Book Review: Beach Read by Emily Henry

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BOOK review

Started on: 1 May 2022
Finished on: 14 May 2022

 

Beach Read by Emily Henry

 

Title: Beach Read

Author: Emily Henry
Publisher: Berkley

Pages: 361 pages / 380 pages (e-book)
Year of Publication: 2020
Price: Rp 110,000 (https://www.periplus.com/)

Rating: 4.5/5

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"I'd been so comforted by books with the promise of a happy ending, and I'd wanted to give someone else that same gift. 

Gus was writing to try to understand something horrible that had happened to him. No wonder what we wrote was so different."

January Andrews writes bestselling romance novels with happily ever afters who no longer believes in love after what she discovered about her parents. While Augustus Everett is an acclaimed author of literary fiction who tends to kill off his entire cast. They're polar opposites, but one thing they have in common is that they're living in neighboring beach houses and bogged down with writer's block. Until one evening, the two of them decided to do a challenge to force them out of their creative ruts: Augustus will spend the summer writing something happy, and January will pen  the next Great American Novel. She'll take him on field trips worthy of a rom-com montage, and he'll take her to interview surviving members of a death cult. During the time spent together, both January and Augustus slowly opens up about their past that brings them closer to one another.

"Happy endings don't happen to everyone.

There's nothing you can do to make someone keep loving you."

March & April 2022 Book Haul — Indonesian Books

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It's hard to believe that the last book haul post that I uploaded on this blog was back in September 2018 😲. These past few years, I have been trying to control my book-buying habit—especially because I lived in a small space after I got married in 2020. In that apartment, I only have one tall bookcase which I mostly use to store my work documents for working from home and no space to add a ton of new books. During those years, I think I only purchased a few physical books that I really really want and survived by reading e-books most of the time. Now that I've moved to a bigger space, I decided to allow myself to purchase more Indonesian books that I've been wanting to read for quite some time 😆. So, without further ado, here are the 11 books that I bought in March & April 2022!

 

Book Review: Blessed: Experiencing the Promise of the Book of Revelation by Nancy Guthrie

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BOOK review

Started on: 10 April 2022
Finished on: 30 April 2022

 

Blessed: Experiencing the Promise of the Book of Revelation by Nancy Guthrie

 

Title: Blessed: Experiencing the Promise of the Book of Revelation

Author: Nancy Guthrie

Publisher: Crossway Books

Pages: 256 pages
Year of Publication: 2022
Price: Rp 231,198 (https://www.bookdepository.com/)

Rating: 4/5

*This e-book was received as a review copy from Crossway

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"If our goal in studying Revelation is to nail down what every image portrays, what every symbol stands for, what every detail means, we're likely going to be frustrated. Our goal, instead, should be to listen for and take to heart what is really clear." 

Over 12 chapters, Nancy Guthrie goes through the book of Revelation, exploring its call to patient endurance as God's sovereign plans for judgement and salvation are worked out in the world. In this book, the author shows how Revelation is less about when Jesus will return and more about who we are to be, what we are to do, and what we can expect to endure as we wait for Jesus to return to establish his new kingdom in the new creation. Nancy Guthrie aims to take the fear, intimidation, and confusion away from studying Revelation, and provides a great resource for individuals or small groups to study this important yet often avoided book.

"Sometimes the meaning of Revelation's symbols is plain or is even stated explicitly... And sometimes it's more challenging to grasp with confidence what is being communicated."

Top Ten Tuesday: Authors I Haven't Read But Want To

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It's been so long since I made a Top Ten Tuesday post, and I recently found a topic that really interests me, which is Authors I Haven't Read But Want To. These past few years, I discovered so many new authors and have accumulated plenty of books that I still haven't read yet. In this post, I will be sharing 10 of them as a way to remind myself as well to prioritize these authors on my to-read list. Maybe I'll start reading the standalone books first before tackling the trilogies/series—because series can sometimes be intimidating, especially when they're extremely long and take a long time to finish. So here are the authors, listed in alphabetical order 😉

Book Review: Heartbreak Motel by Ika Natassa

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BOOK review

Started on: 12 April 2022
Finished on: 17 April 2022

 

Heartbreak Motel by Ika Natassa

 

Title: Heartbreak Motel

Author: Ika Natassa
Publisher: Gramedia Pustaka Utama

Pages: 400 pages
Year of Publication: 2022
Price: Rp 99,000 (https://www.gramedia.com/)

Rating: 4/5

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"Hidup tidak pernah berhenti menyimpan misteri, menyembunyikan arti, tidak selalu memberikan jawaban atas setiap pertanyaan, dan sementara itu, pertanyaan baru akan terus lahir, menuntut dan menagih jawaban."

Ava menemukan panggilan hati sebagai aktris sejak ia berusia enam belas tahun. Belasan tahun ia lalui berpindah dari satu peran ke peran yang lain—ada yang dia pilih, ada yang memilihnya. Di tengah itu semua, ia berusaha membuat semua yang tidak dipahaminya tentang takdir jadi terasa masuk akal. Ava tidak peduli meskipun setiap selesai memikul peran, dia harus menyepi di suatu tempat yang disebutnya Heartbreak Motel untuk memulihkan diri. Di ulang tahunnya yang ketiga puluh, dimulai dari tempat itulah banyak pertanyaan baru menyergapnya—tentang masa lalu, masa kini, dan juga masa depannya.

"Berapa lama? Berapa lama aku bisa terus bahagia dengan cara absurd yang kupilih ini?"

Book Review: Gallant by V.E. Schwab

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BOOK review

Started on: 17 March 2022
Finished on: 9 April 2022

 

Gallant by V.E. Schwab

 

Title: Gallant

Author: V.E. Schwab
Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Pages: 352 pages / 384 pages (e-book)
Year of Publication: 2022
Price: Rp 184,000 (https://www.periplus.com/)

Rating: 2/5

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"You will be safe as long as you stay away from Gallant.

She squints at the word, for years a mystery—still a mystery."

Olivia Prior grew up in Merilance School for Girls, and all she has of her past is her mother's journal—which seems to unravel into madness. Olivia thought she had no family member left when suddenly a letter came from her uncle, inviting her to come home to Gallant. However, when Olivia arrives, no one is expecting her. Her cousin Matthew is hostile, but Olivia will not leave the first place that finally feels like home to her. Gallant seems to hold a lot of secrets and Olivia is determined to uncover them. When she crosses a ruined wall at just the right moment, Olivia finds herself in place just like Gallant, but the manor is crumbling and there's a mysterious figure that rules over all. Slowly, Olivia begins to see what has unraveled generations of her family and where her father actually came from.

"Come home, the letter says.

Stay away, her mother warned."