My Step-dad is a helicopter pilot, so naturally I think of him when I see anything related to helicopters. Which is half of what drew me to the book "Falling", by Clair M. Poulson. The other half is that Poulson is my FAVORITE author and I know that I will enjoy anything that he writes. "Falling" is a suspense novel that masterfully ties together a little bit of mystery, suspense, adventure and romance.
Major Corbin Daniels retires from the military after losing his fiancée and co-pilot on a mission in Afghanistan. He decides to slow life down by starting a duel business as a private investigator and transporting tourists and oil-rig workers in Moab, UT. On one of his flights carrying workers from the rig back into town a passenger sees what looks like a body on the desert floor beneath them. Deciding to land and check it out is what starts Major Daniels down a road of murder, kidnappings, bombs, break ins, and death threats. Drawing on his military experience, he helps the attractive and independent Sheriff Lisette Statton track down the killer and put all of the "bad guys" either in jail or in the ground.
This book starts with action on the very first page and doesn't slow down until the last. Poulson has a way of grabbing your attention and keeping it until long after you've finished the book. It is a quick and clean read and I would highly recommend it for readers of all ages.
Alright, so I already wrote about the book "If I Stay" and I am finally writing about it's sequel, "Where She Went". "Where She Went", by Gayle Forman, is a continuation of the story of Mia and Adam, only this book is written from Adam's perspective instead of Mia's. The story doesn't pick up where the first book left off. It actually starts three years later; Mia went to Julliard and becomes the next big thing in the classical world, and Adam takes his band to new heights using songs about Mia. They are no longer together, but through chance, coincidence, fate...whatever you want to call it...they are brought back together again for one night. Will Adam finally get the closure he needs, or will this night rekindle the fire they once had?
"Where She Went" is written similarly to "If I Stay", meaning there are a lot of flashbacks and the ending drops you off a cliff and leaves you there. These books are so anticlimactic. The author builds you up, but as soon as you get to the part you've been waiting for, the book ends. It doesn't end in a way that makes you want more, it ends and you go, "That's it? I wasted all that time to get to this and that's it?". This book is definitely better than it's prequel, but it's still not very good. It also has quite a bit of language and a little bit of sexuality mixed in (Adam is living the 'rock star life' after all). It is a fairly easy read, but I would not recommend reading this book unless you have free time and don't mind reading a book that's not very memorable. Let me know what you think (even if you disagree with me). I love to hear from you!
This book has been on my 'coming up next!' list for a while now. It hasn't taken me that long to read it, but it has taken me that long to get it on here. Which is a shame because "The Book Thief", by Markus Zusak, is one of those books that you want to tell the world about after you get done reading it. This book is set in Nazi Germany during WW2 and follows the life of a young girl named Liesel. "The Book Thief" is unique because it tells about the war from the perspective of a German citizen. Almost every other book about WW2 that I have read is written from the perspective of a Jew, which makes all the Germans look like really bad people. This book is amazing because it shows the other side of the war; the Germans that were forced to do go on rations and be hungry all the time, or were forced to give up their children to go to Nazi soldier training camps, or were publicly humiliated and disgraced for showing any kindness to a Jew.
The story, which is narrated by Death himself (an unexpected twist which only adds to the uniqueness of the book), focuses on Liesel and her family. Through unfortunate events Liesel is left in the care of a foster family who suffer from the side affects of the war. They suffer even more when they decide to hide a Jew in their basement and have to share what little food they have with him. Liesel goes about living her life with this huge secret locked inside. She delivers washing to customers, plays soccer in the street, learns to read, gets into mischief with her best friend, and occasionally steals books. She suffers unbearable heartbreak and yet somehow manages to rise through it all.
This book is brutally honest and will keep you turning pages even though your eyes are too blurry with tears to be able to read. "The Book Thief" may take a week or so to get through, but this is a book I would not suggest skipping over. You would definitely be missing out.
Prepare yourself, for I am about to share with you another book secret of mine. I previously shared my favorite series, now I am about to unveil my favorite author... Pause for suspense... His name is Clair M. Poulson, and I have yet to encounter a book by him that I did not enjoy. He writes LDS suspense novels, and in my opinion, he is AMAZING. The first book of his that I want to introduce you to is "I'll Find You". This was the first book of Poulson's that I read, and it's what got me hooked.
The leading lady, Jeri, watched her best friend get kidnapped when they were kids. She shouted "I'll find you" to the back of the car that drove away with him. Years later she is prompted to take a job at a prison far away from friends and family. One particular inmate makes an unforgettable impression on Jeri. His resemblance to her childhood friend is uncanny, and she can tell he doesn't quite fit the typical inmate stereotype. It couldn't be him...could it?
This book is full of not only romance, but mystery and suspense as well. It's one of those books that will make you talk out loud to the characters, trying to help them see what is so obvious to you as the reader. I would suggest making sure you have your chores done before picking this book up, because once you start, nothing else is going to get done until you are finished reading. Luckily it's not very long, and should only take a couple of days to get through. Enjoy! There will be more from this author to come!
Imagine falling in love with someone you know is going to die, and having them ask you to pick up the pieces of their life after they are gone. Now imagine that 'picking up the pieces' means taking care of his preemie twin babies. That's what happens to Jane in "Counting Stars", by Michele Paige Holmes.
Jane has nearly given up on love, but in a half hearted attempt to give love one last chance she decides to answer an ad in the wanted pages that simply says, "Seeking kind, loving woman to be the mother of my children". How bad could it be, right? By responding to that ad Jane throws herself into a new life where she instantly becomes a mother of two and the only support for a man who just lost his wife and is dying of cancer himself. She couldn't have known the love, loss, heartache and immeasurable happiness that she would find.
This book will make you laugh, will definitely make you cry, and will make you picture the story in your head even when you're not actually reading it. Don't miss out on this heart-wrenching love story. It's a fairly easy read, will probably take around a week (unless, like me, you can't put it down. In which case you will get through it in a couple of days). I also would go back and reread the page or two I just read, simply because it was so good that I had to go over it again. Plus it is a clean romance, with the main character, Jane, and her family being LDS. Don't wait to pick this one up! Then let me know what you think about it!
Do you have a favorite book that you don't like to tell people about? Almost like it's your little secret and you get to enjoy it and keep it all to yourself? I know you all have a book like that, so don't pretend not to. I almost didn't put this on here because that is what these books are to me; my little secret that I revel in and enjoy in private. However, the Hush Hush saga, by Becca Fitzpatrick, is too good to not be shared.
It sweeps you away into Coldwater, Maine, where fallen angels have come to reside. Patch, an especially mysterious and dangerous fallen angel, has taken a special interest in a girl named Nora. The series follows their story as Nora ignores her internal warnings to stay away from Patch, and slowly finds out more and more about him and the world he comes from. She gets mixed up in the dangers revolving around Patch and nearly loses her life on multiple occasions, but it's not enough to keep her from being sucked back into Patch's world. They even go so far as to erase her memories so she'll forget all about fallen angels and nephilim in an attempt to keep her safe. But nothing can erase the tie she feels to Patch, and emotions she can't explain pull her towards a boy she can't remember until her memory returns and she realizes it was Patch all along. The series ends with an epic battle between the nephilim and the fallen angels and, of course, some plot twists that you will never see coming.
This four book series has excitement, action, and romance dripping from almost every page. It doesn't matter how many times I've read it, I still get sucked in and can't put the book down. I would highly recommend this book for all ages. It does have some intimacy in it, but it's nothing that I would call inappropriate. So there you have it, I've outed my little secret. I hope you enjoy it half as much as I do, and don't forget to let me know what you think!
What would you do if you had to choose between living and dealing with the loss of loved ones, or dying and not really knowing where you are going? I don't know if that's a question that anyone would really be able to answer until they were in a situation where they actually had to choose. I'd like to think that I would choose to live, but depending on whose death I had to deal with, I might choose to die with them. The book "If I Stay", by Gayle Forman, depicts a situation where one of these two choices has to be picked. Mia and her family get in a car accident, putting her in a coma, and she has to choose to go or stay. She reminisces old memories to help her decide, all while watching people come to visit her body in the ICU.
That about sums up the whole book. This book was really 'talked up' to me before I read it, so I was expecting something different. I didn't exactly enjoy this book, and I don't understand why everyone else seems to like it so much. There I was reading about all these memories of her life, waiting for something to happen in the here and now, and then before I knew it I was at the end of the book. Lucky for me the book really isn't very long, otherwise I might have been mad I wasted more time on it. I guess this is one of those books that you will have to read for yourself. There is a sequel to it, "Where She Went", which might make the story more exciting. I will get back to you once I have read that one and let you know if it makes up for the first book. Anyhow, I wouldn't recommend reading this book unless you have time to spare and are genuinely curious about why it's so popular.
Anita Stansfield is a well known LDS author with a wide variety of books under her belt. "Passage on the Titanic" is one she recently came out with, and she says it's her first attempt at trying to tie real people into a fictional story.
She tells the story of Irene, an American who went to England for nursing school and took one of her patients, Ella, under her wing. The two become fast friends and end up traveling to America on the Titanic. I thought the whole book would be about their time on the Titanic, but there is so much more to the story. The author focuses on who they were before getting on the ship, and then goes in to great detail about their rescue and what their lives were like after surviving that great tragedy. She takes the well known story of the Titanic and makes it very personal for the reader as you try to put yourself in Ella's shoes. It's an incredible story and well worth your time. The book is fairly short and easy, so it should only take a couple of days to read. Enjoy :)
I'm pretty sure it's safe to say that practically everyone has heard of Twilight. But I'll bet maybe half of those people have heard of the book "The Host" (which was also written by Stephenie Meyer), and an even smaller amount of those people have actually read it. I was so excited when the movie came out because then I would finally have people to talk to about this epic love story. Really it's two love stories intertwined because the female main characters are sharing a body. One is 'the host' and the other is an alien that has taken over her body. In a world where aliens are taking over the human race typically the host fades away once their body has been invaded, but in Melanie's case her resistant mind stays there in the background even after Wanderer has been inserted. It becomes a constant struggle between the two as Wanderer tries to make Melanie disappear and Melanie tries to convince Wanderer to take them to the place where her loved ones are hiding. After a near death experience they decide to work together to make the wary humans trust them enough to keep them alive. They get mixed up in fights, lost in love triangles, and nearly lose their lives a few more times. All while doing their best to share a body.
The author takes an amazingly romantic and impossible story and adds a unique twist by making the main character a bystander in her own body. I have read this book multiple times and every time it is as exciting as the first time and I don't have the self control to put it down. This book sucks you into a vacuum where nothing else exists and will keep you thinking about it long after you've read the last page. I strongly suggest that you read this one, and you better let me know what you think when you're done!
This is one of those books that seemingly pops out of nowhere when it becomes a movie and suddenly becomes a huge hit as people either read the book before they see the movie, or loved the movie so they read the book. Maybe I'm just out of the 'loop' but I had never heard of "The Fault in Our Stars", by John Green, until I saw the first movie trailer. It immediately intrigued me and fortunately for me my sister-in-law decided to give me the book for my birthday.
One of the reviews for this book, and it's written on the cover, says, "Filled with staccato bursts of humor and tragedy". This couldn't be more true. I'm smiling and laughing out loud on one page then crying on the next. The author takes the tragedy of battling cancer and turns it into this beautiful, humorous, and outrageously romantic story. The characters are intelligent and witty and you fall in love with them right from the start. Depending on how quick you read, this book may take just a day or two to get through. It's definitely a day or two worth spending. Just a heads up, there is some language and brief sensual content in this book, so if that is something you disprove of in your literature then you may not want to read this one. Let me know what you think!
I would have had this post on here a while ago, but I didn't know that the series consists of five books instead of four. I got to the end of the fourth and went, "Really? That's how she ends it?", so I googled the series and that's when I became aware of the fifth and final book. The Jayson Wolfe Series, by Anita Stansfield, is definitely my new favorite series. The main character, Jayson, is a brilliant musician who overcomes all sorts of trials to get his music out to the world. This is one of the few series that I have read that spans a major part of the character's life, instead of just a year or two. It starts when Jayson is a teenager and ends when he is in his 40s, so you really get to know him. He has to overcome death, heartbreak, loneliness, drugs, infidelity, and many other trials during the course of his life, all while holding to his roots and core beliefs. In the middle of one of his worst trials he finds the gospel and the last couple of books show how he uses his testimony to help him stay grounded and positive while living the life of a temple recommend holding rock star.
I thoroughly enjoyed these books, mainly because it was so easy for me to relate to the main characters. Being LDS myself, I was really able to connect with Jayson and his family and I learned how truly important it is to apply the gospel to everything in our lives. These books are most certainly worth the small amount of time that it will take you to read them. They are uplifting and encouraging and may bring some peace into your life while you read them. They are a good clean read for all ages and I am sure you will enjoy them just as much as I did.
