Book Review: Precious Thing by Colette McBeth

Precious Thing by Collette McBeth

Goodreads Description:

Remember the person you sat next to on your first day at school? Still your best friend? Or disappeared from your life for good?

Some friendships fizzle out. Rachel and Clara promised theirs would last for ever. 

They met when Rachel was the new girl in class and Clara was the friend everyone wanted. Now in their late twenties Rachel has everything while Clara's life is spiralling further out of control. Then Clara vanishes. Imagine discovering something about your oldest friend that forces you to question everything you've shared together. The truth is always there. But only if you choose to see it.

Goodreads Link

***4.5 Stars*** 

I randomly picked this up in a charity shop... FAB!

Precious thing is a love story that quickly turns dark and twisted. It is a story of the love present in a friendship.  The Author does a great job of keeping you guessing till the last few scenes of the book. And yes, I said 'scenes' because I can still picture the moment I finally realised who the crazy bitch was in my head. There were so many times while reading the book when I thought I had sussed it and then whoosh, I'm suddenly not sure...

This book is very well written in my opinion. It is loosely relatable, most of us have friends, sometimes questionable friends. Hopefully, none of us have murderously crazy friends in our lives but then again, You never know...

I really enjoyed Precious thing, and if you choose to read it (I think you should), I hope you enjoy it too!

Cookie-licious

  Super yummy, super easy dessert. Enjoy it as you sink into your favourite romantic YA book! (Recipe)

New in YA Fiction: In the Rearview

Heartbreak, Healing, Hope.

Title: In the Rearview

Author: Maria Ann Green

Genre: YA Contemporary 

Release date: August 19th

Main Character: Meagan

Blurb:

 When Meagan’s secret is found out, and she realizes there is no way to outrun her habit of cutting, she tries to work through it, and her depression, before she cuts too deep, making a mistake that can never be undone.

Meagan's problems aren't like every other adolescent's no matter how much she wishes they could be. Hers are worse. They've pulled her down into the depths of a depression that is anything but normal. She begins her pattern of self-harm as her depression threatens to drown her. She starts with one cut that leads to the next, and the next. After starting, it's apparent that there's no stopping, and Meagan spirals into a dark and cruel world she doesn't understand. Meagan cuts to feel better, but that comfort doesn't last long enough, and soon life is worse than it ever was before.

While learning to quit cutting Meagan faces life-altering obstacles and grows up in the process. IN THE REARVIEW is a story of pain, loss, confusion, and hope told through Meagan’s poems, journal entries, and a splash of narrative.

Goodreads Link

You can grab the ebook on Kindle, Nook etc...

This is currently in our *To  read* pile! It has the makings of a book I won't want to put down! 

P.s The author has her own blog! Check her out HERE

Book review: The Sending by Jandy Salguero

 

The Sending (Senithas Light #1).
By  Jandy Salguero

Goodreads Description:

A city's peace is shattered when two university students go missing, and only Daneel and his friends know the shocking truth of what happened. Finding themselves under attack, Daneel leads them in a race to escape the mounting violence.

Mara is willing to kill for the beliefs of the faction that raised her. But as she seeks out her mark, using a rare, mystical form of travel known as the Sending, Mara discovers a powerful connection that challenges the truth of everything she’s been taught.

While Daneel fights to protect those he cares for, Mara must choose whether to cling to the ideology of her home—or open her scarred heart to a searing attraction and the promise of a new life.

Goodreads link

Review:

I generously gave this book 4 stars... It was a really good read. The story flew by, I rarely felt like i had to labour through the paragraphs. Apart from at the beginning which is more to do with me than the book... I tend to be impatient when it comes to reading the essential pages that set the scene of the story.

The Sending is the first part of a story... While I'm not sure how much more there could be to tell, since at this point we all know whats going on and it feels to me like there's a 'simple' solution, I am very interested in what new twists the Author will introduce in the next book. 

The 'Bond' between the two main characters read a little too cliche for me at times... but I did like how physically tangible the author makes it seem.

The book is also quite short, just over 200 pages. So I guess its great for readers who are short on time.  

I wasn't knocked off my feet by this book, but I did enjoy it and I'll probably be reading the next part (0nce its out).

Book review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

BOOK REVIEW: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Fangirl
by Rainbow Rowell
Book description from Goodreads:

From the author of the New York Times bestseller Eleanor & Park.

A coming-of-age tale of fan fiction, family and first love.

Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan...

But for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words... And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?

Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

"Touching and utterly real." —  Publisher's Weekly

Goodreads Link 

My review:

***3 STARS***

Ugh. I really wanted to like this. I saw tons of good reviews everywhere and Fangirl is the current hype in the YA market. People loved it. They adored it. My book store loved it. So I wanted to love it too. The blurb seemed intriguing enough. Cathy was a fanfic writer. I'm a fanfic writer. I understand fandom, trust me. I'm part of the fandom for korean dramas, mangas, animes, other books. I went cray-cray stalking authors/ celebrities - all for the love of fandom. 

So present me a book about fandom, and I'd be like 'heck yeah!' *bumps fist* This heroine is so me! 

So I dived straight into the book.

And got disappointment. 

My book reading average around 3 hours per book. But I spent the whole day reading this book.

This long book. 

This freakishly long book. 

By my standards, 460 pages isn't a lot. I read LOTR, I know what long is. But reading Fangirl made my whole day dragged on with mundane boringness that made me want to sleep, but I kept saying, 'just one more chapter, maybe I'll get better.'

It didn't.

This isn't a story about fandom. This is a story about an overly obsessed heroine when it comes to Simon Cowell Snow. I'm not like her at all and I can put my hands up and say tons of fangirls aren't like her at all. If you check the reviews on goodreads, many low stars reviews are mostly written about the misinterpretation of fandom. 

Because it's not like that at all. 

Cath for one thing was one boring person. She was highly an introvert (I'm also a hermit crab) but even I'm not that depressed. I enjoy being in my own solitude but with her, it's like solitude is so damn depressing that even her roommate had to pull her out of the room saying she looked too pathetic. 

I disliked Wren. She was that typical stereotype party-goer who drinks and gets stoned and all the drama hoo hah. 

I read my fair share of alpha heroes and cool male protagonists. Levi didn't fit the bill. I couldn't bring his character to life. To me, he was simply a 2D character. 

Nick - oh boy. *flips finger*

There were waaaay too many pages about Simon and Baz (fictional characters written by fanfic writer, Cath). There were snippets of them, stories about them that I didn't care for. There were bloody pages. I skipped those pages. I wasn't interested in those fanfics, and I didn't like how their stories took up a lot of pages. 

In a nutshell, I just couldn't relate to Cath or any of the characters. 

Believe me, I wanted to enjoy this book. But the book dragged on so much, the pace was slow and I read it with my brain half-asleep. It was like reading a grocery list.

Book review: Half Bad by Sally Green

BOOK REVIEW: Half Bad by Sally Green

Half Bad
by Sally Green
Book description from Goodreads:

Half Bad by Sally Green is a breathtaking debut novel about one boy's struggle for survival in a hidden society of witches.

You can't read, can't write, but you heal fast, even for a witch.

You get sick if you stay indoors after dark.

You hate White Witches but love Annalise, who is one.

You've been kept in a cage since you were fourteen.

All you've got to do is escape and find Mercury, the Black Witch who eats boys. And do that before your seventeenth birthday.

Goodreads Link 

My review:

***4 STARS***

 I'm glad to say that I enjoyed this book. The beginning put me off a little as it was quite confusing and the writing didn't pull me in. Have I told you how much I hate writing in verse? It was why I couldn't get into We Were Liars by E. Lockhart. The timeline in this book was a bit jumpy. The beginning started off with present time about Nathan getting locked up, then it jumped into when he was young and the transition of timeline was so abrupt it left me scratching my head. 

Let me flip through the first page.

"There's two kids, boys, sitting close together, squished in by the big arms of an old chair. You're the one on the left.

The other's boy's warm to lean close to and he moves his gaze from the telly to you, sort of in slow motion.

'You enjoying it?' he asks. 

You nod. He puts his arm around you and turns back to the screen."

There you have it. W.T.F right? The writing to me felt clumsy and the author had this thing with changing pronouns. One minute it's in second person pov, then in other pages it's in first person. Um . . . what am I supposed to say to that . . . I guess if pulled brilliantly, it could possibly work but in this case, I feared it didn't. 

And it was kind of slow that I planned to DNF it but it got interesting in the later part of the story. That's where all the whizz bang came in. This storyline was indeed very unique and I enjoyed reading Nathan's pov. It was a bit . . . weird but definitely unique. And the way he thought of his dad (the dad is the Big Bad Witch) that he didn't really hate his dad even when his dad killed many witches got me thinking, so is Nathan really more of a black witch than a white one? 

Anyhow, the ending was a cliffhanger (sort of). It's moving on to the next adventure. Let me tell you something though. Read this book. It's unique and some parts are very cleverly woven but it will leave you depressed. Because Nathan's story is depressing and the poor boy is being hunted for the rest of his life just because he's half bad.  

 

Book review: Infinity + One by Amy Harmon

Infinity + One by Amy Harmon

Infinity + One
by Amy Harmon
Book description from Goodreads:

When two unlikely allies become two unwitting outlaws, will two unforgettable lovers defy unbeatable odds?

Bonnie Rae Shelby is a superstar. She’s rich. She’s beautiful. She’s impossibly famous. And Bonnie Rae Shelby wants to die.

Finn Clyde is a nobody. He’s broken. He’s brilliant. He’s impossibly cynical. And all he wants is a chance at life.

One girl. One boy. An act of compassion. A bizarre set of circumstances. And a choice – turn your head and walk away, or reach out your hand and risk it all?

With that choice, the clock starts ticking on a man with a past and a girl who can’t face the future, counting down the seconds in an adventure riddled with heartbreak and humor, misunderstanding and revelation. With the world against them, two very different people take a journey that will not only change their lives, but may cost them their lives as well.

Infinity + One is a tale of shooting stars and fame and fortune, of gilded cages and iron bars, of finding a friend behind a stranger’s face, and discovering love in the oddest of places. 

Goodreads Link

My review:

***5 STARS***

*Hums*

I cannot express how much I enjoyed reading this book. I loved Making Faces (I think that will forever be one of the sweetest thang I've ever read) but Infinity + One is also a powerful book in itself. From now on, I'm gonna read anything written by this author. She is INCREDIBLE. 

I know this is a YA blog and I don't think this book or Making Faces are YA but young adults can read this. Amy Harmon doesn't focus on Bham! Love at first sight kind of crap or 'omg, he's so hot and I'm a drooling idiot' kind of heroine. Nope. She has this talent of weaving subtle romance and write about the relationships of characters in such a beautiful way. 

If you want something heartwarming to read, then read this book. You won't regret it :3

This is a story about two broken people who came together and learn how to rely on each other. I know tons of stories are like that, but this ain't cliche or whatever crap is written out there.

Book review: We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

We Were Liars
by E. Lockhart
Book description from Goodreads:

A beautiful and distinguished family.
A private island.
A brilliant, damaged girl; a passionate, political boy.
A group of four friends—the Liars—whose friendship turns destructive.
A revolution. An accident. A secret.
Lies upon lies.
True love.
The truth.

We Were Liars is a modern, sophisticated suspense novel from National Book Award finalist and Printz Award honoree E. Lockhart.

Read it.
And if anyone asks you how it ends, just LIE.

Goodreads Link

My review:

***DNF***

This is quite a hard review to write, because my opinions are completely different compared to majority of the readers.

So I heard about this book. I think everybody heard about this book. My friend emailed me the other day squealing with excitement saying this book was the bomb! It had all the emotions and beautiful writing, and so trusting her words, I dived straight into the book.

It wasn't her fault. A lot of those reviews on GR were all 5 stars as well.

I guess this is a book that isn't just for me. 

I had tons of issues with this book. And I feel bad about it because I should've felt like the rest and enjoyed it. But I didn't. 

First of all, it was boring. Dear god, I tried to keep going and leafed through the pages, but I ended skimmed through most of the paragraphs. In the end, I skipped right to the ending to find out this terrible secret or whatever. 

Cady wasn't my favourite heroine. To me, she was just. . . messed up, y'know? I think the author portrayed it well, about the minds of rich kids and also illustrate dysfunctional childhood. I should've sympathized with her, but I didn't. She seemed annoying to me, petty and I just. . . couldn't care less. 

And the writing! Maybe this is just me but I couldn't stand the writing. The metaphors were driving me crazy and it wasn't like those metaphors that Tahereh Mafi used in her books. This was much worse. The sentences were very disjointed, tons of commas and odd phrases here and there and repetitions. 

The storyline was also meh. 

By all means, read this book. This is merely an opinion of mine. I didn't enjoy it, but that doesn't mean you wouldn't. Many people loved it so judge for yourselves.

Book Review: Crash into You by Katie McGarry

Crash into You by Katie McGarry

Crash into You
by Katie McGarry
Book description from Goodreads:

From acclaimed author Katie McGarry comes an explosive new tale of a good girl with a reckless streak, a street-smart guy with nothing to lose, and a romance forged in the fast lane.

The girl with straight As, designer clothes and the perfect life—that's who people expect Rachel Young to be. So the private-school junior keeps secrets from her wealthy parents and overbearing brothers...and she's just added two more to the list. One involves racing strangers down dark country roads in her Mustang GT. The other? Seventeen-year-old Isaiah Walker-a guy she has no business even talking to. But when the foster kid with the tattoos and intense gray eyes comes to her rescue, she can't get him out of her mind.

Isaiah has secrets, too. About where he lives, and how he really feels about Rachel. The last thing he needs is to get tangled up with a rich girl who wants to slum it on the south side for kicks-no matter how angelic she might look.

But when their shared love of street racing puts both their lives in jeopardy, they have six weeks to come up with a way out. Six weeks to discover just how far they'll go to save each other.

Goodreads Link

My review:

***5 STARS***

HUNK ALERT!!

Wow, what a journey! It was a roller-coaster of emotions, from happiness, to pissed-off-ness, and I ended up bawling my eyes out at the end. 

This is the first book I've read by Katie McGarry. I haven't read her other books in this series yet, but now I'm not sure I wanted to because I feel they won't be as great as this book! The story took me by a storm. I was immediately dived into a world of drag racing, Mustangs, adrenaline rush, and at the center of it all, an angel in a devil's disguise. Yes, I'm talking about Isaiah. That guy was just. . .  incredible! He was the kind of guy that everyone would steer away from because of his shaved head, tats and piercings but it was only a way to keep the outside world from getting to him. 

How could a bad boy be so romantic? He was an angel *sigh*

God didn't send this angel to save me. He sent her as a sacrifice. 

I should be pissed. Who knows if I'll ever see the money from Eric. Who knows if Noah and I will lose the lease, sending me back into the system. Right now, I don't fucking care. I'm touching an angel. 

"You can ignore me, Rachel, and you can try to treat me as a friend, but none of that will erase the fact that I think about kissing you every second I'm awake and dream at night of my hands on your body. And it sure as hell won't erase that I'm terrified by how much I like you."

Yeah, okay. I get the picture. Will you marry me now, Isaiah? 

So their love affair began at an illegal drag race. The po-pos came and Isaiah ended up saving Rachel from the evil clutches of men in blue uniforms. As a result, Eric - the criminal douchebag lost his money and reputation because someone snitched on them and ended up shifting the blame to Rachel. Isaiah, being the almighty hero defended Rachel and took her debt instead. So now, they had 6 weeks to come up with five thousand dollars in cash before Eric came to collect his due and probably beat Isaiah into a pulp and rape Rachel. 

What I liked about this story is that it didn't give you a crash course of love. It wasn't intense 'I-love-you-at-first-sight' kind of thing, and sure, the attraction was there but it was rather sweet. I liked how this Romeo and Juliet were deeply flawed characters.  Rachel, being the rich chick but despite her family background, Rachel loved cars, getting herself covered in axle grease and she had an illness that she tried to hide from her family: her panic attacks. Rachel was a very sweet character and I'm so glad that Isaiah found his HEA through her *sobs*

This isn't me. None of it. I'm not the girl who hangs in a bar. I'm not a girl who is comfortable talking to guy. And I'm sure not the girl who leans over the table to be close to anyone. Yet I'm doing all those things and I'm loving every freaking second. 

"I like who you are, Isaiah, and I like how you look at me. But what I really like is the rush that hits me when you're in the room."

  Oh by the way, have I ever told you how much I hate Rachel's family? They were a bunch of self-centered assholes; a mom who still went boo-hoo-hoo over her dead daughter and Rachel ended up having to live up to Colleen's memory, asshole brothers who were overprotective over Rachel but allowed her to suffer to keep their momma happy, and the asshole dad who couldn't even drive a stick. Seriously, so much rage going on here when I read to those parts. I wanted to . . . tear something ugh. 

 Overall, it was a fantastic Romeo and Juliet story with loveable protagonists. Isaiah by far, is one of my best book boyfriends :3 

If he hurts her, he'll die. And then his boys will hunt me like a dog and take me down. My goal is to get us the fuck out of this situation without all that Romeo and Juliet bullshit.

I lower my head. She's going to make me put it in writing. I've never felt so much like a sideshow monkey as I do now: Yeah, I like you. A lot. 

"I can't give you the world, Rachel, but I'll give you all I got." 

Book Review: Red at Night by Katie McGarry

Red at Night by Katie McGarry

Red at Night

by Katie McGarry

Book description from Goodreads:

In Red at Night, Stella and Jonah are total opposites. She's the girl with purple hair from the wrong part of town. He's a high school senior who hangs with the cool crowd. Until a car accident leaves him haunted by guilt, and Jonah starts spending time at Stella's favorite refuge…the local cemetery.

Stella knows she should keep her distance—after all, she spent her girlhood being bullied by Jonah's friends. Once he's sorted out his tangled emotions, Jonah won't have time for her anymore. Too bad she's already fallen for him.

Goodreads Link 

p.s: This book is FREE on Kindle!! I don't know when it will change so grab a copy! 

My review:

***3 STARS***

I was quite excited to read this book because well, it was written by Katie McGarry. I haven't read her other works apart from Crash into You and my god, it was. . . breathtaking. At the end of it, my nerves were all tingly and I was breathless, as if I had just lived as someone else. And Isaiah *SWOONS* was such a great character and one of my bestest book boyfriends ever *inserts tons of hearts* 

If you haven't read any of her books, you must certainly check it out, starting with Crash into You :) 

Anyway, moving on, Red at Night is a novella written I think to show awareness of the charity Goodie Two Shoes organization and how they impact people's lives. 

I like that. A lot. I like books that can make a difference. Before, I had no idea this charity exists and now, I know and probably will look out for them. It's a brilliant idea and I hope to contribute to help the unfortunate in the future. 

Storyline aside, this novella I believe focuses on the positive messages it can bring to readers, like how a bad person can change into someone good. I had thought of this once, that maybe villains can change for the better but then there's the saying of 'leopards can't change their prints'. 

“Do you think people can change?" I ask Rick
"Yes." he answers plainly. "There are those who can."
That grabs my attention. "So you believe it's possible?"
"Miss Stella."He gives me his teacher-to-pupil stare. "Its boils down to choice.”

This novella has proven people can change, bullies can change to good guys, people can redeem themselves and repent as long as they put their minds into it.

The reason I gave this 3 stars is simply because the storyline was okay, but it didn't make me go breathless, didn't make me feel the anticipation, the tingly sensations, the need. It was just simply, a story of a bullied girl who falls for someone who changed after a traumatic incident. 

Because of the short length, there wasn't any room for character development, world building, and simply it was too short for us to know what's going on, what will happen to Joss, Cooper and Martha etc.

The story ended with a rush and I didn't like how the author only told the skeletal frame of the story without fleshing out the details.

We need Diverse Books

If you have been stalking on twitter, you'll notice that there's been a campaign to raise awareness of diversity in literature. You can stalk #WeNeedDiverseBooks to see what people has to say about it, and this tumblr blog here: We Need Diverse Books for further information about the campaign, and also a list of diverse books to read.

As an Asian chick and part of the ethnic minority, I understand that diversity is important. It brings out awareness to others. It gives readers new flavours of different cultures and experiences of a challenging environment, and struggles of multicultural characters. The media is full of stereotypes. Eg: Muslims are terrorists. They're the most violent religion, and it's a religion of rape.
It's utter bulls*** if you ask me. It's unfair how all Muslims are defined as terrorists because of extremists pricks who decided to terrorize the entire world because of anger, discrimination or whatevs (it's definitely not religion. Heck, Islam isn't even about that). You don't blame the Germans to be Nazis because Hitler was German. You can't judge the entire population due to a group's behaviour.

But that's how the world works. They see the bad things in the media and they assume everybody is like that. The world is a big fat circle of prejudice.

So it's why I feel it's very important to raise awareness of diverse books. It's important for Muslims to write about their experiences as Muslims to combat prejudice.

I also feel that there should be more books like 12 Years of Slave. Malorie Blackman and Maya Angelou did a great job at portraying the life of black people. Now we just need more Muslim authors to portray Islam. Most people are aware of black history and slavery, but knowing facts and experiencing it is a completely different thing. When you read, in that short moment, you are that character. You are the one suffering from a horrible fate. Books makes you feel. It gives you empathy. The world isn't made of white, but of various colours.

Why live with one colour when you can experience a freaking rainbow?

Angelfall World After Flash ads

*SQUEALS*

Isn't this amazing? Look at that! My name is on it :D
I submitted a fan review for World After advertising and mine got picked to feature on their online ads. They're so pretty <3

Book Review: Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

Cruel Beauty
by Rosamund Hodge
Book description from Goodreads:

Graceling meets Beauty and the Beast in this sweeping fantasy about one girl's journey to fulfill her destiny and the monster who gets in her way-by stealing her heart.
Based on the classic fairy tale Beauty and the Beast, Cruel Beauty is a dazzling love story about our deepest desires and their power to change our destiny.

Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.

With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.

But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle-a shifting maze of magical rooms-enthralls her.

As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.

Goodreads Link

My review:

***3 STARS***

I wanted to shout to the whole world and say yes, this book was awesome!

But that would make me a liar.

I had high hopes for this book. Have you seen the book cover? It's gorgeous!!! I wanted to devour it immediately! And I read the blurb and was instantly sold. I snapped my fingers and said yes, this is the book that I've been dreaming to read. Beauty and the Beast meets Graceling . . . heck yeah!

The storyline was okay. Well, I felt kinda meh about it. I liked Ignifex and Nyx was a badass heroine. They both earned brownie points. Other than that . . . the plot was too vague for me. Shady. I couldn't feel any excitement or attempting to lick the pages. I don't know if that's because of the writing or just the storyline.

I wanted to love it. But it's just not hitting the stars yet. So much potential...

Dang shame.

Book Review: Making Faces by Amy Harmon

Making Faces by Amy Harmon

Making Faces
by Amy Harmon
Book description from Goodreads:

Ambrose Young was beautiful. He was tall and muscular, with hair that touched his shoulders and eyes that burned right through you. The kind of beautiful that graced the covers of romance novels, and Fern Taylor would know. She'd been reading them since she was thirteen. But maybe because he was so beautiful he was never someone Fern thought she could have...until he wasn't beautiful anymore.
Making Faces is the story of a small town where five young men go off to war, and only one comes back. It is the story of loss. Collective loss, individual loss, loss of beauty, loss of life, loss of identity. It is the tale of one girl's love for a broken boy, and a wounded warrior's love for an unremarkable girl. This is a story of friendship that overcomes heartache, heroism that defies the common definitions, and a modern tale of Beauty and the Beast, where we discover that there is a little beauty and a little beast in all of us.

Goodreads Link

My review:

***5 STARS***

I cannot describe how amazing this book is. It's just . . . wow. Absolutely breathtaking. It's heart warming, the kind of story you get from reading Anne of Green Gables or Heidi (I'm a sucker for Classics).

When I was reading this, I was thrown back into the French movie I saw many years ago: Cyrano de Bergerac. Cyrano is a man with a huge nose so he is deemed ugly by many but he is a genius in poetry and words. To help his friend to capture the heart of a beautiful maiden, he writes beautiful love letters and pretend it's from his friend. And thus, the love affair of letters begins between the maiden and the ugly guy pretending to be his friend. Cyrano is afraid to reveal himself to her, that he is unworthy for her love because of his ugliness. But his heart is of gold that eventually, the lady falls for him.

This book takes a similar stance. Fern, to help her beautiful friend to capture the eye of a handsome male, she writes beautiful letters to him and signed under her friend, Rita. Of course, the ruse is found out eventually. What I really loved about this book is that it focuses on the beauty of the heart rather than physical appearance. It's such a refreshing read especially after many books nowadays all talk about heroines falling for good-looking men. It's kinda sad really. This book is beyond that. It shows true love can oversee past the ugliness of one's appearance and fall in love with their souls.

And I like that. Because beauty of appearance does not last. It's the inside that counts. What you are made of.

This book speaks of the truth. It doesn't paint fake colours. It's real. And it's a gift for the soul.

 

Book Review: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

BOOK REVIEW: The Fault In Our Stars  

by John Green

The Fault In Our Stars

by John Green

Book description from Goodreads:

Despite the tumor-shrinking medical miracle that has bought her a few years, Hazel has never been anything but terminal, her final chapter inscribed upon diagnosis. But when a gorgeous plot twist named Augustus Waters suddenly appears at Cancer Kid Support Group, Hazel's story is about to be completely rewritten.

Goodreads Link

My review:

***5 STARS***

I am a very harsh reviewer. I rarely give out 5 stars. 5 stars for me is only reserved for books who managed bring me on the edge, to the borderline of insanity. The kind of books that makes me feel so many things, that makes me want to recreate myself and reborn into another person. That makes me want to jump over buildings or free fall.
It's a lot like falling in love.

My flavour of books are normally paranormal, supernatural stuff, with wings or vampire fangs etc.

But cancer, deaths, patients?
No. I was never into that. I was never into the sob stories. I'm a HEA kinda girl. I love happy endings. It's why I can't stomach tragedies or some other boo hoo hoo tales. It's just not something I dig for. In my 22 years of life, I can only remember one other book that involves hospital patients. And that was My Sister's Keeper. But that was only because it was free.

So I was a bit unsure to try The Fault in Our Stars. Call me a discriminator, but I normally don't read books from male authors either. But I heard so many hype about this book, so many raving reviews that the curious part of my brain demanded for me to try it. Just give it a taste. A little sip.

So I grabbed a digital copy and read.

I heard from many people that it's a very sad sad book. But to be honest, the first half of the story didn't turn me into a tear jerker. I was wondering whether if I was truly a cold-hearted person for not feeling teary over these sad cancer protagonists.

But wait for it. Be patient. Because the emotions will slowly seep into you like cancer cells. It will raid you and turn you inside out like a virus.

And I became wrecked.

I'll get to that part in a bit.

I can tell from this book, John Green is a highly intellectual individual. I love his brain. I want to dive into it and live there. I want to usurp it.

He has a brilliant sense of humour too. You would think a story about cancer, it will all be about boo hoo and tears, but nah, there are plenty of funny elements into it too.

"I think he's hurting her boob," I said,
"Yes, it's difficult to ascertain whether he is trying to arouse her or perform a breast exam."

"Pretty great," I agreed, although it wasn't, really. It was a kind of a boy movie. I don't know why boys expect us to like boy movies. We don't expect them to like girl movies.

^In which I agree wholeheartedly.


And then you get to read some great philosophical thoughts as well. I always love morality and philosophy in books. It makes the whole adventure a lot more worth it. Like you can actually learn from it. As if the book can make you into a better person.

Were she better and you sicker, then the stars would not be so terribly crossed, but it is the nature of stars to cross, and never was Shakespeare more wrong than when he had Cassius note, "The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars/ But in ourselves."

What a slut time is. She screws everybody.

Some tourists think Amsterdam is a city of sin, but in truth it is a city of freedom. And in freedom, most people find sin.


Now these are the parts that made me feel. I didn't realise I became emotional until every part of my cells were drenched with sadness.
I became like this:






The first thing that made me cry was what Peter fecking Van Houten said:

"Sick children inevitably become arrested: You are fated to live out your days as the child you were when diagnoses, the child who believes there is life after novel ends. And we, as adults, we pity this, so we pay for your treatments, for your oxygen machines. We give you food and water though you are unlikely to live long enough.

"You are a side effect," Van Houten continued, "of an evolutionary process that cares little for individual lives. You are a failed experiment in mutation."

Those were the angry tears. I had the privilege to never get personal with cancer but even I felt outrage when I read that. Like how dare he! Sure, I can never know how it feels to die and in pain for most of my life but those words were hurtful and they probably pained me more than Hazel Grace.

Then there were sad but happy tears. They tasted bittersweet. And that was all thanks to Augustus Waters. I freaking loved this guy! He was so sweet and thoughtful and lovely and made me swoon!

"I'm in love with you," he said quietly.
"I'm in love with you, and I'm not in the business of denying myself the simple pleasure of saying true things. I'm in love with you, and I know that love is just a shout into the void, and that oblivion is inevitable, and that we're all doomed and that there will come a day when all our labor has been returned to dust, and I know the sun will swallow the only earth we'll ever have, and I am in love with you."

Oh yeah, that totally made me bawl there.

See why I loved this book? Because it made me feel so many things. Words contains power. Power to move worlds. Power to move people's hearts. And I feel this book managed to do just that.

And my last parting remark:

"Even cancer isn't a bad guy really: Cancer just wants to be alive."

Book Review: World After by Susan Ee

BOOK REVIEW: World After by Susan Ee

World After
by Susan Ee
Book description from Goodreads:
In this sequel to the bestselling fantasy thriller, Angelfall, the survivors of the angel apocalypse begin to scrape back together what's left of the modern world.

When a group of people capture Penryn's sister Paige, thinking she's a monster, the situation ends in a massacre. Paige disappears. Humans are terrified. Mom is heartbroken.

Penryn drives through the streets of San Francisco looking for Paige. Why are the streets so empty? Where is everybody? Her search leads her into the heart of the angels' secret plans where she catches a glimpse of their motivations, and learns the horrifying extent to which the angels are willing to go.

Meanwhile, Raffe hunts for his wings. Without them, he can't rejoin the angels, can't take his rightful place as one of their leaders. When faced with recapturing his wings or helping Penryn survive, which will he choose?

Goodreads Link

My review:

***5 STARS***

I am in awe.

Thank you, Hodder & Stoughton for the book. I cannot thank you enough for allowing me to peek through these pages before the publication date.

Two years after Angelfall, and here we are!

Susan Ee should totally write this at the front page of her book as a warning:

Abandon all hope, ye who enter here.

Because I lost sight of reality. I lost my grasp on what was real and what was not. My spirit was inside the book, right into this post-apocalyptic world.

Have you heard of a second book syndrome? It's like you're afraid to read the second book, in fear that it would tarnish all the lovely things that you felt from the first book. We are always afraid that the authors won't be able to raise up to that standard again, to create that kind of story.

Oh boy how wrong I was. Right from the beginning, the story pulled me in. I was sucked right into the world of angels and demons and daughters of men. My hands trembled as I flicked through each page, my heart was thundering in my chest. I swear it felt like having a heart attack reading this book, my emotions doing a roller coaster dive.

I cried, I laughed, I felt compassion, misery, love, all the emotions that a human could possess, all wrapped up in World After.

Books are my escape. I read to feel. When reality fails to bring any strong emotions swelling in my heart, I turn to books. Books are the only thing that can keep me alive. Breathe into me. And I felt every single wondrous bit of emotions that a human should feel.

World After is perfect. It was everything I could hope for and want. I cried a river reading this. It was beautiful and heart wrenchingly awesome!
Now I'm sad. I wish I can undo my read and start all over again with my mind blank. It was a worthy experience and I am proud to be part of it. I'm proud to be a reader.

I loved every single characters here. I think their roles and executions in this story were flawless. I even loved Penryn's mom! I think that lady is amazing, despite few screws loose in her head.

 "I'm not the devil's bride."
"He carried you out of the fire and is letting you visit us from the dead. Who else would have those privileges except his bride?"
She sees me once in a guy's arms and she had us married already. I wonder what Raffe would think of my mom being his mother-in-law.

Haha, totally made me laugh :'D

I won't be telling spoilers but there are further developments of the characters compared to book one.
For one thing, I'm irrevocably in love with Raffe. OMG this male made me all warm and fuzzy and I savoured every single thing about him. I don't even care if he turned into the devil, Raffe was simply awesome! Omg now I'm craving for things that doesn't even exist ugh.

I loved Paige too. In Angelfall, we see her deformed from the experiments. We will see more of Paige, have no doubt about that and I'm really fond of this seven-year-old girl. I felt my heart crumbling when she held out her hands to Penrynn and cried for her sister. I wanted to scoop her up in my arms too *sniffles* Okay, getting abit teary eye here.

And then we have Penrynn. The Daughter of Man.

And I couldn't get enough of this heroine. She was absolutely perfect. She ticked all the boxes. She was strong, a badass, a reluctant hero. But she wasn't without flaws. She also felt insecure, especially when dealing with Paige but it's how she overcome those struggles and her determination to survive that what made her special.
And because of her, I'm also proud to be daughter of man. She's my hero.

I'm sad that this has come to an end and goodness knows how long I'd have to wait for the next adventure. But let me tell you this. This book is a gem. Read it and absorb it well. People put value in gold, diamonds, etc but my treasure is books. Books that sucks you right into another world. It makes my mind rich and fulfilling. It makes my imaginations vivid. You wish that such thing as Inception exist?
Well, read books. Especially this book. You'll be able to jump into worlds in your head. Books are a uniquely portable magic.

So, welcome to my world.

Book Review: Angelfall by Susan Ee

BOOK REVIEW: Angelfall by Susan Ee

Angelfall 

by Susan Ee

Book description from Goodreads:

It's been six weeks since angels of the apocalypse descended to demolish the modern world. Street gangs rule the day while fear and superstition rule the night. When warrior angels fly away with a helpless little girl, her seventeen-year-old sister Penryn will do anything to get her back.

Anything, including making a deal with an enemy angel.

Raffe is a warrior who lies broken and wingless on the street. After eons of fighting his own battles, he finds himself being rescued from a desperate situation by a half-starved teenage girl.

Traveling through a dark and twisted Northern California, they have only each other to rely on for survival. Together, they journey toward the angels' stronghold in San Francisco where she'll risk everything to rescue her sister and he'll put himself at the mercy of his greatest enemies for the chance to be made whole again.

Goodreads link

My review:

***5 STARS***

THIS BOOK IS SOOOO EPIC!!! OMG I barely breathe throughout the entire book, it was so awesome and terrifying! I thought Hunger Games was bad enough, but angelfall was downright apocalyptic <3

Okay deep breath.

To point out, I'm a very harsh reviewer. Why? Because I've devoured hundreds and hundreds of books. I spent my entire summer shacking up in my bedroom and reading books one after the other with only three hours of sleep every night. 

I rarely give five stars reviews. Ever. The only books that I gave five stars reviews were the kind of books that got me totally brain screwed to the borderline of insanity. The kind of books where I wish I could hurl it against the wall, scream then clutch it to my chest. The kind of books that I'd need to lock myself in the bathroom and cry my heart out when it's over. I'd walk around in a daze for a couple of days because my mind would still be in that world, because in that one moment, my mind would believe that I'm the character in the book. All the sufferings and loneliness and happiness and joy course through my body as if my soul had just experienced a huge emotional trauma. 

It makes me alive.

And Angelfall fits nicely in that five star category. I clutched to the edge of my seat as my heart throbbed painfully every time I flicked through the pages. It was a roller coaster experience, my emotions whacked to one plane and jumped to the other axis. I cried, I despaired, I treasured every bit of the sweet banter and the deepening relationship between Penryn and Raffe. 

I loved Penryn, the heroine in the book. She's a human with a very strong will, putting up a brave front against a stronger species: angels. She shows courage, strength and loyalty towards her family and the angel Raffe. Yeah I totally dig for that kind of badassery.

What I love about this series is that it's original. It's different from other contemporary, urban fantasy, dystopia and other genres. It's beautifully written with an evocative style of writing. Some parts are downright gruesome to the point that goosebumps rose on my skin. There is a mixture of different elements in the book: love, loyalty, badass, strength, courage, fear etc. It's not just a romance book or an action book. It's a mixture of everything combined into beautiful cleverly woven words.

I loved Angelfall because it makes me feel, stir up those emotions inside me that I rarely experienced in my mundane life. I look forward for the next installment because damnit I don't think my heart can take it any longer with all this anticipation!