TBR January

Let's Say It's a... TBR! is one of new features here in my blog. This monthly feature would be about the list of books that I wish, I would read this month. I know I'm not big of reading based on a list but I realize it would help me narrowing down the amount of my only-God-knows-how-many books on my lifetime TBR. I might stray once or twice along the way but well, that's why I said, let's say it's a TBR! *grinning*

This January I have EIGHT books that I plan to read! It's a big number for me but I'm sure I'll tackle the list *sayonara, sleep*  Anyway, they're all the books that I've been eyeing for weeks so I'm really excited for my first TBR this year! Here they are:

THE GIRLFRIEND REQUEST

Author: Jodie Andrefski

Pub. Date: January 11, 2016
Genre: YA (contemporary)
ADD TO GR

Got this ARC through Netgalley, yay! The blurb is super cute! A girl falls for the boy next door but rather than admitting her feeling out loud, she creates a fake facebook account and befriend the boy as the other girl. Turns out the boy is secretly in love with her too. But the highlight here is... well, the boy already knows that the other girl is his very neighbor.

TEN THOUSAND SKIES ABOVE YOU (FIREBIRD, #2)

Author: Claudia Gray

Pub. Date: November 3, 2015
Genre: YA (sci-fi) 
ADD TO GR

Again, super gorgeous cover from Firebird series!! Thought the first book is the most beautiful cover I've ever known... then the sequel comes out and I am like "HOLY...."

So excited of meeting Paul again! And traveling through dimension from New York to Paris sounds like heaven for me! 

HAUNTED LOVE

Author: Jessica Frances

Pub. Date: February 23, 2015

Genre: NA (paranormal) 

ADD TO GR

Jessica writes a very gripping sci-fi trilogy: The Invasion. I want to experience such beautiful romance again through her writing and this paranormal read sounds promising! The girl is a ghost while the guy is the detective who works on the girl's murder case. I've read the excerpt and it's so intriguing! And this last sentence on the blurb:

"Because love is rarely anything but trouble and I know this love will haunt me forever." 

Well, aren't you intrigued?

HAWTHORNE AND HEATHCLIFF

Author: R.K. Ryals
Pub. Date: August 2, 2015

Genre: YA (contemporary)
ADD TO GR

It seems like everyone who read it, loved it. And with such enchanting cover that breathes romance... I so hope to find a heartmelting love story in this book! Also the 'shoes' thingy that connects them! God...

ANY OTHER GIRL

Author: Rebecca Phillips

Pub. Date: January 26, 2016

Genre: YA (contemporary) 
ADD TO GR

Granted this ARC on Netgalley! The blurb smells love triangle, which usually I hate, but for some indescribable reason I couldn't skip this one. Also, Jessica Verdi says that this book is.. “A wise, heartfelt story about self-image, first love, and the burdens we carry for those most important to us. ...” Surely, we really couldn't skip this!

IN PLACE OF NEVER

Author: Julie Anne Lindsey
Pub. Date: February 2, 2016

Genre: YA (suspense)
ADD TO GR

I've started to build interest in suspense read since the past few months. Also I have weakness for sibling-issue reads so I was beyond excited when I was granted this ARC on Netgalley. Moreover there's a romance waiting somewhere between the mystery, yum, yum, yum, just count me in!

DID I MENTION I NEED YOU? (DIMILY, #2)

Author: Estelle Maskame

Pub. Date: March 1, 2016
Genre: YA (contemporary) 

ADD TO GR

I just finished the ARC of book one last month and the cliffhanger got me arghsdgsfskhjsalhcxn! Thanks God I got the ARC of the sequel too! It's a story of forbidden love between a girl with her step-brother. And it's a trilogy, which I suspect this book two would end up in another major cliffhanger...*sigh*, but it's okay! I love me some cliffhangers! Once in a while, I need a reason to put my fist to work! *kidding* *or not*

YOU WERE HERE

Author: Cori McCarthy
Pub. Date: March 1, 2016

Genre: YA (contemporary)
ADD TO GR

Another ARC copy! Well isn't the cover beautiful? And the blurb seems like hiding a big mystery within! Honestly, I'm not really sure when I put this book as contemporary subgenre. The blurb sounds a bit like thriller and mystery but who knows? (Me!) I'll let you know once I finish it...

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So, how about you? Do you usually have a TBR, too? Or is there any book from the list above that you plan to read as well? Feel free to let me know! :)

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Book Review: A Thousand Pieces of You (Firebird #1) by Claudia Gray

A Thousand Pieces of You by Claudia Gray

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Get a copy here!

AMAZON | BOOK DEPOSITORY

DAMN I LOVE THE COVER SO MUCH!!!

Seriously, the cover itself has won my heart BIG time! And the title… oh God, it definitely speaks a lot about what this book is about!

Based on the blurb, people might think this book is going to be a sci-fi with some romances. But no, A Thousand Pieces of You is no doubt a romance story with sci-fi sparks on it ―which was totally fine for a romance sucker like me. Even though there were certain parts of this book that quite predictable but generally this book was pretty enjoyable to read.

Marguerite always had a good life: amazing parents and best-friend-like sister that made one wonderful family of hers. Being the only right-brainer in the family didn’t make her felt left out. Their parents with their entire bunch of genius works never not have a time for their daughters. Being home-schooled all her life didn’t make Marguerite less sociable, couple grad students of her parents’ always managed to be good friends of her and her sister. Those among them were Paul Markov and Theodore Bret who were the closest two to their family. 
Paul and Theo helped in her parents’ breakthrough science project of Firebird, a device that will be the media for ones to be able to travel through layers of dimensions. Her mother started the project with research about another dimension that actually exists here right within us. She hypothesized about human able to discover those dimensions, observe them, and even travel to another dimension with helps from the right media to use. 

Each dimension represents one set of possibilities. Essentially, everything that can happen does happen. There’s a dimension where the Nazis won World War II. […] And a dimension where Brad Pitt and Jennifer Aniston are still married. […]. Every possibility, every time fate flips a coin, splits the dimensions yet again, creating yet more layers of reality. It goes on and on forever, to infinity.

When they finally succeed inventing Firebird, it wasn’t Nobel prizes or some awards that they got. Instead Marguerite’s father was killed and the Firebird was stolen. Paul was the potential suspect of murder based on his suspicious activities in the last few weeks. Paul who always chose to be that one silent guy in every occasion instead of the loud one. Paul who preferred to smile instead of laugh on every joke. Paul who was practically treated just like the son on their family by her parents. That Paul was the one who killed her father and leapt into another dimension.

Filled up with rage and disappointments, Marguerite didn’t think twice when Theo told her he would chase Paul with another prototype of Firebird. She ignored every risk that Theo kept stressing out to her if she chose to come around to this dimensional journey. She could care less about anything, well, she’d risk anything to pay for her father’s unfair death, even to be an atomic soup during the dimensional travelling. 

Jumping to dimension to another dimension, Marguerite was faced with whole different life where everything was somehow similar in a way with her current life yet not the same. During the journey she met another sibling that she’d never met in her real life back in California. She even came across to an entire different life where she was the daughter of Russian Tsar. But one thing that she learned from the journey was somehow Paul seemed less and less guilty than what she thought he would be. It could be the appearance of another dimension’s Paul that distracted her judgment, like Theo said. Or it might be that even though she went through a whole other dimension, her instinct always managed to see the real Paul everywhere, every version of Paul. As things became more complex as the journey became more and more dangerous, Marguerite discovered shocking truth that blew her mind from every direction. A truth that would and would not haunt her life.

A Thousand Pieces of You has a good plot. Even though at first I found the dimensional jumping was a bit confusing but the author described the life in every dimension precisely and graphically. I actually could feel being there. It’s great that Claudia chose those types of dimensions to be featured in the story. The technologically advanced life one was really cool. And the Russian Tsar dimension was my favorite. Actually it was the part where I was totally hooked to this book. I felt like, during the time on that dimension, both Marguerite and Paul showed their truest colors that were never showed up on other dimensions. I loved that there were so many possibilities happened between them in another dimension universe away.

Claudia’s writing style is great. The way she wrapped up every chapter was so intriguing that I couldn’t wait to read the next chapters. Even though there were several parts where the description was slightly rigid, but Claudia’s choosing of words were beautiful. I liked where Marguerite uttered her opinion about love at the first sight:

I meant it when I said I didn’t believe love at first sight. It takes time to really, truly fall for someone. Yet I believe in a moment. A moment when you glimpse the truth within someone, and they glimpse the truth within you. In that moment, you don’t belong to yourself any longer, not completely. Part of you belongs to him; part of him belongs to you. After that, you can’t take it back, no matter how much you want to, no matter how hard you try.

For a romance sucker like me, I do recommend this book for them. This book has a really sweet and cute romance. The hero is one perfect piece of loyal hottie. It’s kind of unfortunate though, that Marguerite didn’t make a favorite heroine for me. I mean, she was alright, it was just her moment of confusions about her feeling towards the hero was a bit frustrating and made me question her love to the hero.

Other than the romance, I liked how this book also described relationship between parents and the child. There was one important line that wisely showed us just how precious our parents are:

I realize that this is what being a parent means –facing the most horrible thing that could ever happen to you and yet thinking only of how it will hurt your child.

This book has several scenes that successfully made me shed tears, but there was also bunch of scenes where I laughed out loud. Despite her lacking on loyal department as heroine, Marguerite was actually quite funny. I laughed several times at her abrupt silly thoughts that came in inappropriate moments. Like that one about getting Kate Middleton’s cute coats… seriously, girl? Hahahaha…

There is one thing that bothered me in the end. Yep, the ending it was. I don’t know, maybe because there would be the second book of A Thousand Pieces of You (I heard it will be a trilogy), the ending was quite abrupt and seemed like the thing that should’ve been the main issue hasn’t been solved properly. But it’s not a cliffhanger, really. So, I’ll settle with 4 stars for now and really I can’t wait to read book 2 on November this year!

Love, read, and review,

Cynthia D.

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