Kai
by Derek Vasconi
Paperback: 362 pages
Publisher: Derek Vasconi (May 22, 2015)
Ratings: ★ ★ ★ ★
Note: I received a review copy of this book free from the author, Derek Vasconi. The review posted below is based on my personal thoughts while reading the book.
My thoughts:
Okay, I liked KAI. The way the author describes every scene, uhm very hair-raising. Can't read when I'm alone! If you are following this blog, you know that I only read when everyone is out of the house/sleeping. Reading KAI, well, had to do it when kids are in the house. Too many distractions I know but I really need them with me lol.
KAI is really good but is complex. Just the kind of story that you should closely follow or you'll be confused. I'm thinking maybe it's the alternating stories of the main characters (Seul Bi and Satsuki), and the rhyming Japanese names.
All in all, it was a good book. I enjoyed reading KAI, added to my re-read list.
Purchase your copy
About the book:
The bastard child of Haruki Murakami’s 1Q84 and Stephen King’s CARRIE, KAI explores how one innocent girl becomes the target of enormous rage living inside another girl-who is seemingly from another world.
Satsuki Takamoto is an invisible otaku teenager in Hiroshima. The only thing she has going for her is the upcoming birth of her sister. No longer will she be alone. But after tragedy strikes her family, Satsuki loses her one chance at happiness. She spirals into a deep depression, shutting out everyone and everything by locking herself inside her bedroom-for good. Her sadness, however, pales in comparison to her uncontrollable anger. It spreads like a nuclear fire, ambivalent to what or who it destroys, and won’t stop until Satsuki accepts her sister’s death.
Meanwhile, on the other side of the world in Evanston, Illinois, Seul Bi Rissiello can’t sleep because every time she closes her eyes, she relives her adoptive parents’ gruesome deaths. Why is she thinking so much about them now, ten years afterward? As she struggles with working at a clinic for the mentally disturbed, Seul Bi starts to unravel under the weight of living a lonely life and being twice an orphan. Her life devolves into a series of ominous and dangerous hallucinations that threaten not only her sanity, but her very existence as well.
As both girls struggle to understand what is happening to them, their enigmatic connection comes into focus, raising the question: What if all the suffering in your life was carefully choreographed by somebody you’ve never met?
Aisuru
by Anma Natsu
Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Zenbi Press (March 27, 2015)
Paperback: 398 pages
Publisher: Zenbi Press; 1st edition (March 22, 2015)
Kindle Edition
File Size: 1662 KB
Print Length: 365 pages
Simultaneous Device Usage: Unlimited
Publisher: Zenbi Press (March 27, 2015)
Publication Date: March 27, 2015
Sold by: Amazon Digital Services, Inc.
Ratings: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Note: I received a review copy of this book free from the author, Anma Natsu. The review posted below is based on my personal thoughts while reading the book.
My thoughts:
This is my first Japanese-themed novel and I loved it soooo muchooo! While I tremendously enjoyed reading this (the romance part), it also gave me extreme sadness, hopelessness, and depression. I hate to include my illness in the review but I have to. I started reading this in May 2015, but couldn't get to finish as I was too busy with lots of doctor visits. When I was diagnosed having lymphoma (cancer of the lymph nodes) in June, it became hard for me to go back reading this. The main character, Sakura, is dying and I have cancer. So just imagine me reading the story. Suddenly, Sarura became me.
I managed to finish the story, with or without cancer, I found the book sooo good. What I loved most is that how the author provided info about the Japanese culture and tradition. The setting of the story was likewise written well.
I highly recommend this to readers who are into Japan-themed novels.
About the book:
"It was madness to be more than her companion and caretaker..."
For the last eight years, Sakura Takeshi has been counting down the time till her life ended. Though she survived the attack that left her an orphan, it's always been borrowed time as her damaged body continued to break down.
She told herself she was ready, that she had come to terms with dying before she reached 19. Then she found Kazuki lying wounded in her garden. His arrival opens the door for her whole world to change, but is it too late for her to learn to live, or to love, when there are only months left in her life?
Set in Hakodate, Japan, Aisuru is a young adult fantasy romance that will appeal to readers who enjoy shōjo manga and Japanese light novels, have a fondness for magical realism, and who are looking for something just a little bit different from the usual young adult romance.
If you're looking for stories featuring abusive relationships, stalkery bad boys, or shallow, mean natured girls, this isn't the story for you. What you will find are realistic characters, relationships built on mutual respect, and two hearts brought together just when they needed each other most.
About the author:
Anma Natsu is a long-time writer who waited until the big 40 was rapidly approaching to get off her duff and get her first novel out there. A control-freak and proud of it, she took the indie route so she could write the stories she wanted to write and deliver them her way.
With a style that unabashedly reflects the influence her favorite reads, manga and light novels, have had, Anma uses her stories to explore the intricacies of life and love in all its various forms.
Anma also hosts the mostly weekly podcast "The Lackadaisical Writer", available on iTunes, iHeartRadio, and other podcast directories, where she shares her experiences and lessons she's learning as an indie author.
Away from her novel writing and podcasting, she spends her days writing code as a web developer, snuggling with her sweetie for anime time, indulging in the hilarity of natural horror & disaster B-movies, and playing far more video games than a woman her age should admit to.
