Monday, August 18, 2014

If I stay

If I Stay (If I Stay, #1)If I Stay by Gayle Forman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So I saw the commercials for the movie & immediately saw it was a book & knew I had to read it.
The story of a young lady, Mia, who is in an accident with her family. She is standing on the side of the road seeing everything that happened, even her own body. She watches as everything goes on around her, as people she loves comes & talks to her, as nurses whisper encouragement in her ears, as her boyfriend Adam does what he can to get in & see her. During the whole book, we get glimpses of Mia's life & her relationship with her parents who seem like the coolest parents ever, her brother Teddy & how her relationship with Adam developed. We also see the talent Mia has & her dreams of going to Julliard & the decisions she would have to make to leave the people she loves behind to pursue her dream. But then, the accident... everything changes. And Mia knows she has the choice to make. To leave & just let her body die.. or to come back to her body & deal with the suffering & pain.

I really did enjoy the book. It was a good, fast, easy read. I was involved in the story of Mia's life & all the stories she has with her parents & especially with Adam.

I really did get choked up as Mia realizes everything she has lost in this accident... & I laughed as we see the wonderful life Mia had with her family & friends... this book totally had me fully invested.

I will say, I was disappointed in the ending though. It felt sort of abrupt to me & didn't give me any sort of closure to it all. But when I see there is another book that follows, then I figure that's where I find my closure... or at least I hope so.

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Friday, August 15, 2014

Let's all be Brave

Let's All Be Brave: Living Life with Everything You HaveLet's All Be Brave: Living Life with Everything You Have by Annie F. Downs
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I saw this book going around everywhere & was excited to get it. When I started off reading it, I was instantly hooked because I saw the name "Steven Curtis Chapman" being used as Annie talked about a song of his. OK - so we can be instant friends!
Then, it was weird. I think maybe I was expecting something else reading a lot of women's Christian books. This didn't feel like the others.
It took me a few chapters to get the feel of the book, but then I was hooked.
The stories switch up quickly & sometimes connect, sometimes they don't... but I started to love every word written.
I loved how she could have one chapter being "Hold On" & the next "Let it go" & had examples of how God works in both.
I went into this book thinking it'll be a good read but didn't expect to have God speak things on my heart about areas I need to Brave in... that's exactly what happened. I feel the need to start praying about being brave in personal things in my life, & in spiritual things. I now have a fire started in my soul about it all... I think that's the point of this book.
& if we all get a little bit of spark of being Brave? The things that could change...

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Thursday, August 7, 2014

Passing Strangers

Passing StrangersPassing Strangers by Angela Elwell Hunt
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I am so disappointed to give this an 'ok' - I love Angela Hunt. She's one of my favorite authors & I usually give her 5 stars across the board. Was so excited for her latest book... but I just didn't feel it.

This story is about 3 strangers on a train going across the part of the country & the way they meet. The story then sort of breaks up into each individual person's story & what their background is.

I really liked the first one with a story of a girl who was a famous child star on a reality based TV & as she grew up, she fled from all things famous. When her mother is dying, what does she do. I'm all into this story.

The second story lost me. It was the story of this man who has 2 children & he lost his wife in an accident. He is a lawyer who works way too much & wants others to take care of his children. His trip was basically to leave his kids at his mothers house. Something about this part of the story just bothered me. It seemed stupid, didn't seem real. Aggravated me about how easily this guy was going to leave his kids.

The third story was about a mom who had to leave because her adult daughter was causing issues in their home. This part was OK but I was so exhausted by this book by then, I didn't enjoy it.

In the end, you see how the 3 people are intertwined now as friends, but I was just glad to get it over with honestly. I have another Angela Hunt book on my Kindle to read. Hoping I find my faith back in this author.

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