Review: Just Listen by Sarah Dessen

Don’t think or judge. Just listen.

Annabel Greene has everything. Or rather, she used to have everything. Hanging out with the most popular girl in school, having part-time job as a model, and living in a big glass house with strikingly beautiful sisters. But everything is not what it seems.

Last year, her second sister was almost dead of starving herself. Her longtime friend and the most popular girl in school, makes school a hell because she thinks Annabel is making a move on her boyfriend. Annabel is sick of modeling and she wants to quit, but she knows that her mother loves modeling too much. And that thing, a really terrible thing that happened in the beginning of summer. So Annabel does the only thing she’s very good at… she keeps everything inside, and run away from people.

At first everything’s okay. She’s just fine, pretending that everything’s okay. But when Owen Armstrong comes to her life, something cracked up in her heart.

Owen introduces her to music. The true essentials of music. Owen always listens to her, and he’s always honest. He’s always honest to people. The one thing Annabel is really jealous of.

Slowly, Owen changes her life. And Annabel learns that she has to start listening to the voice of her heart, the voice that keeps calling for her…

“Plus there’s the fact,” he went on, making it clear he didn’t need me to reply anyway, “that music is a total constant. That’s why we have such a strong visceral connection to it, you know? Because a song can take you back instantly to a moment, or a place, or even a person. No matter what else has changed in you or the world, that one song stays the same, just like that moment. Which is pretty amazing, when you actually think about it.”

It was pretty amazing. As was this conversation, so wholly unlike anything I could or would have ever imagined. “Yeah,” I said slowly. “It is.”

Review: Forever by Judy Blume

I picked this book for obvious reason. The simple title. Forever. Everyone is enchanted with that word. The constant.  Everlasting. Eternal. Here, and after.

Introducing a sweet couple, Katherine and Michael. Both seniors from different school. Both young, attractive, and curious about love. And mostly important, they believe in that word. Forever.

We get to see how Katherine and Michael meet up. First kiss. First sex. First serious relationship. First promise of forever.

Naturally, their parents don’t want them to take things too seriously. Eighteenth is too young to get tied up forever. They should see other person, other scenery, and other places. Their parents make them go to different places, and they will be stayed apart for six weeks. Of course, Katherine and Michael are furious. 

They will only have to prove to everyone, that they are destined for each other. Separating them will only make their love grows stronger.

But they don’t know, that forever…. Forever is a very hard word to keep.

Even though I think the ending is kind of harsh, the message in the book is clear: don’t get too hasty in love. If you promise something, mean it. That way, you won’t hurt too many people in the process. Because we grow from experiences.

“I love you, Michael Wagner.”

“Forever?” he asked.

“Forever,” I said.

What I'm reading now...

Die For Me (Revenants #1)

Author: Amy Plum
Expected publication date:  May 10th 2011

The cover is such a treat! It seems that we get angel here.
French angels! Talking about the city of romance, and beautiful angel. I need to read it now! :)

Summary:
 My life had always been blissfully, wonderfully normal. But it only took one moment to change everything.

Suddenly, my sister, Georgia, and I were orphans. We put our lives into storage and moved to Paris to live with my grandparents. And I knew my shattered heart, my shattered life, would never feel normal again. Then I met Vincent.

Mysterious, sexy, and unnervingly charming, Vincent Delacroix appeared out of nowhere and swept me off my feet. Just like that, I was in danger of losing my heart all over again. But I was ready to let it happen.

Of course, nothing is ever that easy. Because Vincent is no normal human. He has a terrifying destiny, one that puts his life at risk every day. He also has enemies . . . immortal, murderous enemies who are determined to destroy him and all of his kind.

While I'm fighting to piece together the remnants of my life, can I risk putting my heart—as well as my life and my family's—in jeopardy for a chance at love?

Review: Poison Study by Maria V. Snyder

I'm giving this book: 5 out of 5 stars

This book is definitely what you call amazing. Fast-paced and beautifully written, I can’t help but falling in love with the story.

Yelena is so close to dead. She’s awaiting executioner, and finally her time comes. But Valek, the Commander’s personal security chief and leader of the vast intelligence network for the Territory of Ixia, has different agenda for her. He offered her a job as a Commander Ambrose’s new food taster.

A chance to live and Yelena is not a fool. She accepts the job, despite the chance that death will come with the next bite. Valek is in charge of training new food taster, so Yelena gets to spend many times with him in her first days in castle. As days pass, she begins liking her job. She can learn as much as she wants in Library, and somehow, Valek is always there to protect her from her enemies. Without fully realizing it, Yelena has been dangerously drawn into her assassin boss.

Valek is not the least of her worries. Her enemy General Brazell will come to visit the castle. Yelena has killed his son, and Brazell won’t let her slip away. No one knows the truth about Brazell and Yelena, and she can’t trust the knowledge to anyone yet. Yelena has tried her best to maintain her fragile peace days in castle, but when a magician from neighbor country comes to kill her, she finally gets to know the truth about her nature. The reason of Brazell and his son’s experiment to Yelena, and a chance to escape to neighbor country, even if it means leaving Valek...

No need to say that I love the books! The characters are simply loveable, and awfully captivating. Yelena is admirably smart, and it’s a fresh break to take from reading too much not-so-brilliant heroines. She’s also very brave and strong-willed, and I love that she can make people admit her skills. Through the story, Yelena gets a chance to study about self-defense, and as you may already guessed, she becomes amazingly skilled in fights.

It’s very fun to read Yelena interacting with other characters, such as Valek, Ari, Janco, and Irys. Her relationship with Ari and Janco is one of the most pleasant aspects of Magic Study. In short, I love everything about this story. It gets everything you ask: adventure, friendship, tension, and nice touch of romance. A definitely must read!

Could the strange buzzing sound that erupted from my throat and saved my life really be the same as Irys’s power? If so, I must keep my magic a secret. And I had to gain some control of the power to keep it from flaming out. But how? Avoid life threatening situations. I scoffed at the notion of evading trouble. Trouble seemed to find me regardless of my efforts. Orphaned. Tortured. Poisoned. Cursed with magic. The list grew longer by the day.