Queen of the Clueless

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Queen of the CluelessQueen of the Clueless by Mina V. Esguerra
Interim Goddess of Love # 2
Publisher: Bright Girl Books
My copy: ebook from Amazon Kindle Store

If you’ve been feeling neglected by the Goddess of Love lately, don’t worry — Hannah Maquiling, college sophomore, is in training to take over. The Original Goddess is missing, but Hannah is Interim Goddess now, and she should figure out how to solve humanity’s love problems soon. Quin (God of the Sun) is still her mentor, still really hot, but apparently isn’t as honest about his other earthly relationships as she thought. It’s frustrating, and enough to make her check out possibilities with Diego (God of the Sea) and Robbie (Cute Human).

In the meantime, she’s decided to spend some of her precious training time helping to break up a relationship, instead of putting one together. Why? Because the girl in question happens to be her best friend Sol, whose boyfriend is stealing not just from her, but from other people on campus. Sol didn’t exactly summon the Goddess, but this is what power over Love is for, right? Surely it’s not just about matchmaking, but ending doomed relationships too. (Even when it’s not what people want.)

* * *

Hannah Maquiling is still the interim Goddess of Love, and this time around, she’s taken her best friend Sol as her project. Not because she was summoned, but because Sol is her best friend and if her goddess powers can help, then she would willingly use it. But instead of getting Sol together with someone, Hannah is actually trying to split them up. She’s all for her best friend’s happiness, yes, but not it if involves a boyfriend who steals from people. That’s what the Goddess of Love would do, right?

After a long wait, the second book of Mina V. Esguerra’s Interim Goddess of Love series is finally out! I was really, really excited to read this that even if I said I would finish reading Les Miserables first before anything else, I dove right in. I was so excited to read about Hannah, and the cute guys (god and human) around her. Hee. Queen of the Clueless is still as entertaining as the first book, despite having a slightly different tone. I liked how there seemed to be a villain in this book, someone who seemed like a complete mystery to them, even the gods. Somehow this had less of the cutesy romance and more of the fantasy. While I still kind of wanted more swoon, I think seeing more of how the gods and goddesses’ powers work was also fun.

There was more Diego here than Quin, although since we’re in Hannah’s head, Quin was always still there. My heart went out to Hannah at the final parts of the book — girl, I think most of us have been where you are, too! Except maybe we didn’t fall in love with the God of the Sun. I liked how we got to know Diego here, though, and it feels like it’s always more fun when he’s around. Robbie the Cute Human is also growing on me, and I may be thisclose to changing my side from Quin to Robbie. But who knows what will happen by the third book?

This had more of a cliffhanger ending than the first one, which I understood because like in Mira Grant’s Deadline, the second book is really a bridge to the end. If you’re looking for things to make sense in this one…well, you won’t, not so much. No loose ends were tied in this, so it’s really more of Hannah finding out more about her powers and the complications of her feelings. But more theories can be formed (and if you have some, let’s talk about it. Because I kind of need to talk to someone about my theories, haha). And I think an indicator of a good second book in a trilogy is when you want to get the next book in your hands now now now  when you’re done with it. Because I kind of want to get the last book in my hands now now now. :)

Queen of the Clueless is currently available in ebook format on Amazon, but there will be an international paperback version with that cool cover up there (IGoL has a pretty new cover, too!). The Philippine edition of Interim Goddess of Love published by Summit books should be out by Valentine’s Day, too — that’s yesterday, so I think it’s time to hunt for copies in local bookstores soon. :D

Interim Goddess of Love

Interim Goddess of Love – Summit edition

Rating: [rating=4]

Other reviews:
Chachic’s Book Nook
reading is the ultimate aphrodisiac

Reviews of other Interim Goddess of Love books:
#1 Interim Goddess of Love

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Sorta Like A Rock Star

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Sorta Like A Rock Star by Matthew QuickSorta Like A Rock Star by Matthew Quick
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Number of pages: 355 pages
My copy: paperback, bought from Fully Booked

Amber Appleton lives in a bus. Ever since her mom’s boyfriend kicked them out, Amber, her mom, and her totally loyal dog, Bobby Big Boy (aka Thrice B) have been camped out in the back of Hello Yellow (the school bus her mom drives). Still, Amber, the self-proclaimed princess of hope and girl of unyielding optimism, refuses to sweat the bad stuff. But when a fatal tragedy threatens Amber’s optimism–and her way of life, can Amber continue to be the rock star of hope?

With an oddball cast of characters, and a heartwarming, inspiring story, this novel unveils a beautifully beaten-up world of laughs, loyalty, and hard-earned hope. The world is Amber’s stage, and Amber is, well…she’s sorta like a rock star. True? True.

* * *

I’ve been wanting to get a copy of Matthew Quick’s Sorta Like A Rock Star for the longest time, because I thought it was one of those band books — sorta kinda like Antony John’s Five Flavors of Dumb — and I enjoy those books a lot. But no one ever gave it to me for Christmas or my birthday, so after two years of it being in my wish list, I decided to splurge on it shortly after Christmas.

As it turns out, though, Sorta Like A Rock Star is far from being a band book. We meet Amber Appleton, so-called “Princess of Hope”. Amber lives in a bus with her mom and her dog, Bobby Big Boy (aka 3B aka Thrice B aka BBB, who is Catholic too, btw) ever since her mom’s latest boyfriend kicked them out. Despite all this, Amber still has a positive outlook in life and she does her best to help other people who need her (going around in her trusty bike she parks on thule bike racks): her own group of outcasts in school, their adviser for the Marketing Club, some Korean women in a Catholic church where she serves and even a retired veteran who she befriends through a letter-writing exercise in class. She’s such a ray of light to other people that when something truly terrible happens to her, Amber teeters on the edge of darkness — and there doesn’t seem to be any answers to her questions in the face of this tragedy.

I didn’t really warm up to Sorta Like A Rock Star when I first read it, because I sort of couldn’t get into Amber’s way of speaking and her über-optimism. I’m a pretty positive person, but Amber just takes it waaaaay above what I normally know. But somehow, I started feeling for her, especially since I had a view of how much of a struggle it was for her at “home”.

And then that terrible thing happened. And my heart just went out for her. I found myself sniffling in the middle of the night, and I suddenly couldn’t put it down. My heart went out for Amber, and interestingly, to Father Chee, who sat with her through her ordeal. Her questions were painful, and it also hurts me every time her priest friend finally answers, “I don’t know.” Sigh.

Then…well, I won’t say what happens next because it’s better to be read and experienced first hand, but when I finished the book, I was filled with hope, too. Like Amber had reached out from the pages and touched my heart, telling me that things can never be too worse not to be hopeful. I can’t really remember what I was going through when I was reading this, but I remember my heart full of good vibes and warmth when I was done reading, and there were warm, happy tears streaming down my face. Especially when I read this particular haiku:

You may exist in
This world- but I exist too
And I will not yield…

Sorta Like A Rock Star is not your ordinary contemporary YA novel. If you read it and feel turned off at the start of the book, then I urge you to read on — the saccharine sweetness and positivity will bear fruit later, I promise. This is the kind of book that you’ll want to read if you’re feeling down and when you’re done, you’ll want to be what Amber was to everyone, too: a hope-spreader. :)

Rating: [rating=4]

Other reviews:
The Readventurer

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Required Reading 2013: February

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As always, I owe this blog a couple of reviews, but it’s not that big of a backlog just yet so I will get to that before I traipse to another country next week. But look, it’s a brand new month, and suddenly it’s February! How can January go by so fast again?

I don’t mind. I find that I am actually starting to like February. When I was younger, I kind of didn’t like it because I swallow a bitter pill every February with all the love in the air. But then I realized I should stop being like that and you know, just bask in the love.

But that’s for a post on the personal blog. A new month means another time for Required Reading! Before I go with my February list, though, here’s a recap of January:

  • Life of Pi by Yann Martel (5/5) – I really, really liked this, and I really liked the movie, too. It was a great book to start the year, and I have collected a sizable amount of quotes from this book. Plus, Richard Parker is just …rawr. :3
  • Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (3.5/5) – I normally don’t give half stars, but I’m sort of conflicted between a 3 to 4 for this book, so I will settle for a 3.5 for now. I liked the book a lot, but I realize I may not be totally amazed with it. We had a very great discussion about this, though, and it was a great start to our book club’s year. :)

I’m still reading Les Miserables by Victor Hugo (p. 1110 out of 1463 — almost done!!!), and Ghostwritten by David Mitchell, so I’m bumping them to February as spillovers. I would’ve just read them in another month but I already started, so let’s just continue reading.

Required reading - February

Now for February, I’ll be moderating our book club’s discussion for the month. It was our first moderator’s pick, and I realize that February will be quite a busy month, so I didn’t want to pick something thick or too challenging. So I went for the easiest pick (for me anyway): romance. Okay fine, it’s not like I’m expert with that genre, but I didn’t want anything too heavy so let’s go for those quick contemporary romance novellas, right? Interestingly, a short story won in the polls, so this month, we’re discussing Dead Stars by Paz Marquez Benitez.

Since it’s just a short story, I wanted to add a bit more challenge in the group, so I came up with a mini challenge — and of course, the theme is still romance. I was kind of surprised with how enthusiastic everyone was and now everyone’s recommending books and movies and TV shows to one another. Oh so much love in the air in our book club!

And so, if it’s not obvious yet, my theme for this month’s Required Reading is love. <3

Required Reading February books

  1. Fourteen Love Stories edited by Jose Dalisay Jr. and Angelo R. Lacuesta – I’ve been eying this book since I saw it on my friend’s shelves, and because it had Dead Stars in it. I wanted this to be our book for discussion, but I had a hard time looking for print copies, so I decided to just go for an ebook copy. It’s been a while since I read an anthology and this seems fitting this month. :)
  2. Every Day by David Levithan – I’ve heard so many good things about this one, so I’m excited about this. I haven’t read all of Levithan’s work, but I really liked The Lover’s Dictionary. We’re buddy-reading this in the club, and I’m really liking a lot of lines in this book.
  3. Boundless by Cynthia Hand – my good friend Kai lent me the ARC because she knows how much I’ve been waiting for this. Liked Unearthly, loved Hallowed, and I am really, really hoping that this book won’t break my heart too much.
  4. For Darkness Shows the Stars by Diana Peterfreund – I kind of doubt that I’d have time to read this, but I figure I’d throw it in in case I find some time. This is a retelling of my favorite Jane Austen, Persuasion. :)

And again, there are the spillovers – LesMis and Ghostwritten. I have no idea how much I’ll finish this month, but I will try! :) Love, love, and more love, yes? :)

I hope you find lots of love in the books you read this month, too! If you’re participating in this challenge, leave a comment below so I can link you. :)

My friends put up reading lists, too!

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