Truly Madly Guilty, Liane Moriarty

Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty

I wasn´t really sure about this novel because there were plenty of good reviews and it was recommended to me by all kinds of different apps, such as iBooks, Amazon and even Barnes and Nobles. Yet when I finally started reading it, a lot of negative reviews started popping on the internet, which left me very confused, but it did make me curious to find out why everyone was having such mixed feelings. 
When I started reading the novel I quickly realized that I wasn´t very interested in the plot as I thought I would be, yet I did push myself to continue reading because I believed that I would eventually end up liking the characters, but in reality I didn´t and I started thinking that there were too many scenes that were forced. 
The novel narrates the days following a barbeque evening, where Clementine and Sam were invited by Oliver and Erika to their neighbor's, Vid and Tiffany, barbeque. Yet, something happens during the dinner and none of the people leave the place being the person they were before. 
In the beginning, I felt like the story was going to be more inclined towards the different couples that meet for dinner, yet the truth is that this story is much deeper than that. For instance, Clementine and Erika have been best friends since they were younger, but that only happened because Erika comes from a family that isn´t willing to take care of her, therefore, Clementine is forced to shelter her as a friend, even though most people would think that they are truly best friends, although neither of them actually like each other and they are simply bound together like most family relationships, where there is an unbreakable connection that makes them see each other every now and then as if they truly enjoyed each other´s company.
On the other hand, something that I truly enjoyed about the novel was seeing the relationships in the novel and the different characters that were introduced.
My favorite couple was Sam and Clementine because they shared a different connection than the other relationships, where they both came from completely different worlds, yet they understood each other so perfectly. What I liked the most about them was that they were the most realistic representation of a marriage in the novel, they exhibited the falling in and out of love and the way marriage works for most people. Also, this is going to sound really really weird, but I loved Sam´s character and the small things that he did. 
I found Oliver and Erika´s relationship much more mature, which made me realize that mature relationship where similar people are together are much less interesting than others. Oliver was depicted as the perfect husband, but I felt like he didn´t deserve Erika, who I disliked very much because I found her to be too selfish and she never thought about other people´s feelings as much as she did with hers. 
Lastly, Vid and Tiffany were never really the center of attention in the novel, although the roots of the story were literally planted in their yard because they were never really mentioned or when they were, their relationship was never exhibited as the others. 
One of my favorite things about the novel, aside from the characters, where the different themes that the author experienced throughout the novel. I loved that she was able to include so many different aspects of life such as marriage, work, children, death, accidents and of course, that certain feeling of anger that we all experience in our lives towards ourselves for not preventing certain things or for taking the decisions that we took, and those "what ifs...?" that follow us every day. 
In conclusion, there were many many things that I actually liked about this novel like the characters, the relationships, the different themes and the vague plot, and I would´ve loved to give it 5 stars, but truthfully, there were many characters that I disliked and also the way some of them were not even included as much as the other characters. Yet, I will say that I found Truly Madly Guilty to be insightful and inspiring to be read by someone that is still growing up because it made me realize that human emotions and relationships are much more complex that one expects. 

4 out of 5 stars 

Love, Sua

The Royal We, Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan

I have been in love with this book for so many years that it simply feels natural for me to talk about it. My love for this novel is so deep that I can still remember the time that I first saw it at the Grove's Barnes and Nobles in California. Honestly, this book is much more than you think, when I was first reading it, I thought that this would be a simple romance novel, yet as I continued I discovered that this novel talked about so much more, which I will be talking about later on in this review. Also, I have been so obsessed with this novel that I have tried so hard to find similar novels, which have led me to novels like Romancing the Throne by Nadine Jolie Courtney and The Heir and the Spare by Emily Albright, which have only made me realize that this novel is such a precious gem.
The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan tells the story of Rebecca Porter or simply "Bex," who is just starting the school year at Oxford, yes, England, after she decided to take a year abroad from Cornell, where her twin sister, Lacy is still at. On her first day, she meets a rather handsome young man that goes by the name of Nicholas, simply known as Nick or AKA Steve as his friends call him when they are in public. Both bond over a conversation about monarchs with syphilis before Bex realizes that Nick is the future heir of the country. In the place where she is staying, she meets the people that will end up becoming her best friends. There's Cilla, Gaz, Joss, and Clive, who also happen to be Nick's best friends. On the other hand, it is almost inevitable for Bex and Nick to fall in love with each other, I mean, they binge-watch a series together almost every night, yet their love is simply not meant to be because Nick's already dating India and of course, Bex has been snogging Clive, literally Nick's best friend. The group goes through so many adventures and creates so many memories that as the story goes, you will feel like you are part of the group as well. 
I want to start by talking about the characters because I simply loved them so much! I love how Bex is someone that really doesn't care about gossip or royalty because it creates funnier scenes, like the syphilis scene. Although I did hate whenever she was being impulsive. I loved Nick because he portrayed vulnerability in certain scenes, while he was also seen as a prize by girls and simply as a friend by the other main characters. I really liked how the authors really emphasized on Nick's background and lifestyle, even though he was seen as a normal person by the group of friends because they gave us so much more of the character, which made me love him even more! As much as I love Bex and Nick, my favorite characters were Cilla and Gaz because they were SO funny that I cried due to the laughter. I loved Cilla's stories and Gaz' comments. 
On the other hand, I absolutely loved how this is basically royalty. I loved how they truly portray the lifestyles and the people, like Nick's family, including his father and his brother, Freddie, who I also love very much! I adored how the authors touched a lot on the things that you would expect in a royal family, like the pressure and the useless things that people can do for show or drama. 
I truly think that this book has made me become obsessed with the royals as much as they are! (FYI: the authors run a site called Go Fug Yourself, which I am obsessed with now as well). In the beginning, I truly didn't care at all about royals, yet now I am simply fascinated by their lifestyle. 
Also, I believe that Nick, Bex, and Freddie being inspired by William, Kate, and Harry is just a plus!
Something that I was not expecting from this novel was the many topics that it covers. I loved how they really emphasize on family, enemies, dreams, friends, love, jealousy, expectations and the unexpected. Although the novel is really long, you will feel like the novel is so short because of the so many different stories that are included. 
From the first page all the way to the last one, I was hooked, so much that I became obsessed with the audiobook and I still listen to it all the time, although I will admit that I only replay the scenes that I like, like the karaoke scene and the one that they talk about seeing Cats! If you're going to read the novel, be on the lookout for those!
Lastly, I want to congratulate the authors because they did an exceptional job with this novel. They were able to take such a complex world and narrate it in an incredible and not only heart-warming, but inspiring because this novel really made me want to try the unexpected and new things, just like Bex did when she moved to the other side of the world, to be something that her sister wasn't and to find herself in the world. Also, this novel has really made me wish that college is as fun as they describe it here, although I believe that it depends on the friendships that accompany me. 
I truly recommend The Royal We by Heather Cocks and Jessica Morgan because it is witty, smart, fun and includes charming characters that will enter your heart from the very first time that they appear on paper! 

5 out of 5 stars 

Love, Sua 

Second Chance Summer, Morgan Matson

Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson

I believe that Morgan Matson is one of my favorite authors, in fact, I was so excited for her new book Save the Date, which came out this year and hopefully I will get to post its review ASAP. This is the last book that I needed to read to complete my collection of her books before Save the Date. I have reviewed all of her other titles and I absolutely love them and fangirl every time that one of her other characters are mentioned in one of the novels, like in this one, although I will address that later. 
What I absolutely love about Morgan Matson is that she is always able to balance family relationships, friendship, romance and personal reflection for the main character perfectly, which creates the most enjoyable novels and stories with unforgettable characters and this time, it wasn´t different. 
Second Chance Summer narrated the story of Taylor, a teenager from Connecticut, who lives with her mother, father and her two siblings, Warren and Gelsey. It has been years since she has visited Lake Phoenix, in fact, the family hasn´t gone for such a long time that they have rented their home until now. 
Taylor´s family decides it is important to spend time with each other after they realize that her father is ill and he asks for another summer at Lake Phoenix, where they were once the happiest. But when the family arrives at their home, Taylor starts to get memories of the life she left behind her. For instance, she remembers how she fell in love with Henry and how close she was with Lucy, her best friend, but she also remembers how bad everything ended and how coward she was. 
Once the Edwards family gets settled in their home at Lake Phoenix, Taylor suddenly realizes that too many things have changed. For once, Henry is now her next door neighbor and they will have to meet even when they don´t want to. On the other hand, when Taylor finally gets a job at the beach snack bar, she realizes that Lucy, her former best friend, works there too, which puts them in an awkward situation since they will have to eventually talk to each other. 
Now, Taylor has to make the most of her summer with her father while accepting her mistakes and moving on from them and cherishing her memories with friends and family. 
I want to start this review by mentioning that I have always spoken about how much I love Matson, in fact, I even mentioned it at the beginning of this review, but I would like to say that this is probably my least favorite novel from her, not because I didn´t like the characters or the way the story was balanced, in fact, I absolutely loved those points about this story, but what I didn´t really like was how after finishing the novel, I was craving more for character and story development, including Henry´s character and story. I liked how some stories had an ending and how the story actually showed development, especially in the relationships. I absolutely loved how each relationship in the story evolved as the pages passed by, I specifically loved Taylor and Lucy, Taylor and her father and Warren and Wendy. But after ending the story, I didn´t feel satisfied with the story as I was with her past novels. I believe that maybe I had too many expectations for the author since I have read more of her newer novels and just like every other author, she probably evolved and learned how to communicate her stories better. 
Now, going back to the relationships in the story, I absolutely adored how natural they were. I liked how Matson was able to craft a story where the characters weren´t forced to be in a certain place to meet, the characters were actually crafted to interact with each other and move from there. For example, Lucy and Taylor work together, which makes them notice each other and realize that there are many things that could change between them. The relationships were my favorite thing in this novel. 
On the other hand, I liked the characters. I enjoyed Henry, although not as much as I enjoyed other Matson´s male characters, like Roger, Clark, and Frank. I just wanted more from him. Besides, he smells like bread and frosting, I want a boyfriend that smells like a cupcake too! As mentioned before , what the story was lacking in my point of view was progression for each story, it just seemed like we only saw how the characters were guided to the beginning of very large paths, like their relationships, and I didn´t really like that. 
But I did enjoy reading about the Edwards family because they just seemed very normal and each of the members were different and brought something new to the story. Also, it was interesting to read the story from a character that didn´t consider herself special at all within her family because it definitely brought a new point of view. 
In addition, I just want to mention the dog because it was so cute and refreshing to read about. 
Something that I really liked was the way that the summer was portrayed because everyone created their summer lives in a small bubble where they knew that there was nothing outside of that since they were all holding onto something that was so precious that was going to be taken from them, but never returned, which was their father. I think that story itself was very emotional because the presence of her father always brought a certain bittersweetness to the stories, but it actually led to the beginning of so many things. Yet, at the same time, I didn´t like how these gave the freedom to the characters to do whatever they wanted because it created so many stories that at some point, the reader had so many things to focus on when there were really important things happening in another side of the novel. In addition, I felt like at the end of the novel, I didn´t really know Taylor because there was nothing that was said about her other side of life in Connecticut, which I think would have helped us understand our narrator better. 
However, I really liked the writing because Matson gave us the perfect combination of past and present in their Lake Phoenix bubble, which helped us understand what really happened and how the characters developed in order to get to that point. 
Lastly, I really liked the character development from Taylor because she grew up in the short time that we got to know her, she realized what she was lacking and she changed it. This was something that I really liked about the main character. 
Overall, Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson is a refreshing summer romance novel, where you will be able to immerse yourself in a story surrender by the beach with childhood friends while shedding a couple of tears while understanding that the line that separated a human being from life and death is very, very thin. 

4 out of 5 stars 

Love, Sua

The Light We Lost, Jill Santopolo

The Light We Lost by Jill Santopolo

I recall that when I first saw this book at my bookstore, I fell in love with the cover. Although I love books, I am a terrible bookworm and I admit that I tend to judge books by their covers. The Light We Lost was a story that I knew from the beginning that I had to read because it was going to be emotional and very fun and intriguing at the same time, and I was right.

As soon as I started reading, I was hooked and I was unable to stop reading. The way the memories were narrated and the way the narrator was recalling everything that she was feeling and seeing was empowering and it really dragged the reader for the journey that she was about to tell to the world.

The Light We Lost tells the story Gabe and Lucy, two college students from Columbia University that meet in a class on September 11, 2001. We all know that our world drastically took a turn that day, but for Gabe and Lucy, 9/11 not only signifies a day where the world surrounding them changed, it was the day they fell in love and understood and maybe the love of your life is not meant to be with you.

After our main characters meet for the first time in class, they spend the day together and they even kiss, but everything goes downhill when Gabe receives a phone call from his ex-girlfriend and before Gabe and Lucy can understand and figure out that what they have or what they would have had was special, Gabe and his ex are back together and our two main characters are forced to say goodbye to each other and not meet again until their graduation day, where they simply congratulate each other and Gabe refers to Lucy as a simple “friend.”

Years pass and our characters meet again a year after their encounter at the graduation. Their relationship is fast and surprisingly steady and before they can understand what they are doing, they decide to move in together. That choice may seem very immature and maybe even a little too fast, but Gabe and Lucy are certain that no other feeling could replace what they feel for each other and it seems to be proven true as the novel goes on.

Although their relationship is great, our characters are still young and trying to discover themselves and as a consequence, Gabe decides that he really wants to start taking pictures. Pictures that evoke an emotional reaction, pictures that would make anyone change their perspectives over something, pictures that could change the world. Lucy is extremely happy for Gabe, who even gets his pictures at the New York Times, but his dreams don’t seem to stop there. He wants to change the world, not get his name famous, so he has to take the most important decision in his life. Gabe is asked to go to Middle East and take pictures of the war and he is forced to choose between his dreams or his true love, and as an aspiring photographer, he chooses his dreams and as a consequence, he asks Lucy instead to forget about her dreams and go with him, but Lucy being an aspiring TV producer is unable to let go of her aspirations and is forced to let Gabe go.

The novel continues more about the lives of the main characters, we learn how Gabe is doing through phone calls and we even meet Darren, Lucy’s husband, and as readers, we are able to understand the feelings that Lucy is feeling along the way.

As you can notice, The Light We Lost tells a very emotional story. It was interesting for me to read a book where characters are forced to choose between their dreams and love because that is something that is affecting a lot of people in real life today. Young people, especially women, don’t want to stay home, they want to work and hold very prestigious positions in their industries. I thought that by having characters forget about each other and choose their dreams was very realistic and this novel was able to portray the harsh reality and how people are still able to move forward, unlike some books or movies where characters are simply caught up in their broken love story.

On the other hand, I loved the plot! I loved how to it follows its main characters for a long time and how we are able to notice their developments and how they are feeling from time to time. I also loved how it told the story of a love that someone can’t forget and that holds their memories as if they were something sacred and extremely powerful, which they are.

As you can notice, I really liked the characters because they were very realistic, each of them went through the things that many of us go through in our lives and they were people that were really strong while trying to hold onto the reality where they were now living in and also, the way Lucy doubts and asks herself these series of questions that anyone asks to themselves in life was very empowering. I LOVED Gabe! Gabe is one of the characters that I am never going to get over because I found him to be very precious. He is a character that has a lot of scars and at the same time he was someone that didn’t like being associated with others and could totally understand that. In addition, I found him to be adorable with the way he was never able to forget about his love for Lucy and it was interesting to see how he moves on, but goes back to the same place, like Lucy. Now, I just had to mention that I absolutely hated Darren! And that had nothing to do with my love for Gabe. Darren was just too annoying and he was sexist. All of the small comments he makes and the way he acts as if he was the big person in the relationship was absolutely disgusting for me! I can understand that Gabe left Lucy and that he was selfish, but I believe that every human being in selfish in a way and there was absolutely no reason for Lucy to be spending her life with Darren, who was only holding her down.

With The Light We Lost, I absolutely fell in love with Santopolo’s writing. She has a way of writing this love story like no one else. It was absolutely beautiful and I truly believe that one of the main reasons why this novel was so special was because of the beautiful and empowering writing.

This novel includes a lot of drama and it will take you on a rollercoaster of drama and emotions. And The Light We Lost will make you cry a lot. Honestly, I started crying since the beginning because it was very emotional and I couldn’t take it anymore.

The Light We Lost is a novel that will have you hooked since the beginning and it will make you feel all sort of emotions and it will inspire you to get out there and find someone that is special just like Gabe or Lucy. You will be charmed by the characters and the writing and you will feel the desire for more inspiring and empowering stories of love like this one.

5 out of 5 stars 

Love, Sua

36 Questions That Changed My Mind About You, Vicki Grant

36 Questions That Changes My Mind About You by Vicki Grant

Who could have thought that a psychology experiment could actually make people fall in love with each other?
I am not sure if it is because of the colors of the cover, but everyone just generally seems intrigued by this novel, I now that I was, but I mean, who would have thought that all of my teachers would be really interested in the book? And may I mention that all of them are male teachers? Also, they all thought that it was super interesting, so in a sense, it receives kudos for looking so intriguing and making me look so cool for two days. But they are all correct, 36 Questions That Changed My Mind About You by Vicki Grant is a very interesting novel. I believe that what makes everyone be interested in this book is the cover. It doesn´t have the most complicated design, but the colors it has, in this case, bright green and dark pink, is very pleasing to the eye and it is very easy to lay your eyes on it.
Vicki Grant tells us the story of Hildy and Paul in an unforgettable adventure created by a psychological test.
Hildy is a high school student that signs up for a psychological test because she is greatly interested in the area of study, but when she gets there, she realizes that maybe the test is not for her once the instructor tells her that the test can spark a little romance for both subjects that are testing. But later, she impulsively decides to take place in the study, which is when she meets Paul.
Paul seems to be the exact opposite of Hildy and of course, the beginning of their relationship is rather bad, their conversation and answers are small and they are not enjoying each other´s company, which makes their idea of finding love by answering 36 questions almost impossible to think about.
After Hildy and Paul have a disagreement, Hildy explodes and leaves, yet after a couple of hours, Paul is able to find her Facebook and they are able to talk again, but only because Paul really wants to receive his payment by answering questions, even after Hildy threw a fish at him.
Their conversations suddenly start changing and they start becoming more friendly with each other once their layers start fading away with their laughter.
Interestingly, their conversations seem to always come back, even after all of their disagreements, almost as if it was meant for them to meet and talk to each other.
My favorite thing about this novel is the plot and the way the story progressed.
I thought the plot of this novel was very creative. I mean, a story was created based on a psychological study. It was interesting to see how science inspired a story, which makes me believe that eventually, novels such as this one will take over the YA world.
Similarly, I really enjoyed the story because although other sides of the characters were not really shown to the readers, we saw small glimpses of them, such as Hildy´s family and all the drama that was surrounding her. Also, reading a little bit about Paul´s family made him much more human. And although I would have loved a more complete story for both characters, I was pretty satisfied with what I got since the novel is written creatively and different from traditional novels.
Honestly, I really liked the family drama since it made the story much more fun and interesting than I expected from small dialogues.
However, my favorite part of this novel was the story itself. I really enjoyed interesting characters and the ways the story progressed. The way the characters fell in love was beautiful and everything that they did together was just ADORABLE! Also, the way the story actually pushes the two characters to be together was very interesting and fun to read, and at the same time, it sounded very normal, it didn´t sound like something out of a book or a movie, on the contrary, it seemed more as if Hildy and Paul were actually meant to be together.
In addition, I liked the characters, although I didn´t love them. I mean, Paul is cute and interesting, but there was nothing that caught my attention and made me obsess myself with him. On the other side, Hildy was pretty interesting, but I did find her to be a little too plain and a little too predictable and common. But a character that I really liked was Max, Hildy´s friend because he is super funny and made everything in the story better, although again, there is nothing much about him either.
On the other hand, I really enjoyed the writing and the drawings. I found it very interesting that the novel was mainly written by dialogues because I am one of those readers that just understand what is happening through dialogues and being able to do that with this book felt different and refreshing. It was interesting to see how readers get to know the characters and the story by reading their dialogues. This story made me want to read more stories with more dialogues and I hope that this novel helps to have more novels published through dialogues.
In addition, I really liked the drawings because they made the story very special and they made me laugh A LOT, but I did want more of them. I enjoyed that we were able to see Paul´s drawings because I think that they made the novel way more special. Although I would have wanted more of them throughout the story, I think that made me treasure them more.
Overall, 36 Questions That Changed My Mind About You by Vicki Grant is a short, creative, refreshing and fun novel with good dialogues and funny drawings, along with characters that are just charming! You will want to finish Paul and Hildy´s story in a sitting, and the best thing is that you actually can since it isn´t a long novel! 36 Questions That Changed My Mind About You will open new doors for new novels. 

4 out of 5 stars 

Love, Sua

Crazy Rich Asians, Kevin Kwan

Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

I carried this 500-pages book for a week, which is the time that it took me to finish it, and people laughed a lot because of the title, I think that it was funnier since I am Asian, so this book is definitely an eye-catcher and the story it tells is eye-opening because it gives you an insight of a private world that you know for sure that you will never be part of.
I came across this book by accident like I did with Dating You/Hating You by Christina Lauren, and I think that it helped me enjoy the story even more since I didn´t really have high expectations for the story.
Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan tells the story of Rachel Chu and Nicholas Young, the couple lives in New York and they are both professors at NYU. Nick invites Rachel to go to Singapore to attend his best friend´s wedding, and after thinking about it for a while, Rachel accepts and they are soon off to Singapore. As soon as they get there, Rachel realizes that Nick´s world isn´t like the one she knew of, his life is full of expensive things and exclusive treatment, and his family and friends are made out money. His grandmother lives in a house that is more of a palace rather than a humble home, as he mentions it; they have spectacular celebrations that look more like high-society gatherings; they have servants that want to prepare them showers and at least wash their hair; among other amenities that Rachel never thought about. While Rachel is discovering a side of the world that she never knew of Nick, she also finds out that Nick is the most wanted bachelor in the whole country, especially in the high-class society, and girls(including Nick´s family) are willing to do anything to get rid of Rachel because they believe that Nick deserves to get married to a girl from a wealthy family.
Like I said before, I didn´t think that I would like this story as much as I did, I mean, I am Asian and I grew up knowing that there are very wealthy families in those countries, so it is a world that I knew of, but didn´t really think about until I came across with this novel that opened the door for me to visit one of the most extravagant and luxurious societies in the world and I found the journey very fun and I just loved it, which has made me buy the two books that follow this novel.
I loved everything about this story, I loved the characters, the plot, the relationships and the writing.
There are many characters and it can get confusing from time to time, but the many characters create a very complete story and fill the scene entirely making it a very realistic story.
I really liked Rachel because she has a very normal and natural reaction to the environment and she is a very approachable character, she is like the ordinary woman and many could identify with her. Also, what made me really like Rachel is that she wasn´t annoying and she really tried to accept the life that she faced, she tried to make the best out of everything because she truly loves Nick.
On the other hand, Nick is the ideal man that every girl wants. He is smart, good-looking, funny and caring. when I started reading this novel, I wasn´t really looking forward to Nick because I thought that the story would make me focus more on the main characters, but honestly, there were so many sides to the story that it was hard to concentrate on them and it made me like Nick much more because the little bits that we got were the most special.
I liked Peik Lin because she is like the fairy godmother of this story, she buys Rachel a new closet and helps her throughout the journey, she is the best friend that everyone deserves to have. 
As much as I liked Peik Lin, I found a certain charm in Colin, Nick´s best friend, because they shared a lifetime together, they have a different friendship that stood out and I loved reading about their friendship. Also, who wouldn´t love Colin?
My favorite part of each character was that they all react and treat wealth differently and the way they treat it shows their personality a lot.
Although the story wouldn´t be the same without the characters, I just loved the plot because it has the ideal amount of romance, drama, gossip, and laughter. So, the plot really is something else because it is just AMAZING and you won´t be able to put the book down. 
Now, the relationships that each couple has was very fun to read about because they all have different relationships with each other, and therefore, bring different topics to the story that make it stand out from other books. 
There were three couples that I really liked: Nick and Rachel, Astrid and Michael, and Alistair and Kitty. 
I liked Nick and Rachel´s relationship because it is the ideal cute relationship that everyone dreams of, it is sweet and heart-warming. While Astrid and Michael´s relationship is the relationship that needs work, their story is like the typical contemporary novel that I read a lot about, their relationship gave the sense of stories like After I Do by Taylor Jenkins Reid and The Hopefuls by Jennifer Close. On the other hand, I only liked Alistair and Kitty´s relationship because it was super fun to read about them, Kitty wears a freaking see-through dress to meet the whole family! I think that I just laughed too much in that scene. 
I think that the one thing that I loved about the most of Kwan´s writing was the way he mixes Cantonese with English to write the character´s expressions, which makes them super special and unique, making you enter completely into the story and feel comfortable with the characters. Also, the small comments he added for the definitions of words were funny and seemed like he was introducing us the story directly, which created a closer author-reader relationship.
I think that the only thing that I didn´t like about this book was that the pages were too thin in my paperback edition, but that is totally okay because the story it delivered was amazing!
Overall, Crazy Rich Asians is a funny and dramatic reading that will guide you through a luxurious world that you would´ve never thought of, you will experience characters that seem to have come out from movies, and you won´t be able to put it down because you will not want to leave this world that seems to be very far from our reality. 
Also, I cannot wait for the movie! I am really excited!

5 out of 5 stars 

Love, Sua 

Top Ten, Katie Cotugno

Top Ten by Katie Cotugno

This book will be released October 3,
2017 in the US

I have read Katie Cotugno before, I read 99 Days, which makes Top Ten the second novel that I read from this author. I enjoyed 99 Days a lot, I remember that at first, I thought that I wouldn't like the story, but as I continued reading it, I started enjoying it, and I would like to mention that in Top Ten I think that it happened in exactly the opposite way, I liked it a lot at the beginning, but as the story continued, I started getting annoyed by the main character and started to lose interest as the story progressed. 
Top Ten tells the story of Gabby, a teenager that has always preferred not getting involved with other people at high school, and Ryan, probably the most popular guy in high school being the hockey star. They become friends in an awkward attempt to escape realities and before they can realize it, they share a friendship that has changed their lives and they have become the other´s most important person. 
But that is until they start realizing that they may be liking each other as more than friends, but that idea seems to far away from their reality since they are both in different relationships that already feel like so much work. 
Will Gabby and Ryan be able to let go of their friendship and start a new relationship?
As usual, I´ll start by talking about the characters. 
I really liked Ryan because he gave us a new type of popular jock. I actually found Ryan cute and adorable! Which is unusual for me and for anyone that has read several YA novels that involve jocks, they are supposed to be ONLY hot. But Ryan is the exception, he is HOT and ADORABLE, which creates the type of boyfriend every girl wishes for. I liked that he was the first one that realized that he was completely in love with his best friend, which seems to be first because we are not really used to knowing how the male lead character feels like. In my opinion, Ryan was very similar to Peter Kavinsky from To All the Boys I´ve Loved Before by Jenny Han,  who I absolutely adore, again because he is cute and hot, being a high school jock and all. Also, the whole vibe of not having a perfect family and a perfect life like the main character is very similar. 
Gabby was a character that I didn´t like at all! In fact, I started to find her annoying because she was always ready to criticize others and judge them but got very angry when other told her the truth that she wasn´t willing to accept. I saw too little character development throughout the four years of her high school career, she always had something that she didn´t like and found wrong in her life. So, for me, Gabby didn´t really do it for me.
On the other hand, I liked the idea of having Chelsey and Shay as supporting characters because I believe that for example, Shay was the character that pushed Gabby for some character development and seeing the type of people that both main characters were surrounding themselves with showing us how the characters were changing as we read along, I would say they were the piece that completed the story perfectly.
But although I didn´t like the main character, I did enjoy other things about the story. For instance, I liked the structure of the novel a lot. I liked both sides, although they weren´t in the first point of view, they did give us a piece of their minds, which made it easier to understand them and their actions. Also, the structures of the chapters were very nicely-planned because they are told in different time periods of their relationships and they are a list, which is something that only Ryan and Gabby understand, it´s their THING.
I enjoyed the way popularity was portrayed in this novel because it was realistic, just like the whole high school environment. I really enjoyed that Gabby wasn´t immediately popular because she was friends with Ryan, in fact, everything stayed the same way, which showed how personal their friendship was for both of the characters. 
In addition, I really liked Cotugno´s writing because it is very sweet and touching in an emotional way, I believe her words were very carefully chosen and that she was able to describe feelings in a very beautiful way. 
I believed that Top Ten is the perfect mixture of To All the Boys I´ve Loved Before, with a little bit of Love, Rosie and a fun activity in a Morgan Matson style. 
Overall, Top Ten is a fairly enjoyable reading about high school and the popularity.
I apologize for the short review. Also, I would like to thank the publisher for providing an ARC through Edelweiss in exchange for a review. 

3 1/2 stars out of 5 stars 

Love, Sua

The Chilbury Ladies´ Choir, Jennifer Ryan

The Chilbury Ladies´ Choir by Jennifer Ryan

Jennifer Ryan opens a portal to the past and guides you through the heartbreaking moments and shows you how people thrive to survive what we have created and decided to call "war."
This has been the first time that I have read a historical fiction novel because I have never really had the opportunity, I mean, I am barely 16-years old and I absolutely love young adult novels and contemporary novels that are romantic, but on the other hand, I absolutely love history! I have always believed that history is so interesting and powerful because we tend to learn from our mistake as a society and history probably provides all of these factors and it always shows us different lifestyles and I believe that a lot of people that enjoy literature, probably enjoys history because we can learn about it as a story. So, once I joined Blogging for Books and I read about the Chilbury Ladies´ Choir, I thought that I should give it a try, and honestly, I am so glad that I made that choice because I fell in love with every element in the story and I ended up adoring Ryan´s writing. 
The Chilbury Ladies´ Choir tells the story of a group of powerful women that live in the town of Chilbury in England during World War II. We get to meet every person that lives in the small town through different perspectives. We have the perspective of Mrs. Tilling, whose son will be leaving for war; Ms. Edwina Paltry, who writes to her sister describing her all the illicit jobs she has to get done for money; Kitty, a 13-years old girl that is trying to become her town´s hero during war while being desperately in love with Henry, who likes her older sister;  and Venetia, who writes to her best friend about her encounters with Mr. Slater, a handsome painter that doesn´t even bother with glancing at Venetia´s direction. 
Once everyone leaves for war, the town is left heartbroken and on top of that, the Chilbury Choir cannot continue because all the men left, but Ms. Prim decides to open a ladies choir in town to help everyone get through war and promises that the Chilbury Ladies´ Choir can place in competition, and just like that, the Chilbury Ladies´ Choir is formed and demonstrates that the women that were left behind can still do things by themselves. 
And while the war continues, these powerful women will discover themselves with every note they sing. 
I want to start this review by talking about the characters. I loved every single one of them because each one of them showed a different side to the war. Also, the characters were all from different age gaps, which made it easier for the readers to feel identified with. Personally, I loved Kitty because she is the youngest, but she is probably the one character that really tries to be part of everything, she has this amazing way of taking everything and everyone that surrounds her into her own world, and she wants to be a grown-up so much that it reminded me of myself because when I was 13 too, which was only like three years ago, I felt the same thing, so seeing how a character really wants to become a hero was inspiring at some point. 
Although I really liked the many characters the novel had, I did feel confused from time to time because there were too many and I really liked that there was a map at the beginning, but it had so many elements that it made me go back and forth because it was very detailed, which I liked a lot, but it was a bit confusing. Yet, I really appreciated how much effort the author put into this story because it really showed and made it like we were traveling back in time. 
On the other hand, I really enjoyed the plot and the story itself because it has a pull-factor that makes you keep reading since it is a pretty fast-paced reading. 
I really liked how Ryan portrayed feminism, which is something that is wildly talked about today because it demonstrated that WWII wasn´t mostly about fighting, it also included everyone that lived in the countries that were involved, and seeing the lives that continued while people came and went, made it more lively and real. 
Also, I absolutely loved how the author wrote about WWII because she takes into account the different experiences that different people have during the war, mothers have to let go of their children, lovers have to say goodbye to their loved one, children will have to continue living without a father and so forth, Ryan did a great job showing the heartbreaking moments of war, which I think is one of the biggest themes of this novel. Another thing that I found very interesting about her portrayal of war was the way the characters held onto small moments with those they love like in real life. Ryan also shows that the war not only ends things, it starts things, like the Chilbury Ladies´ Choir, which gives hope to people because, at the end of the day, the one thing that keeps going is the small things that give us hope. 
Before I end this review, I want to talk about how much I liked Jennifer Ryan´s writing because it is beautiful, it really touched me while portraying the story perfectly. I enjoyed the different point of views because as I mentioned before, it tells us the story of the village through different eyes. Also, I loved how the whole story is written through journals and letters, it reminded a little bit of Love, Rosie by Cecelia Ahern (review for that one coming soon!). And lastly, I loved how three-dimensional she made the characters, they seemed very real to me because they all had different things they were holding onto and different things that they hoped for while having several flaws, like real human beings.
The Chilbury Ladies´ Choir by Jennifer Ryan is a beautiful and inspiring historical fiction novel that will transport you to its small village during World War II to show you the beauty of life and holding onto the past while trying to grasp the future before it is too late. 
Also, I would like to thank Blogging for Books for giving me the opportunity to review this amazing novel!

4 1/2 out of 5 stars 

Love, Sua