Tag: FBCYA

FBCYA Blog Tour: Diversity Talk with Tara Sim, Author of Timekeeper

Posted on by Windie @ dip into books
timekeeper tour

Hello everyone! As I mentioned a couple of posts back, I am very excited to be a part of blog tour for Timekeeper by Tara Sim. As part of the tour, I got to interview the amazing Tara Sim. Tara, if you’re reading this, thank you for taking your time to answer the questions! I also would like to thank Bianca for organizing the blog tour, my fellow book club members at FBCYA, Sky Pony Press, and Tara herself for this opportunity.

Lack of representation is always one thing fictions, especially Science Fiction and Fantasy, kept getting called on. I am a big fan of fantasy books, and even as a fan, I could admit that it’s true. Science Fiction and Fantasy, especially what’s known as epic fantasy, is still dominated by white straight cis male authors. In term of characters, the existence of proper POC representation and own voices in mainstream SFF genre still needs to be improved. That is why when I had the opportunity to interview Tara, I decided to tackle this lack of diversity issue. In the interview, Tara explained about her view on diversity in SFF fictions, the danger of misrepresentation, the importance of #ownvoices stories, and give us some recommendations for diverse books.

About Timekeeper

Timekeeper (Tara Sim)
book cover Book title Timekeeper
Series/standalone Timekeeper #1
Author Tara Sim
Pages 368
Publisher Sky Pony Press
Year published 2016
Category | Genre Young Adult | Science Fiction, Historical, Fantasy

Synopsis

Two o’clock was missing.

In an alternate Victorian world controlled by clock towers, a damaged clock can fracture time—and a destroyed one can stop it completely.

It’s a truth that seventeen-year-old clock mechanic Danny Hart knows all too well; his father has been trapped in a Stopped town east of London for three years. Though Danny is a prodigy who can repair not only clockwork, but the very fabric of time, his fixation with staging a rescue is quickly becoming a concern to his superiors.

And so they assign him to Enfield, a town where the tower seems to be forever plagued with problems. Danny’s new apprentice both annoys and intrigues him, and though the boy is eager to work, he maintains a secretive distance. Danny soon discovers why: he is the tower’s clock spirit, a mythical being that oversees Enfield’s time. Though the boys are drawn together by their loneliness, Danny knows falling in love with a clock spirit is forbidden, and means risking everything he’s fought to achieve.

But when a series of bombings at nearby towers threaten to stop more cities, Danny must race to prevent Enfield from becoming the next target or he’ll not only lose his father, but the boy he loves, forever.

The stunning first novel in a new trilogy by debut author Tara Sim, Timekeeper is perfect for fans of Cassandra Clare and Victoria Schwab.

Continue reading “FBCYA Blog Tour: Diversity Talk with Tara Sim, Author of Timekeeper” →

Review: More Happy than Not

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Book Review: More Happy than Not by Adam Silvera
more_happy_cover Book title More Happy than Not
Series No
Author Adam Silvera
Pages 293
Year published 2015
Category | Genre Young Adult | Contemporary
Rating 4 stars

Official Summary

In the months after his father’s suicide, it’s been tough for 16-year-old Aaron Soto to find happiness again–but he’s still gunning for it. With the support of his girlfriend Genevieve and his overworked mom, he’s slowly remembering what that might feel like. But grief and the smile-shaped scar on his wrist prevent him from forgetting completely.

When Genevieve leaves for a couple of weeks, Aaron spends all his time hanging out with this new guy, Thomas. Aaron’s crew notices, and they’re not exactly thrilled. But Aaron can’t deny the happiness Thomas brings or how Thomas makes him feel safe from himself, despite the tensions their friendship is stirring with his girlfriend and friends. Since Aaron can’t stay away from Thomas or turn off his newfound feelings for him, he considers turning to the Leteo Institute’s revolutionary memory-alteration procedure to straighten himself out, even if it means forgetting who he truly is.

Why does happiness have to be so hard?

“Adam Silvera’s More Happy than Not is a realistic portrayal of a teenager’s life with just enough twist to keep you on your toe and huge emphasis of finding yourself in the crowd.”

I read this book because it was #FBCYA March book of the month. Actually, I’ve been planning to read it since forever but me being me it didn’t quite happen until I had the incentive to. I am so glad I read it when I did because the timing couldn’t even be more right. At that time, there was an LGBT issue (which shouldn’t have been an issue at all) that gained a lot of momentum in my country and I lost a little faith in humanity throughout the process. Thankfully reading this book somehow restored it quite a bit, although I believe we still have a long long way to go. SO thank you #FBCYA and Adam Silvera for this book.

This is a non-spoiler review apart from those mentioned in the official summary, but there will be a lot of feels mentioned throughout the review so be ready for that.

Review

Characters

Character-wise, More Happy than Not is a total win. Silvera made his characters flawed and realistic. The teens act like teens, the parents act like the parents, but they all very distinct that even now, a month after I read this book (it took me that long to collect my thought-feel free to judge), I still remember each and every character. And yes even the minor ones were given enough personality to stand out. The point is they felt like real people.

The narrator, Aaron Soto, is a compelling character in the sense he made you actually care about what’s going to happen to him. You will worry about him, you will smile for him, you might sometimes want to yell at him, but most of all you will feel for him.

Plot and narrative

More Happy than Not is about journey to find happiness, among others. We follow Aaron’s quest to get back on track and find happiness after a traumatic incident. He had the most amazing girlfriend, his friends whom he could hang out with, and his family. In short, he seemed to be just your regular teenager. The thing was, there is no such thing as being a regular teenager, isn’t there? Everyone has their own issues, and Aaron’s came in the form of Thomas, the boy from the neighborhood who made Aaron questions things about himself. Thomas made him happier, but the feelings he discovered about the new boy was mostly unwelcome considering his circumstances.

There are a lot of issues touched on in More Happy than Not, issues of sexuality, mental health, friendship, racial, and many others. So many that More Happy than Not should have felt overly cramped with messages, but thankfully it didn’t.

There are a lot of things happening in the book, and some very nice surprises I didn’t know will be there. Then there are the twists. You think you figured them out, but then Silvera threw another one at you. Some books are only as good as their twists, but More Happy than Not is that good, it’ll still work without them. However, the twists were added bonus because they did evoke very strong emotional responses from the readers.

Verdict

At its core, More Happy than Not is a book about being human. It worked wonderfully well because the masterful execution made you truly care about the characters. So, make sure to prepare a box of tissues prior to reading this book. Oh, and try not to read it in public if you can.

Final score

4 stars
4 stars (out of 5 stars)

Let me know, have you read More Happy than Not or is it on your TBR? If you have read it, what do you think about the book?

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More Happy than Not Tag

Posted on by Windie @ dip into books
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In the spirits of #FBCYA book of the month, More Happy than Not by Adam Silvera, I’m doing the More Happy than Not tag. Thank you to my fellow #FBCYA bloggers, Bianca @ Ultimate Fangirl and Trisha @ The Bookgasm for tagging me.
By the way, if you haven’t read this book, YOU TOTALLY SHOULD! It was beautiful and heart-wrenching and even though I didn’t cry, I had a lot of feelings about this book.

Let’s get to the tag.

more happy than not tag

I am more happy than not:

after I finish my 30-minute interval training because I DID IT

when I get home from exhausting day at work to find my mom has prepared my favorite food

when I accidentally purchase a book from Kindle store…

when I have to wait hours for my bus, but have my favorite podcast to listen to

when I have to work on the weekends, but knowing I will get properly compensated

when I manage to make that piece of code works after days of mind-numbing debugging

when I spend the next day walking around in zombie mode having spent the night before finishing a great book

whenever I have that perfect blend of coffee no matter the situation I’m in

when I see that new release I’ve been wanting to read, even though the price tag makes me cringe

everytime I buy new stationery even if I will never use it

I TAG

Sara @ Freadom Library
Emma @ Emma the Book Lover
Luna @ LuniReads
Jorelene @ Page Chronicles

and

everyone who has read this book, but yet to do the tag.

Please don’t feel obligated to do the tag if you don’t want to/have done it before.

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Diverse Books Recommendation #FBCYA

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Last month, I read and chat about Harry Potter for the Fanboy Book Club, this awesome book club dedicated to read books with male leads. This month, our book of the month is More Happy than Not by Adam Silvera, a book I’ve been wanting to read for some time. MC @ Blame It On The Books will be hosting this month, and as per her announcement post, we get to recommend diverse books for this month. By the way, you should totally check out her post for other bloggers’ recommendation and in case you want to join the book club.

Onwards!

I think that I haven’t read that many diverse books, but here are some I want to share with you. In the spirit of FBCYA, the first two are with male with leads, number three to five has male leads although there are multiple narrators. However, the last one has female lead.

For urban fantasy focusing on family:

THE DEMON’S LEXICON (Sarah Rees Brennan)

tdl Diversity pitch:

  • Disabled male protagonist (not the narrator)
  • LGBT characters, people of color

Other high points:

  • Focus on relationships between siblings and family
  • Witty banters all day all the time
  • Only one of my favorite book ever (forgive me for recommending it every single time)

 

For heartwarming LGBT contemporary:

SIMON VS THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA (Becky Albertalli)

 sim Diversity pitch:

  • Characters: LGBT, people of colors
  • Tackling many issues: family and friend support, homophobic issue, social media

Other high points:

  • Heartwarming without ignoring important issues
  • Can i just say this is my favorite YA contemporary ever? :))

 

For a blend of romance and fantasy:

CARRY ON (Rainbow Rowell)

carry_on Diversity pitch:

  • two boy wizards fell in love in the midst of good vs evil battle.
  • interspecies (?) relationships
  • multiracial leads, including the best friend

Other high points:

  • Rowell wields parentheses like a boss (some readers seem to be annoyed by this, but I love it)
  • Unique spellcasting influenced by pop culture

 

For eclectics cast with disabled protagonist:

SIX OF CROWS (Leigh Bardugo)

 soc Diversity pitch:

  • MC with physical disability (crippled)
  • The melting pot that is Ketterdam, offering us a bunch of very diverse characters with distinct personalities

Other high points:

  • The interaction between the characters are what made Six of Crows so great. There’s something for everyone here
  • Heist!

 

For historical ghost stories filled with characters with diverse backgrounds: 

THE DIVINERS series (Libba Bray)

book cover Diversity pitch:

  • Diverse characters with distinct backgrounds: LGBT, people of color, immigrants, chorus girl with mysterious past. You named it.
  • Disabled key character in book 2

Other high points:

  • The atmosphere of this series is really fantastic

 

For a murder mystery highly influenced by Māori mythology:

 GUARDIAN OF THE DEAD (Karen Healey)

 book cover Diversity pitch:

  • Deeply rooted in Māori culture and their mythology. If you like mythology, but want to try something other than Greek/Rome, you might want give this one a try
  • Asexual character
  • Body image issue
  • Multispecies, multiracial

Other high points:

  • Page-turner mystery

 

That’s all for now! There are many books I didn’t get to mention here and even many more that I need to read. Please leave me your recommendations for diverse books.

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Fanboy Book Club: Kick-off #FBCYA

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Hello everyone,

I’m so excited to announce that I am now a member of a book club. It’s called the Fanboy Book Club and it was created by Bianca @ Ultimate Fangirl. FBC is a book club dedicated to read, discuss, and review books with male leads. If you’d like to know more about this book club, check out Bianca’s post here and her intro post here. The official goodreads page could be found here. I never joined a book club before, so it’s going to be fun!
Our February read is a book called Harry Potter and The Philosopher’s Stone. You might have heard of it :p It’s going to be a re-read for me, but it’s been a while since I re-read HP so I cannot wait!

But first of all, a kick-off post!

Card_edit

Tell us a little bit about yourself

Hey guys *waves* I’m Windie, currently resides in my hometown in Jakarta, Indonesia.

Anyway, I love books (obviously), procrastinating, coffee, (learning to) write codes, and I suck at graphic-making. I’m also an avid F1 fan, but never mind that. :p

How did you come up with your blog name?

My blog is called Geek Apprentice because it wasn’t meant to be a book blog. I used to blog about techy-stuff I was learning about (hence the name), but then last October I decided to switch to book blogging.

You could totally see that I’m awful at planning.

Who is your favorite male character?

The first name that came to my mind is Nico DiAngelo (from the infamous Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan). And after that Alan Ryves (from The Demon’s Lexicon series by Sarah Rees Brennan). Please let me have two. I don’t wanna choose between my faves.

I’m giving you the freedom here. Who are your book husbands/book boyfriends?

I know this is supposed to give me freedom, but I tend to ship character with other character so I don’t really have a book boyfriend. lol. I’m just going to go with my fave here: Alan Ryves. Because he loves books, he’s a good cook, and he’s great with parents and children (I suck at both). He’s also a compulsive liar, but I think I could handle that.

Book with a male lead that really stuck to your heart?

The Demon’s – okay fine I’ll go with another book. It’s also one I’ve been mentioning a lot: Unwind by Neal Shusterman. It actually has multi-POV but I always think the first Unwind book as Connor’s story. Unwind is a book that’s really close to my heart because the theme (organ donation vs unwinding) struck me as realistic and it’s one of a very few books that really blew my mind.

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