Jeffery Deaver originaly wrote this under the name William Jefferies.
Hollywood location scout John Pellam thought the scenic backwater town of Maddox, Missouri, would be the perfect site for an upcoming Bonnie and Clyde-style film. But after real bullets leave two people dead and one cop paralyzed, he’s more sought after than the Barrow Gang. Pellam had unwittingly wandered onto the crime scene just minutes before the brutal hits. Now the feds and local police want him to talk. Mob enforcers want him silenced. And a mysterious blonde just wants him.
Trapped in a town full of sinister secrets and deadly deceptions, Pellam fears that death will imitate art, as the film shoot — and his life — race toward a breathtakingly bloody climax.
Honestly, there is nothing much for me to talk about regarding this book other than it being a boring read. I thought it was going to be a murder mystery book but instead all I got was just a book full of miscommunications and then the book ends and I unfortunately was left to feel and think on WTF did I just read.
The book wasn’t a bad read I suppose, I did finish it, it was more of me wanting something different and something more but instead what was given was completely different. So, yeah extremely short review for this book
This Knight of the Crown is driven by a painful past and a patient fury… and his entire life is a lie.
Sir Carlton Morley is famously possessed of extraordinary will, singular focus, and a merciless sense of justice. As a man, he secured his fortune and his preeminence as Scotland Yard’s ruthless Chief Inspector. As a decorated soldier, he was legend for his unflinching trigger finger, his precision in battle, and his imperturbable strength. But as a boy, he was someone else. A twin, a thief, and a murderer, until tragedy reshaped him.
Now he stalks the night, in search of redemption and retribution, vowing to never give into temptation, as it’s just another form of weakness.
Until temptation lands—quite literally—in his lap, taking the form of Prudence Goode.
Prim and proper Pru is expected to live a life of drudgery, but before she succumbs to her fate, she craves just one night of desire. On the night she searches for it, she stumbles upon a man made of shadows, muscle and wrath… And decides he is the one.
When their firestorm of passion burns out of control, Morley discovers, too late, that he was right. The tempting woman has become his weakness.
A weakness his enemies can use against him.
I did not enjoy this book as much as I would have liked as it had tropes that I disliked and due to that I really could not hold my disbelief any longer. Said trope I disliked is love at first sight, more like love at first fuck in regards for this book, I hate this trope because the logistics doesn’t make sense especially how in this book Prudence feels so slighted that Morley doesn’t trust her and shit and she is like you don’t love me that’s why you don’t trust me. Bitch! He barely knows you! WTFFFFFF…
Like, Morley (the hero btw) fucked Prudence once under false pretenses BY THE WAY (Prudence went to a female brothel to lose her virginity and thought Morley is a male prostitute which he isn’t, he is a police officer or something like that) and you expect me to believe after this first encounter and when Prudence is the main suspect of a murder investigation 3 months later, YOU EXPECT ME TO BELIEVE THAT DUE TO THE POWER OF LOVE MORLEY WAS SUPPOSED TO WHOLEHEARTEDLY BELIEVE PRUDENCE WAS INNOCENT. Then, THENNNN when he OBVIOUSLY doesn’t she gets hurt, like bitch he is doing his job… if he just believed anybody who claims innocence in a murder there would be murderers loose all about town!
Now, you might ask me if you hate is so much why did you continue reading it… well my hypothetical book review reader, I read it because the prologue was great! It started out with a street rat named Cutter AKA Morley and his twin sister then his twin sister was raped and murdered and he vowed he will get his revenge and lead a better life for the memory of her…. and I was hooked la. I love murder mysteries, I love revenge stories so I had thought that this book would be MAINLY about Cutter/Morley finding his sisters murderer and getting VENGEANCE THROUGH LEGAL JUSTICE.
I mean Morley in this book is basically BATMAN! He is a vigilante who does his vigilante-ness at night and during the day he is a cop or detective (whatever he is during the day) so I thought la this was going to be some gritty historical romance and Prudence would assist him but NOOOOOOO.
What I got was some sappy love story that is so far from what the prologue insinuated I would get that I was just utterly disappointed. All Prudence did was complain and be upset that Morley didn’t love her and Morley trying to solve her murder case but keeps getting distracted by his lust and feels for her AND MIND YOU THEY JUST MET ONCE BEFORE THIS. ONCE! FUCKING ONCE…. Like I can’t get over that shit man. Ya’ll met once and suddenly ya’ll became obsessed fuckers (literally and metaphorically), you guys have issues man if you become obsessed with a person ya’ll FUCKED ONCE!
Yeah, I dislike this story. Only gave it a 2 star rating and not 1 was because the promise of the book was good. The execution was shit.
Jika ada satu sistem yang gagal berfungsi, seluruh Bokor akan turut lumpuh.
Itulah yang sedang dialami Bokor – kapal gergasi berusia 571 tahun yang menjadi tempat berlindung semua manusia. Sementara sistem jentera dibaik pulih, Aria bersama beberapa wakil sektor lain mempertaruhkan nyawa untuk mendapatkan bekalan air bersih daripada sumber luar.
Tanpa diduga, pengalaman di luar Bokor menjadi mimpi ngeri buat Aria. Keadaan semakin meruncing apabila Aria dituduh sebagai pembawa bala kepada Sektor Biru. Penyakit adiknya pula bertambah parah.
Ketika situasi Aria semakin menekan, Vanessa hadir menjanjikan tawaran bersyarat. Adiknya boleh sembuh sepenuhnya, jika Aria bersetuju turuti permintaan Vanessa.
“Percayalah, Aria. Tiada penyesalan yang akan menghantui kau lagi… jika kau pilih jalan ini.”
Aria sedar, pilihannya kali ini ialah peperangan melawan akalnya sendiri.
🌼 I actually liked the 2nd installment in the KTDD trilogy, surprising I know, I did not expect it either. The pacing of the story was far better than KTDD Episod 1, it was consistent throughout the whole book. There was more action so you can see that the plot is actually going somewhere for once.
🌼 It was in this book that I felt empathy for Aria, again this surprised me because I hated this character for his stupidity and naivete, but Teme made me change my mind until of course I read KTDD 3 then yeah I retract back this statement. There are still some things Aria did in this book that still annoyed me for example; Ana was dying yet he didn’t want to force his way through Niha to see her and still with the reactive characterisation (this I shall discuss more once my KTDD 3 review is out).
🌼 Overall, there is nothing much for me to hate nor dissect in this book everything was better than the first book yet still not good enough for me to deem it worthy of more than 3 stars.
Reclusive Sir Alistair Munroe has hidden in his castle ever since returning from the Colonies, scarred inside and out. But when a mysterious beauty arrives at his door, the passions he’s kept suppressed for years begin to awaken.
TRUST A BEAUTY WITH A PAST . . .
Running from past mistakes has taken legendary beauty Helen Fitzwilliam from the luxury of the ton to a crumbling Scottish castle . . . and a job as a housekeeper. Yet Helen is determined to start a new life and she won’t let dust-or a beast of a man-scare her away.
TO TAME HIS MOST SECRET DESIRES?
Beneath Helen’s beautiful façade, Alistair finds a courageous and sensual woman. A woman who doesn’t back away from his surliness-or his scars. But just as he begins to believe in true love, Helen’s secret past threatens to tear them apart. Now both Beast and Beauty must fight for the one thing neither believed they could ever find-a happy ever after.
This review is going to be short and sweet most probably because this is a historical romance and my standards in loving historical romance are zero to none so lets go!
I enjoyed this book because this is another Beauty and the Beast retelling and for once this books depiction of the “Beast” character made sense. The Beast in this story is Alastair who was wounded and scarred in war causing him to have a severely scarred face which also made him blind in one eye.
The reason I say I am cool with him being blind and severely scarred is because at least then his other body parts are working perfectly fine for the spicy scenes in the book and it doesn’t break my immersion thinking wait a minute if he has debilitating pain how can he do some of the sexy time aspects of the book.
Other than that, the romance was pretty standard, no instalove which I LOATHE… ugh… why even. Alastair was great with Helen’s kids (Helen is the female protagonist btw).
There was just one part in the book that I felt pretty ew about and it was when Alastair calls Helen a whore because she used to be a Duke’s mistress and had his kids and lived a lavish lifestyle because of said extramarital affair. Like bro, calling her a whore is definitely uncalled for.
Other than that, the book was quite enjoyable, wasn’t as good as Wicked Intentions though but still enjoyable enough.
All Putera Mikal wants is to gain the Amok Strength, the supernatural power granted by Kudus to the Mahan royal family. No matter how religiously Mikal keeps his vows, Kudus still denies him the Strength—whilst his father, Sultan Simson, flaunts the Strength despite his blatant defiance of the Temple and the priests’ visions of coming doom.
Then the prophecies come true.
Taken captive, Mikal must find a way to liberate his people and restore his throne in Maha—and the key to this is the Amok Strength. But what does it take to gain Kudus’ favour?
I finally finished reading the book Amok by Anna Tan and I am ready to provide ya’ll with an in-depth and HOPEFULLY SPOILER FREE REVIEW.
Before we start, I would like to thank Anna Tan and Teaspoon Publishing for providing me with this ARC in return for an honest review. Let’s get started ladies and gents!
Amok tells the story of Prince Mikal, Prince of Maha, first city-state of Terang and his struggles in faith to their God Kudus due to the fact that he has yet to come into his Amok strength powers. The Amok strength is a legendary power that all royals can gain access to once they come of age (mind you Mikal is 15 at the start of the book). But no matter how much he keeps his vows and does what he is supposed to do nothing has changed and he still has yet to gain any Amok strength.
Then some BAMBOOZLEMENT happens! Where Maha is invaded and destroyed by their enemies and the people of Maha, royalty included is thrown into a life rife with suffering and humiliation where one does not know who is friend nor foe. How will Mikal overcome this obstacle and gain back his honour, his pride and his rightful place in Maha as Maha’s royal Prince.
DUN DUN DUNNNNNN
If you follow me on my bookstagram (do follow me guys if you haven’t, links down in the description) you would kind of realize I took issue with one and ONLY ONE aspect of this book and that aspect was my utter disdain and annoyance with the main character Prince Mikal.
OMG I DONT EVEN KNOW WHEREEEE TO BEGIN WITH ANNOYANCE WITH HIM.
Ok ok I will chill and talk about other aspects of the book first.
Push my disdain for the main character aside, I actually really enjoyed this book. The writing is great and reeled me in like I was a fish on a hook, floundering around trying to understand my own roller-coaster of emotions as I was reading this book.
I liked the Malay phrases as well as the Malay elements used in the books makes me feel included you know, because duh I’m Malay (Sarawakian Malay but whatever still Malay). It was so much fun reading how the men practiced silat, they used keris and parang to fight, seeing how they used baju kebaya and samping along with calling people according to their titles such as Baginda Paduka, Laksamana etc because let’s be totally honest who uses those terms now in their daily life? (unless you work with the sultan I guess but for everyday people you dont really call people Laksamana do you?)
The plot was awesome… really kept you at the edge of your seat and when some characters that I liked died I did feel the pain of loss because you want them to survive. You want them to be able to overcome this enormous adversity and go home and be happy.
But alas, like I said previously, the enjoyment of this book I could not fully savour due to my problems with the main character.
.
The main issue I have with Prince Mikal is the fact that he is mostly self-centered, entitled, privileged and the most whiny character I have ever read. Yes, you can make a defense saying that he is a child and whilst I agree 15 in our modern standards is still a baby but back then 15 you are already considered a man and mature plus he is a Prince. Mikal isn’t an ordinary boy, he is a Prince with responsibilities attached to that royal bloodline of his and yet because we read this book from his perspective all I saw was an entitled and spoiled Prince who needs to have everything given and delivered to him on a silver platter.
Not only that, my god, is he stupid. He is so absolutely idiotic.
I say this because Prince Mikal has become a prisoner of war and is now a slave for his former servant Yosua. Not once did he ever think to pretend to be a slave/pretend to be broken and humble himself so he could learn the enemy’s routines and memorise the relative map of the enemy’s land which in turn could help him devise a way to escape. Something ya know, anything, but no all we read for pages on end is just Prince Mikal constantly… CONSTANTLY… complaining why me, why didn’t I get my Amok strength, why is this happening to me, this is not fair, always about him and his predicament.
First few weeks I get it man you’re in shock and you dont know whats going on what’s going to happen but as a Prince that must have had some sort of training like get your shit together man. Devise a plan. Like okay, right now you’re in this predicament how will you get yourself outside of said predicament which reminds me that Prince Mikal is a reactive character.
Things happen to him, the plot moves him along instead of him making decisions that affect the plot. This happens for most of the book where shit just happens to Mikal and he would complain about it to no end. It is towards the end of the book, I would say the last 100-200 pages he changes into a more proactive character but by then it was too late for me.
Also, kan, he keeps complaining Kudus left him la, doesn’t love him la, this and that… sikit-sikit lost faith… ITS SO FUCKING ANNOYING… I GET IT LIFE IS HARD BUT THIS IS A FUCKING TEST FROM GOD… You think God when he tests you he just gives something that you can easily overcome especially for a person like Mikal who follows everything by the book but doesn’t truly have faith. He says he does and he says he has an epiphany and he will change and have more faith and truly follow Kudus (which to be honest with you gave me hope for him I wanted to like him damn it!) but then some small shit happens and Mikal is back to being that whiny punk that doesn’t have two brain cells to rub together and is all like omg Kudus why you left me, how could you Kudus, are you even real? MALAS AKU EH ORG KDAK TOK… PADAH TEK CAYAK AN KUDUS TAPI IDUP SUSAH SIKIT ALU LOST FAITH BAGUS SIK PAYAH EH… BAGUS SIK PAYAHHHHHH… AISH SETAN BENA
I gotta calm down… I gotta chill.. This wasn’t supposed to be a rant review…I cannot delve further into this without going into spoilers so I will just continue to my next issue.
This issue isn’t so much a deal breaker, it’s just confusing and that is the loyalty that Yosua has for Mikal. I dont get it… sometimes its borderline romantic so I am not sure if the author is queer-baiting or I am just not used to this type of unexplainable loyalty.
This is because you don’t get to see the why of the loyalty, Mikal says that they grew up together and are best friends but that’s the thing, you have to wholeheartedly believe what Mikal says. You don’t get to see it unfold. You don’t see other characters talk upon how close they are and the background for it. There is no concrete foundation that you as a reader can see and understand the why.
I had a microscopic problem with the magic system of the book. It’s not bad, I just wanted more explanation on how it worked, who gets what etc because it was pretty loose so you have to use a lot of your imagination to fill in the blanks.
Again, I have to reiterate, everything else in this book chefs kiss… the writing SUPERB! IF EVEN THE WRITING PUN I DON’T LIKE TRUST ME FAM I WOULD’VE DNF’ED THAT SHIT but I didn’t because the writing is genuinely good. Plot also BOMBASTIC! It’s just the main character that was meh for me, maybe it’s because I am 28 and had to be the breadwinner of my family for the longest time and had to hold that amount of responsibility that when I see a whiny character that doesn’t even try to improve their own situation by any means necessary I truly cannot empathise.
Thus, concludes my review for the ARC Amok by Anna Tan and again my review is my own and is only focused on the book and NOT the author.
The bride ‧ The plus one ‧ The best man ‧ The wedding planner ‧ The bridesmaid ‧ The body
On an island off the coast of Ireland, guests gather to celebrate two people joining their lives together as one. The groom: handsome and charming, a rising television star. The bride: smart and ambitious, a magazine publisher. It’s a wedding for a magazine, or for a celebrity: the designer dress, the remote location, the luxe party favors, the boutique whiskey. The cell phone service may be spotty and the waves may be rough, but every detail has been expertly planned and will be expertly executed.
But perfection is for plans, and people are all too human. As the champagne is popped and the festivities begin, resentments and petty jealousies begin to mingle with the reminiscences and well wishes. The groomsmen begin the drinking game from their school days. The bridesmaid not-so-accidentally ruins her dress. The bride’s oldest (male) friend gives an uncomfortably caring toast.
And then someone turns up dead. Who didn’t wish the happy couple well? And perhaps more important, why?
The Guest List by Lucy Foley had potential to be a 5 star read for me to be quite honest with you. It had everything that I generally enjoyed in a murder mystery whodunnit… We have
Intense creepy atmosphere
Plenty of suspects with dubious backgrounds and motivations
Secrets galore!
But alas, it was not meant to be a 5 star read for me.
First, there were no characters for me to relate to as most of them seem to be pretty unlikeable and when most of the characters are unlikeable it’s not much fun to read. The only reason I persevered was because writing kept me intrigued on who had died and who was the killer… was it somebody at the wedding? Somebody close? Why did they want said person to die? What is going on? Plus, the whole guessing game of whodunit is immense fun for somebody who loves murder mysteries.
But the thing that made me change my mind that this could be a solid 5 star read was how unbelievably convenient at how every main suspect for the murder was interlinked with one another. The first few interlinking of characters with said murder victim I can understand and see how it came to fruition but all of the main suspects? Are you for real? It just made the story less convincing ya know and when that happened I couldn’t suspend my belief any further. There’s only so much suspension of belief that one can take.
Had the ending did not end the way it did, I would’ve thoroughly enjoyed this book even more but what can you do.
Would I still recommend this book? Most definitely, it was still a good read even though at first it was quite slow.
In a land ruled by a murderous boy-king, each dawn brings heartache to a new family. Khalid, the eighteen-year-old Caliph of Khorasan, is a monster. Each night he takes a new bride only to have a silk cord wrapped around her throat come morning. When sixteen-year-old Shahrzad’s dearest friend falls victim to Khalid, Shahrzad vows vengeance and volunteers to be his next bride. Shahrzad is determined not only to stay alive, but to end the caliph’s reign of terror once and for all.
Night after night, Shahrzad beguiles Khalid, weaving stories that enchant, ensuring her survival, though she knows each dawn could be her last. But something she never expected begins to happen: Khalid is nothing like what she’d imagined him to be. This monster is a boy with a tormented heart. Incredibly, Shahrzad finds herself falling in love. How is this possible? It’s an unforgivable betrayal. Still, Shahrzad has come to understand all is not as it seems in this palace of marble and stone. She resolves to uncover whatever secrets lurk and, despite her love, be ready to take Khalid’s life as retribution for the many lives he’s stolen. Can their love survive this world of stories and secrets?
Okay, this review is going to be the condensed version of my rant review because my god I can’t remember shit from this book except it was just such a shitty book honestly I do judge people who think this book is good. There I said it! I judge you all… Like this is the standard that we have today in regards of books? THIS IS IT?!
WE ARE EFFED IF THIS IS THE STANDARD
No offense to the author I am sure writing is hard to do but I will speak my truth and let it hang to dry on the clothes line of TRUTH AND RANTS!
From the top of my head because mind you I read this book like 6 months ago is the fact that:
This book had no plot
A façade of a boss-ass-bitch-independent female character
ALL TALK NO ACTION
The reason why I say the book had no plot is because it truly didn’t, you get Shazi who volunteered to be Khalid’s next wife thinking all “yes, revenge is MINE! I WILL KILL THIS BASTARD” but then nothing happens… it just meanders for 80% of the plot. Where does it meander to? God knows… All I read was Shazi SAYING she wants to kill Khalid… SAYING she hates him but a few days into meeting him she already in love when EXCUSE ME KHALID KILLED YOUR BESTFRIEND!!!
She spouts all this bullshit of how she will kill him and whatever but nothing happens… she doesn’t even have two brain cells left to rub together to even form the most basic plans of how to kill the man. I mean for real, you volunteered to be his wife YOU MUST HAVE A PLAN RIGHT?
So, you’re telling me this bitch volunteered to be the wife of a known wife killer and who is renowned to be the best swordsman in the land and saying she wants to enact revenge and kill him and goes in with no plan whatsoever?
No plan on how to kill him, no trying to learn the layout of the palace, mind you she knows she only has one night to execute this shit. So, you just volunteer just like that hoping your bullshitting skills are top tier that he hopefully won’t kill you? Bodoh betul la.
This girl is what people say as independent and fierce and smart? For real? Don’t make me laugh man. I have read far better heroines in historical romance.
You may say that oh it’s because she is young and whatever but that doesn’t change the fact that she only has ONE NIGHT to execute her plans to kill Khalid. ONE NIGHT and SHE DOESN’T HAVE A PLAN???? Not even a plan on how to escape??
Don’t even get me started on how she fell in love with Khalid MERE DAYS of meeting him. If I was her bestfriend I will crawl out of my FUCKING GRAVE TO GIVE THIS HO A BITCH SLAP SO HARD SHE MIGHT HAVE SOME COMMON SENSE.
Another, issue I had was Khalid himself. Yes, he was described as hot but hot guys in YA are all over the place give me something fucking new. You read how Khalid is a wife killer, how he is this absolute monster and how his people fear him but when you see him he is just a boy and it makes me question why do people fear him? Just because he kills his wives? If that is case why are there no riots? No coup d’état?
You’re telling me his citizens are completely okay with their King/Sultan/whatever claiming a young woman from their families as his wives and him killing them the next day?
Show me how and why they fear him so when juxtapose that with how kind he is to Shazi, it really hits home that he is complex instead of a caricature.
Not to mention the absolute bullshit reason why he kills his wife… It’s so absolutely stupid.
Essentially, this book irks me due to its bland and stupid characters and the non-existent plot. I can’t even. I will stop here you can listen to my rant review if you want to know the full length of my rant feels.
A modern-day Muslim Pride and Prejudice for a new generation of love.
Ayesha Shamsi has a lot going on. Her dreams of being a poet have been set aside for a teaching job so she can pay off her debts to her wealthy uncle. She lives with her boisterous Muslim family and is always being reminded that her flighty younger cousin, Hafsa, is close to rejecting her one hundredth marriage proposal. Though Ayesha is lonely, she doesn’t want an arranged marriage. Then she meets Khalid, who is just as smart and handsome as he is conservative and judgmental. She is irritatingly attracted to someone who looks down on her choices and who dresses like he belongs in the seventh century.
When a surprise engagement is announced between Khalid and Hafsa, Ayesha is torn between how she feels about the straightforward Khalid and the unsettling new gossip she hears about his family. Looking into the rumors, she finds she has to deal with not only what she discovers about Khalid, but also the truth she realizes about herself.
I have a video review out for this book as well so do check it out if you want to know my review in video format if not LETS GO!
This book is basically a very loose retelling of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice, I completely fell irrevocably in love with it this book as it is so much fun to read. I read it like in a day and just sped through it.
The writing, the prose everything was just so easy for me to read. In terms of characters obviously I love Khalid and Ayesha and the reason why I love them is because Khalid is just so pious and so honest about everything especially his religion for example he likes to use a kurta and he likes to wear like kopiah or a skull cap and then he’s just honest with people when they ask him about his beard whereby he declares he keeps his beard because it’s sunnah whereas Ayesha is more on the liberal side of religion where basically she doesn’t mind that her best friends drink or whatever and it reminds me of myself like you do you fam and it’s so much fun to see how they interact with each other where one is a conservative and the other a liberal and see how their views change each other.
Their views change the other for the better because we see how Ayesha slowly sees that Khalid’s strict obedience to his faith, his honesty and his straightforwardness has its merits and Khalid on the other hand learns to be more accommodating and be more diplomatic instead of dogmatic.
The reason that he realizes that he needs to learn to be more diplomatic is because he goes into trouble at work due to his new boss Sheila, who for some reason finds issues with muslim men who decides to follow their religion and honestly I don’t like this character Sheila.
It is not that she’s badly written it’s just because I don’t like that she’s a bit racist. She says that she does not trust Khalid because she believes that men like Khalid are sexist and so on and so forth because she has experienced it when she worked in Saudi Arabia, where the men were sexist and she wasn’t allowed to like walk out of her compound alone because obviously she’s a woman.
In my point of view I find that a bit ludicrous for her to think that way because first of all you accepted a job in Saudi Arabia… SAUDI ARABIA!! One of the most conservative countries in the world yet you’re surprised that you cannot follow your liberal ways, your liberal views in another country where the people have different culture so it’s like what did you expect Sheila. So, I don’t agree with her there and then she starts to like make life hard for Khalid.
Another character that I truly adore in this book is Ayesha’s grandmother and the reason why I like her so much is because she’s actually a budding detective as she used to study to be a police woman but because she got pregnant she decided to forgo that line of profession and I find it so much fun that she uses her intellect to find out the gossip without actually gossiping about it because it’s not her style and I wish and I really really hope that the author kind of made a spin-off like Nani (the name of the grandma) detective on the case it will be so cute!!
Aside from that, how the author portrays different types of Muslims; there’s conservative Muslims like Khalid and his family and you have semi-liberal Muslims like Ayesha and her family, liberal Muslims who don’t even follow the religion like Amir and there’s also Muslims who are not very good like Arik who is a douchebag. The reason I like these types of Muslim representation is because its realistic, not all Muslims are pious and not all people who claim to be Muslims are good people.
But my absolute and I mean ABSOLUTE favourite part of this book is the romance and the romantic tension between Khalid and Ayesha. My god! Their banter is so cute and innocent and YOU JUST WANT THEM TO BE TOGETHER! I have not wanted two characters to be together so much in my life and when the misunderstandings happened, my heart broke for them.
I would definitely recommend this book for anybody AND EVERYBODY!
13 MOONS will provide you with instant chills. Office workers discover the gruesome secret behind the puppets used as workplace décor. A man tries to help the ghost of a murdered child haunting a playground. An abandoned well and a banana tree in a village garden conceal a decades-old crime. A couple struggles to keep their family together when their son becomes a zombie. And a nightclub with a supernatural door policy — depending on when you choose to go. These stories reveal the darkness that threatens to seep through the veneer of day-to-day life.
Due to my past experiences with Buku Fixi books (yes I know this is Fixi Novo but you get what I mean), I tried to lower my expectations to not only low but non-existent so I wouldn’t emotionally scar myself again.
And to be honest with you the book was okay for me. The book consists of short stories but none of the stories truly resonated with me. I enjoyed them briefly for what they are but not more.
The stories premise was interesting but unfortunately it lacked substance (?) for it to be truly impactful for me. Although, this might be due to me disliking short stories generally.
Short stories don’t express the full story and my curious mind just wants to explore and know more onkh to be left disappointed hence leaving me unable to immerse myself in such stories.
Overall, the book is a good read if you’re looking for something easy and light to read.
Man, this is a short review but what can I say. It was okay hahahah.
It will be filled to the brim with my feelings of angst and anger….
Read at your own risk… If you get butt-hurt by this rant honestly I did warn you…
I was so mother-friggin excited when this book came out okay bitches. I read all the other three books, I bought them too so when I knew Lethal White was out I was off the charts excited. OFF THE DAMN CHARTS YA FEEL?!
So, I got the book and I start reading thinking that maybe just maybe Robin will get her head out of her ass and divorce that son of a bitch Matthew. I mean fucks sake she got attacked, she even took a break from him man and what do I read in this book? I read that not only did she say yes to the bastard but she actually stayed married to him! WTF?!!!
This is not the worst part alright. The reason why I complained on the length of the book in part 1 of my review is because I had to sit down and just read to Robin complain incessantly… and I MEAN INCESSANTLY ABOUT HER GOD DAMNED MARRIAGE TO MATTHEW. FUCKS SAKE WOMAN. YOU’RE THE ONE WHO WANTED TO FUCKING STAY AND SO CALL “MAKE IT FUCKING WORK”.
It is bad enough I have to read to dull, boring, mind numbing complaints of Robin about her marriage I then had to read about Strike complain about his feelings towards Robin and her marriage to Matthew too!!!!! I want to read about murder, about mystery, about detective-ism. Not some complaining crap that goes on well for three fucking chapters of the damn book. Like if it was slotted in the plot here and there, it’s fine, whatever you know but this is not here and there and I am supposed to believe that Robin is intelligent when she absolutely refuses to see that Matthew is an ill fit for her not only as a husband but also a companion?
Like, she doesn’t even need to have a romantic partner you know. Why can’t the plot involving Robin be that she gets divorced and has to navigate the single life WITHOUT any romantic entanglements from Strike. Eventually yes maybe they can be together or maybe not. Like I said in Part 1, can’t their relationship be love but not being in love like Sherlock and Watson from Elementary. Must they pine for each other. WHY???! Why can’t men and women just be friends without romantic feelings be involved? I just don’t fucking get it.
And the whole reason Robin didn’t leave Matthew because they both thought he was on death’s door and she was guilt-tripped to say, I say that’s a load of bullshit! UGH! I was really rooting for Robin too man, I wanted her to grow… and mature… and something. I mean she only realizes and takes action against Matthew when she finds out he cheated on her. Like OMG. Can you not. It just makes her whole supposed growth towards independence feel so shallow and lackluster. It undercuts her making the decision to leave him her own decision ya know. Instead the decision was made for her because how could she stay anymore with Matthew.
And the whole sexual tension between Strike and Robin just stresses me out. It feels so childish. You were the one who didn’t want to pursue anything with Strike Robin, so don’t blame the man if he wanted to have a fling or have sex with whomever he wants. You have no right to be jealous nor treat him unfairly because you’re a married woman and he is a single man. So fuck off Robin. Just fuck off.
Oh god the plot. The plot in this book was so fucking bloody weak. I am supposed to care about the insane stories from a schizophrenic guy all because Strike says his story is too detailed to not be true. Fuck no J. K. Rowling. If I have to read all 590 pages of this book I need a stronger plot than what you just gave me which was so full of fillers, I can’t even come close to imagine you’re the same writer for Harry Potter.
I don’t know what she was trying to achieve with the plot, first it was weak and second there were so many diversions to sub-plots that not only didn’t pan out but they were boring. I was bored reading this book and the ending and the reveal at the end was so what the fuck you’re just like how the hell did it even happen?
I liked the first book a lot because I felt like I too was putting the clues and puzzles together to solve the problem/mystery. It was fun. It made me as a reader feel involved but this book was so confusing, half the clues weren’t even shown to us and suddenly I am made to believe that the killer to that minister is his son Rafael who had daddy issues. I mean the ending could’ve been better had the fillers or sub-plots focused more on the why Rafael killed his father. Like I get his dad wasn’t kind to him and shit but I feel disconnected to his character. Had the author wrote more about Rafael’s backstory, shown him as an empathetic character that due to his upbringing did what he did he could’ve been a great villain but nooooooo I had to read pages upon fucking pages of Robin and Strike pining over each other. God just claw my eyes out already.
This book felt so tedious and boring to read. I can’t bring myself to be excited to read the next installment because I was ambivalent on the third book and now the fourth is a complete disaster for me. So yeah.
Sorry this post took forever, I was busy and sorry if my ramblings are all over the place. My emotions are all over the place too.
Ezza Syuhada 