this was beautiful

Tokyo Ever After – Emiko Jean

Japanese Americans, belonging, families, duty, japan, california, princesses, princes, royalty, young adult, fiction,

Izumi always felt like she didn’t fully belong anywhere but she is happily content with her life for the time being. She always had her mother and she is grateful for that. One day upon looking through a book she finds a love poem from her mother’s ex who turns out to be her biological parent. Her mother explains that they had a fling and he left America to go back to Japan. After some digging, Izumi finds out that her father is the Crown Prince of Japan. Within hours she is contacted by one of her father’s staff and is flown out to Japan to meet him. He offers for her to stay and get to know her father’s history and the history of Japan. As she is studying and interacting with the locals and her newly found family members, she realizes that she is far too American and is afraid of being disliked or rejected. Izumi makes it her mission to learn the history and get the best out of the two worlds she was born into. 

My heart felt so many feelings when I was reading this novel. I can’t imagine the culture shock and the flood of information that the protagonist got when she found out that her father’s side is royalty to the oldest known monarchy in Japan. This novel points out that Americanization of a culture is destructive to cultures and their traditions. That is what happened with Izumi’s parents; they couldn’t be together since her mother was not only a commoner but American as well, which is a bad mixture. When Izumi learned the history and constitution of Japan as well as how royalty worked, she used her knowledge to impress and give respect to her grandparents. 

Overall, I deeply loved the writing of this novel and felt that this was really good. I think the author did a splendid job with descriptive and sensory descriptions.  The dialogue felt natural and nothing felt forced. There were references of modern events and going-on of the world that felt even more subversive to the narrative. I simply didn’t want to put down this novel because of how well the plot carried from one point to another. I highly suggest you go borrow or get this book to read because it is so magnificently written. I just love this novel and was so happy to have gotten to read it.

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Hate you/Love you

After – Anna Todd

Love stories, college, fiction.

Rating 8/10

Tessa is leaving home to go to college. She is accompanied by her mother and her boyfriend, Noah to the campus housing. After getting the room assignment, Tessa meets her roommate whom her mother and boyfriend already don’t like. After they leave, Tessa introduces herself to Steph and Steph tells her to come to the party. Tessa runs into the infamous Hardin who is bipolar and intriguing that draws Tessa in. After some interactions, she ends up hooking up with this moody guy. Tessa becomes someone who she doesn’t recognize but is grateful for the change. Life becomes less boring for Tessa with Hardin in her life. An unknown bet comes between the two and a storm happens.

I didn’t know that this was previously a One Direction fanfiction and was surprised that this was decent. I had blindly picked this novel off the shelf and didn’t know until a fellow classmate commented about the book. I must be more careful about blindly choosing books off the shelves. I only do that because its less judgmental and more surprise to see if I enjoy a book more if its random choosing or deliberating choosing one. Names were changed but overall the story was good. Enough heat but not enough to turn me away from this book. I loved it. I ignored the fact that it was fan fiction. At least this was decent than 50 Shades and Twilight put together. I would recommend this novel because of the little steamy romance there was along with the plot too.

Recovering..

After You – Jojo Moyes

Fiction.

Rating 9/10

Louisa Clark is recovering from the devastating event that impacted her life greatly. Will had opted for assisted suicide due to his incapability to live without pain. Louisa felt like a failure and went into a living of grand adventure then relaxing for a while. She has an accident that made her return home. She discovers how Will had felt when others had to take care of him, and he couldn’t take care of himself. As she heals, she begins to have hope for recovery.

I enjoyed reading this novel and just like the first one, I was emotional through the whole book. There was an excellent amount of complexity and the author maintained that very well. I love the first one a bit more than this one. Overall, I do recommend reading both novels in order. I was happy I have expanded my range of authors I’ve read.

Teens Saving Disney

Kingdom Keepers 1: Disney After Dark – Ridley Pearson

Disney, Disney World, children, fiction.

Rating 10/10

There is a darkness that threatens both the Disney World park and the world. An old park attendant, Wayne, warns Finn of this news and warns him to gather the other teenagers in this fight. At first, Finn thought that the encounter was false and only a dream, but the truth revealed and Finn wants to act immediately. Finn gathers four other teenagers must use certain technology to go up against Disney Villains as well as witches. This is all good versus evil to save the park and the world. Finn and the other teenagers must save the world.

I had grabbed this children’s novel while at California Adventure because the idea of being trapped at a theme park battling Disney Villains had deeply intrigued me. I did not care that this novel was short or meant for a younger (children) audience. I enjoyed reading this so much that I couldn’t put the book down. Later I found out this was a continuing series and I intend on reading the rest soon. I recommend this novel for sure for anyone young at heart and are a Disney fanatic.

An Incredible Survival Tale

A Sucky Love Story: Overcoming Unhappily Ever After – Brittani Louise Taylor

Survival, dating apps, human trafficking victim and survivor, memoir, nonfiction.

Rating 10/10

YouTube personality, Brittani Louise Taylor, shares how her innocent Tinder date that led to her and her baby son, Rex, to be involved in some sort of human trafficking scheme in a romance gone wrong. Taylor met Milos on Tinder and they both were mutually interested in each other. As time progressed, they became closer and she allowed him to move in with her. Even though she did not want anything to do with him, but nonetheless he persisted and pursued her. Her and Milos had ups and downs like any other relationship. Things immediately took a dark turn when Taylor found out she was pregnant with Milos’s child. The mother of Milos was being utterly creepy and terrifying, Taylor had to put her foot down and told Milos he and his mother had to leave the house. When Milos came back, he said he had some form of cancer, pulling the ultimate scam to make Taylor feel utterly sorry for him until she saw a flaw in his very lame lie. She had to break up with him and take Rex with her. The police had to get involved after an incident and Milos landed in jail. She found out the hard way that she and her son were about to be human trafficking victims but survived without going through the horrors.

I am a fan of the YouTuber Brittani Louise Taylor and had always loved her unique style and form of entertainment she produced on that platform. I had always wondered about how mysterious her videos became to be and this was the answer in the form of a memoir. I had seen also Shane Dawson’s conspiracy video he included her in, and I had cried. I feel so bad that such an amazing human being went through this. I am glad that she, her mom, and Rex are safe and sound. No one should ever go through that. Be careful whenever one is looking for a date on these dating apps. It can go south easily.

Cult Survivor Tale

After the Fire – Will Hill

Cults, survival, psychology, thrilling, suspense, young adult fiction.

Rating 10/10

Moonbeam, a survivor from a cult of the name, Lord’s Legion recounts her daily life leading up to the Fire incident with a psychiatrist. As time progresses, Moonbeam learns to trust those around her who are helping her recover from the incident. She also learns of the orphaned survivors and how they first got help like she did as well as given to loving homes. Moonbeam tells the psychiatrist that she caused all the chaos. No punishments given. Freedom and happiness were given to Moonbeam.

I really love the whole strength of Moonbeams character and how she got guts to do what she did. This young adult novel surprised me in the end. It was very well written and thought into as far as I can tell. I would recommend this novel for sure. It is very detailed and descriptive. There are two alternating segments of this book that is very organized that defines Moonbeam sharing her experiences to the psychiatrist and what she does after the sessions as well as her interactions with other characters. I cried at the end and usually I don’t cry with books but with this one I did. It was sentimental.

Not Everything Ends in a Happily Ever After That Easily!

The School for Good and Evil: The Last Ever After – Soman Chainani

Children fiction, young adult fiction, adventure, fairy tales

Rating: 7/10

The third book in the series brings more drama and fairytales to the table. Agatha and Sophie, once friends, now enemies are at war with each other. After separate ways, Agatha learns more about Tedros, her love interest and whom she is supposed to be with in her happy ending. Sophie stayed behind with the school master to reign over the school her way. Evil wants in on happy endings by rewriting history. It takes everything and everyone to rectify in this new adventure.

I just can’t explain all the emotions this novel had brought. It brought laughter and pain. I wished that things can get back to normal for Agatha but sadly it doesn’t work that way. It is a really good novel its just this third installment I wasn’t really a fan of. It is slow but worked the drama up.