Review: It Ends with Us

It Ends with Us by Colleen Hoover
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"It's easy when we're on the outside to believe that we would walk away without a second thought if a person mistreated us. It's easy to say we couldn't continue to love someone who mistreats us when we aren't the ones feeling the love of that person. When you experience it firsthand, it isn't so easy to hate the person who mistreats you when most of the time they're your godsend. "


So much thoughts going on in my mind right now I fear I might not give an organised review to this book. First thing first, CoHo has certainly outdone herself. She wrote something so impactful I don't think I can get over it at least for a few days. Damn her when all I asked for was a happy-tearjerking romance novel and she gave me a domestic abuse handbook. Not until the last page of this book I felt the urge to hug CoHo and tell her I'm so proud of her of every words she's written and inspired.

This is an important book for all women especially. I feel the need to tell everyone to read it. No, I am not under any circumstances experience any kind of abuse but I felt into the trap. I was in truth madly in love with Ryle and hence, I'd fallen into the massive trap. The moment when my subconscious quietly whispering behind my mind, telling Lily that she should forgive Ryle was the point when I knew I'd fallen into this goddamn deception. I couldn't deny how wrong this idea could be. I knew somewhere in the back of my mind, Lily shouldn't EVER go back to Ryle. But love can do you wrong. Crazy as it seems, I should put a stop on Ryle in the first casserole incident but I chose to forgive as Lily did. At this point, I don't think I'm making any sense because I'm speaking as if I'm Lily. But, I guess at various different points, many women are in Lily's shoes - they're Lily or worst, Lily's mum.

That's why I think this is an important book. It sure as hell isn't like one of CoHo's usuals. For the first time ever, I didn't like her books for her romance but the message she's bringing.

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Review: Killing Sarai

Killing Sarai by J.A. Redmerski
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

HOLY CRAP. Can I give this a 6-stars instead?

I do not know how to begin review about this book (or series). IT'S (in this occasion, FUCKING) AMAZING. I couldn't put this down, I clenched my fist the whole time reading every pages, every lines. The story was so incredibly fucked-up in a way, but you just can't help reading it.

Warning: It contains very serious social issues and adult contents.

I ran out of words describing how well written this is and I have yet to finish till the latest series. (I'm should be ashamed.) The plot is well crafted, every pages keeps you on the edge. The character's survivor instinct drags your soul out. You couldn't help to feel for her, worried endlessly for her, knowing in every turning page danger would fall on her.

It has been a while since I ever read something so incredible and satisfying. Definitely recommend to any readers who enjoy thriller, dark romance and assassination topics.

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Review: Still Here: A Novel

Still Here: A Novel by Lara Vapnyar
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

"The rest is silence. But does it have to be?"


I want to read a novel but all I read was the characters bitching about other people's lives. It was hard to get through the novel, I'm being utterly honest. It was hard not to think this is a novel instead of a diary of Vica, Vadik, Sergey and Regina. The story was so plain, mostly because it's filled with flashbacks and monologues.

"Now I think it's kind of inevitable, like one of the expected phases in your life. You get born, you go to school you get a job, you go to school, you get a job, you get married, you get cancer, you die."


Well, great job in summarising your own novel within a line conversation in your novel. All I ever read was death, death, death and death. I couldn't bring myself to connect to the characters. Their personalities were annoying, their lives were boring and even their names were confusing.

The only plus point about this novel is that the writings are fairly well done. Lara Vapnyar certainly has a "Jane Austen" vibe. I couldn't help myself highlighting some of her lines.

"No matter how misguided, that was real love."


Honestly, there isn't much to talk about. Sorry for my rants but when I read I am all about the story and this disappoints me. There isn't a point which push me to continue reading it except my needs to write a review for it.

It was a plain read.

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Review: Confess

Confess by Colleen Hoover
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Contemplating between 4 and 5 stars.

Colleen Hoover almost never disappoints me until this book. I was slightly blown away for how bland is the ending. I believe she can do so much more for this book because I love the starting. Don't get me wrong, I don't dislike this book but the ending has taken me aback. The complicates seem to be resolved pretty easily and not to mention, Owen seems too good to be true. Hey, nobody wants to read a real-life "fiction". :D

But but but. Man, I love the art aspect of this book. The confessions and art pieces totally blown me away. I love the flirtations between Owen and Auburn. They made me flutters and feels good all over again. Plus, the whole feels surrounding the book just blew me away even more. Don't you just like it when a book brings you to another world entirely and you don't wanna come back to reality? Okay, I may be exaggerating a little but the whole atmosphere about this book was almost indescribable. I love it so much. I feel that everything I said here doesn't do the book justice, so read it yourself.

I was so confident in giving it a 5 stars but half way through the book it blew off. But I still highly recommend this book.

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Review: Searching for Someday

Searching for Someday by Jennifer Probst
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

"...if he had a heart left to give, it would've broken right there."

I never thought I would love this book as much as now. Clearly, I didn't have a very high expectations due to the previous few romance I've read these past few weeks. This came too much as a surprise and it caught my heart, wrenching in an unspeakable way.

Jennifer Probst writes generously, giving away too much informations yet didn't fail to bore me in reading. This book speaks a lot for not only the main couple of the story but draws attention to the other side characters. I felt drawn to Kate's girl friends as much as I love Kate and Slade. It's not just a book about romance, but friendship and other qualities. I love how every aspects seem to be well balance.

The romance was, to me, very believable . Even those sex scenes didn't make me cringe in disgust. The relationship between Kate and Slade was built up slowly and Jennifer Probst has done a wonderful job in both hero and heroine's character development. The little magic "touch" effect was pretty dainty too.

I would say I'm pretty impressed with this book and definitely worth the read, if you're looking into romance genre. I've read my fair share of this genre so I'm confident in my recommendation.

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Being Me (2nd of Inside Out trilogy) by Lisa Renee Jones

THIS REVIEW WILL CONTAIN SPOILERS OF THE FIRST BOOK AND YEAH.

This second book actually did answer all my questions and now I can't figure out what will be written in the final book. Oh, by the way, I just found out that there will be a 4th book, yet, they said it's a trilogy. This series is opted for Starz cable TV so maybe the author decided to write more for the drama. Apart from that, I know there's another spin-off series regarding to Rebecca's diary and her submissive life. Just check out on the author's website. Apparently, there're many side-stories to this series, such as Chris POV, Mark's etc. 

Back to the review. 

I did have an important message to convey regarding this book. "If you want to know what happen to Rebecca, read this book." It's that simple. I wouldn't say I will recommend (or not) this book but if you've read the first book and need to know what happen to Rebecca, read this book. Period. The only message I want to convey to the readers. Unless you're a big fan of Chris and Sara, you will just love this book the same as the first. 

This book can actually be shorten to less than 200 pages if 2/3 of Chris/Sara's arguments were cut short. I'm complaining it's too unnecessary and it drags the story for no particular reason. It's not bringing out any issue regarding to the main story of Rebecca gone missing. Maybe I've missed out the point that Rebecca is not the main focus here but HEY Y'ALL, that's the only thing which intrigued me to read this series. So, it's definitely important to me. 

Most of time I don't really understand what the hell was C/S arguing about. They just go forth and back about pushing each other away and coming back together because "I love you; you love me". Sara kept complaining that Chris keeps thing to himself and not opened up for her. Okay. I get her but she didn't need to say it over and over again. OMG, it's agonizing. More than half of the book they were arguing-then-make-out then beat about the bush. I don't know if these are things which suppose to be happening in a real relationship (much of doubts and contradictions). I just don't think it's that crucial to repeat them over and over again throughout the book.

However, one of the things I do like about this book is that more Mark is shown. Like Mark is finally gotten his side-character script and acting out. He is suddenly EVERYWHERE. I don't really know why but I was quite fond of Mark, maybe he's just mysterious and I need to know more about him and his other side (the not-dominant side). But one of the part where he and his friend Ryan were trying to make (rape?) Sara forgets about Chris really disappoints me, regards to Mark's character. 

Anyway, coming to the most exciting last part of the book. (How long I took to drag through the book to reach here? God, you'll never know.) The author dragged 2/3 of the book and rushed through the last part. But the last part - I didn't see it coming. WOAH. Ava. WOAH. I'm not good at predicting books' endings so WOAH. Definitely a score to that. 

The last part gained back a star for the book, so 3 stars will do.

Summer

Review of the first book - If I Were You

To get on to this steaming-sexy yet thrilling series: 

If I Were You / Being Me / Revealing Us / No In Between 

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

I've been wanting to read this book ever since I saw it from songofstyle's instagram post. Yes, I am always introduced with new books like that.

Synopsis (from Goodreads): On a warm summer morning in North Carthage, Missouri, it is Nick and Amy Dunne’s fifth wedding anniversary. Presents are being wrapped and reservations are being made when Nick’s clever and beautiful wife disappears. Husband-of-the-Year Nick isn’t doing himself any favors with cringe-worthy daydreams about the slope and shape of his wife’s head, but passages from Amy's diary reveal the alpha-girl perfectionist could have put anyone dangerously on edge. Under mounting pressure from the police and the media—as well as Amy’s fiercely doting parents—the town golden boy parades an endless series of lies, deceits, and inappropriate behavior. Nick is oddly evasive, and he’s definitely bitter—but is he really a killer?  

This is an adult fiction thriller written in two different points of view, Nick's and Amy's diary entry. The writings was absolutely fluent and the style was just amazing. I did read books with double POVs and it would go wrong if the writings were bad. The most important thing for double POVs is that the views should not overlap because it will bore the reader, in my opinion. But, Gillian Flynn did an amazing job with double POVs. The characters' view did not clash with one another and both perspectives brought out the flow of the plot.

When I first read the synopsis, I'm intrigued. I was so excited to dive into this book. However, first one-third of the book really bored me with the marital life and all which I can't really relate to. So, that part dragged my reading process. Not to mention, this was my 3rd book for Regan's shitihavetoomanybooks read-a-thon and I failed it with this book because I was stucked in that part.

However (again), after I got through the (to-me-it's-boring) part, the rest was brilliant. The rest basically returned this book to my 5-stars list. The plot twist was really brilliant (ran out of description) and wicked (quoted from a review on the front cover).

The character development. WOAH. Nick was a classic bastard husband and you will feel like pulling him out of the book and slap him upside-down for being Nick Dunne. (can't really say much for a spoiler-free review) But, he changed, from a bastard to a seemingly psychopath (my view). I like the physiological aspect of the novel. The first page of the book, Nick described his wife's head/skull. It seems really eerie. The feeling.

Overall, this book is amazing. You will agree with me if you read this book. TRUST ME, YOU WILL. For fans (ME) of thriller-detective-mystery type of books, this is definitely your choice of read. But, even if you're not a fan of these types of genres, you will also enjoy this book. It was mind-blowing.

5 GLOWING STARS on Goodreads,
Summer

Venture into this book: Gone Girl (I can't find my version but this has the same cover)

FOR YOUR INFORMATION, this book is coming out as a movie the coming October 3rd (according to the trailer). Read this before the movie is out and you won't regret it.

adapted from Youtube

SPOILER SECTION:

If I Were You by Lisa Renee Jones

original post

- SYNOPSIS LINK -

First book of the Inside Out Trilogy. An adult erotic thriller so if you’re not around the age and mentality, just be aware. 

I picked up this book all thanks to the paint-brush pen free gift. & thanks topolandbananas20 / xtinemay1920 for her hilarious booktube videos. 

First off, for people who made comparisons of this book with 50 Shades of Gray, you got the wrong idea. I agree that both books are about BDSM but the plots were greatly distinct in every scene. (maybe not the rich and sexy part. LOL)

Skipping through all sexual scenes, IIWY started off being captivating, intriguing and mysterious. That keeps me from reading it to till the end. 

Okay, how do I start?

I like the detective moments where Sara (the main character) vows to solve this Rebecca’s mystery. First 100 pages (around there) of the book, Sara was still very keen on seeking out for Rebecca but the detective instinct sort of stopped though out the middle of the book. Then later, only comes back at the near end of the book. & I didn’t like it. I wanted to know about Rebecca, her mysterious life, her encounter with that dominant ‘master’ and where the hell is she? 

Agree or not, through out the book, I believe all readers are constantly questioning - Mark or Chris, is the man with Rebecca? If you’re not, what are you reading then?

At first, I really thought it would be Mark. He’s arrogance and fetish with “punishments”. But as the story unfolds, I kinda shift the burden to Chris. So, I can’t be sure. OHOHOH, I did came up with this theory of Chris and Mark are actually working together to victimise on Sara. That would be picked up on the part where they constantly have cockfights with each other. & Ava is another mysterious character. & Elle and her fiancé. So much of mystery going on I had to get the rest of the trilogy. 

Note on the plot twist where Sara was actually a daughter of a rich established businessman. That was a real surprise. (Not to mention, surprises in books are good.) 

[EDIT A LITTLE] I totally forgotten to mention about the artsy-futsy settings. Yes, it levels up the whole mood of the book! I really like it when the characters were discussing about arts and wines, it’s like I’m learning some extra knowledge. 

To be honest, kinky BDSM erotica is not my cup of tea but the thriller aspect is. If someone who kindly message me on the spoiler of this trilogy I would be so glad. Seriously. I don’t like this cliffhanger feels. Even if I had to buy the rest of the 2 books, it will take weeks for them to arrive. 

The reason for 4-stars on Goodreads. There are some parts where I really couldn’t accept it. I was swearing through those moments. Yeah so. 

Find Rebecca,

Summer

To Get into the Inside Out Trilogy:

If I Were You / Being Me / Revealing Us