Rating System

ONE STAR

Sorry but I did not like this book. I almost put it down. Or I actually did not read it anymore.

TWO STARS

I did not like several parts of the book.

THREE STARS

I liked the book, but a few chapters got me conflicted.

FOUR STARS

This book is really good! I liked it a lot.

FIVE STARS

This book got me from the beginning til the end. It was hard to put down. Such an amazing read!

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Revamping my book blogging account

Hello readers. If you have been following my blog since I started, you might know that I've been constantly inactive in posting book related stuffs. This is because of school and a lot more.

I also got bored because I felt that my blog's design was a total disaster. Soo..to sum it up. I didn't feel like blogging because of the not so nice outcome.

To remove all the disappointments you have in you right now, I am deciding to revamp my blog. I am not sure what will happen after I change my templates. Probably, the comments will be removed. And the look will be simpler as I consider this design I have right now as "overly done". I would also try to figure out this whole "blog designing" thing that I can't quite understand. So yeaaah. I hope you guys will be excited for my comeback as much as I am.

One more thing, I will be uhh, starting from scratch. I will be saving all my posts in my documents. And will be deleting them all. That way, I can also remove the unnecessary pictures that I have included.

Phewwww. I hope this will come out as great as I expected it to be.

I'll see you in a while!

Risse xx

P.S. Meanwhile check my personal blog at rissecruz.blogspot.com ^o^

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Book Review: Paper Towns by John Green

Add to Goodreads | Purchase on Amazon 

Published by: Speak on September 22nd 2009

Genres:  Young Adult, Contemporary-Romance, Mystery, Fiction

Pages: 305

Format: Paperback (gift)

Book Blurb:

Who is the real Margo?

Quentin Jacobsen has spent a lifetime loving the magnificently adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman from afar. So when she cracks open a window and climbs into his life—dressed like a ninja and summoning him for an ingenious campaign of revenge—he follows. After their all-nighter ends, and a new day breaks, Q arrives at school to discover that Margo, always an enigma, has now become a mystery. But Q soon learns that there are clues—and they're for him. Urged down a disconnected path, the closer he gets, the less Q sees the girl he thought he knew... 

I started reading Paper Towns, not knowing a single thing about it. Well of course, except for the main character’s names. I decided to read it because the movie was coming up, which comes out pretty soon. Who in the world wants to watch an adaptation without having a single knowledge about it? Definitely not me. However, I did imagine it to be a romantic one, although the title greatly suggests that it’s not. But then, who knows? It’s a John Green book anyways. You know as I type this, I’ve come to realize that MAYBE, just maybe, John Green is a lot like Margo Roth Spiegelman. He writes his books, plans it carefully. With all the intricate details, and then just leave it with an unsatisfying conclusion. Which leads us the READERS wanting more. And then he writes another one and repeats the same routine. Yeah, it sucks. But it’s a great experience after all.

OKAY. Haha. I’m getting way out of my topic here. Did you even realize that you actually clicked a BOOK REVIEW blog post and not a COMPARE JOHN GREEN AND MARGO ROTH SPIEGELMAN post? Hahaha. Fooled y’all. Nah. I’m just kidding. Here it goes.

As I’ve said earlier, I thought of Paper Towns as a romance novel. What the heck. I always think that a book with two main characters of opposite gender is a romance. I’m cheesy like that. BUT, it turns out that Paper Towns delves into a deeper topic like knowing oneself and knowing others. If you do not know what this is about:

Paper Towns is a novel about a senior named Quentin, who’s deeply amazed with the adventurous Margo Roth Spiegelman. They were childhood friends and eventually drifted apart as they grew older. One night, Margo enters his window and asks for help, inviting him into an adventure that he once just heard about. After this unusual event that occurred to Q, he went back to school only to find out that Margo has been missing AGAIN. He felt bad, thinking that he was now a part of her adventure since that night. But then he actually is. It is for him to find out how, when, and where to find the mysterious Margo Roth Spiegelman. And to eventually find out that there is more about the girl that he loves.

Here’s the thing. The book, as I can describe it, is very much like MY LIFE. And probably someone else’s too. There are parts where I get too excited while reading it, but then there are also parts of the book where I almost want to put the book in a shredder. HAHA. BUT I don’t do that. Like seriously. It’s a precious little book. My precious little book.

I can write about this book for years and not even finish it. But mainly, what I like about Paper Towns is that it teaches us something. Every John Green book teaches us something. It tugs the strings of our hearts. All along we’ve been thinking that we know how the world goes, seeing the cruelty, judgement and all. Truth is, WE DON’T. We barely know what it is. How it works. We think that by seeing the negativity and positivity that it brings us, we have already deciphered it. Well, we’re wrong. We don’t even know the reason behind these negativities, how it occurs. WE ALL HAVE A DIFFERENT VIEW OF WHAT THE WORLD IS.

Other than that, I liked the writing style. It’s hilarious, it’s very teenage-y but also with that maturity that you can never get out of John Green’s books. I loved the way he used metaphors in the entire book and how it made Quentin think deeper and in a fully different view. And also the character development. Especially Quentin’s and Margo’s. On Quentin’s part though, I kind of knew it was coming. But then there’s this part where I was also surprised by the changes. Like, there was a part in the middle where he started accepting that the idea of the Margo he likes, is different from what Margo really is. I liked that a lot. As for Margo, I liked her at the end. Which I cannot spoil so I can’t tell it here. READ IT.

This book was never boring. I liked it.

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Christmas Book Blog-a-thon

Okaay. So I don't know if someone has already made this blog version of Booktube-a-thon but, doesn't matter. I am gonna be doing it! ^_^ I made my own goals and challenges so... it's up to you if you're gonna do it too!

Sleigh bells ring, Are you listening? Hahaha.

1st Challenge: Read a recently gifted book

I have actually read this book already buuut . . . . this was a book recently given to me just because I adore the cover so muuch! It is To All the Boys I've Loved Before by the a-mazin' Jenny Han. If you want to see my review about it, I'll link it here. 

I will be re-reading this because I loved it to pieces! And I read it for only hours or about a day at least. :)

2nd Challenge: Christmas-syy cover

Honestly, I don't know what this book is about except that it has a cat on its cover. That's what bought me. The cover looks somehow Christmas-syy to me because it is associated with the colors green and red. I don't know. I really think that this cover gives that Christmas vibes sooo... yeah. I'll be reading this after the 1st challenge. Which I am currently accomplishing.






3rd Challenge: Christmas Setting

This challenge requires a book that is set on Christmas or the days before it. For this challenge I picked up Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan. I think, this is a part of like a series or trilogy by these two amazing authors. But, I'm not sure on that one. It just sounds like it.

(I like this edition better xx)

4th Challenge: Christmas Romance

I think y'all know what I'll be reading for this final challenge. It is My True Love Gave To Me by various authors and edited by the lovely Stephanie Perkins. It is a collection of twelve short stories about love and romance. And I'm quite excited to read this. 

That is it! I am really excited to be reading all these amazing books aaand, let me know if you have read them or not in the comments below. Or you can tweet or instagram me by clicking my social links on the upper right corner of my blog. Thanks guys. x

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SORRY.

I really feel bad. Even making  this post gives me a heartache. No. I am never leaving blogger and my blog. But, I  feel so ashamed that I have not been active for more than 4 months. :( I have 5 drafts left undone. And a lot of broken promises to authors. I did not expect my school year to be as hectic as this.

I am writing this not to gain sympathy, but for all of you to understand. I am sorry for those authors who submitted their books to me, I don't want you to think that I am a scumbag or a book digger. I am sincere when I say I am going to review your book. But like I said, I did not expect myself to be busy this year.

I hope that I can finish most of the reviews that I promised before this year ends. Or even before January 2015 ends.

I am not gonna promise anymore. And will rarely accept review requests. Unless of course, when I really have a lot of time to do it.

I am sincerely APOLOGIZING to everyone. The authors, the bloggers, and my viewers.



Risse,

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