Nabila

This year, I mostly read contemporary young adult (YA) books. There were some that pretty life-changing to me but most of them are just average and maybe a couple of them weren't for me. I did read books from other genres and thankfully all of them were good but I'm planning to read more books out from YA contemporary. And I think almost all of the books I read this year were released before 2017. I haven't read a lot of books released in 2017 *sobs* but I'll do soon. I also finished 4 great book series and I absolutely love them all. So here are some books that I totally love in 2017.

YA CONTEMPORARY BOOKS THAT I LOVE:

Rating: 4.5/5

Reviews: not my review


Saints and Misfits - S.K. Ali

Summary: How much can you tell about a person just by looking at them? Janna Yusuf is a Muslim Arab Indian-American hijabi teen girl, a Flannery O'Connor obsessed book nerd, aspiring photographer and sometime graphic novelist. She is trying to decide what kind of person she wants to be; a saint, a misfit or a monster. She's also dealing with meeting a monster who is parading around as a saint. In the same time, Janna suddenly finds herself caring what people think or at least what a certain boy named Jeremy thinks.

Honourable mentions: Unfiltered by Lucy Collins (4/5), Be Cool : Pujuklah Hati #2 by Bonda Nor (3.75/5)

Summary: Since she was born, Blue has been warned that she will cause her true love to die. She never thought this would be a problem. But she is drawn to Gansey, who is on a quest and encompassed 3 other Raven Boys; Adam, Ronan and Noah. Now, as her life becomes caught up in the strange and sinister world of the Raven Boys, she's not so sure anymore.

Series overall rating: 4.8/5

Reviews: The Raven Boys (mine) | Other people's overall review

Summary: Lara Jean's love life turns into wreak havoc when her little sister sends a bunch of the letters that she wrote off to her crush and former crushes. We see as she grows up, falls in love and making the right decision about her future and the person she loves.

Series overall rating: 4.8/5

Reviews (not mine): Book 1 | Book 2 | Book 3

Honourable mentions: The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer (4.5/5), Anna and The French Kiss Series by Stephanie Perkins (4/5)

Look the stars. Aim. Ignite.  -Geekerella, Ashley Poston

Um, hello people! It's been a long time. I kind of forget how it felt to blog, and my brain is still slow in producing ideas when I write, so please bear with this post.

When I meet people I know these days, the first question they ask me will be how was SPM?

My answer is: SPM was great. The key is always revising. If you did revision in all topics or at least pay attention in classes, then no matter how hard the question is, you will somehow get an idea on how to answer the questions. Even the Bahasa Sanskrit question in Sejarah too, which was an unexpected question (note to future SPM candidates: DO. NOT. TRUST. RAMALAN. QUESTIONS). SPM also taught us to always prepare for the unexpected because there are some questions that we're not prepared for such as Biology Paper 3, which required us to make our own experiments. SPM was great, I did the best I could, and although my confidence is really on the lowest point right now, I hope it will turn out great. 

It has been 4 days since the last day I met my friends, and I already miss them. My brain is slow in translating my feelings; during the last day I was with them, I didn't even cry. However, when I saw them posting pictures on Instagram, I teared up a bit. Maybe a lot. I didn't sob but I did cry. When I once said that there's nothing I'll miss about school, I totally lied. What will I miss the most about school?

My crush is a great human being Nope. Not going there. Never.

Enough with the appreciation speeches. So, moving on to the answer of the next obvious question: What will you do after SPM? Will you work, or what?

1. I will learn to drive and have my license. Truth is, by the time this post is uploaded, I'm at the driving academy already. My Ma is very fast, you know. She figured that next year, she might need a driver for my brothers to go to school. I'm quite nervous right now when I'm writing this because I don't know what to expect for tomorrow. I hope it'll go well.

2. I will find work. My teacher offered me a work as penjaga koperasi next year and I'm not sure if I want to be one, because I don't want to meet people at school, and be at the school 😅 I'm going to find another job, but if I can't find one, penjaga koperasi it is.

3. Read a lot of books. Self explanatory. 

So, that's how my post-SPM phase is currently going. Since SPM already ended for me, and will officially end soon, I hope that all SPM candidates stop stressing about the result too much. Enjoy the holiday, and do some things that will help you in the future. Do something beneficial during the holiday, but please have a lot of rest too. Keep praying for the best, never stop praying and put your trust in fate (so easy to say but it's so hard to do).

No one knows what changes, big or small, lie ahead. One thing is certain, our journey's not over.

P.S. What are/were the things that you'll do/you had done during the post-SPM phase? Mind sharing?

Love,
Afifah Nabila. xo

BLURB: Classic movie buff Bailey “Mink” Rydell has spent months crushing on a witty film geek she only knows online by “Alex.” Two coasts separate the teens until Bailey moves in with her dad, who lives in the same California surfing town as her online crush.

Faced with doubts (what if he’s a creep in real life—or worse?), Bailey doesn’t tell Alex she’s moved to his hometown. Or that she’s landed a job at the local tourist-trap museum. Or that she’s being heckled daily by the irritatingly hot museum security guard, Porter Roth—a.k.a. her new arch-nemesis. But life is whole lot messier than the movies, especially when Bailey discovers that tricky fine line between hate, love, and whatever-it-is she’s starting to feel for Porter.

And as the summer months go by, Bailey must choose whether to cling to a dreamy online fantasy in Alex or take a risk on an imperfect reality with Porter. The choice is both simpler and more complicated than she realizes because Porter Roth is hiding a secret of his own: Porter is Alex…Approximately (Goodreads).

Title: Alex, Approximately
Author: Jenn Bennett
Genre: Young Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 388
Goodreads rating: 4.00
Publication: April 4th 2017 by Simon Pulse
Source: Google Play Books
Reading format: E-book
Standalone/Series: Standalone
Review Type: Non-spoilery

BLURB: Part romance, part love letter to nerd culture, and all totally adorbs, Geekerella is a fairy tale for anyone who believes in the magic of fandom. Geek girl Elle Wittimer lives and breathes Starfield, the classic sci-fi series she grew up watching with her late father. So when she sees a cosplay contest for a new Starfield movie, she has to enter. The prize? An invitation to the ExcelsiCon Cosplay Ball, and a meet-and-greet with the actor slated to play Federation Prince Carmindor in the reboot. With savings from her gig at the Magic Pumpkin food truck (and her dad’s old costume), Elle’s determined to win…unless her stepsisters get there first.

Teen actor Darien Freeman used to live for cons—before he was famous. Now they’re nothing but autographs and awkward meet-and-greets. Playing Carmindor is all he’s ever wanted, but the Starfield fandom has written him off as just another dumb heartthrob. As ExcelsiCon draws near, Darien feels more and more like a fake—until he meets a girl who shows him otherwise (Goodreads).

Title: Geekerella
Author: Ashley Poston
Genre: Young Adult, Romance, Contemporary, Retelling
Goodreads rating: 4.00
Pages: 320
Publication: April 4th 2017 by Quirk Books
Source: Google Play Books
Reading Format: E-book
Standalone/Series: Book 1 of 3 from Once Upon A Con
Review type: Non-spoilery

"You deserve someone who loves you with every single beat of his heart, someone who thinks about you constantly, someone who spends every minute of every day just wondering what you're doing, where you are, who you're with and if you're OK. You need someone who can help you reach your dreams and who can protect you from your fears. You need someone who will treat you with respect, love every part of you, especially your flaws. You should be with someone who can make you happy, really happy, dancing-on-air happy. Someone who should have taken the chance to be with you years ago instead of becoming scared and being too afraid to try."

I want to talk about this quote, but I find nothing to be talked about. So just read, and let the words speak to you.

Lots of love for this book and the movie adaptation. I don't think I'll ever be bored of the movie, this is my comfort book/movie and one of the books/movies that can make me cry and cry again no matter how much I've read/watch them. It's amazing, wonderful and holds a special place in my heart.

P.S. I posted a book review for 'Love, Rosie' a while ago. In case if you want to know more about it, you may check them out 😊

The Rules:

1. Thank the person who tagged you.

2. Answer their 11 questions.

3. Tag 11 people (I'm 80% sure that the people that I tag wouldn't reach 11)

4. Give them 11 questions to answer (And this. I love answering, but I'm never a good questioner)

The Questions (Afifah Addnan's):

1. What was the last movie you watched?

I re-watched one of the Harry Potter movies, I'm not really sure which one. My little brothers are binge watching them and I join them a lot of times (and spoil a lot of parts to them). I should not ruin the magical world of Harry Potter for my brothers but I can't help myself. 

2. What are you trying to achieve with your blog?

I just want to write a lot of posts that can people can relate to and help them. More towards writing posts with good quality. I can't set my goals too high right now, since I have commitments to much bigger things (SPM, school, and things).

3. Do you think that you are someone with sense of humor?

I hope so, but I'm not. A lot of things that are funny to me are not funny to other people and I find a lot of things that people find funny not as funny. Only my brothers and best friends get my sense of humor. I always need to explain people the meaning behind my jokes so that's that. Maybe you can tell me how to be funnier? I'm serious, help me.

4. Imagine 10 years ago. How does that make you feel about yourself now?

I was 6, and for some reasons, that was the age of my first year of primary school. I was bullied back then, and it was horrible because I trusted the person who bullied me. I swear, the bully still somehow affects me to these day, but I'm much better. I know how to walk away from the toxic people and I'm much braver in expressing my feelings and myself. I'm proud of myself. My 6 years old self would be inspired by me haha.

5. How would your friend describe you?

Yup, I took a quiz for this. I don't know if it's true, though. I wanted to ask my friends about this, but they are at hostel and I'm home and they don't have phones with them, hence the quiz.

6. Do you have hobbies that others might find unusual?

I love doing DIY and journaling and a lot of friends find that unusual. I'm not really good with art, DIY is the least I can do.

7. Have you done anything illegal?

Although it's nothing big, I think that downloading things illegally is awfully wrong. If I place myself in the shoes of people whose works are illegally used by community, I would be really disappointed too. However, I still download things illegally. I don't think I'll ever stop. At least not until I become a millionaire who is able to buy anything I want so easily.

8. If you ended up being a prisoner, what likely to be the reason?

For talking about the things that I should never talk about. The topics that my friends and I sometimes discuss are the sensitive things that might get me imprisoned. Or maybe because I join the rebellions. 

9. What most likely the thing that will get you angry?

When the only thing I want is to be heard, but instead, the person I'm talking to isn't paying attention or listening to me. I feel invisible. Most of the time, I try to reason that other person's act, but when that person does it too many times to me, I won't bother to listen to him/her for days.

10. How do you handle yourself when you are angry?

I cry and listen to every emo songs I have in my playlist. And then, I'll sleep. Or if I'm angry when I'm in public, I'll just take out my notebook and write everything down. It keeps me from expressing my anger to the wrong person.

11. Best thing to eat when you are angry?

Cakes. Preferably chocolate-cheese flavored cake. It's so yummy. Oh now I'm hungry😶


The Questions (Tqa London's):



1. What was your first thought about my blog?

The first three things I look at when I visit a blog is the header, the 'about me' section and I observe the color combination. My first thought was, I love how this blog looks like! I'm not lying. I did love how your blog looks like. I love the header, although it's simple but it's in black and pink color combination, which I adore.


2. What hobby would you get into if time and money weren't an issue?

I would travel (no surprise there) everytime I'm in a holiday. I'm a student now, an SPM candidate and I literally have no time. I'm also penniless, if it weren't for my parents supporting me until this day. However, I watched a lot of movies and dramas and shows, and I read tons of books and the places where they set really made me curious and my heart screams to go outside of this town.


3. What fictional place would you most like to go? 



My Hogwarts letter is coming too late, maybe I should go there myself to ask Dumbledore about it.


4. What songs have you completely memorized?

I'm music trash. I was exposed to music since I was a little kid, and I love it so much since. I memorized a lot of Indonesian songs, from the oldies to the 2014 Indonesian songs (I stop listening to Indonesian songs since then because they all sound the same to me). My all-time-favorites are Hati Yang Luka, Dealova, Cinta Ini Membunuhku, Gelas-gelas Kaca, Ya Sudahlah, Ada Apa Denganmu and more (I can probably talk about this forever). My current favorite songs that I already memorized are City Of Stars and Attention. Oh but the song that excited me the most when I memorized it was Bole Chudiyan (Kabhie Kushi Kabhie Gham OST).


5. What game or movie universe would you most like to live in?



I was going to say the wizarding world, but since I mentioned that in question no. 3, I decided to choose Wonderland. The world is so weird and magical, and I totally love the universe of the movie.


6. What TV channel doesn't exist but really should?

A specific channel for advertisements. My brother and I talk about this a lot of times, and we agree that Malaysia needs a specific channel, only for advertisements. Although it might seem boring, and nobody would watch it, it's so convenient, because then, we wouldn't need to waste our time having to watch the advertisements in between watching a TV show. TV3 totally took 30 minutes just for the same advertisements guys, it's really inconvenient.


7. What is something that is considered a luxury, but you don't think you could live without?

Spotify Premium. It's just RM14 something a month, but I'm a student, and I have a lot more things I can buy with the monthly fee. It's considered as a luxury too, right? However, I don't think I can live without it, although I'm now living without it. I subscribed for it 3 months or so, and fell in love with the app. How could I not, when I can listen to high quality music, offline, and various choice of music, and some podcasts that I absolutely love?


8. What's worth spending more on to get the best?

For me, it's skincare. Since my skin is acne prone due to my weird teenage hormones, I spend a lot of money for skincare. I hate hating my own skin! I want to be comfortable in my own skin, so whenever I get some money, I must use some of them to buy skincare, be it facial cleanser or moisturizer or toner with the same or different brand I used the month before. Skincare is the fourth thing I spend money most on after books, prepaid reloads and foods. Ugh the struggle.


9. What is something that a ton of people are obsessed with but you just don't get a point of?

Musically. And Vine. I live in the generation that love these kind of things, and I join my friends watching Musically and Vine videos for so many times but I still don't get the point of it. Doing Youtube, and vlogging everyday, yes, I do get the point of that. But Vine, and Musically? I never get the point of loving these things and I'll never try to. I don't hate it, I just don't get the point of it.


10. Tell me about someone you envy.

I'm not really the type of person to envy someone else. Of course I envy someone with a perfect life, perfect people surrounding him/her, perfect job/school and et cetera. But that's normal, right? I just hope I wouldn't have to envy anyone, I know how dangerous envy can be.

11. What is the weirdest thing you have seen in someone else's home?

I'm pretty sure I once went into someone else's house and saw something that wasn't really a sofa, but not quite a bed and look a lot like surgical table. I don't know what it was, and I couldn't remember how it looked like because I saw it when I was around 4 or 5. The only thing I remember is the thing might be a sofa, a bed, both, or maybe a surgical table.


I post this a bit later than I thought I would, but still, I posted it! It's a big success for me. Another 5 posts to be finished before I leave this blog for a while, for good. I need to focus, and this blog is too distracting. I enjoy doing this tag, thank you again for tagging me😄 

Love,
Pypaa. xoxo

Coco Chanel once said "A woman with good shoes is never ugly." When I think about a good pair of shoes, I'll always think of something comfy and in the same time, not too old-fashioned. I must be comfortable in that shoes because I walk a lot, I swear. I often find myself using stairs when there are elevators and escalators available, I don't know why. I just love walking. I'm also a fast walker. Time is gold, they said, but that's not exactly why I walk so fast. I just walk fast. It's kinda like a habit, but the habit often brings advantage to me.

The only shoes that fits my criteria are sneakers. As much as I want to say I love high heels more, I honestly love my Converse more. I'll use high heels on occasion that requires dressing up but in my daily life? I'd rather wear sneakers. I've been using Converse sneakers since primary school and I have a lot of memories with my Converse; both good and bad memories. I use my Converse during school trips, I wore them a lot to my favourite place in town, I once almost got hit by a car while I was wearing Converse and a lot more. *I wonder why I suddenly get nostalgic with this Converse post*

I'm a huge fan of Converse sneakers, and here are some reasons why:

As I mentioned above, I love walking and I'm a fast walker (even when I don't intend to be fast). I can walk around the places I want to without needing to have a break too many times. I can shop all I want in the shopping mall without feeling too tired because my shoes are soft and comfortable inside. It is so convenient!

Fun fact: I'm the only girl among my siblings. Another fun fact: It's not fun. One of the pros of being the only daughter is I don't need to share my things with anyone. I can have my clothes and things all to myself. The con? If I need something, for example clothes, bags, accessories or whatever, I can't borrow my brothers' stuffs. Their stuffs are all too boyish and their stuffs wouldn't fit me well. However, as Converse sneakers are unisex style shoes, I can always borrow my brothers' sneakers. They might be a little too big, but I can always tighten the shoes. No one can avoid me from wearing Converse.

Compared to other sneakers brand, for me, the most affordable is definitely Converse. There are people who own up to 10 (or more) Converse sneakers, that's how affordable the sneakers are. The shoes are comfy, unisex, stylish and not too pricey. What's not to love about the sneakers?

Who wouldn't love to have self-designed sneakers? Not me. I would really love it. You can also design shoes as a gift to someone, whether it's your friends, siblings or lovers based on what they like. Just go to their website, design, and you are done.

Converse go with any outfit.

I don't really have to burden my mind with the "which pair of shoes will fit my outfit" every time I have an occasion I need to attend when I have my converse with me. Whether I am going for a cute, modest, or sporty look, my converse will always match my look.

An additional fact about Converse: They are not all about sneakers.  They also have many accessories to choose from. For the guys and girls who love the casual laid back style, chill out in Converse hats and bags. You can choose a backpack or sling bag depending on your mood. The sling bag is also great to bring on the plane where you can store important documents that you need to reach for without going through a big bag. Converse is a legendary brand.

She wasn't interested in telling other people's futures. She was interested in going out and finding her own.

Murder attempt, underage use of alcohol, depression, child abuse, elitism, murder, ritual sacrifice, mention of suicide, violence

The whole idea of the book intrigued me. It involves a lot of paranormal stuff that isn't included in the books/shows/movies I consumed in the past. This book genre was very much new to me, it is classified as magical realism (you can read more about it here) and it sounds like something that I will love very much! I was hooked from the very first page, the very first sentence. Even the first chapter, as I included above, already shows so much promise.

First of all, let me say that I freaking love Blue's family. Her family consists of only women, her mom, her cousin, her aunt and her mom's best friend (which already sounds like a dream to me because I live with 4 boys). Except for Blue, all of them are clairvoyant and each of them specializes in different kinds of clairvoyance. These women are so lively and each of them has personalities of their own and I JUST WANT TO LIVE WITH THEM. Imagine how much magic you can see every day in their house AND THE CHAOS.

They were written in a whimsical way but their personalities are very real if that makes sense. In the previous books I've read, fantasy characters ESPECIALLY the ones who can do magic, are written in a way that emphasizes their magical-ness, making it seem impossible that they can ever be real. But the characters in The Raven Boys are written in a way that makes me believe that they can actually exist, which I think is the whole point of the magical realism genre. And this also extends to the four Raven Boys, Gansey, Ronan, Adam and Noah.

It is almost impossible to not fall in love with all of the Raven Boys. For me, it was like falling in love with 5 Seconds of Summer all over again. I want everything from The Raven Boys, I want live shows, I want interactions on social media, I want to see fan edits of them (which is basically what fan art is) and most of all, I want them to be real.

Gansey is the Dad of the group. He cares about his friends, will do everything for them and I have no doubt he will kill for them if he must. He is said to be oblivious and out of touch because he comes from a rich family, yes, he's not perfect, he sometimes unconsciously hurt the people around him, but the way he cares for his friends make up for it, in my opinion. The way he is passionate about his quest is also very adorable (how I wish I'm THAT passionate about anything in my life).

Then, we have Adam, the precious, precious boy I just want to protect. During my first read, he annoyed me so much. Only after my second read and four years of maturing did I understand him. He did not like receiving help and reacted so badly when someone did help him because he was not used to it. My take from it is that it is not easy to get used to receiving love when for your whole life, the people who should be giving you love and cherish you turn out to be the ones who hurt you all the time. My heart goes for him, and all of the Adams in the world. 

Ronan is the mysterious guy of the group. More about his story and his background is told in the second book. Although he is introduced as the rude brat who secretly cares for his friends as much as they do him without showing that he cares, he is more complex than just that. And lastly, another precious soft boy that needs protection, Noah. I think that Stiefvater crafted his story so nicely! And what I mean by that is for me to know and for you to find out 😉