Mouth to Mouth by Christian Simamora

OK. Christian Simamora is officially my favorite Indonesian romance author now. As soon as I knew the new novel is released, I raced to the bookstore to buy 1 copy. He’s back with his J-boyfriend series this time. (Preorder is one option but I like being in control of what I’m paying for more. You can always preorder here: http://twigora.com/.)

Isadora (Is), our main actress of the novel, was a buyer at a premium department store, Haute & Co. She was traumatized by her ex boyfriend, Al, with whom she just broke up 1 month ago and who couldn’t understand the meaning of ‘break up’. Al kept contacting her, saying that he missed her and that he wanted her back. What’s worse was the fact that Al was somehow related to Is’ sister’s soon-to-be husband (their wedding was 2 weeks away). She convinced him that she already had a new boyfriend but Al wouldn’t buy it, resulting in her having to take her ‘new boyfriend’ to her sister’s wedding.

Jordache (Jordi), definitely our J-boyfriend, happened to just moved in to Is’ next room in her lodge. A couple of meetings with Jordi popped an idea to Is’ head: to make him her fake boyfriend, to take to her sister’s wedding to make her ex boyfriend believe that she had a new boyfriend. Little did they know that after Jordi agreed to being Is’ fake boyfriend, they would be enjoying the pretending very much.

I enjoyed the novel very much that I finished reading in 2 days. Definitely couldn’t stop reading once I started. Another good job from Babang Christian Simamora. 😀

After You by Jojo Moyes

I happened to find this book in Big Bad Wolf 2018 (it is an annual book event, normally held for 10-12 days straight: https://www.bigbadwolfbooks.com/id/) and bought it because it was cheap, without thinking to finish reading it. My last time reading English novel(s) was a while ago, with the novel getting dusty on my bedside table and still marked at the last page I read.

Of course, I watched the movie “Me Before You”, which is the prequel of this novel, and I like the movie.

In ‘After You’, Louisa Clark (Lou) was going through a deep heartbreak after losing Will Traynor to a painful planned death. She’d traveled around Europe for 1 years, moved out of her parents’ house to stay in London, and worked a horrible job at an airport bar. She was too scared to sleep that most nights she would just smoke and drink until she dropped and fell asleep. One night when she was smoking at the balcony of her apartment, she fell down from the fifth floor and half paralyzed for a while. The first half of the novel is as gloomy as everyone can imagine.

After checking out of hospital, she went back to her parents’ house and was let go with 1 requirement: she must join ‘Moving On Circle,’ a support group in a church in London consisting of people who had lost their loved ones, gathering every Friday evening. In Moving On Circle, she met a lot of other people just like her, sharing stories and reminiscing memories of their lost loved ones. As a sugar on top, she also met Jake, a teenage boy whose mother died due to cancer and father irresponsibly bounced from a girl to another girl. He was picked up regularly by Sam, a paramedic who happened to be the one rescuing Lou after her accident in her apartment.

Lou’s life was changed the moment Lily Houghton-Miller showed up, bringing a shocking news that she was Will Traynor’s daughter. As much as Lou didn’t want to believe that Lily was Will’s daughter, by time she found that Lily got more like Will in many ways, from physical to mental traits. Lily was as unstable as a 16-year-old girl can be, and Lou felt responsible for Lily’s happiness, especially since she always felt that she was unwanted by her own mother (who got married to another guy and had 2 sons).

In the end, as every romance novel ends, everything went well for Lou, Sam, and Lily. They all got the life they wanted in the first place.

This novel is a good read, given that I finished reading in less than 2 months after flipping through the first page.

Remuk Redam by Christian Simamora

Yes, I didn’t preorder this one and I had to get in and out of bookstores for 3 consecutive days before I finally found one (and bought it without thinking).

This book is a “spin-off” of the previously released “Burn Baby Burn“, which you can read without reading the predecessor. In Burn Baby Burn, the main character loved listening to a band named “Expectation”, for their single “Tsundere”, to be exact. Here in Remuk Redam, the main character is the vocalist of Expectation, Lucas Wolff. He is best friends with his manager and another YouTube hit, Mahir Siregar.

There once was a young woman who owned a man clothing label called “Gentleman 1995”, which was on the edge of bankruptcy. This woman, Olivia, inspired by her gay best friend, Fendi‘s spontaneous words, came to an event to approach Mahir with an expectation that he will be attracted to her, be her boyfriend, and promote her label for free. The most effective way to boost up a company’s profit this day, really.

Never came to her mind that she will instead attract Luc – the short of Lucas, a typical rocker who once broke her heart: a playboy with a lot of tattoos on his skin. Regardless of how hard she tried, she always failed to reject Luc – this includes not putting her heart in a relationship, the one thing she’s always proud of. In the end, it was proved that Luc broke her heart, just as his image says. ‘It was never a good idea to be involved with a rocker,’ she thought as her world was falling around her.

All in all, I can say Bang Christian Simamora is back with his romance style that I always love. Good job on this one too, Bang! I only needed 3 days (after office!!) to finish the book. 🙂 You should get 1 for yourself too.

Burn Baby Burn by Christian Simamora

This is officially my 3rd time pre-ordering Christian Simamora’s novel – I didn’t look after the bonus, but the ability to receive the novel earlier than everyone else. If you’re interested in ordering too, you can follow the publisher’s social media accounts: Twitter or Instagram. This newest novel was released on 22 January 2018 and I finished reading it in 3 days. 😀 I can only give my salute to this guy for releasing a novel with different genre than he normally writes and he’s also out of his J-boyfriend series at the same time (he claims that the story was from the same universe, though).

Gia was an introvert translator/writer who enjoyed staying at home and being careless about how she looked. At the age of 35, she was still single and felt uncomfortable interacting with other human, especially her older sister, Cass. She felt that Cass meddled in her business way too much, complaining about her being single and forcing her to get out of her ‘nest’. Gia felt the opposite about her niece, though. Gadis, Cass’ daughter, got along very well with Gia. They hung out now and then, and their favorite restaurant was The Roux, a creole restaurant.

Kyrian LeRoux, or in short, Ky, was the handsome owner and chef of The Roux. Unquestionably, Gia felt for Ky. Encouraged by Gadis, Gia started her approach to Ky after he called her by name during one of her visit to The Roux. They believed that Ky also had feelings for Gia.

Cass kept warning Gia (and Gadis) that Ky had nothing special for Gia, and that Gia needed to be extra cautious being around him. Instead, both Gia and Gadis confronted Cass. It didn’t take a long time for Gia to be heartbroken: Ky had a girlfriend. The worst of it all was that only when Ky broke up did he find Gia again, confirming Cass’ claim that he only took Gia as a ‘spare tire’.

As always, Christian Simamora never upsets me. In this novel, he proves that he’s matured up his writing skills. I cannot wait to read his other new novels. Good job, Abang! 😀

What a Boss Wants by Christian Simamora

*First of all, I need to say sorry for not being able to write a review about Christian Simamora’s previously released book. Here’s the review of his newest novel titled ‘What a Boss Wants’ which was released early August 2017.

Jiro Amadeus Vimana inherited Toybox, a local toy producer, from his father, Danno Vimana, who has recently become ill. Danno is a Vimana who doesn’t want to use his family’s name and wealth to start a business – instead, he started Toybox with his own blood and sweat. After 1 year of retreat around Asia, Jiro still could not fight the fear he’s had when dealing with the dictator Danno, who wouldn’t listen to whatever Jiro said.

Becoming a toy designer has always been Soleram Anand (Sol)’s dream ever since she was a child. Being a huge fan of Carousel Pony, she practically lived in a fairy tale she’s created for herself. Never had she imagined that she would be working with a very charming and handsome Jiro in Toybox, which honestly had attracted her since her first day of work. Jiro had always been, on the other hand, out of reach for Sol that she didn’t dare dreaming about him.

Shanghai Toy Expo had somehow brought the two people traveling together: the love-skeptical Jiro and the imaginative Sol. Spending one week away from home, the ice between Jiro and Sol melted away..

As expected, Christian Simamora has become more mature in his diction and story plot. The novel is very much enjoyable, making every reader want to keep flipping the pages on and on. Keep up the good work, Bang! 😀

Supernova: Kesatria, Putri dan Bintang Jatuh by Dee Lestari

I read the novel for the first time back in 2002 during my first year of high school (the book was launched in 2001). I remember liking the novel but had a hard time reading it because of the incomprehensible concept of the story. Long story short, they made a movie out of this novel and by chance I won free tickets, so it’s so me to buy the novel to read it once more before watching the movie.

It was told that a couple of 10 years, Reuben and Dimas, thought of creating something different, and they came up with the idea of writing a novel. Reuben the genius, combined with Dimas the romantic, wrote together a novel inspired by a rare sad ending fairy tale about a knight, a princess, and a shooting star (ksatria, putri dan bintang jatuh).

The knight is someone who fell in love so deep with the pretty princess that he took the only chance the shooting star gave him to take him to the princess’s place beyond the sky. When they arrived, the shooting star was also charmed by the princess that in a moment he left the knight alone in the dark and came to the princess himself.

In parallel universe, there was a young executive, Ferre (the knight), who fell in love with a magazine reporter he met by chance, Rana (the princess). Rana was married to Arwin, so it makes things complicated for the two people deeply in love. Then there came Supernova, the Cyber Avatar of the story, who gave people advices, including our Ferre and Rana. After struggling with things, Rana finally decided to come back to her husband, leaving Ferre deeply heartbroken that he didn’t leave his house for 3 full days, making his across the street neighbor, Diva (the shooting star), worried. Diva was a dangerously pretty and smart, independent woman who is not willing to work in any institution – she made her money by giving people ‘services’ and only the services they are paying for. Diva helped Ferre a lot in transforming to be a real knight, and after she’s done, she left.

Overall, I’m giving 4 out of 5 stars for this novel. Even after reading it for the second time, I’m still amazed by how Dee is telling the story. It’s mysterious in a way and genius in other, giving us a different perspective on how to see the world. It’s hard not to flip to the next page as you finish reading one.