Book Review: This Song is (Not) for You by Laura Nowlin

Title: THIS SONG IS (NOT) FOR YOU
Author: Laura Nowlin
Published: January 5th, 2016
Publisher: Sourcebooks
Pages: 220
ISBN: 978-149-260-290-3
Price: $12.11 (Book Depository) // $9.95 (Amazon)

*Digital ARC was received from Sourcebooks through Netgalley*

Rating: 3/5 stars
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I always fall for novels about music. It's not always necessary talking about music, but just put the word "song" on the title and I'll read it. Well, that's the case with This Song is (Not) for You by Laura Nowlin. I must admit that the cover is not that beautiful. It's not the kind of novel with very captivating cover which will hypnotize people to buy it. But, yeah, the "song" word works (for me). Thank you NetGalley for the opportunity. I had to shut down my old NetGalley account in order to have a clean slate in book review. Hopefully it will work well. So, back to the novel. I haven't heard anything about Laura Nowlin. I thought she's a newcomer, but it turns out she already has a book before This Song is (Not) for You and she has quite lot fans. That's why I started this book on my Kindle App with a pretty high expectation.

Music will always be a part of my life. A huge part. But there are other things in life that I also want, and I don't want to give them up to pursue just one thing. - Tom

Ramona is just an average high school student who doesn't have many friends because everyone thinks that she's weird. But, she has Sam who is always beside her. The "weird" thing about Ramona is that she always has feeling about something. She feels like Sam is meant to meet her and so does Tom, a guy whom she met at an audition. She feels like Tom is meant to be in her band. So, they three get along and play music together. They do it great. I, of course, cannot hear the song. According to how Nowlin describes it, it sounds great. I imagine Fun. kind of songs. Ramona on the drum, Sam on the guitar, and Tom as the chaos maker with his own instruments.

Following their story to reach the dream and figure out their future is kind of entertaining. They are bond together but somehow they have different goals. When they're trying to be honest to each other, they're afraid to hurt someone else. I can feel how strong their friendships. I can understand how important they are to each other. So, yeah, I have to give a thumb up to Nowlin for this. I've never read a friendship as strong as Ramona's. But things get weirder when we talk about relationship. Well, don't be surprised. Don't you ever heard someone said, "It's impossible for guy and girl be in a friendship without falling for each other,"? There's something going on between Ramona, Sam, and Tom. But I can't give you more details about that because it's shocking! I was like shaking my head, confused, a little bit disagree. I was like "what the ****?!" But, the final judgement might be different based on the readers' culture. I have been warned.

Overall, I give this book 3 out of 5 stars. The story's idea is not unique, but Nowlin has her own way by putting a lot of music things (which is great). Describing music and successfully transfer the feeling to the readers is not easy. Nowlin did it great. I was a little bit struggling to understand some musical meaning, but it doesn't affect my understanding of the whole story. So, it's fine. Unfortunately, this story is very lack of family's value. I think it would be great if Nowlin brings the reader to get to know each family better in order to understand the sexual issue.

The Confession of An Angry Girl

Confession of an Angry Girl (Confession #1)

Copyright © 2012 by Louise Rozett

Published August 28th 2012 by Harlequin Teen

Format: ebook; Number of Pages: 272

Language: English; ISBN: 9781459237919

Rose Zarelli just lost her father in an explosion at Iraq. Her dad was a contractor and you might wonder why the hell he ended up in a war, which is usually a playground for military. This grief brought her into madness. She barely talked to her mom since her dad died. Peter, her older brother, left for college and turned to be someone else. She only had Tracy, her very best friend, and Robert, who actually likes her from the sixth grade. Everything got more complicated when she met Jamie Forta. Tracy and Robert were easy to find out that Rose fell for him. But did she? She wasn't sure. Everybody kept telling her to stay away from him.

My version of Jamie Forta

Rose had crush on him since the seventh grade, a few years before she went to Union High. She never believed that Jamie had an eye on her. Was it love, or it was something else? Jamie's girlfriend, Regina, was in the squad, and they had been dating since like forever. Jamie had a little story how he and Regina ended up being together. He owned her, like very much! But they had kissed twice. Would everything be the same? You bet. Everything had changed. All the harassment, the graffiti (which said '911 Bitch'), the confusing stuffs, were all what Rosie had to experienced in high school. Doesn't sound cool, right?

This book brings more than romance, but also bullying and new vocabularies. It's like another love story from Harlequin Teen, which is light and very recommended if you feel like tired and need refreshment. Although this kind of story is nothing new, I didn't get bored, at all! I like the innocent Rosie, who was very commit to against sex for freshmen. I appreciate the way she responded to Regina, the cheer-witch. She was just fourteen and left alone in brief, but she acted like a mature girl. Yes, she cried more often, but she wasn't a girl who depends on other. She was just a teenager, who tried to find a way out from high school universe.

Even she didn't tell the principle who did those graffiti, she wasn't afraid of Regina. She beat her down! But it seemed doesn't stop her to being mean. Now Rosie had her best friend back. They finally decided to take revenge on Regina. They're not that kind of girl, but Rosie totally can't wait for it. Will they do it? Will Regina stop attacking her? Well, let's see on the second book, Confession of an Almost-Girlfriend. Another thing that I like the most from this book is those new vocabulary. Well, I am still learning English. It's just great to learn new vocabularies, which are probably not that important, but still, I think they might be helpful someday ;)

Buy the book:

[ Amazon Kindle ] [ Book Depository ]

About the author:
Louise Rozett is an author, a playwright, and a recovering performer. She made her YA debut with Confessions of an Angry Girl, published by Harlequin Teen. The next book in the series, Confessions of an Almost-Girlfriend, is due out June 2013. She lives with her 120-pound Bernese Mountain dog Lester (named after Lester Freamon from THE WIRE, of course) in one of the world's greatest literary meccas, Brooklyn...and also in sunny Los Angeles. (Being bi-coastal is fun!) Visit www.Louiserozett.com for more info.

The Last Secret

Judul: The Last Secret
Pengarang: Lynn Sholes dan Joe Moore
Penerjemah: Istiani Prajoko
Penerbit: Serambi
Tahun Terbit: 2012
Tebal: 516 Halaman
Harga: Rp 59.000

Wabah bunuh diri

merebak di seluruh dunia

Sebuah tablet kristal ditemukan di tengah reruntuhan peradaban kuno di dekat Machu Picchu, Peru. Di permukaannya, tertera kode dan simbol yang diyakini dapat mengungkap rahasia yang dapat menyelamatkan seluruh umat manusia dari malapetaka besar seperti Banjir Besar yang pernah terjadi pada masa Nabi Nuh. Tablet yang sama ditemukan di reruntuhan peradaban Anasazi di New Mexico. Namun, sebelum kode-kode tersebut sempat diterjemahkan, tablet itu dimusnahkan oleh sebuah kuasa kegelapan yang misterius.

Diyakini, ada dua belas tablet kristal yang diberikan Tuhan kepada pemimpin-pemimpin spiritual peradaban kuno. Namun, hampir semuanya telah dimusnahkan oleh mereka yang tak ingin rahasia dalam tablet itu diketahui manusia. Hanya ada satu tablet tersisa yang keberadaannya masih menjadi misteri.

Dan hanya ada satu orang yang dapat memecahkan petunjuk serta menguak sandi rahasia itu untuk mengungkapkan kepada dunia--Cotten Stone, seorang jurnalis brilian sekaligus putri sang Malaikat Jatuh. Berlomba-lomba dengan para Nefilim yang dipimpin oleh sang Iblis, ia harus menemukan tablet kristal tersebut dan menguraikan rahasia terakhir sebelum bala tentara kegelapan itu merasuki lebih banyak manusia dan merenggut jiwa mereka.

Jangan sampai kunang-kunang mendekatimu!

The Story Girl

Judul: The Story Girl

Penulis: L.M. Montgomery

Penerbit: Gramedia Pustaka Utama

Tahun Terbit: 2010

Tebal: 368 halaman

Harga: Rp 40.000

Rating: ★★★★

Sinopsis:

"Aku suka jalanan, karena jalanan selalu membuatku bertanya-tanya apa yang ada di ujungnya," demikian si Gadis Pendongeng pernah berkata, lama berselang.

Musim semi itu, Beverly King juga tak tahu apa yang menanti di ujung jalan yang akan membawanya ke pertanian keluarga King di Pulau Prince Edward. Bev sudah sering mendengar ayahnya bercerita tentang rumah tempat dia dibesarkan; tentang pohon willow besar di gerbang, tentang kebun buah King yang terkenal, atau tentang para paman dan bibi.

Tapi merasakan sendiri semua keajaiban di tanah keluarga King ternyata jauh lebih menakjubkan. Apalagi hari-hari itu akan ia habiskan bersama sepupu dan teman-teman. Bev mencatat semua kejadian luar biasa sepanjang tahun itu, juga salah satu hal terpenting... bertemu si Gadis Pendongeng dan mendengar kisah-kisah yang diceritakannya dengan suara emasnya yang misterius. Kisah-kisah yang didongengkan dengan begitu indah sehingga membuat para pendengarnya terisap ke dalam jalinan kata, dan serasa bertemu muka dengan para pahlawan, putri, dewa, bahkan sang Kematian sendiri!

Review:

Pulau Prince Edward adalah salah satu pulau di Canada yang lebih dikenal dengan sebutan PEI. Pulau ini dijadikan sebagai setting cerita The Story Girl (Gadis Pendongeng) oleh L.M. Montgomery yang seorang penulis asal Canada. Setelah melihat foto suasana PEI masa sekarang, aku jadi lebih mudah menggambarkan detail kebun keluarga Kind dalam pikiranku. Pada awal cerita, Beverly King dan adik laki-lakinya, Felix, menceritakan semua hal yang mereka lihat di kampung halaman sang ayah. Mereka berdua merasa sangat familiar dengan keadaan disana karena sang ayah sudah bercerita sangat banyak dan hampir tidak ada yang berubah. Saat Bev mendeskripsikan semuanya, aku bisa membayangkannya dengan baik. Kalimat-kalimat yang ditulis tidaklah rumit dan aku sangat bersyukur karenanya!

Book Review: The Pajamas of My Dreams by Laurie Collins

Title: The Pajamas of My Dreams
Author: Laurie Collins
Ilustrator: Margie Florini
Publisher: Three Bean Press
Published: 2013
Rating: ★★★★

Children dream of what their futures hold--what will they be when they grow up? But some children don't have the luxury of dreaming big. Sometimes wishes are far simple and more immediate.

This book only consist of 26 pages. And yes, there is not much words on it, but the ilustrations amazed me! They all are so beautiful : ) Each picture has its own story and all of them have the same beginning:

"I climb into bed, pull the covers up tightly, close my eyes and..."

There are several dreams of some children. Those dreams were described so casually, like what the real children would think of. The dreams were various, from paleontologiest until "I dream of being warm and safe in my bed at night." The last dream was a little bit touching. I imagine it as the dream of poor childrean and homeless people. This book is recommended for any children : ) I think it is very helpful for them to get to know another professions.

These are some ilustrations inside the book:

Author's Note

This book was inspired by my involvement with a Pajama Drive held each year by the nonprofit organization Cradles to Crayons. Cradles to Crayons provides local children in need with clothes, shoes, books and school supplies that they collect from the community and process in an incredibly organized fashion at their Giving Factory locations in Boston and Phildelphia.

There is no lovelier point in the day for caregiver than when they tuck a child into bed, read a story, give them a kiss and probably "just one more drink of water." Then they watch them slip off into the world of their dreams. Cradles to Crayons helped me to realize that not all children have this privilage.

My dream is that all children go to bed in snug pajamas, not hungry or cold, thus able to sing their own lullaby of a promising future as they fal to sleep. - Laurie Collins