Word Revel

Celebrate the love for books

OPEN ROAD SUMMER by Emery Lord

OPEN ROAD SUMMER by Emery LordEver got your emotions tangled up so much in a book, you didn’t know where to draw the line between your mind and the book? That’s how I felt about Open Road Summer.

Open Road Summer was actually not a book that I meant to read. I saw many praises for it online, particularly on Twitter, which is why I decided I would pass. I didn’t even read the synopsis. I saw the cover with the awfully overexposed sky washing out the couple with that weird tone of a green for the title, and thought, Nah, not gonna read that. I pretty much ignored all the raving henceforth. But then, a brand new copy stared right at me at the library. It basically called out to me, telling me to give it a chance. I couldn’t resist. I had to know what the hype was about.

THE BREAK-UP ARTIST by Philip Siegel

THE BREAK-UP ARTIST by Philip SiegelConsidering how much of a cynic or a realist I am (depending on whom you ask), The Break-Up Artist should’ve been the perfect book for me. The premise drew me to The Break-Up Artist in an instant. I thought I would meet an anti-hero but I didn’t. I thought I would finally not have to roll my eyes at cliché lines. That held up for a good part of the book, until I did roll my eyes.

SALTWATER MOONS by Julie Gittus

SALTWATER MOONS by Julie GittusSaltwater Moons is a very contemplative novel, full of heartache from the beginning right through to the end. What I liked about it is how true to life it is. I think that’s difficult to pull off. As much as realistic fiction carries the label realistic, it’s more about being believable because so many things happen in life that are unbelievable, yet in fiction, readers struggle to suspend their disbelief when such events take place in books.

MY SINGAPORE LOVER by Judy Chapman

MY SINGAPORE LOVER by Judy ChapmanI visited the library earlier today, fully determined to check out the Singapore collection. Faced with the fiction shelf of Singapore literature, this one bright blue spine popped out, so I took it from the shelf. Turns out it was My Singapore Lover. While I didn’t really know what it was about, I had seen copies of that book on display at bookstores. I thus started to read the book. 20 pages in, I already wanted to chuck it aside. Nothing really grabbed me but I didn’t want to make snap judgements. Plus, My Singapore Lover was published fairly recently, which I figured fits in squarely with Crazy Rich Asians, another book set in Singapore that was published last year. (I have yet to read it.)

LEAP OF FAITH by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley

LEAP OF FAITH by Kimberly Brubaker BradleyBooks about religious exploration somehow fascinate me, so much so that I went ahead to request Leap of Faith from the public library’s repository. Older books that are out of print or for which there are only a copy left are usually pulled from the shelves and kept at the repository. Library users who wish to borrow these books need to pay a small fee to reserve them, so that they can pick them up from their nearest library. I must say, I’m glad I specifically requested this book.

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