nikolinaza's reviews
526 reviews

"When you see the world as divided, when you're prejudiced, it's not about expanding hearts--it's about shrinking your capacity to love."

In this sequel of 'Saints and Misfits', we followed Janna as the preparation for Sarah and Muhammad's nikah ceremony begins. Other than that, she's been longing to see Nuah, whom she had grown to love after their past shared events. But when they finally met, Nuah suddenly treated her differently, and before she could keep up with everything's that going on, there are new people who was going to enter her life and probably ruin whatever kind of peace she has in her head.

Okay this is ULTRA COOL. How could a middle grade book be so simple yet so complicated at the same time?

At first, I thought it was all about love between Janna and Nuah. I even imagined how they would end up together in the end. But of course, nothing is that simple. Life is full of obstacles, even more for a seventeen years old Janna.

This book has successfully tackle every issues it brought since the beginning--religion, culture, racism. It represents how the muslim community should be: loving, calm and tolerant. No radical people, no racism, no looking down at other religion, belief, or culture. I had always loved Janna's friend circle and everyone in the community, and I wish people around me were like this in real life.

As I've been following her since book one, I could see Janna had changed so much. She's more mature, more communicative, and more understanding to the people around her. Sometimes she's still a bit of a whiner, but she's getting stronger than in book one. I also LOVED how she managed to face all her problem so bravely. Man, I want to be her.

And this is what I like the most from this book: if someone didn't love you back, instead of pushing your feelings and keep running after that one particular person, you should move on. There's a whole lot of possibilities in front of you--don't waste it all for just one single person.

Definitely 5/5, can't wait for Love from Mecca to Medina!

Actual rating 4.5 stars

Nailah went to Japan to find his best friend, Badri. But when she found him, he was not the man he used to be. He has belonged to a dark underworld, a horrifying, sinister world of yakuza. But when Badri told Nailah to stay away, she met Arjuna, her savior but also another man who was probably a bit more dangerous than her bestfriend--a man whom she couldn't bring herself to escape from.

This book was on my wishlist since 2016-2017 after a friend recommended it to me. So if there's someone who used to own a bookstagram account under the username of @lavendragon, I want to let you know that I finally able to get my hands on this lovely book!

(Also big thanks to @book.bars for helping me having this.)

Pros:
1. The proper characters. Nailah had no idea on how to fight, nor she mastered any self-defense techniques, but she is one of the mentally strongest heroine I've ever encountered. Even when she was not the official leader of the pack, she didn't get overshadowed by the men. She's fierce, a real badass lioness, and she suits both her husband, bestfriends, and people around her so well.

Also, props to Cik Sara Aisha for not romanticizing the yakuzas and portraying them as a ultra-manly and cool people. Yes, their loyalty to each other and the gang is on an another level, but other than that? Nah, nah, I'm out.

2. The whole story itself. The writing is totally 100/100. Even most of this book consisted of romance, it was not cheesy (at least, unlike the books with the same trope I've read). And it has no love triangle trope between the female main character, male main character, and male lead character! I love how most of the characters are able to keep their love platonic.

3. The japanese ambience. Cik Sara Aisha knew well how to write them properly and simply, so I could truly imagine how the culture, place and organisations looked like.

4. The religious ambience. It was my first time reading a mixture of yakuza and islam. It was truly refreshing.

Cons:
1. The repetitive scenes. It was not boring nor annoying, but I think we've got enough to see Arjuna-Nailah-Badri debated about the consequences of their choices....

Also, I want Sato to be, like, my boyfriend or something? He's cute.


If I had the chance, I wouldn't doubt to get another book by this author.

Actual rating 2.5 stars (come on Goodreads, it's 2022 already, won't you give us this new feature to give a half-star rating?)

After rescuing Sigrid Santorini from the fire burning her dress, Nina Baxter was hired to be Sigrid's new personal assistant while touring around the world with The Point, whose vocalist is Sigrid's soon-to-be-husband. Before Nina knew it, the boys has her friendship, and one particular boy has her heart, too.

Pros:

1. The band and the music. I have always been a fan of this kind of band trope, following the daily life of a musician and their personalities backstage. The writing style made me feel like I was the one who was touring with the boys and Sigrid au lieu de Nina. Thumbs up for this one.

2. The boys. Apparently, their charms felt more real than just narratives. Their teasing and flirting got me blushing and giggling hard.

Cons:

1. The love story. It was kind of... unnecessary. I mean, the interaction between Nina and the boys were literally second to none. Moments between them were nothing but crumbles. But then one of the boys shared ONE short but deep conversation with Nina, and suddenly they fell in love? When there's literally almost no chemistry between them? It was weird and wrong. I only feel void everytime this new couple showed up.

I mean, if we deleted this whole love story thing, we could still got a good book. We could focus to the boys' relationship with each other and with Nina, tout platonique, and that's it. Sometimes, all we need is just friends rather than lover, right?

2. Sigrid Santorini. It was not because she's the antagonist, but more to the fact that she's just irrelevant. She was bitchy, of course, like most of the female antagonists are, but actually, she has done almost nothing to Nina as the main character. Why is she even here as the mean girl and not some of the filler character, I have no idea why.

Also, I don't know why but I can't stop myself from imagining that she looks like Nikita Dragun....

Actual rating: 4.5 ⭐

When Anne Forestier, a woman whom Camille cares about a lot, got beaten up and shot three times by some armed robber, he decided to take all the matters to his hands, no matter what damage could be done. But through his very own illegal investigation, turns out everything is way more complicated than just protecting the woman he loves--is it solely based on love, or is it caused by his trauma and those haunting agonies since his Irène's death?

After what happened in book number one (the one which I'm still so bitter and pained about the ending), Camille's life has spiraled downward. Losing someone you love and cherish in such terrible way lead everyone to a painful life, so while I feel a bit dejected of whatever Camille's doing in this book (one of the impact was making Louis' screentime decreased enormously), I totally understand him. If I were in his shoes and had the power he has, I wouldn't even doubt doing the same things.

As usual, Lemaitre's writing started off rather slowly and even more agonizing because this time, he included the savage, brutal first point of view of the villain. The mystery was neat as its two predecessors and also well written, that even there's no total plot twist (fun fact: I got spoiled on who's our real antagonist here as I couldn't resist opening the last chapters), the conclusion is still shocking.

Which makes me hate that one particular ungrateful motherfucker even more, after whatever shits he had thrown to Camille and Louis and nearly everyone in this series.

And the ending was kind of perfect for a man who has nothing more to lose.

Man, I will miss this series terribly. I have no idea if I could bring myself to start all over again from book one because it was too painful.

Trigger warnings: death(s), accident, suicide, depression (mentioned), drug usage, domestic violence.

Tawaran menjadi stylist pribadi RD LIGHT, sebuah grup band rock asal Jepang yang popularitasnya mendunia menjadi kunci pembuka jalan bagi Rika Wiyasa untuk meninggalkan tempat kelahirannya yang penuh duka dan memulai hidup baru di negara yang selalu diimpikannya. Mulanya, dia mampu bersikap profesional seperti biasanya. Namun, tinggal bersama empat personel RD LIGHT rupanya lebih dari cukup untuk memporak-porandakan segala yang telah dia tata sedemikian rupa.

Aku selalu suka dengan buku yang menceritakan kisah tentang artis. Jadi, ketika algoritma Instagram (yang secara mengerikan selalu tahu apa yang aku mau) merekomendasikan buku ini (ditambah dengan gambar keempat personel yang tampak berbahaya), aku terdorong untuk ikutan prapesannya meski aku belum pernah baca karya Kak Ruth sebelumnya.

Tidak seperti kebanyakan novel Metropop yang berfokus pada percintaan saja, buku ini mengulas dengan cukup lengkap bagaimana seorang stylist bekerja sehari-harinya. Mungkin kebanyakan fans grup band K-Pop atau grup band lainnya bakalan iri melihat bagaimana stylist bisa dengan mudah menyentuh-nyentuh artis favorit mereka, tetapi sebetulnya pekerjaan mereka enggak semudah itu. Menghadapi kepribadian personel band yang tentu saja berbeda-beda tentu bukan pekerjaan gampang, ditambah lagi mereka masih harus memikirkan segala tetek bengek riasan dan wardrobe sang artis. Belum lagi di sini Rika juga memegang jabatan sebagai asisten manajer. Mungkin kalau aku yang jadi Rika dan harus berhadapan dengan Isao dan Shigeru, bukan enggak mungkin novel ini berubah haluan ke genre action thriller.

Selain itu, Kak Ruth juga banyak menjabarkan kehidupan para artis di belakang panggung, berbagai rutinitas keseharian, juga proses mereka bekerja. Di sela-selanya, barulah konflik disisipkan dengan rapi dan cermat. Meski trope percintaannya sudah umum digunakan di mana-mana, tetapi Kak Ruth mengeksekusinya dengan sangat baik sehingga tidak terasa monoton.

Alurnya tertata dengan pas sehingga tidak ada bagian yang terlalu cepat atau terlalu dipanjang-panjangkan. Begitu pula dengan konfliknya. Satu hal yang mungkin kelihatan kecil rupanya memegang peranan penting dalam cerita dan membuka lapis demi lapis permasalahan lainnya. Porsi para tokoh juga seimbang, bahkan tokoh-tokoh tritagonis yang seringkali hanya digunakan untuk filler semata pun punya bagian pentingnya sendiri-sendiri. Hal-hal di atas, ditambah dengan diksinya yang mengalir lancar layaknya air di pipa Wavin membuat buku ini sangat page-turning.

Meski endingnya tidak seindah kisah Barbie Princess, tetapi entah kenapa aku lega banget membacanya. Mungkin memang itu yang terbaik, kan?

Semoga penantianku terhadap sekuel buku ini enggak terlalu lama, karena aku bakalan kangen berat sama anak-anak (dih, ngaku-ngaku).

P.S. Ryou boleh sama aku aja kali, ya?

P.S.S. Kok bisa sih ada orang sebeban Yukiko?

Setelah kejadian tragis yang menimpa teman-teman mereka, kini tidak ada jalan selain terus maju. Erika, Val, Putri, Aya, dan Rima yang tergabung dalam Tim X berkolaborasi dengan minion-minion Tim Z, Keluarga Cemiri, Vik, Les, serta teman-teman SMA mereka. Di sisi lain, Johan, Nikki, dan Merry merekrut puluhan orang yang siap melindungi mereka sekaligus menumpas siapa pun yang menghalangi jalan mereka. Sekali lagi kedua kubu berhadapan demi melindungi tujuan masing-masing, dan kali ini, pertempuran mereka merupakan endgame yang akan menentukan siapa yang harus kalah selamanya.

Buku ini merupakan seri keenam sekaligus penutup Dark Series. Dibanding penutup dua seri sebelumnya, Akhir Tergelap lebih banyak menunjukkan pola pikir dan jalan strategi tiap tokoh alih-alih langsung bak-bik-buk sana-sini. Aku sudah mengikuti perjalanan para tokoh sejak awal, dan di sini aku bisa melihat bahwa mereka telah berkembang banyak, terlebih Tim X. Rencana mereka untuk mengalahkan Geng Psikopat jadi lebih tertata dan mereka juga tidak terlalu banyak membuang energi (meski Erika masih tetap cerewet