March 2, 2015

Book Review: Callum & Harper (Sleepless #1) by Fisher Amelie

Callum & Harper (Sleepless, #1)
My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

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I had this book on my tbr list ever since… forever. Last week I decided to pick this book up to accompany me during my waiting turns for my sibling at hospital. I read the blurb first and instantly was hooked to it! I thought to myself, this could be my one of favorite reads this year. I read it and… I’m sad to say that my feeling for this book is pretty complicated. There was A LOT of things that I LOVED from this book but in the same time I found myself HATING the MAJOR parts of the book. God, it’s truly complicated, I tell ya. Well, let me do my routine to write brief synopsis about this book then I’ll let you know why.

Her parents were those people who consciously abandoned her right after she was born.
His parents were good people who died on an accident when he was four.

They went through a similar tough life from one foster home to another foster home.

They were both kicked out from their last home to the street when the word 18 was etched on their innocent shoulders.
They met for the first time on that crappy waiting room of social service office with the same desperate hopes on their minds.
He was Callum Tate, a smart, cheerful, strong, and determined boy.
She was Harper Bailey, an ex trouble maker, insecure, and full of cautious girl.
When Callum met Harper, he knew right away that she was it for him. Oblivious to the fact that Harper felt the same way for him the moment their eyes landed on each other’s. Having no luck in that waiting room, Callum and Tate began their journey together to the Hope House. When the luck didn’t make any appearance as well there, they knew that their journey would not end soon. Actually, it was a long road for them ever since that day. 
More tough life came crashing down on them both. Together they stumbled and fell, stayed one night here another night there, jumped from one workplace to another workplace every day. When a door finally opened in front of them, it was closed like a flash even before they could step their feet to another side. It was as if life was never run out of ways to let them down. With a bunch of hurdles coming their way and the haunting terror from someone from the past, they could not deny that their only way out was to hold on to each other to climb back up again. And also the thing that as important as their struggle to stay alive, they kept dodging around their own feelings. Would they be able to break their ‘walls of doubts’ and tell each other their true feelings?

“One day, you and I are gonna wake up and be alright. Maybe not today, maybe not tomorrow but one day. One day, I promise you.”
God, seriously, I swore I was a 100% sure I would fall in love with this book after the first seven chapters. The first chapter was such a hooker. I loved loved their innocent flirting and all those cheesy words they threw to each other mentally in minds. Ms. Fisher did a great job making me smiling all the time. I swore I could manage all the never-ending ‘bad lucks’ they kept having. I could deal with all the heartbreaking fates they had as long as I kept getting their sweet moments together. I, too, swore I was fine with their insecure feelings toward each other all the time. Then the psychopath character made an appearance… 
bam!
There went all my butterflies away…

Personally, I was never okay with psychopathic things in or out of real life. It’s a major big no from me. Really, I couldn’t help myself but keep praying (during reading) for them to at least have one happiness on their palms. I kept saying, “oh, crap, not again!” several times along with “don’t they have enough already??”. It was really tiring all their bad-lucks. Also their insecure feelings were on highest level. I felt like yelling at them to get over their what-ifs and doubts and just confessing their feelings already. GAH! It’s really frustrating. I even thought to the extent that I couldn’t imagine what it felt like to be Callum and Harper.
The main characters were actually loveable enough for me. My only complaint about them was their insecurities, though. I actually loved seeing Harper willingly to lean herself on Callum. I mean, she was a tough girl, but she let Callum to take care of her anyway. Callum was one lovely boy. He was so understanding, caring, and really responsible. His instant feeling for Harper was so sweet and cute. And don’t get me started with his speech about keeping virginity… Good Lord, let me get a ‘Callum’ for my birthday!
“Anyway, I’ve never done anything because I just feel like it’s the one part of myself that I still have control over. I have nothing to give anyone, really. It’s the one gift I can give that has any kind of value. It makes me feel worthy.”
-Callum Tate-
Please excuse me while I collect my jaw from the floor…

Have you ever meet any 18 years boy who could manage to say things like that?? I swear, I have not. And with that speech, Callum officially just became my bookboyfriend.
This is my first time reading Ms. Fisher’s books. But I loved her writing style instantly. Despite the frustrating plot, I could see that she had a way with words that made me attracted to her. Her choosing of words was excellent. There was a time when instead of writing down ‘kiss her’, she wrote ‘marry her mouth to mine’ instead. It was new, it was intimate, it was sweet. Ms. Fisher has the ability to write amazing romance books!
Well, despite all my frustration caused by several parts on this book, I kept going anyway because yeah, I kind of desperately need to see if the phrase ‘everything will be okay in the end, if it was not okay then it’s not the end’ was applied to this couple as well or not.
So, in the end I had to settle with 3,5 stars, sadly :(

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