Book Review: A Dash of Magic (The Bliss Bakery Trilogy #2) by Kathryn Littlewood

Judul: A Dash of Magic (The Bliss Bakery Trilogy #2)
Pengarang: Kathryn Littlewood
Penerjemah:Sujatrini Liza
Penerbit: Nourabooks
Edisi: I/Bahasa Indonesia
Diterbitkan pada: Agustus 2013
Jumlah Halaman: 312
ISBN: 978-9-794-33811-7
Genre: Fiksi remaja, sihir, keluarga

Sinopsis:

Rosemary Bliss rela melakukan apa pun untuk mendapatkan kembali Buku Resep ajaib milik keluarganya. Maka, dia menerima tantangan Bibi Lily untuk mengikuti kompetisi masak internasional di Paris. Jika Rose menang, Bibi Lily akan mengembalikan bukunya. Jika tidak, maka buku itu akan hilang selamanya. Didampingi keluarganya, kakek buyutnya, seekor kucing sarkastik, dan tikus Prancis, Rose berjuang demi menciptakan masakan spesial yang bisa membuatnya jadi pemenang. Bersama Ty dan Sage, Rose pun berkeliling Paris demi mendapatkan bahan-bahan ajaib: Rahasia Senyum Monalisa, Dentang Lonceng Notre Dame, Bisikan Kekasih, sampai Hujan Murni dari Puncak Eiffel.

Rose benar-benar tidak boleh kehilangan Bliss Cookery Booke untuk kedua kalinya!

***

Book Review: Bliss (The Bliss Bakery Trilogy #1) by Kathryn Littlewood

         Judul: Bliss (The Bliss Bakery Trilogy #1)
         Pengarang: Kathryn Littlewood
         Penerjemah: Nadia Mirzha
         Penerbit: Nourabooks
         Edisi: II/Bahasa Indonesia
         Diterbitkan pada: Desember 2012
         Jumlah Halaman: 320
         ISBN: 978-9-794-33690-8
         Genre: Fiksi remaja, sihir, keluarga

Sinopsis:

Musim panas itu, Rosemary Bliss melihat ibunya mengaduk halilintar ke dalam semangkuk adonan dan semakin yakin bahwa orangtuanya menggunakan sihir di Toko Roti Bliss. Rahasianya ada pada sebuah buku resep Bliss Cookery Booke.

Namun, apa jadinya jika Rose dan Ty memutuskan bereksperimen dengan beberapa resep saat orangtua mereka pergi? Yah, beberapa Muffin Asmara dan Cookies Kebenaran sepertinya tak akan menimbulkan masalah, bukan?

***

eBook Review: Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge

Title: Cruel Beauty
Author: Rosamund Hodge
Publisher: Balzer + Bray
Edition: I/ eBook English Version
Published: January 2014
Page: 352
ISBN: 978-0-062-22475-0
Genre: Young-Adult Fiction, Romance, Mythology

Synopsis:

Since birth, Nyx has been betrothed to the evil ruler of her kingdom-all because of a foolish bargain struck by her father. And since birth, she has been in training to kill him.

With no choice but to fulfill her duty, Nyx resents her family for never trying to save her and hates herself for wanting to escape her fate. Still, on her seventeenth birthday, Nyx abandons everything she's ever known to marry the all-powerful, immortal Ignifex. Her plan? Seduce him, destroy his enchanted castle, and break the nine-hundred-year-old curse he put on her people.

But Ignifex is not at all what Nyx expected. The strangely charming lord beguiles her, and his castle-a shifting maze of magical rooms-enthralls her.

As Nyx searches for a way to free her homeland by uncovering Ignifex's secrets, she finds herself unwillingly drawn to him. Even if she could bring herself to love her sworn enemy, how can she refuse her duty to kill him? With time running out, Nyx must decide what is more important: the future of her kingdom, or the man she was never supposed to love.

***

eBook Review: Just One Day by Gayle Forman

         Title: Just One Day
         Author: Gayle Forman
         Publisher: Penguin Group
         Edition: I/eBook English Version
         Published: January 2013
         Page: 300
         ISBN: 978-1-101-59274-8
         Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Romance, Traveling

Synopsis:

When sheltered American good girl Allyson "LuLu" Healey first meets laid-back Dutch actor Willem De Ruiter at an underground performance of Twelfth Night in England, there’s an undeniable spark. After just one day together, that spark bursts into a flame, or so it seems to Allyson, until the following morning, when she wakes up after a whirlwind day in Paris to discover that Willem has left. Over the next year, Allyson embarks on a journey to come to terms with the narrow confines of her life, and through Shakespeare, travel, and a quest for her almost-true-love, to break free of those confines.

***

eBook Review: The Friendship Doll by Kirby Larson

Title: The Friendship Doll
Author: Kirby Larson
Publisher: Delacorte Books
Edition: II/ eBook English Version
Published: May 2011
Page: 208
ISBN: 978-0-375-89951-5
Genre: Middle Grade Fiction, Humanity

Synopsis:

I am Miss Kanagawa. In 1927, my 57 doll-sisters and I were sent from Japan to America as Ambassadors of Friendship. Our work wasn't all peach blossoms and tea cakes. My story will take you from New York to Oregon, during the Great Depression. Though few in this tale are as fascinating as I, their stories won't be an unpleasant diversion. You will make the acquaintance of Bunny, bent on revenge; Lois, with her head in the clouds; Willie Mae, who not only awakened my heart, but broke it; and Lucy, a friend so dear, not even war could part us. I have put this tale to paper because from those 58 Friendship Dolls only 45 remain. I know that someone who chooses this book is capable of solving the mystery of the missing sisters. Perhaps that someone is you.

***

eBook Review: The Hollow by Jessica Verday

          Title: The Hollow

          Author: Jessica Verday

          Publisher: Simon Pulse

          Edition: I/ Kindle English version

          Published: September 2009

          Page: 528

          ISBN: (A SIN) B00BB8WTUY

          Genre: Young-Adult Fiction, Fantasy, Horror, Supernatural

Synopsis:

When Abbey's best friend, Kristen, vanishes at the bridge near Sleepy Hollow Cemetery, everyone else is all too quick to accept that Kristen is dead and rumors fly that her death was no accident. Abbey goes through the motions of mourning her best friend, but privately, she refuses to believe that Kristen is really gone. It only makes things worse that everyone now treats Abbey like either a freak show or a charity case. Thank goodness for Caspian, the gorgeous and mysterious boy who shows up out of nowhere at Kristen's funeral, and keeps reappearing in Abbey's life. Caspian clearly has secrets of his own, but he's the only person who makes Abbey feel normal again but also special. 

Just when Abbey starts to feel that she might survive all this, she learns a secret that makes her question everything she thought she knew about her best friend. How could Kristen have kept silent about so much? And could this secret have led to her death? As Abbey struggles to understand Kristen's betrayal, she uncovers a frightening truth that nearly unravels her—one that will challenge her emerging love for Caspian, as well as her own sanity.

***

eBook Review: Magic Under Glass by Jaclyn Dolamore

Title: Magic Under Glass
Author: Jaclyn Dolamore
Publisher: Bloomsbury USA
Edition: I/eBook English Version
Published: August, 2008
Page: 240
ISBN: 978-1-599-90580-8
Genre: Young-Adult Fiction, Fantasy, Magic, Mystery

Synopsis:
Nimira is a music-hall performer forced to dance for pennies to an audience of leering drunks. When wealthy sorcerer Hollin Parry hires her to do a special act - singing accompaniment to an exquisite piano-playing automaton, Nimira believes it is the start of a new life. In Parry's world, however, buried secrets stir.

Unsettling below-stairs rumours abound about ghosts, a mad woman roaming the halls, and of Parry's involvement in a gang of ruthless sorcerers who torture fairies for sport. When Nimira discovers the spirit of a dashing young fairy gentleman is trapped inside the automaton's stiff limbs, waiting for someone to break the curse and set him free, the two fall in love. But it is a love set against a dreadful race against time to save the entire fairy realm, which is in mortal peril.

***  

eBook Review: The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud

Synopsis:

When the dead come back to haunt the living, Lockwood & Co. step in . . .

For more than fifty years, the country has been affected by a horrifying epidemic of ghosts. A number of Psychic Investigations Agencies have sprung up to destroy the dangerous apparitions.

Lucy Carlyle, a talented young agent, arrives in London hoping for a notable career. Instead she finds herself joining the smallest, most ramshackle agency in the city, run by the charismatic Anthony Lockwood. When one of their cases goes horribly wrong, Lockwood & Co. have one last chance of redemption. Unfortunately this involves spending the night in one of the most haunted houses in England, and trying to escape alive.

Set in a city stalked by spectres, The Screaming Staircase is the first in a chilling new series full of suspense, humour and truly terrifying ghosts. Your nights will never be the same again . . .

***

eBook Review: The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Synopsis:

It is 1939. Nazi Germany. The country is holding its breath. Death has never been busier, and will become busier still.

By her brother's graveside, Liesel Meminger's life is changed when she picks up a single object, partially hidden in the snow. It is The Grave Digger's Handbook, left there by accident, and it is her first act of book thievery. 

So begins a love affair with books and words, as Liesel, with the help of her accordion-playing foster father, learns to read. Soon she is stealing books from Nazi book-burnings, the mayor's wife's library, wherever there are books to be found.

But these are dangerous times. When Liesel's foster family hides a Jew in their basement, Liesel's world is both opened up and closed down.

***

eBook Review: Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes by Jonathan Auxier

Synopsis: Peter Nimble and His Fantastic Eyes is the utterly beguiling tale of a ten-year-old blind orphan who has been schooled in a life of thievery. One fateful afternoon, he steals a box from a mysterious traveling haberdasher—a box that contains three pairs of magical eyes. When he tries the first pair, he is instantly transported to a hidden island where he is presented with a special quest: to travel to the dangerous Vanished Kingdom and rescue a people in need.

Along with his loyal sidekick—a knight who has been turned into an unfortunate combination of horse and cat—and the magic eyes, he embarks on an unforgettable, swashbuckling adventure to discover his true destiny.

***

eBook Review: Divergent by Veronica Roth

Synopsis:
In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.

During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles to determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes infuriating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers a growing conflict that threatens to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her. 

Debut author Veronica Roth bursts onto the literary scene with the first book in the Divergent series—dystopian thrillers filled with electrifying decisions, heartbreaking betrayals, stunning consequences, and unexpected romance.

***

eBook Review: Book of a Thousand Days by Shannon Hale

Synopsis: When Dashti, a maid, and Lady Saren, her mistress, are shut in a tower for seven years for Saren's refusal to marry a man she despises, the two prepare for a very long and dark imprisonment.

As food runs low and the days go from boiling hot to freezing cold, it is all Dashti can do to keep them fed and comfortable.

But the arrival outside the tower of Saren's two suitors—one welcome, and the other decidedly less so—brings both hope and great danger, and Dashti must make the desperate choices of a girl whose life is worth more than she knows.

With Shannon Hale's lyrical language, this forgotten but classic fairy tale from the Brothers Grimm is reimagined and reset on the central Asian steppes; it is a completely unique retelling filled with adventure and romance, drama and disguise.

***

eBook Review: My Name is Rapunzel by K.C. Hilton

Synopsis:  My tale has been told again and again, and I’ve heard each one. Except for my hair, I barely recognize the pitiful renditions. Muddled versions, crafted to entertain laughing children…but the children wouldn’t have laughed if they’d known the real story. It wasn't their fault. They didn't know the truth. Nobody did. My name is Rapunzel. I will tell you my story. I will tell you the truth.

***

It is another story about Rapunzel. Rapunzel in this book is described as a teenager, she was 16 years old, and she was fall in love with a guy named Henry. At first, she expected that Henry will be her only love of her life. She wanted to marry him, and he wanted to propose her to be his wife. Their charming love story was not that easy to be true. The day when Henry proposed Rapunzel, something horrible happened. There was a weird storm approaching then Henry was gone. And something left behind after the storm was only the Witch with a suspicious Dragon standing in front of Rapunzel.

eBook Review: Breadcrumbs by Anne Ursu

Synopsis:

Once upon a time, Hazel and Jack were best friends. They had been best friends since they were six, spending hot Minneapolis summers and cold Minneapolis winters together, dreaming of Hogwarts and Oz, superheroes and baseball. Now that they were eleven, it was weird for a boy and a girl to be best friends. But they couldn't help it - Hazel and Jack fit, in that way you only read about in books. And they didn't fit anywhere else.

And then, one day, it was over. Jack just stopped talking to Hazel. And while her mom tried to tell her that this sometimes happens to boys and girls at this age, Hazel had read enough stories to know that it's never that simple. And it turns out, she was right. Jack's heart had been frozen, and he was taken into the woods by a woman dressed in white to live in a palace made of ice. Now, it's up to Hazel to venture into the woods after him. Hazel finds, however, that these woods are nothing like what she's read about, and the Jack that Hazel went in to save isn't the same Jack that will emerge. Or even the same Hazel.

Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen's "The Snow Queen," Breadcrumbs is a story of the struggle to hold on, and the things we leave behind.

 ***

Tutorial: Menyampul Buku dengan Sampul Plastik Non-Destructive

Hi readers!

Lagi baca buku apa hari ini?
Ngomong-ngomong soal buku, kalian yang suka membaca pasti juga suka mengkoleksi buku kan? Sudah tahu belum salah satu cara merawat koleksi buku kalian agar awet dan tetap bersih? Bener banget! Caranya adalah memberi sampul pada buku. Dan sampul yang paling tepat untuk menyampul buku/novel koleksi kalian adalah sampul plastik. Mengapa demikian? Karena sampul plastik bisa menjaga buku agar tetap awet, bebas jamur dan rayap, namun halaman cover buku tetap terlihat dengan jelas. Lebih-lebih, sampul plastik juga replaceable alias bisa dilepas-pasang atau diganti tanpa membuat buku menjadi rusak/sobek.

Di post kali ini aku akan share cara menyampul buku dengan sampul plastik dengan baik. Caranya gampang banget kok, tidak memakan waktu lama, dan yang jelas murah meriah. Oke, langsung ke step-stepnya aja ya.

Tips Menulis Resensi Buku

Hi readers!

How are you doing? Good?

Readers yang gemar membaca buku pasti pernah kepikiran untuk menulis resensi dari buku yang kalian baca, ya nggak? Awal mula aku membuat blog ini juga karena aku suka membaca dan sering berpikir kenapa aku hanya menikmati sebuah buku untuk diriku sendiri tanpa membagikan pendapat/pengalaman mengenai buku yang aku baca tersebut pada orang lain. Selain itu, aku juga sering membaca resensi beberapa blogger buku ternama yang sudah membaca ratusan bahkan ribuan buku yang hampir semuanya mereka share dalam bentuk resensi di sebuah blog, forum, atau website dan tertarik untuk melakukan hal yang sama.

Tahukah readers kalau menulis resensi dapat menjadi sarana untuk membagikan pengalaman atau pendapat atau rekomendasi kalian mengenai suatu buku pada banyak orang? Lebih-lebih menulis resensi juga memberikan manfaat lho. Masih ingat dong ya apa saja manfaat menulis resensi buku. Kalau lupa, boleh intip lagi disini. Nah, di post ini, aku akan share sedikit mengenai tips menulis resensi buku. Simak baik-baik ya!

eBook Review: Entwined by Heather Dixon

Sinopsis:

Azalea is trapped. Just when she should feel that everything is before her . . . beautiful gowns, dashing suitors, balls filled with dancing . . . it's taken away. All of it.

The Keeper understands. He's trapped, too, held for centuries within the walls of the palace. And so he extends an invitation.

Every night, Azalea and her eleven sisters may step through the enchanted passage in their room to dance in his silver forest.

But there is a cost.

The Keeper likes to keep things.

Azalea may not realize how tangled she is in his web until it is too late.

***

eBook Review: Splintered by A.G. Howard

Sinopsis:

This stunning debut captures the grotesque madness of a mystical under-land, as well as a girl’s pangs of first love and independence. Alyssa Gardner hears the whispers of bugs and flowers—precisely the affliction that landed her mother in a mental hospital years before. This family curse stretches back to her ancestor Alice Liddell, the real-life inspiration for Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland. Alyssa might be crazy, but she manages to keep it together. For now.

When her mother’s mental health takes a turn for the worse, Alyssa learns that what she thought was fiction is based in terrifying reality. The real Wonderland is a place far darker and more twisted than Lewis Carroll ever let on. There, Alyssa must pass a series of tests, including draining an ocean of Alice’s tears, waking the slumbering tea party, and subduing a vicious bandersnatch, to fix Alice’s mistakes and save her family. She must also decide whom to trust: Jeb, her gorgeous best friend and secret crush, or the sexy but suspicious Morpheus, her guide through Wonderland, who may have dark motives of his own.

***

eBook Review: The False Princess by Eilis O'Neal

Synopsis:

Princess and heir to the throne of Thorvaldor, Nalia's led a privileged life at court.  But everything changes when it's revealed, just after her sixteenth birthday, that she is a false princess, a stand-in for the real Nalia, who has been hidden away for her protection.  Cast out with little more than the clothes on her back, the girl now called Sinda must leave behind the city of Vivaskari, her best friend, Keirnan, and the only life she's ever known.

Sinda is sent to live with her only surviving relative, an aunt who is a dyer in a distant village. She is a cold, scornful woman with little patience for her newfound niece, and Sinda proves inept at even the simplest tasks.  But when Sinda discovers that magic runs through her veins - long-suppressed, dangerous magic that she must learn to control - she realizes that she can never learn to be a simple village girl.

Returning to Vivaskari for answers, Sinda finds her purpose as a wizard scribe, rediscovers the boy who saw her all along, and uncovers a secret that could change the course of Thorvaldor's history, forever.

A dazzling first novel, The False Princess is an engrossing fantasy full of mystery, action, and romance.

***