Book Review: Autumn in the City of Angels (Autumn #1) by Kirby Howell

Autumn in the City of Angels by Kirby Howell

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

*I received a digital copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review*


Get a copy here!
AMAZON | BOOK DEPOSITORY

Apparently this book wasn’t at all as I expected it would be. Not that I’m saying this in a negative tone, but I was surprised with what I’ve found in this book. Well, I guess I didn’t read the blurb properly…

I was so damn excited when I found out that the story was set in the middle of apocalypse happening on Earth. It’s definitely my cup of tea! The story was fast-paced and even though I felt like there were some points missing in the story, I truly enjoyed reading this book. I loved the feeling the authors built throughout the story. I could really sense the feeling of fear, anxious, frustration, depressed, and even hope along with the characters on the book. It was as if I was there with them and this very thing already earned this book a special spot in my heart.

Autumn had been living her 17 years of her life in a complete comfort and happiness. Her mother was a famous actress who never forgets to check up on her every so often. As her mother’s not always home to stay with her, her father always tried to make up for the absence. And when he’s not around to keep her company, Autumn was still safely tucked in the sanctuary of home her father built for them in the top of apartment building in Marina Del Rey. Simply said, Autumn was one lucky girl. 
When the Plague attacked Los Angeles and the rest of the world, it seemed that her lucky charm once again worked for her. Autumn was one of the one percent populations who were proven to be immune. But when her parents didn’t come home at all after the long and torturous waiting, Autumn began to question whether she could call herself lucky or not.

When Autumn decided it was time to come out of the safety of her home, she discovered that new threat was lurking out there in disguise of survivor group trying to rebuild a good life. Even after such an apocalypse, there were still people wanted to take advantage of others within chaos. Autumn couldn’t believe her luck when a mysterious person came out of nowhere and saved her from being taken by the scam group. One minute she was hiding in a nook of chilled wall of abandoned building with a stranger pressed against her back holding her tight when next minute she opened her eyes to find out that she was already at home under warm blanket and all wounds bandaged. And her faceless savior was nowhere to be found, replaced by a note written in a newspaper rip saying he’ll come to get her when it’s safe. Autumn couldn’t be any happier to find that somewhere out there, there was someone who she could count on. But when he hadn’t come for months, she felt like all hope was completely vanished.

Months had passed when Autumn finally get to meet the mysterious savior. He was just like how Autumn had imagined him to be all the time. Brave, strong, talented, gentle, and now in person, he was even more beautiful and fascinating. But as she became closer to him, she noticed something that she hadn’t notice on their first encounter. There was something behind his sometimes less-expressive demeanor. But Autumn couldn’t deny that she also felt something growing inside her for the savior boy, Grey. When all secret was unraveled, Autumn realized that there was far worse thing behind the plague and as her body might be immune to the plague, her heart might not get through it this time.

First of all, there are two missing points that I would like to lay out here because as much as I enjoyed this book, I wished these points to be present in the book as well to enrich the awesomeness of this book. And after that, I would go through things that I loved about Autumn in the City of Angels.

Things I’d like to see in this book more: 
One. I like fast-paced story. But for sci-fi books, especially those that involved big deals like apocalypse or invasion or things like that, I wished to read more about it before getting into the ‘after’ part. The idea of plague was kind of new to me and I wanted to know more about how this very thing happened. It’d be more real if there was a close individual scene of plague case happened to someone.

Two. I want Grey’s background story. As an alien who used to express no emotions in daily life, and now when he met Autumn he already changed into more showing emotions, it’s quite hard to picture he had no emotions. Maybe it’s about the perspective of the story was told. This book was told in first person perspective by Autumn so it’s quite not possible to get into Grey’s background story deeper. But maybe if Grey was described having no emotions when he first met Autumn and then slowly he finally could feel emotions as he spent time with her, it maybe could help getting into Grey’s history. Thus, we could understand Alien’s history of emotion banishment.

Things I liked about this book: 

The plot, the characterizations, the idea of the story, the setting, and most of all the feeling and sensation emanated from the story; I liked them all. I liked the character Autumn. She’s too rationalist actually, but there were scenes when she experienced a breakdown from the depressing circumstance she was in making her seemed more normal. But sometimes I resented her for being too emotionally sensitive and went all heroic in the wrong time. Well, maybe it was just me because Grey was too-understanding over Autumn’s need to be a do-gooder. Love, people, what more I can say? 

“I guess I was falling for you before I even knew it.” 

(Grey; Chapter XX, Autumn in the City of Angels)

When I read Grey’s confession about his feeling toward Autumn, I was like,

“Wow, so I guess Alien could fall in love at the first sight as well?”

Because that’s exactly what happened to him. It’s kind of funny and sweet and weird… but sweet anyway. He might be absent from emotional feeling for million years but he showed his love for Autumn just the way normal human did. Oh Grey… :3

Grey was so gentle and caring and the fact that he was willing to take part in rescuing humans (even though he might have his own personal reason for this) showed that after all he had a kind heart. 

Even though the whole feeling of this book was considered suspenseful and a little depressing, I liked that the authors also slipped some funny parts into the scenes. Autumn sometimes acted silly just like most 17 years old girl did. I laughed at some comical scenes and my favorite would be the scene where Grey went all proposing style in front of Autumn only to make her understand just who he truly was…

“My name is Greyson Alexander. I came to Earth in 1803, after leaving my home planet, Andros. I want to make sure you understand that I’m a human being, just like you are.” He said the last four words slowly, emphasizing each one. “I’m just from a different star system. Physiologically, I’m exactly like any other human male from Earth. This is my body that I was born with on Andros. I didn’t steal it from anyone. I’m not a parasite that inhabits people’s bodies. My parents didn’t send me here in a little space ship when I was a baby; I didn’t travel here in a lightning bolt, and nothing is going to pop out of your stomach if you kiss me.” 
(Grey; Chapter XX, Autumn in the City of Angels)

‘..nothing is going to pop out of your stomach if you kiss me..’ LOL! 

About the setting, Ms. Authors did a great job describing it. I could easily picture it in my head how messed up the whole town was, how eerie the situation all around. And the sci-fi parts where Grey described Alien’s superpower were neat and easily understood. It’s kind of technical but not too technical… if you know what I mean…

Now about the ending. It’s kind of cruel. A bit. 

Well, I’m never really a fan of cliffhanger and especially of those being put in the end of a series book and more especially those in books that I truly enjoyed. But oh well, that’s where the charm of series book lies: to make readers as frustrated as possible in the end of each book except the last one ;)

Love, read, and review,

Cynthia D.

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Release Day: The Ugly Stepsister by Aya Ling (+ Excerpt & Giveaway)

  

One of my favorite YA reads is released today!

As you can see I already posted a pre-release review of the ARC copy of The Ugly Stepsister yesterday and it earned 4.5 stars from me! You can check my review here and below I got an excerpt and a little bit trivia about author's inspiration to write this book. Enjoy!

Publication date: June 12th, 2015

Genre: YA fantasy/fairytale retelling

BLURB:

When Kat accidentally rips apart an old picture book, she's magically transported into the world of Cinderella--as Katriona, one of the ugly stepsisters! Life turns upside down now that she’s a highborn lady and must learn how to survive the social season, including how to get through the door in a huge metal hoop skirt. To get back, she'll have to complete the story, right to the end of happily ever after. But the odds are huge: the other stepsister is drop-dead gorgeous, the fairy godmother is nowhere to be found, and the prince, despite being insanely hot, openly dislikes balls. Can she ever return to the modern world?

Buy links: Amazon ~ Amazon UK ~ Apple ~ B&N ~ Kobo

HOW THE BOOK CAME TO BE:

Some readers liked the idea of Kat entering the fairy tale by ripping apart the book. Well, here’s the actual book that inspired the concept. You can see that the cover has completely fallen off:

*note: this book is at least 20 years old! I’m so glad I was too sentimental to toss it away, or I might not have come up with the idea!

EXCERPT:

“Girlie, wake up.”

I open my eyes again. This time it’s dark, but from the moonlight streaming through the window, I sense that I’m still in this strange historic-setting room. The candelabra next to my bed has been snuffed out. The fire in the hearth has gone out, but the embers are still glowing.

Then I discover something more shocking than the weird room I’m in.

A semi-transparent being is hovering in thin air, right above the bed. It’s quite ugly—its eyes and nose look squashed together, and it has a stumpy body with arms and legs that look alarmingly short in proportion to the torso.

I am so shocked that I just stare with my mouth wide open. Is that ghost going to eat me up?

“Awake now, are we?” the ghost speaks. His voice is kind of high-pitched with a note of playfulness in it.

Oh no, not again. I pinch my arm again, really hard this time, and yelp in pain. My fingernails have drawn blood.

The ghost starts to laugh. “Two hundred years later and humans are still as dumb as before.”

I am beginning to feel crazy. Here I am in a strange room, with an ugly ghost, and no matter what I do I can’t wake up.

Maybe I’m dead. Maybe when I fell down the stairs I got hit with something really sharp and bled to death. Ouch. I feel over my head, but it seems all I’ve got is a sore spot that feels more like a bruise than a gaping wound. Besides, this room seems a far cry from hell.

“Hey you,” I call to the ghost. “I’m dead, aren’t I? Is this a place I go to before I go to heaven?”

The ghost throws his head back and laughs—a high, raucous sound. I’m surprised that no one hears him—either they can’t hear him or are too deeply asleep. “She thinks this is heaven! Wait till I tell His Majesty…”

What the hell is going on? “Aren’t you a ghost?”

That only makes him laugh harder. He clutches his sides, wheezing, like I’m the greatest comedian in the world.

“You…thick-headed, pea-brained human,” he gasps, wiping his eyes. “Haven’t you seen this room before?”

“In the downtown museum?”

“No, silly, a book.”

Moonlight streams in through the window. Several framed paintings hang on the walls—the biggest one depicts a beautiful garden. The scene does seem familiar; all it lacks is a maid kneeling in front of the fireplace.

“Cinderella?” I gasp. This is the room that’s illustrated on the first page. “Why am I seeing it in a dream?”

“She still thinks it’s a dream…” the ghost mutters, shaking his head. “Look, don’t you remember what happened to the book?”

I rub my temples. “It…fell apart?”

He nods. “When you ripped up the book our king created, a curse is triggered for tampering with his magic. So as punishment, you’re transported into the story itself.”

“Your king?” This is getting simply ridiculous. “Who is this king, and who are you?”

The ghost settles on the foot of my bed. “Might as well tell you or you’ll never get it—I’m Krev. I’m in service of His Majesty Barthelius, the Goblin King.”

“Goblins?” I fall back on the pillow, narrowing missing the headboard. “Please tell me I’m hallucinating, or I got a concussion.”

“We’re from another dimension, but our king has always been interested in human stories. That’s why he created his own books hundreds of years ago. He left a few copies in your world, but never expected that they’d disintegrate.”

“Oh god,” I sink down further into the blankets. There has to be some mistake.

“You’ll find out soon enough. Or you can just go back to pinching your arm.” He rises in the air—now I notice he has a pair of tiny wings. “Bye.”

“Hang on,” I blurt, and sit up. “Okay, suppose I believe you. How am I going to get back?”

Krev grins, showing a row of pointy teeth. “Now you’re listening. All you have to do is put the story back together again.”

“Huh?”

“Finish the story to the very end, where they live happily-ever-after.”

Damn. I’m in a role-playing game. Not that I’ve played any, but it just seems that way to me.

Speaking of role-playing…

“That woman Martha called me Katriona. She said I lost my memory, so I’m not a newcomer in this world. So who am I?”

His bulging, toad-like eyes gleam. “Guess.”

I scowl at him. Well, obviously I’m not Cinderella, given the silken nightdress I’m wearing. And obviously I’m not the evil stepmother either. In the mirror I look just as I am, not some middle-aged woman.

“Am I one of the ugly stepsisters?”

His grin grows wider.

Damn. “If I have to be in the story, why aren’t I Cinderella?”

The goblin suddenly goes off in a peal of laughter. “Cinderella! She thinks she’s pretty enough to be Cinderella!” And he rolls over and over in the air until I feel dizzy and embarrassed. “Don’t you know how the spell works? You assume the role of the person you resemble most.”

Yeah, thanks for pointing out the impossibility of me being the protagonist. I suppose if Paige is the one who dropped the book, she’d become Cinderella.

And even though I still find the whole thing ridiculous, I’m kind of intrigued as well.

“So all I have to do is get Cinderella to the ball, the prince falls in love with her, and then the curse is broken and I can return?”

He waggles a crooked finger at me.

“Not yet. You can’t stop at the ball, when she runs out and leaves her slipper behind. You must follow it all the way to the end. The story is only finished when they’re married with wedding bells pealing and white doves soaring.”

Whoa.

“So when is the ball?”

“No idea.”

“Where’s the fairy godmother?”

“No idea.”

I drop my jaw. “Hello? Are you telling me that I have to find everything on my own while you just hover there and do nothing?”

He shrugs. “That’s because you ripped everything off except the first page. The curse starts where you leave off.”

“And if I do nothing? What if the prince won’t hold the ball? What if I can’t find the godmother?”

Krev lets out an evil chuckle. I have an ominous feeling of impending doom.

“Then you will remain in this book. Forever.”

*read more excerpts on Aya’s website: http://www.ayaling.com/the-ugly-stepsister.html

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Aya is from Taiwan, where she struggles daily to contain her obsession with mouthwatering and unhealthy foods. Often she will devour a good book instead. Her favorite books include martial arts romances, fairy tale retellings, high fantasy, cozy mysteries, and manga.

Connect with Aya: Website ~ Facebook ~ Twitter

GIVEAWAY:

To celebrate the release, Aya is also offering a giveaway in which THREE winners can:

          1. Get a paperback copy of The Ugly Stepsister OR any book Aya has on paperback (open internationally!)

          2. Get to name a minor character in the “sequel” novella (will probably be Edward’s niece and nephews)

Here's what you can do to enter the giveaway:

          1. Click HERE to share the book release on Facebook

          2. Click HERE to share the book release on Twitter

          3. Share the book release on your blog. Click HERE for an easy copy-paste media kit that you can adapt however you like. For example, if you have already posted a review on your blog, you can add my author bio, excerpt, giveaway info, etc. Please fill in the link of your post as well, so I won't miss a single entry.

*If you do everything above, you’ll get three entries and have a greater chance to win!

The giveaway ends on June 20. Winners will be announced on June 21.

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(NetGalley) ARC Review: From a Distant Star by Karen McQuestion

From a Distant Star by Karen McQuestion

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

*I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher through Netgalley*

Pub. Date: May 19th, 2015

Get a copy here!
AMAZON | BOOK DEPOSITORY

This is my first time to review a book that I get from Netgalley. I joined NG several weeks ago and still trying to figuring things out with it. From a Distant Star attracted me because of its intriguing cover and blurb. Combination of sci-fi and romance is a big turn on for me. And I was so dead eager to devour this book and find some sweet romance between human and extraterrestrial being within the story.

Oh boy had I guessed it all wrong.

From a Distant Star isn’t a story about a human falls in love with alien. It hardly even contained romantic scenes. It was more like an adventurous sci-fi with a bit of friendship and romance. I admit I was really disappointed about this fact. God knows just how crazy I am over romance. And sci-fi combined. But turned out this book wasn’t like what I expected it to be and I was like…

But I had a mixed feeling about this book.

Despite my disappointment over the non-existence alien-human romance, I found this book really interesting! It surprised me that I really really enjoyed this book and only had one little complaint in the end. Yes, I am such a confusing five years old girl.

“I had once had a boyfriend, the love of my life, but now all that was left of him was a shell.”

(Chapter XIII, From a Distant Star)

Emma Garson and Lucas Walker had been together ever since they could remember. They might just an ordinary couple like the others but both of them believed their feelings were anything but ordinary. Lucas was the driver on their relationship and together they made a perfect couple high school sweethearts ever be. Even though Lucas’ parents seemed to always look down on Emma, he never once gave up on her. So when Lucas got cancer, Emma felt like the ground had cracked under her feet. 

Dropping out of all activities except school, Emma devoted to stay by Lucas’ side every day. Lucas seemed to get weaker day by day but Emma never once wanted to leave his side. No matter how hopeless the future seemed for them both. No matter how different Lucas’ appearance had become after months of chemo he’d been through. No matter how stern Lucas’ mother wants to shoo her away every waking second. Emma would do anything to get Lucas back on his two feet and looked at her with his heart-melting smile on his face. Anything, included praying harder than ever and believing some mystical magic potion could cure her boyfriend’s illness. Of course nothing was as easy as it seemed on fairy tales and Emma was left hopeless without anything to hang her hope on.

But then some mysterious events happened and when Emma felt her hope begins to vanish, Lucas opened his eyes. Lucas, who’s been on comatose and had very little progress to wake up any moment soon, who everyone seemed had given up, whose existence was believed would cease any moment, who Emma never gave up on even for a second, finally wake up in the blink of an eye. Everyone was elated. His magical recovery was reported to the entire nation. And surely Emma must be the one who’d cry loudly in joy right? Yes and no. Emma couldn’t stop grinning like an idiot seeing her boyfriend opened his eyes and made a small talk with people around him at first. But then she realized something bizarre on him. Yes, Lucas seemed much better and his recovery progress was even considered excellent but he acted nothing like the old Lucas at all. If any, it seemed like he was a totally different person trying to act like Lucas. 

When Emma noticed the strangeness of Lucas’ behavior was beyond acceptable, she found another surprising thing happened around them. An extraterrestrial object, a mysterious loud explosion sound heard three days before Lucas’ miraculous recovery, a strange visit from Federal agents, they all might be just the beginning of an even weirder enigma. When she learned that her suspicion might be true, Emma realized that her boyfriend’s life was at stake in the middle of this conundrum. This time it seemed like Emma was the one who should be the driver for them. Emma was forced to take action and brought Lucas along in a road trip to save innocent life from questionable agents and mysterious people from science research institute chasing after them. Once again, Emma’s devotion for Lucas was tested. And now Emma wouldn’t hesitate to risk everything to get Lucas back, body and soul, even if it meant risking her own life.

First of all, I loved how the story was told here. The perspective used here was a combination of 3rd person POV and 1st person POV by Emma. The plot was neat and engaging. I liked the bit of escapade feel in this book. Emma was a high school girl with devotion sized a mountain toward his ill boyfriend. This was the first thing that hooked me into the story. I loved her loyalty for Lucas even though sometimes it felt too much for a 17 years old girl. Lucas was described as caring and loving boyfriend who also never gives up on his girlfriend even though his parents against their relationship from the start. I actually melted several times witnessing how strong Emma’s love for Lucas but the fact that there weren’t any actual sweet moments of them together made me bitter…

But what really hooked me into the story was the character Scout a.k.a. the alien. I don’t know about you but I always read alien-related books where the alien appeared to be a hot gorgeous boy. Here, the alien was the kind that very innocent and almost child-like. I felt my soft spot growing for Scout and I think I even got all doe-eyed during all his scenes when he made me taken aback by his innocence. His pure opinion about Earth felt like a gentle slap in my heart…

“This is a very confusing planet. People believe things that aren’t true about other people just because of how they look and what kind of vehicle they drive. Why can you not wait and see who they are inside before you make a decision?”

“That is a sad thing… always thinking the worst of other people.” 

(Chapter XXVI, From a Distant Star)

Gosh, I felt like giving him a hug and reassure him that nothing in this cruel world could hurt his pure soul… and when he got all science-y, I wanted to pinch his cheek and give him a kiss in that exact spot afterward. In the end I realized that I fell in love with his character so much. Much more than what I felt for Emma or Lucas.

My only complaint would be that it’s actually kind of off when everything just got all smooth for Emma and Lucas on their mission trip. Lucas’ brother happened to have a car that they could use for the mission and they happened to meet a very kind couple who happened to have an advanced vehicle that they could borrow. I expected for a rougher kind of adventure actually, not a smooth one with saviors ready wherever they go.

Well, even though I didn’t get what I expected, this book managed to be a very enjoyable read through and through and I couldn’t be any happier it introduced me with Scout here :)

Love, read, and review,

Cynthia D.

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Book Review: A Jar of Dreams by Clarissa Cartharn

A Jar of Dreams by Clarissa Cartharn

My rating: 3.6 of 5 stars

*I received a digital copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review*

Get a copy here!
AMAZON | BOOK DEPOSITORY

‘He was the assassin running for his life and she was the blind refuge who gave him reason to stop and fight for theirs’

Lie to me and say you’re not intrigued by the line above to read this book.

(me: I was seriously hooked like a kid to a fluffy dog the moment I read it)

Now tell me the first thing comes to your mind about this book by reading that very line.

(me: Romance. Umm… romance, a bit action maybe for the assassin part, drama and tears for the effect, but basically sweet sweet romance with a happy ending right?)

Let me get it straight. This book is indeed such a hooker but sorry dude, you’ll definitely get your heart ripped out and tossed out to a waste basket nearby in the end you won’t even say a word about that…

I’m not trying to scare anyone here but it’s actually what I really feel once I finished this book. I’m not saying I regret reading this book because seriously I do love every sweet scene between the main characters here but I just feel like I’ve been deceived somehow in the end. It’s like when you buy a pack of very tasty cookie with low-fat sticker on the front package. You enjoy the chocolate chip so much all sweet and heavenly that you basically consume the entire package on your own only to find a note in the bottom of the pack saying the low-fat sticker is an April’s Fool joke and the cookie is actually a really high fat kind. You still feel the sweet taste of the cookie in your tongue but you feel like crying imagining all the fat happily flowing inside your body. Real bittersweet.

Eric Tanner was 18 years when he first met Anne Mullen. She stood by the side of the street facing the court where he and his friends played basketball. Maybe it was the way she looked so beautiful with the wind played with her hair. Maybe it was the way she seemed so out of place with the plain surrounding as her background. But the moment he laid his eyes on her, Eric felt something nudged inside him. He knew he was being silly because he got a sudden urge to protect the stranger girl. When he saved her from a bunch of boys trying to make fun of her, only then he realized Anne was a blind girl. But she was a beautiful blind girl with deep green eyes that makes him want to jump into the depth and never coming back. When Anne ‘saw’ him in her own way by feeling the curves of his face with her soft fingers, that’s when Eric finally realized he was already drowned so deep. 

15 years had passed but never once Eric forgot the way Anne mesmerized him that one afternoon. He felt so much regret creeping up his sleeves remembering how he used to walk her from her tutor’s building every day for months but never once tried to strike a conversation with her. He just simply followed her down the path in silence until one day Anne stopped coming, leaving him with a real silence in that empty road. 

Fate worked in a mysterious way in everyone’s life. It brought Eric to a dark path where he now worked as an assassin. It brought Anne to a nice path where she finally got to lead her own life independently. But it’s funny how fate also even made two very different paths come across each other at one point. When Eric finally met Anne again, the old feeling locked inside his heart bloomed all over again. He was so desperate to be able to get close to her again. But life was different now and it surely wasn’t as simple as it was years ago. Anne finally got everything she wanted and him coming to her life would be a real nuisance and even danger for her. He didn’t want it for her but he sure as hell wanted her. His feeling would cost the safety of hers and even him. Now, there was nothing left except for him to protect her with all his might even though it might mean sacrificing his life.

A Jar of Dreams was told from third person point of view. It started with a scene of first encounter between Anne and Eric. Anne was a blind girl while Eric was a parentless boy. Both of them wanted to be less dependent on people around them. Their first meeting was so innocent yet memorable. And when they meet again years later, their encounter was still the same innocent way and slowly but steadily their relationship shifted into a deep chemistry. Anne had no idea that Eric was the same person who had saved her 15 years ago near the basketball court. Yet her feeling grew for Eric the same way it did for the savior boy she met at 18. I’m such a sucker for second-chance romance. And this book gave me exactly that. I loved how the romance built up between Anne and Eric. There were a lot of sweet moments between them that makes me can’t stop smiling.

I liked Eric’s character. He might have been spending a lot of years of his life as a sinner, but his feeling for Anne remained innocent. Even though he was kind of sneaky at first but he knew his limit and respected Anne in his own way. As for Anne, she was a cheerful, independent, yet vulnerable person. I felt like at some points, she acted much younger than her age such as when she was around Eric. But somehow I understood because Anne almost had no experience with men before. When they were together, they really made a sweet and touching couple.

Meanwhile, there was something that bothered me about the plot. As book told in third person point of view, I understand that this book might contain a lot of different scenes from several sets. But what I don’t understand was this book included a lot of scenes about the villain that I personally think were not quite necessary to be put into the story. There were several scenes showing the villain did some filthy thing that I sure as hell don’t want to know. If it’s for character development, surely there was another way to put it into. Personally, I thought that that kind of scenes flawed the poignant story of the main characters.

And something about the ending…

I swear it felt like I dropped my jaw to the deepest part of the ocean when I read that page somewhere near the ending. I admit that I always have a big craving for HEA in every book that I read but I’m not opposed to sad ending. I read a lot of books that ended in tragic way and somehow I accepted that. But this one, though, this one was out of nowhere. I actually kind of understood why the author opted for that kind of ending, I understood her wanting to go realistic, and even though Ms. Cartharn made a quite touching epilogue, but still, I felt kind of hollow once I finished the book.

I wanted so much to love this book as a whole but because of some parts, I couldn’t. Romance that involved disabled person always be my favorite, moreover if paired with someone with ‘imperfect’ life, it would definitely melt my heart. But the important thing though, I loved it more if it really became the main focus on the book and not flawed by some unimportant scenes within.

Love, read, and review,

Cynthia D.

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ARC Review: The Ugly Stepsister by Aya Ling

The Ugly Stepsister by Aya Ling

My rating: 4.5 of 5 stars

*I received a digital ARC of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review*

Get a copy here!
AMAZON | BOOK DEPOSITORY

I never know that I’m such a sucker for retelling story before I read this book.

Maybe because I never read a retelling fairy tale story before but I truly found this book entertaining. This book might not a mind-blowing great read or such and I might say it’s slightly predictable at some parts (after all, what kind of fairy tale that is not cliché?) but I really really enjoyed reading this. The story was so engaging that I kept wishing I wouldn’t reach the ending anytime soon because I didn’t want it to end at all.

17 years old Katherine was just a high school girl with too much klutziness on her bone, especially when she came across gorgeous boys on her path. Kat knew quite well that she was not that kind of girl who could easily attract boys her age. It was a sad fact yet she didn’t know how to fix it anyway. Kat and Paige, her little sister, lived with their mom in a small house. Ever since their parents got divorced, they’d been living a moderate life, trying to save up money for her college and all.

One fine afternoon, Kat was in the attic of her house going through boxes of her old books that her mom wanted to sell on yard sale on the weekend. She found a years old picture book of Cinderella in one of them. Curious, she opened the first page of the book. Never once she imagined that she was about to experience living in a whole different dimension the moment she tumbled down the stairs after accidentally ripped apart pages of that book …

17 years old Kat was one of the ugly stepsisters’ of Cinderella. That’s the first thing she realized when she woke up with a throbbing head later. No attic, no dusty boxes, no old Cinderella picture book, and most alarming, Paige and her whole house were no longer in sight. Kat woke up in a king-sized bed in a strange old-fashioned room with worry maids crowding by the bed and addressing her ‘Miss Katriona’. She must hit her head hard because everything seemed so surreal yet she could feel the realness with her finger tips.

Turned out the old Cinderella picture book was written by Goblin King and Kat was under a curse where she was punished for ripping the book apart so she was transported to the story world. The only way to come back was to finish the story all the way until the happily-ever-after part. Kat practically tried everything to bring her back to her ordinary life, including being a strangely kind stepsister, tracking a long path to discover true identity of Cinderella, finding a fairy godmother across the country, until doing anything to make the Prince falls in love with her maid a.k.a. Cinderella. Apparently everything didn’t happen as smoothly as children story she’d known her whole life. The other ugly stepsister turned out was far more gorgeous than Cinderella herself; the fairy godmother was nowhere to be found; and the ball was not going to be held until the Prince said so which basically would be a long way because he practically disliked balls. Moreover there was a lot of social issue happened around her that constantly nagged her sensitive heart.

Kat was so focused in creating (or forcing, exactly) a happy ending for Cinderella that she forgot a lesson implied by all these magical experience: that a happy ending was not always the one like what the story told.

I loved the angle Ms. Ling decided to retell the story of Cinderella. Instead of making the heroine the actual Cinderella, she picked one of the ugly stepsisters to play the main role. It’s so dang funny reading how Kat tried literally just everything to go back to her real world. The plot flowed neatly and there were some twists along the way. I loved how the author slipped other issues in the story as well like the social issue about child labor which practically commonly happened on the period. As someone coming from modern period, Kat felt the urge to throw her advanced opinion out there for people to see. But I must agreed with Prince Edward that if Kat herself didn’t have an ounce of socially sensitive feeling in her heart, she might not busy herself with all the work and risk taking part in the protest. I liked Kat’s character. She was funny, witty, and actually selfless. I laughed a lot reading how comical Kat was. Truthfully, I think I liked just everyone on this book. Prince Edward easily became my favorite hero. I loved how he put inner beauty above physical attraction. He was also so caring and understanding. Same goes with Edward’s cousin, Henry. I loved how the romance between each character built up. It was slow and full of consideration and their every moment together… Gosh, I seriously craved for more!

The ending was predictable (again, what kind of ending you can expect from a fairy tale if not HEA?) but wrapped up real nicely. I liked that there was a completed-goal slipped in the end about how Kat finally fixed her lame issue of turning into ‘mute jelly’ in front of gorgeous boys now that she realized her worth, even though I was hoping for more scenes of ‘after transition’ Kat.

The Ugly Stepsister is a light and funny read with some cute moments and life lesson á la Disney. It can be a perfect companion when you feel like escaping from your list of heavy reads!

Love, read, and review,

Cynthia D.

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