Looking for Alaska

Hey everyone!

This week's review is on Looking for Alaska by John Green.

Before. Miles "Pudge" Halter's whole existence has been one big nonevent, and his obsession with famous last words has only made him crave the "Great Perhaps" (François Rabelais, poet) even more. Then he heads off to the sometimes crazy, possibly unstable, and anything-but-boring world of Culver Creek Boarding School, and his life becomes the opposite of safe. Because down the hall is Alaska Young. The gorgeous, clever, funny, sexy, self-destructive, screwed-up, and utterly fascinating Alaska Young, who is an event unto herself. She pulls Pudge into her world, launches him into the Great Perhaps, and steals his heart.

After. Nothing is ever the same.

Gone Girl
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Inhale
Looking for Alaska
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Along for the Ride

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I have to say Green really likes his metaphors. He always sneaks in metaphors. I read this book because I needed an ugly crying book and I knew Green could deliver. It was a really good book though. It was somewhat predictable. Pudge kept not-so-subtly foreshadowing and basically gave everything away before it happened. It is definitely written for teens. Although I enjoyed it as an adult but I would probably have enjoyed it more as a teen. He manages once again to hit you in the feels. There's a lot of smoking, sex, and drinking. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars.

Happy reading!
Mackenzie

The Longest Ride

Hello!

Today I'll be reviewing The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks.

Ira Levinson is in trouble. Ninety-one years old and stranded and injured after a car crash, he struggles to retain consciousness until a blurry image materializes beside him: his beloved wife Ruth, who passed away nine years ago. Urging him to hang on, she forces him to remain alert by recounting the stories of their lifetime together - how they met, the precious paintings they collected together, the dark days of WWII and its effect on them and their families. Ira knows that Ruth can't possibly be in the car with him, but he clings to her words and his memories, reliving the sorrows and everyday joys that defined their marriage.

A few miles away, at a local bull-riding event, a Wake Forest College senior's life is about to change. Recovering from a recent break-up, Sophia Danko meets a young cowboy named Luke, who bears little resemblance to the privileged frat boys she has encountered at school. Through Luke, Sophia is introduced to a world in which the stakes of survival and success, ruin and reward -- even life and death - loom large in everyday life. As she and Luke fall in love, Sophia finds herself imagining a future far removed from her plans -- a future that Luke has the power to rewrite . . . if the secret he's keeping doesn't destroy it first.

Ira and Ruth. Sophia and Luke. Two couples who have little in common, and who are separated by years and experience. Yet their lives will converge with unexpected poignancy, reminding us all that even the most difficult decisions can yield extraordinary journeys: beyond despair, beyond death, to the farthest reaches of the human heart.

Angels and Demons
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Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Doctor Sleep
I Am Legend
Lone Wolf
Longest Ride (The)
Once Upon a Prince
Superman on the Couch

I was pleasantly surprised with this book. After the jaded story  The Best of Me I wasn't really looking forward to reading this. I thought it was going to be some regular cowboy story with the sappy Nicholas Sparks twist. Well it was and it wasn't. It was a cowboy story and it was sappy BUT the overlapping love stories was fantastic. To see two love stories in two different centuries is so interesting. I know at the beginning the two stories make no sense but keep with it. It's beautiful. It is still not the best Sparks's novel but it was definitely good. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars.

Happy reading!
Mackenzie

Lone Wolf

Hello, hello, hello,

Next up is Lone Wolf by Jodi Picoult.

Edward Warren, twenty-four, has been living in Thailand for five years, a prodigal son who left his family after an irreparable fight with his father, Luke. But he gets a frantic phone call: His dad lies comatose, gravely injured in the same accident that has also injured his younger sister Cara. With her father’s chances for recovery dwindling, Cara wants to wait for a miracle. But Edward wants to terminate life support and donate his father’s organs. Is he motivated by altruism, or revenge? And to what lengths will his sister go to stop him from making an irrevocable decision?

Angels and Demons
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Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland
Doctor Sleep
I Am Legend
Lone Wolf
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Once Upon a Prince
Superman on the Couch

Jodi Picoult is one of my favorite authors. I would say this wasn't one of my favorites by her. I read this while I was taking an Animal Behavior class and it brought in a lot of information but there was a lot anthropomorphising. Halfway through the book she added another voice. And there were a lot of events that happened that really had very little significance. One thing Picoult did well was show the separation and coming together of family. The big "bomb" that Picoult drops at the end of every book was really not that big of a deal. There were a lot of twists and turns in the book The ending overall was incredible. I gave it 4 out of 5 stars.

Happy reading!
Mackenzie

The Light Between Oceans

Hey there!

This is a very exciting post! You'll find out why if you keep reading...

Next up I read The Light Between Oceans by M.L. Stedman. It happened to line up with one of my Goodreads book clubs.

After four harrowing years on the Western Front, Tom Sherbourne returns to Australia and takes a job as the lighthouse keeper on Janus Rock, nearly half a day’s journey from the coast. To this isolated island, where the supply boat comes once a season, Tom brings a young, bold, and loving wife, Isabel.  Years later, after two miscarriages and one stillbirth, the grieving Isabel hears a baby’s cries on the wind. A boat has washed up onshore carrying a dead man and a living baby. Tom, who keeps meticulous records and whose moral principles have withstood a horrific war, wants to report the man and infant immediately. But Isabel insists the baby is a “gift from God,” and against Tom’s judgment, they claim her as their own and name her Lucy. When she is two, Tom and Isabel return to the mainland and are reminded that there are other people in the world. Their choice has devastated one of them.

So here comes the exciting part...

Ender’s Game

Light Between Oceans (The)

Exhale

Persepolis (The Complete)

Happiness Project (The)

Angel in a Fur Coat

Narrative of Fredrick Douglass

Two Towers (The)

Self-inflicted Wounds: Heartwarming Tales of Epic Humiliation

I finished my first animal!!! So on Friday expect a post all about elephants!

This book starts in the middle of the story in the prologue and then moves into the past. It soon catches up to the scene that was in the prologue. The main point of this scene is to catch the reader's attention and it did (at least for me). It could be a little confusing though because it jumps around in time, but I think Stedman made it clear enough that the reader would understand, unless they weren't paying attention. This book taught me a lot about lighthouses, which was a little bit boring...not going to lie. There were little details in the book that weren't followed up on and weren't brought up again but should have been. Also, the little girl in the book didn't match her age. She usually acted way beyond her age and being on an island with only your mom and dad, you're not going to develop skills that quickly. I liked how this book was broken down into more than just chapters. It was broken down into nice easy quick sections. The story was great and the characters were well developed. You could feel the emotions pouring off the characters. I gave it a 4 out of 5 stars.

Happy reading!

Mackenzie