Penilaian saya: 4 / 5 ★

Tiada sesiapa yang sempurna atau tak pernah melakukan kesalahan. Apa yang penting, awak sudah tinggalkan semuanya dan ada usaha untuk berubah.

Miss Makeover menceritakan tentang kisah dua orang gadis yang berbeza personaliti menjadi sahabat baik. Ozelyn yang berperwatakan ganas, pemarah dan anti sosial ingin mengubah personalitinya dengan bantuan Leia, seorang gadis Instafamous yang mempunyai ramai pengikut dan baik hati. Buku ini berkongsi bagaimana Leia menjadi jurulatih peribadi dalam misi 'makeover' Ozelyn menjadi gadis ayu.


Pada permulaan cerita ini, semasa Ozelyn belum memasang niat untuk berubah, jujur saya katakan saya tidak suka dengan wataknya. Dia membuli pelajar lain tanpa sebab dan bercakap dengan nada kasar kepada hampir setiap orang. Bagaimana mungkin saya mahu memberi empati kepada seseorang yang bersikap seperti ini? Namun apabila Ozelyn bertembung dengan crush dia di sekolah dan cuba untuk berubah menjadi seorang gadis (percubaan yang tidak berjaya), saya mula merasakan wataknya agak kelakar dan saya mahu tahu lebih lanjut mengenai wataknya: mengapa dia bersifat kasar dan adakah dia mampu untuk berubah?


Semasa Leia menunjuk minat untuk membantu Ozelyn berubah, saya tidak dapat faham niatnya kerana Ozelyn tidak pernah berbaik dengannya. Namun bila sebabnya dijelaskan, saya faham mengapa persahabatan di antara Ozelyn dengan Leia dapat terjalin. Saya suka dengan sikap Leia yang tegas dan tidak berputus asa dengan Ozelyn. Ozelyn pula layak dipuji kerana walaupun dia letih dengan latihan Leia, dia tidak berputus asa juga.


Gaya penulisan buku ini pula santai dan ringan, sesuai untuk bacaan umum terutamanya remaja atau sesiapa sahaja yang baru hendak mula membaca novel. Mesej yang disampaikan dalam novela ini juga sangat baik. Antara mesej yang paling saya gemari ialah jika kita hendak berubah, kita janganlah cuba menjadi orang lain. Kita sepatutnya cuba menjadi versi diri kita yang lebih baik, terhadap diri kita sendiri dan orang lain.


Walaupun saya suka dengan jalan cerita dan mesej Miss Makeover, terdapat beberapa bahagian yang saya tidak bersetuju dan saya rasa boleh diperbaiki. Antaranya ialah penggunaan rambut palsu dalam latihan Leia. Sekiranya anda tidak mengetahuinya, rambut palsu adalah haram bagi orang Islam, kecuali atas sebab-sebab tertentu yang memudaratkan (botak/rambut terlalu sedikit dan mendapat kata-kata keji daripada orang sekeliling, dll.).


Dalam Miss Makeover, Leia memaksa Ozelyn memakai rambut palsu panjang demi kecantikan. Walaupun Ozelyn bertanya kepada Leia apakah hukum memakai rambut palsu, jawaban Leia yang agak acuh tak acuh yang mengatakan mungkin berdosa mungkin tidak, boleh menimbulkan kekeliruan bagi pembaca muda. Walaupun watak Leia dan Ozelyn juga remaja yang tidak mahir tentang hukum agama, penulis tidak sepatutnya meletakkan elemen seperti ini yang boleh mengelirukan.


Selain itu, saya juga tidak bersetuju dengan beberapa ajaran Leia seperti memaksa Ozelyn memakai pakaian yang dilabel 'feminin' seperti skirt atau baju bercorak bunga dan warna pastel sahaja. Dia juga menyuruh Ozelyn mencari hobi yang bercirikan 'gadis' seperti 'membaca'. Pertamanya, stail adalah terbuka kepada kehendak masing-masing. Memang bagus Leia membantu Ozelyn mencuba stail baru, tetapi dengan mengatakan dia perlu menolak tepi koleksi topinya yang berwarna gelap kerana warna tersebut tidak menarik adalah agak melampau.


Apakah pula maksud hobi yang bercirikan 'gadis'? Jika seseorang perempuan gemar bersukan atau aktiviti lasak, adakah itu bermakna hobinya tidak menunjukkan dirinya seorang gadis? Saya juga tidak gemar dengan mesej yang mengatakan 'membaca' itu hobi yang bercirikan gadis kerana tiada masalah sekiranya seseorang lelaki mahu untuk membaca. Ini akan menimbulkan kekeliruan yang tidak patut kepada pembaca muda.


Secara keseluruhannya, saya masih menyukai Miss Makeover. Sedikit kekurangan yang saya sebutkan di atas pula mungkin disebabkan faktor watak itu sendiri. Novela ini mudah untuk dihadam dalam masa singkat dan sangat sesuai untuk pembaca muda serta bacaan umum.


Berbanyak terima kasih kepada pihak penerbit Bookiut kerana menghantar senaskhah Miss Makeover kepada saya untuk saya reviu secara jujur. Sekiranya anda berminat untuk mendapatkan Miss Makeover, bolehlah membelinya secara atas talian di laman sesawang PTS Media: https://pts.com.my/imprint/bookiut



・・・・・・✧・・・・・・✧・・・・・・ 

Judul: Miss Makeover
Siri: -
Penulis: Izanor Sharif
Penerbit: Bookiut
Genres: Novela, Remaja, Kontemporari
Format: Berkulit lembut
Tarikh Penerbitan: 2022
Bilangan mukasurat: 111

Sinopsis (Goodreads): “Adakah saya akan jadi model yang popular?”

Kisah tentang Ozelyn yang berwatak ganas, pemarah dan anti sosial ingin mengubah personaliti dan dibantu oleh Leia, seorang gadis Instafamous yang mempunyai ramai pengikut dan baik hati.

Adakah impian Ozelyn mahu jadi gadis sejati akan tercapai?

Adakah Leia sebagai jurulatih peribadi berjaya melaksanakan misi ‘makeover’ terhadap si gadis ganas?
・・・・・・✧・・・・・・✧・・・・・・ 

Sehingga berjumpa lagi ♡ Yang ikhlas, Aishah Humaira'

  




My rating: 4 / 5 ★

I had a lot of fun reading this one! The main character, Yoshida, is madly in love with his high school friend, Shimakaze, who is now a mangaka (manga artist). What made this fun to read is that Yoshida's a tsundere who is so obvious with his feelings for her, but she is absolutely oblivious of it. Shimakaze is a walking disaster, so Yoshida had no choice but to be there to clean up her mess because he's just too whipped.


For one thing, Yoshida has stunning eyes <3 I'M IN LOVE WITH THEM! I think I'm enjoying it so much because as a handsome hero, his love story is tragic (in a humorous way) and he definitely won't get the love of his life anytime soon, at least not without more trouble coming their way. But he's very efficient with his work and all the mangaka assistants adored him so I find it very endearing. I like this kind of story more than when a handsome man gets every woman his wants easily.


I probably would dislike someone like Shimakaze in real life because she has zero tact, but I guess it's funny to read about her in a manga. As much as I think Yoshida deserves someone much better, I'd still root for both of these characters though! I can definitely imagine all the disaster coming their way as Yoshida continues trying to convey his feelings to her.


I love all the assistants too! Their characters are not very distinct since they're mostly on the same page about almost everything, but this is only the first volume so I'm sure there'll be more from the four of them in the upcoming volumes. As of now I find them all adorable. 


It's fun to read a story about how a mangaka works, though I'm unsure to how much extent the events could be true. I'm definitely looking forward to more Yoshida with his tragic love story <3 I do hope we'll get to have some POVs from him too in the next volumes.


Many thanks to Netgalley and Kodansha Comics for the e-ARC in exchange for my honest review!


・・・・・・✧・・・・・・✧・・・・・・ 

Title: The Transcendent One-Sided Love of Yoshida the Catch Vol. 1
Series: The Transcendent One-Sided Love of Yoshida the Catch #1
Author: Shizuki Fujisawa
Publisher: Kodansha
Genres: Manga, Graphic Novel, Romance, Contemporary, Humor
Format: E-book
Publication Date: February 15th 2022
Pages: 160

Synopsis (Goodreads): Meet Yoshida. He's cool, he's smart, and he's really, really good-looking. He's the company superstar, and has the eye of every available woman for miles around. But Yoshida only loves one woman -- the manga-artist and walking-disaster Sena Shimakaze. Yoshida is the glue that holds her whole team together and helps them limp through each and every deadline... but despite his personal greatness and obvious management skills, his love is somehow totally one-sided. What's an overachiever like Yoshida to do?

・・・・・・✧・・・・・・✧・・・・・・ 

Till next time ♡ Love, Aishah Humaira'

"It’s never a tragedy to love somebody."


My rating: 4.5 / 5 ★

And I was no longer afraid. I knew I would be able to come home, because of you. That you would lead me back. You are my constant star, Daisy.

If I have to be honest, Chain of Iron is by far the most frustrating book that I've ever read. It took me months to get through halfway of it, then I had to put it down (or else risk ripping it apart), read something else in between before continuing it back and finishing it.


But did I still enjoy it? Yes. Yes, I did. In fact, I enjoyed it immensely.


If I were to compare Chain of Iron with Chain of Gold, the first book in The Last Hours trilogy, this one was a lot more draggy, especially during the first half of the book. But I cannot really hate it either because these were the parts where Cordelia and James got married, and there were a lot of cute domestic moments of them. I adored it, yet at the same time it felt exhausting to read too. I needed more actions, more James and Cordelia realising their true feelings, and less, well, less keeping everything to themselves. I cannot count how many times I wanted to yell to everyone to stop keeping secrets.


And there were a lot of secrets being kept. James kept a lot of truths between his relationship with Grace from Cordelia; Cordelia kept a lot of things from James and Lucie, but instead shared things with Matthew; Lucie kept everyone in the dark about Jesse; Matthew kept secrets about why he turned to drinking from James—the secrets were endless! Forgive me if I were to say that this is a very frustrating book to read.


But I have so much love for the Merry Thieves, and despite all the secrets being kept, when they needed to fight the demons, they fought hard together. The demon that went on a murdering spree in Chain of Iron was quite difficult to figure out its identity—I had some guesses, and some were true, some were hilariously wrong. I believe the mystery of it, combined with Clare's beautiful writing style, were what made me still fond of this book despite the burning frustrations. Along with the beloved Merry Thieves of course.


Cordelia and James' relationship was forlornly lovely. Despite their feelings for each other growing, the happy ending is still far from their reach. What's worse was Lucie and Jesse's relationship though. It's nice to see Lucie learning more about her powers, but the situation with Jesse kept getting grimmer. All I want is for these characters to be happy IS THAT SO HARD, CASSIE (ಥ﹏ಥ)


It's also surprising that I find myself warming up to Grace as well. I pretty much hated her in the first book, but in Chain of Iron, the reasons why she acted the way she did was unraveled, and I pitied her. I would not say I love her now, but I do want to root for her. I also want her to be friends with Christopher too, somehow. Christopher is one of the only characters that did not frustrate me and the way he excitedly talked about his experiments with Grace in that one scene was really adorable. He really is too precious.


Despite the frustration this book brought me, it still broke me to pieces and I have no regrets going through all that pain. I will be needing the ending, Chain of Thorns, real soon though. I need this agony of waiting to end, and I want Daisy to have her happy ending °(°ˊДˋ°) ° OR ELSE.


Many thanks to Pansing for sending me this review copy in exchange for an honest review. Chain of Iron is available in all good bookstores! Please read it so we can go through the same pain 


・・・・・・✧・・・・・・✧・・・・・・ 

Title: Chain of Iron
Series: The Last Hours #2
Author: Cassandra Clare
Publisher: Walker Books
Genres: Young Adult, Fantasy, Romance, Historical Fiction
Format: Paperback
Publication Date: March 2nd 2021
Pages: 571

Synopsis (Goodreads): Cordelia Carstairs seems to have everything she ever wanted. She’s engaged to marry James Herondale, the boy she has loved since childhood. She has a new life in London with her best friend Lucie Herondale and James’s charming companions, the Merry Thieves. She is about to be reunited with her beloved father. And she bears the sword Cortana, a legendary hero’s blade.

But the truth is far grimmer. James and Cordelia’s marriage is a lie, arranged to save Cordelia’s reputation. James is in love with the mysterious Grace Blackthorn whose brother, Jesse, died years ago in a terrible accident. Cortana burns Cordelia’s hand when she touches it, while her father has grown bitter and angry. And a serial murderer is targeting the Shadowhunters of London, killing under cover of darkness, then vanishing without a trace.

Together with the Merry Thieves, Cordelia, James, and Lucie must follow the trail of the knife-wielding killer through the city’s most dangerous streets. All the while, each is keeping a shocking secret: Lucie, that she plans to raise Jesse from the dead; Cordelia, that she has sworn a dangerous oath of loyalty to a mysterious power; and James, that he is being drawn further each night into the dark web of his grandfather, the arch-demon Belial. And that he himself may be the killer they seek.

・・・・・・✧・・・・・・✧・・・・・・ 

Till next time ♡ Love, Aishah Humaira'