716#Love Note ~ [Book Review] Anna and the The Swallow Man

I took almost two months without reading any books because I wanted to catch up on some Korean dramas, movies and new anime. Anna and the Swallow Man is my first book in September 2017 and I enjoyed it so much. I bought this book during my trip to Kuala Lumpur early August. It costed me RM10 since I bought it from SunMag at eCurve. SunMag is one of my favourite used bookstores.

Anna and the Swallow Man tells the story of a 7 year old girl during the beginning of World War II. It's been ages since my last read which centered around any war. Unlike The Storyteller which centers around World War II and The Girl You Left Behind which focuses on World War I, Anna and the Swallow Man didn't depress me with the war context. 

Title: Anna and the Swallow Man
Writer: Gavriel Savit
Published by: Bodley Head
Pages: 240

Anna and the Swallow Man is a stunning, literary, and wholly original debut novel that tells a new WW2 story. Kraków, 1939, is no place to grow up. There are a million marching soldiers and a thousand barking dogs. And Anna Lania is just seven years old when the Germans take her father and suddenly, she’s alone. Then she meets the Swallow Man. He is a mystery, strange and tall. And like Anna's missing father, he has a gift for languages: Polish, Russian, German, Yiddish, even Bird. When he summons a bright, beautiful swallow down to his hand to stop her from crying, Anna is entranced. Over the course of their travels together, Anna and the Swallow Man will dodge bombs, tame soldiers, and even, despite their better judgment, make a friend. But in a world gone mad, everything can prove dangerous . . . 

This story starts when Anna Lania being left by his father to one of his friends. Anna's father is a professor and speaks several languages effortlessly, which Anna learns too. Little does Anna know that her father has been escorted to a concentration camp which involves a group of academicians. Professor Lania leaves Anna to Herr Doktor Fuschmann, a German man who owns a pharmacy in their city. The pharmacist refuses to bring Anna to his home and ushers her out when she comes again after spending a night without her father. I believe his new behaviour is due to some German soldiers in the city. Even though Anna's origin isn't being told specifically, I believe she is a Jew. Being around even a Jew would lead to a disaster during the time.

 Anna meets a thin man outside of Herr Doktor Puschmann's pharmacy. She is enticed by the strange vibe emitting from the thin man. When the thin man speaks Bird and a swallow flies down from the sky and the thin man shows Anna the swallow to reduce her sadness, Anna knows she would follow wherever the man would go. The thin man speaks many languages like his father, and he even speaks Bird. 

So, their journey begins.

Anna's childlike innocence isn't being robbed away during the midst of the war. The Swallow Man (he doesn't tell Anna his real name with reasons a name would make him to be found) protects Anna with his own methods. The Swallow Man is an interesting character. He knows how to answers Anna's questions with great analogies and tells her what he would deem important. The Swallow Man seems like he knows all the secrets of the universes. His identity remains a mystery even though there's a bit of revelation at the end of the book. I won't spoil the details here.

“I know it's not good for a girl to be without a father these days. But is it any better for a father to be without a daughter?”

“A river goes wherever the riverbank does. It never had to ask which way, but only flows along. Yes?”

This book is so poetic. I think it has the least dialogues among all the books I've read but the narration is simple due to Anna's childlike mind.

The ending leaves me hanging. If it is possible, I want the author to write the sequel and from's The Swallow Man's point of view. I really hope to know what happens next to Anna, the Swallow Man and their new journeys. However, I believe to stay alive during a war is not an easy task. They are alive yet the journey is still continued to a new future, a future we wouldn't know.

“Men who try to understand the world without the help of children are like men who try to bake bread without the help of yeast.”

“The practice of lying is concerned with attempting to overlay a thin paper substitute atop the world that exists in order that it seems to suit your purposes. But the Swallow Man didn't need the world to suit him. He could make himself suit whatever world it pleased him to agree existed.”

So, my rate is...

Till then.

Wassalam.    

688#Love Note ~ [Book Review] The Wrath and the Dawn

I AM SO GONNA BUY THE SECOND BOOK!
So much feels when I read this book. It has been a long, long time since the moment I set my eyes on it. But I had no money :'( Then recently I found one on Carousell, BacaandTulis account. It's new and in good condition. If you would like to buy it, you can just go to BacanadTulis IG. It's RM30 including postage, totally affordable ;)

Read: From February 18 to 23, 2016

Rating: 4.8/5

One Life to One Dawn.

In a land ruled by a murderous boy-king, each dawn brings heartache to a new family. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, is a monster. Each night he takes a new bride only to have a silk cord wrapped around her throat come morning. When sixteen-year-old Shahrzad's dearest friend falls victim to Khalid, Shahrzad vows vengeance and volunteers to be his next bride. Shahrzad is determined not only to stay alive, but to end the caliph's reign of terror once and for all.

Night after night, Shahrzad beguiles Khalid, weaving stories that enchant, ensuring her survival, though she knows each dawn could be her last. But something she never expected begins to happen: Khalid is nothing like what she'd imagined him to be. This monster is a boy with a tormented heart. Incredibly, Shahrzad finds herself falling in love. How is this possible? It's an unforgivable betrayal. Still, Shahrzad has come to understand all is not as it seems in this palace of marble and stone. She resolves to uncover whatever secrets lurk and, despite her love, be ready to take Khalid's life as retribution for the many lives he's stolen. Can their love survive this world of stories and secrets?

Inspired by A Thousand and One Nights, The Wrath and the Dawn is a sumptuous and enthralling read from beginning to end.

Shahrzad al Khayzuran volunteers herself to be Caliph of Khorasan's next bride, even though she knows she would be killed at dawn after the wedding night. She wants to seek revenge for her dearest friend, Shiva. She manages to escape the first dawn by telling a story to Khalid Ibn al Rashid, the boy-king of Khorasan. In his cold and emotionless features, Shahrzad sees something in the amber eyers. After a twist turn of event, she wants to know what's the reason he killed his previous brides, what's the reason Shiva has to die?
Shahzard is a stubborn and badass heroine. Even though sometimes I dislike her actions, but I know she doesn't want to betray her family when she starts to fall for Khalid. I can't really describe what I have felt when reading this book but it's a really really good book! As a retelling of Arabian Nights, which I have yet to read the original one, you could understand the story. 
My favourite characters are Despina, Shahrzad's handmaiden and Jalal, Khalid's cousin and the captain of the palace guard. Despina helps Shahrzad to be at ease at the cold palace while Jalal accepts her even though he is suspicious of her at first. I like when Jalal helps to defend Shahrzad when he knows the reason why Shahrzad came to the palace, he doesn't want Khalid to blindly judge her actions without hearing her explanation first. 
The secret is revealed later in the book, so you don't left hanging till the second book. I never expect it. I hope Shahrzad could help Khalid to find a solution for his secret. The magus tells Shahrzad has some kind of power lies dormant in her blood. Seems like I have to wait for the next book.  I don't really finished the book because I left the last two chapters unread. Suraya advised me to not read the last two chapters if I do not want to suffer before the second book being released. The Rose and the Dagger, the second and final book would be out this May 3rd. It's a duology, not a long series. 
My Quotation Keeper app almost gets full with the quotes from this book. Renee Ahdieh is a really good writer. I wonder what she would write after The Wrath and the Dawn series comes to the end. Maybe she could write an original story or retellings again? I would like to share some of my TW&TD quotes with you later :)
Till then. Wassalam.

677#Love Note ~ [Book Review] All the Bright Places

I notice that from last year, the theme about depression and psychological problems have been the main in Young Adult books. But now I want to talk about this book which I personally prefer than The Fault in Our Stars despite the comparisons between them. 

Read: From February 20 to 25, 2015

Rating: 4.7/5

Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him.

Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister’s recent death.

When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it’s unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the “natural wonders” of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself—a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who’s not such a freak after all. And it’s only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s begins to shrink.

This debut YA book by Jennifer Niven is one of my favourite YA till now. I like both Finch and Violet. Okay even though Finch's first name is Theodore but he uses his surname. Both of them meet when Violet wants to committed suicide (or try to) while Finch is thinking to jump from their school bell tower.

Finch is viewed as weird by his schoolmates and he doesn't has many friends. He comes from a broken family. Even his mother and siblings do not try to understand him. Meanwhile, Violet comes from a decent family. Both of them are totally and completely opposite but they find comfort by being in each other's side. 

Violet is able to overcome her sister's death and start to be happy again with Finch's support but what Violet doesn't know is Finch is desperately holding on her as he struggles to keep on living while makes precious moments to Violet.

I think Niven is good in portraying the depression among teenagers. If I'm not mistaken someone from the author's family committed suicide (or relatives, I read in her bio but couldn't really remember it) so writing this book might be difficult to her. However, she comes up with a great book. Niven addresses the issue as a whole by not simply makes the readers to just sympathise with the characters but to understand and be in their shoes too. 

I do not fond of the idea when people romanticise the idea of depression and suicide. It's not something to be viewed as romantic as it could bring uneasiness to the people involved. Even though I have read some books about depression but I do not romanticise them so I object when people say we, the readers of the theme, romanticise the idea. It's not, really. 

Till then.

Wassalam.

653#Love Note ~ [Book Review] Lola and the Boy Next Door

Lola and the Boy Next Door is the second book in Anna and the French Kiss series. However, the setting is in San Francisco, not in Paris. The timeline is sets after Anna's graduation from School of America. 

Read: From September 3 to 4 2015

Rating: 3.6/5

Lola Nolan is a budding costume designer, and for her, the more outrageous, sparkly, and fun the outfit, the better. And everything is pretty perfect in her life (right down to her hot rocker boyfriend) until the Bell twins, Calliope and Cricket, return to the neighborhood. When Cricket, a gifted inventor, steps out from his twin sister's shadow and back into Lola's life, she must finally reconcile a lifetime of feelings for the boy next door.

So basically Lola loves to wear costumes as her daily wear, including the wig. Cricket is her neighbour's son who is handsome, nice and the one Lola had a crush on before she has a boyfriend. Calliope is Cricket's twin sister who is beautiful and known for being a rising star in ice skating (or ballerina, I forgot). 

I was annoyed with Lola when I read this book. I couldn't feel or know or try to relate with her. I didn't see her as weird but what annoyed me was her low self confidence and her tendency to make lies to save herself. I have read books about characters with low self confidence but it is not the same with Lola. I just see her as a selfish, whinny teenager who thinks about her feelings first and justifies based on her kinda childish thoughts. Thank God she becomes more truthful at the end of the series.

I just hope the third book, Isla and the Happily Ever After is better than this. 

Till then.

Wassalam.

650#Love Note ~ [Book Review] The Madman's Daughter

Even though it has been months but I still couldn't forget the suspense in The Madman's Daughter. I tried to finish this book as soon as possible but lab reports and assignments were in the way *sigh*. The Madman's Daughter is the first book of a YA series written by Megan Shepherd, inspired by the Gothic thriller classics The Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells. 

Read: From May 10 to June 10, 2015

Rating: 4.5/5

Sixteen-year-old Juliet Moreau has built a life for herself in London—working as a maid, attending church on Sundays, and trying not to think about the scandal that ruined her life. After all, no one ever proved the rumors about her father’s gruesome experiments. But when she learns he is alive and continuing his work on a remote tropical island, she is determined to find out if the accusations are true.

Accompanied by her father’s handsome young assistant, Montgomery, and an enigmatic castaway, Edward—both of whom she is deeply drawn to—Juliet travels to the island, only to discover the depths of her father’s madness: He has experimented on animals so that they resemble, speak, and behave as humans. And worse, one of the creatures has turned violent and is killing the island’s inhabitants. Torn between horror and scientific curiosity, Juliet knows she must end her father's dangerous experiments and escape her jungle prison before it's too late. Yet as the island falls into chaos, she discovers the extent of her father’s genius—and madness—in her own blood.

Juliet Moreau comes from a respected family whose father is a talented scientist. After the scandal ruins her life, she works as a maid in a university. Even though she's not living the easiest live but Juliet is a smart girl, quite knowledgeable in science despite women are not seen to be educated as men during that time. She lives her life without knowing where her father the infamous Dr. Moreau has been. Juliet's mother dies years after the scandal.

Some incidents occur during Juliet's working time resulting her to risk being arrested by the police. She injures a doctor who's trying to harass her and runs away. After meeting her childhood friend, Montgomery and his assistant Balthazar, she decides to follow Montgomery back to her father as he is her father's current assistant. Montgomery objects to this idea but Juliet succeeds by threatening him - she shows him to a girl at a dark street and asks him whether he would allow her to follow him or see her being a prostitute. During their exhausted journey on the sea to an island where her father lives, they meets Edward who's barely live after being stranded on the sea. Edward follows them to the mysterious island. 

Juliet proudly wants to present herself, now a lady to her father without knowing what reaction should she anticipate from her father.

I never read the classics The Island of Dr. Moreau so I could not give my opinions about this inspired story. But I definitely love The Madman's Daughter. Despite being so unsure, so insecure about her unladylike behaviour, her doubts towards her own father, I love Juliet's determination and strength to discover and stop her father's madness. 

At first I was afraid if it was a horror story since I was no good with one but I was wrong. The Madman's Daughter is full of darkness and suspense. All the plot twists weren't totally foreseeable when I was reading this book. I kept on thinking and doubting myself if the twists could happen. The author has her own ways to draw the readers to intensely reading this book. I would love to read the second and third book but my pocket money was already gone for BBW :(

It's a nice pick for a YA Gothic thriller ;)

Till then.

Wassalam.

note: I should thank my friend Iza who gifted me this book. Thank you and I love you!

648#Love Note ~ [Book Review] Anna and the French Kiss

I was got into the hype of Anna and the French Kiss series last year. It's all thanks to my bibliophile friends on Twitter. They were suggesting and fangirling over this series and let's say, yeah, I fall into their evil temptation. I bought Anna and the French Kiss and the second book, Lola and the Boy Next Door from DeBook Room. Would buy the third book, Isla and the Happily Ever After after I've got this year book vouchers ;)

Read: From July 16 to 21, 2015

Rating: 4/5

Can Anna find love in the City of Light?

Anna is happy in Atlanta. She has a loyal best friend and a crush on her coworker at the movie theater, who is just starting to return her affection. So she's less than thrilled when her father decides to send her to a boarding school in Paris for her senior year.

But despite not speaking a word of French, Anna meets some cool new people, including the handsome Étienne St. Clair, who quickly becomes her best friend. Unfortunately, he's taken —and Anna might be, too. Will a year of romantic near misses end with the French kiss she's waiting for?

So basically Anna and the French Kiss tells the story of Anna, an American girl whose father decides to send her to Paris for her last year of high school. Anna is against the idea but she couldn't possibly against her father - even though her famous writer father makes the decision just to show her daughter is from a prestigious boarding school in City of Light. So lame.

Anna who is afraid because she doesn't speak French is determined to survive the whole year without getting a single idea about having crush on Étienne St. Clair, an American born-English speaking boy who lives in France. Cupid is on Anna's side as her roommate is Meredith, one of the member of Étienne St. Clair's circle of close friends.

If you pictured Étienne St. Clair as the hot guy who loves to be playing around girls, in a bad way - toying with them - you are wrong. What I love about all this hype of this book is Étienne St. Clair has some wicked charms and befriends other students equally. He doesn't show that he is above everyone.

I've been introduced to some movies I've never heard of. Anna dreams to become a professional movie critic so she takes the opportunity of living in Paris for a year to watch as much good old movies as possible.

Anna and the French Kiss is a light read, cheesy and full of cliches of a YA book. It's a good pick after reading a depressing book. Well, people need cliches in their life too, no?

Till then.

Wassalam.

645#Love Note ~ [Book Review] A Thousand Pieces of You

 
If I wanted to name a few books which I finished reading within a day or two, A Thousand Pieces of You was one of them. Believe me, I wasn't expecting a really good and awesome read from Claudia Gray! I have heard countless of good reviews about this book so I decided to give it a go. Plus the cover is so stunning, don't you think?

Read: From May 1 to 2, 2015

Rating: 4.8/5

Marguerite Caine’s physicist parents are known for their radical scientific achievements. Their most astonishing invention: the Firebird, which allows users to jump into parallel universes, some vastly altered from our own. But when Marguerite’s father is murdered, the killer—her parent’s handsome and enigmatic assistant Paul—escapes into another dimension before the law can touch him.

Marguerite can’t let the man who destroyed her family go free, and she races after Paul through different universes, where their lives entangle in increasingly familiar ways. With each encounter she begins to question Paul’s guilt—and her own heart. Soon she discovers the truth behind her father’s death is more sinister than she ever could have imagined.

A Thousand Pieces of You explores a reality where we witness the countless other lives we might lead in an amazingly intricate multiverse, and ask whether, amid infinite possibilities, one love can endure.

Marguerite Caine's parents latest invention - Firebird - involves jumping across dimensions. Some dimensions are set in futuristic worlds while the others might resemble the ones when the invention of telephones is the latest scientific breakthrough. Her passion lies in arts and paintings, she doesn't inherit her parents curiosity towards science. But Marguerite knows she has to catch Paul - her father's killer - even though she has to jump across dimensions to find him. Using the small machine named Firebird, she starts her hunting together with Theo, one of his parents' live-in apprentice. 

I really could not put the book down once I started reading it. No words could describe how the book has such a mind-blowing concept. Too much good plot twists which I didn't see coming but I kept craving for more. You would not believe how the author could fool us completely if we didn't think about them really thoroughly. 

The story unfolds nicely in moderate pace which is good since I dislike a draggy plot. I don't have any complaint towards Marguerite's character. She isn't too weak or too brave. She knows how to act even though sometimes her emotions make her carries away when she's thinking about how Paul has betrayed her family. Marguerite doesn't hesitate to make the jump even though the Firebird has never been tested practically. The only thing in her mind is to catch her father's murderer.

The ending makes me couldn't wait for the second book! I highly recommend A Thousand Pieces of You even though you don't read science fiction. This book is so good! Do you hear me? READ IT!

The second book in Firebird series entitled Ten Thousand Skies Above You has been released but sadly I still didn't buy it yet. The cover is much more stunning than the first book. And one of my bibliophile friends said the author has revealed the title for the last Firebird book - A Million Worlds With You - gonna be published soon on 2016! 

Till then.

Wassalam.

621#Ai no Kotoba ~ [Book Review] Fangirl

Buku yang dibeli thanks to BB1M ;)

Buku tulisan Rainbow Rowell yang kedua Hana baca selepas Eleanor & Park. I do love Eleanor & Park till now. A great story from Rowell ;) So it's a must lah untuk dapatkan Fangirl, kan?

Rating : 4.5/5

Cath is a Simon Snow fan.

Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan...

But for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.

Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.

Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.

Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words... And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.

For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?

Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?

And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?

Kalaulah kisah Eleanor & Park berlaku pada zaman high school, Fangirl ni pula masa college year. 

Cath adik kembar kepada Wren. Mereka berdua tinggal dengan ayah mereka sahaja selepas ditinggalkan ibu mereka. Cath is not a sociable person, unlike Wren.

During her first year, Cath mula sedar yang dia tak akan selama-lamanya boleh hidup dengan Wren. In slow pace, Cath cuba adapt diri dia dengan persekitaran. Dia get-to-know her roommate and her roommate's friend merangkap ex-boyfriend. Tapi Cath tak lupa her passion to Simon Snow.

Siapa Simon Snow?

Rainbow Rowell ada keluarkan buku baharu, Landline. Sesiapa yang berminat bolehlah dapatkannya. Selain tu ada Eleanor & Park Special UK Edition keluar. Sayangnya Hana dah ada copy yang biasa (T__T) Padahal harga sama aje.

Till then.

Wassalam.

609#Ai no Kotoba ~ [Book Review] Tell the Wolves I'm Home

[edited: Jan 1, 2016] 
I've been looking for Tell the Wolves I'm Home for a long time. Luckily I found one at Kinokuniya, bought it using my BB1M vouchers. I do not have a single regret buying and reading this book. 

Rating : 4.5/5

1987. There’s only one person who has ever truly understood fourteen-year-old June Elbus, and that’s her uncle, the renowned painter Finn Weiss. Shy at school and distant from her older sister, June can only be herself in Finn’s company; he is her godfather, confidant, and best friend. So when he dies, far too young, of a mysterious illness her mother can barely speak about, June’s world is turned upside down. But Finn’s death brings a surprise acquaintance into June’s life—someone who will help her to heal, and to question what she thinks she knows about Finn, her family, and even her own heart.

At Finn’s funeral, June notices a strange man lingering just beyond the crowd. A few days later, she receives a package in the mail. Inside is a beautiful teapot she recognizes from Finn’s apartment, and a note from Toby, the stranger, asking for an opportunity to meet. As the two begin to spend time together, June realizes she’s not the only one who misses Finn, and if she can bring herself to trust this unexpected friend, he just might be the one she needs the most.

This is a story about AIDS, set in the year of 1987 when the world still doesn't have much clues and awareness of the dreadful disease.

June Elbus has always find comfort in the company of her beloved uncle, Finn. However, Finn will not live any longer as the AIDS claims his life. June's heart has been shattered to pieces. She doesn't know where to turn to. In the midst of her grieving, she meets Toby - Finn's special friend. June doesn't use the time to be close again with her sister, Greta but she tries to find the same comfort of being with Finn in Toby. After all, Toby knows Finn as much as she does.

June is a really imperfect protagonist. She doesn't make friends with her schoolmates and has problems to be understood by her family except her Uncle Finn. But June is a honest girl. She admits her insecurities, her imperfectness. At first, I dislike Greta. She has always been sarcastic to June and doesn't express her true affections to her younger sister. Both of them has misunderstood each other. Both of them need to be honest if they want their good relationship like the old times back.

What I love about this story is how June doesn't make a big deal about Finn having AIDS even though she knows the danger and myths of the disease. She continues to love Finn and finds more information about AIDS to really understand the dreadful disease. Her friendship with Toby helps June overcome her sadness. 

A great read! It's not just a mere family-love story. It's about AIDS and how the ones who being left behind feel after their loved ones left due to AIDS.

Till then. 

Wassalam.

603#Ai no Kotoba ~ [Book Review] Eleanor & Park

[edited: Dec 30, 2015]
First love. High school. These two sum Eleanor & Park perfectly. 

Rating : 4.4/5

Two misfits.
One extraordinary love.

Eleanor... Red hair, wrong clothes. Standing behind him until he turns his head. Lying beside him until he wakes up. Making everyone else seem drabber and flatter and never good enough...Eleanor.

Park... He knows she'll love a song before he plays it for her. He laughs at her jokes before she ever gets to the punch line. There's a place on his chest, just below his throat, that makes her want to keep promises...Park.

Set over the course of one school year, this is the story of two star-crossed sixteen-year-old—smart enough to know that first love almost never lasts, but brave and desperate enough to try.


Eleanor & Park tells the story of a red-headed new-girl-in-school named Eleanor Douglas and a half-Korean boy named Park Sheridan. They meet when both of them have to sit at the back of the school bus every day. Unconsciously, the friendship between Eleanor and Park forms through Park sharing his comic books with Eleanor. Without any of them utter a single word, they share the comics and a friendship is formed between the two misfits. 
Eleanor doesn't come from a happy family. Her parents divorced and Eleanor lives with her mother, together with Richie - her good for nothing stepfather. I felt the urge for Park to use his taekwando skills kicking Richie, half dead perhaps? 
Park's situation is completely different to Eleanor's. His parents are so loving and his younger brother is nice, too. Park's father is a veteran while his mother comes from South Korea. Sometimes Park has to deal with racism issue due to his small build when his younger brother has normal build of a white guy.   Both of them loves to be alone, actually. Even though Park has friends, but he finds discomfort in their presence. And Eleanor has only two friends in her new school excluding Park. 
What I love about Eleanor & Park is the way I could feel their love, the way they fall for each other - through the songs, comics, English class and their way of comfort in their misfits. Both Eleanor and Park are brave, they are brave enough to fall in love even though they both know first love almost never lasts. I just hope Eleanor will appreciate herself more. Park being with her every time she needs him is lovable.
To me, this is not a typical high school love story where the good girl falls for the bad boy. I have some issues with that kind of high school or college romance. This is a love story of two misfits who find comfort in little things - music, comics, conversations without involving the guy being rough with the girl.
Even though I did question the ending, I still love Eleanor & Park. A good Young Adult book which I would like to recommend to every YA lovers ;)
Till then. Wassalam.

570#Ai no Kotoba ~ [Book Review] Jinx

[edited: Dec 28, 2015]

Have you ever heard of Meg Cabot? Or The Princess Diaries? The films are adapted from Meg Cabot's The Princess Diaries books. I've never read one but I read all The Mediator series. That's where I start my fondness of Meg Cabot ;)

Rating : 3.7/5

Misfortune has followed Jean Honeychurch all her life - which is why everyone calls her Jinx. And now her parents shipped her off to New York to stay with relatives - including her sophisticated cousin, Tory - until trouble she's caused back home dies down.

Tory is far too cool to bother with Jinx - until Jinx's chronic bad luck wreaks havoc in Tory's perfect life. Only then does Jinx discover that beneath Tory's big-city glamour lies a world of hatred and revenge. Now it seems that the jinx that's driven Jean crazy may just be the only thing that can save her.

Jinx tells the story of Jean, infamously known as Jinx among her friends. She causes some troubles at home and being departed to New York, to live with her good Aunt Evelyn and her husband - the only rosy hole in the house is Tory for goodness' sake. I hate her, kinda. 

I like most of the story but I find it hard to accept Jean's ways of thinking and behaviour. I think her low self-confidence comes from the way her so-called friends back home treat her as a weirdo. I really want her to establish herself, not letting people making fun of her again.

And, she does change herself. Thank goodness. If not maybe I would put this book under my bed, not wanting to read it again. 

Between The Mediator series and the stand-alone Jinx, I love The Mediator more. Both has some kind of magic and fantasy revolve around romance but The Mediator is still the winner ;)

Till then.

Wassalam.