Review : Strange the Dreamer // Strange, Beautiful, and Monstrous

RATING : 

Goodreads • Amazon • The Book Depository

Strange the Dreamer, much like its title, is strange indeed. Strange, beautiful, exquisite, lovely, and heartbreaking. Exactly what I expected from Laini Taylor. If you know how much I love Daughter of Smoke and Bone trilogy (A LOT), you’ll be surprised of how long it took for me to finish this book.

I started this not long after its publication date, but then I got bored because it was slow and I was busy and impatient. So I stopped reading at the end of Part I and only picked it up a few days ago—or weeks, by the time this review went up. And boy did I regret not picking it up sooner because I. LOVED. IT. It’s without doubt THE MOST beautiful thing I’ve ever read. Laini Taylor always has her way with words, and it’s straight to my heart because I’m falling in love with her writing all over again.

It’s lyrical, poetic, gorgeous. It’s like lullaby to my eyes but instead of lulling me to sleep, it keeps me awake at nights (see my attempt at extravagant description here? :P) along with its gorgeous writing was its slow pace—which I’m almost sure always go hand in hand. The story build up slowly, full of lush description of people and places and feelings. And feelings, most definitely, because I’m sure I got my heart ripped out all over again. So many feelings of love, hate, despair, hope, and revenge.

Sarai and Lazlo instantly became my favorite characters. Lazlo with his hope, naivety, and dreams. He’s just so pure I can’t stand horrible things happening to him </3 and Sarai, with her empathy and conflicting feelings that I relate so much on personal level. I know how she feels to stand between two opposite sides and want to try to bridge the difference but gets it all wrong instead. She’s my precious little monster. I love the star-crossed lover dynamic between Lazlo and Sarai so much, but even I have to admit that it was pretty insta-lovey. 

The other characters also have so much depths. I love how Laini Taylor explored their feelings and the reasons why they did what they did. It makes things gray instead of black and white, and I love it. Sparrow, Ruby, Minya, Feral, Azareen, Eril-Fane, Suheyla, they all have their places in my heart.

Just like the pace of the plot, the world building was slow. You don’t instantly get this image of Weep from just reading a chapter or two. But as you slowly read, you’ll see Strange the Dreamer has one of the most vivid world building of ever—Weep is hauntingly beautiful. It’s… it’s gorgeous and mysterious and lovely. And Lazlo’s version of Weep, full of colors and flowers and CAKES. How sad is it that Sarai and Lazlo NEVER even tasted cakes before so they had to imagine the taste for their make-believe?? 😦

Have I mentioned that it was MONSTROUS?? I mean, it”s in the title of the post but I feel like all I’ve been saying was how BEAUTIFUL it is  but it’s also full of blue monsters and it miiiiight remind you of Avatar but this one is so much more gorgeous. Also, brutal and tragic, especially the ENDING I can’t even with that ending </3 though I’m glad we’re only 4 months away from Muse of Nightmares so I don’t have to wait that long.

All in all, Strange the Dreamer is strange and hauntingly beautiful. With rich and lush writing that would sway you, this book will take you to an amazing adventure. It’s slow, so maybe not the best book for when you’re in the mood for something fast and action packed. The only reasons I’m not giving it full 5 stars are 1) it gets too poetic at several inappropriate moments and 2) it’s too insta lovey—would have been a whole lot better if it was slow burn. But to redeem it, it’s also full of feelings and you’ll probably cry but ALSO IN LOVE WITH THE BOOK ♥♥♥

Book Title : Strange the Dreamer
Author : Laini Taylor
Publisher : Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Release Date : March 28th 2017

The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around—and Lazlo Strange, war orphan and junior librarian, has always feared that his dream chose poorly. Since he was five years old he’s been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to cross half the world in search of it. Then a stunning opportunity presents itself, in the person of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance or lose his dream forever.

What happened in Weep two hundred years ago to cut it off from the rest of the world? What exactly did the Godslayer slay that went by the name of god? And what is the mysterious problem he now seeks help in solving?

The answers await in Weep, but so do more mysteries—including the blue-skinned goddess who appears in Lazlo’s dreams. How did he dream her before he knew she existed? And if all the gods are dead, why does she seem so real?

Welcome to Weep.

Have you read Strange the Dreamer or any other books from Laini Taylor? What do you think about it? Do you love lyrical and poetic writings and slow paced books? I’d love to hear your thoughts! ♥

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My Bookish Life During Hiatus

Hello everyone! ♥

Welcome back to another post of me 😀 I’m sooo excited to be back here, but I’m still pretty out of ideas so today, I’m gonna be talking about my bookish life during hiatus. As you probably know, I just got back from a 1-year-and-2-months hiatus which also  happened to be a period of long reading slump. But that doesn’t mean I completely cut off my relationship with books—that would be impossible because books are my life. So anyway, here’s a quick recap of what I’ve been up to in terms of books!

Books I read

This is a little hard to track because I stopped using goodreads for a while, but on top of my head here are some books I read during my hiatus :

If you see the pictures above, you’d find out that I mostly only read local books. It’s because they’re easier to find—I don’t have any international bookstore on my current city—and they’re frankly easier to digest. I mean, it’s my mother tongue so I can read faster 😛

1. RESIGN by Almira Bastari. A highly amusing NA romance comedy highlighting the relationship between an employee and her supervisor. Quick, comical, witty, and just what I need to read after a hectic day at work.
2. AROMA KARSA by Dee Lestari. Dee is my favorite Indonesian writer and I love her Supernova series so much. This one is a stand alone about two people with exceptional sense of smell and an ambitious women “exploiting” the gifts for her own purpose. It’s a little fantasy meet historical fiction meet contemporary but it worked so well. I’m really hoping for a sequel though.
3. AUTOBOYOGRAPHY by Christina Lauren. It centers on a m/m relationship between a student with supportive parents and his tutor, who happens to be a mormon. It’s set in a writing class where the students are asked to write a whole book by the end of the semester. There are a lot of things I love, but it was unfortunately a bit slow for me.
4. OBSIDIO by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff. The book that got me out of reading slump. Intense, brutal, unpredictable. Not gonna say anything more because I’ve already written an 800 words review, just wait and see 😛

I’m quite sure I read more than ONLY 4 books this year but I just can’t remember anything more 🙈 I did read a little part of Warcross, When Dimple Met Rishi, and Strange the Dreamer but at the moment I couldn’t focus so I put them on hold for now.

Books I Bought

I might not read much lately but I still shopped for books every time I got the chance  here are some of the books I bought so far.

Here are some of the others. No photo because they’re at my place and I’m currently at my parents’ house for Eid holiday.

When you’re not in the mood to read, then you’re simply not in the mood. Even if these shiny books keep waving at me. Of all the books I bought, I think Obsidio is the only one I finished. I thought for sure that it’s a contemporary book that would get me out of my slump because that’s what usually happens, but turned out I was wrong. I got completely immersed while reading Obsidio and I stayed up until 2 in the morning to finish the 615 pages book because it was just that great 

Anyway, now that I thiiiink I’m finally in the mood to read again, I’m gonna go through all these books slowly. I’m thinking of starting Children of Blood and Bone, Leah and the Offbeat, and picking up Warcross and Strange the Dreamer where I left off before. What do you think? Are there any books from above that you think I should read first?

Books to Movie Adaptation

Surprisingly, I watched quite a lot of movies this past year. A lot more than I usually did. I remember watching several books to movie adaptation, but the only one I remember was Ready Player One 🙈 it wasn’t the best story I’ve ever seen but it was enjoyable! I had so much fun watching the movie and it made me want to read the book—or read Warcross, because I’ve been told Warcross is a much, much better version.

Ohhh I also watched and read Susah Sinyal. Instead of book to movie, it’s a movie to book adaptation. The movie came out on December 2017, directed by my favorite Ernest Prakasa. It’s a family movie about the dynamic between a single mother and her daughter. It’s so heartwarming, so when I heard there would be a book and that my favorite author Ika Natassa will co-write it, I WAS DEFINITELY IN!! It didn’t disappoint because the book brings out much more feelings and depth into the story that the movie lacked of.

Oh well, that;s another book I read during my hiatus but I’m too lazy to go back up and edit, so 😛

Writing

I don’t know if you remember, but I do have a writing project I started at the beginning of last year. You can read it here. I know I made it my resolution to finish the first draft by the end of the year and I still haven’t BUT it’s not like I didn’t make any progress!! I’ve actually written the ending but there are still a lot of plot holes and I couldn’t figure out how to fill them. I also did make a lot of edits. And I, um…. actually started another project 

I wrote around 5 chapters and haven’t picked it up anymore hahaha fingers crossed I’ll get back to it soon! ♥

Book Blogs I Read

It’s sad to say that I’ve completely failed at keeping up with book blogs I follow </3 since I announced my hiatus, I’ve probably only opened my wordpress reader a couple of times and my Bloglovin feed none at all. (Speaking of my country BLOCKED access to Bloglovin along with Tumblr what a lame government!!!). Sometimes I did click through the link to posts I found on Twitter, but I never stayed long enough to read until the end. But there is this blog I found through Twitter called Snark Squad—you could tell from the name that the blog basically only snarks at bad books. And boy it was so fun to read!!

I think I spent a month or two reading it every single day. There are a lot of funny ones, even of the books I enjoyed, but my favorites gotta be about Fifty Shades series. The series was SO BAD it’s ridiculous. They snark it chapter by chapter and it’s like I’m reliving the stories through their eyes. Except the snarks are way better and funnier than the original stories 😛

Here are the links in case you’re interested. Or in need of a laugh.

Fifty Shades of Grey ♦ Fifty Shades Darker ♦ Fifty Shades Freed

Well well well, I guess that’s all I can share about my life in terms of books. Do you think there are things I possibly missed? Hmm anywayyy, how’s your reading life so far? Ready any fantastic books lately? I’m in desperate need of recommendations! Oh, and are there any book blogs you’re loving lately? Please link me! I want to follow more bloggers 😀

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I’m BACK!

Hello everyone! ♥

It’s been over a year since my hiatus announcement on April 2017 🙈 what I initially planned as a couple-of-months-hiatus turned out to be a year long hiatus because I got carried away with… well, life. If you read this post you’d probably remember that I had a REALLY rough start on my job. What’s with the bad place, hot weather, and super slow internet connection that’s definitely not cut out for blogging 

Now it’s been a year and I can safely say I’ve settled in—though not perfectly because I’m not loving my city that much. ANYWAY, here are some updates on my life, in case any of you wants to know 😛

Quarter Life Crisis. I had no idea what the deal with quarter life crisis is until I experienced it myself. I can’t actually describe it but around the first few months of moving out of the house and starting this job, I has this hollowed and restless feelings about my life—in general. I felt like I needed to make a decision about something but it was just so difficult and I had no one to rely on, which eventually led me to realize : this is adulthood, isn’t it? Being on your own and only having yourself to rely on.

It was also a little difficult for me to establish friendships in the workplace. I just figured out that workplace friendship is… different. Idk if it’s just me but it’s definitely not as deep as my previous friendships. Also about friendship : I was kind of sad to part ways with my best friends. We used to do most things together and now we all have our own lives that it’s so hard to find time to meet. So I guess I was lonely. And I spent a lot of nights crying. Took me a couple of months to snap myself out of this and just try living my current life as best as I could.

Work Life. My first year of working was occupied with this HR Transformation Project. It was exhausting but I got to know so many people from our company—which is amazing for a new kid like me. After the project ended, I was in this gray area where I didn’t really have any responsibilities. I hadn’t been assigned any new tasks so basically I just did what my superiors told me and it was boring af. Also there was a rift between our boss and us so it was messy.

At the end of last year I was transferred from Headquarter to Plant at the exact same position. I got super busy but the roles are clear so I called it a win. Also I had to say goodbye to my coworkers and start adjusting again but so far I really enjoyed it ♥

Social Life. The previous paragraphs have probably summed up the fact that I have very little friends at work but that’s okay because I have accepted it. It’s all about quality not quantity, right? 😛 also now I’m used to befriending people way older and with different background from me. ALSO I got myself a boyfriend!! Hahaha we’ve been together for 6 months and I’m happy. It’s kind of something I found when I was definitely not looking so it was a pleasant surprise.

Reading Slump. I guess this wouldn’t be surprising but I’ve been caught up in this vicious reading slump for a while. I was too lazy to read and I couldn’t even finish A BOOK for a long time. I’ve probably only read a total of 5 books in this past year—what a sad statistic. However, there are so many new titles I want to read and I thiiiink I’m finally ready to jump into the reading bandwagon again. Cross your heart, guys.

So that’s a recap of my life so far.

I’ve been thinking about going back into blogging for a while now but I still have no Wifi at home (I’ve grown accustomed to it) so it’s kind of been holding me back. But a couple of weeks ago I was browsing something work related when google directed me to a wordpress page and it was logged on my account. I clicked the notification and I found that my blog isn’t completely dead. I still have visitors and receive comments regularly (though the numbers are significantly lower than when I regularly blogged) and I was reminded of how much I love this blog. I’ve poured so much love and work for this and somehow it kinda motivated me to come back 😛

Nothing’s set in stone yet, but here are my plans so far :

1. I’m gonna start reading regularly again. I’ve been collecting a lot of contemporary books—and yes I’m obviously gonna start with contemporary because it’s light and easy to get in the mood for. Any 5 starts read you’d love to recommend?
2. Going back to blogging, but with less posts than before. I really enjoy writing and sharing my thoughts with you all. However, since I still don’t have regular internet connection, I’m probably only gonna post once a week— when I’m home, find a coffee place to blog at, or manage to find some time to steal during lunch break at the office.
3. No more book photography 😦 I enjoy taking pictures but it requires so many efforts that I just couldn’t do anymore. I don’t bring camera and that many books to my place and there’s no good place to take pictures anyway. I’m gonna have to get creative with designs to keep this blog attractive.
4. Bloghopping is gonna take a backseat this time 😦 I always get so busy with my job and if I’m not working I’m probably out or passed out on my bed, so there’s not much time for bloghopping. BUT I’m gonna try to bloghop whenever I post or from my phone during commute to and from work 😀

So that’s all that’s been going on in my life so far. How are YOU? I’ve missed you all so much and I’m so excited to be back 😀 I’ve been out of the loop for a while so TELL ME, what has been going on in the bookish community? What are your current favorite reads? Do you still remember me or have forgotten about me? Hahaha let’s chat! ♥

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Review: History is All You Left Me // Character Driven, Complex, and Beautiful

RATING : 

Goodreads • Amazon • The Book Depository

It’s a little disappointing to see that I’ve fallen into the hype. In case you didn’t know, I loved More Happy Than Not and this book is honestly one of my most anticipated releases this year. This is gonna be an unpopular opinion but unfortunately, I wasn’t impressed.

History is All You Left me follows the story of Griffin, a high school senior whose ex-boyfriend Theo just died in a drowning accident. Theo was Griff’s best friend, first love, and probably end game as well. They broke up before Theo went to college in California. In there Theo started a new relationship with Jackson, despite saying that Griff would be his end game as well.

Review : The Hate U Give // Powerful, Important, and Provocative

RATING : 

Goodreads • Amazon • The Book Depository

Five stars and more, and I don’t think any reviews will ever do this book justice. It’s so powerful, wonderful, and undoubtedly the most important and honest book I’ve ever read in my life.

As could be inferred from the blurb, The Hate U Give was inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement. Going into this book, I almost didn’t know what to expect. I heard it was amazing, unapologetic, and possibly one of the best books everyone’s ever read. But still, I didn’t know what to expect. What I got was so much… more, than I could have expected. This book was so honest, strong, brilliant, and it evoked so many emotions in me. Hours after reading that last page, I’m still reeling with my emotion. There are so many things I want to discuss about this book.

Taking a Step Back from the Bookish Community: A Semi-Hiatus Announcement

Hello everyone! ♥

It’s been a while since the last time I’d been FULLY active here. My life is undergoing a big change and I was planning to tell you this on my March recap, but unfortunately I didn’t even have the time to write a March recap 

Reviewing on Goodreads and on the Blog: is There Any Difference?

Hello everyone! ♥

Welcome back to another discussion post 😀 today we’ll talking about reviewing books on different platforms and if there’s any difference between them. A few weeks ago I stumbled across a blogging tip post that talks about the difference between reviewing books on goodreads and on our blog and the blogger said that it should be different. It surprised me a little because I’m that kind of reviewer who practically copies-and-pastes my goodreads reviews to my blog 😁

Review : A Quiet Kind of Thunder // Important, Relatable, and Sassy

RATING : 

Goodreads • Amazon • The Book Depository

Hello everyone! ♥ if you pay attention to my posting schedule, you’ll know that Tuesday is for random posts and review is supposed to be posted on Thursday. This Thursday is almost the end of March, which means I’ll be posting my monthly recap. So here’s a review on a Tuesday! 😀

The Diversity Corner #2 : March Updates, Asian Representation, and April New Releases

Hello everyone, welcome to the second edition of The Diversity Corner! ♥

ICYMI, I talked about Muslim representation in books on my first edition, you could read it here. Today I’ll be talking about Asian representation and I teamed up with several Asian bloggers to put this post together! 😀 But before we get there, as usual, I’m bringing you some diversity-related news and updates ♣

P.S. it’s gonna be long, so grab your drink, settle into a comfortable position, and read 😉

The Evolution of My Book Photography Style

Hello everyone! ♥

If you do book photography—whether it’s for your blog or bookstagram or both, you must have taken some times to experiment with your photography style before eventually finding one that you’re comfortable with. To be honest, this is an ongoing process. You never stop experimenting because even if today you have found your favorite styles, you might find another favorite in the future. Especially if you’re someone who’s always looking for the next best style. Like me 😛

As you’ve seen from the title, today I’m gonna show you the evolution of my photography style 😀

Style #1 : The Simple Flatlay

I started out taking pictures of books long before I created my instagram account. At first I used my phone because it was simple, and I didn’t think I would need more options—the ones that camera provides. My first style was super simple! They’re all flatlays of books with a few of my stuffs. 

That was pretty basic and practically required no effort to set up 🙈 while some bloggers/bookstagrammers could pull off this simple style effortlessly, I failed miserably 😂 I wasn’t satisfied at my pictures. I hated looking at the empty spaces and I always had this urge to fill those empty spaces up, which is weird because if you look at my blog design, it’s all about empty white spaces 😛

Style #2 : The Origami Phase

After realizing the fact that I hated empty spaces, I started to look for props to make my pictures look more cluttered. At first it was difficult because when I looked at those pretty pictures on instagram, everybody seemed to use expensive props like candles, funko, etc. Some bookstagrammers successfully used random items as their props but when I tried using random items on my pictures, they looked like… well, random items 😂 it was very discouraging ahaha that was when I discovered the magic of origami ♣

Spoiler : I didn’t make those paper stars. I can’t 😂🙈 buuut I did make the origami flowers and butterfly. They’re very easy to make! This is also around the time when I started using my brother’s DSLR. I didn’t understand a single thing about it though, so I only used automatic hahaha it was pretty satisfying for a newbie.

Style #3 : The Graduation Flowers Edition

I’d always wanted to use flowers as props but to have to buy them myself ONLY for props sounded… absurd. And redundant. No judging any of you who does, but I’m cheap and I don’t want to spend money on things that don’t last 😂😂 but then the day finally came for me to use flowers as props! Remember how I got so many flowers on my graduation day? Those flowers served as my props, at least while they last 😛

I actually really liked this aesthetic! It’s pretty and I love the colors, especially because the flowers came in so many colors I basically had so many choices.

Style 4 : The Drying Flowers

Like I said above, flowers don’t last. I put them in a vase of water but still, in less than week they started to dry. But hey, drying flowers still make good props, right? So I thought. I started using them as my props and while at first they looked great, I started to dislike them rather quickly.

The thing with using dried flowers as props is they made the pictures looked a lot darker than I preferred. Compare it with the pictures above, you’d see the difference. This was the time when I started to experiment with manual setting, because as you see, the pictures are dark 😂 I wanted to brighten them, but unfortunately (or fortunately?) automatic setting didn’t suffice. So I had to learn to play with ISO, aperture, and shutter speed 😛

Style #5 : The Autumn Vibes

There’s really no stopping the flowers from dying, so one day I asked my friend about what to do with my flowers because I didn’t want to throw them out. She told me to pry all the dried petals and put them in a jar, it would look pretty, she said. It was actually a good idea so I started prying them, but then halfway through it I realized these dried petals would be great for props! I mixed them with my paper stars and voila ♥

I also started to experiment with props and used random stationery items for my pictures. Thankfully they blended well enough and no longer looked like random items 😂🙈 I called this autumn aesthetic because with all the dried petals and flowers, they created an autumn-ish vibe. Maybe. I don’t know, I’m a tropical girl and we don’t have autumn here 😛 anyway, I was pretty content and I stuck with this style for a long time… until something dreadful happened.

Style #6 : The Extinction of the Dried Petals

Sometimes in last September or October, I completely lost ANY desire to take pictures. I can’t remember why, maybe I didn’t have any inspiration, time, or was simply lazy. But I went for a few weeks without taking any pictures. During this brief hiatus, I stored my dried petals in a shoe box and it was closed. Fast forward a few weeks later, I suddenly wanted to take pictures and when I opened my shoe box, the dried petals were humid and covered with mildew. I freakeeeed 😂😂😂 honestly it felt like a step back because I lost a vital prop and didn’t have anything to replace it yet. So I started taking pictures with my usual style—only without the petals.

I really didn’t like this style, I thought it looked so boring. I started using my origami paper to spice things up. It worked, but it didn’t look like my style at all. It only lasted a few pictures before I tried on another 🙈

Style #7 : The Dried Petals Replacement & Return of the Flowers

I spent some time thinking of something to replace my dried petals then one day I went to the bookstore and found some dried wooden skins in arts and crafts section. It was a bit overpriced but I bought it. And while I was at it, might as well buy some flowers, or so I thought. The color is more white with less autumn vibe but it worked so well. I really liked this aesthetic, too bad it didn’t last long because the flowers (inevitably) dried 😂

Style #8 : The Fake Flowers

I was so done using flowers only to have them dried a week later so I decided to buy fake flowers altogether. If I was gonna spend money on it, might as well spent it on things that last, right? 😛 at first it was kind of difficult to set up but after some times experimenting, I started to really love this style. This is actually the style that I still use 😀 I’ve experimented with the set up and props ever since but my general aesthetic remains the same.

So you see, it took me a while to finally settle on this current style. I’m probably not gonna stick to it forever, but for now I’m pretty satisfied with it and have no intention of changing style anytime soon ♥

Alright everyone, that was the evolution of my book photography style! I went through roughly 8 styles before settling with my current style. Which one do you like best? What about you, did you do a lot of experimenting before finding your perfect style? I’d love to hear your thoughts! ♥

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