Beastly: Book Review

Beastly is a book written by author Alex Flinn. The story centres around a teenage boy in high school who had a perfect life: perfect looks, money, and popular. One thing he lacked was humility. He had everything and he knew it; but instead of using it for good, he made sure others’ lives were a living hell. And that was what led into his downfall. He humiliated a girl in his class who turned out to be a witch; and she cursed him, taking away his perfect looks - his perfect life. His entire life was stolen away with one curse. But like every other curse, this comes with a cure. If he could find a girl that would love him even with his deformity, the curse would be broken. But also like any other curse, this was near impossible. The first thing he thought of was his girlfriend. She would break the curse, right? Sadly, what they had together was nothing close to true love. Through this curse, golden boy Kyle realises just how none of his friends were real friends. Picking up the pieces of what he had left, he starts to realise other parts of life he had never noticed before in his “perfect” state. With a new girl in his life, one whom he would never pay attention to if he were Kyle Kingsbury, he finds just how much love could do - even more than breaking a curse.

This story is beautifully written. Starting out with an online conversation between fairytale characters put in the real world, this introduces the story taking place in an reality where magic secretly exists. Kyle Kingsbury was a figure everyone wanted to be, but secretly hates because of his personality. All he sees was everyone’s outer appearances. Because of his own “beauty”, he didn’t give anyone “ugly” a chance to get to know him, or vice versa. He was a character who thinks the world revolves around him, and he shouldn’t have to get to know anybody, everybody needs to know him. This is where the magic comes in. With the beauty he uses to put others down taken away, he could no longer face his previous life. He gets away from everything he’s ever known, to isolate himself until he breaks the curse, or time gets to him. With nearly no hope at all to break the curse, he starts realising beauty in other things he never would’ve paid attention to if the curse didn’t happen. His “beastliness” changed him from a cocky, self-centred person, into a rose-loving, smart, and considerate man. A reality where almost everyone judges everything by its cover, this story shows how there is beauty to everything, but only some people try to get to know it enough to see it. If people only catch a glance of something’s outer appearance, but it fails to impress them and they move on without “digging in deeper”, they would forever miss the goodness in it. And if people are too self-centred to even notice the people and things around them, they would never learn more than what they already know. Everything doesn’t revolve around you, it goes on even when you’re gone. But take how others’ feel about what you do into consideration, so that even when you’re not here anymore, the legacy you leave behind may succeed into people’s hearts.

*Yes, another repeated post, but no. This is a review, not a book talk. And yes, there's a difference. :)
But as a gift.. here's a wallpaper!

Waterfall: Book Review

Reading Waterfall is like going on an emotional roller coaster. You never know what Lauren Kate’s going to throw your way. The sequel to Teardrop, second and the final instalment in the Teardrop duology brings back the story of Eureka’s journey to Atlantis, and countless obstacles that Eureka and her family would encounter in order to prevent the rise of the sunken city. The overall plot of this story is amazing; Eureka having to save the world from the disaster her own tears had brought, and the existence of a forbidden love between Eureka and Ander. Ander, a Seedbearer, whose life purpose is solely to kill Tearline girls such as Eureka, makes the mistake of falling in love with her instead. And like almost every other romance tale, his love for her was reciprocated, with an almost-love at first sight. The mutual attraction between them develops into love in the first book, although at a very short span of time, a few encounters and a moment of truth. In Waterfall, this is seen to develop, although it lacked the chemistry that was implied in the first book. The love triangle that existed between Ander, Eureka, and her long-time best friend who was now lost to the Atlantean King, Brooks, was further expanded, but never really resolved even until the end - which was one of the lesser qualities of the book. Fallen, Lauren Kate’s previous best-selling series, had its main characters’ development progress throughout the entire five-book series, and that built a strong bond in the readers’ minds. Ander and Eureka needed more time to let their relationship build up, because their love seemed to be quite outrageous at times. Ander knew every single detail about Eureka’s life, so his love for her made sense; but when Eureka falls for him too without knowing more than two facts about him, that made the story a little off. 

Throughout the story, it could be seen that everything was progressing at an abrupt pace: new characters introduced, quite a few plot twists that included one which a problem was discovered and then resolved itself. Also, I noticed a plot hole that included a warning from Eureka’s late mother in Teardrop which sounded like it was something serious, but never relived itself in Waterfall.
What I could conclude from this is that this second book seemed like it wasn’t supposed to end here; it seemed like it was supposed to end after a third book or further. The last chapters of the book seemed like Lauren Kate was trying to wrap everything up when the publishing company called for the final draft. 

When I first read Teardrop, I was really excited for the story to progress into something more, something that was supposed to last long. And although more mysteries were unveiled, plot twists were made, all of them were crammed into one 300-paged book that is mind-boggling to the readers. I am sad to say how disappointed I am with Waterfall. After all, I am a big fan of the Fallen series and thought it was an awesome story with one of the most bittersweet conclusions ever. With Waterfall, it was just bitter. The ending could’ve been more meaningful, because although it was clear it ended, it just had another sense that it’s another cliffhanger, that made no sense at all. But even with all the problems I could list about this book, the original idea of this story is undoubtedly compelling. The new ideas the author had added to the story revived the ancient Atlantis myth and changed old perspectives. It had a great starting point, but ended in a way that was unsatisfying. So all I could say is: Lauren Kate, it could’ve been better. 

*Hey guys... Okay. I know, I've posted one book talk about Waterfall before, but here's another one. And it's a review! So, this is a school assignment, and I thought: why let this go to waste? And here's it is guys, hope you know what to expect from Lauren Kate's Waterfall!
Also, a Teardrop wallpaper!