Crocodile Man by Graham Wilson (Crocodile Spirit Dreaming #2) Review

Crocodile Man is the second book in the Crocodile Spirit Dreaming series. Although I don't read the first book, I still able to understand what happened in the first book, thanks to the one-page first book summary the author given in the beginning of the novel.

The setting of Crocodile Man took place mainly in Northern Australia with few chapters in the UK.

By the end of the first chapter, I was having goosebumps and this is a good sign for me to continuing it.

In this book, we follow several people throughout the discovery of unidentified head in a waterhole in Northern Australia. We follow Charlie, the first person who found the "head", Alan and Sandy as part of the police interrogation team, and Susan.

I enjoy reading about Alan's journey and how he went to discover who actually this dead man was.

My issue is at Susan's POV. I didn't really connect with her and sometimes I got confused when I read her part. I want to know her story better and feeling deeper than the author wrote. Or maybe it was just because I don't exactly know what is she afraid of from the first book and about what exactly happened at that night.

The author creates the setting very vivid and because of that, I can feel the atmosphere of Northern Australia clearly when I read Crocodile Man. If you want to feel someplace different, I will recommend this book.

All in all, reading Crocodile Man is like reading a fictional story mix with crocodile spirit folklore. It was a unique experience. 

I won this book through Goodreads giveaway. My opinions in this review are entirely my own.

My rating is 3 stars. 

Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire (Wayward Children #1) Review

Hope hurts. That's what you need to learn, and fast, if you don't want it to cut you open from the inside out. Hope is bad. Hope means you keep on holding to things that won't ever be so again, and so you bleed an inch at a time until there's nothing left.

I always wonder what happened when all of those Narnia kids go back to our real world, how they continue their regular life, how they trying to re-adjust their relationship with other people after they discover and live in such a magical world. 

And the idea of this book offers the answer to my question.

She was a story, not an epilogue. And if she chose to narrate her own life one word at a time as she descended the stairs to meet her newest arrival, that wasn't hurting anyone. Narration was a hard habit to break, after all.

Eleanor West’s Home for Wayward Children is a school for those kids who went to that magical world and now has come back into the real world. The problem is, most of them didn't want to go back, they have changed and somehow their parents couldn't understand why and want their kids to be "normal" again.

At the beginning, everything went smooth and I have no issue with this book. I was intrigued how will Nancy, our main protagonist will survive in her new boarding school. 

And then, the issue came... Nancy's roommate got murdered on her second day of her arrival. Suddenly the story shifts to "what's going on in this peaceful school?" and everything just went down from this point.

Because hope is a knife that can cut through the foundations of the world

Every Heart a Doorway had so much potential to be loved by me. Sadly, it may work for some people but it just didn't work for me.

 You shouldn't close doors just because you don't like what's on the other side 

My rating is 2 stars. 

What I've been missed in my life?

I know this is blog related to my book reviews but excuse me for this personal one. :)

I've been thinking lately about what I've been missed in my life.
For several reasons, I always satisfied with my own life condition right now.
You can say I'm Hufflepuff, while I enjoy learning things, I'm not really a competitive person. I have super amazing parents, I have a decent job in a reputable multi-national company, I have super understandable managers, I have some good true friends who I can talk and joke around, I have a very great boyfriend who I love and a steady relationship. I love to manage my own shop, I always able to spare my time to read or to watch K-dramas or just binge-watch booktube in the night.
So... I can say, I have plenty enough things to be grateful.

Why this "what I've been missed in my life" thought has been bothering me lately?

I'm starting to questioning myself over: "Am I living my life to the fullest?"
Being twenty-seven years old, some of my friends already starting their married life and while the others continue to pursue their dream, take their chance to embrace the youth life by continuing their master degree abroad.
I don't say if you decided to marry then you would have to give up your dream, but to some extent, your personal dreams would slowly change to another direction, wouldn't they? You are not as free as when you are single.

I always say I don't need the master degree, especially now when I learn how to make money and I, 100% honest about that answer.
I don't really have the interest to get the master degree because what I saw in the industry, it isn't something that you must have. The experience is the more important than how higher your education. Right?

But...
What if I fearless?
What if I have better English skill? (My English is crap if you don't know me)
So many what ifs I could think about.
And maybe I could try to let myself dream about some things
That I forgot I have
Like continuing my study
Or trying to submit LPDP or at the other organization to see if I'm capable enough to get the scholarship
In the better Uni outside this country
Not to just get my degree done
But also to have invaluable experience
That I won't be sorry nor forget.

Some will say, it's not too late for me to try, I only twenty-seven.
For me, twenty-seven is the mature number for someone like me to realize.
To realize that excellent in math and accounting in school isn't everything.
When I wrote this, I just feel really foolish and an innocent person I was.
Maybe I will relive this dream.
But most likely I will forever live vicariously in the shadows of someone else.

One thing for sure
I will tell and encourage my future children
To fearlessly live their dream
Because you only live once


Sincerely,
Vie