Tag: indonesian book

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Nisha – The Indonesian Edition!

Hi friends! Sorry to have been totally MIA on my blog for the month of November! It was quite a majorly eventful month to say the least. I had a scuba diving trip to the Banda Sea for a full week without internet (glorious, indeed). Bandung Philharmonic, an organization I co-founded had our Finalia Concertante. And last but not least, NISHA, the first book of my Nishaverse trilogy, is now available for pre-order in Bahasa Indonesia! Finally! It wasn’t an easy journey but we made it with the support of dear friends from Omah Library and The Mad Tea Book Club.

The Indonesian Edition

This version of Nisha had gone through a hefty translation process (my appreciation is skyrocketing for translators) PLUS it has EXTRA ILLUSTRATIONS from the amazing Inez Wandita who did all the covers for the ebooks! At the moment physical books are available for pre-order via Omah Library here: bit.ly/OrderOMAH. At the moment the price is very special, so save yourself some money and get it now. You’ll also be supporting indie publishing, women authors, women illustrators, and women empowerment through the power of storytelling.

Coming Soon to Shopee

After this special pre-order time, the Indonesian version of Nisha will be hitting The Mad Tea Book Club’s Shopee with some extremely delicious BONUSES which are still secret for now 😉 But be on the lookout because you can also purchase the bonuses separately.

Previous Reviews

Since the English version of Nisha has been released back in 2020, you can see some of the reader’s reviews on Goodreads. If you want the English, digital version, you can purchase it directly from my shop. Pst: there’s an audiobook version as well!

Obviously I’m so proud with Nisha’s journey so far, and thank you, THANK YOU all so much for supporting my writing!

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Book Review: If I Stay

If I Stay is an Indonesian chick-lit – the first Indonesian book I read this year! I don’t read in Indonesian that well, but I will take up the challenge for special people. Last year I read Perempuan yang Dihapus Namanya (Women Whose Names Were Erased) by Avianti Armand, poet and also Cung’s (my second husband) partner in many architectural projects. This year, when Sherry, fellow co-founder of the Mad Tea Book Club sent me her novel, I decided to give it a go. Spoiler Alerts!

First of all, the structure of the book is so poetic, with titles inspired by musical terms and even excerpts of songs weaved into the narrative. You can tell this book is a project of love from the young author. She has even produced it into an indie film on her youtube channel.

Second, the premise is so relevant to this day and age. Karina is a high school girl who is in a happy relationship with her boyfriend Lintang. She also has an anonymous social media account by the name of snowfairy which has 18M followers on the platform called Art & Pages. These days many people of the younger generation go anonymous on social media to protect their identities. This would never have crossed my mind or anyone from my generation. We went on social media to connect with our friends – not to “disconnect”. How interesting. 

Phantom Stalkers

One day, one of Karina’s anonymous followers starts to stalk and send her threatening notes. Think Phantom of the Opera. He threatens her with one of her private secrets, and with that knowledge manipulates Karina to do things she does not want to do. As someone who has received hate speech on social media, I’ll tell you that this fear is real. It makes me rethink the model of influencers and personal branding.

So how do Karina, Lintang, and her friends (online and offline) deal with this phantom? Don’t worry, it’s an almost happy ending. If there is anything I can change, I’d wish for much heavier punishment for the stalker. For me, this is bordering harassment! I do wish our country has a better justice system, especially when it comes to cyber-harassment or bullying.

All in all, If I Stay was an enjoyable read. Thanks again to Sherry for sending me the book!