Puddle Jumping by Amber L. Johnson: Book Review

Synopsis: When it comes to love there’s no such thing as conventional.

Everyone thinks Colton Neely is special.

Lilly Evans just thinks he’s fascinating.

Once friends when they were younger, their bond is cut short due to her accident prone nature and they go their separate ways. Years later, they meet again and Lilly learns that there is something special about the boy she once knew, but she has no idea what it all means. And she’s not sure if she’s ready to find out.

When he walks through the corridor of her school the first day of her senior year, she knows that it’s time to get to know the real Colton Neely. The more she learns, the deeper she falls.

Their friendship grows into love, even as Colton does not express it in words. But one decision threatens to break down the world that Lilly has tried so hard to integrate into and she must figure out if the relationship can survive if they are apart.

Date Published: June 29, 2014

Publisher: Self-published.

No. of pages: 121 pages

Date Read: October 2014

Honest. Innocent. Sweet sprinkled with a sparkle of uniqueness.
Lilly’s voice is like no other, it was consistent, precise, it is like a voice I would love to read over and over.The way the book portrayed the characters was really amenable. There was truth and sincerity, there was coyness and heart. It was a mixture of everything amazing.

It was a breath of fresh air, it was the cold side of the pillow, it was a newly laundered bed sheets, it is a cup of tea on a cold night, it was everything that will make you feel good and then some. It was a book that celebrates life and not be bothered by the differences because in the end was the heart wants that matters.It was exhilarating as it was heartfelt.I could go on and on with endless comparisons and adjectives, but this book is just one of the best out there. It was never pretentious, it is what it is, and it was nothing short of perfect to me.

I love how the story was well thought of, I love how unconventional it is, not like those cliche type of books with one hell of a hot guy and a not-so popular girl, where the girl has dark secrets and the guy is a bad boy and they will eventually fall in love, no, it is not this book. This book is different from every book recently popping out these days. It painted love into this kind of surreal and magical way, that yes indeed love comes in different forms. It is something you would want to reread and not get tired of the whole story.

I cried and laughed, with this book I was able to reach that sense of satisfaction. Colton and Lilly’s story will stay with me to the end of days.

Can I give it more than five stars???

How To Love by Katie Cotugno

 

Synopsis:

Before:
Reena Montero has loved Sawyer LeGrande for as long as she can remember: as natural as breathing, as endless as time. But he’s never seemed to notice that Reena even exists until one day, impossibly, he does. Reena and Sawyer fall in messy, complicated love. But then Sawyer disappears from their humid Florida town without a word, leaving a devastated—and pregnant—Reena behind.

After:
Almost three years have passed, and there’s a new love in Reena’s life: her daughter, Hannah. Reena’s gotten used to being without Sawyer, and she’s finally getting the hang of this strange, unexpected life. But just as swiftly and suddenly as he disappeared, Sawyer turns up again. Reena doesn’t want anything to do with him, though she’d be lying if she said Sawyer’s being back wasn’t stirring something in her. After everything that’s happened, can Reena really let herself love Sawyer LeGrande again?

In this breathtaking debut, Katie Cotugno weaves together the story of one couple falling in love—twice.

Date Published: October 1, 2013

Publisher: Balzer + Bray

No. of Pages: 389 pages

Date Read: November 2014

REVIEW

Chaotic and Complicated.

Sulking from the loss of someone you thought you will have forever. Starting from square one yet again. The feeling of having the weight of the world put on your already fragile shoulders. The feeling of the universe conspiring to make you sad and miserable. All that and more. That was what this book has been trying to let out from the blurb down to the very end. I get the message it was trying to send across. However a bad boy and a good girl falling for each other seemed to be too mediocre for me. Yes it was realistic, but there was something missing that I cannot quite put my finger into.

Also, I had an issue with the Before and After format (is that what you call it?) It is like there was this one chapter that everything was building up and then all of a sudden there was a shift to the time frame. The momentum was gone. Poof! It became flat and kind of anticlimactic. I was more frustrated than eager to know what’s going to happen next. Maybe the fact that I had high hopes for this book contributed to me being a little disappointed in more ways than one. And the characters, don’t get me started with Sawyer. “Oh Sawyer, oh Sawyer” was what I have been blurting out every chapter. There may or may not be some pulling of my hair for the lack of right words to show how I am affected by the characters, their decisions and all, especially Reena. There are parts that I wished turned out differently. There are words that I wished the characters never said.

All in all it was a good read. I liked the book but not really loved it to the extent of shoving it to someone else’s throat. One thing I am happy about this book is it was beautifully written, I was blown away by how the author was able to formulate such sentences. The beauty of the words written was never lost on me. And yes, if you’ll be asking me if I will read another book by this author, I definitely would.

Rating: 

“…I hate myself for letting him know that I still think about him, that I carry him around inside my skin.”

Bookmarks Are Not Dead

So in a reading world where e-readers dominate over physical copies, bookmarks are set aside. Well not in my world! (Oh my god I sounded so corny, haha) So yep, presenting these lovely bookmarks. My dear cousin made them for me! 🙂

Harry Potter themed bookmarks! My favorite!

Don’t You just Love custom made bookmarks. Hahah I feel so legit using them. And yes, the one in the middle is my mantra haha!

Aside from these custom made bookmarks I also collect bookmarks from Book Depository.

If you’re lucky, one of your orders will contain one of their cool bookmarks.

It is fun collecting bookmarks as it is fun collecting books! Show me your bookmarks! I tag anyone who sees this! Bye!

Book Wishlist

UPDATED: May 02, 2018

It would be fun to strike out one of these books. 🙂

1. Public Library by Ali Smith
2. The Bluest Eye by Toni Morrison
3. The View from Castle Rock by Alice Munro
4. The Sacred Lies of Minnow Bly by Stephanie Oakes 
5. Mr. Fox by Helen Oyeyemi
6. Harry Potter and The Sorcerer’s Stone Illustrated Edition
7. Naked by David Sedaris
8. What’s Not Yours is Not Your by Helen Oyeyemi
9. Boy Snow Bird by Helen Oyeyemi
10. We Are All Feminist by Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche
11. One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid
12. After I do by Taylor Jenkins Reid
13. Forever Interrupted by Taylor Jenkins Reid
14. Maybe In Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid
15. Swear on This Life by Renee Carlino
16. Nowhere But Here by Renee Carlino
17. The Crown’s Game by Everlyn Skye
18. The First Fifteen Lives of Harry August by Claire North
19. The Nightingale by Kristin Hannah
20. Prayers for The Stolen by Jennifer Clement
21. Delta of Venus by Anais Nin
22. Little Birds by Anais Nin
23. The Waves by Virginia Woolf
24. The Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit Leather-bound Boxed set
25. I was Told There’d be Cake by Sloane Crosley
26. Can’t and Won’t by Lydia Davis
27. The Vegetarian by Han Kang
28. Human Acts by Han Kang
29. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
30. A Darker Shade of Magic by VE Schwab
31. A Gathering of Shadows by VE Schwab
32. Vicious by VE Schwab
33. All My Puny Sorrow by Miriam Toews
34. A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
35. Accidental by Ali Smith
36. A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
37. And Again by Jessica Chiarella
38. The Last Unicorn by Peter S. Beagle
39. A History of Love by Nicole Krauss
40. The Wild Girl by Kate Forsyth
41. The Interesting by Meg Wolitzer
42. The Wild Flowers of Baltimore by Rob Roensch
43. Furiously Happy by Jenny Lawson
44. Residence of Earth by Pablo Neruda
45. On The Edges of Vision by Helen McClary
46. Killing and Dying by Adrian Tomine
47. At The Mouth of The River of Bees by Kij Johnson
48. How to Breathe Underwater by Julie Arringer
49. Uprooted by Naomi Novik
50. Farseer Trilogy by Robin Hobb
51. Fairytales for Wilde Girls by Allyse Near
52. Rebel Spring by Meghan Rhodes
53. Gathering Darkness by Meghan Rhodes
54. Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge
55. Grasshopper Jungle by Andrew Smith
56. Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
57. Republic of Thieves by Scott Lynch
58. Mud Vein by Tarryn Fisher
59. The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson
60. I am Malala by Malala Yousafzai
61. A Conjuring of Light by VE Schwab
62. Haunted by Chuck Palahniuk
63. 100 Sideways Miles by Andrew Smith
64. Tiger’s Destiny by Colleen Houck
65. Rites of Passage by Joy Hensley
66. Making Faces by Amy Harmon
67. All Graphic Novels of A Song of Ice and Fire Series by George R.R. Martin
68. Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov
69. Doomed by Chuck Palahniuk
70. The Beautiful One by Chuck Palahniuk
71. The Law of Moses by Amy Harmon
72.  Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
73.  Rogue by George R.R. Martin
74. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness
75. The Husband’s Secret by Moriarty
76. Dark Places by Gillian Flynn
77. The Gold Finch by Donna Tart
78. The Magician by Lev Grossman
79. Tigerlily by Jody Lynn Anderson
80. Bronze Horseman by Paulina Simons
81. Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
82. Burial Rites by Hannah Kent
83. People in The Trees by Hanya Yanagihara
84. Love & Misadventure by Lang Leav
85. Naked Human by Christopher Poindexter
86. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
87. Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk
88. Burnt Tongues by Chuck Palahniuk
89. Bossy Pants by Tina Fey
90. The Good Girl by Mary Kubica
91. Alice in The Wonderland (Barnes and Noble edition)
92. How to Be A Woman by Caitlin Moran
93. Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson
94. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
95. The Ask and The Answer by Patrick Ness
96. More Than This by Patrick Ness
97. Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness
98. Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrelle by Susan Clarke
99. Pirate’s Wish by Cassandra Rose Clarke
100. No Matter the Wreckage by Sarah Kay
101. B by Sarah Kay
102. Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor
103. Chasers of The Light by Tyler Knott Gregson
104. Tender is the Night by F. Scott Fitzgerald
105. In the Darkest Corner by Emily Haynes
106. All The Words Are Yours by Tyler Knott Gregson
107. Waiting for Bluebeard by Helen Ivory
108. American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
109. The Lush and The Architect by Matt Baker
110. What We Talk About When We Talk About Love by Raymond Carver
111. Beginners by Raymond Carver
112. Elephant by Raymond Carver
113. On The Road by Jack Kerouac
114. Outlander by Diana Gabaldon
115. Love, Rosie by Cecilia Ahern
116. The Incendiary by Chris Cleave
117. Poems of Edgar Allan Poe HB
118. Queen of the Tearling by Ericka Johnson
119. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn
120. Covet by JR Ward
121. Trainspotting by Irvine Welsch
122. Theft of Swords by Michael J. Sullivan
123. Yes Please by Amy Poehler
124. The Shock of the Fall by Nathan Filer
125. Twenty Love Poems and A Song of Despair by Pablo Neruda
126. Ariel by Sylvia Plath
127. Selected Poems by T.S. Eliot
128.  Poems of Ee Cummings
129. A Farewell to Arms by Ernest Hemingway
130. Slaughter House Five by Kurt Vonnegut
131. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste NG
132. Racing Hummingbirds by Jeanann Varlee
133. Essays in Love by Alain De Botton
134. A Natural History of Dragons by  Marie Brennan.
135. I’ll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios
136. Saga Vol.1
137. Poems by Emily Dickinson
138. Collected Tales and Poems by Edgar Allan Poe
139. Daughter of Smoke and Bone in hardcover (boxed set)
140. The Crane Wife by Patrick Ness
141. The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
142. A Room of One’s Own by Virginia Woolf
143. Selected Poems of Virginia Woolf
144. The Leaves of Grass by Walt Whitman
145. Forbidden by Tabitha Suzama
146. The Wrath and The Dawn by Renee Ahdieh
147. Bad Romeo by Leisa Rayven
148. The Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb
149. Trumpet by Jackie Kay
150. Men Explain Things to Me and other Essays by Rebecca Solnit
151. B is for Bad Poetry by Pamela August Russell
152. Anatomy of American Soldier by Harry Parker
153. Bad Feminist by Roxanne Gay
154. Girl Meets Boy by Ali Smith
155. Public Library by Ali Smith
156. A Wilful Disregard by Lena Andersson
157. Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi
158. The Gracekeepers by Kirsty Logan
159. The Gap of Time by Jeannette Winterson
160. The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood
161. Ham on Rye by Charles Bukowski
162. The Girls by Emma Cline
163. The Days of Abandonment by Ella Ferrante
164. Something Borrowed by Emily Giffin
165.  Animal Farm by George Orwell
166. Clipped Wings by Helena Hunting
167. Inked Armor By Helena Hunting
168. S by JJ Abrams
169. How to be A Woman by Caitlin Moran 
170.  Marrow by Tarryn Fisher
171. Black Butterfly by RM Drake
172. End of Days by Susan Ee
173. The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
174. New York Trilogy by Paul Auster
175. Sunset Park by Paul Auster
176. Game of Thrones by George RR Martin
177. A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
178. Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf
179. The Miniaturist by Jessie Burton
180. The Muse by Jessie Burton
181. This Side of Paradise by F. Scott Fitzgerald
182. White Teeth by Zadie Smith
183. Speak by Laurie Halse Andersen
184. Courage: Poems for Gutsy Girls by Sarah Kay
185. Since You’ve Been Gone by Morgan Matson
186. Jamaican Inn by Daphne Du Maurier
187.  Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
188. Stranger by Albert Camus
189. The Outsiders by SE Hinton
190. Flowers in the Attic by VC Andrews
191. Arabian Nights
192. Complete Sherlock Holmes
193. Birthday Letters by Ted Hughes
194. The Awakening by Kate Chopin
195. Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close by Jonathan Safran Foer
196. The Hurt by Tabitha Suzama
197. The Yellow Wall-Paper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman
198. Will you Please Be Quiet by Raymond Carver
199. Poems of Oscar Wilde
200. After Henry by Joan Didion
201. A Thousand Mornings by Mary Oliver
202. 3 AM Heartbreak Material by Marissa Crane
203. The Art of Sleeping Alone by Sophie Fontanel
204. Recipes for Sad Women by Hector Abad
205. Poems Anne Sexton
206. Why I wake Early by Mary Oliver
207. Illuminae by Amie Kauffman
208. Complete Poems of Ernest Hemingway
209. Poems the Make Grown Men Cry
210. All the Odes by Pablo Neruda
211. The Heart of Betrayal by Mary E. Pearson
212. The Grown Up by Gillian Flynn
213. The First Bad Man by Miranda July
214. No One Belongs Here More Than You by Miranda July
215. Heartless by Marissa Meyer
216. The Road by Cormac McCarthy
217. Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman
218. A Knight Of The Seven Kingdoms by George RR Martin
219. The Yellow Wall Paper by Charlotte Gilman
220. You by Caroline Kepnes
221. Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
222. Redeployment by Phil Klay
223.  This Shattered World by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
224.  Their Fractured Light by Amie Kaufman and Meagan Spooner
225. The Martian by Andy Weir
226.  Paper Lantern by Stuart Dybek
227.  The Receiver of Many by Rachel Alexander
228.  F*ck Love by Tarryn Fisher
229.  The Voyage and the Basilisk by Marie Brennan
230.  The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
231.  The Secret History by Donna Tart
232.  Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco
233. The Virgin Suicides by Jeffrey Eugenides
234. Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides
235. The Devils Mode by Anthony Burgess
236. Very Good Lives by JK Rowling
237. The Lord of The Rings Leatherbound Boxed Set
238.  Boy Snow Bird by Helen Oyeyemi
239.  The Hours by Michael Cunningham
240. We are all Completely Beside Ourselves
241. A Wild Swan by Michael Cunningham
242. Rebel of The Sands by Alwyn Hamilton
243. Milk & Honey by Rupi Kaur
244. Fates and Furies by Lauren Kristoff
245. Love Poems by Pablo Neruda
246. It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover
247. Callum and Harper by Fisher Amelie
248. Josh and Hazel’s Guide to Not Dating by Christina Lauren
249. After You by Jojo Moyes
250. Girl, Stolen by April Henry
251. Girl with Many Gifts
252. Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
253. The Hating Game by Sally Thorne
254. All the Ugly and Wonderful Things
255. Into The Water by Paula Hawkins
256. Home Alone by

Please God Let it Be Herpes by Carlos Kotkin

Synopsis: Humorist-writer-mammal Carlos Kotkin is lucky in love-if lucky in love means he’s had enough horrible, pathetic, and downright bizarre dating experiences to write a book. His trouble with females usually begins upon opening his mouth.

Here, Carlos shares his ups and mostly downs of bachelorhood, including romantic conquests with a slew of childhood crushes, insane yogis, a Playboy vixen, a STD host, the flaky, the deaf, and the just plain dumb. His unique mating style is not to be duplicated, but it will definitely make readers laugh-and want to get tested ASAP.

Date Published: March 6, 2012

Publisher: NAL Trade

No of Pages: 304

Date Read: March 2014

REVIEW

Funny and witty.

It was the kind of book that you would want handy after you have read a life-shattering kind of book. It has that hilarious tone to it, not taking life too seriously. I won’t lie it did make me laugh out loud, to the point that whenever I remember a scene from the book I will literally laugh out of the blue. I had to admit I read this during one of my darkest days, which I was pretty sure I was close to having depression, but this book actually did something good to me. Thanks to the wit and sometimes laugh-until-your-stomach-hurts dilemmas of the author. And yes, it was really the title that got me!

Rating: 

Captive in The Dark by CJ Roberts

Synopsis: Caleb is a man with a singular interest in revenge. Kidnapped as a young boy and sold into slavery by a power-hungry mobster, he has thought of nothing but vengeance. For twelve years he has immersed himself in the world of pleasure slaves searching for the one man he holds ultimately responsible. Finally, the architect of his suffering has emerged with a new identity, but not a new nature. If Caleb is to get close enough to strike, he must become the very thing he abhors and kidnap a beautiful girl to train her to be all that he once was.

Eighteen-year-old Olivia Ruiz has just woken up in a strange place. Blindfolded and bound, there is only a calm male voice to welcome her. His name is Caleb, though he demands to be called Master. Olivia is young, beautiful, naïve and willful to a fault. She has a dark sensuality that cannot be hidden or denied, though she tries to accomplish both. Although she is frightened by the strong, sadistic, and arrogant man who holds her prisoner, what keeps Olivia awake in the dark is her unwelcome attraction to him.

WARNING: This book contains very disturbing situations, dubious consent, strong language, and graphic violence.

Date Published: July 20, 2011

Publisher: Self-published.

Series: The Dark Duet

No. of Pages: 267 pages

Date Read: June 2014

REVIEW:

Let me gather my thoughts first, I seem to have lost it somewhere in the book. I had to pause for a while to come back to my senses.

Okay. (Inhale, exhale)

That was a tough one! I don’t really know what exactly to feel. Should I feel enraged? Should I feel depressed? Should I feel happy?. It was all jacked up emotions plummeting inside me, and I kind of hate it and love it at the same time. This book cut me open letting me bleed with too much raw emotions I can barely handle. It feels like there is this heavy load placed in my chest that I just couldn’t get off me no matter how I want to. But one thing I am very certain of, this book is too heavy to bear. I had to catch my breath every single chapter, I gasped, my heart went into erratic beating, I was at the edge of my seat and at some parts I was speechless and dumbfounded. I was like Livvie who was too confused. And I swear, I have never felt such kind of roller coaster of emotions for the longest time. This book is anything but mediocre. This book CAPTIVATED me in a hundred different ways.

However I fully understand that this book is not easily for everyone, some may hate it with so much passion, some may love it like treasured jewel. On my part I am kind of in the middle, it was really a love-hate relationship. But what important was the book’s capability to suck you in, to engulf you into a wholly different world. I for one, felt really dirty the whole time I was reading it, but that was what made this book good, it can give you the weirdest of emotions yet you would still want to know what will happen in the end. And if I may add this book haunted me for days.
Now please, give me a happy book.

RATING: 

“Love. What the hell did that word even mean? It got tossed around so flippantly, by everyone.”

With This Heart by R.S. Grey

Synopsis: If someone had told me a year ago that I was about to fall in love, go on an epic road trip, ride a Triceratops, sing on a bar, and lose my virginity, I would have assumed they were on drugs.

Well, that is, until I met Beckham.

Beck was mostly to blame for my recklessness. Gorgeous, clever, undeniably charming Beck barreled into my life as if it were his mission to make sure I never took living for granted. He showed me that there were no boundaries, rules were for the spineless, and a kiss was supposed to happen when I least expected.

Beck was the plot twist that took me by surprise. Two months before I met him, death was knocking at my door. I’d all but given up my last scrap of hope when suddenly, I was given a second chance at life. This time around, I wasn’t going to let it slip through my fingers.

We set out on a road trip with nothing to lose and no guarantees of tomorrow.

Our road trip was about young, reckless love.

The kind of love that burns bright.

The kind of love that no road-map could bring me back from.

**Recommended for ages 17+ due to language and sexual situations.**

Date Published: April 6, 2014

Publisher: Createscape

No. of Pages: 318 pages

Date Read: June 2014.

REVIEW

Simply Amazing.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Synopsis: Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl.

Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg. She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.

Date Published: January 3, 2012

Publisher: Feiwel and Friends

Date Read: November 2, 2014

REVIEW

Wondrously unique and addictive.

Oh Stars in heaven, I need Scarlet right at this very moment. I am surprised that I loved this book more than I allow myself to. To be honest I didn’t set my expectations too high, the least I wanted to happen was to end up disappointed. But boy, this book is anything but disappointment. It was a real page-turner. It has everything I wanted in a book: romance, great world-building, badass heroine and some fantasy. I specifically loved that the things that have yet to unfold were foreshadowed beautifully, like the mention of Cress and Winter.

Everything was coherent and connected to one another, not leaving anything unnecessary. It was more than what I have bargained for and definitely more than what I gave it credit for. Well it was indeed great that I didn’t set the bar too high, that when it turned out to be awesome, I was floored! And now I’m excited, I heard the series gets better.

To say I loved it would be an understatement because If I did not, I wouldn’t have stayed awake at this ungodly hour writing a review about it. I just don’t want to miss out on things I wanted to say. Can’t wait to get my hands on Scarlet!

And oh, what I liked more about Cinder is it reminded me in some bizarre way of Daughter of Smoke and Bone, which I love to no end. So I guess I’ll be raving about this series for a while, better get used to it.\

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

“He was the fantasy of every girl in the country. He was so far out of realm, her world, that she should have stopped thinking about him the second the door had closed. Should stop thinking about him immediately. Should never think about him again, except maybe as a client – and her prince.
And yet, the memory of his fingers against her skin refused to fade.”

Unlit Star by Lindy Zart

Synopsis: We are not guaranteed anything, not even this life.

Rivers Young is the popular guy untouchable by reality. He is like a star—bright, consuming, otherworldly. The thing about stars, though, is that they eventually fall, and he is no different.

He falls far and he falls hard.

Delilah Bana is the outcast enshrouded in all of life’s ironies. Alone, in the dark, like dusk as it falls on the world. When Rivers hits the ground, she is the night that catches him. In the darkness, they meld into something beautiful that shines like the sun.

Only, the greater the star is, the shorter its lifespan.

Date Published: August 20, 2014

Date Read: November 5, 2014

REVIEW

I loved it. Desperately. Undeniably. Wholly. Without regret.

I am still currently wiping tears off my face. It was achingly beautiful as it was ultimately satisfying. It was as true as it could get. There are just too much wisdom contained in this book that I could not help myself but stop and ponder, all of it were true. Delilah and Rivers’ story just opened up too much realizations, realizations I couldn’t help but agree. I loved that each chapter wasn’t really revealing everything all at once there was still the sense of surprise, of constantly waiting for the other shoe to drop and when it finally did, it was played out beautifully, exceptionally tear-inducing even. I think I have found another favorite, also the author writes amazingly, it was spot on. It just tugged every heart strings. It wasn’t solely about love, but more than anything it tackles, loss, pain, family and the awful realities of life but more importantly how one must live life the way he pleases it, without regrets. No more second-guessing, just basking into the abyss of the unknown.

I loved how the characters evolved, especially Rivers Young. How he turned out into someone worthy and Delilah Bana who was stubborn for all the right reasons, I loved her character, the way she reacts towards things and her principles in life. How she didn’t give up despite of the shitty hand she was dealt with. I loved how Rivers and Delilah meld into something stellar, into something so true, it hurts.

Maybe all I am saying is that, you should just read it and see it for yourself and feel the rawness of all the emotions. Now I am pretty sure I cannot fully move on from this. Ah it is just so beautiful it hurts, but I already said that and whatever, just let me sulk about it some more.

Rating: ❤ ❤ ❤ ❤  ❤ /5 stars

“I could choose to be sad, or I could choose to be happy. Life – it’s one choice after another. And how our lives are, that’s our choice as well.”

Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

Synopsis: First American Publication

This stunning and elegiac novel by the author of the internationally acclaimed Wind-Up Bird Chronicle has sold over 4 million copies in Japan and is now available to American audiences for the first time.  It is sure to be a literary event.

Toru, a quiet and preternaturally serious young college student in Tokyo, is devoted to Naoko, a beautiful and introspective young woman, but their mutual passion is marked by the tragic death of their best friend years before.  Toru begins to adapt to campus life and the loneliness and isolation he faces there, but Naoko finds the pressures and responsibilities of life unbearable.  As she retreats further into her own world, Toru finds himself reaching out to others and drawn to a fiercely independent and sexually liberated young woman.

A poignant story of one college student’s romantic coming-of-age,Norwegian Wood takes us to that distant place of a young man’s first, hopeless, and heroic love.

Date Published: 1987

Publisher: Vintage Books

Date Read: April 2013

REVIEW:

I have so many feelings after reading this book, but most of it was sadness, like a hole was left inside me. I can’t quite put my finger into it. This book was just painstakingly beautiful and true. I found wisdom in this book, like it has summed up life itself. It is my first Haruki Murakami novel and I was not disappointed. This book was beautifully written and carefully laid out. It was not written to please the readers, it was written from what the author truly feels and I think that is amazing.

Rating: 4/5 stars

Patience is the most important thing. We have to go on unraveling the jumbled threads one at a time, without losing hope.