Isla and the Happily Ever After by Stephanie Perkins

Isla and the Happily Ever After

by Stephanie Perkins
published on August 14th, 2014 by Dutton Books
Young Adult/Contemporary/Romance
#3 book of Anna and the French Kiss series
352 pages

***

From the glittering streets of Manhattan to the moonlit rooftops of Paris, falling in love is easy for hopeless dreamer Isla and introspective artist Josh. But as they begin their senior year in France, Isla and Josh are quickly forced to confront the heartbreaking reality that happily-ever-afters aren't always forever.

Their romantic journey is skillfully intertwined with those of beloved couples Anna and Étienne and Lola and Cricket, whose paths are destined to collide in a sweeping finale certain to please fans old and new.

"I've always thought the best relationships are those that are as happy and content in silence as they are in action...."

Have you ever had a crush for so long you that slowly accept it as a mere daydream instead of something that could be a real thing? I have. And Isla has, too. That's why it's totally understandable how bizzarily(?) magical things for Isla Martin when, at the start of her senior year in high school, her longtime crush Joshua Wasserstein finally starts to reciprocate that feeling. How impossible! How come? Reading about Isla and Josh experiencing the start of their budding relationship is, in a word, heartwarming. You get to feel all the excitement of having your crush near you, talking about a lot of things that you thought you would never get the chance to actually share with him, thinking about the way he looks at you while you are talking. Was there something in my face? Did he found that funny? Did I behave appropriately in front of him? Should I not do these things? What should I do? Why is he so handsome oh my god I can't take it, that kind of things.

And then there's the nagging feeling that eventhough you're now willing to accept all the wonderful things that is happening (MY CRUSH LIKES ME BACK!), you're worrying about whether it's the real thing or not. Does he really like me, or it's just because I like him that he likes me? Is it real or is he merely being polite? What if someday he realizes that I'm not what he actually wants, after all this time. Will I survive the heartbreak? That's Isla for you, guys. The kind of Isla that you will meet when you read her story in this latest book by Stephanie Perkins.

 Josh grins. "Just give me your hand."
"W-what?"
"Your hand," He repeats. "Give it to me."
I extend my shaking right hand. And-in a moment that is a hundred dreams come true-Joshua Wasserstein laces his fingers through mine. A staggering shock of energy shoots straight into my veins. Straight into my heart.
"There," He says. "I've been waiting a long time to do that."

Oh, the jittery electrical feeling when you first holding hands.
Stephanie writes Isla's moments with Josh authentically. I love that she actually grasps that feeling when you have a crush who (finally!) loves you back. Isla and Josh is so irritatingly adorable! There are moments when Isla is stuck on incoherent babbling because she can't control herself in front of Josh. I laughed so loud at that! Other times when they're talking, she just looks at him with goggle-eyes, or talking to herself, probably screaming internally. It doesn't help to read that Josh also feels like he's slowly being consumed of Isla. After all his closest friends in school left because they graduate early (remember Anna and the French Kiss?) and a heartbreak, Isla is just exactly what he needs to keep him in school. In between their story, Stephanie also touches some important issues, for example, treating your friends right (Kurt, Isla's bestfriend, he's a memorable side character), learn to know what you actually want for your future instead of letting other people (or God) to do it for you, and also how, as young adults, we're actually allowed to have fun and make the most of our youth.

The next things I love about Isla and the Happily Ever After, are: 1) There are a lot of places mentioned in the book. Not only Paris (where our main characters go to school) and New York (where they actually come from), the readers are also brought to Barcelona with the couple! I love it. And there's also a fleeting mention of Dartmouth, at the topic of college. 2) I have to admit, this third book is by far the SEXIEST book from Ms Perkins! Oh, if you think the sexiness in Anna and Lola is already on top, this time it falls on a whole another level. The fact that Josh is an artist who doodles, paints, draws, or simply does art is enough for me to consider him as real attractive, but then the sharpie and the shower scene happen. I was like OH MY GOD THIS IS SO GOOD THIS IS I CANNOT BELIEVE IT WHAT WHAT it was very hot but also very beautiful at the same time. Remember: Sharpie and shower!

But other than that, I have to say there are times when the story gets real frustrating. Here's why. I know insecurity is humane, it's impossible not to ever feel it in our younger times. Some days we feel more insecure than other days. But the thing is, in all honesty, I don't like being exposed to it when I'm reading about characters in books. I prefer to read about girls who are confident, who are badasses, who knows their worth, and who knows that despite their flaws, feeling insecure is a waste of time so it's better for them to just enjoy the days. That's what I found in Lola, that's what makes Lola special to me. So when things go awry in Isla and the Happily Ever After because of her insecurities that go out of hands, I was disturbed. Like what I said in the earlier paraghraphs, Isla feels scared, she feels jealous, she thinks the relationship between her and Josh is too good to be true. Then the whole thing that follows mimic the saying: What you thought become your words, your words become actions, and your actions become your reality. Drama-rama, drama momma drama. It gets that bad up to the moment where I feel like chunking a big block of stone to Isla's head. STOP TALKING. ACTUALLY STOP BREATHING ALREADY, YOU UNGRATEFUL BEING that's what I actually screamed in my head while staring with wide eyes upon the paragraphs.

Don't worry that much, though, because maybe it's just me. Lots of other readers feel like they have no problem with my issue about the book. Stephanie Perkins then lead us carefully until we meet all the previous characters in the first and second book (YES! Just you wait!) and give us the most wonderful surprise ever. It's such a perfect way to end her trilogy. So at the end, yeah, I'm still happy. I can't stop ooh-ing and aaah-ing at our favorite couples, hoping that they will continue to be as awesome as they are now and that I will finally get my own Anna to my St Clair, Lola to Cricket, and Isla to Josh.... My own happily ever after. That said, if Stephenie writes another contemporary YA, I would be more than happy to read it!

 “What are you working on?" I ask.
"The last page." He gestures towards the table, where a pencilled sketch is being turned into inked brushstrokes. It's a drawing of us, in this café, in this moment.
I smile up at him. "It's beautiful. But what comes next?"
"The best part." And he pulls me back into his arms. "The happily ever after.” 

 ***

 Hi, guys! What are you currently reading/watching/listening these days? Anything good? Have you read Isla? Tell me what do you think about it!

By the way, remember, there's still the August Rainbow Giveaway Hop going on in the blog, so if you want to win books (LOTS of books... with the total amount of money *winks winks*), make sure to come over to this post and join the fun!

Have lots of fun and read some more,

August Rainbow Giveaway Hop - Green

HIIIIIIIIIIII
It's time for another giveaway hop! :D

August is a special month because I'm celebrating two birthdays this month! Yang pertama adalah ulangtahunku sendiri di tanggal 15 (hihi) dan ulangtahun I Prefer Reading di tanggal 22 ini. HAPPY BIRTHDAY IPR! <3
Untuk merayakannya, aku bersama 6 teman-teman lain (yang juga berulangtahun di bulan Agustus) memutuskan untuk mengadakan

AUGUST RAINBOW GIVEAWAY HOP

Konsep dari giveaway hop kali ini adalah cover guessing game, sama seperti giveaway hop terakhir yang diadakan I Prefer Reading pada saat ulang tahun Blogger Buku Indonesia. Kemudian, karena hosts-nya berjumlah tujuh orang, kita memakai tema 'Rainbow' atau pelangi yang jumlah warnanya tujuh. Untuk di I Prefer Reading, warna dominan dalam cover guessing game ini adalah: Hijau!

Berikut aku jelaskan dulu ya mekanisme dan syarat untuk August Rainbow Giveaway Hop-nya

1. Giveaway berlangsung dari mulai hari ini, 22 Agustus 2014 hingga DUA minggu ke depan saja, yang berarti tanggal  5 September 2014

2. Peserta harus menebak dengan benar semua cover juga nama penulis dari buku-buku yang ditampilkan di masing-masing blog hosts August Rainbow Giveaway Hop. Oleh karena itu, kalian wajib mengunjungi dan juga follow semua blog yang menjadi hosts dalam giveaway ini (follow bisa melalui GFC, Bloglovin, ataupun email, bebas). Pada setiap blog, akan ada 4 buah cover. Maka, total cover yang harus kalian tebak adalah 4 cover x 7 blog = 28 buah cover.

3. Bagi kalian yang berhasil menebak keseluruhan dari cover yang ada, nama kalian berhak untuk masuk ke dalam undian pemenang. Kami akan memilih dua orang pemenang tercepat yang dapat memecahkan semua tebakan dalam cover guessing game ini.

4. Apabila di antara peserta tidak ada yang dapat menebak dengan keseluruhan 28 cover yang ada, maka dua pemenang yang akan kita pilih adalah mereka yang paling banyak jumlah benarnya

5. Jangan lupa sertakan nama lengkap, email, serta akun social networking yang dapat dihubungi supaya kalian mudah dihubungi bila menang, yaaa

Mungkin ada yang bertanya-tanya, duh emang August Rainbow Giveaway Hop ini hadiahnya apa sih, kok repot-repot banget gitu syaratnya? Hehehe :D

Hadiah untuk Giveaway Hop ini adalah 

Paket buku pilihan sendiri dengan jumlah total Rp 550.000 untuk dua orang pemenang! 

YES, YOU READ THAT RIGHT.

MORE THAN HALF A MILLION, PEOPLE!

Jadi, pemenang pertama berhak mendapatkan hadiah buku senilai Rp 350.000, sedangkan pemenang kedua mendapatkan Rp 200.000 :D

Nah, untuk bagian GREEN/HIJAU di I Prefer Reading, cover-cover berikutlah yang harus kalian tebak:

Untuk memudahkan kalian, aku beri hints yaaa. Mudah-mudahan bisa banyak membantu

HINTS

• Dua diantara empat cover tersebut merupakan buku-buku dari genre favoritku: Young Adult. Yang berarti, mereka buku berbahasa Inggris. Tapi sampai sekarang, dua-duanya belum diterjemahkan oleh penerbit di Indonesia huhuhu

• Sementara, dua lainnya merupakan buku keluaran penerbit lokal, dan dua-duanya adalah antologi (kumpulan cerita). 1 terbit tahun 2013, 1 lainnya terbit tahun 2014.

• Tiga diantara empat cover buku yang harus kalian tebak di atas udah pernah aku post reviewnya di I Prefer Reading, lho. Jadi, silakan backtrack IPR untuk membantu kalian menjawab!

• Satu di antara empat buku tersebut bertemakan travel/perjalanan

• Perhatikan baik-baik kata kunci berikut ini ya. Secara berurutan: Pelangi (Rainbow), If, Telanjang, Menyulut.

Pertanyaan selanjutnya adalah, dimana kalian harus menjawabnya? Apakah di kolom komentar seperti biasa? Nggak, kalian dipersilakan menjawab pada laman googledocs berikut ini. Jangan lupa sertakan identitas kalian. Jangan lupa juga untuk ajak teman-teman lain! Kalian boleh banget apabila ingin share tentang August Rainbow Giveaway Hop ini melalui twitter, facebook, atau bahkan blog kalian sendiri. Tidak wajib, namun akan ada poin tambahan apabila kalian melakukannya.


Sekian penjelasan dari aku. Apabila ada hal-hal yang kurang jelas dan ingin kalian tanyakan, silakan tanya melalui kolom komentar. Jangan lupa kunjungi blog-blog hosts lain untuk menjawab semua warna-warna yang ada, ya :)

Dunia Dalam Kertas | Kuroneko Book Club | Mari Ngomongin Buku | Notes of A Dreamer | Ren's Little Corner | Purple Bookish

Semangat yaaa, selamat berburu buku! I hope August will continue to give you more awesome surprises! <3

Have fun and read some more,

Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas

Throne of Glass

written by Sarah J Maas

published on August 7th 2012 by Bloomsbury USA

book #1 of Throne of Glass series

Young Adult/Fantasy/Romance

404 pages

***

After serving out a year of hard labor in the salt mines of Endovier for her crimes, 18-year-old assassin Celaena Sardothien is dragged before the Crown Prince. Prince Dorian offers her her freedom on one condition: she must act as his champion in a competition to find a new royal assassin. Her opponents are men-thieves and assassins and warriors from across the empire, each sponsored by a member of the king's council. If she beats her opponents in a series of eliminations, she'll serve the kingdom for three years and then be granted her freedom.

Celaena finds her training sessions with the captain of the guard, Westfall, challenging and exhilirating. But she's bored stiff by court life. Things get a little more interesting when the prince starts to show interest in her... but it's the gruff Captain Westfall who seems to understand her best.

Then one of the other contestants turns up dead... quickly followed by another.

Can Celaena figure out who the killer is before she becomes a victim? As the young assassin investigates, her search leads her to discover a greater destiny than she could possibly have imagined.

“My name is Celaena Sardothien. But it makes no difference if my name's Celaena or Lillian or Bitch, because I'd still beat you, no matter what you call me.”   

Throne of Glass is definitely that book which makes you seriously question yourself with the sentence: "Why didn't I read this sooner?!" It's an immensely entertaining high fantasy with a strong, badass, remarkable female main character that everyone who's looking for a good quality YA fantasy should look up to. Thank you, everyone out there, who feels like they haven't praised the book enough. You got me read this one.

Celaena Sardothien, a young asassin in the country of Erilea, was thrown into a salt mine prison after getting caught three years ago. For a long time she became a slave in that mine, but she endured it. Now the Crown Prince, Dorian Havilliard, offers to grant Celaena her freedom, if only she could become the Kings' Champion and prove that she, indeed, is the best. To get the title, though, Celaena has to beat other strong opponents in a deadly competition. Things get confusing when one by one, Celaena's opponents are found dead in dreadful conditions. Who might be the killer and what's the motivation behind the killings?

In this debut fantasy novel by Sarah J Maas, she writes a thorougly convincing and enjoyable high but light fantasy. There's something about the way she writes that makes us, as readers, believe in her words. The strong characterization of Celaena is one proof of it. (By the way, isn't the girl's name one of the best YA literary name, ever? I mean, CELAENA SARDOTHIEN. So much swag in two words. I really appreciate the author's ability to come up with some quite epic names that acually fits for her characters) As the best (and probably the youngest) assassin in Erilea, she has this harsh and powerful side of her, with so much badassery contained in one body. [The swordfighting scene with Chaol actually took my breath away!] Celaena knows not merely how to fight, but how to fight hard. This girl values herself because she knows that she's good at killing, that she deseves a high amount of respect for what she has accomplished in such a young age. Her self-boastness is something to be expected.  What I didn't expect was the girlish, teenagery side of her that surfaces every now and then. Like any other normal 18 years old girls out there, Celaena is still excited over the thought of parties, ballgowns, and other feminine matters which I admit, makes her not only so overly CUTE, but also lovable! She's like this ferocious, grumpy cat that will turn into a fluffy kitten when offered candies. This girl also has so much snark and fun-ness in oneself! I really really enjoyed every smartypants, wit-filled conversations that she exhanged with Chaol (and other characters as well) throughout the book. As if all of that are not enough, Sarah J Maas coerced me to love this girl even more when her passion toward literature and libraries is revealed. That way I started to believe that Celaena is truly powerful, strong, and unbeatable, but she's also a normal 18 years old girl who still wants to enjoy life as it is.

“Over a million? A million books?” Her heart leapt and danced, and she cracked a smile. “I’d die before I even got through half of that!” 

“You like to read?” 

She raised an eyebrow. “Don’t you?”   

*

“Libraries were full of ideas–perhaps the most dangerous and powerful of all weapons.”

The plot line flows seamlessly, alternating between scenes where Celaena is happily enjoying herself being showered by the luxury of palace life after three years living in a salt mine, the training, the get-to-know-you parts between her and other characters (Dorian, Chaol, Lady Nehemia, Nox, and others. I'm happy to say that it's clear Sarah J Maas put a lot of attentions to her side characters, because even Nehemia is a well complicatedly written character who actually holds an important role in the book), and the competition itself. There's a few letdown of the book, though, for the synopsis somehow created this quite high expectation that the 'competition' parts would be more like Hunger Games-y, while actually it's not that bad. Arrow shooting, running, one-on-one fight, identifying poisoned liquid, and all that. If I have to be honest, this book needs more action. More brutal fights, more mess. I want the assassin side of Celaena to be given lights more often. Show us, Sarah J Maas, SHOW US. Also, I am never a fan of love triangle, and while Throne of Glass' romance does not really qualify as love triangle, the somehow grey-ish relationship between Celaena, Prince Dorian, and Chaol got me torn for a while. I know clearly who I'm rooting for (CHAOL WESTFALL, of course. You have to read the book to grasp this INTENSE attraction between him and Celaena, which is like, the best thing ever. They're so special), I could not help but to enjoy all her moments with the other boy, too. These two boys can't help it but to get blown away by Celaena's astonishing charms, ha ha.

All in all, I would suggest this series to any of you who's currently looking for a good quality Young Adult series, especially for fantasy maniacs! Eventhough the turn of events might seem predictable at times, the story is supported by some well-crafted qualities such as good characterization, good dialogs, emotions play, and also filled with beautiful lines here and there. The series is set for six books (three books already out so far, which I will completely devour soon!) along half of dozen novellas that you can enjoy in between. 

A glimpse of awesomeness to Throne of Glass:

“Would you like to dance with me?”
He laughed. “With you? No.”
She looked at the marble floor, her chest tight. “You needn’t be so cruel.”
“Cruel? Celaena, Perrington is just over there. I’m sure he’s not happy about you being here, so I wouldn’t risk drawing his attention any more than necessary.”
“Coward.”
Chaol’s eyes softened. “If he weren’t here, I would have said yes.” 

(...)
“Anyway,” Chaol added, jerking his chin at Dorian, “I think you have far more attractive suitors vying for your attention. I’m boring company to keep.”
“I don’t mind being here with you.”
“I’m sure you don’t,” Chaol said dryly, though he met her stare.
“I mean it. Why aren’t you dancing with anyone? Aren’t there ladies whom you like?”
“I’m the Captain of the Guard—I’m not exactly a catch for any of them.” There was some sorrow in his eyes, though it was well concealed.
“Are you mad? You’re better than everyone in here. And you’re—you’re very handsome,” she said, taking his hand in her free one. There was beauty in Chaol’s face—and strength, and honor, and loyalty. She stopped hearing the crowd, and her mouth became dry as he stared at her. How had she missed it for so long?
“You think so?” he said after a moment, looking at their clasped hands.
She tightened her grasp. “Why, if I wasn’t—”

*   

“Right," Chaol said. "So you're just... memorizing that information now?"

"If you're suggesting that I have no reason to be here and to leave, then tell me to go." 

"I'm just trying to figure out what's so boring that you dozed off 10 minutes ago."

She propped herself up onto her elbows. "I did not!"

His eyebrows rose. "I heard you snoring."

"You're a liar, Chaol Westfall." She threw her paper at him at ploppedback on the couch. "I only closed my eyes for a minute."

He shook his head again and went back to work.

Celaena blushed. "I didn't really snore, did I?"

His face was utterly serious as he said, "Like a bear.”   

*

“You could be great. You could rattle the stars. You could do anything if only you dared.”

What are you reading lately? Are you having a lot of fun this weekend? I hope August is treating you well so far. If you have read the book and you love it, tell me!

If you're convinced to read the book after reading this review and you love it, tell me as well! It will seriously make my day. :)

Have fun and read some more!

Jobless July

Well, I was not exactly jobless in July, you see, but these two months between July and August are the time when I will have full 31 days off (summer break, everybody! *inner happy dance*). Except for the days where I have to make presentations in high schools along with other friends, I basically just stay at home, challenging my inner sloth. Since colleges are off, I did quite lots of breakfasting together with my old friends from elementary, middle, high school, even college friends in July, something that us Indonesian regularly do in Ramadhan month. It was fun to catch up with them, seeing how we're doing after months apart.

Did you read?
Why, YES, I did read, and in July I participated in #BCIDReadathon that was held by @BookClubID (update: I only managed to finish 3 books instead of 4 or 5 like I was originally intended). I didn't update the blog, I know, sorry for the lack of post! Since we're in this, I would also like to make an evaluation of my 2014 blogging goals that I set up in the beginning of the year, something like a mid-year evaluation, because it seems like I need to be reminded over and over again of my goals to get myself back on track.

Here is what I wrote in my 'Changes, Plans, and Secret Santa 2013' post last year.

'Beberapa goals buat IPR di tahun 2014 nanti'

• Dalam sebulan, harus posting minimal 5 postingan. 
• Pasang target Goodreads Reading Challenge 100 buku lagi, dan harus berhasil.
• Lebih aktif berpartisipasi di BBI.
• Tapi harus tetap bisa nyeimbangin waktu antara kuliah, social life dan blogging!

For the first point, I said that I have to post minimum 5 posts in a month. The first months were done quite good, started with 10 posts in January and February, but you can see as college started again in February and got a lil bit hectic during March, April, and the next months (not to mention the family problems that arised), I (pitifully) lost my balance in managing academic life, social life, and blogging, and unfortunately the latter had to be the one that was sacrificed, hence why in the last 3 months starting from May I didn't even write anything at all. *sigh* 

I know, no excuses, I'm sorry. We still have five months ahead to fix this. Go go go go go!

What about my reading challenge?

For the Goodreads Reading Challenge, I'm happy to say that I'm still on track (73 books so far). I have to admit that historical romances help a lot in this challenge, for most of them are light and have happy endings. Happy endings make me happy and want to read other books immediately, heheheh. I still read quite a lot of young adult books (contemporary or others), I just suck at writing reviews for them :| I also set myself to participate in at least one post of #PosbarBBI every month as my attempt to be more active in the community, but so far I have only participated in 4 months out of 7.

So there goes my report card...

Those are the books I read in July, 8 books in total. Only three of them are young adult books (ahaha), another one is a snippet suprise from JK Rowling, but it wasn't even a novella so I do not include that one.

• JD Robb's Glory in Death and Immortal in Death are the second and third book from the famous In Death series. I totally fell in love with the futuristic setting (oh, all the technologies!) and the series' power couple, Eve and Roarke. Stories about murders, criminals, and similar things like that are not usually what in my cup of tea, but for this series I found myself an exception.

• Landline, another fiction by Rainbow Rowell. I love it, it's better than her latest YA, Fangirl. Read my review here.

• Loretta Chase's Lord of Scoundrels was my historical fiction pick of the month. Fabulous main female character! It was deliciously entertaining ;)

• Ain't She Sweet by Susan Elizabeth Philips and Make You Mine by Macy Beckett are both adult fictions. In short, I prefer the former much better than the latter. I would totally look for other writings by Susan Elizabeth Philips.

• Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson, one of my favorite YA authors. She wrote Amy and Roger's Epic Detour also Second Chance Summer, two books that I would recommend to everyone. This latest creation from her, eventhough still very much enjoyable, fell on my least favorite, though.

• To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han, Throne of Glass by Sarah J Maas, and the latest installment of 1Q84 are the books that I read for #BCIDReadathon. I found myself another favorite: Throne of Glass series! It was AWESOME. 

Girl has one of the most notable characters' names in YA literary world: CELAENA SARDOTHIEN.

I really enjoyed this year's World Cup because THE GERMANS WERE ON FIRE, BABY and they won magnificently!!! :") This is my third time rooting for them in World Cup (I still remember crying my eyes out when they lose in WC 2010, this time I also cried but it was out of happiness YAAAAAS) I felt so proud seeing Bastian Schweinsteiger finally held the golden cup ahahahahah.
What team did you support for in this year's World Cup, by the way?

I watched three movies last month. You are the Apple of My Eye is a heartwarming coming of age Taiwanese movie adapted from book with the same name by author Giddens Ko (Indonesian version of the book is published by Penerbit Haru), Kings of Summer is a 2013 movie (Nick Robinson! luvvv) but it was a lil bit disappointing because the movie is kinda boring, and the latest one, Bajaj Bajuri is a local movie adapted from a famous sitcom that I recently watched this week.

As for music, I replayed Beyonce's Pretty Hurts and Taylor Swift's All Too Well many times this month.
Also, I just recently got hooked on (yet another) korean boyband called BTS/Bangtan Boys! My music player is currently repeating their songs over and over again as I write this post. I love how a lot of their members are still so young (Jimin and Taehyun are both 95-liners while Jungkook is a 97-liner. They're such a wonder).

No book blog recommendation this time, but here are a few links worth reading from around the web:

• Ginger from GReads! has an awesome feature on her blog for the summer: Sweet Summertime Reads Roadtrip

• Interesting site that I just discovered a while ago: Daily Zen List

• Read about Yasmeen, a hijabi girl living in America who takes a lot of sassy, entertaining selfies from Buzzfeed. And damn this girl IS smart! She's going to UC Berkeley this fall to study pre-med.

• The First Step for Anything is This: Show Up.

• Movie trailers: If I Stay, 50 Shades Of Grey, Mockingjay #1 Teaser Trailer: Our Leader The Mockingjay. (What do you guys think of them? 50's looking GOOD pretty much because of the amazing remake song from Beyonce and now I'm kinda pumped for it hehe. If I Stay... well a lil bit worrisome, I have to admit. It's my ultimate YA favorite book so I really don't want them to mess up!)

• Is Reading Too Much a Bad Thing? Is there any such thing as reading too much?

• Five reasons why Twilight is not completely awful by Steph Sinclair =))

• Some cute contemporary Young Adults to accompany your weekend read

• Another one from Buzzfeed: 42 Impossibly Fun Wedding Pictures that You'll Want to Steal. Yes I have a knack for reading wedding articles like this. Don't ask me why...

• Honestly, sometimes I'm still shocked when readers my age say that they don't like YA books or that they have no interest in YA books anymore. But the truth is, a lot of us feel that way, even Alicia, and even my ownself... (notice how a lot of adult fictions have been dominating my reading choice this year?)

August is my all time favorite month of the year because (of course), it's my BIRTHDAY MONTH YAAAAAAAAS. (Hint hint, middle date hint hint) I'm not excited about the prospect of getting older nooo but to think that I'll finally overcome another year in my life is somehow a beautiful thing. 18 has given me so much badassery, experiences, and magics that have molded and shaped me even more yuhuuu.

Other things I'm also excited about in August:

• Bangtan Boys comeback! Winner debut! EXO's new variety show, Legend! (Yup my life has been overtaken by korean boys, pretty much)

• If I Stay, the movie

• More high school presentations... It's a great way to exercise my public speaking :)

• ISLA AND THE HAPPILY EVER AFTER! Asdrjfeufefbecujrierfeufrnfe the book will be out only a day before my birthday <3

• Indonesian Independence Day on the 17th hihihih always love the atmosphere of celebration here

• More hanging out times with my friends!

What about you, what are you excited about for in August? Did you go anywhere for vacation this holiday? (I hope July was also a joyful month for you all) Any favorite book/article/movie/songs from July that you want to recommend? Shoot me with your words!

Don't forget to have fun and read some more :)