Golden by Jessi Kirby

Golden

Title: Golden
Author: Jessi Kirby
Genre: Young Adult-Contemporary-Realistic Fiction
Published Date: May 14th 2013
Publisher: Simon & Schuster
Pages: 288 pg

***

Seventeen-year-old Parker Frost has never taken the road less traveled. Valedictorian and quintessential good girl, she’s about to graduate high school without ever having kissed her crush or broken the rules. So when fate drops a clue in her lap—one that might be the key to unraveling a town mystery—she decides to take a chance.

Julianna Farnetti and Shane Cruz are remembered as the golden couple of Summit Lakes High—perfect in every way, meant to be together forever. But Julianna’s journal tells a different story—one of doubts about Shane and a forbidden romance with an older, artistic guy. These are the secrets that were swept away with her the night that Shane’s jeep plunged into an icy river, leaving behind a grieving town and no bodies to bury.

Reading Julianna’s journal gives Parker the courage to start to really live—and it also gives her reasons to question what really happened the night of the accident. Armed with clues from the past, Parker enlists the help of her best friend, Kat, and Trevor, her longtime crush, to track down some leads. The mystery ends up taking Parker places that she never could have imagined. And she soon finds that taking the road less traveled makes all the difference.

“We're all more than the person we show to everyone else.” 

I love Golden by Jessi Kirby because I could totally relate to the main character, Parker Frost. It's always nice to find bits of ourselves in other people's story, yes?

All her life Parker has always been a good straight-A student, living the life according to the rules to live up her mother's expectations. She never dare to 'break out' or do something out of ordinary. Now in her last quarter of high school, Parker began wondering about one thing that would always cross every one's mind at least once in their life before experiencing adulthood: "Tell me, what is it you plan to do with your one wild and precious life?"

At the same time, Parker was helping his teacher, Mr Kinney, to return journals of her seniors that were written 10 years ago. She came across Julianna Farnetti's journal, a girl who was the golden couple of Parker's high school, the girl who was involved in a tragic car-crashed-into-the-river-and-the-bodies-have-never-been-found accident ten years ago with her boyfriend, Shane Cruz. Julianna is the main girl who everyone envied, the heart of the city. Her and Shane was always seen as the couple who had it all, before the accident happened right after their graduation night. Parker couldn't help but read Julianna's journal, and by revealing the mystery about that night and finding out a totally different Julianna in the journal than what everyone has always been thinking about her, this later helped Parker to change her perspective about life. As if finding the journal was the answer to Parker's life choices & questions.

Autumn Once More by Ilana Tan, dkk

Autumn Once More

Judul: Autumn Once More

Penulis: Alia Zalea, Anastasia Aemilia, Christina Juzwar, Harriska Adiati, Hetih Rusli, Ika Natassa, Ilana Tan, Lea Agustina Citra, Meilia Kusumadewi, Nina Addison, Nina Andiana, Rosi L. Simamora, Shandy Tan

Penerbit: Gramedia Pustaka Utama (2013)

Tebal: 232 hlm

***

Cinta <adj>: suka sekali; sayang benar; kasih sekali; terpikat.

Ada bahagia dan kepedihan dalam cinta. Cinta yang terpendam menimbulkan resah, pengkhianatan pun tak lepas dari cinta, atau bahkan cinta berlebihan sehingga menyesakkan. Galau dan rindu pun dituturkan dalam ribuan kata di buku ini.

Autumn Once More membawa kita ke banyak sisi cinta dari kumpulan pengarang, mulai dari pengarang profesional hingga editor yang harus jadi pengarang “dadakan” dan menunjukkan kreativitas mereka dalam tema abadi sepanjang masa.

"Heaven knows what's best for us."

Sejujurnya, awal-awal kumpulan cerpen ini dipromosikan di media sosial, saya nggak terlalu tertarik beli (meskipun deretan penulisnya termasuk yang wow-wow). Tapi sewaktu pergi ke toko buku dan sempet 'ngintip' salah satu kopi yang plastiknya terbuka, saya iseng liat cerpennya Ilana Tan. Ternyataaa saya baru tau 'Autumn Once More' itu ceritanya Tatsuya-Tara dari buku Autumn in Paris (seri Four Seasons)! OMG. Langsung beli-lah. Soalnya buku itu favorit saya banget dari semua bukunya Ilana! (masih inget gimana sesenggukannya nangis waktu nyelesein Autumn in Paris... huhuhu)

Be Careful What You Wish For (aliaZalea)

"Banyak orang bilang cinta terkadang membuat pikiran kita tidak rasional. Dan biasanya ketidakrasionalan tersebut dimulai dari rasa suka, yang sekilas terdengar lebih jinak daripada cinta, padahal tidak begitu kenyataannya. Gara-gara suka, kadang kita mendapati diri melakukan hal-hal yang nggak akan mungkin dilakukan kalau pikiran kita seratus persen waras."

Gimana? Kalimat pembukanya aja udah bisa bikin senyam-senyum atau angguk-angguk sendiri, ya? Karya aliaZalea yang ini ringan, temanya seputar kelakuan kita (si tokoh utama) yang naksir seseorang. Siapapun pasti bisa relate deh sama ceritany.

Thirty Something (Anastasia Aemilia)

Premisnya sebenarnya sederhana dan agak klise: Tentang dua sahabat yang saling naksir (tapi nggak pernah diungkapkan). Ribetnya, tokoh utama cewek kita ini udah dijodohkan oleh neneknya ke orang lain, sementara tokoh utama cowoknya mau pergi ke Jepang. Endingnya bittersweet, but I did enjoy reading this piece. (Karya Anastasia Aemilia yang lain, Katarsis, juga rame dibicarakan di media sosial Gramedia dan disebut-sebut sama Mbah Hetih sebagai karya yang bagus. Tapi genre-nya thriller, makanya saya belum baca. Ada yang udah?)

Stuck With You (Christina Juzwar)

Gimana rasanya melulu terjebak di lift kantor bersama dua cowok ganteng? Itu yang terjadi sama Lita. Saya juga heran kok bisa-bisanya si lift itu macet terus sewaktu si Lita naik. Jangan-jangan Lita ini orangnya mengandung aura buruk (lah). Tapi namanya juga fiksi, hihihi.

Jack Daniel's vs Orange Juice (Harriska Adiati)

Dennys yang hobinya ngebir bareng teman-temannya, sholat aja jarang, dan pulang pagi melulu, jatuh cinta sama anaknya Pak Haji. Waks! Tapi anak Pak Haji mana mau sama cowok tipikal Dennys yang demen gaul ini? Dennys-pun mati-matian merubah sikap supaya jadi lebih alim dan bisa dibilang pantes jadi jodoh anaknya Pak Haji.

Quick Recap #1: From Unravel Me until Meant to Be

So. I've just decided to add a new thing. This idea came up to me while blogwalking some other bookblogs and read a confession (Deidra's post here, to be exact) about the amount of books we actually read and the ones we also write the review. For me, there's a big difference! You know how lazy I am to write a proper review... In a week I could manage to finish up to 5-6 books, but I only write 1 book review heheh :D

So this quick recap will sum up about books I've read in a week/more (or books in the past that I haven't review), and I'm gonna review them in some sentences. Thus, no books will be missed or feeling left out and I won't feel guilty anymore!

Ok, we'll start with five books first, this time. The book that I read in bahasa (translated edition) written here in bahasa.

Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi.

Woah, the cover. Woah, the sequel. Woah, the whole book.

I'm so satisfied!

I started the book with my heart still captivated by Adam (and no, I haven't read Destroy Me) and dude, it was really hard not to fall for Warner. Now I know what you all meant back then. #TeamBoth! :p

For a book which main character I didn't like that much, I ended up really liking Unravel Me. By all means, the ending wasn't what I wanted (because there are many aspects that for me, were still left out hanging), but I think it's perfect for the book. If you have read Shatter Me, don't take much time to read the sequel!

Dare You To by Katie McGarry

Gah, man. This book was intense. Golden boy meets troubled girl. Angst, angst, angst everywhere. I haven't read Pushing the Limits, so I read this with nothing in my mind. I had a hard time liking Beth, actually, with her being super annoying to her (awesome) uncle, crazy mom which chose to stay in an abusive relationship, her push and pull game with Isaiah, but I love the Beth I read when she was with Ryan. I love how being together made them a better person.

“I like you. I. Like. You. I'll admit you're annoying. Sometimes you agitate me to the brink of insanity, but you can throw it back at me like no one else. When you laugh, I want to laugh. When you smile, I want to smile. Hell, I want to be the one to make you smile.” 

Slammed by Colleen Hoover

Gimana rasanya jatuh cinta sama cowok yang ternyata adalah gurumu sendiri di sekolah? Well, well...

Untuk ukuran buku terjemahan, Slammed nggak mengecewakan. Konfliknya sebenernya simpel, tapi ada konflik-konflik tambahan yang bikin ceritanya tetep jalan & menarik. Untungnya Will bukan tipe cowok-cowok YA yang nggak punya pendirian; hanya karena dia jatuh cinta sama Layken, nggak berarti dia pasrah aja dan jadi nggak profesional atau jadi nggak peduli tentang masalah keluarganya sendiri (juga keluarga Layken). Aspek Slams/pertunjukan puisi yang ada di buku termasuk hal baru yang menarik buat saya, jadi itu juga yang nambah poin plus! :)

Eon by Alison Goodman

Covernya bagus yah!

Saya tertarik baca Eon gara-gara rekomendasi beberapa orang di twitter BookClubID. Secara keseluruhan, menarik sih, jalan ceritanya bagus (I found dragons to be really cute hehe) dan dipermanis dengan legenda-legenda naga yang agak kompleks. Tapi terjemahannya enak dibaca. This is one of those book that could sucked you into their world while reading. Minus point-nya, the lack of romance (I knooww, I'm so lame heheh) but if you love fantasy and you prefer reading books that doesn't focus in romance, I'd highly recommend Eon.

Meant to Be by Lauren Morrill

Meant to Be by Lauren Morrill actually has almost all that's a contemporary book needs to be a hit. Setting: London. Characters: nerd girl & popular jock boy. Plot: they're teamed up together in an educational trip in London and the boy wants to make the girl 'loosen up a little'. So he brings her to a party, sneaking out to a downtown London instead of following the initerary... And so on.
Plus point: Everything! It's romance. It's funny. It's light, fun, fluffy and everything happened in London.
Minus point: It's really-really predictable. 

But I wouldn't mind someone like Jason to be my MTB *winks*

Top Ten Favorite Books Cover of Books I've Read :D

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme hosted by the awesome girls over at The Broke & The Brookish. This week's topic is:

TOP TEN FAVORITE BOOKS COVERS OF BOOKS I'VE READ

There are lots and loooots of book covers that I adore (whether the storyline is actually good or not), both local and international books, so it's a bit hard to pick only ten, and only from the books that I've read. I might or might not have cheated a little on this topic... :p

And by the way, YES book cover is a crucial part of the book. I'm sure there are many of us who often get interested in reading a book just by looking at the cover. That's why I often feel disappointed when an Indonesian publisher translated a good book (that has an awesome original cover) but changed and used their own version of the cover. The cover usually turns out to be ugly :(

 

1. Across the Universe by Beth Revis

2. Incarnate by Jodi Meadow

 (both books were included in my list of Top 5 Favorite Book Covers in Book Kaleidoscope 2012)

3. Divergent by Veronica Roth. It looks powerful.

4. Twilight by Stephenie Meyer, Indonesian edition. 

No matter how much I love the original US covers of the series (Yes, they're gorgeous for me!), I love this one even better. Gramedia did a good job, yay! It attracts your eyes immediately when they're wandering over other hundreds of books in the bookstore.

5. Four Season Series by Ilana Tan. 

Local author. I love all four covers of the books! Sweet, dreamy and beautiful.

6. Origin by Jessica Khoury

7. Unravel Me by Tahereh Mafi. 

I didn't fancy the first version of the cover, but this one is just lovely.

8. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell. 

It may seems mediocre for you in pictures, but believe me, the cover looks so cute & adorable in prints. And the story is so, soo good. I think more people should definitely read this book.

9. Seluas Langit Biru by Sitta Karina. 

Local author. I actually love almost all of her books' cover (she illustrated most of her own books) but this one is definitely my fave.

10. Dash & Lily's Book of Dares. 

I love how the cover precisely captivated not only the festivities of Christmas time but also what's inside the book.

What does my choices say about me? Heheh

To read other entries' awesome choices of favorite covers, go here.

Until next Tuesday! ;)

Origin by Jessica Khoury

Origin

Title: Origin
Author: Jessica Khoury
Publisher: Razorbill
Pages: 394 pg
Website: http://origin-book.com

***

Pia has grown up in a secret laboratory hidden deep in the Amazon rain forest. She was raised by a team of scientists who have created her to be the start of a new immortal race. But on the night of her seventeenth birthday, Pia discovers a hole in the electric fence that surrounds her sterile home--and sneaks outside the compound for the first time in her life.

Free in the jungle, Pia meets Eio, a boy from a nearby village. Together, they embark on a race against time to discover the truth about Pia's origin--a truth with deadly consequences that will change their lives forever.

"The jungle hides a girl who cannot die."

I love Origin! 

The story takes a special place in my heart merely because the setting: in a deep forest of Amazon. Just by imagining the setting is already enough to make my heart flutters with excitement :-D

But thankfully, it's also accompanied by a good, interesting plot.

For seventeen years Pia had been locked out in Little Cam, a big laboratory located in the Amazon jungle. The scientists have created Pia as perfect as a human could be: stunningly beautiful, intelligent, flawless memory, strengthened hearing, vision and all. Nothing can hurt or pierce her skin. And more importantly: Pia's immortal. She cannot die. And this is the actual goal of the Little Cam's project: to create a race of immortals.

Pia, being the first successful trial of immortal, is given a lot of knowledge as a scientist. Mention her a name of plant and she could tell you everything about it: its biological name, its family, kingdom, species, and all that. But she's isolated from the real world. She doesn't know any names of cities, places, how to get out of Little Cam, where it's located, or what's outside the Little Cam. Now already seventeen, she's of course has a lot of curiosities.

The plot thickens upon the arrival of Dr Harriett Field and Pia finding a hole in her room that could connects her to the outside. Guess what did she find on the first time she's there? Of course, a jungle boy. Eio, a boy from the Aio'ans that live in the Amazon. After that first time, just like any other teenagers her age, Pia tries to find a way to sneak out into the jungle everytime she can. This also involved some help from Dr Harriett (seriously, I love this quirky Dr Harriett!). From those 'outings', Pia discovers a lot of secrets. Secrets of Eio, of the Aio'ans, of the Little Cam projects, which somehow are connected together.

Soon Pia has an internal battle between herself: to believe the scientist in Little Cam, stay there and keep going on making the race of immortals, or to break out into the real world?

“No one should live forever," I whisper. "Isn't that how it goes? There must be a balance. No birth without death. No life without tears. What is taken from the world must be given back. No one should live forever, but should give his blood to the river when the time comes so that tomorrow another may live. And so it goes."

Top Ten Books Dealing with Tough Subject

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme hosted by The Broke & The Brookish. This week's topic is:

TOP TEN BOOKS DEALING WITH TOUGH SUBJECTS

One Child by Torey Hayden

Personality/Mental Disorder

Believe it or not, I read this book when I was still in elementary school. It was kinda hard for me to grasp what's the problem with Sheila is, but once I understand, it touched me deeply. Sheila suffered a kind of personality & mentality disorder caused of her bad childhood and harsh treatment from her dad. Torey's struggle, affection and unending patience to treat not only Sheila, but also other kids (with the same condition as Sheila, although they were not that complex) in her class was admirable. I was glad that Torey finally found a way to make Sheila ease up to her and at the end, succeeded at having a normal life for her ownself (ending of book two: Sheila, The Tiger's Child.)

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Death/Suicide Attempt

When Lou Clark was hired to be a caregiver for Will, she knew that man was a quadriplegic who needed 24 hours supervision. What she didn't know is that Will had applied himself to Dignitas, an organization that helps people who wish to die in a monitored situation. It was kinda shocking for me to know that there's such organization like Dignitas. Will had tried to kill himself once, but failed. With his condition (paralyzed from neck down) it's understandable how depressing Will's situation was, and Lou's actual task was to change his mind before the day came.
 

The Truth about Forever by Orizuka

 HIV/AIDS

Local book written by one of my favorite authors. Yogas, the main character, is an ODHA (Orang Dengan HIV-AIDS/person with HIV-AIDS) and wish to find the person who had given him the needles that caused the virus to live in his body. His wish is to get a revenge. But then he met Kana, a carefree girl who wants to be an author. They fell in love, but Yogas didn't want to admit it nor to be in a relationship with her. He didn't want to be the cause for Kana's grief when he died later. The book actually taught me to not treat any person with this disease differently.

Top Ten Books When You Need Something Light & Fun

Tuesday is not over yet, right? Right? Hehehehe

Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme hosted by The Broke & The Brookish. This is my first time participating! And here I present you my list (in no particular order, of course) of this week's topic, that is:

TOP TEN BOOKS WHEN YOU NEED SOMETHING LIGHT & FUN

I have to be honest, it was hard for me to remember books that are actually light and fun, because lately I've been reading a lot of YA and most of them, even the contemporary ones, deals with some serious problems/situations (such as suicide, heartbreak, rape, parents' divorce, et all) not to mention the dystopian or apocalyptic ones. There were always angst, always. So that's the reason why I put some comics/manga and one traveling themed book in this list.

My Life Next Door by Huntley Fitzpatrick

Sam is a girl who lives with an authoritarian super-busy mother who's rarely home. While next door, live Jase and the Garretts. This family is loaded with kids (there are seven of them), crowded, noisy but full of life and are a real family. I will always be happy to re-read about Sam & Jase anytime. Their romance is fluffy and fills up most of the plot, with only slight drama in the middle and towards the end. And I'm not gonna get tired of saying how Jase would be a really, really, perfect unfictional boyfriend in real life ;-)

Hai!Miiko (the series) by Ono Eriko

Hai!Miiko series is a comic about the daily life of Yamada Miiko, a 5th grader kid who lives in Japan and loves having so much fun times with her lovely friends. It's, by my opinion only, one of the most popular comics in Indonesia (and Japan). Every installment will surely bring laughters to the readers, for most of them are so, so funny, light and enganging. There are 25 volumes already out in public here, but you don't need to read in order to enjoy the stories.

The Princess Diaries by Meg Cabot

I used to worship the life of Mia when I was still in middle high. I love how Meg Cabot tells the story in a quirky way. And isn't the premise of an ordinary girl suddenly challenged to be a princess of a totally unknown country sounds exciting and interesting to us girls? There are lots of romance and humor mixed, a perfect combination. Also, not so much angst.

Fairish by Esti Kinasih

There is a genre called Teenlit here in Indonesia, it's similar to YA, with the characters being in high school and the stories situated in teenager's life. Fairish was actually one of the books that made this genre became big. Opposite attracts, maybe that's the best way to describe the two main characters. Fairish is an easy-going girl, quirky and doesn't care much about her looks or her love-life, until a new boy named Davi comes and asked her to pretend to be his girlfriend while they're at school. And this is not an easy task, with Davi being a cold, tempered, distant person and hard to get along with. The story turns out to be very funny and well-written, but also dig deep to our emotions.

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes

Me Before You

Judul: Me Before You

Penulis: Jojo Moyes

Penerbit: Penguin (Michael Joseph, UK)

Tahun: 2012

Read in Ebook copy

Warning - spoiler ahead! Read at your own risk.

***

Lou Clark knows lots of things. She knows how many footsteps there are between the bus stop and home. She knows she likes working in The Buttered Bun tea shop and she knows she might not love her boyfriend Patrick.
What Lou doesn't know is she's about to lose her job or that knowing what's coming is what keeps her sane.
Will Traynor knows his motorcycle accident took away his desire to live. He knows everything feels very small and rather joyless now and he knows exactly how he's going to put a stop to that.
What Will doesn't know is that Lou is about to burst into his world in a riot of colour. And neither of them knows they're going to change the other for all time.

***

 "Tell me something good, Clark."

Hi. So, yeah, it's been a long time since my last book review, and I'm sorry. I've been caught up with all the national exams preparation and didn't feel like I could make any proper book review (I know, I know, excuses, excuses). Now that it's finally over, I hope to update more often in the future! :)

So I just finished this book titled Me Before You, written by a British author Jojo Moyes. I haven't read any of her works before, I just heard a lot of good things about the book and decided to give it a try. To summarize the book in one word, for me, would be: Heartbreaking. It was a constant tear-festive all along.

Cerita dalam Me Before You dimulai tahun 2009, dua tahun setelah sebuah kecelakaan fatal yang mengakibatkan Will Traynor (saat itu 32), mengalami SCI (spinal cord injuries) dan menjadi seorang quadriplegic. Yang mana berarti Will tidak bisa menggerakkan seluruh badannya mulai dari leher ke bawah, kecuali beberapa gerakan kecil dari jari-jari tangannya, itupun sedikit. He's paralyzed. Padahal sebelum kecelakaan itu terjadi, kita bisa tahu bahwa Will was on the top of his world. Ia punya pekerjaan tetap yang bagus, harta berlimpah, pacar yang cantik, juga merupakan seseorang yang benar-benar tahu bagaimana cara menikmati kesenangan hidup. Will sering pergi berlibur, berpetualang ke berbagai tempat. Dia telah melakukan banyak hal: scuba diving, paragliding, mendaki puncak Kilimanjaro... Singkatnya, he really lived, deh. Kini dalam usia 34 tahun, ia harus terjebak dalam sebuah kursi roda, membutuhkan bantuan & perawatan penuh dari orang lain selama 24 jam sementara kehidupan di sekelilingnya terus berlanjut. Semua yang kita harapkan saat melihat seorang pria berusia 34 tahun tidak ada dalam diri Will.

Saat kita bertemu Louisa Clark (Lou), ia juga dalam keadaan menyedihkan. Di usia dua puluh enam tahun, Lou masih tinggal sama kedua orangtuanya, dan ia baru saja diberhentikan dari pekerjaan yang sangat ia cintai di sebuah cafe bernama The Buttered Bun. Lou adalah tumpuan ekonomi keluarga, dengan ibu yang tidak bekerja dan ayah serta kakak yang hanya mendapat gaji kecil. Dengan putus asa, Lou mendaftarkan diri pada Job Centre, dan ia mencoba beberapa pekerjaan baru, namun tidak ada yang cocok. Hingga kemudian datang sebuah kesempatan untuk jadi seorang caregiver dengan bayaran yang sangat lumayan di rumah keluarga Traynor.

Lou belum pernah berpengalaman dalam menjadi seorang caregiver sebelumnya, tapi hal itu bukan masalah besar bagi Camilla Traynor (Ibu Will), karena yang ia butuhkan adalah seseorang yang bisa berkomunikasi baik dengan Will dan menemani laki-laki itu di rumah. Satu hal yang nggak Lou tahu sebelumnya adalah Will telah mendaftarkan diri pada Dignitas. (Dari Wikipedia: Dignitas is a group that helps those with terminal illness and severe physical and mental illnesses to die assisted by qualified doctors and nurses.) Keluarganya telah menjanjikan 6 bulan lagi sebelum hal itu terjadi. Camilla Traynor berharap, dalam waktu 6 bulan itu Lou bisa merubah dan menghentikan keinginan Will. Itulah tugas Lou yang sesungguhnya.

Tugas Lou bukanlah sebuah tugas yang mudah mengingat kepribadian Will yang kini tertutup, mudah marah dan terkadang kasar terhadap orang lain. Mampukah Lou membuat Will merubah pikirannya dalam waktu 6 bulan?