Y/N by Esther Yi | Book Review

Photo by Cerize Sicat

Publication Date:
March 21, 2023

About the Book:

Y/N, a novel about a Korean American woman living in Berlin whose obsession with a K-pop idol sends her to Seoul on a journey of literary self-destruction.

It’s as if her life only began once Moon appeared in it. The desultory copywriting work, the boyfriend, and the want of anything not-Moon quickly fall away when she beholds the idol in concert, where Moon dances as if his movements are creating their own gravitational field; on live streams, as fans from around the world comment in dozens of languages; even on skincare products endorsed by the wildly popular Korean boyband, of which Moon is the youngest, most luminous member. Seized by ineffable desire, our unnamed narrator begins writing Y/N fanfic—in which you, the reader, insert [Your/Name] and play out an intimate relationship with the unattainable star.

Then Moon suddenly retires, vanishing from the public eye. As Y/N flies from Berlin to Seoul to be with Moon, our narrator, too, journeys to Korea in search of the object of her love. An escalating series of mistranslations and misidentifications lands her at the headquarters of the Kafkaesque entertainment company that manages the boyband until, at a secret location, together with Moon at last, art and real life approach their final convergence.

Photo by Cerize Sicat

Rating:
2/5 ⭐

Review:
As a kpop enthusiast, I was very excited to read this book. For background I not only enjoy kpop but also love watching kdrama and Korean variety shows. I try to study and understand their culture and i’m still continuously learning Hangul (Korean language) – though i’m still pretty bad at it. So to be given a novel that has kpop elements in it gave me such a happy feeling. (Thanks for the copy, Fully Booked! 🧡)

The story began with the main character not knowing anything about this specific kpop group and yet finds herself deeply invested to one of the members named Moon. The obsession was so severe to the point that she creates scenarios in her head and even wrote Y/N fanfictions about it. That doesn’t sound so bad right? Eeennnk. The first one she wrote was fine, it’s the type of fanfic you would typically find online. And then we go to the part where she finally met Moon and made him read her work. Let’s just say that I was left with my mouth hanging open with what I just read.

I personally think Yi was very experimental to the point that I felt like I was in an acid trip when I was reading this. I like books about unhinged female characters but this just left me confused and asking questions. There were also several unnecessary characters and scenarios to the point that I questioned why they were even in the story to begin with. Highfalutin words were also in practically every sentence for the first chapter or two.

As much as I wanted to like it, this book did not leave me interested in the plot nor the characters. This is either a book you’d love or hate and there’s no in between.

That’s all for my review!  Thank you so much for reading. 🧡

Waking Into Myself by Liz Gonzales | Book Review

Photo by Cerize Sicat

About the Book:

This book is a collection of poetry, prose, and letters I wish I could have sent. This book explores what it means to yearn for people who can’t meet us where we’re at or even halfway, what it means to long for people who we know are not good for us, and the grief and eventual catharsis of walking away.

Rating:
2.5/5 ⭐

Review:

My sister gave this book to me and asked me for a review.

As the author stated, this is a collection of written things she wish she could have sent and it really shows her vulnerable side. It’s about a breakup and the sad things that come with it. It’s a bit like a journal in my opinion – a well written one. There were entries that I could relate to and some that I could not. I also have to include here that Taylor Swift was mentioned a lot. You can tell she’s an avid fan. There was a part were there were three consecutive entries and Taylor – or at least her song – was mentioned in all three of them. In all honesty, I think it was a bit much.

The contents are pretty nice however, i’m not the target reader for this book. It was not my cup of tea and it didn’t leave any lasting impact. I think maybe it’s meant to be read by romance lovers or people who recently went through a breakup. People who like reading letters and prose would enjoy this, though.

Published Date: September 7, 2023

Photo by Cerize Sicat

Idol, Burning by Rin Usami Book Review

Photo by Cerize Sicat

About the Book:

The novel that lit the Japanese publishing world on fire: From a breathtaking up-and-coming writer, a twenty-first century Catcher in the Rye that brilliantly explores toxic fandom, social media, and alienated adolescence.

Akari is a high school junior obsessed with “oshi” Masaki Ueno, a member of the popular J-Pop group Maza Maza. She writes a blog devoted to him, and spends hours addictively scrolling for information about him and his life. Desperate to analyze and understand him, Akari hopes to eventually see the world through his eyes. It is a devotion that borders on the religious: Masaki is her savior, her backbone, someone she believes she cannot survive without–even though she’s never actually met him.

When rumors surface that her idol assaulted a female fan, social media explodes. Akari immediately begins sifting through everything she can find about the scandal, and shares every detail to her blog–including Masaki’s denials and pleas to his fans–drawing numerous readers eager for her updates.

But the organized, knowledgeable persona Akari presents online is totally different from the socially awkward, unfocused teenager she is in real life. As Masaki’s situation spirals, his troubles threaten to tear apart her life too. Instead of finding a way to break free to save herself, Akari becomes even more fanatical about Masaki, still believing her idol is the only person who understands her.

A blistering novel of fame, disconnection, obsession, and disillusion by a young writer not much older than the novel’s heroine, Idol, Burning shines a white-hot spotlight on fandom and “stan” culture, the money-making schemes of the pop idol industry, the seductive power of social media, and the powerful emotional void that opens when an idol falls from grace, only to become a real–and very flawed–person.

Photo by Cerize Sicat

Rating:

2.75/ 5 ✨

Review:

As someone who’s currently very into kpop, I relate to a lot of stuff that Akari was obsessing with. Buying albums and merch, watching contents on different platforms, spending a ton of money on concert tickets, and making a shrine for your ‘bias’ is such a common thing in the kpop community.

This book gives us a small snippet on the rise and fall of an idol and the effect it has on certain people. It also tackles the well-known ‘cancel culture’ that our generation seems to be obsessed with. Did you know that you could be ‘cancelled’ even with such mundane things? It’s a crazy world out there. Akari was part of that population who has her mind preoccupied with nothing but her oshi. Akari spends an enormous amount of money on merchandise even though she does not have the financial ability to. But what’s the saddest part of it was that she doesn’t have any other identity other than following her idol’s progress. She lives a bare minimum life and doesn’t excel in school because all she wanted to do was give praise to her idol.

I think the title of the book really fits well. There are those types of fan who take being a fan to a whole new level. The story of Akari is not new to me. If you search it up, you would find a story of a young girl in the Philippines who stole money amounting to almost two million pesos from her relative’s business just so she could buy merchandise online.

Sometimes as fans, people tend to forget that the person you’re idolizing is also human. They’re not gods. They also make mistakes and make terrible decisions in their life. If a person wants to be in a relationship, then who are you to say that they can’t because you’ll get disappointed or jealous? They have their own lives.

Overall, the book was very short and easy to read however, I don’t think the main problem was solved in the end. Akari’s problems were barely confronted by her family and the ending was lackluster. There was a huge potential but I felt like I was let down and was unsatisfied with entirety of it.

Favorite lines from the book:

“In the same way that a night of sleep put wrinkles in a bedsheet, just being alive took a toll.“

“But this world where I showed up with my half-made-up persona was a kinder place.“

“Phones and TV screens have kind of a grace built into their separation, like the distance between the stage and the audience. It was reassuring to sense someone’s presence at a certain remove so that the space couldn’t be destroyed by interacting directly, or the relationship ruined by anything I did.“

P. S. Thank you so much, Fully Booked for this copy. I really appreciate it! ♡

All Dressed Up by Jilly Gagnon | Book Review

Photo by Cerize Sicat

Date Published:

September 6, 2022

Rating:

3.25 / 5

About the Book:

The weekend getaway at the gorgeous manor hotel should have been perfect. But Becca is freshly smarting from her husband Blake’s betrayal and knows this is just an expensive attempt at an apology. She may not be ready to forgive him, but the drinks are strong, the estate is stunning, and the weekend has an elaborate 1920s murder mystery theme. She decides to get into the spirit of things and enjoy their stay. What could go wrong?

Before long, the game is afoot: famed speakeasy songstress Ida Crooner is found “murdered,” and it’s up to the guests to sniff out which of them might be the culprit. Playing the role of Miss Debbie Taunte, an ingenue with a dark past, Becca dives into the world of pun-heavy clues, hammy acting, and secret passages, hoping to at least take her mind off her marital troubles.

Then, the morning after they arrive, the actress playing Ida’s maid fails to reappear for her role. The game’s organizer–that’s Miss Ann Thrope to you–assumes the young woman’s flakiness is to blame, but when snooping for clues as “Debbie,” Becca finds evidence she may not have left of her own free will.

Review:

Thriller. Mystery. Old mansion in the middle of nowhere.

Definitely a list of things that would pique my interest. At first, I thought this was set up in the 20’s because of the cover but I guessed wrong. It was just the concept of the murder-mystery party they attended during the weekend.

I was incredibly intrigued at first because of the setup. Unfortunately, I don’t think this book was for me. One fourth of the way, I was already losing interest because of Becca. I wished Jilly Gagnon focused more on the event itself and not the drama happening between Blake and Becca. Throughout the first hundred pages or so, Becca assumed that her husband has been cheating again and was ready to explode every fifteen minutes. Personally, I think it was a mess and could have been left out altogether. It really didn’t help the story at all.

I wished it showed more of the other characters present in the manor and how they were dealing with finding clues and solving the murder-mystery party they paid for. The only exciting thing that happened was when Becca and Jessica were in the attic looking for clues together because of the Yuri (girls’ love) action that happened in there. The only thing that kept me DNF-ing this book was that I imagined Becca to be Zendaya and Blake to be Tom Holland. I just think Zendaya and Tom would look absolutely dashing in 20’s garb while drinking whiskey at the bar. I was originally going to give it 3 stars but gave another point twenty-five for the two other hotel guests who run a blog where they rate and write reviews of these kinds of parties. I just like it when they have these kinds of people in novels.

If the premise of the story seems interesting to you then by all means, go ahead and read it. It’s not terrible, just something that didn’t suite my taste. I personally would recommend other thriller novels.

Thank you, Fully Booked for sending me a copy!

Find Me by Andre Aciman (Call Me By Your Name #2) Review

About the Book:

In this spellbinding exploration of the varieties of love, the author of the worldwide bestseller Call Me by Your Name revisits its complex and beguiling characters decades after their first meeting.

No novel in recent memory has spoken more movingly to contemporary readers about the nature of love than André Aciman’s haunting Call Me by Your Name. First published in 2007, it was hailed as “a love letter, an invocation . . . an exceptionally beautiful book” (Stacey D’Erasmo, The New York Times Book Review). Nearly three quarters of a million copies have been sold, and the book became a much-loved, Academy Award–winning film starring Timothée Chalamet as the young Elio and Armie Hammer as Oliver, the graduate student with whom he falls in love.

In Find Me, Aciman shows us Elio’s father, Samuel, on a trip from Florence to Rome to visit Elio, who has become a gifted classical pianist. A chance encounter on the train with a beautiful young woman upends Sami’s plans and changes his life forever.

Elio soon moves to Paris, where he, too, has a consequential affair, while Oliver, now a New England college professor with a family, suddenly finds himself contemplating a return trip across the Atlantic.

Aciman is a master of sensibility, of the intimate details and the emotional nuances that are the substance of passion. Find Me brings us back inside the magic circle of one of our greatest contemporary romances to ask if, in fact, true love ever dies.

Photo by Cerize Sicat

Rating:

2.75 / 5 🌟

Review:

I was excited to read this because I absolutely loved Call Me by Your Name. Andre Aciman knows how to play with words and your feelings. But I would have to say that I was disappointed with this one. Not because he wrote badly, but I think the plot was not how I wanted it to go.

For the first chapter of this book I was completely confused who the narrator was. I thought it was Elio as an older man, then it turns out to be Elio’s dad who fell in love with a woman young enough to be his older daughter. I find it funny how fast that shit went lol.

I just think that with all the things that happened, Elio and Oliver wouldn’t have ended with each other at all. And there were times they mentioned years that passed and then one moment they mentioned their age but doing mental math doesn’t seem to match with the years they mentioned previously. I think that it would have been better if both the protagonists in this novel did not end up together at all. Elio fell in love with a man who’s probably the same age as his dad. Even if you try not to think about it, the apple really does not fall far from the tree but at least, Elio had a few dates with him before introducing him to his family. Whatever happened to him after that, we don’t know.

Then there’s Oliver, who has a wife and I think two children. Before meeting up with Elio, he was still with his wife, but he was also attracted to two younger people who he was having a hard time deciding who he liked more. To me, that screams like a total ass. Imagine being in that situation and then deciding to go back to Italy to live his young life again with the boy he left 20 or so years ago.

This book just gave me a total headache. I wished he didn’t write this and left the story of those two alone in the first book lol. But in all honesty, Andre Aciman really writes beautiful quotes. If I ever get married, I’ll probably crack open one of his books and get some quotes to add to my wedding vow. Only happy quotes of course!

Favorite lines from the book:

“Everything in my life was merely prologue until now, merely delay, merely pastime, merely waste of time until I came to know you.”

“It’s just that the magic of someone new never lasts long enough. We only want those we can’t have. It’s those we lost or who never knew we existed who leave their mark. The others barely echo.”

“Each of us is like a moon that shows only a few facets to earth, but never its full sphere. Most of us never meet those who’ll understand our full rounded self. I show people only that sliver of me I think they’ll grasp.”

“Is it that you don’t like people, or that you just grow tired of them and can’t for the life of you remember why you ever found them interesting?”

“Some of us never jumped to the next level. We lost track of where we were headed and as a result stayed where we started.”

A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara

Synopsis:

Brace yourself for the most astonishing, challenging, upsetting, and profoundly moving book in many a season. An epic about love and friendship in the twenty-first century that goes into some of the darkest places fiction has ever traveled and yet somehow improbably breaks through into the light. Truly an amazement—and a great gift for its readers.

When four classmates from a small Massachusetts college move to New York to make their way, they’re broke, adrift, and buoyed only by their friendship and ambition. There is kind, handsome Willem, an aspiring actor; JB, a quick-witted, sometimes cruel Brooklyn-born painter seeking entry to the art world; Malcolm, a frustrated architect at a prominent firm; and withdrawn, brilliant, enigmatic Jude, who serves as their center of gravity. 

Over the decades, their relationships deepen and darken, tinged by addiction, success, and pride. Yet their greatest challenge, each comes to realize, is Jude himself, by midlife a terrifyingly talented litigator yet an increasingly broken man, his mind and body scarred by an unspeakable childhood, and haunted by what he fears is a degree of trauma that he’ll not only be unable to overcome—but that will define his life forever.

Rating:
5 / 5 🌟

Photo by Cerize Sicat

Review:

This was a book that I was scared to pick up for a very long time. Now, i’ve finally read and finished it. I knew it was going to be incredibly sad but damn, I never thought I could shed tears everyday after reading 30 pages. It took me a whole month to finish it because I can’t devour it without preparing myself mentally first. I had to watch funny animes to lift my mood up after finishing a chapter of it.

We get a glimpse of the Jude’s life and his friends. They’re struggle to success, to life, and practically to everything. The ending too was so heart wrenching but beautifully written. The details when the characters are talking about modeling houses, law, art, theater, and many more aren’t shallow at all and are well executed. I think Yanagihara did a lot of research for this book because it shows.

It’s true that what’s more terrifying in the world isn’t spirits or ghosts; it’s the race of men and what they can do. I’m so incredibly sad for Jude. What happened to him is so fucked up I can’t help but cry and curse every time. What’s worse is knowing that there are people across the globe that’s experiencing it too. We live in such a cruel world.

I don’t think I could ever read it again because it took a toll on me but I would highly recommend it to people looking for a sucker punch to the heart. It’s an incredible book through and through.

Favorite Quotes from the Book:

As you get older, you realized that really, there were very few people you truly wanted to be around for more than a few days at a time, and yet here you were with someone you wanted to be around for years, even if he was at his most opaque and confusing.

You won’t understand what I mean now, but someday you will: the only trick of friendship, I think, is to find people who are better than you are—not smarter, not cooler, but kinder, and more generous, and more forgiving—and then to appreciate them for what they can teach you, and to try to listen to them when they tell you something about yourself, no matter how bad—or good—it might be, and to trust them, which is the hardest thing of all. But the best, as well.

…things get broken, and sometimes they get repaired, and in most cases, you realize that no matter what gets damaged, life rearranges itself to compensate for your loss, sometimes wonderfully.

Fighting for Hope by Jazel L. Faith (Book 1 of Melting Hearts)

Rating:

2.75 / 5 ⭐

Synopsis:
Hope Valentino with a heart brimming with abhorrence and vengeance, she is set on fulfilling the solemn statement from a decade ago.
However, fate plans differently. Her firm belief on trust gradually withers when she meets Tyler Rivera. Only he can melt the glacial walls she built throughout years of mental and physical torment.

Review:
I got this book for free during its sale on Amazon.

In my honest opinion, I think the writing is good – the author clearly was able to express what she wanted to say. However, the plot and characters were kind of generic. I’ve read books and watched several movies/tv series that has the same scenarios and ending. Death of a family member/loved one > Practice Fighting > Avenge their Death.

Hope was not talking to anyone at school or anyone else and everyone thought she was mute. I just wished it was mentioned at least once that she knows sign language to make some rapport on the idea. It was also mentioned several times that she does not want to trust anyone because that’s what her father told her and she never trusted anyone for years. Yet she trusted Tyler after just a week of training.

I also noticed that the author liked to use high fallutine words. It was something I noted immediately and it threw me off. I thought it was only going to happen once or twice but it was done throughout the entire book. I don’t mind reading them and searching them up on a dictionary once in a while but I just think that it wasn’t friendly at all to put that many difficult words in a less than 300 paged book.

All in all, I just think this book wasn’t for me at all. The plot line could have been better. I enjoyed the part where the mother and her new lover killed Hope’s dad but that’s the only part that got me interested. I thought it was going to be a suspense-thriller book but I was wrong. I think it is such a huge achievement to write a book and have it published at such a young age. I congratulate you! I hope this review wouldn’t discourage you and I am really hoping you would write more. I just happen to enjoy a different genre of books. 😅

Finding Chika by Mitch Albom Review

Photo by Cerize Sicat

Synopsis:

Bestselling author Mitch Albom returns to nonfiction for the first time in more than a decade in this poignant memoir that celebrates Chika, a young Haitian orphan whose short life would forever change his heart.Chika Jeune was born three days before the devastating earthquake that decimated Haiti in 2010. She spent her infancy in a landscape of extreme poverty, and when her mother died giving birth to a baby brother, Chika was brought to The Have Faith Haiti Orphanage that Albom operates in Port Au Prince.With no children of their own, the forty-plus children who live, play, and go to school at the orphanage have become family to Mitch and his wife, Janine. Chika’s arrival makes a quick impression. Brave and self-assured, even as a three-year-old, she delights the other kids and teachers. But at age five, Chika is suddenly diagnosed with something a doctor there says, “No one in Haiti can help you with.”Mitch and Janine bring Chika to Detroit, hopeful that American medical care can soon return her to her homeland. Instead, Chika becomes a permanent part of their household, and their lives, as they embark on a two-year, around-the-world journey to find a cure. As Chika’s boundless optimism and humor teach Mitch the joys of caring for a child, he learns that a relationship built on love, no matter what blows it takes, can never be lost.Told in hindsight, and through illuminating conversations with Chika herself, this is Albom at his most poignant and vulnerable. Finding Chika is a celebration of a girl, her adoptive guardians, and the incredible bond they formed — a devastatingly beautiful portrait of what it means to be a family, regardless of how it is made.

Rating:

🌟🌟🌟🌟🌟 / 5 stars

Review:

This is heart-wrenching and my first 5 star read for 2020. I cried so much that my eyes were puffy when I went to work, and my co-worker asked why my eyes are swollen and I said, “Because I read Mitch Albom’s new book and I couldn’t stop crying last night”.

I loved how Mitch told Chika’s journey, starting from the very beginning until her last breath. It’s always so difficult to read about dying children because they have not experienced life to the fullest, and yet they are one of the strongest when it comes to battling life. And it is so heart breaking because no one should ever experience that. I can’t imagine the pain DIPG has given Chika. It’s amazing how much courage a child has. Just imagining all those hospital trip, surgeries, and medicine is enough to make an adult feel helpless but not Chika. For such a small body, she is radiating with courage. I always wondered if Mitch and Janine have children and this answered it. He told us how he was so focused on accepting jobs for the fear that no one would take him again, how they became stand in parents of their nephews and nieces, and how Janine cried on Christmas mornings. It was so raw and honest; it gave me a punch to the gut. I really appreciate that he included some of that private information about their life because it makes you understand it more.

All in all, this is a good book about life and the making of a small family. I would suggest you have a handkerchief ready when you read this book. It’s a breath of fresh air when I read his work; A break from all the murder-mystery, fiction, and fantasy books that I always gravitate to. He makes me cry most of the time, but there are always lessons and positivity in those pages which I always look for.

Book Recommendations

Hello guys! So several weeks ago I received a message in instagram asking if I have ay blogpost regarding my recommendations. I didn’t have any and I thought it was a really good idea to create a post that contains all of the Cerize Approved Books.

So I scavenged my goodreads and checked all of my read books. I decided to categorize it by genre so you could just skip to the ones that interests you. I hope this helps!

YA Contemporary Romance

By far the easiest genre to suggest so let’s start with this one. I used to be a sucker for meet-cute novels, enemies-turned-lovers, pretend boyfriend/girlfriend, etc. I enjoy having that ecstatic moment when there’s a really good scene between the love birds. That first touch, first kiss. Damn it gives you that warm, fluttery feeling when written right. So here are some of my favorites for YA Contemporary Romance:

• Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell : Of all her books, this is my absolute favorite. Nerdy love with spontaneous dancing and a sibling relationship that involves writing fanfic that strangely reminds me of Draco and Harry? *wink wink* Come on, that’s great!
• To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before Trilogy by Jenny Han : The fashion and baking and pretend lovers? Need I say more??
• Simon Vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli : Adorable and quirky book that contains great characters and screams THIS SHOULD BE A MOVIE in the plot line (and it did!!).
• Call Me By Your Name by Andre Aciman : Intense. This shit broke my heart.

YA Dystopian

The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins which I still love but is already heavily recommended by people, I decided not to include it here. If you liked that trilogy and enjoyed Divergent by Veronica Roth, then my friend, you are in for a way better ride.

I have to admit that my reading and interest in reading dystopian novels has come to a decline ever since the year I’ve read a tidal wave of books in this genre (i.e. 2014). But nontheless there’s a few that i’ve enjoyed and only TWO that I would definitely suggest to people.

• Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi : By far one of the most underrated dystopian series but this is so good! Fast paced, great characters and fantastic plot!

• Legend Trilogy by Marie Lu : A prodigy helplessly falls in love with a rebel while under mission and uncovers some deep shit the Republic has been hiding. Can you hear me sighing? Because I friggin love these kinds of stories.

YA Mental Health

For me, this is one of the hardest genre to read; Not because of the writing or the content, but because of the endings usually. They are incredibly devastating but at the same time opens up your mind to a lot of things that society’s afraid to talk about.

• The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky – Incredibly deep and heavy content.
• It’s Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini – Depression
• All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven – Depression
• Dreamland by Sarah Dessen – Physical abuse
• Stay by Deb Caletti – Physical abuse

Fantasy

These are quite unique in their own ways. I’m pretty sure you’ve heard most of these already.

• Grisha Trilogy by Leigh Bardugo
• Six of Crows Duology by Leigh Bardugo – Leigh’s best work by far. The characters she created is everything. The plot is amazing!
• Dream Catcher Duology by Elizabeth Knox – This is very different from anything I’ve ever read which I liked. It’s new and refreshing.
• Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan – Come on, this needs more hype. And the fans deserve the TV series we’ve all been begging for.
• The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman – Like Elizabeth Knox’s work, Neil Gaiman gives unique stories that are very interesting and great. He’s pretty awesome if I might say so myself.
• Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman
• More than This by Patrick Ness

Fantasy (Horror/Thriller)

Literal chills and couldn’t-sleep-at-night. I’m looking for that kind of fear and I was not disappointed!

• The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer Trilogy by Michelle Hodkin : What the actual fuck is happening to Mara?? HOLY CRAP.
• The Diviners series by Libba Bray (series still on going) : CREEPY AF and amazing timeline!!! It’s not your usual setup which I LOVED.
• The Raven Boys (Raven cycle #1) by Maggie Stiefvater : For someone who can’t handle the intense fear. You can start with this series

Historical Fiction

Cried my eyes out and educational shizz down below. Currently my favorite genre.

• All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr – Blind French girl made me nervous the entire novel.
• Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys – Prepare your tissues.

Retellings

I haven’t read much from this genre but the ones below are absolutely great of course!

• Wonder Woman : Warbringer by Leigh Bardugo : Well, the DC Icons series is great but for me this is the best one out of the three that I’ve read. If I have to rank them from best to worst, it would be Wonder Woman, Catwoman by Sarah J. Maas, and then and then Batman by Marie Lu. I haven’t read Superman yet, so wait for my review for that one!
• The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer – Disney meets Star Wars. FABULOUS!!

Classics

I know a lot of people do not like reading classics but I do, that’s why I’m putting this in the mix as well for people like me or for those who wanted to try reading something written by someone who’s long gone.

• The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde – Narcissist character which peacked my interest. Not to mention the quotable quotes page after page.
• Animal Farm by George Orwell
• The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• Lord of the Flies by William Golding – I thought this was a children’s book. I was so wrong.

Murder Mystery

My favorite genre of all time, hands down. Nothing beats a good bloody murder case.

• And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie – My favorite from Agatha Christie’s works.
• The Hound of the Baskervilles by Arthur Conan Doyle
• Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie
• The Cuckoo’s Calling (#1) and Silkworm (#2) by Cormoran Strike : I haven’t read the rest but I deeply enjoy the series.
• Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn : Damn, Amy Fucking Dune. That’s all I can say.
• Angels and Demons by Dan Brown : Seems weird that it’s here? Well, there are murders. And it’s a mystery!
• The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie

And those are my current book recommendations. Of course through time I will find new books that I love and the list will get longer and longer – hopefully.

Thank you so much for reading and I hope that my list would help you find something that you would love as well as I did. Happy reading!

Save the Date by Morgan Matson

Rating:

2.5 / 5 🌟

Synopsis:

Charlie Grant’s older sister is getting married this weekend at their family home, and Charlie can’t wait—for the first time in years, all four of her older siblings will be under one roof. Charlie is desperate for one last perfect weekend, before the house is sold and everything changes. The house will be filled with jokes and games and laughs again. Making decisions about things like what college to attend and reuniting with longstanding crush Jesse Foster—all that can wait. She wants to focus on making the weekend perfect.

The only problem? The weekend is shaping up to be an absolute disaster.

There’s the unexpected dog with a penchant for howling, house alarm that won’t stop going off, and a papergirl with a grudge.

There are the relatives who aren’t speaking, the (awful) girl her favorite brother brought home unannounced, and a missing tuxedo.

Not to mention the neighbor who seems to be bent on sabotage and a storm that is bent on drenching everything. The justice of the peace is missing. The band will only play covers. The guests are all crazy. And the wedding planner’s nephew is unexpectedly, distractingly…cute.

Over the course of three ridiculously chaotic days, Charlie will learn more than she ever expected about the family she thought she knew by heart. And she’ll realize that sometimes, trying to keep everything like it was in the past means missing out on the future.

Review:

THIS CONTAINS MAJOR SPOILERS

I love weddings and I come from a big family so I was actually really looking forward to reading this. Charlie is the main character and it was written in her POV, it started off with her and Jesse – her long time crush – on a couch at his house and I knew off the bat that they wouldn’t end up together and as soon as Bill came, I knew my hunches were right.

From the very moment I started reading this, I knew something was off. I could have read this in a day or two but it took me so long to finish it because my heart wasn’t very into it. It felt like I was reading another generic novel that has a generic plot line. In my personal opinion, there were far too many unnecessary scenes and interractions that made the story drag. The amount of disasters that happened in this novel was too much for my taste. She could have gotten away with the wedding coordinator running off and messing with the event and stuff to make it seem more believable, but to top it off with wrong suit for the groom + no judge to conduct the ceremony + power outtage + terrible weather + cat and dog set loose and destroyed the cake an hour before it’s served AND a family feud in the middle of the event. I just think it’s just too much.

Regarding the comic strip, I have to agree with Mike that their mom made their lives public without even consulting them. She re-made them with how she wanted her family to be like. Of all characters in the book, it felt as if she was a ghost – not exactly having any defining characteristic or flavor at all.

Charlie grew up with the comic strip and she was blinded by it, always thinking that everything is fine and that there’s nothing to worry about. I hated that about her and how she acted around Brooke. I feel so bad for the girl for how everybody treated her. She deserves so much better! Don’t even get me started on how Morgan Matson ended her part in the story.

For me, it’s kind of frustrating that I was actually hoping to find a chapter that would give me a jolt and find the rest of the book so exciting but it just left me disappointed. This is my first Morgan Matson book and I’m thinking if I should give her other books a shot. What do you think?