[Mini Book Review]: Very Good Lives: The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination by J.K. Rowling

Book Title: Very Good Lives: The Fringe Benefits of Failure and the Importance of Imagination
Author: J.K. Rowling
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Source: Purchased
Genre: Non Fiction, Self Help
Year: 2015
Page Count: 70
ISBN: 9780316369152
Find it at: J.K. Rowling's Official Website
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My Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0

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Goodreads' Blurb:
In 2008, J.K. Rowling delivered a deeply affecting commencement speech at Harvard University. Now published for the first time in book form, Very Good Lives offers J.K. Rowling’s words of wisdom for anyone at a turning point in life, asking the profound and provocative questions: How can we embrace failure? And how can we use our imagination to better both ourselves and others?


Drawing from stories of her own post-graduate years, the world-famous author addresses some of life’s most important issues with acuity and emotional force.

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This is a mini review which does not really discuss the content, just an act of fondness toward this lovely lady whose works have been accompanying my life since I was 10 years old and some quotes I found in this book and would really like to share with you guys.

Also the sales of this book will benefit Lumos, a charity organization founded by J.K. Rowling that works to transform the lives of disadvantaged children, and university-wide financial aid at Harvard University.

"There is an expiration date on blaming your parents for steering you in the wrong direction; the moment you are old enough to take the wheel, responsibility lies with you."

 "Failure means a stripping away of the inessential."

 "Some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all-in which case, you fail by default."

"Failure taught me things about myself that I could have learned no other way."

"The knowledge that you have emerged wiser and stronger from setbacks means that you are, ever after, secure in your ability to survive. You will never truly know yourself, or the strength of your relationships, until both have been tested by adversity. Such knowledge is a true gift, for all that is painfully won, and it has been worth more than any qualification I've ever earned."

"So given a Time-Turner, I would tell my twenty-one-year-old self that personal happiness lies in knowing that life is not a checklist of acquisition or achievement. Your qualifications, your CV, are not your life. Life is difficult, and complicated, and beyond anyone's total control, and the humility to know that will enable you to survive to its vicissitudes."

"Unlike any other creature on this planet, human beings can learn and understand without having experienced. They can think themselves into other people's places. One might use such an ability to manipulate or control just as much as to understand or sympathize."

"Those who choose not to empathize enable real monsters. For without ever committing an act of outright evil ourselves, we collude with it through our own apathy."

"If you choose to use your status and influence to raise your voice on behalf of those who have no voice; if you choose to identify not only with the powerful but with the powerless; if you retain the ability to imagine yourself into the lives of those who do not have your advantages..."

"...then it will not only be your proud families who celebrate your existence but thousands and millions of people whose reality you have helped change. We do not need magic to transform our world; we carry all the power we need inside ourselves already: we have the power to imagine better."

"As is a tale, so is life; not how long it is, but how good it is, is what matters."

One of my most favourite parts of this book is on page 48, when Ms. Rowling recounts the young man from Africa. Truly heartbreaking, yet inspiring. Thank you very much for sharing this precious wise words to the whole world. Ms. Rowling!

[Book Review]: Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

Book Title: Dark Places
Author: Gillian Flynn
Publisher: Crown Publishers
Source: Purchased
Genre: Thriller, Mystery
Year: 2009
Page Count: 538
ISBN: 9780804138338
Find it at: Gillian Flynn's Official Website
Warning: Contains explicit murder scenes and some vulgarity
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My Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0

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Goodreads' Blurb:
Libby Day was seven when her mother and two sisters were murdered in “The Satan Sacrifice" of Kinnakee, Kansas.” She survived—and famously testified that her fifteen-year-old brother, Ben, was the killer. Twenty-five years later, the Kill Club—a secret secret society obsessed with notorious crimes—locates Libby and pumps her for details. They hope to discover proof that may free Ben. Libby hopes to turn a profit off her tragic history: She’ll reconnect with the players from that night and report her findings to the club—for a fee. As Libby’s search takes her from shabby Missouri strip clubs to abandoned Oklahoma tourist towns, the unimaginable truth emerges, and Libby finds herself right back where she started—on the run from a killer.

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After the hype of Gone Girl, I had been curious of Gillian Flynn's works. But I ruled out the mainstream and tried Dark Places first, based on reviews I read. Thriller and mystery are genres are not really my main and favorite stuffs, but I can like, appreciate and am willing to read the good ones. Robert Galbraith and Abigail Haas' works are one of them.

In my opinion, thriller and mystery books are not like contemporary or fantasy young adults which are able to put different colours and sensation in the content. Thriller and mystery books are all typical. There are criminal cases, the process of finding out the truth, the chill and thrill when you read while guessing your speculations and then finally you get the answers. But there is something for me that makes Gillian Flynn's book truly high-class and stands out among other books within the same genre. Gillian Flynn does not follow the usual plot and flow that are common in the genre. She does not cheaply give away the clues and hints. The way she wraps the case is very gentle. Thus all speculations I made, were not really that strong. All in all, Dark Places is more that just mind-wrecked.

There are great deals of main and supporting characters in this book. But each of them has strong characteristics. Take this as an example, there are four children in the Day family. As you read their childhood story, you can see that Ben is a strange and unsociable boy who has malignancy inside him which he does not even understand; Michelle is a curious, meddling girl; Debby the crybaby; and Libby, the youngest of the family, who always needs someone to lead her. One of my favourite characters in this book is Diondra. Flynn shaped her into a tremendously horrifying character, in a savage way, despite her being a seventeen year old teenager.

I've read that this book is adapted into a movie too and I can't wait to see it immediately. Even though when I read the cast list, I just could not imagine how Charlize Theron playing Libby. So what's of Gillian Flynn that I need to read next? I'm just not sure it will be Gone Girl. Sharp Objects is in line immediately once I'm recovered from Gillian Flynn's syndrome.

[Book Review]: The Chosen One by Carol Lynch Williams

Book Title: The Chosen One
Author: Carol Lynch Williams
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Source: Purchased
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Year: 2009
Page Count: 213
ISBN: 9780312627751
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My Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0

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Goodreads' Blurb:
Thirteen-year-old Kyra has grown up in an isolated community without questioning the fact that her father has three wives and she has twenty brothers and sisters, with two more on the way. That is, without questioning them much---if you don’t count her secret visits to the Mobile Library on Wheels to read forbidden books, or her meetings with Joshua, the boy she hopes to choose for herself instead of having a man chosen for her.

But when the Prophet decrees that she must marry her sixty-year-old uncle---who already has six wives---Kyra must make a desperate choice in the face of violence and her own fears of losing her family forever.

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Before I read this book, I know that there are these kind of religions, faith, cultures that hold polygamy value high. A few years back, there was a renowned religious figure in my country that married his second wife and caused such an uproar. Many people opposed and there were many that supported him too.

I don't know much things about the religious background for someone to do polygamy, but when I read this novel, I was appalled. I really was because there's apparently someone (and it happens to be Ms. Carol Lynch Williams) who writes about the whole things of polygamy in pretty much details. I never read one that lifts such issues. The worst part is that how Ms. Williams blatantly shows the fact that some men have only lusts towards their young brides, hiding beside the masks of religious duties, tribal myths and etc.

In this book, it's not that the author explores such sensitive issues (at least in my country it is), but she hauntingly shows the desperation that the thirteen-year-old Kyra feels about her having to marry her sixty-year-old uncle. Throughout her journey, I was constantly feeling enraged, shocked, anxious of what would happen to Kyra in the end.

Despite the severity of the topic, the novel is a very easy read and the characters will absolutely live in my heart for a long time.

[Book Review]: Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock by Matthew Quick

Book Title: Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock
Author: Matthew Quick
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Source: Purchased
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Year: 2013
Page Count: 273
ISBN: 9780316221351
Find it at: Matthew Quick's Official Website
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My Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0

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Goodreads' Blurb:
Today is Leonard Peacock’s birthday. It is also the day he hides a gun in his backpack. Because today is the day he will kill his former best friend, and then himself, with his grandfather’s P-38 pistol.

But first he must say good-bye to the four people who matter most to him: his Humphrey Bogart-obsessed next-door neighbor, Walt; his classmate, Baback, a violin virtuoso; Lauren, the Christian homeschooler he has a crush on; and Herr Silverman, who teaches the high school’s class on the Holocaust. Speaking to each in turn, Leonard slowly reveals his secrets as the hours tick by and the moment of truth approaches.


In this riveting look at a day in the life of a disturbed teenage boy, acclaimed author Matthew Quick unflinchingly examines the impossible choices that must be made—and the light in us all that never goes out.

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After reading two works of Matthew Quick, now I'm really sure he's a very kind man. I want to meet him in person and give him the biggest hug in the world. Seriously, how can an author manage to write two books that effectively dried my eyes from tears while I was reading them? T_T

Leonard Peacock is another ordinary teenager who is damaged. He's being bullied at school, no one befriends him, and his parents don't care about him. The four people who give a care are his old neighbour, one of his classmates, a devout Christian girl and his teacher. As I read through the book, these four people are the only one who at least can bring some happiness to Leonard.


Quick also once again puts one of the kindest characters I ever read. This time, it is Herr Silverman, Leonard's teacher. He plays the biggest part that determines Leonard's decision in the end.

About the main character, Leonard is also a very unique character. Even though he's been disappointed by so many people in his life, he got me thinking that he still cares about them and believes that everyone should not be forced to live a life they don't like. He's a contemplating and even a sweet boy, I think. There are only few authors that can create a character who makes me want to scream about the injustice they are through, and want to laugh at the same time at the naive, quirky and witty voices they bring.

I really want to thank you to Matthew Quick for writing this kind of book. I'm wondering what a wonderful world we live in would be, if everyone read books like this and was changed to be a better person because of them.

Read my review for Matthew Quick's Sorta Like a Rock Star here.

[Book Review]: Dangerous Boys by Abigail Haas

Book Title: Dangerous Boys
Author: Abigail Haas
Publisher: Simon and Schuster
Source: Purchased
Genre: Young Adult, Mystery
Year: 2014
Page Count: 328
ISBN: 9781471119163
Find it at: Abigail Haas' Official Website
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My Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0

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Goodreads' Blurb:
Three teens venture into the abandoned Monroe estate one night; hours later, only two emerge from the burning wreckage. Chloe drags one Reznick brother to safety, unconscious and bleeding; the other is left to burn, dead in the fire. But which brother survives? And is his death a tragic accident? Desperate self-defense? Or murder?

Chloe is the only one with the answers. As the fire rages, and police and parents demand the truth, she struggles to piece together the story of how they got there-a story of jealousy, twisted passion, and the darkness that lurks behind even the most beautiful of faces…

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Two days...
Two days I was tortured by suspense from these Haas' books. I was never a fan of mystery novel before, but Abigail Haas has opened that door to this genre for me.

Firstly, this book is not the sequel of Dangerous Girls. It's totally different from Haas' previous work. Dangerous Boys is written in the first point of view of Chloe Bennet, in spite of the title. It alternately changes from the present and past. Chloe has been living in a small city since she was born. She is a normal girl, always goes with the stream in her life. She dreams of leaving the town once she graduates from high school, but it is shattered when her mother falls to depression, leaving her as Chloe's responsibility. During this moment, she meets Ethan Reznick, who is going to be her boyfriend and at first she believes that he is the only thing that keeps her holding on with all those pressure. While she's trying hard to accept the fact, she meets Oliver Reznick, Ethan's older brother who is the total opposite from his younger brother. Oliver is all Chloe needs to bring out the her inner demon. Yes, I write it correctly: 'demon'.

Even though this book is not as nerve-wrecking as Dangerous Girls, it's still a very powerful book. To say it out loud, this book is about damaged people. It's about how desperate you are in finding your own way in life, to do something in order to be someone. Haas once again drags out the worst of each character in Dangerous Boys. Throughout the story, you will once again guess and speculate about things, which will turn out wrongly at the end. You will be surprised on whom Chloe saves and why. Just like me lol

Dangerous books are really recommended for those who like to be in suspense and find gritting truth about the characters in the end. Two thumbs up for Abigail Haas!

Also read my review for Dangerous Girls here.

[Book Review]: Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas

Book Title: Dangerous Girls
Author: Abigail Haas
Publisher: Simon Pulse
Source: Purchased
Genre: Young Adult, Mystery
Year: 2013
Page Count: 388
ISBN: 9781442486607
Find it at: Abigail Haas' Official Website
Warning: Contains murder scenes and some vulgarity.
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My Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0

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Goodreads' Blurb:
It's Spring Break of senior year. Anna, her boyfriend Tate, her best friend Elise, and a few other close friends are off to a debaucherous trip to Aruba that promises to be the time of their lives. But when Elise is found brutally murdered, Anna finds herself trapped in a country not her own, fighting against vile and contemptuous accusations. 

As Anna sets out to find her friend's killer; she discovers hard truths about her friendships, the slippery nature of truth, and the ache of young love.


As she awaits the judge's decree, it becomes clear that everyone around her thinks she is not just guilty, but dangerous. When the truth comes out, it is more shocking than one could ever imagine...

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So here is the thing. I've been caught up in inhumane busy-ness where my reading time has been cruelly robbed from me in these months. The last book I finished to read was in January and my brain was in idle mode.

What was it that urge me to finally grab this book which has been occupying my shelf since six months ago, I didn't know. I decided that I needed a little time-out from the real life and to be drown in fiction world once again.

And... such decision is proven fatal. My brain, which had been inactive for four months, was suddenly crammed with this nerve-wrecking, mind-blowing, and terrifying book. And I mean this in A VERY GOOD WAY.

The main character, Anna, goes to Aruba for spring break with her best friend, Elise; her boyfriend, Tate; and her other friends. It all goes wrong when Elise is found brutally murdered and the leads bring Anna and Tate as the main suspects. As we turn the pages of the book, we will find flashbacks about how Anna and Elise's became friends, the things that happened which shape Anna's character, and the process of Anna's trial in court. All is told in Anna's point of view, which will leave you judge and speculate some other possible suspects. What I love the best about this book is how the author has the ability to psychologically shows the characters and the relationship between Anna and Elise, which you will find really complicated. And the ending... It tops it all! The blurb is right, the final truth will be extremely shocking.

All in all, this book is about betrayal, insecurity, lust, friendship, bribery and other things that you will think foreboding, but with Haas' writing, it's crafted smoothly and fast paced, where you won't be taking this book off your hands the moment you open the first page.

I spent two days reading this book, and finished it last night, where I sacrificed my sleeping time and left me feel ill and uneasy afterwards, even it haunted me in sleep lol

Anway when I read news and the author's blog, I felt sad that this book doesn't have financial success which forces the author to self-publish her next book, Dangerous Boys. So in order to pay the respect and to show support for the author, I would like to post my package of these Dangerous books to you.

[Book Review]: On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

Book Title: On the Jellicoe Road
Author: Melina Marchetta
Publisher:
Source: Purchased
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Year: 2006
Page Count: 419
ISBN: 9780061431852
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My Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0

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Goodreads' Blurb:
I'm dreaming of the boy in the tree. I tell him stories. About the Jellicoe School and the Townies and the Cadets from a school in Sydney. I tell him about the war between us for territory. And I tell him about Hannah, who lives in the unfinished house by the river. Hannah, who is too young to be hiding away from the world. Hannah, who found me on the Jellicoe Road six years ago.

Taylor is leader of the boarders at the Jellicoe School. She has to keep the upper hand in the territory wars and deal with Jonah Griggs - the enigmatic leader of the cadets, and someone she thought she would never see again.

And now Hannah, the person Taylor had come to rely on, has disappeared. Taylor's only clue is a manuscript about five kids who lived in Jellicoe eighteen years ago. She needs to find out more, but this means confronting her own story, making sense of her strange, recurring dream, and finding her mother - who abandoned her on the Jellicoe Road.

The moving, joyous and brilliantly compelling new novel from the best-selling, multi-award-winning author of Looking for Alibrandi and Saving Francesca.

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Melina Marchetta really rules contemporary young adult books! I had been holding myself to read this one, since I heard it was a very emotional reading and it indeed was. And after finished turning every page, I found myself crushed, torn, but sometimes I laughed too at occasional humor this book brought.

After having Saving Francesca and The Piper's Son read, I've slowly begun to recognize Marchetta's novel theme pattern. She is one of the few authors I've encountered this far, to have the courage to take up such dark and heavy themes for young adult, which is inevitable that we need to examine such restricted matter, and Ms. Marchetta was flawless in doing it.

Marchetta applied the first person point of view which is of Taylor. As a seventeen year old teenager, Taylor is moulded in such a way that she's not a common young girl character you find in a novel. She is tough, has been through much predicament which uncommon to teenager like her and not what you think as the oldest in the orphanage, that is always expected to be responsible in her role.

In this book, you will also find the novel draft written by Hannah, which leads to clues that can reveal Taylor's past. Will Taylor reconnect with her long lost mother at the end? You should find out further in this masterpiece.

[Book Review]: The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta

Book Title: The Piper's Son
Author: Melina Marchetta
Publisher: Candlewick Press
Source: Purchased
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Year: 2010
Page Count: 328
ISBN: 9780763660628
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My Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0

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Goodreads' Blurb:
The award-winning author of Finnikin of the Rock and Jellicoe Road pens a raw, compelling novel about a family's hard-won healing on the other side of trauma.


Award-winning author Melina Marchetta reopens the story of the group of friends from her acclaimed novel Saving Francesca - but five years have passed, and now it's Thomas Mackee who needs saving. After his favorite uncle was blown to bits on his way to work in a foreign city, Tom watched his family implode. He quit school and turned his back on his music and everyone that mattered, including the girl he can't forget. Shooting for oblivion, he's hit rock bottom, forced to live with his single, pregnant aunt, work at the Union pub with his former friends, and reckon with his grieving, alcoholic father. Tom's in no shape to mend what's broken. But what if no one else is either? An unflinching look at family, forgiveness, and the fierce inner workings of love and friendship, The Piper's Son redefines what it means to go home again.

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I'm in love with Melina Marchetta. Totally.

The Piper's Son is another contemporary work from her and, it's like a spin-off of Saving Francesca, only this time the main characters are Thomas Mackee, Francesca's friend; and Georgie Finch, his aunt. While Saving Francesca applies first person naration, The Piper's Son uses third-person one and Marchetta has proven that she is the author who can handle everything perfectly.

There are several themes this novel raises. The relationship between Tom and his father, who is an ex-alcoholic; the friendship with his so-called ex friends who never give up on him, the girl Tom betrayed; the long grief of Tom's family towards the sudden death of Tom's beloved uncle; and Georgie's unexpected pregnancy and her strange relationship with her unborn child.

Seeing those considerable themes, one is likely to doubt the capability of the author to handle it. But once again, it's Melina Marchetta! No need for such thought.

Just like what it was with Saving Francesca, the author writes the first hundred pages of the novel in such way it's full of mystery. You might find yourself puzzled with what's really going on in the novel, but that was what kept me going, the author's inexplicable way to reveal one by one like peeling an orange.

And now I'd like to talk about the cover. Actually what I got is the other version of the cover:

It's really indie, but I don't get the feeling that the man in the cover is Tom, which I think the major character among the others. Instead I think it's Tom's father, Dominic. Since the texture of the figure says it doesn't belong to someone below twenties. I much prefer the Australian version (on the preface of this post) than this one. It really resembles Tom in such way.

This novel is one of those which I won't forget as long as I live. It brought me sadness, warmth feeling on how a family unites to fight the grief despite all their broken relationship, and what a truly friend is like.

Thank you very much, Ms. Marchetta for such a warm book.

[Book Review]: Sorta Like a Rock Star by Matthew Quick

Book Title: Sorta Like a Rock Star
Author: Matthew Quick
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Source: Purchased
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Year: 2010
Page Count: 355
ISBN: 9780316043533
Find it at: Matthew Quick's Official Website
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My Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0

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Goodreads' Blurb:
Amber Appleton lives in a bus. Ever since her mom's boyfriend kicked them out, Amber, her mom, and her totally loyal dog, Bobby Big Boy (aka Thrice B) have been camped out in the back of Hello Yellow (the school bus her mom drives). Still, Amber, the self-proclaimed princess of hope and girl of unyielding optimism, refuses to sweat the bad stuff. But when a fatal tragedy threatens Amber's optimism—and her way of life, can Amber continue to be the rock star of hope? With an oddball cast of characters, and a heartwarming, inspiring story, this novel unveils a beautifully beaten-up world of laughs, loyalty, and hard-earned hope.

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Wondering why all books I read recently were given five stars? I'm wondering as well. Maybe because I've been trying to read all good books recommended by one of my most favorite Goodreaders, Emily May. I don't know, we just happen to have the same taste, so I always rack her shelves to find new gems to read. Thanks, Emily!

I've seen The Silver Linings Playbook before, and I've been wanting to read the book even though I haven't got the chance. So this is my first Matthew Quick's written work. To say that I liked it, would be an understatement. Because i really LOVED this book.

This book is divided into four parts, where the first two parts recount that how much Amber convinces herself to be everything but negative. She has her own special group of friends in school. She teaches English into a number of unconfident Korean women. She volunteers and thus mingles with the elderly people in a retirement home. She makes best friend with a Vietnam war veteran. Amber is nothing but a bundle of sunshine to everyone around her. Now the last two parts deal at how suddenly her life is turned upside down and she loses all the cheerful demeanor and starts to not care about people.

This book is about good people. About no matter how much life shatters you, you need to keep going and be good to others, even though there will be no guarantee that other people will treat you the same as you do them.

Even though the title of this book seems to lead you into an idea that this book is all about rock music, but I think that the 'rock star' part means that no matter how hard her life is, Amber needs to be a rock star to herself, get up and move on from the tragedy life brings to her.

Read my review for Matthew Quick's Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock here.

[Book Review]: Saving Francesca by Melina Marchetta

Book Title: Saving Francesca
Author: Melina Marchetta
Publisher: Knopf Books for Young Readers
Source: Purchased
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Year: 2003
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My Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0

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Goodreads' Blurb:
A compelling story of romance, family, and friendship with humor and heart, perfect for fans of Stephanie Perkins and Lauren Myracle.

Francesca is stuck at St. Sebastian’s, a boys' school that pretends it's coed by giving the girls their own bathroom. Her only female companions are an ultra-feminist, a rumored slut, and an impossibly dorky accordion player. The boys are no better, from Thomas, who specializes in musical burping, to Will, the perpetually frowning, smug moron that Francesca can't seem to stop thinking about.


Then there's Francesca's mother, who always thinks she knows what's best for Francesca—until she is suddenly stricken with acute depression, leaving Francesca lost, alone, and without an inkling of who she really is. Simultaneously humorous, poignant, and impossible to put down, this is the story of a girl who must summon the strength to save her family, her social life and—hardest of all—herself.

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I needed to force myself looking up from the pile of excellent books I've been currently reading, and started to write about them before the feeling goes out.

Since the first time I heard and read about this book, I was not really sure about the title, it didn't seem to blend well with the synopsis. But as I turned out the pages of this book and was engrossed in the writer's simple yet deliverable proses, it all made perfect sense.

There were tons of topics this book discussed, using the high-schooler's daily life, Francesca. From complicated friendship, school, sisterhood, teen romance and family's issues. I'm not sure how those great contemporary writers write, Marchetta is one of them who had that skill which could grip you in such topics without being too intricate and complicated. Each character was perfectly carved, and so different with each other. But the other thing I loved that the writer did them all in Francesca's first person point of view.

I was so lucky that I could get the opportunity to read Marchetta's work, and I certainly can't wait to get my hands on the next one, The Piper's Son.

[Book Review]: Please Ignore Vera Dietz by A.S. King

Book Title: Please Ignore Vera Dietz
Author: A.S. King
Publisher: Ember
Source: Purchased
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Year: 2010
Page Count: 323
ISBN: 9780375865640
Find it at: A.S. King's Official Website
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My Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0

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Goodreads' Blurb:
Vera’s spent her whole life secretly in love with her best friend, Charlie Kahn. And over the years she’s kept a lot of his secrets. Even after he betrayed her. Even after he ruined everything.

So when Charlie dies in dark circumstances, Vera knows a lot more than anyone—the kids at school, his family, even the police. But will she emerge to clear his name? Does she even want to?


Edgy and gripping, Please Ignore Vera Dietz is an unforgettable novel: smart, funny, dramatic, and always surprising.

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This review is going to be hard, because I don't think I can find exact words to describe how I feel about this book.

Vera Dietz is just like other ordinary teenagers we know. Her father is a parsimonious accountant, who always emphasizes the importance of having a work for Vera. Her mother left her when she was in her early teen age. Vera is also that girl who can still keep her straight A grades while having a full time job in a pizza store. And she had a best friend, Charlie Kahn, whom she secretly fell in love.

The book is delivered in first person point of view, most of it is Vera's, with occasional from Vera's father's, Charlie's and even the ancient Pagoda (one of the symbols for Vera and Charlie's friendship. You will find the story recounts between the past and the present time.

This book is all about Vera Dietz. About how Vera copes with her best friend's death and with her mother leaving her and her father. The author has a very neat way in delivering the story, the readers can feel and understand Vera's grief without her being a noisy character. This leads into how such a complex story becomes a very light reading.

Enough what I have to say. It's better if you just grab the book and read it. Trust me, some books are not meant to be reviewed, and just to be felt and experienced so that you will know how I'm feeling.

[Book Review]: Some Girls are by Courtney Summers

Book Title: Some Girls are
Author: Courtney Summers
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Source: Purchased
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Year: 2010
Page Count: 246
ISBN: 9780312573805
Find it at: Courtney Summers's Official Website
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My Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0

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Goodreads' Blurb:
Climbing to the top of the social ladder is hard—falling from it is even harder.  Regina Afton used to be a member of the Fearsome Fivesome, an all-girl clique both feared and revered by the students at Hallowell High... until vicious rumors about her and her best friend's boyfriend start going around.  Now Regina's been "frozen out" and her ex-best friends are out for revenge.  If Regina was guilty, it would be one thing, but the rumors are far from the terrifying truth and the bullying is getting more intense by the day.  She takes solace in the company of Michael Hayden, a misfit with a tragic past who she herself used to bully.  Friendship doesn't come easily for these onetime enemies, and as Regina works hard to make amends for her past, she realizes Michael could be more than just a friend... if threats from the Fearsome Foursome don't break them both first.


Tensions grow and the abuse worsens as the final days of senior year march toward an explosive conclusion in this dark new tale from the author of Cracked Up To Be.

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Another mind-blowing story from Courtney Summers!

Just like Cracked Up to Be, Some Girls Are is a story of high school teenagers. In this book, the main character is Regina Afton, who was once a member of a feared girls-gang in Hallowell High, led by her best friend, Anna Morrison. On one occasion, Anna is convinced that Regina has an affair with her boyfriend. Regina then is frozen out and bullied by the gang and avoided by the students, except for one nerd and misfit, Michael Hayden.

If I could feel the sensation of being Parker in Cracked Up to Be, in this book, I only needed to put myself as the reader, but felt the magnificent effect that gnawing my mind. This book creeps me out. I know the bullying in this book is not that nasty as what I heard in real life from other sources, but the way the author describes and drives the story are the one which put fear and horror into me.

In her trademark, the author puts some mystery and reveals it little by little in the most vague ways, which made me wondering whether I got my interpretation right or not. In short, I think every teenagers, teachers and parents should read this book. No, they should read all Courtney Summers books so that they can understand what really happens in high school.

Hell, it even brought me the aftereffect to fight bullying in every way and form in real life.

I think I need to take a rest for a while from Courtney Summers' works. Fall for Anything should be the next of her works that I will read after this. Once again, read her books, people!

[Book Review]: Cracked Up to Be by Courtney Summers

Book Title: Cracked Up to Be
Author: Courtney Summers
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Source: Purchased
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary
Year: 2008
Page Count: 214
ISBN: 9780312383695
Find it at: Courtney Summers's Official Website
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My Rating: 5.0 out of 5.0

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Goodreads' Blurb:
When "Perfect" Parker Fadley starts drinking at school and failing her classes, all of St. Peter's High goes on alert. How has the cheerleading captain, girlfriend of the most popular guy in school, consummate teacher's pet, and future valedictorian fallen so far from grace?

Parker doesn't want to talk about it. She'd just like to be left alone, to disappear, to be ignored. But her parents have placed her on suicide watch and her conselors are demanding the truth. Worse, there's a nice guy falling in love with her and he's making her feel things again when she'd really rather not be feeling anything at all.

Nobody would have guessed she'd turn out like this. But nobody knows the truth.


Something horrible has happened, and it just might be her fault.

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Two words: mind-blowing!

The first time you read the synopsis, it might make you think this would be 'one of those cheesy high school stories', but guess what? It's all wrong! Because Ms. Summers does a VERY GOOD job in delivering what teenagers go through in high school, and how they feel when nobody understands, and instead belittles, narks them of how they are not up for life challenge and how they can do much better than this one.

Parker Fadley is an unconventional character who is not supposed to be loved by the readers. It was not the author's intention at all. You can feel how the author is incredibly honest in developing Fadley's character. The first 80% of the book does not even tell you what really is going on in the story, it makes you keep wanting more and more. 

I guess, this book is a really must-read for parents and high school teachers. I can only think that one message that concludes the book perfectly: Don't think that high school problems are that petty. Wear their shoes and walk a mile on it.

I'd like to deliver my greatest gratitude to Courtney Summers for writing such a book. Especially when I was in a reading-crisis, hopeless in finding great books. This book completely healed the syndrome. One thing for sure, I'm officially Ms. Summers's fan now. I'll always be hugely anticipating her works.

[Book Review]: Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins

Book Title: Anna and the French Kiss
Author: Stephanie Perkins
Publisher: Speak - Penguin Group
Source: Purchased
Genre: Young Adult
Year: 2010
Page Count: 372
ISBN: 9780142419403
Find it at: Stephanie Perkins' Official Website
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My Rating: 3.5 out of 5.0

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Goodreads' Blurb:
Anna is looking forward to her senior year in Atlanta, where she has a great job, a loyal best friend, and a crush on the verge of becoming more. Which is why she is less than thrilled about being shipped off to boarding school in Paris--until she meets Étienne St. Clair. Smart, charming, beautiful, Étienne has it all...including a serious girlfriend. 

But in the City of Light, wishes have a way of coming true. Will a year of romantic near-misses end with their long-awaited French kiss?

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This was a good book. I can't say anything more than that. It was a really light and enjoyable reading, but I was kinda expecting it more than that. I liked Anna's character, by whom the author delivered the young love story entangled with friendship and family which normally happens to teenager.

I loved how the author built Étienne's character too. It was believable that there was really a perfect pretty boy like him. I think I'd be head over heels to if I were Anna.

[Book Review]: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Book Title: The Book Thief
Author: Markus Zusak
Publisher: Definitions
Source: Purchased
Genre: Historical Fiction
Year: 2005
Illustrator: Trudy White
Page Count: 584
ISBN: 9781862302914
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My Rating: 4.0 out of 5.0

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Goodreads' Blurb:
It's just a small story really, about, among other things, a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery.

Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak's groundbreaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meager existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can't resist: books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbors during bombing raids - as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau.


This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.

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It's my second trial for historical fiction genre (after Anthony Doerr's All the Light We Cannot See) and guess what? I'm in love with this kind of genre! :) I might be a little too late reading this one, after finding out that everyone talked about this book and it was even adapted into movie.

So, there are lots of things I love about this book. Starting from its narration from Death (yes, it's Death. You are not reading it wrong), which I found really interesting and quite amusing. I have never known that Death's character could be that funny and amusingly sarcastic. I really liked the characterization the author gave to Liesel Meminger too. Her narrative was real for me, and made me smiles on some occasions for her naivety of a young child.

As a non-native English speaker, I found that the vocabularies were really simple and understandable, that it didn't require me a very long time to read this book. I willingly recommend this book for those who love historical fiction.

I might watch the movie in no time after this, to find out whether it is like what I have imagined in my head or not :P

Meanwhile I'm currently in big dilemma. I'm not sure I have to continue reading The Clockwork Princess or not. I have reached the first two chapters of the book, but I'm kind of disappointed with the author for finding no character's and plot development in the book, as well as her writing style, which made me frustrated. Tell me if you feel the same with me, since I really need someone to discuss this book with :|

[Book Review]: Just One Day by Gayle Forman

Book Title: Just One Day

Author: Gayle Forman

Publisher: Speak - Penguin Group

Source: Purchased

Genre: Realistic Fiction

Year: 2013

Page Count: 369

ISBN: 9780142422953

Find it at: Gayle Forman's Official Website

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My Rating: 3.0 out of 5.0

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Goodreads' Blurb:
Allyson Healey's life is exactly like her suitcase—packed, planned, ordered. Then on the last day of her three-week post-graduation European tour, she meets Willem. A free-spirited, roving actor, Willem is everything she’s not, and when he invites her to abandon her plans and come to Paris with him, Allyson says yes. This uncharacteristic decision leads to a day of risk and romance, liberation and intimacy: 24 hours that will transform Allyson’s life.

A book about love, heartbreak, travel, identity, and the “accidents” of fate, Just One Day shows us how sometimes in order to get found, you first have to get lost. . . and how often the people we are seeking are much closer than we know.


The first in a sweepingly romantic duet of novels. Willem’s story—Just One Year—is coming soon! Released is also the novella, Just One Night.

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Written in the first person point-of-view of Allyson's, the book consists of two parts: One Day and One Year. The first part recounts about how Allyson meets Willem and their adventure in Paris just in one day. The second part is about how Allyson deals with her broken heart after Willem disappears before her without a word. And how her world seems to turn upside down because of it, until finally she decides to look for him to Paris.

Gayle Forman has been one of my favorite authors since I read her works; If I Stay and Where She Went. After those two books, I felt the need to read other books she wrote and I decided to go on with Just One Day. My expectation was so high that I could not hold the anticipation to read this one.

I really liked the author's frequent insertions on analogy about life. I found them really inspiring. I liked how she offered the readers the description of Europe and the adventure of a bare traveler.

But there are some significant things that made myself disappointed in this book. Since the first chapters of it, I already felt annoyed with Allyson's early characterization, added by the writing style of the author's. And as I was reading it, I couldn't believe that this one was written Gayle Forman, the one who captivated me with her 'Where She Went'. All I could see was only an amateur writer who recklessly tried to do the first writing in first person point of view.

I don't know if the author deliberately designed Allyson's annoying character in the first chapters of the book, so that she could give a room for her to grow gradually in the whole book (which I think is a remedy so that I wouldn't give less than three stars for this book). But I was frustrated much by this book. I felt exhausted reading it. It was just like my early huge expectation was plummeted down to the ground with some small mistakes of the author's.

Nevertheless, I will still read the next installments for this series, only for the sake of me being curious about what happens next with Allyson and Willem's eventual encounter. I will say that this book is recommended for backpackers who have those wanderlust over Europe.

Also by Gayle Forman: If I Stay (click here to read my review for the book) and Where She Went (click here to read my review for the book).

[Book Review]: All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Image Source: Goodreads

Book Title: All the Light We Cannot See
Author: Anthony Doerr
Publisher: Scribner
Source: Purchased
Genre: Historical Fiction
Year: 2014
Page Count: 530
ISBN: 9781476765655
Find it at: The Official Website of Anthony Doerr
Warning: Mild violence and sexual contents.
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My Rating: 4.5 out of 5.0

Goodreads' Blurb:
From the highly acclaimed, multiple award-winning Anthony Doerr, a stunningly ambitious and beautiful novel about a blind French girl and a German boy whose paths collide in occupied France as both try to survive the devastation of World War II.

Marie Laure lives with her father in Paris within walking distance of the Museum of Natural History where he works as the master of the locks (there are thousands of locks in the museum). When she is six, she goes blind, and her father builds her a model of their neighborhood, every house, every manhole, so she can memorize it with her fingers and navigate the real streets with her feet and cane. When the Germans occupy Paris, father and daughter flee to Saint-Malo on the Brittany coast, where Marie-Laure's agoraphobic great uncle lives in a tall, narrow house by the sea wall.

In another world in Germany, an orphan boy, Werner, grows up with his younger sister, Jutta, both enchanted by a crude radio Werner finds. He becomes a master at building and fixing radios, a talent that wins him a place at an elite and brutal military academy and, ultimately, makes him a highly specialized tracker of the Resistance. Werner travels through the heart of Hitler Youth to the far-flung outskirts of Russia, and finally into Saint-Malo, where his path converges with Marie-Laure.


Doerr's gorgeous combination of soaring imagination with observation is electric. Deftly interweaving the lives of Marie-Laure and Werner, Doerr illuminates the ways, against all odds, people try to be good to one another. Ten years in the writing, All the Light We Cannot See is his most ambitious and dazzling work.

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This book is written in third person point-of-view, of mostly Marie-Laure and Werner's. All chapters are very short, with occasional ones consist of five pages at most. Each chapter alternately tells between Marie-Laure and Werner's story and ends in the most dramatic ways (this is what I like the most about the book).

I admit that this Anthony Doerr's work is the very first historical fiction I ever read. I bumped into New York Times' bestseller list, found this book and was willing to give it a try. On the first twenty pages, I was a bit surprised at the short chapters, as the books I read this far consisted with conventional long chapters. Nevertheless I found it to my liking and it brought a special feeling that despite the short space of writing (this what makes the 530 pages does not feel that much), the author managed to fit the most important details without being a reckless fast-paced story.

Through the uncommon prose, the author really convinced me that this was really what happened at the World War II in Europe; the bombings, the sieges and the feeling where you were unsafe once you were outside of your house wall. Even though what were written in the book were not that ugly like I have heard before from television and other historical non fiction books, but they were much more convincing, as they enticed me by the author's prose and gave me the unexplained feelings of the fear, tumult and the worry. It was just like the author personally experienced all those by himself.

My most favorite character from this book is Jutta, Werner's younger sister, by being all outspoken, unwavering and bold. Much to the contrary of Werner's, who seems like a meek boy, complying to what we call as an mainstream things, as in the book is by enrolling in Nazi academy.

What forestalling me from giving the book five stars is the part where Marie-Laure and Werner's finally meet in like the last six chapters of the book and they instantly fall in love. Only because of Werner frequently turned on his radio and listened to Marie-Laure's soliloquy and tales and then he saved her from the Nazi's quest. Apart from that, Anthony Doerr's ten years of hard working should really be rewarded.