Friend Request by Laura Marshall Review

Book Synopsis:

Maria Weston wants to be friends. But Maria Weston is dead. Isn't she?

1989. When Louise first notices the new girl who has mysteriously transferred late into their senior year, Maria seems to be everything the girls Louise hangs out with aren't. Authentic. Funny. Brash. Within just a few days, Maria and Louise are on their way to becoming fast friends.

2016. Louise receives a heart-stopping email: Maria Weston wants to be friends on Facebook. Long-buried memories quickly rise to the surface: those first days of their budding friendship; cruel decisions made and dark secrets kept; the night that would change all their lives forever.

Louise has always known that if the truth ever came out, she could stand to lose everything. Her job. Her son. Her freedom. Maria's sudden reappearance threatens it all, and forces Louise to reconnect with everyone she'd severed ties with to escape the past. But as she tries to piece together exactly what happened that night, Louise discovers there's more to the story than she ever knew. To keep her secret, Louise must first uncover the whole truth, before what's known to Maria--or whoever's pretending to be her--is known to all. 

Book Review:

We begin with Louise got her Facebook notification update: "Maria Weston wants to be friends." but wait... The same Maria Weston whom Louise knew was dead when they were in high school. So who is this person claims to be Maria? Or, she still alive after all this time?

The timeline of this book is back and forth with past tense events at 1989 and present time event (2016). The thing is, there was big secret that Louise had buried since the event of Maria's death. And now, she was threatened that there's someone out there knows her sin twenty-seven years ago. 

I don't like the old Louise, the high school Louis. But oh well, how can we judge someone when they are just teenager? For the teenager, high school's social life is the most important thing in the world. They still don't know their glorious social reputation don't really matter when they left to enter the real world. We did a lot of mistakes, consciously or not, at the high school phase. The differentiate is how deep are we willing to go down and responsible for it?

The author didn't waste her time to introduce the main issue with her reader. I have hooked right away when I was starting to read it. The pace was on the right pace. The atmosphere was so vivid. I love Louise, even though there are some of her actions at the present time that I couldn't stand to agree with. But well, she's a single mother now and I think every mother wants to protect her child at whatever cost. The revelation at the end is stunned me, and I love how the author left me hanging by the end of this Louise story. 

It's more like 4.5 stars for me.

Manga Classics: Jane Eyre (Manga Classics) - by Stacy King (English script), SunNeko Lee (Art by), Crystal S. Chan (Story adaptation), Charlotte Brontë

Book Summary:

As an orphaned child, Jane Eyre is first cruelly abused by her aunt, then cast out and sent to a charity school. Though she meets with further abuse, she receives an education and eventually takes a job as a governess at the estate of Edward Rochester. Jane and Rochester begin to bond, but his dark moods trouble her. When Jane uncovers the terrible secret Rochester has been hiding, she flees and finds temporary refuge at the home of St. John Rivers. 

My Thought:

Never before I read or watch Jane Eyre, this is actually my first time ever meeting with Jane. 

The manga format helped me a lot to understand and portray the characters in my mind. Usually, for me who English is not my main language, I had to spend more time to invest in Classic books. The language and the culture are pretty much different from our modern times. Thankfully, I choose to read this manga format to begin with. 

Jane Eyre, an orphan girl got sent to the charity school by her awful aunt at the age of ten. There, she lived in the school for six years as a student and two years as a teacher. Later, she seeks an employment as a governess at the Thornhill, responsibility for teaching one young girl, Adele. Jane, who grew up to be an innocent young woman, finds herself attracted to her master, Mr. Rocherster whom twenty years old senior to her.

I come to love Jane from the very first chapter. She's a brave woman who knows to stand for herself, even when she's just a little girl. With Mr. Rochester, I found him intriguing. I knew he holds up some secrets but I don't know what. When the secret is out to the public, I got shocked just like Jane.

The weakness of reading manga is you couldn't go as much as deeper than if you read the actual novel. Because of the page limitation, I could feel the gap jump between one scene to the other. Keep that in mind if you want to try manga format. Thankfully, the art is beautiful, clear and lovely. The creator did a wonderful job bring Jane, Mr. Rochester, and all of the other characters in manga format.

All in all, I highly recommended this manga version especially if you like me, who interest but hesitant to read the Classic story because of the complexity of Classic language.

A copy was provided by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Listen to Your Heart by Kasie West Review

Book Summary

Talking to other people isn't Kate Bailey's favorite activity. She'd much rather be out on the lake, soaking up the solitude and sunshine. So when her best friend, Alana, convinces Kate to join their high school's podcast, Kate is not expecting to be chosen as the host. Now she'll have to answer calls and give advice on the air? Impossible.

But to Kate's surprise, she turns out to be pretty good at the hosting gig. Then the podcast gets in a call from an anonymous guy, asking for advice about his unnamed crush. Kate is pretty sure that the caller is gorgeous Diego Martinez, and even surer that the girl in question is Alana. Kate is excited for her friend ... until Kate herself starts to develop feelings for Diego. Suddenly, Kate finds that while doling out wisdom to others may be easy, asking for help is tougher than it looks, and following your own advice is even harder.

Kasie West's adorable story of secrets, love, and friendship is sure to win over hearts everywhere.

My Thoughts

Listen to Your Heart follows Kate, an introvert girl who ends up being a cohost at her podcast class. Whoa, can you imagine how stress she was with the prospect of talking to the public even if it's not live recording, but still? I love reading her trying to live out of her comfort zone. 

Throughout this book, we also met Alana, Kate's number one best friend who had a hard crush on Diego Martinez. 

Kate wants to help her friend and the opportunity appears when she takes her cousin to tutoring center and Diego happens to works in there. Soon after, they got comfortable with each other but Kate still doesn't want to pursue Diego because of Alana. 

At the podcast, an anonymous guy calls in like almost every week talking about his secret crush and Kate's pretty sure the guy is Diego and the crush he was talking about was Alana. Wow wow wow. At this point, I already know the ending would be but I'm curious how Kasie West untangle all of this Kate-Diego-Alana mess. Spoiler alert, it doesn't disappoint me. Woho!

Yes, ninety-nine percent of this book is talking about romance (it's Kasie West, ladies and gentleman, what do you expect?) but there's this a small part I like, talking about a real problem. I like she include those issue in this book. 

If someone asks me to pick only one auto-buy author, what's your answer would be? Mine is Kasie West, obviously. With her, I always know what I would get. 

Maybe for some people, even me, all of her books are similar to each other. They follow the same formula: cuteness and fluffiness. Yes, and that's why my Kasie West rating was almost like 4 stars guarantee (I can't bring myself to rate it 5 stars because, hello, predictable issue). 

Although I can always predict how the plot of her books going to be, every time she publishes another book, I always want to read them. Because hey, life's hard, we get stressed over things in the real life and sometimes all we need is forget our problem for a while and Kasie's book is my go-to stress relief and reminds me there's always rainbow after storm. :)

Some quotes for me to always remember 

Sometimes the path of least resistance isn't necessarily the right path.

I am over him. I mean, I wasn't, or I thought I wasn't, but then he texted me a couple weeks ago and I realized there was nothing left but the idea of him. I wasn't over the idea of him but I was completely over him.

You don't necessarily get over fear. But you can succeed even if it's trying to hold you back.

"It'll get easier." I sighed. "Everything will get easier." It had to. People would forgive me. We'd move forward. And we'd all be okay.

I was definitely happy. But I was learning that my happiness wasn't necessarily tied to one particular place or even, either.

My rating is 4 out of 5 stars. 

Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody (The Shadow Game #1) Review

Book Synopsis

Welcome to the City of Sin, where casino families reign, gangs infest the streets…

and secrets hide in every shadow.

Enne Salta was raised as a proper young lady, and no lady would willingly visit New Reynes, the so-called City of Sin. But when her mother goes missing, Enne must leave her finishing school—and her reputation—behind to follow her mother’s trail to the city where no one survives uncorrupted.

Frightened and alone, her only lead is a name: Levi Glaisyer. Unfortunately, Levi is not the gentleman she expected—he’s a street lord and a con man. Levi is also only one payment away from cleaning up a rapidly unraveling investment scam, so he doesn't have time to investigate a woman leading a dangerous double life. Enne's offer of compensation, however, could be the solution to all his problems. 

Their search for clues leads them through glamorous casinos, illicit cabarets and into the clutches of a ruthless mafia donna. As Enne unearths an impossible secret about her past, Levi's enemies catch up to them, ensnaring him in a vicious execution game where the players always lose. To save him, Enne will need to surrender herself to the city…

And she’ll need to play.

My Thoughts

Ace of Shades was advertised as the new ‘Six of Crows’. I’m sure there are many of us invest their time to read it because of that, including me. 

Shame, this book is far different than SoC. Levi is not the new Kaz Brekker. The story was quite confusing to me maybe because I had very high expectation before. It’s all about the highly educated student who just arrived at the city of sin looking for her missing mother. Her only clue was her mother’s letter saying if she couldn’t be found, please ask this Levi guy to guide her. Turns out Levi is one of the gang-lord members. I’m sure you can guess what happens with the good girl and bad guy plot. And it was the most irritable plot for me because there’s no single explanation why her mother recommends Levi to Enne. Like there’s no connection ever.

I have some complaints about this book 

First, I don’t feel any ‘dangerous’ vibe coming from Levi. As the gang-lord, he didn’t have any significant power over the city, his gang member challenge and leave him, he’s got problem with another mafia, etc. I saw him like a puppy wandering on the wrong side of the city, just like his nickname ‘Pup’. He is a puppy, not a wolf.

Second, Enne. The nice, innocent missy who got her hands dirty for searching her missing mother in the strange city. I feel disappointed over her character, especially on the beginning. She’s frustrated character to follow. Though she finds her backbones throughout the story, it’s not that believable plot. 

The city setting. If it’s explained properly, New Reynes should be one of the most interesting places in the fictional world, it should be like the dark place of New Vegas. But yeah, I don’t understand much of it. 

I feel terrible if I don’t mention the good part of this book. Thus, let’s talk about the good portion 

The magic/ability setting was interesting. You can’t choose for your own ability, it’s coming down from your parents and family. So you will have two abilities each inherited from your father and mother, one your dominant and one other ability. 

The story is much more interesting toward the ending, but already too late to make up with its mess beginning. 

Conclusion 

Ace of Shades had many potentials to be a powerful story on its own. The marketing team shouldn’t be called the new Six of Crows because there's no similar thing between those two (except the gang, I believe). 

My rating is 2.5 out of 5 stars and I round it down to 2 stars (on Goodreads) because I feel being cheated on.

Absolute Justice by Rikako Akiyoshi Review

Book Synopsis

Seharusnya monster itu sudah mati ….

My Thoughts

Pertama-tama, buku ini cocok banget bagi yang ingin melepas kangen dan merasakan aroma thriller sejenis Girls in the Dark (karya Akiyoshi Rikako yang terdahulu) sekali lagi. Menurut saya, ini buku yang paling mirip dengan Girls in the Dark.

Alur penceritaannya mirip, diceritakan dari sudut pandang empat wanita yang merupakan sahabat karib dari Noriko Takaki, sang Absolute Justice. 

Satu per satu kisah pertemanan pribadi mereka dengan Noriko dikupas. Apa yang mereka sukai dari Noriko dan apa yang membuat mereka benci.

Misteri telah diungkap dari bab-bab awal, tetapi tidak mengurangi rasa penasaran saya untuk mengetahui bagaimana kisah mereka selama bertahun-tahun. Semua memiliki masalahnya masing-masing. 

Buku ini lebih menekankan ke sisi thriller dibandingkan dengan misteri. Tidak ada plot yang spesial seperti pada Holy Mother tetapi plot twist-nya cukup membuat saya merinding disko waktu membaca di jam satu pagi. 

Seperti biasanya, gaya penulisan Akiyoshi yang misterius mampu membius saya untuk terus membaca chapter demi chapter. 

Satu lagi, judul Absolute Justice ini sangat "mencerminkan" cerita dari novel ini, seperti judul Holy Mother yang benar-benar menceritakan tentang "ibu yang suci". Saya suka dengan judul yang sangat bermakna dibalik Absolute Justice. 

Dan tentunya, ini menjadi buku Akiyoshi favorit kedua setelah Holy Mother. 

Good job, sensei! Thank you Penerbit Haru, ditunggu selalu terjemahan buku Akiyoshi Rikako berikutnya. :)

My rating is 4 out of 5 stars.

Originally posted on my Goodreads page, May 17, 2018

Unwritten by Tara Gilboy Review

Book Summary

Twelve-year-old Gracie Freeman is living a normal life, but she is haunted by the fact that she is actually a character from a story, an unpublished fairy tale she’s never read. When she was a baby, her parents learned that she was supposed to die in the story, and with the help of a magic book, took her out of the story, and into the outside world, where she could be safe.

But Gracie longs to know what the story says about her. Despite her mother’s warnings, Gracie seeks out the story’s author, setting in motion a chain of events that draws herself, her mother, and other former storybook characters back into the forgotten tale. Inside the story, Gracie struggles to navigate the blurred boundary between who she really is and the surprising things the author wrote about her. As the story moves toward its deadly climax, Gracie realizes she’ll have to face a dark truth and figure out her own fairy tale ending.

My Thoughts

What if every story ever is written is a world in another dimension, waiting for us to find it? 

Have you ever imagine that all of the characters in your favorite book might be alive in another dimension? That they are not just some two-dimensional characters but also speak and breath like us?

Gracie, a twelve-year-old girl, is coming literally out-of-the-book to our real world with her mom. Her original world, Bondoff was from the unpublished story. 

Her mom told her that her fate in the book didn’t end well, she died when she was just a baby in the story. So in order to save her, her mom took her out of their fiction village to the real world. 

When the author of Gracie’s story come to her town for fan signing, she couldn’t resist to meet her even though her mother bans her. She had to know her story from the author herself. Why did she intend to kill Gracie in her book? 

Before reading this book, I thought this was only like another middle-grade children book with a princessy story and cotton candy and cherry on top, I expect some light cute read just like the cover itself. Wow, I didn’t expect the story would be this kind of deep thinking. 

Regarding the word choice, this book is easy to finish. This is a middle-grade children book so the way the author telling us her story is simple and clear yet it holds true powerful meaning. 

Another good point I would like to say is I like the ending very much. I won’t spoil you how Gracie’s story ends, you need to read it yourself. ;)

A copy was provided by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review. 

My rating is 4 out of 5 stars.

Pestilence by Laura Thalassa Review (The Four Horsemen #1)

Book Summary

They came to earth—Pestilence, War, Famine, Death—four horsemen riding their screaming steeds, racing to the corners of the world. Four horsemen with the power to destroy all of humanity. They came to earth, and they came to end us all. 

When Pestilence comes for Sara Burn’s town, one thing is certain: everyone she knows and loves is marked for death. Unless, of course, the angelic-looking horseman is stopped, which is exactly what Sara has in mind when she shoots the unholy beast off his steed.

Too bad no one told her Pestilence can’t be killed. 

Now the horseman, very much alive and very pissed off, has taken her prisoner, and he’s eager to make her suffer. Only, the longer she’s with him, the more uncertain she is about his true feelings towards her … and hers towards him. 

And now, well, Sara might still be able to save the world, but in order to do so, she'll have to sacrifice her heart in the process.

My Thoughts

Pestilence is the story of the apocalypse plot filled with repetition, ignorant heroine, and cheap romance that undid me. The first book of this series told us about how the earth is on the brink of doomsday. The almighty God has sent His Horsemen to clean His human creature. One of them who actively killing people is Pestilence. His killing method by spreading infection among the people.

Meanwhile, there's Sara, a firefighter woman who lost bet and she had a task to kill Pestilence while all of the people in her town evacuated. Unfortunately, she didn't know that The Horsemen couldn't be killed. The angry Horsemen decided to keep Sara alive under his watch as his prisoner. And so the predictable situation began. 

Have you ever thought that within several years, your reading preference would be changed? 

Well, I just did, especially when I'm in the middle of reading this book. 

I feel if I read it like three years ago, I would easily give Pestilence four stars rating. That was when I'm all about reading all of those NA Paranormal Romance. 

Now I feel old, I got cringe over the whole plot. No, not that the author writes badly. I enjoy Laura Thalassa writing, her writing style made bearable for me to finish it and I will read her books more in the future. This series is just not my cup of tea.

My rating is 2 out of 5 stars

Originally posted on my Goodreads page, May 21, 2018