Resep Cinta, a novel by Primadonna Angela

Ask Cinnamon Cherry testing the foods—before you finished your request, she asks another plates. Ask Cherry cooking—before you finished your sentences, she asks a favor.


But everything’s change when Cherry meets Basil.

Handsome and charming Basil, wants cooking expert girlfriend. It’s impossible Cherry refused Basil’s request to make him delicious cuisines.

Cherry who don’t wanna go to kitchen before, now meets the ingredients and foodstuffs. With simple recipes (but delicious) from her parents, Cherry tries to win Basil’s heart.


Her difficult struggles—because there is Maya Renggo who’s have a crush on Basil. Beautiful, the heiress of famous restaurants and culinary genious Maya. Before Cherry able to think this new threat, Maya challenge her to get Basil with cooking competition.



This book is full of delicious recipes—I’m hungry now! At the end of each chapter, she gave her family’s recipes. Her writing style reminds me of Meg Cabot with Princess Diaries series. Resep Cinta is cheerful and funny—teens characteristics, but too many detail of Cherry’s feelings (of course it does, it tells from first person point of view, stupid me!). So the story seems too slow to me. And it used hyperbols technic.

The book is good but too thin. I’m still enjoying the story, then it reach the ending. And I hate Basil. Gorgeous and perfect but he is a recipes thief. It’s true: Don’t judge a book by its cover. But it doesn’t affect to Divo. From the beginning of the book, Cherry knows him well. I have to try the recipes there. It looks like very, very delicious. Yummy!

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Why does Hollywood Ruins Novels by Turning Them into Craps?

Hollywood keeps translate page to screen. Many give money and give more when the sequels, remake or spin-off are made. They were glorious in awards (nominee including) and box office charts. Such as The Lord of the Rings trilogy (this is the best ever!), Slumdog Millionaire, Prince Caspian, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

But, not all novels had this achievements. Although they had “Bestseller” title on the cover, they slept in gaining dollars. We can say Eragon and The Golden Compass. Why is this happening? Our satisfaction in reading hundreds of pages from books became big disaster and they collected criticisms, scorns, mocks and etc., etc.

What makes the book so good and the movie so bad? And why is this divergence so unsurprising? The answer is simple, but it has complex implications: Novels are long, but movies are short. It's impossible to encapsulate the tonal shifts of a book like Revolutionary Road in a feature-length film, no matter how long those two hours feel.
This is what the movies do to literature, typically: There's so much plot to get in that there's no time to tell the story. Perhaps it's the insecurity of Hollywood: Inflated by the borrowed prestige of books, producers and directors won't stray too far from the guide-ropes of the story.
William Davidson wrote on Slate.com

But, once again, Hollywood is still making those each year. No matter how the final results are, they do that with their great efforts from many aspects. However, it is often the case that the book is significantly better than the movie.

Faking It, a novel by Jennifer Crusie

She has a history of forgery she's trying to forget. He has a knack for scamming he's trying to resist. But one fateful night, their good intentions go bad, And what they get up to is downright immoral, illegal, and irresistible.

All the characters are pretending. Pretends to be someone else, pretends to be not him/herself. All of them has their own intentions in pretending. Cheating, telling lies or not telling the truth are their works. It’s boring reading this though it started a little bit interesting from the middle of the book. Honestly, I don’t like this book. For reasons above and for this reason: too many exposed vulgar sex scenes (not too significant for the story).

Many artists are told. Monet, van Gogh, Corot. Also old songs like “Come and Get Me” by Jackie DeShannon, “You’re no Good” by Linda Ronstadt, and “I’m the Only One” by Melissa Etherigde as the background of the story. The funny things are those songs is played when exact situations like the songs happened. Few characters played old movie quotes and use film characters as nickname (tends to mock each others, though) like “Dial M for Murder.” And I don’t know these old things at all (I hate this).

The Goodnights divided men into two categories: donut and muffin. Donut isn’t good if you eat it tomorrow since it will be hard to eat and the icing will melt. This means donut typed is one-night-stand guy. You might guess what muffin means.

From this book, I know arts can be misused in order to get more many. Fake paintings, imitation paintings (I think they have the same meaning, but it’s not!). Not only fleamarket sellers, but curators and collectors as well.

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Theme: Forbidden Love Story

Love story is common theme in romance book. To give tragic element into the book and make readers love the main characters, just put one word in front of those words: FORBIDDEN.

Many writers like this theme. The differences between people in the world is enough to attract them. Two rivalry families, two people from different caste, two different creatures. Just these cases, they can write incidents to incidents and troubles to troubles to test their love, good guys can be the villains. And don’t forget betrayal to sweeten the story. Happy couples can be ex-husband/wife full of hatred, peace family/country can light fire of war. That’s what readers like. Intense and layered conflicts.

How scary the power of words!

But, those are for classic books. Now, romance books is more light with comedy and action as freshener. The situations are more acceptable. How they feel to each other, how their surrounding react. No cynical staring or isolation from people because the world has changed to modernity.

Number one classic forbidden love story the world know is William Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, of course. Also Shakespeare’s Othello that told white master-black slave love story. But, nowadays, the human-vampire love story is written happy ending in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight saga.

In local book, there is Light-Darkness love story of Sitta Karina’s Aerial. Then, Ilana Tan’s Autumn in Paris which is between step brother and step sister (this is very tragic). Clara Ng’s Gerhana Kembar is told lesbian love story openly. Dee wrote funny forbidden love story; cockroach and little girl in one of Filosofi Kopi’s short story.

Aerial, a novel by Sitta Karina

“You’re familiar. Your blood scent is familiar.”
“I don’t know you at all.”
“You do know me, Princess.”

Sadira, the Princess of Sun and Hassya, the Prince of Darkness are enemies from two different lands; one uses sun as the energy of life, the other will burn if they’re affected by it. At first, Sadira thought the Darkness clan is a bunch of monsters. Until one day, she is saved by pale skinned, handsome, cold but having honest look in the eye, Hassya.

According to ancient prophecy, if they’re together, those two clans will face destruction. But Hassya wants to fight everything that stands between them and be Sadira’s protector.

Preventing that destruction, Antya, Sadira’s sister and Linc, the white pegasus try to call saviors from another world – Laskar and Sahika, students of Surya Ilmu High School – world which isn’t as beautiful as theirs and full of skyscrapers.

The world that will fully support Sadira’s dan Hassya’s love.

Classical Romeo and Juliet forbidden love in new form: Light and Darkness fall in love in far far away land as setting with the arrival of two outworld saviors. This book has two forbidden love stories: Sadira-Hassya and Laskar-Sashika as the minor one. Those two love stories is like Romeo and Juliet, two families that hate each other.

Sailendra and other characters from previous and next book show up a little, too. I feel surprised when two main protagonists are killed. I think they will live longer (that will happen IF I write this book). Afterall, writer has to dare doing anything to make readers touched by the moral of the story.

COOL! ASTONISHING! SUPERB! I don’t know anymore words that can describe this. Visualizing this book is challenging. What does Aerial look like? What does those two lands look like? Sitta Karina’s great imagination flows through my mind. My eyes are widened and I feel astonished. She is great in arranging and binding sentences. She is one of Indonesia’ J.K. Rowling, indeed.

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Breaking Dawn, a novel by Stephenie Meyer

This finale series divided into three parts. Part one is Bella’s perspective. Part two is Jacob’s perspective. And part three, back to Bella’s. All those parts are sequencial.

I don’t like honeymoon and pregnant sequences. Edward treated Bella as if she is made of glass. And after Bella was sick by her pregnancy, Edward pursued Bella to kill the baby. How could he? He didn’t want Bella of being hurt so he wanted the baby being out of her. For God’s sake. The baby is his child. A cruel, egoist vampire.

The funny thing is Jacob imprinted (finally) on Renesmee (whoa!). I thought his imprinting object was Leah. I’ve got totally wrong. He is going to be Bella’s son-in-law – in few years (Edward even called him “my son”). What a wonderful world!

Many vampires showed up. I like vampires with special abilities – Benjamin from Egyptian coven especially. He is so adorable with kiddo appearance and adult thinking. Bella’s finally known her ability, too. Shielding her and others’ mind. Kinda cool.

I have a feeling of disappointment here. There weren’t any fighting part. Just some little killing attacks with grinning and staring as additions. I have had imagined the Volturi would have been destroyed and the Romanians would have taken control.

From Alice’s and Jasper’s leaving, the tense is growing higher and higher. It glued me to keep on reading and I thought of enormous frontal war when all the vampires camped in the clearing. Unfortunately, Alice and Jasper came back with one big evidence that spoiled my big-spectacular-war imagination. The climax is too short and becoming the anticlimax in a hurry. Why they didn’t fight anyway? Ugh!

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D’Angel: princess, a novel by Luna Torashyngu

Fika is sick, but actually as Genoid her body is stronger than ordinary human. When looking for cure in Japan, Fika finds new puzzles that brings her back to Indonesia.

In Indonesia, Fika was asked to act as President’s younger daughter’s private guard. Again, Fika is going back to high school as guard of Gayatri – prefer be called as Gya. But, the second first daughter is cold-hearted and introvert, also has no friends. Gya refuse Fika’s existence, and yet there are murder threats to all President’s family.

Fika tries to change Gya’s hard personality, also finds out the family puzzle and Genoid complicated problems. Fika’s problem becomes more complicated when she is sick, more than before and suddenly there is another Genoid with higher ability then hers. Whereas, she knows that she is the last Genoid in the world. When she fights this new Genoid, Fika asks herself, is this the end of her life?

The last part of D’Angel trilogy.

This last book is still good. Luna knew Indonesia’s secret service a lot, with their strict protocoler and has no sympathy or empathy to their object. Mission is the first. There are no other more. This time Fika doesn’t have to look for something. She has her object and she will do her mission with her way.

Genoid and hacker are still the background. Plus ilegal car race and a little karate kumite.

Finally, Andika reappeared. But, I don’t like his feeling. Who does he love? Ayumi or Fika? I hate when man can’t decide it clearly. The anticlimax is too short. Fika is dead but actually she fakes her own dead with Aditya’s help. Then she and Andika go in hiding. Oops, sorry spoiler.

I wanna read their love life a lot more. Maybe between Fika does her job in school, or Andika meet her in someplace. Not like this. I can’t see Andika’s real feeling. Overall, this is a good book. The tense is kept and the fighting is good. As if I see them all by myself.

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The Tales of Beedle the Bard, a story by J.K. Rowling

Amazing! It’s written as an ordinary fairy tale to us, Muggles. Like Cinderella or Sleeping Beauty, this children’s story is read by magical parents to their children. It’s full of knowledge and educated the young Wizarding community to do the right things. Rowling wrote the moral of the story without boasting thing or experienced old-men impression.

The book is translated by Hermione Granger from Ancient Runes with few pages Prof. Dumbledore’s commentary. Rowling acted as Beedle the Bard when she wrote this book. It consist of five short stories:
1. The Wizard and the Hopping Pot
2. The Fountain of Fair Fortune
3. The Warlock’s Hairy Heart
4. Babbity Rabbity and Her Cackling Stump
5. The Tale of the Three Brothers

My favorite is, of course, The Tale of the Three Brothers. It is said the youngest Brother is Harry’s ancestor. It is connected to the Harry Potter saga directly. Elder Wand, Ressurection Stone, Invisibility Cloak. They all are in Harry Potter book 7, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

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Asking for Trouble, a novel by Elizabeth Young

Unmarried, thirty-year-old Sophy Metcalfe told a little white he to soothe her nagging mother. The white lies name was "Dominic," the ideal boyfriend: charming, successful, the kind of prospective son-in-law that would make any mother proud. But now that Sophy's thin and beautiful sister, Belinda, is getting married, Dominic is going to have to make an appearance in the flesh -- which should be a pretty neat trick ... since the genuine article vanished from Sophy's life after a single, singularly unmemorable evening. So she resorts to a very drastic measure -- aka Josh Carmichael, the escort she hires at the very last minute, sight unseen.

But the trouble with white lies is that they tend to multiply. The trouble with rugged, too-sexy, and independent Josh is ... well, that Sophy's actually beginning to like him! Even if they make it through the Wedding Day from Hell together -- with its new intrigues, old flames, and all-too-familiar faces -- there's the night that follows... and, of course, the morning after. And that could end up being the biggest trouble of all!

Moms always take care of their children. Mostly, their attentions make the children mad. So does Sophy. She makes a lot of lies to make her mother happy. This book is so funny because Sophy has to make lies to cover the other lies. Such an interesting character. Her imagination is flowing anywhere.

I can’t stand of Sophy’s and Josh’s feeling. Why just can’t they show it? Without lies, of course. And, Belinda’s case. I think that sequence is not important to Sophy’s and Josh’s feeling. Wait a minute, maybe it’s important, but not too important. If Belinda doesn’t run away, Josh won’t be caught and Sophy has to make other lies. But… I can’t say anymore. It’s complicated.

All I can say is: lies are viruses. Longer you make lies, deeper you fell. After one lie, you have to make other lie so as not to be caught.

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