Bright We Burn

 

Judul: Bright We Burn (The Conqueror's Saga #3)

Penulis: Kiersten White

Tebal: 416 halaman

Penerbit: Delacorte

Haunted by the sacrifices he made in Constantinople, Radu is called back to the new capital. Mehmed is building an empire, becoming the sultan his people need. But Mehmed has a secret: as emperor, he is more powerful than ever . . . and desperately lonely. Does this mean Radu can finally have more with Mehmed . . . and would he even want it?

Lada's rule of absolute justice has created a Wallachia free of crime. But Lada won't rest until everyone knows that her country's borders are inviolable. Determined to send a message of defiance, she has the bodies of Mehmed's peace envoy delivered to him, leaving Radu and Mehmed with no choice. If Lada is allowed to continue, only death will prosper. They must go to war against the girl prince.

But Mehmed knows that he loves her. He understands her. She must lose to him so he can keep her safe. Radu alone fears that they are underestimating his sister's indomitable will. Only by destroying everything that came before--including her relationships--can Lada truly build the country she wants.

Claim the throne. Demand the crown. Rule the world.

Now I Rise

 Judul: Now I Rise (The Conqueror's Saga #2)

Penulis: Kiersten White

Tebal: 471 halaman

Penerbit: Delacorte Press

Lada Dracul has no allies. No throne. All she has is what she s always had: herself. After failing to secure the Wallachian throne, Lada is out to punish anyone who dares to cross her blood-strewn path. Filled with a white-hot rage, she storms the countryside with her men, accompanied by her childhood friend Bogdan, terrorizing the land. But brute force isn t getting Lada what she wants. And thinking of Mehmed brings little comfort to her thorny heart. There s no time to wonder whether he still thinks about her, even loves her. She left him before he could leave her.

What Lada needs is her younger brother Radu s subtlety and skill. But Mehmed has sent him to Constantinople and it s no diplomatic mission. Mehmed wants control of the city, and Radu has earned an unwanted place as a double-crossing spy behind enemy lines Radu longs for his sister s fierce confidence but for the first time in his life, he rejects her unexpected plea for help. Torn between loyalties to faith, to the Ottomans, and to Mehmed, he knows he owes Lada nothing. If she dies, he could never forgive himself but if he fails in Constantinople, will Mehmed ever forgive him?

As nations fall around them, the Dracul siblings must decide: what will they sacrifice to fulfill their destinies? Empires will topple, thrones will be won . . . and souls will be lost.

Made You Up

 Title: Made You Up

Author: Francesca Zappia

Number of Page: 445

Publisher: Greenwillow Books

Reality, it turns out, is often not what you perceive it to be—sometimes, there really is someone out to get you. For fans of Silver Linings Playbook and Liar, this thought-provoking debut tells the story of Alex, a high school senior—and the ultimate unreliable narrator—unable to tell the difference between real life and delusion.

Alex fights a daily battle to figure out what is real and what is not. Armed with a take-no-prisoners attitude, her camera, a Magic 8 Ball, and her only ally (her little sister), Alex wages a war against her schizophrenia, determined to stay sane long enough to get into college. She's pretty optimistic about her chances until she runs into Miles. Didn't she imagine him? Before she knows it, Alex is making friends, going to parties, falling in love, and experiencing all the usual rites of passage for teenagers. But Alex is used to being crazy. She's not prepared for normal. Can she trust herself? Can we trust her?

Wildcard

 Title: Wildcard (Warcross #2)

Author: Marie Lu

Number of Page: 341

Publisher: Penguin

For the millions who log in every day, Warcross isn't just a game - it's a way of life. And teenage hacker Emika Chen has found herself caught up in a conflict that could change the world.

Warcross creator, Hideo Tanaka, wants to use to the game to control peoples' thoughts and feelings, effectively ending free will - Zero, a mysterious (and dangerous) hacker, wants to stop him.

Now Emika must decide who she will fight for. The game is on . . .

Chasing Cassandra

 Judul: Chasing Cassandra (The Ravenels #6)

Penulis: Lisa Kleypas

Tebal: 374 halaman

Penerbit: Avon

Everything has a price.

Railway magnate Tom Severin is wealthy and powerful enough to satisfy any desire as soon as it arises. Anything—or anyone—is his for the asking. It should be simple to find the perfect wife—and from his first glimpse of Lady Cassandra Ravenel, he’s determined to have her. But the beautiful and quick-witted Cassandra is equally determined to marry for love—the one thing he can’t give.

Everything except her.

Severin is the most compelling and attractive man Cassandra has ever met, even if his heart is frozen. But she has no interest in living in the fast-paced world of a ruthless man who always plays to win. When a newfound enemy nearly destroys Cassandra’s reputation, Severin seizes the opportunity he’s been waiting for. As always, he gets what he wants—or does he? There’s one lesson Tom Severin has yet to learn from his new bride: never underestimate a Ravenel.

The chase for Cassandra’s hand may be over. But the chase for her heart has only just begun . . .

Warcross

 Title: Warcross (Warcross #1)

Author: Marie Lu

Number of Page: 353

Publisher: Penguin Books Ltd

When a game called Warcross takes the world by storm, one girl hacks her way into its dangerous depths. For the millions who log in every day, Warcross isn't just a game—it's a way of life. Struggling to make ends meet, teenage hacker Emika Chen works as a bounty hunter, tracking down players who bet on the game illegally. When Emika hacks into the game illegally, she's convinced she'll be arrested, and is shocked when she gets a call from the game's creator, the elusive young billionaire Hideo Tanaka, with an irresistible offer. He needs a spy on the inside of this year's tournament in order to uncover a security problem ... and he wants Emika for the job.

Still Alice

 Title: Still Alice

Author: Lisa Genova

Number of Page: 336

Publisher: Pocket Books

Alice Howland, happily married with three grown children and a house on the Cape, is a celebrated Harvard professor at the height of her career when she notices a forgetfulness creeping into her life. As confusion starts to cloud her thinking and her memory begins to fail her, she receives a devastating diagnosis: early onset Alzheimer's disease. Fiercely independent, Alice struggles to maintain her lifestyle and live in the moment, even as her sense of self is being stripped away. In turns heartbreaking, inspiring and terrifying, Still Alice captures in remarkable detail what's it's like to literally lose your mind...

Calamity

 Title: Calamity (Reckoners #3)

Author: Brandon Sanderson

Number of Page: 448

Publisher: Ember

When Calamity lit up the sky, the Epics were born. David's fate has been tied to their villainy ever since that historic night. Steelheart killed his father. Firefight stole his heart. And now Regalia has turned Prof, his closest ally, into a dangerous enemy.

David knew Prof's secret, and kept it even when Prof struggled to control the effects of his Epic powers. But facing Obliteration in Babilar was too much. Once the Reckoners' leader, Prof has now embraced his Epic destiny. He's disappeared into those murky shadows of menace Epics are infamous for the world over, and everyone knows there's no turning back. . . .

But everyone is wrong. Redemption is possible for Epics--Megan proved it. They're not lost. Not completely. And David is just about crazy enough to face down the most powerful High Epic of all to get his friend back. Or die trying.

Call from an Angel

 Judul: Call from an Angel (Madeline #1)

Penulis : Guillaume Musso

Tebal: 432 halaman

Penerbit : Spring

Di New York, Madeline dan Jonathan tanpa sengaja menukar ponsel mereka. Saat mereka menyadari kesalahan tersebut, mereka sudah terpisah hampir 10.000 kilo meter. Madeline adalah seorang floris di Paris, Jonathan memiliki restoran di San Fransisco.

Tidak membutuhkan waktu lama bagi keduanya untuk menyerah pada godaan dan menelusuri ponsel masing-masing. Namun, itu malah menguak sebuah rahasia yang mereka berdua ingin kubur selamanya. Sebuah rahasia yang bisa membunuh mereka berdua.

Firefight

 

Title: Firefight (Reckoners #2)

Author: Brandon Sanderson

Number of Page: 448

Publisher: Ember

David Charleston has lived for one purpose: to kill Steelheart, the supremely powerful, seemingly invincible Epic who murdered his father. Now Steelheart is dead and David is beginning to question everything that he—and the world—understands about the superhumans they call Epics.

David’s suspicions are the reason he follows Prof to the flooded city once known as New York. But what he finds there could be what ultimately ends him. The truth might just burn deepest of all. . . .

The Broken Eye

Title : The Broken Eye (Lightbringer #3)

Author : Brent Weeks

Number of Page : 864

Publisher : Orbit

As the old gods awaken and satrapies splinter, the Chromeria races to find the only man who can still end a civil war before it engulfs the known world. But Gavin Guile has been captured by an old enemy and enslaved on a pirate galley. Worse still, Gavin has lost more than his powers as Prism--he can't use magic at all.

Without the protection of his father, Kip Guile will face a master of shadows as his grandfather moves to choose a new Prism and put himself in power. With Teia and Karris, Kip will have to use all his wits to survive a secret war between noble houses, religious factions, rebels, and an ascendant order of hidden assassins called The Broken Eye.

With or Without You

 

Judul : With or Without You

Penulis : Prisca Primasari

Tebal : 233 halaman

Penerbit : Gagasmedia

Apa jadinya jika Gris, pria pengkhayal dan pelupa itu, hidup tanpa Tulip yang penyabar dan teratur? Dahulu, hal itu tak pernah terlintas di benaknya. Mereka saling menyayangi dan seakan telah ditakdirkan untuk saling melengkapi.

Namun, hidup selalu menyembunyikan sesuatu. Menjelang hari bahagia mereka, ketakutan diam-diam menyusup di hati Gris. Kecerobohannya mungkin akan membuat Tulip pergi dari hidupnya.

Gris tak pernah membayangkan itu terjadi karena selama ini keinginannya tak tak banyak: hanya ingin membahagiakan Tulip dan tetap bersamanya. Namun, hidup selalu punya teka-teki. Apa jadinya cinta tanpa kebersamaan? Bagaimana jika itu yang terbaik yang ditawarkan hidup kepadamu?

Keresahan menggelayuti hati Gris. Adakah kesempatan untuk mengubah akhir cerita menjadi seperti yang seharusnya?

Assassin's Apprentice

 Judul : Assassin's Apprentice (The Farseer Trilogy #1)

Penulis : Robin Hobb

Tebal : 435 halaman

Penerbit : Spectra Books

In a faraway land where members of the royal family are named for the virtues they embody, one young boy will become a walking enigma.

Born on the wrong side of the sheets, Fitz, son of Chivalry Farseer, is a royal bastard, cast out into the world, friendless and lonely. Only his magical link with animals - the old art known as the Wit - gives him solace and companionship. But the Wit, if used too often, is a perilous magic, and one abhorred by the nobility.

So when Fitz is finally adopted into the royal household, he must give up his old ways and embrace a new life of weaponry, scribing, courtly manners; and how to kill a man secretly, as he trains to become a royal assassin.

And I Darken

 Judul : And I Darken (The Conqueror's Saga #1)

Penulis : Kiersten White

Tebal : 512 halaman

Penerbit : Ember

NO ONE EXPECTS A PRINCESS TO BE BRUTAL. And Lada Dragwlya likes it that way. Ever since she and her gentle younger brother, Radu, were wrenched from their homeland of Wallachia and abandoned by their father to be raised in the Ottoman courts, Lada has known that being ruthless is the key to survival. She and Radu are doomed to act as pawns in a vicious game, an unseen sword hovering over their every move. For the lineage that makes them special also makes them targets.

Lada despises the Ottomans and bides her time, planning her vengeance for the day when she can return to Wallachia and claim her birthright. Radu longs only for a place where he feels safe. And when they meet Mehmed, the defiant and lonely son of the sultan, who's expected to rule a nation, Radu feels that he's made a true friend--and Lada wonders if she's finally found someone worthy of her passion.

But Mehmed is heir to the very empire that Lada has sworn to fight against--and that Radu now considers home. Together, Lada, Radu, and Mehmed form a toxic triangle that strains the bonds of love and loyalty to the breaking point.

Little Fires Everywhere

 Judul : Little Fires Everywhere

Penulis : Celeste Ng

Tebal : 388 halaman

Penerbit : Hachette UK

Everyone in Shaker Heights was talking about it that summer: how Isabelle, the last of the Richardson children, had finally gone around the bend and burned the house down.

In Shaker Heights, a placid, progressive suburb of Cleveland, everything is meticulously planned - from the layout of the winding roads, to the colours of the houses, to the successful lives its residents will go on to lead. And no one embodies this spirit more than Elena Richardson, whose guiding principal is playing by the rules.

Enter Mia Warren - an enigmatic artist and single mother- who arrives in this idyllic bubble with her teenage daughter Pearl, and rents a house from the Richardsons.

Soon Mia and Pearl become more than just tenants: all four Richardson children are drawn to the mother-daughter pair. But Mia carries with her a mysterious past, and a disregard for the rules that threatens to upend this carefully ordered community.

When old family friends attempt to adopt a Chinese-American baby, a custody battle erupts that dramatically divides the town - and puts Mia and Elena on opposing sides. Suspicious of Mia and her motives, Elena is determined to uncover the secrets in Mia's past. But her obsession will come at an unexpected and devastating cost...

Books read in 2020

Satu tahun lagi berlalu, tahun yang fenomenal dengan adanya virus corona dan karantina hampir sepanjang tahun. 

Jadi, bagaimana tahun 2020 bagi saya? Apakah saya membaca lebih banyak buku dengan mendekam di rumah terus-menerus? 

Sayangnya tidak. Bahkan dua bulan terakhir saya memilih bacaan ringan yang tipis hanya untuk mengejar target baca goodreads. Sementara itu, saya banyak menonton drama sejarah chinese dan juga menyentuh gim lama demi bernostalgia. Yah, biasalah. Candy Crush, Hay Day, dan Dragon Saga. Saya tidak berani mencoba gim baru yang booming, seperti Animal Crossing atau Genshin Impact karena saya tipe yang suka ketagihan. Saya mending menghabiskan waktu ketagihan baca saja. *melirik tumpukan buku yang belum dibaca

Saya berhasil membaca 53 buku tahun ini. Dan karena saya merasa tahun depan bakal stagnant mirip seperti tahun ini, saya akan memasang target membaca 50 buku saja untuk 2021.

Daftar buku yang dibaca tahun 2020, dikelompokkan berdasarkan genre.

A.   Fantasy and Science Fiction

1.    The Bear and the Nightingale (Winternight Trilogy #1) - Katherine Arden

2.    The Girl in the Tower (Winternight Trilogy #2) - Katherine Arden

3.    The Winter of the Witch (Winternight Trilogy #3) - Katherine Arden

4.    The Wicked King (The Folk of the Air #2) - Holly Black

5.    The Queen of Nothing (The Folk of the Air #3) - Holly Black

6.    The Kingdom of Back - Marie Lu

7.    Tiger Lily - Jodi Lynn Anderson

8.    Steelheart (Reckoners #1) - Brandon Sanderson

9.    The Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle #2) - Maggie Stiefvater

10.  Restore Me (Shatter Me #4) - Tahereh Mafi

11.  Defy Me (Shatter Me #5) - Tahereh Mafi

12.  Imagine Me (Shatter Me #6) - Tahereh Mafi

13.  Fairest (The Lunar Chronicles #3.5) - Marissa Meyer

14.  The Hammer of Thor (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #2) - Rick Riordan

15.  The Ship of the Dead (Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard #3) - Rick Riordan

B.   Contemporary Romance

1.    Resign! - Almira Bastari

2.    Dream Lake (Friday Harbor #3) - Lisa Kleypas

3.    Crystal Cove (Friday Harbor #4) - Lisa Kleypas

4.    Love O2O - Gu Man

5.    Angel in the Rain - Windry Ramadhina

6.    Ice - Linda Howard

7.    A Whole New Light - Sandra Brown

8.    Midnight Prince - Titi Sanaria

9.    Believe - Morra Quatro

10.  Rotasi & Revolusi - crowdstroia

11.  Some Kind of Wonderful - Winna Efendi

C.   Adult and Epic Fantasy

1.    The Black Prism (Lightbringer #1) - Brent Weeks

2.    The Blinding Knife (Lightbringer #2) - Brent Weeks

3.    City of Stairs (The Divine Cities #1) - Robert Jackson Bennett

4.    City of Blades (The Divine Cities #2) - Robert Jackson Bennett

5.    City of Miracles (The Divine Cities #3) - Robert Jackson Bennett

6.    Oathbringer (The Stormlight Archive #3) - Brandon Sanderson

7.    Godsgrave (The Nevernight Chronicle #2) - Jay Kristoff

8.    Darkdawn (The Nevernight Chronicle #3) - Jay Kristoff

D.   General, Classic and Non Fiction

1.    The Traveling Cat Chronicles - Hiro Arikawa

2.    The Life and Adventures of Santa Claus - L.Frank Baum

3.    Aleph - Paulo Coelho

4.    Old Man and the Sea - Ernest Hemingway

5.    Warrior of Light - Paulo Coelho

6.    Of Mice and Men - John Steinbeck

F.   Teen and Young Adult

1.    All the Bright Places - Jennifer Niven

2.    If I Lie - Corrine Jackson

3.    Saving Francesca - Melina Marchetta

4.    Celah Waktu - Riheam

5.    The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian - Sherman Alexie

6.    17 Years of Love Song - Orizuka

G.   Historical Romance

1.    Separate Beds - LaVyrle Spencer

2.    A Perfect Scandal (Scandal #2) - Tina Gabrielle

3.    First Comes Scandal (Rokesbys #4) - Julia Quinn

4.    Hello Stranger (The Ravenels #4) - Lisa Kleypas

5.    Devil's Daughter (The Ravenels #5) - Lisa Kleypas

H.    Mystery and Suspense

1.    One of Us is Lying (One of Us is Lying #1) - Karen M. McManus

2.    The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (Hercule Poirot Mysteries #4) - Agatha Christie

Sudah pasti genre fantasi yang paling banyak. Tapi buku romance yang saya baca tahun ini juga meningkat karena demi mengejar target. Ringan dan tidak perlu banyak mikir sih. Mungkin karena itulah saya merasa tahun ini bukan tahun membaca yang bagus. Buku-buku yang dibaca tidak sekeren tahun-tahun sebelumnya. Agak sulit menentukan sepuluh buku bacaan terbaik versi tahun ini.

Top 10 best books I read in 2020 (not in order):

1.   Darkdawn (The Nevernight Chronicle #3) - Jay Kristoff - adult assassin fantasy

2.   Oathbringer (The Stormlight Archive #3) - Brandon Sanderson - adult epic fantasy

3.   City of Stairs (The Divine Cities #1) - Robert Jackson Bennett - adult fantasy

4.   City of Blades (The Divine Cities #2) - Robert Jackson Bennett - adult fantasy

5.   City of Miracles (The Divine Cities #3) - Robert Jackson Bennett - adult fantasy

6.   Devil's Daughter (The Ravenels #5) - Lisa Kleypas - historical romance

7.   Restore Me (Shatter Me #4) - Tahereh Mafi - young adult fantasy

8.   The Blinding Knife (Lightbringer #2) - Brent Weeks - adult fantasy

9.   Midnight Prince - Titi Sanaria - contemporary romance

10. The Absolutely True Diary of A Part-Time Indian - Sherman Alexie - teen fiction

The Divine Cities Trilogy dong... Best! Mantap pokoknya.

Happy New Year!