Book Review: This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen

 

Title: This Lullaby

Author: Sarah Dessen

Pages: 345

First off, are all Sarah Dessen's characters so cynical of love? Or is it the current trend?  I went from, "oh I can totally relate" to "is this how everybody feel?". Man, that was depressing.

I  for one think this is where the typical heroine, after witnessing her mother's countless weddings and having to be the adult in her family, has a very disconcerting view on love. But, it takes a certain not-so-perfect boy to woe her.

The only twist is that the heroine is meticulous while the boyfriend is a complete and utter slob. The boyfriend has many flaws but his redeeming quality is that he loves her and oh-so-charming.

I love this story. It's cute. It takes my mind of things. There's a lot of self discovery that can be done from this piece but I'm taking the easy way. No over-thinking and go with the flow. Like the heroine, I'm learning to just let go. It's not all or nothing. Sometimes, the in-between is acceptable since nobody will know where or how we will end up.

A quote from "Getting Over Garrett Delaney" which I think is appropriate on today's post:
Love isn't pain. Heartbreak isn't noble or romantic. You deserve better, so don't forget.

P/S: The cover above is not the one that I've read. I put that one because it looks way nicer than the one I have. Here's the one that I've read from

Book Review: Send by Patty Blount

Title: Send
Author: Patty Blount
Pages: 304
Publisher: Sourcebooks Fire

Goodreads synopsis:

It’s been five years since I clicked Send.
Four years since I got out of juvie.
Three months since I changed my name.
Two minutes since I met Julie.
A second to change my life.

All Dan wants for his senior year is to be invisible. This is his last chance at a semi-normal life. Nobody here knows who he is. Or what he’s done. But on his first day at school, instead of turning away like everyone else, Dan breaks up a fight. Because Dan knows what it’s like to be terrorized by a bully—he used to be one.

Now the whole school thinks he’s some kind of hero—except Julie. She looks at him like she knows he has a secret. Like she knows his name isn’t really Daniel...



My review:

The book talks about a kid who think he is a murderer. Murder is an extreme offense to some people. Unfortunately, when you read tons of book with character deaths, murder doesn't seem so bad. Especially if you enjoy dystopian and/or magical books. People die all the time, live with it.

Moving on to the story, I did not relate bullying much though I think that is what the book emphasis on. This is because it mostly concern cyber bullying and it doesn't really show. What is prominent here is what happened to the main character Daniel Ellison or his real name Kenneth James Mele. Come on, he simply take an embarrassing picture of a school mate which happened to go viral. The kid then committed suicide. Who is there to blame? Society? Definitely! A single kid who is a trigger? Hell no!

Yes, it is wrong to humiliate others, bla, bla, bla. Honestly, shit happens. Life goes on. you don't just end your life because people saw you in a childish underwear. The judge was obviously a moron putting Kenny's name right next to sex offenders. He is a child, a mere 13 year old. He is at the age of experimenting. Yes, he definitely need his lesson, but putting him in juvie with others who's done worse will create a whole lot of trouble. I'm surprise Kenny turned out pretty much okay because you know what they say, jail doesn't reform a criminal, it teach them to not get caught. Come on, evil geniuses all in one place, they definitely spend their time swapping stories. Jail just creates better criminals and juvie is a breeding ground.

I think SEND just cultivates anger in me. I got mad at all the characters. I do felt a sliver of pity in my heart, but mostly I feel like punching them in the face just to see them pull themselves together. Man, my high school was full of drama and taunts, but you didn't see me jumping off a building. Maybe I did, and I am currently posting this with my lifeless body, decaying and rotting somewhere with free wifi.

Though I think Daniel a.k.a Kenny is cool because he hasn't yet has split personality but close to it because he can talk to himself face to face.

Oh, and I do not like the heroin. She's dodgy since the beginning.

This doesn't mean I don't like the story, I do.

Book Review: By the Time You Read This I'll be Dead

Title: By the Time You Read This I'll Be Dead
Author: Julie Anne Peters
Pages: 200
Publisher: Hyperion (an imprint of Disney)

Goodreads synopsis:


Daelyn Rice is broken beyond repair, and after a string of botched suicide attempts, she’s determined to get her death right. She starts visiting a website for “completers”— www. through-the-light.com.
While she’s on the site, Daelyn blogs about her life, uncovering a history of bullying that goes back to kindergarten. When she’s not on the Web, Daelyn’s at her private school, where she’s known as the freak who doesn’t talk.
Then, a boy named Santana begins to sit with her after school while she’s waiting to for her parents to pick her up. Even though she’s made it clear that she wants to be left alone, Santana won’t give up. And it’s too late for Daelyn to be letting people into her life…isn’t it?
National Book Award finalist Julie Anne Peters shines a light on how bullying can push young people to the very edge.

What I think:

The book is either promoting suicide or applying reverse psychology. There are various ways listed on how you can end your life, complete with its full-proofeness and pain level. I find it mildly disturbing. I think knowledge in the wrong hands will inflict permanent damage to society...

The heroine in this book is incredibly mopey and pessimistic. Even when a boy clearly expressing his desire of becoming friends, she blatantly ignore the effort.

She was bullied a lot and did not stand up for herself. I am a bit enraged by the fact as you always need to stand up to your tormenter. It doesn't matter if you choose to give the silent treatment or a full brawl as long as they leave you alone. A lesson that I got from the internet on how to combat bullies is to tell people and get help. If they don't believe you, tell another and another until action is taken. You must never yield. Bullying hurts. People say that everyone is hurting, even the bullies. Actually, I don't care if the bully is hurting on the inside, ridiculed or bullied himself. He has no right to continue the cycle or hurt other people. Just because he has a horrid past or come from a broken family, it is simply an excuse to pardon his wrongdoing. Here's a story that support my unbelievable anger:-

The book was an easy read but I didn't get the ending. Did she die or did she try to be another person, reborn if you will.

Manga Review: Cute x Guy 1

Title: Cute x Guy 1
Author: Tateno Makoto

Review:

The story starts with a girl who falls in love with her classmate. the girl's name is Takaoka Sumi. She observed that her crush is interested in mature girls. Sumi's father is a scientist so he offered a medicine to make her look mature. Actually, her father tricked her as the medicine turned her into a boy. Granted that he turned into a cute boy.

The problem is in the medicine is she'll turn into a boy whenever her heart goes doki doki.

I love her crush's character. He is so innocent. he trust everybody and did not even question Sumi's weird behavior around him. He was not even suspicious of Tadano Jun (Sumi's alter ego)

The antagonist in this volume is the health teacher. I find her a pervert because she's chasing after Jun and would not stop at nothing. However, I find this big chested sensei extremely funny.

The best thing that happen when Sumi changed her gender is she finally gets friend. She found another guy who can change his body at will thanks to her father. I think instead of trying to make her crush like her, she became closer as a friend and got other friends as well.

Manga Review: Kimi to Himitsu no Hanazono

Title: Kimi to Himitsu no Hanazono (Volume 1)
Alternate Title: You and the Secret Flower Garden
Author: Hayashi Mikase

A piece of my mind:

See the cover? One of them is  a boy. Shocking, isn't it. No? Yeah, there's too much gender bender around nowadays. Meh, who's complaining. They're my favorite genre.

Okay... this story is about a girl who is an Aikido freak. It is not by choice but due to circumstances as she is the youngest in the family consisting of mainly boys. She went to an all-girls boarding school to learn femininity and as luck would have it, roomed with the epitome of girlishness.

But there's a catch. Her roommate is a boy. During the entire book, the girl was bullied by the boy under the pretense of helping her. I pity her naiveness. I don't particularly care that she wants to be effeminate. In my opinion, if she looks good with the boyish look, stick with it. This is because some people just look plain hideous. If you already achieve the stage of cuteness just by being you, why change?

There is the fact that boys will be intimidated by the manliness(?) shown but to be fair, if they could not accept you as who you are... why bother.

Manga Review: Kiss Me Princess 9

Title: Kiss Me Princess (Volume 9-END)
Alternate Title: Boy Princess 9
Author: Kim Se-Young

Wrap-up:
This is the final book in the series. I am actually delighted that it has come to an end. I love the story, the ending was somewhat cute. there was no bloodshed. For that I was truly happy.

Except for one thing,  the secret heir died in accident. *snicker*
So, Derek's son became the heir. He grew up to look exactly like his father, and he falls for Shahi. Outrageous, I know, but they were cute and Shahi was finally happy so it is forgiven. The couple on the side is Nicole and Zed. Yup, he cut his hair and got tan. Awesome.

What I learn from this entire series is that you'll do crazy things for the one you love. But then, people will do evil things in the name of love but they actually don't possess any love. They just thought they do. Love does not hurt, it is pure. It is the act in the name of love, by people blinded by fake love that destroy the our faith in what is true.

Makes you think that this phrase is true... It is better to have love and lost than to have never love at all. Makes you want to experience that awful feeling as well.

Note to those who want to read this series: This manga is not graphic at all. it is simply shounen-ai. Feel free to read it without guilt.

Manga Review: Kiss Me Princess 8

Title: Kiss Me Princess (Volume 8)
Alternate Title: Boy Princess 8
Author: Kim Se-young

A bit here,  a bit there:

Do you wanna know how evil the father? After the brotherly war he said, "Well this ends rather dissapointingly. You're both still alive"

Come on, you produced them. Or maybe Derek might not be, but Zed is your flesh and blood! Zed is the exact replica of you when you were younger except that he has long hair. Mind you, he's hot either way.

Anyway, everything's resolving nicely and there's only one volume to go. Yippy ya ya, yippy, yippy ya ya. Do you guys even know how to do that? I'm a Girl Guide so, yeah, I'm weird like that.

By nicely I mean, Derek committed suicide. Zed was exiled. He was supposed to be dead but royalty has this hush-hush thing going on so he just had to have a low profile in exilation. But, he is dead to the kingdom.
Shahi finally get to raise a child that he wanted so badly since Derek is no longer around to control him or even to take care of his own baby. Shahi got an instant baby belonging to the crown princess.

Ooh, and it seems like the king isn't half bad. he did not hate his brother at all. I think he stopped feeling all compassionate since the incident with his brother. *3* The royalty should put in effort to bring the country towards wealth by joining forces not fight for power. This is almost exactly what is going on in my country right now. I wonder who has as much power as Zed's dad though.