Book Review: Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson

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Photo not mine, credits to the owner.

Rating:  ★★★★☆
Read: December 2015

The whole Christmas vacation, I thought, would be the best time to finish a lot of the books that were sitting on my shelf for a very long time but, well, that didn’t happen. I only finished one book during that two-week vacation and it was Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour.

The first time I tried to read this book was last November and I didn’t get the chance to finish reading it because the first few chapters was a tad bit too sad for my life. I haven’t picked it up until last December when the Christmas vacation started and from then on, I knew that I had to finish reading it.

I can’t believe I went across different states of America while sitting on our patio. It was the greatest and sweetest road trips I’ve ever had. While reading the book, though, I always find Amy very… sad. I don’t blame her, though. She’s been through so much for a 17-year-old and though she sometimes frustrates me and makes me wanna shake her up and tell her that everything’s gonna be okay, I still understand that she actually has every right to feel and act that way.

Roger, on the other hand, was the sweetest thing I’ve ever fallen in love with. He was just the perfect guy for the loneliest girl in the whole of California. It was a very awkward trip for the two of them but along the way, they managed to learn so many things about each other and they’ve developed a really strong friendship. Roger has his own issues and I really, really love the way he dealt with all of them.

All in all, this book made me smile at the end. It may not have been the best ending for everyone, but I liked it. It just makes it more realistic.

“If you don’t feel great on the inside, just look great on the outside and after a while you won’t be able to tell the difference.”

Book Review: The Future of Us by Jay Asher & Carolyn Mackler

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Rating: ★★★★☆
Read: November 2015

Another book I’ve finished during the APEC week was The Future of Us. Jay Asher and Carolyn Mackler’s combination came out pretty amazing. It was just a very light read, which is a perfect pause from the dark and crazy world of Mara Dyer.

Set in 1996, Emma gets a new computer from his dad and her best friend, Josh, who she hasn’t spoken with for a while comes over her house with a CD-ROM with 100 free hours on AOL and as it was installed they discovered that it comes with something called Facebook. As they surfed through this webpage, they suddenly found their 30-year-old selves’ own Facebook page. Yeah, you got that right. W T F.

The Future of Us was just unputdownable. It simply shows us that a simple ripple in the “now” can create big changes in the future. It also shows us how we cannot let the fear of the future affect how we live in the present.

And while I am not really sure that a lot of people would love this book as much as I did, this book is certainly recommended for everyone.

 

“I’ve always protected myself when it comes to love. And maybe that’s the problem. By not letting myself get hurt now, it ripples into much bigger pain later.”

 

Book Review: The Evolution of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin

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Rating: ★★★★★
Read: November 2015

The APEC week turned out pretty well for me. I filed a leave from work last November 17 & 20 while 18 & 19 are special holidays because of the APEC, making it a 6-day vacation.

Our family stayed at our rest house in Tagaytay to get away from the noise of the city thus, to have a peaceful rest. I brought this book with me and since I haven’t really finished a single book since August, I didn’t bring any other book with it because this book is a 525-page book and to my surprise, I managed to finish it in two days. I just couldn’t put it down! I loved the first book but the second book is just so freaking great that it actually drove me crazy myself!

This series just keeps intensifying as we get nearer to the conclusion of Mara and Noah’s story. Everything in this book just kept me guessing and guessing. I love the writing, I love the creepiness. I love the suspense. Everything in this book is just plain a w e s o m e. I’m sorry if I can’t write a review that will give justice to this book because I honestly, I don’t have the right words to express my love and adoration for this trilogy and for Michelle Hodkin as well.

As I finished reading the book on the second day, I just felt the urge to get a copy of the last one so I immediately went to the nearest bookstore to buy it but unfortunately, it was already out of stock so, yes, the ending made my stomach turn because I was so freaking eager to continue reading and to find out what happens next!!

All in all, this book was amazing and was written very, very, very well.

“Just because you can’t prove something, doesn’t mean it isn’t real.”

Book Review: The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay

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So I finished reading this book today, I loved it! And I really really wish they’d make a movie out of this. Hihi!

This book made me realize that no matter how fucked up and messed up people may seem, they’d always find something or someone who’ll help them keep their sanity.

Book Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

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Rating: ★★★★★

In Beatrice Prior’s dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can’t have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris, and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together, they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes-fascinating, sometimes-exasperating boy fits into the life she’s chosen. But Tris also has a secret: one she’s kept hidden from everyone, because she’s been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly-perfect society, she also learns that her secret might be what helps her save those she loves … or it might be what destroys her.

I have been planning to read this for a long time, but I was always so broke when I visit a bookstore. And when I heard that they’re already making a movie out of it, I was eager to read it, so when I accompanied my brother to buy art materials, I didn’t hesitate in buying it anymore, since I don’t want to watch the movie first before reading it.

The story catches me off-guard with Tris’ determination and belief. Despite all the obstacles she’s been through in the initiation, she manages to stay strong and prove all the people around her that even though she’s a girl, a Stiff and small, she can still be brave and courageous. I learned that selflessness isn’t actually far from being brave.

Divergent will surely keep you up at night with the eagerness to know what will happen next in Tris’ extraordinary journey. With this, here is what really moved and made a mark on me. Straight inside my heart:

“I believe in ordinary acts of bravery; in the courage that drives one person to stand for another.”

Book Review: The Mortal Instruments (Book Four): City of Fallen Angels by Cassandra Clare

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Rating: ★★★★

It took me almost a month to finish this book. Not because I got bored or something, but because I had so many school works, defenses and projects to attend to.

But finally, I was able to finish reading it last night. I was actually excited about reading it because the first three books was really awesome. I really read almost half of the book during the first few days of reading it, but a lot of things got in the way lately… The story actually made me giddy and all because of the events that had unfolded in the first few chapters.

Though, I’m not going to elaborate any further because I might write things that’ll spoil you guys. But it’s just that, I really hate how it ended. It pissed me off, literally. </////3

Book Review: On A Night Like This by Ellen Sussman

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Rating: ★★★

It took me a long time to read the book because I kind of got bored in the first few pages. When I got in the middle, it thrilled me, wanting to know what will happen next to Luke and Emily, Blair and Amanda.

It’s disappointing at the end though, because it ended without knowing if Blair tried to fight her illness or not, and what happened to Emily after Luke left.

Book Review: The Fault In Our Stars by John Green

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Rating: ★★★★★

I read it for two days. The story was just so grand. I can just feel Hazel’s pain and I wanted to just jump inside the book between the pages and letters and hug her and tell her that she’s just so strong and that if I was in her shoes I wouldn’t be able to survive.

I cried. Twice. After what happened to Augustus and after reading the last page. The words John Green used was just so moving that it made the story stay and linger in my heart. His words literally killed me.

“Some infinities are larger than other infinities.”

Book Review: Eleven Minutes by Paulo Coelho

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Rating: ★★★★★

After reading the book, I’ve come to realize that a lot of tragic things happen to each and everyone of us before the true happiness arrives. In the middle of reading and turning pages, I found myself helping Maria look for her true love and reach her dreams, I just never thought the book would give me that kind of feeling of happiness after reading its ending. It never occurred to me that such book will make me teary-eyed.

Really, Paulo Coelho is such an amazing writer. He never fails to give me knowledge about a lot of things, may it be love or life.

Book Review: Looking For Alaska by John Green

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Rating: ★★★★★

Upon closing the book, I found myself staring blankly in space. Thinking.. thinking about love, happiness, suicide, religion, the Great Perhaps, suffering and death. I thought of all the things I did in the past 18 years and wondered if it was all worth it; if I was already worth remembering. I wanted to go out there, launch myself into the real world, I wanted to get out of the sugar-coated world I built to cover up all the grotesqueness in life and look for my Great Perhaps before I die.

Looking For Alaska is one of the books worth reading and having a copy of. It is one of those books that I really find very moving. ♥

How will I ever get out of this labyrinth!

🙂