[Review] The Year I Met You - Cecelia Ahern

Title of Book: The Year I Met You
Author: Cecelia Ahern
Publisher: Harper
Publication Year: 2015
Language: English
Format: Paperback
Pages: 432
BookDepository | Periplus

A thoughtful, captivating and ultimately uplifting novel from this uniquely talented author

Jasmine knows two things: one, she loves her vulnerable sister unconditionally, and will fight to the death to protect her from anyone who upsets her. Two, she's only ever been good at one thing – her job helping business start-ups.

So when she’s sacked and put on gardening leave, Jasmine realizes that she has nothing else to fill her life. Insomnia keeps her staring out of her bedroom window, and she finds herself watching the antics of her neighbor, shock jock Matt, with more than a casual eye. Matt is also taking a forced leave of absence from work, after one of his controversial chat shows went too far…

Jasmine has every reason to dislike Matt, and the feeling appears to be mutual. But not everything is as it seems, and soon Jasmine and Matt are forced to think again…

[Review] Evermore - Alyson Noel

Title of Book: Evermore
Series: The Immortals #1
Author: Alyson Noel
Publisher: Mizan Fantasy
Publication Year: 2011
Language: Bahasa Indonesia
Translator: Reni Indardini
Format: Paperback
Pages: 396

Ever adalah gadis baru di sekolah, dia cantik dan kikuk. Setelah kecelakaan mengerikan merebut nyawa keluarganya, Ever Bloom mendengar pikiran orang lain, melihat aura mereka, dan mengetahui seluruh kisah hidup seseorang hanya dengan menyentuhnya. Semuanya berubah saat dia bertemu Damen Auguste, lelaki misterius yang memesona dan berbahaya. Apakah pertemuan mereka merupakan awal yang baik atau buruk?

Sebuah novel fantasy yang membangun ketegangan dan rasa penasaran. Fenomena kemampuan supranatural, rahasia kehidupan setelah kematian, keabadiaan dan kisah cinta yang menggetarkan jiwa. Semua ini dikemas dalam cerita yang kaya alur dan menghibur

[Review] The Color Master - Aimee Bender

Title of Book: The Color Master: Stories
Author: Aimee Bender
Publisher: Doubleday
Publication Year: 2013
Language: English
Format: Hardback
Pages: 222

The bestselling author of The Particular Sadness of Lemon Cake returns with a wondrous collection of dreamy, strange, and magical stories.

Truly beloved by readers and critics alike, Aimee Bender has become known as something of an enchantress whose lush prose is “moving, fanciful, and gorgeously strange” (People), “richly imagined and bittersweet” (Vanity Fair), and “full of provocative ideas” (The Boston Globe). In her deft hands, “relationships and mundane activities take on mythic qualities” (The Wall Street Journal).

In this collection, Bender’s unique talents sparkle brilliantly in stories about people searching for connection through love, sex, and family—while navigating the often painful realities of their lives. A traumatic event unfolds when a girl with flowing hair of golden wheat appears in an apple orchard, where a group of people await her. A woman plays out a prostitution fantasy with her husband and finds she cannot go back to her old sex life. An ugly woman marries an ogre and struggles to decide if she should stay with him after he mistakenly eats their children. Two sisters travel deep into Malaysia, where one learns the art of mending tigers who have been ripped to shreds.

In these deeply resonant stories—evocative, funny, beautiful, and sad—we see ourselves reflected as if in a funhouse mirror. Aimee Bender has once again proven herself to be among the most imaginative, exciting, and intelligent writers of our time.

[Review] The Mist - Stephen King

Title of Book: The Mist
Author: Stephen King
Publisher: Signet Book
Publication Year: 2007
Language: English
Format: Ebook
Pages: 240

In the wake of a summer storm, terror descends... 

"New York Times" bestselling author Stephen King suspends a small town in a haze of terror-as humanity makes its last stand against unholy destruction...

[Review] Every Last Word - Tamara Ireland Stone

Title of Book: Every Last Word
Author: Tamara Ireland Stone
Publisher: Disney Hyperion
Publication Date: 16th June 2015
Language: English
Format: ebook
Pages: 368

If you could read my mind, you wouldn't be smiling.

Samantha McAllister looks just like the rest of the popular girls in her junior class. But hidden beneath the straightened hair and expertly applied makeup is a secret that her friends would never understand: Sam has Purely-Obsessional OCD and is consumed by a stream of dark thoughts and worries that she can't turn off. 

Second-guessing every move, thought, and word makes daily life a struggle, and it doesn't help that her lifelong friends will turn toxic at the first sign of a wrong outfit, wrong lunch, or wrong crush. Yet Sam knows she'd be truly crazy to leave the protection of the most popular girls in school. So when Sam meets Caroline, she has to keep her new friend with a refreshing sense of humor and no style a secret, right up there with Sam's weekly visits to her psychiatrist.

Caroline introduces Sam to Poet's Corner, a hidden room and a tight-knit group of misfits who have been ignored by the school at large. Sam is drawn to them immediately, especially a guitar-playing guy with a talent for verse, and starts to discover a whole new side of herself. Slowly, she begins to feel more "normal" than she ever has as part of the popular crowd . . . until she finds a new reason to question her sanity and all she holds dear.

[Review] Teen Idol - Meg Cabot

Title of Book: Teen Idol
Author: Meg Cabot
Publisher: HarperCollins Publisher
Publication Year: 2004
Language: English
Format: Ebook
Pages: 320

Ask Annie your most complex interpersonal relationship questions. Go on, we dare you!

All letters to Annie are subject to publication in the Clayton High School Register. Names and e-mail addresses of correspondents guaranteed confidential.

High school junior Jenny Greenley is good at solving problems ... so good she's the school newspaper's anonymous advice columnist. Even if solving other people's problems doesn't make her own -- like not having a boyfriend -- go away, it's still fun. But when nineteen-year-old screen sensation Luke Striker comes to Jen's small town to research a role, he creates havoc that even levelheaded Jenny isn't sure she can repair ... especially since she's right in the middle of it.

Can Jen, who always manages to be there for everybody else, learn to take her own advice, and find true love at last?

[Review] The Walking Dead Vol 19 - 21

Title: The Walking Dead Vol 19: March to War
Issues: #109-#114
Writer: Robert Kirkman
Illustrator: Charlie Adlard, Cliff Rathburn
Publisher: Image Comics
Publication year: 2013
Language: English
Pages: 136
Rating: 3/5

By far, we’ve been introduced to Negan and we’ve seen how dangerous Negan is. Rick has tried to take down Negan, but he failed. Jesus, determined to end Negan’s reign, showed Rick that there’s a hope after all to defeat Negan. There’s this other community whose leader also determined to defeat Negan. So they united and plan to have a war against Negan.

There’s not much going on in this volume. This volume is mostly about how Rick and other leaders joined forces and organized a plan to attack Negan and the so-called saviors. I believe March to War is a set up for the war that’s coming in the next volumes. Negan is different from Governor. Negan isn’t just plain mean. He’s more interesting than the Governor, though I still hate him so much. Especially because he speaks profanity a lot. It’s supposed to make him look scarier, but everything he says doesn’t make any sense which makes him appear silly and crazy to me. Since it takes long to organize this attack, I believe the next volume will be intense.

[Review] Sisters - Danielle Steel

Title of Book: Sisters
Author: Danielle Steel
Publisher: Corgi Books
Publication Year: 2008
Language: English
Format: Mass Market Paperback
Pages: 511

Four New York sisters are brought together to pick up the pieces after a family tragedy. 

Candy is blazing her way as an international supermodel . . . Her sister, Tammy, has a L.A. job producing the most successful hit show on TV. . . In New York, oldest sister Sabrina is an ambitious young lawyer, while Annie is an American artist in Florence . . . On one Fourth of July, the four sisters return home for their family’s annual gathering. But before the holiday is over, tragedy strikes and their world is utterly changed.

The sisters must come together to support each other with the kind of honesty and unconditional love only sisters can provide.

This Week in Books #1

Hi! I miss writing non-review posts. So here I am, with a non-review post. I decided to participate in This Week in Books. A feature created by Lipsy over at Lipsyy Lost & Found. This Week in Books basically sums up our week in books. I'm only going to show my recent reads, because I'm on a book buying ban so I don't have any new books to show. It still sounds fun, doesn't it?

[Review] Unclean Jobs for Women and Girls - Alissa Nutting

Title of Book: Unclean Jobs for Women and Girls
Author: Alissa Nutting
Publisher: Dzanc Books
Publication Year: 2011
Language: English
Format: Ebook
Pages: 142

"Nutting's outrageous writing makes my face split with laughter. . . . She's glorious chaos and utterly original."-Lydia Millet

"A dark catalog of behavior for her characters and the result is a kind of human bestiary, if humans were programmed to go down in flames, to run themselves aground, to seek ruin on every occasion. . . . (They) illuminate how people hide behind their pursuits, concealing what matters most to them while striving, and usually failing, to be loved."-Ben Marcus

Alissa Nutting’s collection is reminiscent of George Saunders' or Aimee Bender’s earlier work where nothing is held back and anything goes.

Alissa Nutting is fiction editor of the literary journal Witness and managing editor of Fairy Tale Review.