My Book Reviews

99 Red Balloons by Elisabeth Carpenter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Starting this book, I didn’t have any expectations. I was confused about the story about halfway through, but then when the revelation came, it all made sense.

And no, it had nothing to do with red balloons (or 99 of them).

I won’t say a lot for fear of spoiling it, but there is a cliffhanger at the end of about 2-3 chapters. 8 year old Grace has been kidnapped at a sweet shop, and it bears an uncanny resemblance to the disappearance of 5 year old Zoe years ago. Why is Emma’s mother acting so suspiciously, and what does widower Maggie have to do in the equation?

I never expected to love this story like I have; just when you think you’re starting to grasp it, you don’t. The story goes to and fro with a handful of the characters, giving the reader an insight to each of their lives before coming together as one beautifully.

Elisabeth Carpenter, I’ve got my eyes out for more of your books.

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*WARNING: THIS POST CONTAINS SPOILERS, WHICH I WILL HIGHLIGHT OFF*


The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is my first review with spoilers, because there are things I find confusing. So here goes....

Judging by the ratings, a lot of people seem to love this book. Me, on the other hand; I have a love-hate relationship with it, I think.

It took me a while to get used to it due to the way it’s written. There are very little conversation-openers, and the entire thing constantly shifts from ‘the now’ to ‘before’, that I had a bit of trouble at first determining which was what.

What I still can’t understand though, is how the thing all is. Offred describes having classes with the other handmaids, taught by the Marthas (or rather, Aunt Lydia in particular). But then again, in other scenes, she’s described as being the only handmaid in the household, apart from Rita & Cora who works in the kitchen, and Nick who’s the Commander’s driver. There is no mention of Offred going to another household or building for the ‘classes’, as the classes are very clearly described to be with the other handmaids as well.

Then when they have their ‘afternoon nap’, it is described (such as in the beginning of the story) that they do it in an old university gym. I originally thought that perhaps there were other handmaids living under the same roof, but then when there is a Birth Day, Offred is the only one to go from her household, to the one whose handmaid is having the Birth. That confused me.

Apart from that, it was overall okay. Maybe just not exactly my kind of thing.
Don’t get me wrong; the story overall did get interesting about halfway through. Just that I don’t really understand what all the hype was about.

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The Choice by Samantha King
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Out of all the books I’ve read before, this was the only one where my suspicions are about 95% true. Having saying that though, The Choice got me hooked.

Without giving too much away, I suspected Annabel’s fate from the off. I also suspected Dom & Max’s intentions (it was an either/or situation) and to find out that I had been right had been a smug moment for me.
Madeleine’s suffering was very relatable. The way King describes how Maddie is feeling seems to perforate through the pages of the book, because I felt them as if I was living it as well.

The climatic scenes got me breezing through the pages, eager to find out what happens next. The grief she felt, the relief, the panic; this book basically took me on a roller coaster of emotions. There were times I felt so frustrated with one of the characters. However, the ending was perfect, and I admit I almost got teary.

Samantha King is definitely an author to look out for; I know I’d be looking out for her future books!

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I Do Not Sleep by Judy Finnigan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was a very easy and pleasant read. Each chapter was only about 10 pages or less, and the font was fairly big. For a story about loss, the plot was fairly light, tone-wise.

Unlike other novels that tackle a grief-stricken protagonist, Molly was very relatable. She had her moments, but at the same time, I thought she was level-headed about it. Whenever she was being ‘unreasonable’, she would later contemplate her actions and the reactions of others. She did not wallow in self-pity and constantly feel sorry for herself; although the grief of losing Joey turned her into somewhat a zombie emotion-wise, she could still deliberate her actions after.

The theme also happened to coincide with a life event of mine, and the message that this book gave me had given somewhat of a comfort for me.

There was a pleasant surprise at the end too.

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The Broken Window by Jeffery Deaver
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It was a bit hard to concentrate in the beginning. I had a feeling that I would take a while to finish this, and right I was: almost a month.

It got interesting about halfway through, and I admit that the revelation of the killer quite shocked me. The thing about me as I read novels are that I’d conjure up images as to how a character might look like. And I can say that the revelation kind of threw off the image I had about both the killer and another character.

But as with most books, you kind of know how it’s gonna end. The climax was interesting, but at the same time, you kinda knew that someone was going to eventually save the day, so that sort of played down the intenseness of the scene.

When Rhyme explained how he found out who the killer was, there was a bit that I felt didn’t exactly completely reveal that conclusion; but it might just be me.

Was it interesting? Yes, but only after almost about halfway through. Did I like it? Ehhh, it was ok. I’ve got to give it to Deaver though for the brilliantly minute details in the case/plot.

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The Ice Twins by S.K. Tremayne
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I think I vaguely remember seeing this book in a must-read list somewhere. So when I saw it in the Bargain Books store, I knew I wanted it; to see what the hype was about.

And true enough, I loved it. I spotted a few sentence structural errors, but it wasn't as bad as Zombie Britannica. And for me (a self-proclaimed Grammar Nazi) to still rate it 4 stars despite the errors, you know it's good.

There was just something about the story that pulls you in; making you feel like you're actually living it (as all good books tend to do). I could almost feel the damp, salty air described, and the relationship between Angus and Sarah had me spooked; it seems like any one of them could snap at any moment. Though granted, I feel that Angus, as frustrated as he was, was quite patient with Sarah. And from Sarah's point of view, I can feel her anxiety; her paranoid-ness towards Angus. The both of them seem to be treading on dangerous waters (pun intended heh) with each other, and that atmosphere, I feel, was thick whenever they were together.

It might be just me, but the 'epilogue' six months later surprised me towards the end. It sounded like it was going one way, and then it was revealed that it was actually another.

An excellent read.

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Blood Born by Kathryn Fox
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After my bad bout with a Kathy Reich book, I was a bit skeptical with this one. The former had bored me to death with with the terms used.

The little synopsis at the back of the book was interesting. Although this book had many forensic science-y terms, it was easy to keep up with. And if I came across a term that I didn't understand, I'd simply google it up.

Certain novels can be very heavy on courtroom and law terms, and can be hard to follow for someone who has no knowledge of the field. So I liked that this one had an equal amount.

Also, my frustrations with the Harbourn family are yay high. I feel mentally tired just hearing the lengths that the family goes to plan and cover up their crimes. Noelle (understandably, I think) annoys me the most.

I initially had a bit of trouble keeping up with who was who, and what their expertise were, though. And like Anya, I didn't get the initial verdict of the case. It made my heart hammer though because after that, one surprise came after the other; just when you thought it was done with.

All in all, I really liked this book, even with the little grammatical and sentence structural errors that I spotted. Might just pick up another book by Fox, f her other books are as good as this.

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A Gift to Remember by Melissa Hill
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The only other book by Hill that I've read is The Charm Bracelet, and A Gift to Remember is similar.

Just when you think you've got it figured out, Hill throws a curveball. As you read on, I think the ending will be pretty predictable though, just like with Charm Bracelet.

It's not a heavy plot, so it goes for pretty light reading; though when Darcy goes to and fro trying to make sense of Aidan's things, and comes up with a blank, it gets a bit (predictably) exhausting.

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Another Piece of My Heart by Jane Green
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Honestly, I felt pulled towards this book from the synopsis at the back. But nothing, I repeat, nothing, would prepare me to love the book as much as I did.

I started out slow; reading at a leisurely pace. Plus I had been on holiday at that time. But then, before I knew it, I was halfway through. Really, I didn't even realise it.

This book spoke about (for lack of better word) issues that I myself have either went through, or have been thinking about. Green wrote so beautifully that I felt every emotion of the characters: the frustration, the anger, the tears. Certain scenes were so intense that I teared up purely because the scene was so heartfelt. It was amazing that it wasn't based on a true story, because everything was so descriptive.

I felt emotionally tired just reading about Emily, and I really felt Andi's frustration. As I had like a quarter of the book left to go, I thought I had a rough idea on how the story might end, and then Emily dropped a bombshell and left me wondering how on earth this problem could be solved in such limited pages left.

To be honest it was a relief when I read how the problem was dealt with; proving that all hope was not lost after all. I really felt this book, and it spoke to me on a personal level. This is the first of Green's books that I've picked up, but after this, it's making me want to check out her books too.

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Zombie Britannica by Thomas Emson
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

And that's me being kind. Don't get me wrong, the plot was ok and everything, but what brought it down was the constant grammatical and punctuation errors. I don't mean to sound harsh, but honestly? It says that the author is an 'award-winner', but I'm seriously wondering how the hell that can be, judging from this book.

It also gets me wondering what on earth the proofreaders were thinking. Sure, I understand that a typo or so here and there are inevitable, but the ENTIRE book is FILLED with them. Unless of course, he didn't have a proofreader.

'Quiet' was spelled as 'Quite'. Question marks are absent where they should be throughout the book. And this may be just me, but certain names of the characters have such 'unique' spellings, that it makes me think that the author might not have known the correct spelling, and just cooked up his own spelling for it (Kathrine/Catherine = Catrin, Dana = Dayna).

The story has quite a few 'revelation' points when the author reveals how they're connected to one another. The story also ends in suspense, leaving the reader to contemplate the ending on their own.
It has it's other good parts as well, and it's an absolute shame that the bad outweighs the good.

He would've been a good author otherwise.

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To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I found this book to be similar to Rainbow Rowell's books. The chapters are short and the storyline light. The story is told in Lara Jean's perspective, and was a nice, light read that was addictive.

There were several parts that got me frustrated with Lara Jean. But then again, she's a teenager.

There was one character I never liked much in the beginning, and my feelings were the same throughout the character development. Although yes, there were developments, but I still found the character very full of themselves.

There is also a particular event that I felt did not have a proper closure; and that Lara Jean throwing herself back into it without that closure was a bit... rash and unreasonable, in my opinion. The character that I suspected had been the one to send out Lara Jean's letters had also turned out to be correct, with my guessed reason.

All in all, a nice light read.

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