Book Reviews

Book Reviews, Humour, Op-Eds, Opinion

A Guide to Male Leads in Romance
Reading Time: 6 minutes

By Chen Ying (25A01C) and Ng Dawin (25A01D)

According to popular lore, your quintessential modern-day romance story goes something like this: Girl meets guy, girl and guy fall in love, girl loses guy, girl gets back together with guy. 

There may be some variations to this plotline—such as girl meets guy on a boat (Titanic), girl meets guy in a school (every teen romance) and girl meets guy who is a vampire (Twilight). 

The core story has been this way since the 1800s (or even earlier), when a revolutionary female writer wrote a book about the courtship between an intelligent lady and an aloof yet heart-meltingly affectionate nobleman. 

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Book Reviews, Raffles Reviews

Too Late by Colleen Hoover: A Wattpad Romance, Published (literally)
Reading Time: 5 minutes

By Michelle Lee (24A01A)

Raffles Reads is a collaboration between Raffles Press and Times Reads which aims to promote a reading culture among Singaporean students.

Rating: ⅗. An experience similar to watching an entire series on Instagram Reels.The other day, I stumbled across an Instagram page posting Reels of low budget, 20-minute video series (so each episode was about one minute long). Each distinct series had titles barely distinguishable from the others, all involving a billionaire husband.

Somehow, I ended up watching all episodes of a particular series, and I found the experience strikingly similar to my experience reading this book. I didn’t know why I was watching it, but I couldn’t stop. 

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Book Reviews, Commentary, Raffles Reviews

Sun of Blood and Ruin: A Teacher’s Review
Reading Time: 3 minutes

By Ms Eng Yuwen (GP Department)

Rating: 2.5/5 stars

I now know why we shouldn’t judge a book by its cover.

Picking up Mariely Lares’ ‘Sun of Blood and Ruin’, one would immediately be captivated by its aesthetic cover art. Panther and serpent are intertwined mid fight with the sun behind them. Arresting.

I took a deep dive into the non Western-inspired fantasy genre during the holidays and I was extremely excited to tear into this. The premise was so promising. It’s New Spain in the 16th Century. The land is scarred by oppression and there is a witch-hunt for those who still practise indigenous magic. Their culture is being erased. 

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Book Reviews, Raffles Reviews

Explosion in the Physics Lab: Ali Hazelwood’s Sweet, Sappy and STEM Surprise
Reading Time: 4 minutes

By Shannen Lim (24A01A)

Raffles Reads is a collaboration between Raffles Press and Times Reads which aims to promote a reading culture among Singaporean students.

Rating: 4/5 stars

“Can I take you out?” 
“You want to murder me?” 

Ali Hazelwood books are often looked at as being frivolous, cheesy and elevated fan fiction. To that, I ask, so what? Belonging in the Ali Hazelwood Literary Universe alongside her hit novel “The Love Hypothesis”, Love Theoretically proves that, just like a woman in STEM, a romance book can truly have it all, with a little bit of effort.

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Book Reviews, Commentary, Raffles Reviews

‘The Hurricane Wars’: Exciting enemies-to-lovers tale, drowned out by complex worldbuilding  
Reading Time: 6 minutes

By Arissa Binte Kamaruzaman (24A01A) 

Raffles Reads is a collaboration between Raffles Press and Times Reads which aims to promote a reading culture among Singaporean students.

Rating: 3/ 5 stars

Two pairs of eyes—one blazed in gold, the other sunk in shadow—meet across a battlefield.

Their gazes speak of diametrically opposed magic: Alaric, a prince of the night spars against Talasyn, a lost princess of the light.

Whether they know it or not, they have already hurt each other in many ways. Even before that very moment. Their ancestors’ spilt blood rests on their daggers, thrust towards each other out of vengeance. What are they to each other? Not strangers, but the heirs of rival empires, tethered by the invisible string of fated contempt.

Thea Guanzon’s The Hurricane Wars twists and turns this invisible string until its threads reveal that perhaps, those who are fated to hurt can, unknowingly, be fated to heal each other instead.

This novel embraces all the ingredients of a ravishing enemies-to-lovers tale. (Think: Kylo Ren and Rey from Star Wars, but immersed in the geopolitics of Shadow and Bone). Yet, like a dish made with an ambitious palate of flavours, it often confuses rather than delights the taste buds.

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