Nabila

Parental neglect, drug addiction, attempted suicide, overdose, death of a parent

This book is set in 1890s Malaya, to be exact in Malacca, during the early years of British colonialism and being a Malaysian, I learned about this era in history class in secondary school and it was one of my favourite eras to learn about. Although the historical aspect was not the main focus of this book, the fact that it was set during that era really appealed to me; it was the main reason I really wanted to read this and gratefully, this book didn't disappoint at all. I read this book for the historical aspect but I got served with a fantasy, paranormal, romance in addition to the historical aspect! Chinese superstition was the main focus of this book and growing up watching classic Chinese movies, I knew a little bit about this so I wasn't confused about world-building at all. In fact, learning all these new things was a very exciting experience for me.

Barely seventeen, I think Li Lan was a mature girl for her age. She was brave, very considering of her family situation and although she sometimes annoyed me when she swooned over one of the male characters in this book, she was still a likeable character. As she ventures out into the journey of finding the truth about the death of her dead supposed-to-be suitor and how to get rid of his ghost, I could vividly feel her anxiety and fear. The pacing of her story was quite slow (I wouldn't recommend this book for someone who loves plot-driven books) but it worked for me because I know that all the world-building and characters introduced would be crucial for the ending. Plus, the book was written with really beautiful prose and imagery so I didn't mind it being slow.

What I wasn't really fond of about this book was how very few the scenes featuring Er Lang was😂 Even from the very beginning, I already knew that he was my type hehe. Instead, I only got to see him in a few scenes in the second half of the book. I know he's supposed to be mysterious but come on, author, I just wanted a little bit more of him!

Recommended for people who love: beautifully written book, breathtaking imagery, Chinese superstition, mythology, 1890s Malaya.

drinking, body-shaming, bullying, talk about cheating, throwing up.
It Sounded Better In My Head is about an 18-year-old girl going on 19 who is waiting for the result of her university application, going through with her parent's divorce, just starting her first love story and in the same time, struggling with insecurity with her body, skin especially, after going through puberty. I’m bad at describing books but this book is exactly that. It’s that one phase in her life where everything happens all at once. This book is very short though, so everything wraps up really quickly. 

By the sound of how I describe the book, it might seem just like all other contemporary books you’ve ever read. Or at least for me, I thought it was going to be another 3.5 stars YA contemporary book when I first read the synopsis. In some ways, it is just like all the other good contemporary books; the story happens in a very short span of time too so this book might not sound as special as the other good contemporary books everyone had read but there’s one thing that makes this book shine: how it highlights the severity of effects from going through puberty on a teenager. As someone who still has one foot in the teenage door myself, I really found myself in Natalie.

She had this seemingly unreasonable insecurity of her acne, acne scars and her body and although I know that so many other people are suffering/suffered this thing, it was nice to be in Natalie’s head and know that she also thought the very same things that I always think about. It’s comforting to know that I’m not the only person in the world being mentally scarred ‘just because of acne’. The author also pointed out the way that having acne in the past or now can mess up with your mind. I really appreciate the length this book discussed this stuff because I never see these issues being in other books I had read. Her insecurity aside, Natalie was a very likeable main character. She was smart and sassy, and the fact that she was socially weird made her more relatable. 

One more thing that I love the most about this book was how balanced the familial, friendship, love and self-discovery themes were. All these themes were exactly the same percentage, there wasn’t really a main centre because the book discussed all the themes in the same amount and it’s rare to see this kind of balance in YA contemporary, especially being this short. Something always overshadows something but nothing overshadows anything in this book.

Maybe in another circumstance, I would say that this book was very mediocre and rate it 3.5 minimum or 4 stars maximum but for how much I enjoyed this book and the amount of relatable-ness, I would feel guilty if I give it less than 5 stars. This book is very simple but very unique too and I think that it’s important for all teenagers to read this. I would put this book up there with The Perks of Being a Wallflower in terms of the importance of this book for teenagers.