When We Collided by Emery Lord | Book Review

Reading Group: 16 years old+ 

Personal Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Synopses: Seventeen-year-old Jonah Daniels has lived in Verona Cove, California, his whole life, and only one thing has ever changed: his father used to be alive, and now he is not. With a mother lost in a deep bout of depression, Jonah and his five siblings struggle to keep up their home and the restaurant their dad left behind. But at the start of summer, a second change rolls in: Vivi Alexander, the new girl in town. 

Vivi is in love with life. Charming and unfiltered, she refuses to be held down by the medicine she's told should make her feel better. After meeting Jonah, she slides into the Daniels' household seamlessly, winning over each sibling with her imagination and gameness. But it's not long before Vivi's zest for life begins to falter. Soon her adventurousness becomes all-out danger-seeking. 

Through each high and low, Vivi and Jonah's love is put to the test . . . but what happens when love simply isn't enough?

Cover: The front cover of this novel has paint splatter behind the title, which I think is a really good representation of collision.  Yes, Vivi is very into art, and her mom is even a painter, so that could be a reason for the paint splatter, but even if that wasn't the case, I think it would work.  Splatter paint is messy, even when it's done intentionally, but it can be beautiful, and I think that is an excellent representation of this story.

My Review: I can't help but relate this book to Love & Gelato because in both stories the main female character goes looking for her dad at some point.  It's not as big of a deal in this story, but I thought it was interesting that it just so happened in books I read back to back.
I definitely liked Jonah more than Vivi.  She was just a lot for me, and even when I was reading her dialogue, I found myself going a mile a minute.  I also found myself getting very frustrated with her, especially when Jonah was trying to ask for help.  But I think that was the point.  From an outsiders standpoint, it can be frustrated when you know something is wrong with someone, but you can't help them.  Vivi wasn't taking her medication, which made her act the way she did. 
Jonah was just trying to keep everything together, but he was slipping.  Vivi came into his life when he needed her to, but she was never meant to stay.  She wasn't someone who could stay in one place for too long.  I loved the part I the hospital when Vivi admits that Jonah would probably end up with Ellie or someone like her because from the moment she came into the book I thought her and Jonah would be a good match.  
This book reminded me of All the Bright Places because it talked about mental illness and made it apparent that there are more people around you struggling than you might think, but I was pleasantly surprised that this story didn't end in death.  That's not what this book was about because that's not what mental illness always leads to, especially if the person suffering can get the proper help.  However, if you did read ATBP, I think you'd like this story as well.  
It's important to read books with topics like the many covered in this book because even if you can't personally relate, it lets you inside someone's head and teaches you how to be empathetic towards the situation if one was ever to come up.

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Gemini by Carol Cassella | Book Review

Gemini by Carol Cassella  

Reading Group: High School+

Personal Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

Given Summary: “Gemini is an unforgettable novel—a morality tale, a mystery, and a love story that will leave readers breathless” (Maria Semple, New York Times bestselling author of Where’d You Go, Bernadette).

As should be the case with any memorable love story, the first time Raney Remington saw Bo she hated him. 

When the skinny kid from the city first arrives in her Pacific Northwest hometown, Raney doesn’t quite know what to make of him. Yet her intense dislike of the know-it-all bookworm softens as Bo latches on to Raney, eager to learn about the Washington island he’s been sent for the summer. 

Decades later Dr. Charlotte Reese finds herself fighting to keep an unconscious ICU patient stable while also unwrapping the mystery of the unconscious woman, the victim of a hit-and-run. Consumed by questions about the woman’s identity, Charlotte enlists Eric, her journalist boyfriend, to investigate. Their search for answers brings them to heartrending truths about Jane Doe―and themselves.

In beautiful interwoven storytelling, master of medical drama Carol Cassella presents two women—lifetimes apart—who face the inescapable forces shaping their lives. Filled with stunning medical detail and set against the breathtaking backdrop of the Pacific Northwest, Gemini is a vivid novel of moral complexity and emotional depth that “is just what the doctor ordered” (People).

Cover: The cover of this book shows two women looking at each other with the forest overlayed on their faces.  It looks like the woman looking down has her eyes open and the woman facing up has her eyes closed.  This could represent Charlottle looking over Raney in the hospital and trying to figure out what was best for her.

My Review:  I bought this book because it was less than $5 at Barnes&Noble, but let me tell you this book was great.  It was unlike most books I've read before because it was so medical, but not confusingly so and it didn't sound like a research paper either.  Charlotte was Raney's doctor so she had to deal with all of the things that came with that and, of course, that means medical terminology that I don't know very well, but through the context of the book I could figure out enough to not have to look it up online.  
This book was crazy in the way it all worked out and how all of the characters were connected to each other.  Eric was in love with Raney, but the timing was never right for them and he was sick and never called her back so she got married.  It was interesting because breaking up with someone can be good, bad, or neutral and it's so different for everyone.  Eric was able to move on and he found Charlotte, but it took him some time to fully commit to her because he knew his future was uncertain.  Raney married Cleet and then David and her life seemed to go downhill after Eric left for good.  Except for Jake, who was her entire world.  I liked Charlotte and Eric together, but it made me a little sad to think of what could have been.
And then the whole Chimera thing that totally blew my mind and made me automatically think of Teen Wolf.  So I guess that means Jake was 50% Raney, 25% Cleet, and 25% Eric (?) or something like that.  It was amazing because I knew Eric had to be Jake's father because of his disease and physical resemblances, but his dark skin tone threw me for a loop and I was trying to figure out how they were all connected.  Who knew that something like this could happen outside of a laboratory?!
I definitely recommend this book, and I also encourage you to look through the sales bin at whatever bookstore you shop at and find something new! 

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Twisted by Hannah Jayne | Book Review

Twisted by Hannah Jayne

Reading Group: High School+

Personal Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Given Summary: Guilty until proven innocent...

Bex has always been her daddy's little girl. After her mother left, it was just the two of them. Sure he spoiled her with clothes and jewelry, but what father doesn't dote on his daughter?

Except Bex's dad is alleged to be a notorious serial killer. Dubbed "The Wife Collector" by the press, her father disappeared before he could stand trial. And Bex was left to deal with the taunts and rumors. Foster care is her one chance at starting over, starting fresh.

But Bex's old life isn't ready to let her go. When bodies start turning up in her new hometown, the police want to use her as bait to bring her father in for questioning. Is Bex trapping a serial killer or endangering an innocent man?

Cover: The cover of this book shows a standard backyard with someone standing in the shadows.  The person is standing just outside the light and it's hard to tell which way they're facing.  The person could be facing the light, debating whether or not to make themselves known, or they could be facing the shadows, wanting to remain hidden. 

My Review: This was a great book.  Bex wants a normal life, but to have it she basically needs to lie about her entire life before she goes to her foster parents.  Her dad is an alleged serial killer and Bex wants to believe he didn't do it.  She wants to believe he was framed and that someday they can be together again and be a family.  Reading the novel it's pretty clear that Bex is in denial about the fact that her dad murdered multiple women, but I think that goes to show that we know a good version of someone we don't want to believe there's a bad version.  Especially when it's a parent because they're our protectors and they taught us our morals and we're fifty percent of each of them so if one of them is a serial killer is it more likely for their kid to become one too?  Plus, being a product of a killer isn't exactly a brag so Bex doesn't want anyone to know who she is, but the constant worrying of who knows what spikes her anxiety to high levels and she always seems to be paranoid.  I really enjoyed this book and I would definitely recommend it to friends, but the one thing I wish was in more detail was Zach's character.  He definitely knew more than he let on, and Bex thinks she sees the light of his camera when she and her friends find a body, but his character just kind of disappears.  I wish he was more than a character used to throw the reader off because even though I didn't think he was bad, I thought he could have been more important than he was.  

What creepy books are you reading this October??

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A Beautiful Funeral by Jamie McGuire | Book Review

A Beautiful Funeral by Jamie McGuire

Reading Group: Anyone whose read the rest of the series

Personal Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

Given Summary: Losing has never been easy for a Maddox, but death always wins.

Eleven years to the day after eloping in Vegas with Abby, Special Agent Travis Maddox delivers his own brand of vigilante justice to mob boss Benny Carlisi. Vegas's oldest and most violent crime family is now preparing for vengeance, and the entire Maddox family is a target.

The secret Thomas and Travis have kept for a decade will be revealed to the rest of the family, and for the first time the Maddoxes will be at odds. While none of them are strangers to loss, the family has grown, and the risk is higher than ever. With brothers against brothers and wives taking sides, each member will make a choice—let the fear tear them apart, or make them stronger.

Cover: The cover of this book has a tree on it with bare branches and falling leaves.  That means that it must be towards the end of fall, which in a literary sense means the end of a life.  Also, Jim gives a speech to his sons about how life goes on the way branches grow off of other branches.  

My Review:  (Just a reminder now that I tend to ramble and give away spoilers)  Oh my gosh you guys this book did me in!  I read it all in one go and didn't go to bed until 4 in the morning last week.  My Predictions from last week was right, but wrong in some ways.  I was right that Jim was the one who died, but he didn't die in a way I imagined.  I also didn't originally think they were going to fake a death, but within about 10 pages of the book I was able to see that that's where it was headed.  Also, I am so upset that Olive died.  I wasn't even thinking of her as an option!  And she was only 18 and about to start college.  Plus, she had already held her brother while he died and now her parents had no kids, and Fayln lost her too.  I wish that she was seriously hurt and maybe it didn't look good, but she pulled through.  Her death hurt so bad.  her death also just seemed so unnecessary to me.  Everyone else I could understand for the most part, I did understand and wrote a blog post about it, but Olive was never on my radar.  She was a Maddox, because she was Falyn's biological daughter, but she was the one no one would know about, so I guess that added an element to the story.
Also, so much has changed!  Fayln and Taylor being in a weird place was a curveball I was not expecting.  And I know they decided to live together again, but I need to know how they work things out.  I also need to know how they handle the fact that the Mayor's son keeps texting her or how he even got her number.  Trenton and Cami not being able to get pregnant was also a surprise, but not as shocking as Falyn and Taylor.  However, I do need to know is Cami ever does get pregnant.  I felt bad to Trenton in this book too because even though he did have lied, his didn't seem as big as his family's and it was clear that he was hurt the most by finding out all of the different truths.  I think this is also what made Olive's death so hard, other than the fact that readers knew her as a little girl and then as an 18-year-old.  Olive was Trent's best friend so for him to be hurting so bad throughout the book and then have to go through that when it looked like it was over was hard.
That Jamie McGuire really knows how to simultaneously ruin and make my day.  Her books are some of my favorites, but then she does stuff like this and it makes me so sad.  However, I think that fact that this book made me feel so much proves how good it is.  If you were to read a book like this and just like "Eh, well it's over now," than the book didn't didn't do a very good job.  A novel should cause a reaction and this one definitely does. 
*Note: Did anyone else notice that at the beginning of the book (Chapter 5) Abby and Travis are at their house talking about baby names before Travis leaves to go t the airport for Liis, but when she does actually land (Chapter 18) Abby is at the hospital having just given birth to Carter?  And there's no way these things happened on the same day because Abby was at Jim's house with Travis when her water broke.  

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Beautiful Funeral by Jamie McGuire Predictions

For those who don't know, I love Jamie McGuire's books.  My favorites of her's are definitely the ones in the Beautiful Series and the Maddox Brothers Series, and she has a new one coming out tomorrow called Beautiful Funeral.

I am really excited about this book because I know it's going to be amazing, but I'm also nervous because I don't know who's going to die.  I know whoever it is I'm going to be upset, and I've been trying to figure it out.  I decided to jot down my thought process to who I think it's going to be.

Travis & Abby ~ Neither of these two can die.  Plain and simple.  They started the whole series and people (Me) would have a field day if either of them died.  However, it would definitely have the biggest reaction from the readers.  They also have three kids at this point and it would just be mean to kill one of them off, Jamie.

Trenton & Cami ~  I will be so sad if either of these two die because I loved them so much.  They were so cute and my favorite out of the Brothers Series.  However, they didn't have an epilogue in Beautiful Oblivion so that makes me nervous.  But I do know that there is going to be a sequel to this book which makes me think that it won't be one of them.  Of course, that book could start before one of them dies and end after, but I just don't think it's going to.

Thomas & Liis ~  Honestly, I wouldn't be completely brokenhearted if one of these two died.  It would be sad because they do have a kid, but neither of these two were my favorite.

Taylor & Falyn ~ Tyler and Fayln were adorable and they have two kids and I just don't want either of them to be killed.

Tyler & Ellie ~ Taylor makes me nervous because there isn't an epilogue at the end of Beautiful Burn and this happened:

"Wow.  That was intense.  I don't know what I would have done if something happened to Taylor.  That makes us three-and-oh the past couple of years."
"What do you mean?"
"Taylor, Trent, and Travis have all and close calls."
[Ellie] buried [her] face into Tyler's neck.  "It's not your turn."
"Well it damn sure ain't Tommy's turn..."

Is that some type of foreshadowing????  Also, he's wrong.  Thomas and Liis got shot and both of them ended up in the hospital.  And Shepley and America got caught in a tornado.  Everyone but Tyler has had close calls.

Shepley & America ~ Although they are part of the Maddox family, Shepley is the cousin so I don't think it's going to be either of them.

I have a gut feeling that it's one of the boys and not one of the girls.  And if it is one of the girls, it's going to be Abby, but I just don't think McGuire is going to kill her off.

Also, the whole reason this is happening is because Travis killed Benny.  So for the mob to get back at the family they plan on killing one of them.  It doesn't really make sense for the mob to target Taylor, Tyler, Trenton, or Shepley because they have nothing to do with it.  It makes sense for Travis or Thomas to be killed because they're the reason that Benny is dead and because they're federal agents.  If you want to send a message, you kill a fed.

However, I think they're going to kill Jim Maddox.  He's the patriarch of the entire family and his death would hurt the entire family.  Also, everyone would be said to read that Jim dies, but it wouldn't be the same as if one of the boys were killed.  No one is emotionally attached to Jim the way they are to the other's because he didn't have a story about him and his wife.

I think that in this story all of the secrets come out and maybe Tyler gets hurt, but ultimately Jim is the one who ends up dead.  Or McGuire could totally throw us for a loop and maybe the death is faked or it's someone I didn't want it to be.

Beautiful Funeral comes out tomorrow and I've had mine on preorder since the beginning of June so hopefully it comes tomorrow, but it's saying the 18th.  My review will be up next Tuesday most likely so we can all cry together and figure out if I was right or wrong.

Who do you think it will be?  Are you as excited/nervous as I am to find out?

You can click below to read the reviews I wrote for some of the Maddox Brother's Series.  Beautiful Disaster, Walking Disaster, Beautiful Wedding, and Beautiful Oblivion I read before I started blogging, but they're amazing as well and if you haven't read them you definitely should!

Smile!  I'll talk to you soon!xxx

Me After You by Jojo Moyes | Book Review

Me After You by Jojo Moyes 

Reading Group: 17+

Personal Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

Given Summary: “You’re going to feel uncomfortable in your new world for a bit. But I hope you feel a bit exhilarated too. Live boldly. Push yourself. Don’t settle. Just live well. Just live. Love, Will.”
 
How do you move on after losing the person you loved? How do you build a life worth living?
 
Louisa Clark is no longer just an ordinary girl living an ordinary life. After the transformative six months spent with Will Traynor, she is struggling without him. When an extraordinary accident forces Lou to return home to her family, she can’t help but feel she’s right back where she started.
 
Her body heals, but Lou herself knows that she needs to be kick-started back to life. Which is how she ends up in a church basement with the members of the Moving On support group, who share insights, laughter, frustrations, and terrible cookies. They will also lead her to the strong, capable Sam Fielding—the paramedic, whose business is life and death, and the one man who might be able to understand her. Then a figure from Will’s past appears and hijacks all her plans, propelling her into a very different future. . . .
 
For Lou Clark, life after Will Traynor means learning to fall in love again, with all the risks that brings. But here Jojo Moyes gives us two families, as real as our own, whose joys and sorrows will touch you deeply, and where both changes and surprises await.

Cover: The cover of this novel follows the theme of its prequel in the way that it is simple, but still very pretty.  Because this is the paperback there is a little picture in the corner reminding you that Me Before You is "now a major motion picture" as a way of promotion.

My Review: I really really liked this novel.  I liked it because at the end of Me Before You Lou is in Paris doing what Will wanted her to do and you think she's fine and has this great life ahead of her, but in reality she's not.  She's still suffering with the loss of Will and finding the Lou she used to be.  Gone is her crazy fashion sense.  Louisa Clark is wearing simple jeans and t-shirts.  That is until Will's daughter, Lily, makes herself known.  Now, I can see how the 'long lost daughter' aspect of this story may seem a bit cliche, but I liked it.  When Lou was up on her roof she was yelling at Will for ruining her life and leaving her when Lily startles her and she falls.  That fall restarted her life in some ways.  It was because of that incident that Lou's father makes her goes to the support group for people who have recently had a loved one die.  (Granted a lot of people think Lou jumped off of the building, but still.)  That fall is the first place she meets Ambulance Sam and the group is where she learns that he is related to Jake.  I absolutely loved that she thought Sam was Jake's father who had been having sex and then crying as a way to grieve for his dead wife instead of Jake's uncle.  That was funny.  Lily was also the reason Lou reconnected with Mr. and Mrs. Traynor, which I think she needed.  Lou is good at taking care of people.  That was evident in Me Before You when she was the only one able to get Will to leave the house, and it continued when she took in Lily.  Lily turned Lou's world upside down, but it was exactly what she needed.  Lily gave Lou the ability to move forward and love again.  When someone you love dies, your life goes on, but not in the same way.  It takes a long time to feel 'normal' again and it's hard to get there alone.  That's what this book reminds us and I definitely recommend it to anyone really, but obviously you have to read Me Before You first.        

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Me Before You by Jojo Moyes | Book Review

Me Before You by Jojo Moyes 

Reading Group: 17+

Personal Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars 

Given Summary: The beloved New York Times bestseller—with more than five million copies sold. The stunning sequel, After You, is available now.

They had nothing in common until love gave them everything to lose . . .

Louisa Clark is an ordinary girl living an exceedingly ordinary life—steady boyfriend, close family—who has never been farther afield than their tiny village. She takes a badly needed job working for ex–Master of the Universe Will Traynor, who is wheelchair bound after an accident. Will has always lived a huge life—big deals, extreme sports, worldwide travel—and now he’s pretty sure he cannot live the way he is.

Will is acerbic, moody, bossy—but Lou refuses to treat him with kid gloves, and soon his happiness means more to her than she expected. When she learns that Will has shocking plans of his own, she sets out to show him that life is still worth living.

A Love Story for this generation, Me Before You brings to life two people who couldn’t have less in common—a heartbreakingly romantic novel that asks, What do you do when making the person you love happy also means breaking your own heart?

Cover: The cover of this novel is very simple, it's just the title and the authors name, but I like it.  It's almost as if this book doesn't need an image to it, which if you read it is true.  Everyone in this novel was someone else before Louisa and Will met than they were when Will died. 

My Review: I loved this book.  I finished it in one day.  It left me feeling the same way All The Brigth Places left me.  In a weird sad, but happy I don't really know what to feel way.  I loved this story, but it was definitely heartbreaking.  For me especially, the idea of dying is super freaky so for someone to chose it in the way that Will did, because it was suicide, but at the same time it wasn't just throws me for a loop.  And I felt bad for Louisa because she fell for him, but he already knew his expiration date.  How can you spend time with someone when you know it's going to end.  My sister also read this story and we went and saw the movie and she said that truthfully how long would Louisa stay with Will.  He can't do anything and she wouldn't be abel to have kids or anything so who long would it last?  And that's exactly Will's frame of mind.  His life ended when he go hit by the motorcyclist, every day after that was just borrowed time.  He wanted so much more for her and that's exactly what he was able to do.  Taking that job was the best thing Louisa could have done for herself, even if it was the saddest and hardest as well.  I loved this novel and I loved the movie, even though I know many people didn't.  I would definitely recommend this book to anyone who is willing to have their heart ripped out from their chest. 

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We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach | Book Review

We All Looked Up by Tommy Wallach

Reading Group: High School+

Personal Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

Given Summary: Four high school seniors put their hopes, hearts, and humanity on the line as an asteroid hurtles toward Earth in this contemporary novel.

They always say that high school is the best time of your life.

Peter, the star basketball player at his school, is worried “they” might actually be right. Meanwhile Eliza can’t wait to escape Seattle—and her reputation—and perfect-on-paper Anita wonders if admission to Princeton is worth the price of abandoning her real dreams. Andy, for his part, doesn’t understand all the fuss about college and career—the future can wait.

Or can it? Because it turns out the future is hurtling through space with the potential to wipe out life on Earth. As these four seniors—along with the rest of the planet—wait to see what damage an asteroid will cause, they must abandon all thoughts of the future and decide how they’re going to spend what remains of the present.

Cover: So the cover of this book is what drew me to it in the store, but I'm not going to lie, now that I've read the book, I'm not a huge fan of the cover.  It's just random people looking at an astroid and I wish it was at least the people who were there at the end of the story.  

My Review: I loved this book, but I also hate fit solely because Peter died.  And I know you could make the argument that they all end up dead, but the fact that Peter died first the day before made me so sad because he was my favorite from the beginning.  Also, there was still a 33.3% chance the astroid didn't hit the earth and if it did, would it wipe out everyone or just people in a large radius of the impact zone?  Like what it the astroid landed straight in the middle of the Pacific Ocean?  Sure there would be ridiculous tsunamis, but I still feel like North Dakota and some other states would be okay.  Your thoughts?
I tend to enjoy books that make you question your life, even through death freaks me out, and this novel was no different.  Life is short and you shouldn't wait until the world id ending or you get diagnosed withs one illness to do the things you want to do.  And it's interesting who people become when it seems that there are no rules.  Is the only reason you're not doing something is because it's illegal?  Is that right?  I like to believe that I am someone who lives in the present and does things that make me happy, but I also have a bucket list of things that will take years to complete, so if the world ended within the next three months I would be in trouble.  I think it's important to know there are things you want to do though because you'll try harder to get them done while you can rather than lying on your death bed coming up with plans that will never happen.
But back to the book.  I loved the way this book was written, I don't have an exact reason why, I just thought it was very nicely written and it makes me want to read Wallach's other book.  The characters were all great and different and real.  Like I went to high school with someone just like each of them.  I would definitely recommend this book to my friends.  

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Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider | Book Review

Extraordinary Means by Robyn Schneider

Reading Group: 17-years-old+

Personal Rating: 5 out of 5 Stars

Given Summary: John Green's The Fault in Our Stars meets Rainbow Rowell's Eleanor & Park in this darkly funny novel from the critically acclaimed author of The Beginning of Everything.

Up until his diagnosis, Lane lived a fairly predictable life. But when he finds himself at a tuberculosis sanatorium called Latham House, he discovers an insular world with paradoxical rules, med sensors, and an eccentric yet utterly compelling confidante named Sadie—and life as Lane knows it will never be the same.

Robyn Schneider's Extraordinary Means is a heart-wrenching yet ultimately hopeful story about the miracles of first love and second chances.

Cover: The cover of this book shows the night sky and the woods.  The woods are important because the characters spent time in the woods and it's actually connected to two of the character's deaths.  Charlie dies in the woods and Sadie gets hurt in the woods, which eventually leads to her death.  The characters also talk about stars throughout the story so I like to think that the two shooting stars are for Sadie and Charlie.  

My Review: I really enjoyed this book and I can definitely see the relation between it and The Fault in Our Stars.  Stories like this definitely remind me how little time we may have with certain people and that we need to make those moments last.  The quote on the cover of the book "Life goes on until it doesn't" sums that up really well.  We all expect a tomorrow and that any mistakes we make can be fixed tomorrow, but that's not always true.  Sadie was lucky that she was able to go to Lane and tell him that she never wanted to break up because it wasn't long after that that she was attacked in the woods.  I think this book also pointed out the importance of friendship and showing that we all have those people that we're willing to break the rules for.  And it's nice to know that people like that are around you.  Life is so much more than resume building and I know that sometimes we don't think about the future at all and other times we think about it too much, but I don't think you should ever do something you don't want to do because it 'looks good' because there are plenty of things that will give you a great future at the same time as making the present awesome.  This story was a great one and a relatively quick read.  It kind of broke my heart, and you all know I prefer a happy ending, but like All the Bright Places there was something about this one that made me want to force my friends to read it,

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This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp | Book Review

This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp

Reading Group: 17-year-old+ 

Personal Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Given Summary:Everyone has a reason to fear the boy with the gun.

10:00 a.m.
The principal of Opportunity, Alabama's high school finishes her speech, welcoming the entire student body to a new semester and encouraging them to excel and achieve.

10:02 a.m.
The students get up to leave the auditorium for their next class. 

10:03
The auditorium doors won't open.

10:05
Someone starts shooting.

Told from four perspectives over the span of 54 harrowing minutes, terror reigns as one student's calculated revenge turns into the ultimate game of survival.

Cover: The cover of this book is dark except for the bright chalk that is being shot through.  I think it's a very powerful book cover and it definitely drew me in when I saw it on the shelf.

My Review: I enjoyed this book.  It was a quick read and definitely showed the fear that comes with a scenario as serious and scary as a school shooting.  However, there were a few things I didn't like about the book.  At the end of each chapter were little blurbs (I think they were supposed to be tweets and a blog post and text messages) and they didn't do much for the book.  In my opinion, they were pointless.  I think the point of them was to show how people outside of the school react, but CJ was live-tweeting and being annoying in my opinion and it would have been better if it was a bunch of different people instead of focusing on the few people who really weren't characters in the story.  Also, I don't know if there was something symbolic about all the sisters losing a brother, but I didn't like it.  Why did all of the girls live and none of the boys?  I wish Matt had lived because it would have been a slight plot twist in the story.  Other than those I did enjoy this novel.  It made me sad, which I think it should given what the topic is, and it was nice to have such a strong reaction to a story.  I think that's a very impressive craft for an author to have.  Even though this may not be favorite book, I certainly don't regret spending my time reading it and I would still recommend it.    

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Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver | Book Review

Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver

Reading Group: High School+

Personal Rating: 4 out of 5 Stars

Given Summary: New York Times bestselling author Lauren Oliver delivers a gripping story perfect for fans of We Were Liars and I Was Here, about two sisters inexorably altered by a terrible accident.

Dara and Nick used to be inseparable, but that was before the accident that left Dara's beautiful face scarred and the two sisters totally estranged.

When Dara vanishes on her birthday, Nick thinks Dara is just playing around. But another girl, nine-year-old Madeline Snow, has vanished, too, and Nick becomes increasingly convinced that the two disappearances are linked. Now Nick has to find her sister, before it's too late.

In this edgy and compelling novel, Lauren Oliver creates a world of intrigue, loss, and suspicion as two sisters search to find themselves, and each other.

Cover: The cover of this novel shows a fuzzy picture of Nick.  It's as if the picture and the girl in it are vanishing.

My Review: (Careful...Spoilers) HOLY PLOT TWIST!  I was expecting Dara to be running away from Andre and fall of the lighthouse or something else to result in her death or disappearance, I was not expecting Nick to be hallucinating being her sister!  It makes other parts of the book make so much more sense.  When Parker and "Dara" were kissing in her car and she gets mad at him for saying the wrong name, but HE DIDN'T!  I absolutely loved the plot twist because it was different and unexpected for me.  The book itself is actually kind of sad and shows how trauma can effect a persons mental state.  I would have liked the ending better if she and Parker ended up together.  And I mean, I guess they did, but not really and I would have liked it to me more official, but that's just because I like when the people end up together in the end.  This novel is different from others that I've read and I really enjoyed the mystery aspect of it.

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