Review : White Cat (Curse Worker #1) by Holly Black

Author : Holly Black
Category : Science Fiction
Format : Paperback (310 pages)
Publisher : McElderry (8 February 2011)
Language : English
ISBN-10 : 1416963979
ISBN-13 : 978-1416963974


Goodreads Description :
Cassel comes from a family of curse workers — people who have the power to change your emotions, your memories, your luck, by the slightest touch of their hands. And since curse work is illegal, they're all mobsters, or con artists. Except for Cassel. He hasn't got the magic touch, so he's an outsider, the straight kid in a crooked family. You just have to ignore one small detail — he killed his best friend, Lila, three years ago.

Ever since, Cassel has carefully built up a façade of normalcy, blending into the crowd. But his façade starts crumbling when he starts sleepwalking, propelled into the night by terrifying dreams about a white cat that wants to tell him something. He's noticing other disturbing things, too, including the strange behavior of his two brothers. They are keeping secrets from him, caught up in a mysterious plot. As Cassel begins to suspect he's part of a huge con game, he also wonders what really happened to Lila. Could she still be alive? To find that out, Cassel will have to out-con the conmen.

Holly Black has created a gripping tale of mobsters and dark magic where a single touch can bring love — or death — and your dreams might be more real than your memories.


My Thougth :
Cassel Sharpe comes from "worker" family, but he is the only member of his family who isn't a curse worker. The story starts when Cassel dream about a white cat and find himself wake up on the roof of Wallingford. Because of that, Cassel has to leave his school until he doesn't sleepwalking anymore.

Cassel tries to figure out why he starts to sleepwalking again and why he always dream about the white cat. It leads to Lila's death. Lila is cassel's best friend, and he murders her three years ago. Nobody but his family know about the murder. In his dream, the white cat wants him to break the curse he was placed on her. But he has no idea how to do it because he is not a worker.

Cassel tries to find the truth and he discovers a lot of secrets in his family. He finds out that he is a tranformation worker, the rarest kind of curse worker. His brothers, who he always trust the most, take advantage of him, but he don't know because Barron, one of his brothers, erase some of his memories. Thing gets more complicated and more interesting, because not everything exactly like what he remember.

White Cat is in my TBR list for a while. The book have a good story line. I also like the characters on this story. Cassel is smart, sarcastic and funny, I like him a lot. I must admit that at the beggining of the book, I was bored. But when the story progress, the book getting more interesting. The story is unpredictable and make us want to know what would happen next.

Overall, the book is good. I can't wait to read the rest of the series. I recommend this book to everyone. It's worth your time.

I give White Cat 4 out of 5 stars.


Book Trailer :

Review : Scars by Cheryl Rainfield

Author : Cheryl Raindfield

Format : Hardcover (250 pages)
Publisher : Westside Books (24 March 2010)
Language : English
ISBN-10 : 193481332X
ISBN-13 : 978-1934813324

Goodreads Description :
Kendra, fifteen, hasn't felt safe since she began to recall devastating memories of childhood sexual abuse, especially because she still can't remember the most important detail-- her abuser's identity. Frightened, Kendra believes someone is always watching and following her, leaving menacing messages only she understands. If she lets her guard down even for a minute, it could cost Kendra her life. To relieve the pressure, Kendra cuts; aside from her brilliantly expressive artwork, it's her only way of coping. Since her own mother is too self-absorbed to hear her cries for help, Kendra finds support in others instead: from her therapist and her art teacher, from Sandy, the close family friend who encourages her artwork, and from Meghan, the classmate who's becoming a friend and maybe more. But the truth about Kendra's abuse is just waiting to explode, with startling unforeseen consequences. Scars is the unforgettable story of one girl's frightening path to the truth.


My Thougth :
Scars is a story about Kendra, a teenage girl who was sexually abused in her childhood. The problem is she can't remember a man who raped and abused her. With her therapyst's help, she tried to recall her childhood memories and reveal the rapist identity. When she started her therapy, she also started to cut herself to relieve the pain from her childhood memories and the terror from her rapist.

When she met Meghan, Kendra felt that she can trust her. She told Meghan all of her secrets. And then she realized that she love Meghan, and Meghan felt the same way. When Meghan appeared in her life, she felt happier than ever. But the terror from her rapist still continued. The most suprising thing from the story is when the rapist's identity is revealed.

Scars is a powerful book with dark topic. I didn't read so many book like this one. It's a little depressing to read the book. The book is very intense and emotional. In the young age, Kendra had to go trough so many bad and traumatic things. Scars would make the reader can wait to find out about the rest of story. We can feel Kendra's emotion trough the story.

Scars is very educational. We can learn so many things from the book, from sexual abuse, cutting and homosexuality issue. Many people have the same experience with Kendra, but didn't have the courage to tell it to another people. Scars can make us to understand the issues and help the victim to face it. I highly recommend Scars for everyone to read.

I give Scars 4 out of 5 stars.

Review : The Phantom of The Opera by Gaston Leroux

Author : Gaston Leroux
Format : Paperback (376 pages)
Publisher : Gramedia Pustaka Utama (April 2011)
Language : Indonesian
ISBN-13 : 978-9792269512


Goodreads description :
Erik, sang hantu Opera, meneror Opera Paris dengan ancaman pemerasan selama bertahun-tahun. Sosok jenius yang tersiksa dalam keburukrupaannya ini jatuh cinta pada Christine, penyanyi opera yang cantik dan bersuara emas. Kehadiran Raoul, sang viscount yang tampan, membuat Erik sadar bahwa Christine takkan pernah membalas cintanya dan membuat cinta Erik berubah menjadi obsesi yang mematikan.

The Phantom of the Opera adalah novel legendaris dalam sastra gotik dunia sepanjang abad ke-20. Kisah cinta segitiga antara Erik, Christine, dan Raoul sudah diadaptasi ke dalam berbagai bentuk seni teater dan seni visual. Namun karya aslinya yang pertama kali terbit dalam bentuk novel pada tahun 1910 ini jauh lebih gelap dan kompleks dibanding yang ditampilkan dalam film maupun teater musikalnya.

Seratus tahun lebih sejak pertama kali terbit, The Phantom of The Opera yang ber-setting di salah satu gedung termegah dan terindah di Paris ini masih menggugah hati pembacanya dalam kisah yang menyayat hati tentang hasrat manusia, teror, dan cinta.


My Thoughts :
Even if the book is written a long time ago, but the book is really good. The story is about Erik, a phantom who haunted Paris Opera House, who fell in love with Christine Daaé, an Opera singer. The thing get more complicated when Raoul, Christine's childhood friend, appeared in Christine's Life after being apart for a while. Raoul and Christine fell in love with each other, but Erik did everything to make Christine to love him. Erik's love turned into obsession and Raoul tried his hardest to save Christine from Erik. The end of this story made me cry.

I like the characters in this story. Erik is the most intriguing character. He is extremely genius and ugly. Most of people took advantage of him and despise him, it made him felt lonely and unwanted. It was one of the reasons why he did all the terror in the Opera. Beneath it all, I think Erik had something good in him. He just wanted to be loved. So when Christine appeared with her naivety and sincerity, Erik would do everything for her because for the first time he felt that someone love him for who he is.

Overall, The book is worth to read. I love the story and would recommend anyone to read it.

I give The Phantom of the Opera 4 out of 5 stars

Random Acts of Kindness August

This month, I am participating in RAK for the 3rd times. Last month, I didn't receive any book. Hopefully, I'll be lucky this time.

Random Acts of Kindness is the monthly event hosted by Book Soulmates. For this month, they're giving away $20 Amazon gift card. So, what are you waiting for ???

If you're interested, you can find my wishlist here. Good Luck !!!