Top 5 Wednesdays: Books Of The Year

I know I haven't been very consistent in the All The Books Of 2015 challenge, I am sorry ;_; But on a side note, I'm now doing the top 5 Wednesday for today, and that is.... The top 5 books of the year.

Note that these are my favourite books that I read in 2015, not necessarily published this year :)

Okay, where to begin.

You see at the bottom there is the book that I keep keep keep mentioning: The Strange & Beautiful Sorrows Of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton. It's been months since I read it in January I think, and I still cannot forget its characters, settings, everything about it. I'm in love.

And then we have All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven, a book which I had low expectations of but which surprised me. Its imperfections, not-so-happy ending, flawed characters; these are what make this book perfect.

Next, Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas; randomly picked this up at the bookstore, randomly picked this up when I didn't know what to read next. I practically flew through it because it was impossible to put down, and even after I finished I was feeling so creeped out by it. A little review here :)

Cinder by Marissa Meyer; the first book of the Lunar Chronicles. This was a fantastic start to the series, getting to know the world and watching the main character progress from a mere mechanic to a badass (in my opinion) Also, Cinder is bae.

And last but not least, The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer, the first book of the Land Of Stories. Also, I loved the way our typical fairytale characters were portrayed in this one. A few flaws here and there, which my middle grade-self wouldn't have paid much attention to so I am closing one eye. Full review here :)

Most of these books have made it to this list because of one simple reason: I didn't have high expectations of them. I jumped into them not knowing much, and was pleasantly blown away. That's how I managed to narrow it down to just 5 :)

That's it for today, until next time!

The Land Of Stories #1: The Wishing Spell / Chris Colfer

The Land Of Stories #1: The Wishing Spell

/ Chris Colfer

I know my photos aren't quality. I'm just not as good a photographer as a reader :p 

So I picked this up randomly at work many months ago, because I was just scouring around the "Intermediate Readers" section. Never got around to reading it properly, and then it got popular and many kids were actually looking for it til all the books 1 to 4 were sold out.

Land of Stories revolves around a pair of twins, Alex & Conner Bailey who grew up loving fairytales, thanks to the stories their grandmother and father were always telling them, be it before bedtime or when they're upset and need some advice.

On their twelfth birthday, which was really miserable for them due to circumstances, their grandmother gifted them her favourite fairytale book called The Land Of Stories. Of course magical things happen, right?

This book didn't have many amazing reviews, and in fact there were a number of negative ones, but honestly, I really enjoyed it! I'm really surprised myself, because I hadn't thought I would love it soooo much. I practically flew through it.

 I loved the way everything was woven around together, how everyone and everything were connected. I enjoyed seeing the way some known characters from stories that I know appeared. I loved the fairytale world and all the characters, how they were made and played around with by the author.

I loved Alex to be honest, even though to others she would have seemed annoying. I loved the way she was fangirling over all the fairytale characters whom she was meeting in the flesh. Wouldn't we all know how she felt? ;)

Sure there were quite a few flaws here and there, but this is a middle grade book, and I as a child would not have noticed these tiny holes so I just closed an eye. And that is how I loved this book so much.

Unfortunately for me most Popular bookstores didn't have books 2 & 3 anymore so I had to go Kinokuniya instead. That's just how much I really wanted to continue on with this series :-)

The Disreputable History Of Frankie Landau-Banks / E. Lockhart

featuring my very ripped jeans. 

First of all, books in boarding school are always my cup of tea. They're always really adorable, funny, and light without too much feels which is what I may need once in a while :p

In my opinion, this was really cute. I loved following our main character, Frankie, around. This was perfect as a second-person point of view for me, because I get the feeling that if it had been Frankie's thoughts (aka first person) she may have been an annoying character haha.

I loved all the characters and not just Frankie; the boys, known as the dogs, were actually really funny in their annoying ways. I loved the secret that they were in on, and how Frankie tried so hard to know what it was, as if her life depended on it.

Maybe other readers would think it annoying that she was so nosy, but in fact I loved her for it because if I were in her shoes I would have felt so curious too!

Overall a fantastic book with great writing, but I knocked off 1 star out of 5 stars only because it was just a fun read, but not one that would exactly stay with me for a long time :) Would recommend this one to secondary school girls though, for some reason!

Popular: childhood vs adulthood

I didn't stick to the All The Books Of 2015 challenge, I am so sorry )":

On a brighter note, I'm here because I feel like writing about something :-) Initially wrote in my personal blog, but ditched that draft and came in here instead. It isn't 100% related to books, but it's about my job, which is in a bookstore, so that's close enough right?

So I've been a loyal employee of Popular for nearly 9 months now; 3 as a part-timer and the rest as a full-timer, and it's a lot to me. In fact, it's the longest I've stayed in a job. My first full-time one too.

But that's nothing compared to the time I've been a loyal customer of Popular. For as long as I remember, I am always buying things from Popular. Be it stationery, assessment books or just storybooks, it's always the same place; we don't even need to mention any name. Mention "buy things for school", and it's a straight go to Popular.

Of course I stopped buying assessment books when I left secondary school, but even in my poly life I was faithfully buying my stationery from here. Don't need to talk about books because of course I'm definitely still buying them now ;)

I cannot for the life of me remember the very first time I got a membership card. I've been a member here for all my life: the other time when I was at Bookfest 2015, one of the promoters came up to me and asked if I have a membership. I told her straight that I've had one since very young; not that it matters because I have a staff pass now anyway :p

That aside, I'd wanted to blog about the differences of being a customer and Retail Assistant in this company. Childhood and adulthood. So let's just get into it before I start gushing about my love for Popular again.

childhood: hanging out in the children's books section, asking my mom if I could buy thisthisthis.

adulthood: hanging out in the Multimedia section, telling customers why they should buy thisthisthis. 

childhood: not giving a single shit about ink cartridges.

adulthood: knows by heart which ink cartridge models do we or do we not carry :-)

childhood: hearing the closing music, and knowing it's the end of my life because AW MAN POPULAR IS CLOSING AND I HAVE TO GO HOME )-:

adulthood: hearing the closing music, and knowing it's the end of the day and AH YES POPULAR IS CLOSING AND I CAN GO HOME (-:

childhood: the woman named Hooi Peng is the cashier.

adulthood: the woman named Hooi Peng is my colleague.

True story there. I met her on my second day of work back in April, and instantly recognised her as the cashier whom I was always going to at the Whitesands outlet. 

childhood: hearing the paging system and wondering what the hell is that.

adulthood: hearing the paging system and wishing pleasedon'tcallmepleasedon'tcallme.

childhood: membership card is fucking important. 

adulthood: staff pass is fucking important. 

And the Popular lanyard. 

Which glows in the dark by the way. 

childhood: arranging the books neatly when they are in a mess but I can't, because my mom will ask me to hurry up :-(

adulthood: wanting to arrange the books neatly when they are in a mess but I can't, because we don't like the English Department HOD and don't want to help her :-(

childhood: the old Whitesands Popular was my favourite place ever. (besides the library though)

adulthood: the current Whitesands Popular was partially set up by me before its reopening :-) go to the Multimedia section, I'm the one who set up the bars and the hooks :-) :-) :-) 

childhood: am the daughter of a very troublesome customer who is asking the staff so many unnecessary things. 

adulthood: am the staff. 

Bottom line: I have so many memories in Popular even before I started to work here. But it's so interesting to see how I've changed my perspective of it after working with the company.

Even though it's kind of bittersweet because my first anniversary of working in Popular will be around the same time that the people I'd entered polytechnic with will be graduating; it's still a blessing to be where I am.

I have goals to work my way up to HOD and then Store Manager haha, maybe be the first ever Malay SM? ^_^

Til next time.

A kiss for my beloved department, Multimedia. 

Taken & edited by one of my lovely colleagues of course. 

10/12: Best standalone

10th December: Best Standalone

Okay, so I had a hard time choosing because I read a lot of contemporary, which almost always comes as a standalone. Not complaining though, because I love books that comes on its own.

These are just some of my favourites: (R-L)

All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven
I loved Violet so much. I related to how she felt, how she couldn't continue writing anymore after the loss of a loved one. Also this book wasn't 100% cute and butterflies, and while everyone who read it got mad because the characters' problems went unsolved, I thought it was perfect; it's realistic, because in reality people wouldn't notice anything wrong with you either. This book's flaws was what made it perfect. Just like a real human.

This Song Will Save Your Life by Leila Sales
If you've had social problems, difficulty fitting in, the main character's shoes are just perfect for your feet. This book, the protagonist, everything she did to try to fit in; we've all been there before. We all have something we do that gives us another identity; and lastly, we all have love for music in one way or another.

Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver
This was unexpected. I went into it without expecting much, maybe because this book was kinda underrated. But I flew through it, it tugged at my heartstrings, despite the fact that the main character was the bully of the story. Also, if you loved Life Is Strange (the game) some of the characters kinda mirror one another in my opinion :p

Dangerous Girls by Abigail Haas 
I've talked about this book a few days ago, which you can read here.
READ THE BOOK.

and last but definitely not least, tucked away in the corner there,

The Strange & Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender by Leslye Walton
Yes yes, I've mentioned this book so many times. But I'm writing about it now because it was the best standalone novel! I'm possibly still having a hangover from this book. A 12-months long hangover. Yep.

Til tomorrow hopefully :)

9/12: Books that made you happy

9th December: Books That Made You Happy

THESE TWO BITCHES. 

So there I was, minding my own business in the office at work, during the time my Multi HOD and English Dept colleague were having their break; when I saw the Invoice with ALL 3 BOOKS IN THE STARBOUND TRILOGY.

Like how I always react when I see new stocks of books that I want to read, I go all OH! OMG! and picked them up and got all excited. There was only 1 copy each for These Broken Stars and This Shattered World. Of course, I decided to keep them aside so I could buy them on Friday. After showing them off to my colleagues and announcing it of course.

I kept them in the office actually, right by my Multi returns, held by a rubber band and with a piece of paper on it, containing my name and contact number. Just like all the reserved items ;)

About half an hour to closing time, I saw my previous colleagues, my Multi HOD and English colleague, bringing these books to the cashier counter. I looked at them and they just told me: "We'll put at the cashier counter okay? Don't worry your name is still on it!" so of course I trusted them.

And then........ after closing, when we were all sitting in the office waiting to go home, my English colleague took out These Broken Stars. With a receipt on it. I was hella confused, and asked her: "Why did you buy it......? There was only one copy......." and she went: "Because I want to read it!"

And then......... My Multi HOD took out Their Fractured Light, also with a receipt on it. She said: "I also buy! Because I also want to read it!" and I just stared at them like O.O

And THEN.............. THEY FREAKING BOUGHT THE BOOKS FOR ME.

!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
I am the luckiest person ever to be blessed with amazing colleagues.
They are not even colleagues, not even friends, but like family to me. I freaking love them.
I WAS NOT EXPECTING IT AT ALL.

And those, my friends, are the last 2 books that made me abso-fucking-lutely happy.

6/12: Newest fictional girlfriends

6th December: Newest Fictional Girlfriends

Alright, so it's actually Newest Fictional Boyfriends, but to me, boys in books aren't really that perfect. In fact, I detest a few of the fictional boys that every other girl on Bookstagram and Booktube love so much. *cough*Noah Shaw*cough* 

So here are my newest fictional girlfriends obtained this year :p

1. Celia Bowen.
I'd been smitten with her before, when I first read The Night Circus three years ago. But after a reread, I remembered what was so amazing about her! I love her calm demeanour, her silent-but-strong personality, the mystery around her. The part where she auditioned just blew my mind; she must have been so beautiful *_*

2. Sarabeth Lewis.
One of the main characters in The End Of The World As We Know It; Sarabeth was another quiet character with her strength hidden under the surface. She was almost always overshadowed by the popular girl, Teena, and yet she didn't really care. And that's just what's so cool about her, how she didn't care about her place.

3. Cinder.
I freaking love this girl!!! Scarlet and Cress didn't have that light like Cinder did, or maybe I'm just biased, or maybe it's just because I've spent time with Cinder the most :p Also, she is always the most good-looking in any Lunar Chronicles fanart. Coincidence?

4. Theresa Gray (Tessa).
Okay, so I read The Infernal Devices last year, not 2015, but I'm gonna bring her up because she was my first ever fictional lover. Not Will, not Jem, but Tessa. Maybe I have a thing for the strong-silent type of girls. Who likes to read books.

And bonus........ An actual fictional boyfriend. The only male character I have gotten smitten with.

5. Isaac Masterson, from Drop.
The one and only perfect fictional guy ever. Alright, so yes he is the quiet type as well, with just a few close friends. Always the one being overshadowed by another person; in this case, his very obnoxious and popular brother. What he did for Carla's birthday was really unexpected and sweet, and I actually melted a little reading about it. He is so underrated and perfect *_*

Til tomorrow!

5/12: Books with beautiful covers

5th December: Books With Beautiful Covers

Aren't they beautiful *_* Yes, there are only 2 because they are really the only beautiful (on the outside) books I read this year. Or maybe my cover standards are just too high, heh.

Drop, by Katie Everson.
The Strange & Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender, by Leslye Walton.

If you read one of my previous posts, you would know the story of my meeting with Drop.

I will never forget it; walking randomly into Kinokuniya Jem, casually looking at the Young Adults section, when I see this cover looking down at me.

While all the other books only had their spines out, this book showed off its cover. It must have been fate. What's more, butterflies on the cover is always an auto-buy for me. THIS BOOK WAS 100% A COVER BUY, I AM SO SORRY. No regrets.

And then we have The Strange & Beautiful Sorrows of Ava Lavender. An absolutely photogenic book who shares that same beauty on its inside too.

No other book can pull off the feather look anymore. Magonia couldn't. And I just Googled books with feathers on the covers and Ava Lavender still stands out, is the one and only, the original, the most beautiful of all *.*

4/12: Biggest surprise

4th December: Biggest Surprise

I literally just finished this last night, and I have 4 words: OH. MY F*CKING. GOD.

Dangerous Girls, by Abigail Haas.

I randomly got this book from Times about 3 months back, without even reading its summary. Sometimes leaping into a book is the best way to go through it :p Okay, maybe not sometimes but always. It always works for me.

We start off with a 911 call, girls screaming over the phone.
(This made me search for disturbing 911 calls on Youtube and I regret it so much)

Our protagonist, Anna; her best friend, Elise; and a few other close friends were on vacation on an island Aruba, when it all goes horribly wrong with the discovery of Elise's brutally murdered body.

That's all I wanna say, because really! It's best to read it without knowing a single thing! Trust me. I flew through it, reading 80 pages in an hour the night I picked it up.

BUT. At the end of it, I was genuinely freaked out, and I kept feeling someone was gonna come for me. It was that creepy for me ;_;

I can't say much without ruining the experience for you if you are planning to read it.
If you are not planning to, please do so, you will have no regrets. It's mysterious, gripping, and will leave you hangover.

I am hangover now, because I've been desperately reading spoilery reviews and discussion blog posts because I need to know more!

That is all for now.

3/12: New favourite authors

3rd December: New favourite authors

Alright, so honestly I don't play favourites with authors, because most of the time I grab a book based towards its genre. The only time I pay attention to author's name is when there's controversy around them, or they're unlikeable as a person, or they just don't like cats.

So for this post, my definition of new favourite authors shall be: the ones whose books I only started reading this year, but have now become my auto-buy authors!

First off, we have the one from my favourite genre, Contemporary: Gayle Forman.
I've read 3 of her books this year, and bought the remaining ones after that, so I now have her full collection.

Back when the movie came out, I refused to read the book because it was another one of those cliche books that girls who "read" would buy. But I went to watch it at the cinema, and really liked it, and couldn't help going straight from Bishan's Golden Village to Orchard's Kinokuniya to buy the boxset :p

And then I Was Here came out, which I also got the exact day it was released. This rarely happens. I never anticipate a book's release, and even remembering its release date is a big deal for me.

That day, I remember so clearly being upset at my other half, and I'd gone to the Kino outlet at Jem for some retail therapy and that was where I purchased it.

Secondly, an author whose books is in a genre that I was surprised to know I liked last year, Science Fiction, only this time it's mixed with fairytales: Marissa Meyer, mastermind behind The Lunar Chronicles.

I first got to know the series early last year when I was just new to Booktube, but never got around to it. I remember my best friend from secondary school asking me over to her house to choose from the books she was gonna give away. She had Cinder and Scarlet, both of which were her own collection and not part of the donate pile (":

I only got to buying the books this year; I'd gotten the first 2 in February and then Cress and Fairest some months after. I always procrastinated reading them, until August when I picked Cinder up. I was so surprised at myself for flying through it!

Now I got to know that Marissa Meyer is writing an Alice in Wonderland retelling, which I am really looking forward to reading. In the meantime, I am still waiting for any of the local bookstores to have Winter, the final book, in the edition that matches with my current series haisss.

And there you have it!
What a nice feeling, to be typing away like this. I hope you missed it, because I do.

No pictures tonight, because I stayed back an extra hour at work after closing, and I'm exhausted. Good thing it's my off day tomorrow. Night!

2/12: Shortest book read

My mistake, but this isn't the December Book Challenge. I mean, in a way it is, but its hashtag is #AllTheBooksOf2015, so that shall be my labels for all these December posts too :) I am gonna do my best to write in a post everyday this month!

2nd December: Shortest Book Read

When You Reach Me, coming in at 195 pages!

This is a middle grade by Rebecca Stead, centering around a 6th grade girl who knows her New York City neighbourhood like the back of her hand, the places to go and the people to avoid.

I found this book at Popular's July Expo sale, the award on the cover being what attracted me to it. Also, middle grade. No random romance or sex scenes. Hah.

Despite being short, even with short chapters and big text, the story was well delivered. The writing did a good job of transporting me into this world, and I flew through it so easily.

This book was a little mind-blowing, taking me for a ride and at the same time it felt like a stroll too, around this little neighbourhood with all these memorable characters. Read it without knowing much about it, that is the best ;)

Took me a while to think of which book I read was the shortest, but there you have it! Until tomorrow.

1/12: First read of the year

It is the first of December! The church bell that rings every first day of the month went off about an hour ago. It's been a while since I heard it, because I've been working so much.

I decided to jump back into this writing thing again. I saw Malaysia on my blog stats, and my other half admitted it was him, and when he said "I just missed your writing" I thought it was a really sad thing to hear.

However I am not going back to my personal blog. Maybe not yet, maybe not ever, but who knows? Meanwhile, I am going to try writing as much as I did back then, and I shall start by doing the December Book Challenge here :)

1st December: First Read Of The Year

Maybe Someday! 
This was my first Colleen Hoover book. I bought it on my 19th birthday back in September last year and only got to read it on New Year's Day :p

Booktube has been raving about CoHo and her books since forever, and that was precisely why I picked it up. That, and because I'd wanted to try New Adult: books that have characters aged 18 to mid 20's, that cater to an audience of this age range too.

It was a new thing for me, as I usually read Young Adult, books set in high school, books with characters 17 or below. I am 20, and sometimes I thought the protagonists were too immature for me, despite just 3 years difference.

I really liked Maybe Someday, even though it is a book about music and I am not musically talented in any way. The romance wasn't sudden or random, if you know me and how much I hate books that have such.

There's also a soundtrack that goes with this book; the lyrics in it are lyrics of actual songs, which you could listen to while reading. If that doesn't make this book so unique and memorable I'm not sure what does :p

Also, tears.
This book gave me tears.

After reading this I bought all 3 books in her Slammed series, alas I did not like the first one as much as Maybe Someday. Maybe because Slammed came before Maybe Someday so her writing wasn't as good as the latter yet??? Who knows.

I followed Colleen Hoover on Instagram, and one day she was telling us 20 facts about herself or something, and she declared how much she hates cats. This is pathetic but I decided to just not read her books anymore after that eek.

There's been Ugly Love, Confess, November 9, and maybe a part of me wants to read them but sometimes the author as a person really affects my reading. Yes, this is really pathetic. But I'm not sure, maybe I'll try again with her newer books someday, but I won't exactly read them all :)

And there you have it! The very first book I read in 2015.

All this typing felt really good. I am looking forward to the next 30 days of this book challenge already :)