Flower comprises of chinese medicine and natural moisturizers specifically designed to strengthen, curled and enhance the elasticity of lashes.It is a product from South Korea and has been receiving raved reviews from Korea and Japan since its launch.

I bought this product from this seller :http://list.qoo10.sg/item/Qoo10SET-HAIR-TONIC-HAIR-TONIC-EYELASHESQoo10/400974884?selectedOptions=

Delivery was fast - took approximately a week or so before the courier man knock on my doors. It arrives in a silver foil packaging (as seen below) and the product itself is further bubble-wrapped to prevent any hits and bumps causing damage to the product.

I love that the seller sent a thoughtful note sending well wishes for vain girls like me to become more beautiful.

The product comes with two bottles,  basically containing the same essence. The only difference would be one contains a mascara brush and one contains something akin to a longer version of a nail polish brush. The "nail polish brush" is actually meant for your eye brows (it is mentioned that it works to salvage the reclining hairline of guys) but if you want to use both bottles for eye lashes, just feel free to bring the brush over to the new bottle when you are done with one.

I did not manage to get any before pictures of my lashes so an after photo seem a bit pointless, but I will try to describe more on the product itself. 

Prior to using the product, I have irritating short lashes that makes it impossible to curl or apply mascara. Even the best and most expensive mascara will fail on my lashes because that's how stubborn they are.

It is advised that you perform two application of Coc Eye Flower daily - once in the morning and once at night. To be honest, I just apply whenever I remembered to so there are times I go as far as 4 applications! 

I had been using this for more than a month now and even though I didn't go as far as to measure the tiny milimetres my lashes grew with each passing day, the changes is actually pretty visible. In the past, nobody can identify if I have any eyelashes since they are so damn short anyway that they are basically negligible. After a week of using Coc Eye Flower tonic, you can see that the lashes are indeed longer, thicker and blacker (if there is a color darker than black). I am most pleased with the results on my lower lashes. I never knew how to put falsies on my lower lashes but now I DON'T HAVE TO! YIPEE! I can easily achieve dolly eyes without worrying about the glue holding the lashes not being able to last throughout the day.

 And the lashes do felt softer but more flexible. Best part is, with constant application of the thickest coat of mascara possible, the lashes does not falls out when you remove the mascara at the end of the day! 

The product definitely looks like it will last! Despite my numerous application for the past month, I am still left with 7/8 of the first bottle!

Pros 

• Works as advertised
• Good base coat before application of mascara
• Helps to prevent lashes from dropping when removing mascara
• Value for money - one bottle could last you about 6-8 months
• Attractive pink flowery packaging

Cons

• The bottle is practically overflowing so when you tried to push the brush back after the intial few applications, the essence just kind of overflows. Not that I am complaining ^^

Verdict : I would definitely buy again when the two bottles runs out! It would take about 2 years though, judging from how lasting each bottle is!