Ten YA Books that Could Use an Extended Ending

Have you ever read a book, loved it with your heart and soul, then left dumbfounded when you’ve reached the end? It’s like, did something happen during my downloading, or did Amazon send me the broken copy because there’s no way the story ends here. 

There should be something more, one more paragraph maybe, one more chapter, heck, one more book even.

Sound familiar? Been there before?

Yeah. I’ve been there before. Many, many I-don’t-wish-to-acknowledge-it times. 

Don’t get me wrong. The authors did a great job in writing the whole book—the ending included—but I’m a fangirl, and by default that means I know everything about the book better than anyone. Especially when it comes to how to write a more satisfying ending.

I’ve listed ten Young Adult books which in my opinion could use some extended ending.

My list is based on YA books I’ve read until March 2015.(Warning: some minor spoilers ahead)

#10 Along for the Ride by Sarah Dessen

Eli is my number one favorite among Dessen’s boys. At the end of the book, Eli wore a dress shirt and dress shoes. It's written right there in one sentence. This was Eli, guys, and he’d never dressed up. I believe this calls for an extra paragraph or two.

#9 Dreams of Gods & Monsters by Laini Taylor

After everything they’ve been through in two lifetimes, it’s only natural that I expected Akiva and Karou to get their epic ending. I guess I was disappointed.

#8 Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins

I want more awww moments before reaching the last page. More kissing. More dancing. More, more, more… 

#7 Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

No, no, no, no, no. I refuse that postcard, Park. Send it back and do something else instead.

#6 Where She Went by Gayle Forman

It was such a bittersweet ending: the song, the feels, the final stage. I don't want the magic to end. I’d feel much more sated if Gayle decided to write the third book about Adam and Mia. I need another closure badly.

#5 All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

I can’t … It’s just … I’m still too emotional to talk about this book and its bright places.

#4 I’ll Give You the Sun by Jandy Nelson

I’m satisfied with Jude’s part. Cannot say the same thing for Noah’s though. I kept on turning the last few pages, but nope. Nothing more about Noah and his charismatic boy next door. 

Me sad. 

#3 The Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare

This is the most painful love triangle in the history of modern fiction. How did you end a book that had the most painful love triangle story ever? The answer is you cannot.

#2 Champion by Marie Lu

A handshake is not a proper way to end a trilogy, not in dystopian, not in contemporary, not anywhere ever. I demand a rewrite on that last chapter! And please make it longer. And hotter, because, my god, Day is twenty-seven for crying out loud. He’s hot, broken, and available. What can be more perfect than that?

#1 Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling

No, I don’t think I need more Harry, Ron, and Hermione. What I desperately need is seven books of Snape.

What’s your list, people? 

Tell me, and let’s compare notes.

Depression (and book reviews of All the Bright Places and I Was Here)

This is the first time I’m combining book reviews and a blog post.
The first time I’m reviewing two books in one go.
The first time I’m writing an article about suicide and mental health issues.

I’m glad I’m doing this.

Let’s start with the reviews.

Jennifer Niven’s All the Bright Places has blown me to pieces. The middle is a bit slow, but I love the way the author dropped a bit of information here and there when I least expected it; things about Finch’s childhood, Finch’s dad, Finch’s ex-buddy. We get a close-and-personal look at a charming boy who suffers so much inside and doesn’t know how to save him from himself that he constantly sabotages his own happiness. A heart-wrenching potrayal of a boy who wanted so much to be normal, to be bright, but could not. No matter how hard he tried.

I was carried away with Finch’s charming and fearless personalities on the outside. When he folded himself in the darkness afterward, I was left speechless. It came at such a shocking slap to me. How can he disappear from all of that brightness, is a question I keep asking myself. What triggers it? What happened? He looked so damn happy before. So why, why?

We, the readers, got to see Finch from Violet’s eyes. We’re as charmed as she is. We’re as confused as she is, as angry as she is, as scared, loved, sad, happy as she is. The way Violet looks at Finch, I understand. The way Finch breathes life back to Violet after her traumatic accident, I understand. Sadly, unfortunately, I also understand—and hate—the way Finch’s parents and his bully friends treat him.

This book would cut your heart in two, glue them back together in the next page or so, then crack it open a bit, crack it some more, and glue the pieces back together again. The emotions I’ve experienced are all raw. Roller-coaster is not enough word to describe what I felt. I can still feel how the hair on the back of my neck stood, how my heart dropped to my stomach, and how bitter my mouth tasted.

The strongest part of this book is actually the Author’s Note’s page. I quote “Every forty seconds, someone in the world dies by suicide. Every forty seconds, someone is left behind to cope with the loss.”

Rating:  5/5

I read Gayle Forman’s I was Here next. As usual, Gayle’s words are beautiful and the way she tells the story is flawless. However, the emotions, the romance, and the logic in this story are questionable. Cody is a girl who has to deal with the aftermath of her best friend’s suicide. Cody couldn’t save Meg’s life, but she tried to save Meg in death. Thus began her journey to the past, to revisit Meg’s life, trying to understand what made Meg did what she did. This book, though carrying a heavy and important message, felt more like a school’s textbook, a nonfiction, rather than a YA novel. I’m disappointed but it doesn’t mean I underestimate the importance of her message.  

Depression is real, depression is deadly, and depression is not always detectable.

Rate 2.5/5

What makes a person depressed, bipolar, suffers panic attacks?

I didn’t study psychology, so I can’t state a definite answer. I only know that depression and other mental health issues are real, as real as the sun in our morning sky. It could happen to anyone, from celebrities like Robin Williams to people who we thought we knew all of our life.

In both books, people who are close to Finch and Meg fail to detect the early signs—the off vibe—from the characters. Or if they know or suspect something, they quickly dismiss it as nothing but harmless and annoying habit. Even when someone decides to do something about it—speak up, urge the person to seek help—their efforts got crushed as the person they try to help push them away. And those good-kind-hearted helpers arrive at a place that says I’ve tried. It’s not my problem anymore. Maybe I should just leave him/her alone.

As illustrated brilliantly by these two books, we will find statements like these:

“We were not friends.” “We were not close.” “That’s the way he/she was.” “He/she wouldn’t listen.” “He/she refused help.” “There’s nothing more we can do.” “He’s a freak.” “She looks so strong and happy. She doesn’t look depressed.”

And we think we do enough by those excuses. We (almost always) expect the person who needs help be the first person who come and ask for help. You know that the chance of that happening is small, right? Sometimes they do; sometimes they don’t.

Imagine how many lives we could’ve saved by being aware, by being persistent and consistent. I grew up in a family culture that doesn’t necessarily respect personal’s boundary the way normal family does. We weren’t taught to leave our family alone, or tiptoe around them. If we notice something is not right, we talk about it—to the person or to his/her closest relatives. For example, if my brother detected some weirdness in me, he would’ve come and talked to me, then to my parents, who would’ve then talked to me and my husband, and basically to everybody else in our family. Yeah, yeah, you’re right. It sounds like hellish torture, but listen. Listen beyond that annoying buzz of people talking.

My point is, at least we talk about IT. We put IT in the open. We attack IT until IT disappears.

By doing this, we force ourselves to be aware. The point is to not leave the person who needs help alone. The point is to show that he/she is not alone in whatever struggle he/she faces.

Awareness is a word with life-and-death changing impact.

Aware = not ignorance = care = not alone = help = not giving up = save lives.

Start small. Start with our family, our best friend, our spouse, our children, our coworkers. Being aware in our small, private circle sometimes is the only thing that could save the life of those we love. Because if we don’t, someone else will, and reading these books, I was stunned—though not entirely surprised—to learn about internet help sites that are ready to help people to commit suicide. Not to prevent it, but to ASSIST suicide.  

How many times we heard people said "I didn't know" when it was too late?

I’m a nobody—certainly not a president, or Oprah or Ellen—so I used to think that whatever I say or think would not make much difference.

No, that’s wrong. I’m gonna change that.

I may not be Oprah or Ellen or a famous Youtuber, but I’m not gonna wait until I am one to speak my thoughts. You’re reading this, aren’t you? If you agree with me, if you think it’s important to create more awareness and act more aware, then let’s go. Let’s share the sentiment.

Be aware, be knowledgeable, be consistent.

Your voice matters.

We don’t need to change the whole world. We just need to be strong enough to change the world of that one person who matters to us.

#SayNotoIgnorance #SaveLives

Review on Jellicoe Road (my last read in 2013)

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta


My rating: 5 of 5 stars


As usual with Marchetta’s books, her first few chapters are always confusing.
After The Piper’s Son, I’ve thrown myself into Jellicoe with all my heart and soul. I didn’t read the synopsis, so imagine the double headache when I was bombardized with jumping scenes and dozens of strange names. You have people’s names, Boarding houses’ names, and places. The only name I’ve recognized is Sydney.

I’m kind of glad that Marchetta’s writing isn’t brutally choppy here. The sentence flows into one another, enough to make me feel like I’m dancing between them. But of course she had to chop something. This time it was the emotion. Did she write with an axe?

She chopped scenes mercilessly while I was still salivating (or crying or gasping) all over them. The good thing is you don’t feel too overwhelmed with drama, but I found myself screaming for more. More words. More kissing, more territory wars, more tongue-lashing … more closure. Especially in scenes that involved Jude and Taylor and Griggs. I have broken fingernails to prove how much I craved for more in those scenes.



Because being a part of him isn’t just anything. It’s kind of everything.

“It’s actually because my heart belongs to someone else.”

“You were wrong yesterday in the car, you know, “I tell him. “About how every time Hannah looks at you she’s wishing you were someone else. I think that every time she looks at you she’s scared you won’t come back, like the others.”

He takes her hand and draws her to his side. They don’t say anything as the walk with me, but I’ve been here before, so I know that words aren’t needed. I remember love.

“You can forgive all of them but you can’t forgive you and Jude for living.”

“I’d forgive myself. To be with Jonah, I’d do anything.”

“I’ll probably mention that I’m in love with you.”

I go up to Hannah and Jude’s room and tell them that she’s dead, and I climb between them and I am raw inside.

“I was there to throw myself in front of it.”

“Just breathe, Just breathe, come on, Taylor, just breathe…just breathe.”




Taylor is the perfect example of a strong heroine. Raffy and Jessa add the kickass feel into it. I love Santangelo from the first moment his name was mentioned. That little shit.
And I adore Ben, his violin, and his funny-sometimes-wounded personality. Because of how I feel toward Ben, I could never forgive Griggs for breaking Ben’s fingers.
Seriously, Jonah, if you’re so desperate in getting Taylor’s attention, why don’t you break your own fingers?

Though I couldn’t love Jonah fully, I ended up having a tiny weenie insignificant crush on him. He does clean up nicely after that.
Okay. Maybe a bit more than tiny weenie.

Jonah felt like a secondary character to me and that’s okay I think. With so many main characters in one book, I understand that Marchetta needed to focus on the original five and Taylor. In my opnion, this is the story of Taylor, Hannah, Jude and Webb. The rest are the pretty, colorful icing on the cupcake.

I have successfully turned this book from all-about-Taylor to all-about-Jude. I’m hopeless that way. Gimme a suffering hero and I’m doomed.


St. Jude was the patron saint of the impossible – lost and desperate causes. I think he hit the jackpot in that department when he met the Markhams and Schroeders.




Jude is my hero. He’s St. Jude, the hero of all heroes. I will arm-wrestle anyone who says otherwise. I couldn’t stop thinking about him, even as I write this review. I wonder how he looks like. Probably like Chris Evans? Imagine him in uniform. Is he Jude enough? Is he broken and suffering enough? Damn. I have no fingernails left to bite.

I can’t help but picturing Hannah as the more mature Georgie (TPS). Whenever Hannah’s name came up in the book, I almost always skimmed the pages looking for words like Hannah, Jude, love, and happy in one sentence. I was disappointed most of the time. I know everyone will argue that it’s implied somewhere there, between the lines. I don’t care. I need to read the words, in one perfect sentence, with my own eyes. In print. Not implied.

“Hannah reckons that if you ask her to marry you, she’ll say yes.”
PROPOSE, JUDE. KISS HER, JUDE. GODAMN YOU, JUDE. DO SOMETHING!

Jude’s moving in and he sleeps in Hannah’s room. WHAT ARE YOU DOING THERE, JUDE?

Tate and I bullied them into going away one weekend by stressing our need to have time alone together. OHMYGOOOOD! GENIUS, TAYLOR, GENIUS!

There is one tiny weenie problem that take a half point away from its five stars. (Sorry...)
The dreams.

I got the impression that the author used the dream to explain the things that otherwise couldn’t be explained. Some sort of backstory. Or a closure. The dream is a metaphor for something bigger and greater than the characters themselves.

Okay, I get it.
I don’t mind dreams in general, but in Jellicoe, it dictates the story. I feel like I’m reading a half paranormal, half contemporary book. I'm okay with Taylor’s dreams, really I do. I was intrigued. But when Griggs mentioned his father came to him in a dream when they were on the train, I couldn’t help it.
Yes. I rolled my eyes.
When Tate told Taylor about Webb’s dream and how Taylor name came up - no. No. No. Please no. Come on, this is pushing it.

I don’t find the epilogue that fascinating either. I was hoping to read an epilogue about Jude. About Taylor and Griggs. About all of them five, ten years from now. I want to read how happy they are, living under one roof, driving each other crazy with love. I want that. See what I mean by mercilessly choppy? My emotion is freaking raw and the book ends with Hannah saying “I wonder.”
Heh? Did I buy the incomplete book?

One of my GR friends asked me to compare Jellicoe to TFIOS. Seriously, girl, it makes me nervous. How to compare two great authors whose personality is as big as their characters?
I only can tell by my own experience, okay. It may not be enough, but here we go.
They both are emotional reads.
These two authors manage to paint their heroes into swoon-worthy characters not by physical traits, but by strong personalities and their heart-breaking process of growing up. For me, that’s a huge plus.
Okay? So…

This is my last read, guys. I’ve wrapped up my 2013. How cool is it that I’m signing off with a stellar book like Jellicoe?

I won't be picking up anymore books or ebooks tilk January :)
I hope your last book that you read or write or blog in 2013 will be as memorable as mine. And I just hope that my kick-off read in January will be as awesome as this one.

So, happy holiday, you all <3 br="">
Be safe. Be merry. Be awesome!




View all my reviews

My first book review on PUSHING THE LIMITS

PUSHING THE LIMITS, by Katie McGarry
Harlequin Teen


From goodreads:
“No one knows what happened the night Echo Emerson went from popular girl with jock boyfriend to gossiped-about outsider with "freaky" scars on her arms. Even Echo can't remember the whole truth of that horrible night. All she knows is that she wants everything to go back to normal. But when Noah Hutchins, the smoking-hot, girl-using loner in the black leather jacket, explodes into her life with his tough attitude and surprising understanding, Echo's world shifts in ways she could never have imagined. They should have nothing in common. And with the secrets they both keep, being together is pretty much impossible.

Yet the crazy attraction between them refuses to go away. And Echo has to ask herself just how far they can push the limits and what she'll risk for the one guy who might teach her how to love again.”


From the back cover:
“I won’t tell anyone, Echo. I promise.” Noah tucked a curl behind my ear. It had been so long since someone touched me like he did. Why did it have to be Noah Hutchins?
His dark brown eyes shifted to my covered arms.
“You didn’t do that – did you? It was done to you?”
No one ever asked that question.
They stared.
They whispered.
They laughed.
BUT THEY NEVER ASKED.


My review:

I’ve read many, many good books in my life, but I’ve never written any review before. Only a few lines I dropped on goodreads for the sake of keeping notes, and those cute, rambling 140 characters I left on twitter, if you could call ‘OMG, I LOVE THIS BOOK’ and another ‘OMG! OMG!’ with infinite number of exclamation marks, a review. But, this all is about to change. Here I am, writing my first book review on Pushing the Limit (PTL). To be honest, this is not a review. It’s more like a major book crush for me.
Before I start, I do apologize if I let on some spoilers, if any. That, and possibly some grammatical errors, too, since English is not my first language.
This is my first time, and I’m nervous.