"The problem with people is they forget that most of the time it’s the small things that count. Everyone’s so busy waiting in the Waiting Place."— Jennifer Niven
So I went to watch Me Before You today, in between my packed schedule of study week, I just had to go because I can't stand just locking myself in my room studying all day. God, it was SO good. Not like, 'OMG-SO-GOOD-I-CANT-EVEN' good but it's quite decent in my opinion. The thing about reading the book first before watching the movie is that it influenced my views towards the movie itself. It makes me compare and complain what is there and what's not. Which is kinda biased (?) - idk. So here goes.
So the story is basically about Louisa Clark who is a 26-year-old girl - or is it woman - who worked as a caretaker of Will Traynor, a quadriplegic. If you don't know what a quadriplegic is, it is a person who are paralyzed both arms and legs and sometimes, the whole body, except for the head. That's it I think? God sorry, I'm so bad at summarising.
I rated the movie a 4/5 stars. I had minor problems with it. One, I wasn't really attached to the characters as much. The character development was too rushed, also their relationship too, in my opinion. But I think I can't complain that much because well, it's a movie anyway. 2 hours and you're out of time. I thought it was kinda dull at some point because the ending and all didn't make me cry as it did me when I read the book. I was a sobbing mess back then when I read the book, I couldn't move on. I was in a really bad book hangover. I'm not even kidding. But this time- the movie- well, I did like, shed a tear or two but then, that's it. I came out of the cinema kinda frustrated because of because I wanted to cry. I really want to cry watching the movie, I really want to sob and came out of the cinema looking as ugly as ever after crying yknow what I mean? But unfortunately I didn't. I thought I was being heartless and then I asked my friends who came along with me whether it was sad, and they also said, "Nope, The Fault in Our Stars was sadder." I couldn't help but to agree.
BUT- but, other than that OMG IT WAS REALLY REALLY GOOD. Okay let's just go one by one here.
The story and plotline was unexpectedly great. I didn't expect for it to have so many scenes which was in the book and had them to be in the movie. And I love how I still remember all of them. Plus, it was really funny. The theatre hall basically erupted with laughter every few minutes, really. The cast for the characters were so on-point. Emilia Clarke nailed Louisa Clark. She was the perfect Louisa. And Sam Claflin made the perfect Will Traynor. God I love him so much. Matthew Lewis as Patrick? LOVE IT.
Oh, please can we talk about how Louisa and Will's witty arguments and banters are GOLD. OMG THEY ARE AMAZINGLY HILARIOUS. I love how their relationship didn't turn out instantly into a love story. The development of the relationship was great. I got myself smiling all the time when they were getting along together GAH THEY'RE JUST SO CUTE. But I was so pissed off that the cinema cut the kissing scenes. WHAT EVEN. Like, at one second I was squealing they were gonna kiss and then poof they cut it and I have no idea what the hell happened. It's not like they were making out sexually or anything. We need them feels omg.
And the freaking soundtracks!!!!!!! PERFECTION. It just make the movie a whole lot better.
Man, I don't know what to say anymore. JUST GO WATCH IT. It was a really good movie. If you haven't watched it, what the hell are you waiting for? Go get the next ticket available. If you have doubts, please don't. It won't disappoint you, I swear.
If you people in the book community have noticed, our community has been in quite a mob over the latest booktube drama. It exploded on Twitter and also on booktube by the popular hashtag: #FakeReaderGirls
It all started when a man uploaded a video on his booktube channel entitled, "Last Week on Booktube" discussing what has been about on booktube for the last week. He started off with discussing about all the BEA/Bookcon vlogs and hauls have dominated the booktube world, and criticising them and also popular booktubers who posts BEA/bookcon vlogs just having fun there with other booktuber friends "who have the same amount of subscribers" as he pointed out in his video and worse, claiming that they are not 'real readers'.
So I am here to discuss about these things. Please take note that I am in my honest opinion, and other opinions are also much welcomed and appreciated. I am to no offense to anyone and if I do get anyone offended, I am utterly sorry for that.
The topic of feminism and sexism was brought up to this issue as the man slowly hinting in that video by saying "...sitting in front of their cameras and lights, wearing blush...." which indirectly means that girls who wear makeup or look pretty can't be real readers hence the hashtag #fakereadergirls.
This statement is outrageous. The fact that people has this mentality that girls can't have both beauty and brains. The book community is dominantly filled with the gender roles of women, and it is hard to separate makeup and books. Being a girl, it is normal for us to like or wear makeup because we would want to look nice. And does that make us any less a reader? Of course not. It's unbelievably funny if you think it is and it doesn't make any sense at all.
I sometimes got comments like these too referring to my appearances of wearing long hijabs and to them, apparently us, who wear long hijabs or niqabs can't read novels. They expect us to always be pious, and read Islamic books. It's mentality people. Mentality. Same applies to other stuff as well like, we can't pursue science, we can't be an engineer, we just have to be Ustazahs. It's annoying to say the least.
In the point of view of sexism, people always view girls as girlish and weak. We can't be in the spotlight, we can't fight, we can't be ninjas because all we care about is clothes and lipstick. You're wrong people.
"They are popular - well groomed, well lit, well edited booktubers to intentionally have made themselves into an unpaid publicity hacks."
Just because someone's video are well-edited and well-done, and have a chunk number of views per video, that doesn't make them less of a reader. I am speaking on behalf of the booktube community, that the reason we do booktube videos are because of the fact that we enjoy talking about books. And also because sometimes, the people around us doesn't want to hear us talk about books. So we got a camera and babble all stuff books because apparently we're loners. And lame. Famous booktubers have done really well-edited and really good quality of videos which gains the outrageous amount of views because they enjoy doing that, not because to get attention but it's their passion. This just shows us that how committed they are in doing what they are passionate about. And not just booktubers here but same goes to book bloggers and bookstagrammers who have such awesome feed and posts have the same reasoning as we do as well. We show our passion towards books through these platforms, not because we care about the followers, subscribers but we want to express ourselves - and share our love for books.
"These popular booktubers getting on planes, coming from all parts of the world just to wait in line to meet the same author, and they came to the end of the line, and meet the author and that's it. They don't even have connection whatsoever. You don't have to go to Chicago to get ARCs. No publishers in the world would have turned you down if you have over 5k viewers."
It is not only the ARCs that matter at this point. It is the experience. If you're a reader who loves books, you know the feeling of wanting yourself to be surrounded by books and things related to books. It has a different feeling to it. Meeting authors, there was always an excitement in meeting them - as if you're meeting a celebrity. In fact, they are celebrities - at least to us readers they are. And also, surrounded by people who you know share the same passion as you do gives you a really good vibe. It just does.
"These booktubers are just making these videos about hanging out with their equally subscriber count friends, standing in long lines and 'needing these ARCs in their lives'. And I am really good at sensing real readers from a good distance, and these people do not read."
Having to say this with experience, I know how it feels like to get to know and meet someone who has the same interests as you do. And with book events like these it unites us all as readers who have the same passion for books together. These booktubers make videos because they want to document their happiest times in meeting people who they've initially known through internet and books. Some of them are even meeting for the first time and they are so happy. I know how it feels because I've been there. Also, the reason they do these kinda vlogs and videos to be uploaded on their channel isbecause they want to share their happiness with us fellow readers from all over the world who didn't get to go to BEA/Bookcon, like for example, me. With these videos, at least I feel like I'm there with them, having fun as well. It also made me really happy to see some of my favourite bookish people meeting my other favourite bookish people. It cheers me up somehow.
How can you sense real readers, old man? How do you say these people do not read while they have tons of book reviews up on their channel and authors sending them arcs and even have a full shelf of books? Why do they even have so many books if not because they want to read them? Because as far as I know, according to Google, a reader is:
To be honest, even after a week and a half finishing ACOMAF - and reread some parts and chapters several times - I still haven't cured from the ACOMAF book hangover. It's like everything I read after ACOMAF just don't live up to my standards anymore. Everything is boring. Which sucked. Because I need and want to read more books!! BUT I CAN'T BECAUSE ALL I THINK WAS FREAKIN ACOMAF. And still - I don't have words to describe how amazing it was. Reviewing this is gonna be hard. So let's see how this goes.
Basically me, ever since I finished reading ACOMAF.
WARNING TO THOSE WHO HAVEN'T READ A COURT OF THORNS AND ROSES, THERE ARE GONNA BE SPOILERS OF ACOTAR. You have been warned. And also, WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU WAITING FOR? GO READ ACOTAR SO YOU CAN READ ACOMAF!!!
A Court of Mist and Fury follows the story of Feyre, who is now an immortal fae, after going through hell and back in Under the Mountain with Amarantha and she died and resurrected out of true love which makes her into a High Fae. She possessed the seven powers of the High Lords and yeah she's powerful you can say that. She is now living with her true love, Tamlin. He loved her but apparently he loves her too much. Things happen, Rhysand was back and yeah the story takes off from there I guess.
God I am so good at summarising omg. *note the sarcasm
What I think?
THE STORY & PLOT
Overall I think the plot was amazing. The world building is amazing. You can see so much of the other courts, especially Night Court and there's a new world introduced. YOU ARE GONNA LOVE THE PLACE. It's so magical - VELARIS. Even the name sounds magical already. You also get to see a glimpse of Summer Court, Day Court, Autumn Court and other courts as well, which I very much appreciate Sarah for doing that. It was fast-paced, totally a page-turner, I couldn't put it down. The book has approximately over 500 pages and I finished it in about 5 days I think? That is considered fast to me because I usually read a 200 page fantasy book with dark elements like these in like, 3-5 days as well. So this is a big deal.
I love how Sarah writes a bit about PTSD though I gotta say I didn't quite get it at first. I researched about it soon after a friend of mine who have also read this book said that it has something about PTSD and I just realized it.
I don't have any problems with it though some people don't like it due to the fact that Sarah dismissed Tamlin like almost instantly, making him hateable in this book just to make way for Rhys. I had to agree with that but I don't feel like it was a really big deal to me. I was completely okay with it. The romance was magnificent to say the least. I guess you would know that Feyre & Rhys is my OTP as of right now.
Also, THE BOOK WAS INTENSE ALRIGHT. The book was separated into 3 parts and the third part of the book was the most intense part of all. I was on edge at the time like "I can't stop reading this omg it's like 3 in the morning I have to sleep." All in all, it was an emotional roller-coaster ride, I cried, I laughed, I swooned ugh IT WAS JUST SO FULL OF EMOTIONS AND FEELS I CANNOT.
Oh I almost forgot; this ain't a young adult book. It has fully become a new adult fantasy because of the explicit sex scenes (in specific details alright im not even kidding). I was quite disturbed by it tbh. Thought it would be great if it has less mature scenes, just my opinion.
THE CHARACTERS
This is gonna be a long one. Okay let's start off with Tamlin. He was in the first few chapters and the few last chapters. ONLY. So Tamlin lovers, sorry to say that he ain't the star now. Rhys is. Now on to Rhysand my bae, he is everything. If you are aware, I am in Team Rhysand ever since the first book, just putting that in here. He was kind of the jerk in the first book, but I can't seem to find a reason to hate him .I just had that feeling that he's actually a good guy deep down AND GOSH I WAS RIGHT. ACOMAF reveals a whole lot of Rhys's personality and his true self. It just makes me love him even more than I already have. I was fangirling over him ever since he first appeared in this book with the awesomest entrance ever of, "Hello, Feyre darling." I was like
And then there are new characters we get to meet in Rhys's inner circle. There's Mor, Cassian, Azriel and Amren. They were a squad, all six of them together. It was so Six of Crows. The dynamic between them also remind me of Six of Crows. And it makes me wonder what if there was like a cross-over between ACOMAF and Six of Crows omg that would be epic. Also, I would love to see Kaz and Rhys in the same room. Heh ok back to the review, Najwa. So they were squad goals ok though Amren was kind of a bitch but she actually has a heart. Trust me.
There were also old characters coming back, Feyre's sisters, Elain and Nesta, Lucien too. I think Nesta's character development in this book was great.
Okay now can we talk about the ships in this book. Oh my god there are A LOT OF SHIPS OK.
**SPOILER ALERT**
We would've guessed from the very start that Feyre would definitely end up with Rhys right? I mean, if they don't, I have to kill someone. But in what way do they be together, we don't know. I kind of thought they from their bargain from Under the Mountain - that Rhys would come and get Feyre once a week - that they would slowly like fall for each other but nooooo, and omg THEY WERE MATES?! They were meant to be together. And I really love the time when Rhys told Feyre the story of how he finds out that she was his mate. That part was just really -GAH IDEK HOW TO SAY THIS.
And then there's Mor & Azriel. You didn't see them at first but as the book goes on, you can feel it. And at the end, when they were all at the Day Court meeting the King of Hybern, Azriel protected her. He was being all possessive and protective at the same time. I remembered him saying, "DON'T TOUCH HER." And i was like OMG ASDFGHJKLOIDAUSIDNUH.
Can we talk how the sexual tension between Cassian and Nesta are just really really intense.
This gif just says it all.
Creds to Suya for this realization.
And at the very end, which came out of frickin nowhere, and was super extremely random, is the fact that ELAIN WAS LUCIEN'S MATE?!!!!!???!! HOLY CRAP WHAT WAS THAT. Heck yeah new ship just arrived at the dock guys, ready to set sail.
PHEW SO MANY SHIPS I CANNOT.
**End of spoiler section**
This was a long one. All in all, ACOMAF was great, Sarah J Maas nailed it alright. Probably the best book so far this year. I spent sleepless nights just thinking about it. It got me into a really bad hangover. IT WAS JUST SO GOOD GUYS IM NOT EXAGGERATING, THIS IS TRUE. Like, the average rating in Goodreads is 4.77 WHUT. If that doesn't convince you to start reading ACOMAF I don't know what will. So if you loved the first book, the second book is a whole lot better. But if you don't love the first book and thought it was just meh, don't hesitate to pick the second book because I assure you, it was multiple times better than ACOTAR. ACOTAR was level 1 while ACOMAF is level 100. Hah, again I'm not exaggerating. Just pick the book up.
And with that, I sign out by hereby proclaiming that Rhysand is mine. And only mine. I will not share. Thank you.
Oh I also did a fangirlish booktalk on my booktube channel. Here:
Okay here I am with another review which I think I really suck at doing. But since I want to live up to my reading resolutions I've set at the beginning of the year, so yeah let's do this.
I picked up this book because the Leigh Bardugo hype was going on at the time. My friends are all in a Grisha mood, reading the grisha trilogy so since I haven't own the whole series of the grisha trilogy I decided to settle for this book. Though a lot of people said that after reading this one, you'll never be able to read other fantasy that could live up to this standard. And apparently they were right. I've read a bunch of fantasy novels but this book. Gosh this book.
THIS BOOK WAS PERFECTION.
I LOVE IT.
NO. I BREATHE AND LIVE IT.
So it is about six people in a crew (bcs duh six of crows) who were on a mission to find and free a prisoner(?) from the most secured prison in the world, The Ice Court, in order to get the most powerful drug called the Judas Parem which was created by the prisoner himself. This drug is believed to change the world because of the power it gives if one Grisha took it.
What I think?
THE STORY & PLOT
The story takes off kinda slow which was one of the reason I didn't rate it a full on 5 stars. It was hard to get into at first too, because there are lots of new names and terms I have to get used to. But after the first quarter off the book, it was fast paced, already got me to my feet. I couldn't put it down because it was just full of surprises. You'll never know what's gonna happen next and that's what I really love about this book. I love how the story folds up with each of the character's back story which then makes me love each and every one of them even though they got on my nerves at times. Especially Kaz & Matthias. Such jerks. But in the end you just end up loving them.
There was a bit of romance at some point. Every character has their own love interests. I SHIP THEM ALL SO MUCH JUST SO YOU KNOW. I also love how the story was filled with humour in between the seriousness in the mission. I laughed at times and I even tabbed those hilarious parts in the book. Oh and let me tell ya, I have more than 30 tabs in this book. Gosh, just so many good scenes I can't even.
I didn't expect the plot twist. At all. I've read some reviews saying that it was kind of expected but it wasn't for me. It literally made me gasped so loud that my roommate asked me whats going on. Lol awkward.
THE CHARACTERS
This book was written in a third person point of view of the 6 people, wait no, only 5. They didn't include Wylan's which sucks. I don't really like third person POV because I like to get confused, but this one is an exception. I don't know how but Leigh Bardugo kicked ass in writing this in a third person point of view without getting me confused. I agree with people saying that every character in this book has its own voice, its own personality that you know whose story are you in right now. It's amazing.
The leader of this crew is Kaz Brekker, also known as Dirtyhands and also described briefly as the 'thief with a gift for unlikely escapes'. He's the one with all the plans and the dirty tricks up his sleeves. Somehow he's never out of them. He's a genius, always know what to do, full of surprises. He's the kind of person you wanna hate but you can't.
There's Inej, the Wraith aka the spy or ninja of the crew. She never got caught, her ninja skills are phenomenal. Always gets away with murder. Pretty badass. I'd like to be her.
Nina, the sweetest Heartrender. Her skill is to control other people's pulse and heart rate. COOL RIGHT? I want her powers so so bad! The kind of girlfriend you would want to have as a gossip partner.
Then comes Matthias, a runaway from prison, Hellgate. Strong, bold and a jerk. But caring at the same time. I SHIP HIM WITH HIS LOVE INTEREST SO SO BAD.
And then there's Jesper, the joker of the group I would call him. I love his sense of humor, always gets me laughing. He's the kind of guy I would want to hangout with.
Wylan, the cutest little creature ever. That about sums it up. Hah
What I love about these characters are the relationship between them. Not just the romance between them with their love interests but also their friendship that they developed along the way. Like the bromance between the guys. Just read this: “Jesper knocking his head against the hull and cast his eyes heavenward. "Fine. But if Pekka Rollins kills us all, I'm going to get Wylan's ghost to teach my ghost how to play the flute just so that I can annoy the hell out of your ghost."
Brekker's lips quirked. "I'll just hire Matthias' ghost to kick your ghost's ass."
"My ghost won't associate with your ghost," Matthias said primly, and then wondered if the sea air was rotting his brain.”
The friendship of Nina & Inej too. And just all of them together working as a team. It's just amazing.
There's so much more about the book I could've said but I thought this will do or else it'll be a really long review. I know not a lot of people will read it anyway so yeah. If you like fantasy, this would be a perfect book for you. If you don't, just please please please just go pick it up anyway. Or else we're not friends. HAH. Come on, please? For me. Pretty please? And then do come to me and we can fangirl!
For my summer break, I've been a lot into reading and bookish stuff. It's been quite a while since I read many books as I entered college. I had no time to read in college and when college has ended I was like, "I NEED TO REUNITE WITH MY LOVELY BOOKS BACK AT HOME." And so I did.
I almost forgot how great it is to enter different worlds, and experience it by just reading books. I almost forgot how fun it is to skim through those lovely pages and the beautiful scent that came out of it. I manage to finish a book per day and it still didn't felt enough. Every time I finished a book, I'll be screaming and crying and had a terrible book hangover. That's when I realize that I'm drunk over books.
So I had a few friends I befriended through instagram whom I followed them because of their beautiful bookish feeds, some of them are Malie, Suraya and Leesya (check out their book blogs out) who I've been following on Instagram since like forever. Their feed was so pretty and that made me more inspired to read more books. I've also subscribed to a few booktubers on Youtube and these things made me more exposed to the book community. As I get to know more new books, new bookish people and made new friends along the way.
Soon after, I decided to join along the book community. I started to make a bookstagram account to share with the world how passionate I am towards book and just how obsessed I am over them. I've gained lots of new friends through that, and people started tagging me to do booktags and stuff. It's just really really fun.
One day Malie invited me to this whatsapp group called Bibliomaniacs which consists of lots of bookworms around Malaysia and I was so surprised to see that I'm not the only one who is crazy over books. Over 50 people in Malaysia alone, was in that group, all of them is just as crazy as I was. It was surreal to see them all, us, all in this group talking and discussing and most importantly fangirl over books and literally screaming together about what we love and enjoy. There was a variety of people in there from different places but share the same interest. There are a few Malaysian booktubers which I just know cease to exist, a few book bloggers and reviewers or just a plain old bookworm. But the most important thing is, we share the same interest with the love of books.
After, I wanted to start a booktube channel (click to go to my channel). I was in such a huge dilemma on whether I wanted to start one or not because I'm scared of how the cruel world might judge me. I have always wanted to start a vlog, over the years but I just don't have the courage. But I've seen the book community being so amazing and lots of people have been getting positive feed backs so I try gathering my courage, took a deep breath and started filming my first ever book vlog. It turned out okay, not that I like it but decent enough to upload it on Youtube. I got my first positive feed back from a few booktubers and it gives me the spirit to do more and more.
Starting from that point, I've feel that I've been more closer to books than I ever did before and my passion on books was different and somehow more passionate about it. I get to know more new books and authors and more genre I didn't even know before. It's just really really great.
This post is dedicated to all the bookish people, Malie, my Bibliomaniacs group members and to those who have been through me along the way, supporting me, and inspiring me everyday! Here's to you guys. *clink glasses*
So just stopping by in between my hectic schedule just to share my piece of writing that I have to say my best story so far cause it actually flows out properly and kind of has a story line (eventhough my choice of words are kindergarten level but oh well ). Tell me what you think !
I can't believe that I've been writing for NST's Niexter for more than a year now. Time flies fast and I didn't even realize that. It was a great opportunity to write for nst, and for the first time I feel that my writings are appreciated.
It all started when my tuition buddy, Chow Shenn Kuan offered me to write for her issue of Niexter. She asked me whether I wanted to write for the merdeka issue and I, without a doubt, accepted her offer. That was the first time I know Niexter. Soon after that, I become interested to write more and more so I decided to contact Niexter and asked them how can I apply to be a writer and shockingly, they replied my message saying I should give them my details. Alhamdulillah, my application got accepted and I was officially a writer.
Starting from that day, I keep on typing random essays and stuff on my computer, exploding my thoughts up into paper and editting it up before emailing them to niexter. And one day, I went to the grocery store and grab a NST newspaper. I quickly flip up the pages to niexter and school times and guess what?
MY ARTICLE GOT PUBLISHED. ON NEWSPAPER. NEW STRAITS TIME NEWSPAPER.
How would you react if your article got published in the national paper? Yeah, FREAK OUT BIG TIME.
]After a few months with Niexter, I got pretty close to some of the writers of Niexter, some of them are seniors of Niexter and I got offered to team up with them in some of the issue. I keep on writing and keeping up with Niexter and my articles alhamdulillah got published more and more. I was on top of the world when I write and not mentioning the extraordinary feeling seeing it published on newspaper.
Soon after, I received an email from on of the coordinators of NST and it happened to be an offer letter for me to become an editor for the next issue of Niexter, Raya Issue. I swear, I could've fainted, and I got a mini heart attack tbh. I was grinning from ear to ear, my heart's beating 1000km/h as I read the whole letter. I accepted the offer without thinking more and they replied to my acceptance with an issue planner. I was determined to make the issue a success and picked out my teammates. My teammates were awesome, they were so helpful and cooperative, THANKS YOU GUYS. On the first day of Hari Raya, I rushed to the store and picked up Niexter and my issue was there. All printed out physically on national newspaper and the feeling when I see my face and name as the editor was indescribable.
Up until now, alhamdulillah I still keep up with Niexter and I still write for them at times but not as much as I was before. But every offer from them, insyaALLAH, I'll accept with open arms. So, I wanted to thank all the people that had been with me along the way with Niexter. Chow Shenn Kuan, especially. THANK YOU! Without you guys, I will never be who am I today.
Here are some of the articles and surveys I've contributed, there's a lot more but they didn't have the online version so I can't save them. Anyways, enjoy!
MY RAYA ISSUE : http://niexus.nst.com.my/modules/niexter/peninsular/?title=Raya%20Issue%20August%208,%202013&id=173&keys=
Editor's diary of Raya Issue :D
The next issue of Niexter for the next few months insyaALLAH you will see me as the editor once again and I hope that you guys can show support and read it. Thank youuuuu!
So I guess that's it. Mind me if I post too much, excited dapat wifi rumah hahahahaha
-Najwa over and out
Jannah is our forever and final destination, insyaALLAH amiin
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