Review: Chasing Red

Chasing Red by Isabelle Ronin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

***First of all, I want to thank Sourcebooks for giving me a copy of the ARC via Netgalley in exchange of an honest review.***

This was supposed to be an ARC review. But then I got caught up with school and got busy with training for the sports fest. Thank God that’s all over now. Now, I’m still busy but I got time to spare to read my overdue ARCs and write reviews of them. Meh-heh.

Anyways, let’s start!


First thoughts about this book, this book is awesome!

When I started reading I couldn’t seem to stop! It made me want to smack myself for not reading this awesome book sooner! And by sooner I meant when it was still in Wattpad.

I’ve seen this story in Wattpad a couple times. I’ve even seen it when it was still on-going. But then I kept saying to myself that I will read this as long as it will be completed. And then I forget about it because I only put it in my mental TBR in Wattpad. And I regret not reading it that time! I could’ve gotten the privileged to say that this book is awesome way before it was even discovered and published!

I seriously wanna cry!



But that’s all in the past now. And I am really thankful for the publisher for giving me a chance to read and review it.

First, let’s talk about the characters. Let’s start with the hero, the gorgeous, Caleb Lockhart.

He was described in the book as a man-whore; a man with a drive-thru sex. However, while I was reading the whole story, I didn’t see him that way. Sure it was said that he used to be that before he met his Red but then still, he’s personality is so sensitive to be a man-whore. And yes, Caleb Lockhart is gorgeous. I think my list of book boyfriend just got longer.

I like his character. He’s got a bright and sunny personality. And he made me laugh a lot of times. I would seriously crack up whenever he just says things to Red. And bes, this guy made me feel a lot of kilig moments while reading! I experienced a lot of kilig moments that I would sometimes just shake like a person electrocuted and curse so hard Aelin Galathynius would be proud of me. Haha!

Anyway, I seriously love Caleb. He stake his claim on Red even though she doesn’t want it. It was so sweet and so kilig! (I know. There’s something wrong with me for finding that part really, really cute and feels worthy. But, hey, I’m weird and proud of it.)


Let’s go to our heroine, Veronica Straffort. She’s also known as Red because that’s what Caleb calls her.

Oh this girl is a damsel in distress. She’s not the typical damsel in distress though. Her distress are her monsters of her past. She’d been through a lot and because of it, she put up a wall around her so high that the wall of Castle Black in Game of Thrones or the one in Shingeki no Kyojin would be shy.

And because of that wall, she tend to push Caleb away. And I understand her reason for pushing Caleb away. I understand that she just wanted to protect herself and avoid ending up like her mother. But, bes Veronica, there’s this thing called “too much”. Her pushing Caleb away all the time was too much for me sometimes. Like I said, I understand her but come on. How can she be so blind to all the things Caleb do for her? Only for her? How, bes? How?

Like I said, I understand her reasons but sometimes it getting on my nerve. She needs to loosen up! Eh!



Let’s go to Kara Hawthorne, Veronica’s best friend, now. This will just be small. I just want to have a special mention of her.

This girl seriously has a lot of words of wisdom. And the kinds of words that will get you cracking up in laughter and giggles. This girl made me laugh just as much as Caleb did. Of all the side characters, Kara’s my favorite.


Second, let’s go to the story.

The story is awesome! It has the reality feel to it. It deals with real problems, real emotions, and real decision makings. I would seriously throw a freakin party if this book turns into a movie!

I love how the narration was in the first person point of view and it alternates between Caleb and Veronica. Around the end part of the book, there’s also a point of view of Justin and Beatrice-Rose, both were the villain in the story.

(Note: They make a very good villain because I fucking hate them both. Lol)

Though there’s this one part in the book that got me a bit triggered.

You know that situation where two boys would get into a fight because of the girl? And then the girl would stop them? Yeah, that kind of situation. That happened around the end of the book. Caleb got into a fight with Damon, another side character, because Caleb got territorial towards Veronica. He doesn’t want Damon touching his Red so he went berserk. After the fight, Veronica suddenly went away with Damon.

*cue rant*

Why would the girl always go to the other guy? Why can’t she just go alone? Why? Is it so hard to go away and not seek comfort of another guy? Like seriously! Those two guys were fighting because of the girl but what if the girl left and let them kill each other? Why does every time this kind of situation happens, the girl would leave with the other guy and not with her guy?

I seriously need to write my own story, put this situation down, and then not let the girl chose between the two guys. Just let them kill each other.

*end rant*

Anyways! Wow, I’m sorry for that. I just need to let that out. I seriously don’t like it when I see that kind of situations in a romance book. It is so cliché and predictable and freaking annoying.

The ending of the book was a very nice cliffhanger. Wahaha! Surprise, surprise! It’s a cliffhanger, bessies! Now you know the ending, would you still read it?

I kind of like the ending though. It made me want to read the next one. I can’t wait for it! I’ve sent a request for the ARC of it but I haven’t got a response yet. I just wish I get one. I promise I will read it before its release. Hehe.


To wrap this up, this book is amaze-balls! If you are the kind of reader who wants to read a book that is so close to reality it hurts, this one is perfect for you. I seriously recommend it! As for me, I will surely hunt Isabelle Ronin on Wattpad and add all her books in my library. Haha!


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Review: The Midnight Dance

The Midnight Dance by Nikki Katz
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Hiya bessies!!

How are you all?


Okay. First thought of this book, I forgot the blurb of it. Haha! This time I was sure I read the blurb but for the love of me I could not remember what it said. Still I read the book. And because I forgot what the blurb said, I had no idea what was going on. But when I reread the blurb, I finally got the whole gist.

First let’s talk about the characters of this book.

The main character is Penelope. I don’t know what her last name is because it did not say. Well, all the characters have no last name because they weren’t mentioned in the book. All they have are first names. Anyway, in the blurb, it said that Penelope, or Penny, is a 17-year-old girl. However, as I read the book, Penny doesn’t felt like a 17-year-old character. She seemed younger, like around 15 or 16 years old.
And I don’t know what to feel towards her character. I somewhat felt nothing towards her. Maybe because there weren’t that many emotional descriptions in this book? That’s what I felt while reading. She’s the main character but I am not hooked to her the way I always got hooked on other main characters.

Then let’s go to Cricket, the cute kitchen boy. In Penelope’s description, Cricket is cute and caring and it seems like there’s already a clue that Cricket has his eyes for Penny. However, maybe due to the tampering of Penny’s memories, she couldn’t remember Cricket and she’s oblivious to his feelings towards her. But then I kind of liked Cricket’s character. Compared to Penny, I felt something towards Cricket. I felt happy and I appreciate his patience towards Penny. I kind of adore him but just like Penny, I am not hooked to him as well. But Cricket is a great character.


Let’s go to the one who started everything that happened in the book, Master, the head of the school and the one who controls them all. In Penny’s description of Master again, he is handsome and dashing. But I don’t know why every time I picture him inside my head he is a bit old. I don’t know how old he is exactly in the book because it wasn’t mentioned but because the story started where Master is young and twenty years later the school was built, I just assumed that he is old. I wish it was in the book though so I could picture him right in my head. Hehe.

In Master’s character, though, I felt a lot of emotion towards him. First is I do not like him. I don’t like him because what kind of person control other person. But then because of the flashbacks in the book, I understood why he is the way he is. However, what he’s doing was too much. Too much that it’s not already right. And then by the end of the book, I felt sorry for him. His last words to Penny before Penny left him was that he must make Penny understand. He’s doing it for a reason. But Penny didn’t hear any of it and she left him. I felt sorry for him in that part.


Now, let’s go to the story of the book.

There are chapters that were set on different years and that confuses me. I kept asking the question why does it to jump 20 years back of the present year of the story. What’s the point? Then as I read the book, I realized that the flashbacks were clues as to what was going on, on the present time of the story, which is in the year 1879. The flashbacks helped a lot in understanding the story.


I actually like the story of the book. A mind controlling story but it’s not actually a sci-fi feel. It’s a great story! The mind controlling concept was different on other mind controlling stories I’ve read. And to think that this happened in the year 1879 where even cell phones were not that good is a great work.

I like how there are parts in the story where Penny would hide to avoid getting caught getting information about what’s really going on and then when she thought that she’s in the clear, Master would pop out or say something that says he knew Penny is there. It’s crazy!

The ending though. This book has awesome story, but it has an ending that will not give you a satisfaction. Like seriously! What kind of ending was that? The climax of the story was still lingering in my head when I suddenly flipped to the next page and found that it’s already the last page. Like wtf. I feel like I need more!

And there’s that part where Master kept telling Penny that he must make her understand. Understand what exactly? It wasn’t explained. I would understand the hanging-ish ending of the book if it has a sequel to it. But this is a standalone! Now how am I going to have answers to my questions???

What happened to Master? Is he dead? Did Bianca died with him? Did Primo? Would they live happily ever after? What would happen to the rest of the girls that escaped? What happens to Penny and Cricket?


I still have questions. But because the ending fell short, they won’t be answered.


To wrap this up, the book is good. It has a good story with nice characters and nice concept. It has a bad ending for me though. And it still has typo and grammatical errors. I hope that it was edited thoroughly before it was published. Aside from the ending and the typo errors, this is a great book. If you are the kind of reader who loves characters chasing answers and there’s a risk of getting caught in every turn of the page, then this book is perfect for you. It doesn’t have that heavy romance. So if that’s a plus for you, then go and read it. Again, I would recommend this. You should try reading it bessies.

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