Book Review: Ink (The Paper Gods, #1) by Amanda Sun

Read from July 21 to 25, 2013

On the heels of a family tragedy, the last thing Katie Greene wants to do is move halfway across the world. Stuck with her aunt in Shizuoka, Japan, Katie feels lost. Alone. She doesn’t know the language, she can barely hold a pair of chopsticks, and she can’t seem to get the hang of taking her shoes off whenever she enters a building.

Then there’s gorgeous but aloof Tomohiro, star of the school’s kendo team. How did he really get the scar on his arm? Katie isn’t prepared for the answer. But when she sees the things he draws start moving, there’s no denying the truth: Tomo has a connection to the ancient gods of Japan, and being near Katie is causing his abilities to spiral out of control. If the wrong people notice, they'll both be targets.

Katie never wanted to move to Japan—now she may not make it out of the country alive.

This was absolutely amazing! I was mind-blown by how good it was! I was literally sucked into the story from the very first chapter!

Katie was a pretty good main character. She was strong, brave and had a broken past, what with her mom's death. And then there's Tomohiro, the drop-dead gorgeous start kendo player of Suntaba High School. I literally melted into a gooey mess as soon as Tomohiro made his first appearance. Oh yes, Tomohiro - with his mysterious past and bad boy attitude - got me with his first ever mention. And then Jun! Personally, he seemed like a nice guy that was just trying to hit on our Katie, but then Sun goes straight ahead and pulls a plot-twister on us. Way to go, Sun!

The plot was so good! I loved everything about the story-line! I loved how Japanese it was and how Katie tries to meld into this foreign culture and the way that Katie finds a surprising friend in Tomo! And it was never boring! Every chapter, every word held me enchanted! And the tension was great! Trying to figure out what's going on and keeping a close eye on anything suspicious was so fun! 

Overall, Amanda Sun has created a mesmerizing world and I am so dying to the read the sequel, Rain. Eeeeeeeeeee! This wait is killing me!

My Goodreads review

Book Review: My Sister's Keeper by Jodi Picoult

 

Read from April 13 to 17, 2013

Anna is not sick, but she might as well be. By age thirteen, she has undergone countless surgeries, transfusions, and shots so that her older sister, Kate, can somehow fight the leukemia that has plagued her since childhood. The product of preimplantation genetic diagnosis, Anna was conceived as a bone marrow match for Kate -- a life and a role that she has never challenged...until now. Like most teenagers, Anna is beginning to question who she truly is. But unlike most teenagers, she has always been defined in terms of her sister -- and so Anna makes a decision that for most would be unthinkable, a decision that will tear her family apart and have perhaps fatal consequences for the sister she loves. 

My Sister's Keeper examines what it means to be a good parent, a good sister, a good person. Is it morally correct to do whatever it takes to save a child's life, even if that means infringing upon the rights of another? Is it worth trying to discover who you really are, if that quest makes you like yourself less? Should you follow your own heart, or let others lead you? Once again, in My Sister's Keeper, Jodi Picoult tackles a controversial real-life subject with grace, wisdom, and sensitivity.

Basically, the only reason why I dragged this book off its lonesome shelf in a bookstore was because I watched the ending scenes of that movie. It was so heartwrenching that I just grabbed the book and stuffed it in my cart. I'm glad I did!

It was no secret that the story was going to be sad from the very beginning, and it was! It was as if the very family in the story had forgotten what life was like before disaster struck, and I liked that. Having witnessed a cancer patient's deterioration over a span of two years myself, I knew that was what it was like. So, in a way, the story gripped me from the start.

I was glued to book throughout and it was impossible to distinguish between my feelings and those of the characters. Picoult's writing was so intense that I didn't realize that I was feeling the very exact emotions of the characters until I neared the end.

Throughout, the novel was a great page-turner! There was nothing boring about it! It was as if I myself was trying to do what the characters were trying. I couldn't bring myself to hate anyone either. It was hard to judge (am I thinking what the rest of you who read this book are thinking?) who was doing the right thing when the very line between good and bad was blurred.

And that ending was shocking! I was so shocked that I actually gasped out loud! Anyway, I'm not going to say too much about that because I just might spoil it!

Overall, this book was real good! A must for all readers!

My Goodreads review

Book Review: Private Peaceful by Michael Morpurgo

Read from April 02 to 09, 2013

They've gone now, and I'm alone at last. I have the whole night ahead of me, and I won't waste a single moment of it... I want tonight to be long, as long as my life...

As young Thomas Peaceful looks back over his childhood from the battlefields of the First World War, his memories are full of family life deep in the countryside.

But the clock is ticking, and every moment he spends remembering how things used to be, means another moment closer to something which will change his life for ever.

This was so beautiful! I've always loved English countrysides and this was so perfect! There was something so radiant about the Peacefuls' lives and then you can literally feel that radiance dulling into a somber gray as the war approaches!

I'll admit that Morpurgo was and is one of my all-time favourites. I've read a handful of his books before and they were really good, but Private Peaceful was by far the most beautiful! Personally, I wouldn't have read the book if I hadn't read about in Wordsmith, but reading it was a truly marvellous experience!

Tommo was the main character here, but Morpurgo had me loving Charlie from the first chapter itself. There was something very charming and attractive about Charlie that made me go, "Oh, I love him!" from the very first.

Oh, and that ending! It was amazing! Sad, yes, but truly amazing! It brought me to tears reading those last paragraphs! And it was soooo unexpected! I was literally punched in the gut by that ending! Absolutely marvellous!

Even when remembering the book after a week or so, I feel compelled to try and jump into that world! Its charm and beauty never ran out!

My Goodreads review