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!

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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?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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 . . .

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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.

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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.

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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.

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Book Review: Spells (Wings #2) by Aprilynne Pike

Sinopsis: Enam bulan lalu Laurel menyelamatkan gerbang peri menuju Avalon, dan sekarang ia harus menghabiskan libur musim panasnya disana, mengasah keahliannya sebagai peri Musim Gugur. Tapi keluarga dan teman manusianya masih dalam bahaya-dan gerbang menuju Avalon juga semakin terancam. Ketika harus melindungi orang yang dicintainya, akankah Laurel bergantung pada David, pacar manusianya? Ataukah ia akan berpaling pada Tamani, peri yang juga tertarik pada Laurel?

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Book Review: Wings by Aprilynne Pike

Sinopsis:

Laurel benar-benar terpesona. Itu luar biasa indah-terlalu indah untuk digambarkan dengan kata-kata. Laurel berbalik menghadap cermin lagi, matanya menelusuri kelopak yang melayang di kedua sisi kepalanya. Itu terlihat seperti sayap.

Sepasang sayap yang mirip kelopak bunga tumbuh di punggung Laurel. Sejak itu dunianya berubah. Ia bertemu dengan Tamani. Pria itu melihat Laurel mengembangkan sayapnya di dekat sungai, lalu berbicara dengannya seolah sudah mengenalnya sejak lama. Tamani mengatakan sesuatu yang sangat tidak masuk akal. Dia bilang Laurel adalah peri, sama seperti dirinya. Tapi Laurel berada di dunia manusia untuk mengemban tugas penting, yaitu menjaga gerbang masuk Avalon, dunia peri, dari makhluk-makhluk jahat seperti troll. Sementara menghadapi takdirnya yang baru, Laurel pun terbagi antara cintanya pada Tamani dan David, sahabat manusianya...

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Book Review: Lifted - Pengutil Paling Top by Hilary Freeman

Judul: Lifted - Pengutil Paling Top
Judul Asli: Lifted
Pengarang: Hilary Freeman
Penerbit: Gramedia Pustaka Utama
Cetakan: I/ September 2013
Penerjemah: Devi Chyntia
ISBN: 978-979-22-9874-1
Tebal: 224hlm
Genre: Teenlit

Sinopsis:

me·ngu·til v mengambil atau melebihkan barang belian tanpa sepengetahuan penjual.

Robyn tak bisa menahan diri untuk mengutil. Tapi dia tidak merasa bersalah karena semua yang dicurinya, pasti dia sumbangkan ke toko amal, lalu dia menuliskan kisahnya di blog. Sebenarnya dia tidak perlu mengutil karena orangtuanya sangatlah mampu memberikan apa yang dia inginkan, tapi dia merasakan sensasi yang menyenangkan saat mengutil.

Dalam sekejap semua orang membicarakan tentang si misterius blogger. Akhirnya Robyn mendapatkan ketenaran yang dia inginkan. Hanya satu orang yang tahu siapa Robyn sebenarnya, dan cowok itu bersumpah akan merahasiakannya.

Akankah Robyn mengungkapkan identitasnya? Bisakah dia berhenti mengutil sebelum tertangkap?

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Book Review: Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire

Judul: Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister

Judul Asli: Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister

Pengarang: Gregory Maguire

Penerbit: Atria

Cetakan: I/April 2013

Penerjemah: Khairi Rumantati

Tebal: 442hlm

ISBN: 978-979-024-500-6

Genre: Novel (young-adult)

Sinopsis: 
“Letakkan dua gadis di balik kegelapan, yaitu tempat mereka semestinya, dan biarkan cahaya menyirami gadis yang ketiga. Bunga tulip kami, Clara kami.”

Kita sering mendengar kisah Cinderella, gadis cantik yang dipaksa menjadi budak oleh ibu tirinya. Namun, bagaimana dengan sang kakak tiri, sepasang gadis buruk rupa yang terasing oleh ketenaran adik tiri mereka yang cantik? Takdir seperti apa bagi mereka yang tak tersentuh keindahan … dan apa kutukan yang mengiringi keelokan Cinderella?

Berlatar di Belanda pada abad ketujuh belas, Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister adalah novel menarik yang merupakan penafsiran baru atas kisah Cinderella dengan tokoh-tokoh yang berbeda. Novel memikat ini bercerita tentang kecantikan, pengkhianatan, cinta, dan ilusi yang mengingatkan kita bahwa kebohongan pasti akan terungkap dan cinta bisa bersemi di tempat yang paling tak terduga.

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Book Review: The Time-Traveling Fashionista - On Board the Titanic by Bianca Turetsky

Judul: The Time-Traveling Fashionista - On Board the Titanic
Judul Asli: The Time-Traveling Fashionista: On Board the Titanic
Pengarang: Bianca Turetsky
Penerbit: Bentang Belia (Bentang Pustaka)
Cetakan: I/September 2013
Penerjemah: Mery Riansyah
Tebal: 256hlm
ISBN: 978-602-7975-53-8
Genre: Novel Remaja

Sinopsis:

Bisakah sebuah gaun vintage membawamu pergi ke masa lalu?

Bagaimana bisa semua orang memanggilku Alice Baxter?

Dalam kebingungan, kuamati gaun indah yang kukenakan, kupandangi sekali lagi sekelilingku. Suasana ini sangat menakjubkan! Sebuah kapal pesiar mewah nan klasik. Aku bukan diriku lagi, bukan Louise Lambert!

Kucoba menikmati peranku sekarang. Berbaur di antara wanita-wanita bangsawan dengan gaun gemerlapan. Mengagumi interior kapal yang membuatku terpana. Aku tenggelam dalam dunia glamor yang mengejutkan, sampai kusadari sesuatu. Ternyata, kapal ini Titanic! Itu artinya, kami semua akan mengalami peristiwa mengerikan yang terjadi seabad lalu! Aku diserang kepanikan. Bisa apa gadis belia sepertiku? Mungkin, hanya keberanian yang kubutuhkan dalam situasi ini! Bagaimanapun, aku harus melakukan sesuatu!

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