Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella

Hiya people!  It's been a year since I last updated, really sorry.

I'm going to do a review on Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella.  Some of you might hear of her, some of you might not.  Well, she's the author of the infamous shopaholic series and Finding Audrey is her first try in YA.

Hope y'all will enjoy my review :))

Book: Finding Audrey

this book on my bookshelf: all-time-favourites

Synopsis

Audrey can't leave the house.  She can't even take off her dark glasses at home, much less talk to strangers.

When her brother's friend Linus stumbles into her life, he helped her out from darkness, being her light in darkness.  Through exchanging funny notes and crazy challenges, he starts to entice Audrey out again - well, Starbucks for starters.

With Linus by her side, every thing seems possible and suddenly, getting back on track doesn't seem unachievable.

Review

Gahhhhhh, one of the best books I've read.  It's so quirky and lighthearted at the same time.

Tbh, I did not have a good impression on this book when I first saw it.  I was judging it in my heart, thinking about how silly the cover look and how lame the synopsis sounded.  Well, ‘don't judge a book by its cover' never sounded so right atm HAHAHA.

I was at my regular book store at that time and was having a hard time choosing a book to read.  My cousin beside recommended me this book.  Despite all the negative thoughts about this book in my mind, I decided to give it a go.  And boy, it was one of the best decision I've ever made in my entire life HAHA, maybe I'm exaggerating.  

This book talks about first young love and gives out hope.  It is written from the heroine, Audrey's POV and a few were written from a third person's POV.  Audrey is going through something.  She meets Linus, and they fell for each other.  Throughout this process, she's slowly healing and getting back on track.

Audrey is a funny and quirky girl.  And not to mention smart too.  But the part of her that captivates me is her wise and hilarious thoughts.  She might be having a mental illness, but most of her thoughts are so relatable that I laugh out loud!  A lot.  So, I couldn't help but like her.  

Other than that, it also talks about the problems every family are facing.  Having a computer addict son is quite relatable to most of the parents out there, don't ya think.

Frank, Audrey's brother, is the computer addict I've mentioned just now.  He's the other guy character that caught my attention other than Linus in this book.  His sarcastic remarks, snarky comments and funny comebacks made me love this book even more.  He's a very strong character in this book, and I'm sure you'll take notice of him. ;)

I love every character in this book, LIKE EVERYONE OF THEM!!

The thing is, this book does not focus mainly on romance, it also portraits family love and brings out the issue of mental illness.  It is emotional and captivating, definitely heartwarming.

If you're having a bad day, you should probably give this book a go as I'm sure it will lift your spirits up.

this is the malay version of finding audrey

All the Bright Places

Hey!  I'm finally back after facing weeks of frustrating exams and I'm glad it's over.  Good luck to all form 5 students out there who are having SPM today, I'm rooting for y'all.

Other than wishing good luck to the form 5s, I'm writing a book review about this book 'All the Bright Places'.  Well, obviously it's a book review since this is a blog about books.


And If you guys don't want a spoiler, stop reading it right now cause you'll hate me because I'm practically telling out the whole story.

So anyway, this book, oh my god, it's heartwarming and heartbreaking at the same time.  It clenches my heart every time I read it. 

This is a story about a boy called Finch and a girl named Violet.  To be more accurate, it's Theodore Finch and Violet Markey.  Finch is the freak at school and Violet is the popular girl who dates the school's heartthrob.  

Finch and Violet met on the ledge of the bell tower at school.  They're both thinking about jumping off.  After Eleanor's death, Violet is not the same old Violet she used to be.  She quit cheerleading and student council and drifted away from her so-called friends.  She blamed herself for her sister's death.  

Okay, back to the ledge, when Finch thought he was the only one there on the bell tower, he saw her--- Violet.  He talked her down and saved her from jumping off the six-storey high building.  And when people asked, Finch told them it was Violet who saved him.

After that, Finch began to budge Violet in school and requested permission from the teacher to group with Violet in a project.  He even went to her house at night and threw stones up her window to get her attention.  And when she didn't budge, he slept overnight at the porch of her house.

By now, you should have known that Finch is an interesting and unpredictable guy.

Slowly, Violet got used to his presence and they began their "wandering" for their US Geography project.  They went to places and write down what they think in their wandering notebook.

Okay, just so you know, Finch already likes Violet in the first place when he saw her.  And Violet was beginning to fall in love with him.  In the middle of their "wandering", they kissed.  When I was reading that particular part, I was like 'Finally'.

In the book, it always shows Finch imagining death, it didn't worry me at first because I thought it was just part of the storyline.  But after a while I started to worry, just like how Violet was worried about Finch.  Violet felt that something was wrong with Finch and couldn't make out what was it.  

Then, Amanda--- Violet's former best friend told her that she saw Finch at Life is Life, a talk (I guess) for teens who are thinking of commit suicide or had tried it.  

Violet met up with Finch for his birthday.  At first, it was all nice and romantic, but Violet couldn't shake off the feeling and confront Finch.  They had a fight (which was the first one since they started dating if I'm not mistaken) and Violet left angrily.

Finch then disappeared.  He didn't go to school since he was expelled (got into a fight with Gabe, an asshole), but he didn't call or text Violet.  This made Violet extremely worry.

He's a guy who's constantly thinking of death.  Every day he thought of ways he might die, but every day he also searched for and managed to find something to keep him there, alive and awake.

Maybe Finch finally couldn't find something that could keep him alive or maybe he's not dead, he's just of somewhere else, another world, a world designed by Theodore Finch.  But in other words, he's dead.

Violet found him at the Blue Hole (another place of their "wandering").  And yes, she's sad, just like me even though he's just a character from a book.  She once again blamed herself for not being able to do anything.  And it's the worst feeling when you love someone but can't be able to help them.

In the end, Violet finished their remaining "wanderings" and found a letter left for her from Finch.  I'm not sure had she gotten over him but this is just so sad and depressing.

This book is just so well written and good, that I love it.  A salute to the author, Jennifer Niven.  

I don't know if you guys have heard of a quote: It's not the happy ending, it's about the story.  But it will be a billion times better if Finch didn't die!  

So yeah, this is the end of my book review and there might be a few mistakes about the storyline.  But I sincerely hope y'all will like it.  

Oh, before I forgot, a shoutout to Jennifer Niven's latest book 'Holding Up the Universe'.  But I still prefer 'All the Bright Places', not that the other book sucks, it's just I like this one better.

Lastly, this book is soon to be a major motion picture.  *Squeals loudly*  And I heard Elle Fanning is starring Violet!  But Finch is a mystery......  

 This is Elle Fanning, gorgeous isn't she?

Once again, I hope you guys like it. 

Cake Pop Crush

Hey guys, it's been a long time.  

And if you've read my first post you'll know I've mentioned about this book before.

I've been inspired by another blogger to write this post. She wrote about what she felt after reading the books she liked.  And she's done a pretty good job.  

Okay, let's start.

Cake Pop Crush, a book written by Suzanne Nelson. 

It's about a girl named Alicia Ramirez.  She loves baking and couldn't live without it.  Her father owns a bakery, 'Say it with flour'. 
But one day, 'Perk it up', a new sleek coffee shop, opens across the street, giving her bakery run for its money.  The worst part is, Dane McGuire, the owner's son, loves to bake too.  He's the new kid in Ali's school and appears to be annoyingly cute.



At the first day of school, before Dane arrived at school, he had a fight with his dad.  So by cheering him up, Ali tried to be nice and decided to put a cake pop that she'd made into his locker secretly.  But it seemed his mood had gotten worse, by the time he saw Ali's cake pop(he didn't know it's from her), he just threw it away into the rubbish bin.  Ali saw him and was hurt by his actions.  She decided that he's a jerk.

The next day, Ali went early to school and noticed that "Perk it up"'s voucher was everywhere.  Ali was pissed when she found one on her desk.  She tore the voucher into pieces.  The actions did not went unnoticed by Dane, he questioned her why she dislike "Perk it up" so much.  At that time, Ali didn't know that Dane was the owner of the coffee shop.  She thought that maybe he's not quite of a jerk after all.  She told him that her father owns the bakery across the coffee shop and business is going down hill.  She also shares with him her idea of selling cake pops.  After chatting with Dane, Ali felt better.

Ali later found out that Dane's the son of the owner of "perk it up".  She's angry and thought that Dane had lied to her.(She saw Dane baking in "Perk it up"and selling cake pop)  So, she thought that Dane used her idea of selling cupcakes. But they managed to sort it out afterwards and became friends.

Their class had held a field trip of whale watching.  Everyone claimed to have seasickness.  Ali and Dane were the only ones on the ferry.  When the whale appeared, Dane put his arm on Ali's shoulder and pointed to the direction of the whale.  He had not noticed his hand was on Ali's shoulder the whole time while watching the whale.  After the whale was gone, he awkwardly pulled his hand away.  When walking back to the bus, Sarah Chan purposely fell onto Dane.  Being helpful, Dane helped her onto the bus.  Ali couldn't help but felt a tinge of jealousy deep down her heart.

Ali thought that she should sell her cake pops in the bakery and she pursued her father.  While she was busy making cake pops, Dane came to say hi to her .  After Dane left, Sarah Chan came and ( i forgot what she did) and put black coloring in the cake pops.  Ali was not aware of it and sold it to her customers.  They screamed after noticing there were black color stains on their teeth and left angrily.

Ali thought Dane had something to do with it.  When she arrived at school the next day, she yelled at the confused Dane in front of everyone.  She had loosen her trust on Dane.

Sarah decided to throw a birthday party.  She held a bake-off between Ali and Dane to decide who is the cake pop master.  And the winner'll be in charge of making cake pops for Sarah's party.  Ali can't afford to lose cause she knew it's the only way to save "Say it with flour".

The night before the bake-off, Dane came to the bakery to look for Ali.  He wanted her to trust him and hope that whoever wins, they'll still be friends.  Dane knew about Ali's problem that she couldn't bake without a recipe.  He blindfolded her and taught her how to measure without measuring cups.  They managed to bake a delicious cake.  Before Dane left, he stood close to Ali.  For a second, Ali thought that he was going to kiss her, but he just wiped away the flour that's on Ali's face. 

Dane won during the bake-off.  But Ali's not angry with him.  She's just sad that her father's bakery is gonna close down.

Before the day of Sarah Chan's party, Dane told Ali a wonderful news.  The actual winner was Ali.  The reason that Dane had won was because Sarah liked him.  She told the judges to make Dane the winner.  As tomorrow was the big day, the both of them quickly called their friends for help to make cake pops. 

The next day at Sarah's party, they all had fun.  Sarah even apologized for announcing the wrong winner.  The mayor(Sarah's dad) made her help at the bakery every weekend for three months.  Ali had never felt better before in her life.

Ali, Dane and their friends decided to take a dip at the pool.  After awhile, their friends left and went to eat( I think), it was just Ali and Dane in the pool.  Ali hesitantly asked him that if he liked Sarah.  Dane denied and confessed his feelings for Ali and they shared a sweet kiss.

THE END

I hope you guys enjoy it.  I know I'm a bad summary writer.  

Here's a pic of the infamous CAKE POP!

 

I love books!

Hey guys! 
 I was just wondering what kind of books do you guys like...

I'm kinda the action-romance, fantasy or romance type.

I read all the books from the Percy Jackson series and I adore them!  Rick Riordan is such a talented writer.  I actually read another series that was written by him called 'The Kane Chronicles', it was nice but I don't like that Sadie isn't with Anubis.  Well, they are together but not literally......  It's hard explaining here hehe, I recommend you guys go read 'Percy Jackson' series and 'The Kane Chronicles'.  They're interesting!

And I also love 'Cake Pop Crush'!  There's a girl named Alicia and she's good at baking.  She worked with her dad in a bakery that her dad owns.  The bakery is running out of business and her dad is going to close it.  And there's another bakery called 'Perk Up' opening right opposite them.  It's an international franchise company......

I'm not good at telling stories so you guys should go read it too!
Maybe you guys can suggest some nice books to me too :)