Review: Hereafter by Tara Hudson

 A surprising and unique story, Hereafter represents a whole new different world to us. A world where Heaven and Hell may lay closer than we thought, and first love stays forever.

Amelia is a ghost. She doesn’t know who she is, not even her last name. She doesn’t have any clue why she was dead, and she has no intention to know why. Every day, when twilight comes, Amelia will disappear and dream about her death. It’s always a dream about her strangled in deep black water of the river. And when she wakes up, she’ll be surrounded by gravestones. No courage to search for her own gravestone, she’ll run away as fast as she can. However, when dark comes again, the same thing will be repeated. A dull routine for years.

No one could hear Amelia, and neither could see her in her afterlife. Every living person means nothing for her. Until she meets Joshua.
It starts all the same. Amelia is disappeared, and once again wakes up. But it’s different this time. This time, dark water surrounds her, just like her nightmare. Just like her death. And she sees a boy. A boy who is almost dead. Drowned in the same place where Amelia has been dead. Amelia knows that she has to save him whatever it costs, but she doesn’t know that the act will affect her future afterlife...

Hereafter is a sweet love story which will keep you questioning until the last page. It was written in such tender words, so you can’t help but tearing through the pages. I love the characters and the relationships between them, especially Amelia and the boy she save, Joshua. They seem so cute together in spite of their different world. I love Joshua and his amazing understanding, and how Amelia becomes braver through the story.

The story has some senses of dark, yet it pours you with sweet feeling as you flip through the pages. I can’t wait to read the next book, since we still have questions unanswered yet.

This book will make you believe that love can overcome any difference.

Of course I knew his importance now. I knew it deep in my suddenly very awake core. I knew nothing about him–not his age, his last name, the way his voice would sound if it spoke my name. But I knew things had changed for me. They had changed forever.

Hereafter, page 20 of 250

Don't you fall for the cover?

 I think the cover is really beautiful!

Truth, I judge book by its cover. Discovering a great book in not-so-good cover is fun, but discovering a great book in aww-so-good cover is so much fun too.

I'm a book huntress, but I really fall easily for good covers.

 Can't wait to read this book: Lost Voices by Sarah Porter. I get an ARC edition, yay! The publication date is July 4th this year. Close to my lovely birthday.

Here is the summary:

What happens to the girls nobody sees—the ones who are ignored, mistreated, hidden away? The girls nobody hears when they cry for help?

Fourteen-year-old Luce is one of those lost girls. After her father vanishes in a storm at sea, she is stuck in a grim, gray Alaskan fishing village with her alcoholic uncle. When her uncle crosses an unspeakable line, Luce reaches the depths of despair. Abandoned on the cliffs near her home, she expects to die when she tumbles to the icy, churning waves below. Instead, she undergoes an astonishing transformation and becomes a mermaid.
A tribe of mermaids finds Luce and welcomes her in—all of them, like her, lost girls who surrendered their humanity in the darkest moments of their lives. The mermaids are beautiful, free, and ageless, and Luce is thrilled with her new life until she discovers the catch: they feel an uncontrollable desire to drown seafarers, using their enchanted voices to lure ships into the rocks.

Luce’s own talent at singing captures the attention of the tribe’s queen, the fierce and elegant Catarina, and Luce soon finds herself pressured to join in committing mass murder. Luce’s struggle to retain her inner humanity puts her at odds with her friends; even worse, Catarina seems to regard Luce as a potential rival. But the appearance of a devious new mermaid brings a real threat to Catarina’s leadership and endangers the very existence of the tribe. Can Luce find the courage to challenge the newcomer, even at the risk of becoming rejected and alone once again?

Lost Voices is a captivating and wildly original tale about finding a voice, the healing power of friendship, and the strength it takes to forgive

Everyone has said that this story is dark, but beautiful. I have to check it out myself!

Review Bookie - Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead

Last, but not least.

Let me explain these words for you. In a way, it’s really the last sacrifice for one of characters in Vampire Academy series. But for other characters, this is just a prologue of another wonderful series by Richelle Mead. I won’t tell you who they are, so if you haven’t known it yet, I urge you to go to the bookstore and buy this book. Because this book is simply amazing.

Rose Hathaway, our favorite heroine, is in big trouble. She was accused of a murder, where Queen Tatiana is the poor victim. Someone must have behind all of this. The question is who is the person?

Be careful, Readers. The murderer might be closer than you think, and prefer.

Lissa Dragomir is not very lucky too. The terrible situation puts her as one of the candidates of Queen Chair. Lissa has to learn things fast, and alone, since her bestfriend Rose is away with her own mission, finding Lissa’s stepbrother, or stepsister…

In this book, Rose experiences many difficult and tiring situation, and I think she handles it quiet well. I admit that some of her decisions are not preferable for me, but I guess it might be the best for everyone. Rose is still one of my favorite heroines, with her aggressive-yet-brave acts, and her witty comments.

You can’t help but tearing through the pages. And luckily, Richelle Mead decided to make another series based on the characters of Vampire Academy. I can hardly wait to read Bloodlines!

Especially to meet my favorites character ever, the spirit user Adrian Ivashkov there. :)

I tugged gently on his arm. “It’s over. You’ve done enough.”

“It’s never enough, Roza,” he whispered. The grief in his voice killed me. “It’ll never be enough.”

“It is for now,” I said. I pulled him to me. Unresisting, he let go of his stake and buried his face against my shoulder. I dropped my stake as well and embraced him, drawing him closer. He wrapped his arms around me in return, seeking the contact of another living being, the contact I’d long known he needed.

“You’re the only one.” He clung more tightly to me. “The only one who understands. The only one who saw how I was. I could never explain it to anyone . . . you’re the only one. The only one I can tell this to . . .”

I closed my eyes for a moment, overpowered by what he was saying. He might have sworn allegiance to Lissa, but that didn’t mean he’d fully revealed his heart to her. For so long, he and I had been in perfect sync, always understanding each other. That was still the case, no matter if we were together, no matter if I was with Adrian. Dimitri had always kept his heart and feelings guarded until meeting me. I thought he’d locked them back up, but apparently, he still trusted me enough to reveal what was killing him inside. I opened my eyes and met his dark, earnest gaze. “It’s okay,” I said. “It’s okay now. I’m here. I’ll always be here for you.”

Book review - The Summoning by Kelley Amstrong

Mood: happy :)
Song: Making Love Out Of Nothing At All – Air Supply

Chloe Saunders’ life was as normal as she can get. Her family keeps moving, so it’s kind of hard not to get too special as being a new-rich-girl-in-school. It was normal… until her puberty kicks, and she gets to see a burning janitor.

Is that a hallucination? Or a real ghost? Chloe didn’t have time to consider, because her school and family send her right away to Lyle House, a group home for disturbed kids. Counselor there somehow seems so keen to label her having schizophrenia. All Chloe wants to do is going home soon, but it seems unlikely for her. As the story progresses, Chloe starts to question the diagnosis of schizophrenia. She also meets other patients in Lyle House who quickly become her alley. Together, they determined to unveil the secret of Lyle House… and know their supernatural power too…

I was a necromancer.

Having a label should have come as a relief, but I wasn't sure this one was any better than schizophrenic. At least schizophrenia was a known and accepted condition. I could talk to people about it, get help coping with it, take my meds, and make the symptoms go away.

Those same meds might cover the symptoms of necromancy, but as Simon said, it would be like coloring my hair. I'd still be the same underneath, my true nature waiting to pop up as soon as the medication wore off Necromancy. 

As bizarre as it sounded, the explanation that made the most sense was the most far-fetched one.

Plus, because I already made another version of this review in Bahasa (for some review parade in Ufuk Fantastic Fiction, which I really hope I would win), I add it here.


Amazing! Dengan alur yang cepat dan teka-teki yang membuat pembaca tak bisa berhenti menebak-nebak, The Summoning adalah must-read paling tidak sekali. Tokoh-tokoh yang bagaikan hidup, serta suasana misterius yang menyelimuti mereka, dan setting yang unik: sebuah institusi untuk remaja dengan gangguan kejiwaan!

Kehidupan Chloe Saunders senormal yang bisa dia dapatkan. Keluarganya terus berpindah-pindah, jadi cukup sulit untuk tidak menjadi terlalu spesial.... dia selalu menjadi new-rich-girl-in-school. Itu hal biasa untuknya, hingga dia mendapat menstruasi pertamanya, dan melihat penjaga sekolah… yang terbakar.

Apakah itu halusinasi? Ataukah hantu sungguhan? Chloe tidak punya waktu untuk memutuskan, karena sekolah dan keluarganya malah mengirimnya ke Lyle House, institusi untuk anak-anak yang ‘terganggu’. Konselor di sana sepertinya sangat ingin memberi label kepada Chloe: penderita skizofrenia. Yang Chloe inginkan hanyalah pulang ke rumah segera, tapi kelihatannya hal itu tak mungkin…

Seiring perkembangan cerita, Chloe mulai mempertanyakan diagnosis sang Konselor: apakah dia memang benar-benar mengidap skizofrenia? Chloe juga bertemu dengan pasien-pasien lain di Lyle House, yang dengan cepat menjadi rekannya. Bersama-sama, mereka memutuskan untuk menyingkap rahasia Lyle House… dan mengetahui kekuatan supernatural mereka juga…

Aku adalah seorang necromancer.

Punya label itu seharusnya menjadi sebuah kelegaan, tapi aku tidak yakin labelku kali ini lebih baik dari menjadi seorang skizofrenia. Paling tidak skizofrenia adalah kondisi yang diketahui dan dimengerti. Aku dapat membicarakannya dengan orang lain, mendapatkan bantuan mengatasinya, meminum obat-obatanku, dan membuat gejala-gejalanya hilang.

Obat-obatan itu juga mungkin melindungiku dari gejala necromancy, tapi seperti yang Simon katakan, itu hanya akan seperti mewarnai rambutku. Aku akan masih tetap sama di baliknya, sifat asliku menunggu untuk keluar segera setelah efek obat-obatan itu habis.

Seganjil kedengarannya, penjelasan yang paling dapat dimengerti adalah yang paling tidak mungkin.

The Summoning, Kelley Amstrong