Schlagwort: Book Review

Book Review : Forbidden by Tabitha Suzuma

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Editon : Paperback (432 pages)
Publisher : Definitions (2010)
Genre : Contemporary, Realistic Fiction
Source : Giveaway
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She is pretty and talented – sweet sixteen and never been kissed. He is seventeen; gorgeous and on the brink of a bright future. And now they have fallen in love. But… they are brother and sister.

My Thoughts

I’ve posted some photos of this book on my Instagram account and I gotb comments like „you’re are going to cry so much“ or simply bunch of crying emoticons. So i told myself to prepare. It took me a week to finish this book not because it’s boring but because it’s so distressing I cannot continue reading it.

Lochan (17) and Maya (16) are siblings. They are caring for their younger siblings and play the role of being the parents in the family. Their father abandoned them and their alcoholic mother is always nowhere to be found. Lochan and Maya depend on each other most of the time until one day, they fall in love with one another.

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Book Review : The Cat’s Guide to Human Behavior by Xina Marie Uhl

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18922359Editon : eBook
Publisher : XC Publishing (2013)
Genre : Animal
Source : Copy provided by the author
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Cats know that adoration is their birth-right. Humans have proved this by worshipping them as gods since the days of Ancient Egypt. But despite their clear superiority, felines continue to be frustrated with humans‘ bizarre actions and incomprehensible desires — until now. In The Cat’s Guide to Human Behavior, the great feline humanologist Professor F.L. Uffy advises cats on how to solve some of their most difficult human-related issues:

• Chase away your human’s romantic partners
• Increase your food supply
• And more!

What does your cat REALLY think of you? The Cat’s Guide to Human Behavior reveals all–even why you refuse to groom yourself with your tongue! (x)

My Thoughts

I was happy to get a free ebook copy of this from the author in exchange of an honest review because I myself is a cat-lover. My first pet was a stray kitten named „miming“ and we always have cats (and dogs) walking or running around our house.

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Book Review : Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

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Editon : Kindle (386 pages)
Publisher : Dutton Books (2011)
Genre : Young Adult, Contemporary, Fiction
Source : Amazon Kindle
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Lola Nolan is a budding costume designer, and for her, the more outrageous, sparkly, and fun the outfit, the better. And everything is pretty perfect in her life (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the negihborhood. When Cricket, a gifted inventor, steps out from his twin sister’s shadow and back into Lola’s life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.

My Thoughts

Lola Nolan, who believes that „Life is too short to be the same person every day“, loves wearing coloured wigs together with her own unique clothing styles. She was raised by her gay parents and has a rockstar boyfriend, Max, who is five years older than her. Lola’s world turned upside down when their old neighbors, the Bell family, move back.

I love Anna and the French Kiss so much that’s why I was so excited about the next novel, Lola and the Boy Next Door and since it’s a companion book, we cannot avoid the comparison of the two and for me, I still love AanFK. Their appearance in this book made me love them even more.

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Book Review : Sputnik Sweetheart by Haruki Murakami

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Original Title : Supūtoniku no koibito (Japanese)
Edition : Paperback (229 pages)
Publisher : Vintage (2002)
Genre : Fiction, Cultural, Contemporary
Source : Bought from Thalia Buchhandlung
Date Read : October 2014
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My Thoughts

The story is narrated by K who is inlove with his best friend Sumire, who is in love with Miu, a woman seventeen years older than her. Compared to Miu who is glamorous and a successful businesswoman, Sumire is an aspiring writer and dresses in an oversized second-hand coat and heavy boots like a character in a Kerouac novel. Sumire spends hours on the phone talking to K about life and her feelings for Miu.

Sumire’s feelings for Miu causes her to change her „lifestyle“ and even stops her from writing. She accepts a job offer from Miu and fly with her to Europe. K don’t have any idea about the trip until he received a letter from Sumire describing their travels across Europe and staying in a small Greek island. One night, K got a phone call from Greece but it wasn’t Sumire. It was Miu telling him that Sumire disappeared „like a smoke“ and he needs to fly to the island to help searching for her.

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Book Review : Every You, Every Me by David Levithan

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Editon : eBook (204 pages)
Publisher : Knopf Books for Young Readers (2011)
Genre : Young Adult, Mystery, Fiction
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In this high school-set psychological tale, a tormented teen named Evan starts to discover a series of unnerving photographs—some of which feature him. Someone is stalking him… messing with him… threatening him. Worse, ever since his best friend Ariel has been gone, he’s been unable to sleep, spending night after night torturing himself for his role in her absence. And as crazy as it sounds, Evan’s starting to believe it’s Ariel that’s behind all of this, punishing him. But the more Evan starts to unravel the mystery, the more his paranoia and insomnia amplify, and the more he starts to unravel himself.

 My Thoughts

I keep reading because I’m eager to know what will happen in the end and I tried to finish it in one sitting but I wasn’t able to. So I spent another day to find out where the story will take me.

Evan, who suffers  is on his way home from school when he found an envelope on the ground that has a photo inside. He started getting more photographs where some of which he is in and most are of his best friend Ariel. He starts to think that it’s Ariel who’s doing it in order to punish him. He then asked Jack, who is also their friend, for help. As they unravel the mystery behind the photographs, Evan discovers himself more deeper.

What i love about David Levithan’s way of writing is his talent to create an uniquely incredible concepts and interesting characters that can bring out all the the reader’s emotions. I like his writing style, especially in this novel where some lines are crossed out using strikethroughs when Evan is talking to Ariel in his head or when he’s talking to himself. I can somehow relate because I also do like that in some of my blog posts.

Evan is struggling with the loss of his best friend Ariel and he feels that he’s responsible for it. He is more than depressed and hopeless without her. We didn’t get to know more about Ariel and what exactly happened to her except she’s not with them anymore.

This novel is told with words and photos which made the story more intriguing and msyterious. I’ve read in the acknowledgements that Jonathan Farmer provided the photos randomly to David Levithan who continued on writing about it. Neither of the two know what the other was doing. This novel shows how brilliant their collaboration is.

This is one of my favorites from this author though I didn’t give a five-star rating. I felt that maybe the story could be a little longer or maybe a good twist can be added on it. But all in all, this novel is haunting and it gave me goosebumps while reading. Not to mention the photos are somehow creepy. I would still recommend this book.

“You know one me. Just like I know one you. But you can’t know every me. And I can’t know every you.”

My Rating
4stars

Book Review : Allegiant (Divergent #3) by Veronica Roth

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Series : Divergent #3
Editon : Paperback (526 pages)
Publisher : Katherine Tegan Books (2013)
Genre : Young Adult, Dystopia, Fiction
Source : Amazon.de
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„Can I be forgiven for all I’ve done to get here?
I want to be.
I can.
I believe it.“

My Thoughts

I was able to avoid reading reviews and even talking about this book with my fellow bookworms that’s why I had no idea on how the story would end.

In this third and final book of Veronica Roth’s Divergent series, a secret alliance was formed against Evelyn’s system and Tris, Tobias and the others were chosen to go outside the city to find out what is hidden beyond the fence.

It was narrated through Tris and Tobias‘ points of views which for me was confusing most of the time and i had to flip back some pages to check whose POV I was reading. Maybe because I got used to Tris‘ as the only narrator or they somehow sound similar. The good thing is we know what’s going on with Tobias‘ head and how he feels about everything. The relationship between the two is tested and of course there are also some sweet and „intense“ moments between them.

What is the symbol on the cover means? I thought it has something to do with Erudites but it’s not. It doesn’t have anything to do with the factions. (This is not a spoiler, right?) It’s really advisable to read the first two books before reading this one. Here, readers will encounter (again) some new characters and some new problems or circumstances in and outside the city. I personally didn’t expect that something like that was going on beyond the fence.

I really don’t know how i feel about the ending. I’m not really disappointed (unlike the majority of people who read this book) instead, I was dreadful (after reading chapter 50) that it made me cry while reading until the last chapter. I feel so sad until now while typing this. It’s not a perfect happy ending but I think it’s inevitable and it makes me admire Tris, Tobias and Peter (yes! You’ve read it right!) more.

I know some people who don’t want to read Allegiant anymore because they were spoiled about the ending and didn’t like it. All i can say is give it a chance. If you’ve read the first two then why not read the last book, right? It can answer your questions and help you understand why that certain thing happens.

I enjoyed reading this series and I’m looking forward to read more of Ms. Roth’s books.

My Rating
5stars

Book Review : Insurgent (Divergent #2) by Veronica Roth

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Processed with VSCOcam with hb2 presetSeries : Divergent #2
Editon : Paperback, Intenational First Edition (525 pages)
Publisher : Katherine Tegen Books (2012)
Genre : Young Adult, Dystopia, Fiction
Source : Bought from Thalia Buchhandlung
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My Thoughts

B noticed that I was so excited to read Insurgent after I finished reading Divergent (Here’s my review), so he bought it for me. #SpoiledFiancee

This is the second book of Divergent trilogy by Veroncia Roth and it’s advisable to read the first book before reading this one and this review.

Insurgent begins directly after where Divergent ended and it was cool because I don’t have to remind myself again or reread the first book. (My memory sometimes let me down.) In this book, we get to learn more about the other factions including the Factionless.

Here, Tris is broken and deeply traumatized with her parents death and at the same time, guilty of Will’s death. She became too risky and vulnerable which made her do some terrible decisions. Meanwhile, Four gets over protective most of the time to Tris which is understandable because he really cares for her. This book don’t have a lot of Tris-Four moments and I know that romance is not really the main focus of this novel so it’s okay. No love triangle (which is common to this kind of novel, i think) so far but they argue most of the time.

I have problems remembering names and this book has a lot of new minor and major characters. I’m not sure if it’s good or bad but it’s just too much for me. Your opinion about the characters can also change through the story like with me, I started to like Peter and hate Caleb.

I can say that i like Divergent more than this but don’t get me wrong. Insurgent is more action packed and contains more surprises, twists and a cliffhanger ending.

My Rating
3stars.5

Book Review : Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

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Processed with VSCOcam with a6 preset Editon : Mass Market Paperback (566 pages)
Publisher : Crown (2012)
Genre : Fiction, Mystery
Source : Bought from Thalia Buchhandlung
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My Thoughts

I’ll be honest. It’s quite hard to make a review of this book without giving out spoilers because of the exciting plot and twists so i’ll make it short and simple.

Amy Elliot and Nick Dunne fall in love with each other and eventually, they get married. After losing their job in New York because of recession, they transfer to Nick’s hometown in Missourri. To support them, Nick borrowed Amy’s money to buy a bar that he’s managing together with his twin sister, Go. On their 5th anniversary, Amy goes missing leaving Nick as the primary suspect of her disappearance. He claims he is innocent but all the evidences are clearly pointing at him. The book is told from Amy’s diary and Nick’s narration after the disappearance.

Though a bit slow at the beginning, Gone Girl is incredibly well-writen and the characters voices are convincing. I feel like watching the movie, seeing and hearing Ben Affleck and Rosamund Pike saying the words while I’m reading. Though I think Neil Patrick Harris (Dessi Collings) fits the role of Tanner Bolt. I’m saying this because of Bolt’s character and attire (especially the tie). This book made me feel like hugging/punching the characters (Nick and Amy to be exact) at the same time. It’s confusing (in a good way) and I didn’t know what to believe anymore. While I’m still under the state of confusion, another revelations appeared which made me more curious and excited. I honestly don’t know what to feel about the ending. Somehow I’m disappointed because that’s not how I want it to end and at the same time, I’m also thinking that it’s the perfect ending for them.

Because every morning you have to wake up and be you.

This is my first time to read Ms. Flynn’s book and I’ve heard that her other works are also amazing so I think I’ll enjoy reading them. She’s a very talented writer and I like how she played my emotions. I recommend this book to anyone who loves a superb mystery/suspense novel.

My Rating
4stars

Book Review: Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler and Maira Kalman

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Editon : Kindle (368 pages)
Publisher : January 2011
Genre : Young Adult, Realistic Fiction
Source : Amazon
Date Read : January 2013
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Sixteen-year-old Min Green writes a letter to Ed Slaterton in which she breaks up with him, documenting their relationship and how items in the accompanying box, from bottle caps to a cookbook, foretell the end. (via Goodreads)

My Thoughts

The title says clearly what the book is all about. The reasons why Min broke up with Ed was written (as a letter) together with the items (which are also related to both of them of course) inside the box. Min drop it in front of Ed’s house.

This book (paperback) was on my wishlist last Christmas but unfortunately it’s not available. Well, I still got the other books so it’s okay. I admit that at first I got a bit bored specially when Min talks about the movies that she likes. I love watching movies but not those kinds. I also (somehow) don’t have any idea or clue on how they will break up then I’ve realized at the end that it’s very obvious. I’m so lame. Haha.

The plot is still interesting although sometimes it’s a bit slow. I’m always excited to see the next picture (every chapter starts with an illustration) so I read a bit fast. I think those were my favorite parts. I love books with pictures.I can say that maybe I cannot really relate myself to the story since my highschool “love-life” is not really colorful and I still have my virginity that time. But I’m still recommending this book.

My Rating

3stars