Review: Did I Mention I Need You (DIMILY #2) by Estelle Maskame

Book and ARC reviews are posted under this feature!

Did I Mention I Need You? by Estelle Maskame



*Digital ARC was received from Sourcebooks Fire through Netgalley*

Genre: YA (Contemporary)
Pub. Date: April 1, 2016

Get a copy here!
AMAZON| BOOK DEPOSITORY

Also Read: 'Did I Mention I Love You?' Review

When book one didn’t quite satisfy me, book two somehow managed to steal a bit of my attention. I had so many issues with DIMILY and I was highly hoping on DIMINY to fix it for me. Well, it did but unfortunately not much.
It’s kind of a relief that the current situation didn’t include much of the group of reckless teenagers back in California. I also liked that DIMINY focused more on Tyler and Eden even if I personally thought that the beginning of the book was a bit rushed. Book two started with Eden choosing to spend her summer in New York based on Tyler’s invitation. Pardon me but I already smelled ‘wrong’ and ‘cheat’ here. Just like how Eden’s choice irritated me during the ending of book one, I still couldn’t accept her action in book two. It just got worse when Eden went to New York to see Tyler again after one long year, I just couldn’t see what she was actually up to with all of her doings. Dating Dean, yet not even once she forgot memories with Tyler. Dating Dean, yet she chose to stay with Tyler on summer which clearly was a straight way to make a fatal mistake. I felt like I was seeing a girl with a serious problem of playing with others’ hearts. While I admit that moments with Tyler was sometimes sweet, I couldn’t overlook that what they’ve been doing in New York was far from acceptable. It’s not helping that the author seemed to really enjoy writing about Tyler and Eden’s forbidden moments than dwelling with factors that might make readers to really understand where they come from. In book 1 Estelle succeeded in making me ‘get’ their situation. There were layers of shared pain and insecurities between them before. But it all seemed to be forgotten in this continuation of the story. Seeing Eden and Tyler now and before was like seeing two different couples. Before, I saw them as two people who helplessly fall for wrong people; and it was actually quite sad for me. Now, I saw them as two people who shared no more than meaningless fling in the past, who then was met again and couldn’t ignore the sexual tension surrounding them.
It might sound ironic but I started to enjoy it a bit when people from their past coming to a not-so-ideal reunion in New York. How it became the start of a big revelation. And how everyone reacted to it. I’ve been waiting for this moment to happen.
The ending was another cliffhanger which I warmly welcomed because I sensed a more mature story to come next. Again, I was hoping for more ideal parental role in this series. Because after all the case of falling-for-your-stepbrother couldn’t just be a teens’ problem which could be solved by the teens themselves. It’s a crucial problem which indeed needs the role of much older and experienced people to meet the best way to solve it.

I’m really counting on to the last book of the series to present a real story of this forbidden love.

Read More

Review: Any Other Girl by Rebecca Phillips

Book and ARC reviews are posted under this feature!

Any Other Girl by Rebecca Phillips



*Digital ARC was received from Kensington Publishing through Netgalley*

Genre: YA (Contemporary)
Pub. Date: January 26, 2016

Get a copy here!
AMAZON| BOOK DEPOSITORY


I read this sometime back in January and honestly it took me almost two weeks to finish it because partly I was so busy that I kept putting it off. And partly, maybe it’s because I didn’t really find any part of the book that made me want to sit down for hours, ignoring the world and keep reading non-stop till the last page.

Any Other Girl told a story of a girl who’s raised in a family a little different than others. It’s not that Kat doesn’t have such happy family because she did; it’s just that instead of having mom and dad, Kat was gifted with two dads and that’s okay for her. More than okay actually because her dads were both amazing, caring, and clearly dream parents. What’s not okay was how some people tended to judge her as a maladjusted girl just because Kat loved to play soccer and happened to be raised by men. This was a quite fresh theme for me and I was eager to find out how the issue would be resolved. Unfortunately this part that I thought was the main issue of the book was apparently not the main issue. People’s judgment of gay parents was apparently just a layer of background story of Kat’s personality while the rest of the story would mostly focused on Kat’s personal problem with her best friends and the boys.

I tried to understand where Kat’s coming from, why she’s so flirty and doesn’t even think the side-effect of her acts, and maybe at some point I think I did get it. I even felt sorry for her especially during that apology-scene with her bestfriend. But it’s her ignorant that I couldn’t quite tolerate. Kat did realize that she’s flirty, or at least that’s what I got from her narration, yet just because she didn’t have any hidden meaning besides casual flirts, she thought it was okay to do so to any boys―bestfriend’s boyfriend no exception. It’s a little selfish for her I think to ask people to understand her actions all the time. Also, when there’s an explanation telling the reason Kat loved to flirt and being the center of attention among the crowd was because she wanted to show that she was also like any other girl who’s raised in general family. I sensed a little of unfairness judgment here for teen girls. Does every girl love to flirt that much that you should be all flirty and attention-seeker to be considered as a ‘normal’ girl? I really don’t think so. But it might just be my opinion or I might misinterpret what the author actually meant so feel free to correct me.

I actually did enjoy some parts of the story. Like how I loved the side of Kat who could ask for an apology so sincerely, like how she apologized not because she wished for the forgiveness, it’s because she wanted the peace of letting the other knows that they could label her anything when she’s really not and that’s okay because she somehow was the one who plays the wrong move at first. I loved her friendship with her best friend slash cousin. I loved how sweet the romance scene could be. Also I loved how Rebecca summed up the story in the end that life goes changing every minute and that’s fine because after all what’s not? That you might got into a fight with your best friend and it changes your friendship that it’s impossible to go back to the ‘before’ state but at least you go forward to the ‘after’ state with new perspectives, new level of maturity, and new ways to solve any upcoming bumps together. It’s just too unfortunate that the story was actually very simple, with an even simpler ending and issues-solving, yet it’s all those dramas that stretched the story out to be that long.

The plot of the story might not what I would remember for a long time but the moral lessons I got from this book would definitely be something that I would keep in mind. There’s these words Rebecca wrote about family that was so beautifully true that I really loved.

‘Like any other family, we fought and scratched and drew blood and then kept on loving each other in spite of it all. The bonds we shared were strong yet elastic, like ligaments connecting bone―easy to injure and difficult to heal, but ultimately resilient.’

This is one of those books that you might enjoy to read in a lazy Sunday afternoon when you don’t feel like heavy-thinking or getting your emotion so worked up. It’s not really a bad book because Rebecca’s writing is good and even a bit poetic. But considering the whole factors, I’ll sum it up to an okay.

Read More

Review: You Were Here by Cori McCarthy

Book and ARC reviews are posted under this feature!

You Were Here by Cori McCarthy



*Digital ARC was received from Sourcebooks Fire through Netgalley*

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

Get a copy here!
AMAZON | BOOK DEPOSITORY

Having a quite long break from reading in the past two months, I didn’t really have any particular expectation from the book that I picked up as my comeback. All I wanted was just picking up a book and taking my mind away to an exciting mental journey I hadn’t had lately. Thus I dove into You Were Here without reading any reviews about it, nor its blurb.

Starting out, the story was presented for the first time through Jaycee’s perspective. I was instantly drawn to her character fast because of the way Cori described Jaycee’s wrecked emotion so painfully beautiful. I felt like I was ‘forced’ to feel along with her and strangely I didn’t even mind it. Even before knowing the complete story of the tragedy, I could feel that it would be something unusually tragic looking from the way Jaycee’s grief seemed so intense. I liked that Cori didn’t withhold the truth for too long and how casually the source of grief was thrown into the first chapter. It broke my heart yet I sensed that Cori didn’t want her readers to drowning in sorrow that fast in the first chapter with the way she played the supposedly depressing character into such person who’s half sarcastic-half peculiar yet oddly amusing that I really enjoyed Jaycee’s voice here.

When the whole pack finally came out, the story just got even better. Not only because of the fact that the book was told from everyone’s (which means all five main characters) perspectives, but also because all of them got their own eccentricities that made me fall in love with all of them in different ways.

Like Jaycee whose sarcasm was over the top when really it was just a mask to cover the broken soul within. How she seemed like a reckless wild teen when she’s really just a lonely girl with no direction to go. Her anger, grief, disappointment, loss feeling all mixed up leading her to the only way she knows how to cope it with: retracing her brother’s steps. Then there’s Natalie, an ex-best friend who complemented Jaycee in such a way no one could. They apparently shared a rough past that seemingly would forever damage their relationship and they couldn’t even stand each other’s present in the same room but their circumstance told us just how reality really is. No relationship in this world, be it between best-friends or lovers, that never hit the bumps. It could be just a little misunderstood but it could also be so bad that people would even grow apart for years before coming back as one. I liked that Jaycee and Natalie could go on and on bantering for hours yet they couldn’t stop caring for each other. I liked that they could call each other an ‘ex-best friend’ yet they still remembered every little details from the good ol’ days and reminisced it together when the memories came rushing out in the middle of them exchanging insults. I loved that Jaycee was so ignorant and Natalie was so uptight and they didn’t need to change themselves in order to befriend each other. And I could go on and on with all these fascinating things about them but I couldn’t ignore the fact that there were also these other three characters that as interesting as the girls.

Zach, Bishop, and Mik were the boys who completed this misfit group of five. Following Jaycee’s morbid adventure was Natalie who was accompanied (half-heartedly) by her boyfriend, Zach, and (fully) by their friend, Bishop. Zach, a teenager with a drinking problem and too much baggage on his plate, was actually a lovely person if you just give him a chance. I didn’t know why but just like how Jaycee’s character pulled something in my heart, his also made me feel want to hug him tight and get mad at him for hurting himself. And there’s Bishop whose words of graffiti were so deeply moving. I liked how he could be so introvert around people sometimes yet he seemed to always be there when his friends needed him.

And Mik…

I loved loved loved Mik! Mikivikious was a character that’s so unique and absolutely mesmerizing. I could count just how many times he talked in the entire book but I swear every time he did, he took my breath away that I fell head over heels again and again for him. I don’t want to reveal much about him except for this saying Jaycee said about him that, well, summed up a little part of him…

“He was still the boy who’d rather bite himself than reveal too much.”

Also I found the dynamic of the relationship between these five teens were so naturally amazing. I loved that nobody’s perfect in this group, I even loved it more that everyone was flawed in the past, and together they embarked on this estrange journey and came out learning the best lesson of how to live a real life.

“What do I know about anything―other than how fast the world can break and how very long it takes to put all the pieces back together.”

Reading this book really played with emotions, while the story is actually about a grief of losing someone you love Cori tried to tell us that sad things were not always depressing if you just tilt your angle toward it a bit. I loved how real the scenes were, the characters, all those places they’ve been in…

I really really enjoyed reading this book. With an insanely good writing, great details, unique characterizations, and oh, those amazing graphic illustrations I almost forgot to mention, You Were Here made an awesome comeback read for me. I recommend those who love John Green’s Looking for Alaska to pick this book up and find yourself addicted with these awesome characters.

Read More

Anything Post: I'm (Hopefully) Coming Back for Good!

Let's Say It's a... A..Anything! is a feature where I post random things like some babbling or random discussions about anything.

HELLO.... from the other side!

I've been meaning to post this thing I want to say since weeks ago but things keep getting on the way so.. yeah.

I know I've been away for too long. Told I'd be coming back on February but it's only now that I could actually pull myself out of my work-cave to check my blog out and clean all the cobwebs in the corner... It's been a hectic month last February and a very lonely month as well without me being able to read any book properly in peace. And I could feel it within me that it started making me a little desperate each day that reading seems to be such a luxury these days for me. Not to mention all those ARCs that still sitting neatly untouched on my shelve...

So I'm making a change now!

Living as a banker is really fun. But I'm not letting it lessen my quality time with all my books!

I'll come back with my TBR list next week and will post reviews again as often as I could. I might not be able to post all the unique features here like I used to before but whenever I got some little free time I'll dedicate it for reading and managing this blog! (I'm so fired up here!)

I'm really sorry that I seemed to neglect this blog when maybe some of you still want to make some visits here. I'm THANKING all of you guys for that! While I won't blame those who left this blog as well. 

I know being a book-blogger requires high dedication and I'm trying my hardest here. I'm still pretty new in this book blogger-life so I guess I still need to learn more. Balancing my life here and the one on the other side of the screen is pretty challenging and could get very tough at times but both are my life and am not picking side here.

I witnessed so many book-bloggers out there who's successfully managing their blogs to be so big when many of them have jobs and even kids to be taken care of. Guess I can do it too? 

Thank you for all of your visits!

Hopefully we'll meet often here again from now on!

xoxo :)

Read More

Review: In Place of Never by Julie Anne Lindsey

Book and ARC reviews are posted under this feature!

In Place of Never by Julie Anne Lindsey

*Digital ARC was received from publisher through Netgalley*

Genre: YA (Contemporary, thriller)
Pub. Date: February 2, 2016

Get a copy here!
AMAZON | BOOK DEPOSITORY

After 3 years of curling up in pain and grief, Mercy was now ready to come out of her shell and find the answer behind the mystery of her sister's death. Mercy was sure that Faith didn't commit a suicide, despite what the town rumor said about it. Whatever hidden behind the curtain had been stayed too long while her family grieving over the losses of two family members in a row. Now less than a month before she's off to college, before she left her dad and Pru behind to deal with the rest of the physical memories, Mercy was determined to reveal all the truth. Still there were people who looked at her one-sidedly due to her dark way of dealing with grief in the past three years. But nothing could stop her now, especially not now when she got full support from a kind stranger whose family might or might not be related to Faith's death. Cross Lovell and his eccentric group sounded so much like trouble for the town, what with constant accidents that seemed to follow them closely - Faith's case included. Pastor Porter sure didn't want Mercy and her lil sister Pru to have anything to do with them. But sometimes appearance didn't exactly show what's on the inside. Sadness, darkness, or madness that was reflected from ones' outer look would not always show that they actually felt that way.

Since everyone has stories and all people could do is just to guess and not to judge.

It's the first book that I pick after three weeks of no-reading. I was honestly expecting a lighter story to start anew but it's on my January TBR list and I had promised to finish up my Jan TBR before creating one for February so... Yeah. But it's pretty intriguing and the thrill was over the top! Due to my preference of lighter story in the beginning, I started this book with less excitement than I was supposed to. The book started strong with detailed descriptions on how Porter's family went on with their life after the miserable losses. From chapter one only we already got a clear picture on how each of the Porter dealt with the grief. The dad chose to focus more on being a pastor with all his church activities. Pru, the little sister, tried to act nonchalant while trying hard to get everything back to normal in their broken family, whatever the 'normal' means. Mercy herself was shown withdrawn at first until she heard the news of the Lovell group coming back to town; that's when she felt like her determination to reveal the mystery finally got its first direction.

The description of each tension and character's expressions were done very well. Despite my lack of excitement toward the heavy plot, somehow I found this story quite interesting with a very well-played thriller and all. I liked the way the author made the readers keep guessing which culprit behind the case all throughout the story. Ms. Lindsey gave so many clues here and there but never directly pointed out to certain person to be suspected. I was constantly blown away by little revelations that I gave up guessing in the end and decided to just go with the flow.

The only slightly minus point from me was how slow the pace seemed to go on from the second half. The story initially started with a determination of Mercy to find the truth behind Faith's death. Yet somehow in that point things got a little tangled up with Mercy's attraction toward Cross and I personally felt like the progress to unravel the mystery went stagnant there. I really didn't mind their romance because I honestly thought theirs were a perfect un-insta one, unlike most romance in YA books. But a few misplaced romance scenes in this book seemed to overwrite the real issue, causing the ending to be rushed and a little out of nowhere.

I bet Cross character is a lovely one. He's like a warm chocolate covered inside a bottle of vodka. Instead of finding the burning liquor, you'd find warmness instead within him. I liked that he's really honest and never judge people for what they'd done. He's really wise, really. I super loved his one saying to Mercy about their circumstances:

“I’m not broken, not yet. Neither are you. We’re just a little dinged up . Slightly damaged.”

I wished to learn more about him because I don't think he's got enough part in the book due to so many complex issues happening. Here I got something to make you feel gooey inside about Cross, his confession of love for Mercy:

“ I would want you if you were bald.” He dropped a kiss on my temple. “Twice my weight.” He kissed my throat. “Had hairy legs.” One long finger hooked in the waistband of my shorts. “Talked like a trucker.” He kissed my lips. “I fell hard for this.” He laid a palm over my heart. His soulful eyes burned with emotion. “The rest is icing.”

(Awww the rest is icing he said...)

The epilogue wrapped everything up well. I noticed one interesting line there about how Mercy character was described to be a religious person than we thought she was the entire time. Her refusal to belief in such thing as curse and believing in talisman showed her strong faith to God and I personally liked that about her.

In Place of Never is a unique and intriguing title. Inside, you'd find a gripping story on how a family dealt with loss and eventually found closure about it. There's also an issue about how unbiased judgment still going strong among us and how damaging it done to those who's directly impacted by it. Lindsey brought the issue up but luckily she also wrote it in different angle to show that sometimes it's all what's on our mind that matters really, not what's on people's mind.

In 24 chapters, Mercy Porter would take us to a journey of how to come to terms with a broken past with the help of faith and a little love.

Read More