"The Rising"

When I read the description for "The Rising", by Ryan D'Agostino, I thought that this would be a sad yet motivational book. I guess I can give the author points for at least getting the sad part right. This book is about Bill Petit and the tragedy that befell his family.

When I say 'tragedy' I mean it in the sincerest way. Two men broke in to the Petit's home, beat Bill to within less than an inch of his life, and set his house on fire with his wife and two daughters tied up inside. It does not get more tragic than that. This event only actually takes up a handful of pages out of the whole book though. The book can be broken down like this: the beginning introduces the reader to each of the family members. Letting the reader learn what each daughter was like and how amazing the mom was. Then the break-in happens. There are a few really good chapters after the break-in that go over the funeral and what life was like for Bill immediately after losing his family. The last half of the book is a waste of time.

I picked this book not because I wanted to read a sad story and learn about how awful things were, but because I wanted something that would ultimately uplift me and give me hope. I wanted to learn how Bill was able to come back to normal life after going through such an awful event. I wanted something that would inspire me to rise above my own trials and come out on top. "The Rising" provided none of those things.

I felt like the author left out a lot to the story and included details to things that were insignificant or completely pointless. I didn't want to read two whole pages on the defense lawyer. All-in-all this book was slow and very hard to get through. I kept putting it down and telling my husband how much I wished I was doing something else. 2 out of 5 stars. If you want to learn about Bill Petit, google him, don't waste your time with this book.

I received my copy of "The Rising" from Blogging for Books for this review. For more information, or a second opinion, click here.

"Four"

I don't know why it took me so long to read this book. I loved the Divergent Series, and should have known that this book was going to be amazing as well. "Four", by Veronica Roth, gives us some of the history and insight to the beloved character "Four/Tobias Eaton" from Divergent.

If you have read the Divergent Series then you should already know the story. "Four", however, gives us more to the story because it starts when Tobias was still living at home. It describes, from his perspective, what it was like to live with Marcus and what it took for him to be able to choose switching factions. It then describes what the training experience, and Dauntless initiation, was like for him. This book gives background and depth to the characters and relationships that we already know and love. The best is when Tris enters the story, and you get to reread their beginnings, only from Tobias' perspective this time. It is almost like reading someone's journal, because you get to live inside Tobias' mind in this book. See things the way he does and learn why he acts the way he does in certain situations. It's very revealing.

This book will make you feel like you really understand Tobias' character, and it explains why he is the way he is. You also get to learn about his friendships and add depth to some of the characters from "Divergent" that don't really stand out when reading that book. I enjoyed every minute of it and fell in love with Four all over again. He is just about the perfect male character. At least to me. :) This book will suck you back into the story that you know and love and will make you want to reread the Divergent Series all over again. 5 stars hands down. My only regret is that the book ended too soon. I almost wish that Roth had rewritten the entire Divergent Series, only this time do the whole thing from Tobias' perspective. That's just wishful thinking though. This book is for young adults and up, so enjoy! And, of course, let me know what you think!