Catching Fire

Are you excited? Cause I sure am!

Shatter Me

I recently have read an amazing series by Tahereh Mafi, well the books in the series that have been written anyway. I am anxiously awaiting for the next book to be written, but the first two are called 'Shatter Me' and 'Unravel Me'. It is a story about a girl who has a lethal touch, literally. If her skin comes into contact with another human being, she could kill them. Not really sure what to do with her after a tragic accident, society throws her in a mental institution where she has absolutely no human contact for hundreds of days. All she has to keep her sane is a little notebook that she can write her thoughts in, and a very small window in her cell that she can get a glimpse of the sky. Her world is then turned upside down yet again when all of a sudden, they give her a cell mate.


This was a very interesting read for me. The authors style of writing is unlike anything I have seen before. I thoroughly enjoyed these books and would highly recommend them. However, there are some adult scenes that are probably not appropriate for younger readers. These are categorized as Young Adult, but I would probably not recommend them to anyone younger than high school age.

Let It Go

Have you ever read a book that completely impacts your life? When you put the book down it never really leaves your thoughts. You think about it in the shower. You think about it on your drive to work. And usually it’s what you are thinking about right before you fall asleep. Well, I have read just such a book. It is called ‘Let It Go’ by Chris Williams. This book is a true story of one man’s tragedy and his continual effort to find peace and happiness after it.

Chris Williams was taking his family out for ice cream one Friday night when a drunk driver crashed into their car, instantly killing his pregnant wife and two children. This is the story of the healing process that he had to endure after that event and how he ‘frankly forgave’ the teenage drunk driver that killed half of his family.

This book was utterly inspiring to me. This man is absolutely incredible. I honestly do not know if I could forgive someone so completely after they hurt my family so terribly. He had enough faith to put this burden in the Lord’s hands and just let his Savior heal him. The whole time I was reading his story I kept thinking about how many grudges I am carrying on my shoulders. I can still remember some insults that I received in kindergarten from other five year olds. How pathetic is that? If this man can forgive, then I can too.

Before Williams wrote this book he created a ‘Mormon Message’, which is just a short video clip about members of the church and the experiences that they face in their life. In the clip you can see Williams speaking with Cameron, the drunk driving teenager. I posted it below so that you can get a little taste of what this book is about. If you are curious about the LDS Church you can find out more information at lds.org. 

Matched

The latest series that I read is called the 'Matched Series' by Allie Condie. I must admit that this is one of those "latest and greatest" series fads that everyone is reading and yes, I jumped on the bandwagon and read them too. The series is yet another futuristic series where a new form of government has taken over. This particular government is called The Society which holds complete control over practically everything that its citizens do. From where they work to who they marry every thing is pretty much decided for them. There is no choice. The reward for this is safety. There is no disease, no wars, just citizens living peaceful lives. When  The Society first came about they even had a committee to examine all of the art and music in the world. This committee selected 100 songs and 100 paintings to survive and destroyed the rest. Therefore there is no longer creation of art or music of any kind and has become a lost art. When teenagers reach a certain age they attend what is known as a Match Banquet. They get to go have a fancy dinner with food they have never had and at the end there is a ceremony where every teenager is given a match, or future spouse if you will, from somewhere in The Society. Almost everyone is matched to someone that they have never met, so when Cassia is matched to someone she has known her whole life, she is completely shocked. The week following the Match Banquet is the beginning of realization for Cassia  that The Society may not be as perfect as she always thought.

While I did enjoy this series and found it an entertaining read, I think it might be a little overrated. Yes it is good, but no it is not amazing. Just a fun read. I would recommend it, but I just hope it doesn't become an unbelievably overrated fad like Twilight (ugh). (Oh no, I wouldn't say these books are as terrible as Twilight, I was just referring to the fad thing.)

Austenland

I know it has been a while since I wrote a book recommendation post but I can assure you that I never stopped reading.  I have been reading two separate series and wanted to finish all of the books in each series before posting about them. The first series that I finished is the ‘Austenland’ series by Shannon Hale, who is one of my very favorite authors in case you didn’t know. There are only two books in this series; ‘Austenland’ and ‘Midnight in Austenland’.  

These books are about a home in England that you can pay to stay at for two weeks where you are completely immersed in the era of Jane Austen.  Everything is authentic to the time period including the clothes, food, speech, and social rules of etiquette.  At Pembrook Manor guests have all of their electronics taken away from them and literally have to pretend like they are living in one of Jane Austen’s novels. Actors are hired to court the women and at the end of their stay there is a grand ball. It is a perfect retreat for all Austen enthusiasts and a place where anything can happen.

Being a Jane Austen fan myself I found these novels very intriguing and entertaining to read. Having said that however, I do not necessarily feel that ‘Austenland’ quite held up to Shannon Hale’s usual standard of writing. It’s almost like you can tell that this is Hale’s first attempt at writing a novel for adults and she doesn’t really know how to navigate herself in this particular genre.  The same cannot be said for ‘Midnight in Austenland’ however. From the very beginning the second book in this series had me completely captivated and guessing until the very end. You can literally see Hale grow as an author as she tries her hand at writing for an adult audience. The first novel was just “okay” literature for me, but the second novel is when I really remembered why Shannon Hale is in my top 5 of favorite authors.  So do me a favor, if you haven’t read Shannon Hale before, don’t judge her just based off from this series. She is an amazing author I assure you.

As for the second series that I have been reading I am on the third and final book in the series so that post should be coming very soon. Stay tuned. 

The Secret Keeper

I just recently finished 'The Secret Keeper' by Kate Morton and it was so amazingly good. When Laurel is 16 years old and playing hide and seek with her siblings, she witnesses her mother kill a man who has come to their little farm in England, from her hiding spot. She has no idea what this man could have said or done to bring her mother to such drastic anger and afterwards the whole thing is kind of hushed up and rarely spoken of again. However, years later, when her mother is getting closer and closer to her death bed, Laurel is determined to discover the truth about both her mother's and the man she killed's past. She is determined that the memory of her mother not be tainted by that terrible day. This novel is about the journey Laurel goes on to unravel her mother's history that she never knew she had.

The reason I liked this novel so much is that it is highly unpredictable. It literally kept me guessing until the very end, and the resolution took me completely by surprise. A definite page turner that keeps you on your toes and dying to know the secret as much as Laurel does. A very good mystery indeed!

The Power of Books

Harry Potter as a Teen Comedy.

Grave Mercy

This book is another recommendation from a fellow librarian, and it was pretty dang good. 'Grave Mercy' is about a girl who starts out in life being mistreated by those around her. Her father is abusive and arranges her marriage to a man more than double her age. On her wedding night her new husband discovers her secret and runs away from her in terror. Her secret is that she is marked as a daughter of the god of death, Mortain.   That night she is miraculously plucked from her old life and delivered to a convent that serves Mortain. There she will be trained to carry out the god of death's biddings, or in other words, she becomes a trained assassin. The nuns at the convent have high expectations for her, ones that she is eager to fulfill and prove herself worthy to be called a daughter of Mortain. This is the story of Ismae trying to not only prove herself to the god that she follows, but to also find her place in the world. Unfortunately, those two desires may collide and she just may have to choose between her new life at the convent, or following her heart.

This is a captivating novel that is full of mystery, suspense, action, and romance. I could hardly put the book down. There is another book going to be written, but it will be about another character in the book, so 'Grave Mercy' has a resolution and doesn't leave you on a cliffhanger. I personally can't wait for the next book. Robin LaFevers is an amazing author and I can't wait to see what other masterpieces she produces.

Hawksmaid

Last night I finished reading 'Hawksmaid' by Kathryn Lasky. It is the story of Maid Marian and Robin Hood,  but it begins BEFORE they were Maid Marian and Robin Hood, and were just a couple of kids that happened to be best friends. The story is definitely fantasy, but is based on true historical events. The characters are seeing the awful things that Prince John is doing to his subject while his  brother King Richard is fighting in a war in France. Many people are suffering from his tyranny so this band of kids decides to do something about it. They start out small, but eventually are doing greater things and are constantly having people join their band of 'Merry Men'. This was a very entertaining story to read, but there were some parts that kind of caught me off guard with how fantastical they were, not gonna lie. However, I would read it again which means it was worth reading.