Lila Danisa

For me, this book was decent. The blurb was interesting but the delivery was kinda off.

It says that this book is dark mafia romance, but for me it was not that dark at all and the mafia theme was so light barely there even.

While Alek, the MMC, was so obsessed with Eva in lust way from the very beginning, his action was barely showing his obsession beside he wanted to pound her all the time. I mean, if you are a mob boss and obsessed with someone, don't you suppose to watch her all the time? Figuring out her background? But Alek was not doing any of that except buying the ballet company Eva performed at.

That also happened with Jules, Eva's brother. For me, it didn't make sense at all that Jules didn't appoint bodyguard and watched Eva 24/7. He didn't come out as overprotective big brother for me.

Those small details were bothering me the whole time I read the book because for me Eva was somewhat free and both Alek and Jules were not that overprotective nor obsessed with Eva.

The relationship between Alek and Eva happened so fast. Instalust then jumped to instalove so fast. I was not complaining about that because somehow it was make sense for me with the story and the tropes.

This book actually had so many potential. For debut novel, this book is already solid for me. I would definitely read the next book(s) from this series because the author was already giving many hits for the upcoming couple(s).

Thank you to Lina Harper and NetGalley for the ARC.

That was so good!

My husband loves birds. We used to have canaries and parrot. I was so fond with the canaries. They were so well behaved. In the morning we opened their cage's door, they would explore, and came back. Always came back, until they didn't. I was so sad at first but then I realized that they would be happier in the wild. Ah I miss the so much.

Anyway, this book somehow brought back my memories of my lovely canaries. They loved to sing too, especially the male. Oh how beautiful their singing was!

Back to the book, I am so easily distracted 😅 This book shows the variety of North American birds, which my husband so familiar with, since he is from the State. He read this book to our son and showed him the videos of how each birth looks and sounds like in real life. As a family, we had a great time with this book every time we (re)read this book. We definitely would buy the paperback version of this book because it has audio of the birds mentioned.

The illustrations were also so good. Painting style and vibrant with colors.

Thank you to June Smalls, Familius, and NetGalley for the ARC.

Animal Farm by George Orwell has been in my TBR for a very long time. But unfortunately I have never in the mood to finally read it. That's why the moment I saw this graphic novel version of the book on NetGalley, I requested so fast because I knew it will be easy for me to read the book in graphic novel than the real novel. And indeed, I was so hooked with this book from the very first pages.

Again, since I have yet read the OG book, I couldn't compare the story wise. Though I loved how the story carried on in this book. So sad, tragic, and cunning.

Through this graphic novel, I understand why George Orwell's Animal Farm become so well known. I think this graphic novel version also pushed me to go ahead and maybe finally make me read the real novel version one.

For me, the illustrations were top notch. They perfectly matched the story and the vibe of it. Black and white color with a touch of red here and there were screaming the grittiness out loud of the storylines. Loved it so much.

Thank you to Jakub Politzer (Illustrator), Christina Dumalasova (adapter), Katerina Horakova (adapter), Gemini Books Group, Gemini Gift Books Limited, and NetGalley for the ARC.

That was so freaking cute 🥰🥰🥰

It has been awhile since I read cute manga vibe comic. Naomi was exactly manga type of girl. Not to be generalized, but Naomi cuteness/clueless/innocent was definitely manga coded. Then there was Shiro, damn he was so handsome. White hair, little bit cold personality and innocent in masculine style. Again, so manga type of hero. Tsundere type of man.

The story was actually good and I can't wait to read the rest of the story in upcoming volume(s). Though my biggest problem with this book was the format. I got confused so many times because the font for the conversation, gesture, and narrative was all the same. Almost the entire book, I found it hard to know which one is which since there was no difference in font, speech balloon whatsoever.

I also felt like the story was kinda dragging, though I understood why it was like that. I think the author wanted to immerse the world-building.

Still, I can't wait to be back to Shiro's world and continue reading Naomi's adventures.

Thank you to Joanne Chiang and NetGalley for the ARC.

Ah this book is so heartbreaking but heartwarming at the same time too 💔😢🥹😭

This book is actually the reason why I have yet serious committed with pets. I don't think I would bounce back quickly if I lose my pets due to old age or any reason at all. I lost my iguana pet (not) long ago because he escaped through the windows and I still feel pain in my heart everytime I see his favorite food (water spinach). Tsunami (my iguana pet name) was affectionate-ish with me and I am still so sad I lose him. Imagine if I have affectionate pets like dogs and cats. I think I would be really hurt and broken. However, this book beautifully showed that it's normal and ok to grieve over our beloved pets. This book smoothly explains the stage of grief and then accepting it.

The illustrations were so good. Perfectly fit with the theme of the book. The colors were soft pastel and well embraced the story of the book.

I read this book to my 5 years old son. Like me, he also experienced the sadness of losing Tsunami, our iguana. Though his grief was/is different with mine, his was/is also valid. I think this book is relatable to him (and me) and made it easy to understand.

Thank you to Jessica Collins, Lisa Melamed, Indigo River Publishing, and NetGalley for the ARC.

I watch mountaineering video on YouTube daily, especially from Indonesian hikers who went to snow mountains, my favorite one is Furky TM ( https://youtube.com/@furkytm?si=p_ZsXU3ZJWIbWgBd ), some of the videos already have English subtitles so non Indonesian speakers could watch too. In those mountaineering videos, many 'native' mountain animals usually on frame. And since my son always takes along slash watching the videos with me, he becomes familiar with those mountains animals. This book was perfect for him (and I) so we could learn more about the mountain animals. This book easily explained that different mountains could have entirely different kind of animals and it was proven by the mountaineering videos we watched. Basically my son and I had immerse learning with this book.

The illustrations were so good and I bet the paperback version is better because it has pop-up features. I definitely would buy the paperback one for my son (and I).

Thank you to David Hancock, Fox Chapel Publishing, and NetGalley for the ARC.

Wow, what a realistic book of poems this book is! The poet delivered honest and brave facts about women in her each and every poem in this book. Some of the poems are relatable to me. Some others are making me mad. I think I am a witch too.

The thing I loved the most about this poetry book was how easy to understand each poem was. With other poems, I sometimes hard to comprehend the meaning beneath them. But in this book, every poem was easy to understand, even the hidden messages were also easy to grasp.

I definitely will read other poetry books from this poet. This book surely will not my last of hers.

Thank you to Amanda Lovelace, Andrews McMeel Publishing, and NetGalley for the ARC.

The first story, Mukbang, was disturbing as hell. Though I 100% agree that it was a slap to the reality.

There was also the continuity of Something is Killing the Children from #1. It was good in story clarification but no action just yet.

The fourth story, Kampfgeist, was actually decent and somehow still relate to what's happening now i.e wars and genocide.

Better than #1 because I think the stories were more solid and less confusing.

My favorite was The Clown by Azam Raharjo. As someone who afraid of clowns, that story was so terrifying.

Off I go to another issue because I still need so many issues to catch up.

Better than #1 because I think the stories were more solid and less confusing.

My favorite was The Clown by Azam Raharjo. As someone who afraid of clowns, that story was so terrifying.

Off I go to another issue because I still need so many issues to catch up.

Better than #1 because I think the stories were more solid and less confusing.

My favorite was The Clown by Azam Raharjo. As someone who afraid of clowns, that story was so terrifying.

Off I go to another issue because I still need so many issues to catch up.