The Opportunist by Tarryn Fisher

Synopsis: Olivia Kaspen has just discovered that her ex-boyfriend, Caleb Drake, has lost his memory. With an already lousy reputation for taking advantage of situations, Olivia must decide how far she is willing to go to get Caleb back. Wrestling to keep her true identity and their sordid past under wraps, Olivia’s greatest obstacle is Caleb’s wicked, new girlfriend; Leah Smith. It is a race to the finish as these two vipers engage in a vicious tug of war to possess a man who no longer remembers them. But, soon enough Olivia must face the consequences of her lies, and in the process discover that sometimes love falls short of redemption.

Date Published: November 14, 2011, 278 pages

Series: Love Me With Lies

Date Read: April 2013

REVIEW:

        “You can only give your heart away once, after that, everything else will chase your first love.”

Heart-wrenching to the core. I cried buckets over this book, the feeling was highly proportional to the feeling of break-up. I literally needed a new heart because my current heart seemed to stop functioning because of all the unwanted emotions that I have been having. This book my friends will shred your heart into unrecognizable state, then pulverizeit after and let it be blown with the wind knowing for sure it will never be the same again.
Crying-spree. I was crying my hearts out until 3am in the morning and woke up with puffy eyes. This book is just so packed with all the story that will get you hooked up to the very end. Though it is not as long as other novels, but all the important details are there perfectly written. I highly commend Tarryn Fisher’s writing skills, it was brilliant. This will definitely not be the last book that I will read of her. But I cannot jump immediately to the second book Dirty Red because I am still too emotional over The Opportunist.

Why does a great love have to be so complicated? What I liked most about this book is the fact that it depicts a figment of reality. It says that not everything is meant to happen, not everything will end up the way we planned it in our heads. But fate has its funny way, even ridiculous way of showing what might have been, and that’s how this book got me. That no matter how you resist things you thought you are better off, it will come back like a boomerang. This book tugged every heart strings, including those that I didn’t even know existed. I am so glad I have read this book, it taught me so much about life and love.

My Rating: 5/5 stars

“I think that after the first time you give your heart away, you never get it back. The rest of your life is just you pretending that you still have a heart.”

Winger by Andrew Smith

Synopsis: Ryan Dean West is a fourteen-year-old junior at a boarding school for rich kids in the Pacific Northwest. He’s living in Opportunity Hall, the dorm for troublemakers, and rooming with the biggest bully on the rugby team. And he’s madly in love with his best friend Annie, who thinks of him as a little boy.

With the help of his sense of humor, rugby buddies, and his penchant for doodling comics, Ryan Dean manages to survive life’s complications and even find some happiness along the way. But when the unthinkable happens, he has to figure out how to hold on to what’s important, even when it feels like everything has fallen apart.

Filled with hand-drawn info-graphics and illustrations and told in a pitch-perfect voice, this realistic depiction of a teen’s experience strikes an exceptional balance of hilarious and heartbreaking.

Date Published: May 14, 2013, 439 pages

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Date Read: November 19, 2014

REVIEW:

It will leave you with a gaping hole and a broken heart, like losing something you know you can never get back.

Winger is one of the best books out there and I am not even sugar-coating or exaggerating things. It is that kind of book that will crack you up and tear you up all at the same time. It was pure and unadulterated reading experience. It was well thought of, perfectly executed and was able to deliver. The book was very well-written. Ryan Dean West’s voice will draw you in, will captivate you in ways you didn’t expect. It was smooth as it was raw, it was honest and appropriate. It wrenched my heart and it would be impossible to fully recover from it. It was the perfect coming-of-age story that everyone should put in their books-to-read-before-I-die list, it does not only belong to one age bracket, but it is all encompassing. The characters were drawn not in the best light, but their flaws are what made them good.

It is not something you rush into, it is something you need to enjoy page by page. It is my first Andrew Smith and I can say that it didn’t disappoint (if I am not being too obvious already). To be perfectly honest I have been warned enough about the ending, but I think no amount preparation can ever prepare me for the emotional wreckage that has befallen me. I was so heartbroken. The stigma the book depicted is not lost on me, it was very timely, something that should be addressed immediately.

I couldn’t have picked a better book for the Anti-Bullying readathon. I just wished I have read it sooner.

I don’t know if it is just me but this book had the Looking For Alaska vibe to it.

…nothing ever goes back exactly the way it was. Things just expand and contract. Like the universe , like breathing. But you’ll never fill your lungs up with the same air twice. Sometimes, it would be cool if you could pause and rewind and do over. But I think anyone would get tired of that after one or two times.

My Rating: 5/5