A Rushed Adult...

Ashfall by Mike Mullin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Now I'm ready to review this one.
It usually takes me an hour after finishing a book, just so I have all my thoughts fresh and true to the book in question but this one was a bit different...I needed time.
Why? Because, I didn't know how to review it. Mr. Mullin, you touched me. If I have a soft spot, other than books, is the sense of never seeing my family again and the third in line is to survive on my own. A little background here, I'm 18 and have never lived on my own and to top it all, I'm a Med student so the possibilities of living on my own are still a long way from me. And it can not be compared to what Alex went through when he is only 16, but still, adulthood is scary at times.

What did Alex went through? You have no idea. And if you have one, is worse than that.
It's a typical Friday, his family is out, visiting  relatives that live in an another state, for the weekend. A weekend on solitary that transforms into a month long adventure trying to find his family in a new country, in a new world. So, what happened? A volcano. Yep, the almighty volcano, the father of all volcanoes, found in the beautiful Yellowstone National Park, did KABOOM! and all hell went loose.
So, here is one of the reasons I didn't give it all 5 stars... Is just difficult to me to believe that a 16 year old would know that Yellowstone is basically a Super Volcano waiting to explode... Come on, no offense, but if you don't even know the difference between Australia and Europe, how would you even know that there is a super volcano. The last sentence is based on a video I saw some time ago.(Apologize for the Americans that do know that very important piece of information.)
So, yeah, as you can imagine, everything is a disaster. Ashes everywhere, the sound is unbearable, and the sun is to be missed. I love that about this book, it's so very believable, the weather implications of an explosion of this nature. And not only that, not even three days after that first explosion, the people was desperate and didn't stick to normal society rules. Stores were emptied of anything that was thought could help survived this disaster. Riots were commonplace.
But Alex can't stay, he has to find his family. That's when all the good stuff happens. He has a long way to go, very little food, an even more little amount of water but motivation, he has plenty. And let me tell you, he is not stupid. He knows when to stop, where to rest and the direction he needs to follow. But, any precaution that he could have ever foresighted couldn't have prepare him to the dangers that awaited him on his journey.


So, here is reason number two to why not give this a 5 star review.
Darla. No, do not get me wrong, she is awesome, she is the reason why Alex lived to so many dangers and , actually, she helped him keep his good spirits and will. In so many levels.
Let me explain, although I'm a girl who cries when she reads about fictional characters dying, even real life people that didn't even know...I should've been happy just with Alex and Darla's adventure through this whole mess. When you read it you'll know why we can't take Darla out of the equations and why they are to be together.
But no, there has to be something for the romantics out there.I was hoping for the The Maze Runner little romance kind of thing, something that couldn't be avoided.(Go read that one too, BTW) And I'm grateful and all but ,seriously? It was so different of my expectations, it was like, nooooo! How can you been thinking in sex when there are killers out there, crazy people turning into cannibalism to withstand the harsh winter and lack of food supplies? WHY? I understand, basic need of human beings, but come on, are you kidding me? And some of you will be thinking this, "They are teenagers. They are missing their lives from before. They want to be normal teens again." And I completely agree with those thoughts, but if I were to be on their shoes, that would be the least of my worries.
It's a personal thing. Again, apologize. It's just such a good plot, amazing characters and much more, that some things that weren't really necessary, in my opinion, cast a shadow over it's greatness.

But my opinions are not important. READ IT! It's fantastic and just a good book. Makes you think about stuff.
And I can't get over that part, almost at the end, when you think that OK, this is it, and BAM! It's not.
Can't wait for the sequel! :D




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Like feathers

In the Middle of Nowhere by Julie Ann Knudsen

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Where to start?
By the beginning, I suppose.

Before I continue I want to thank the author for letting me check on this fantastic book. :D

This is Willow's story, a 16 y.o. girl that for a series of events has to start a new life with her family in a barely known island by the Portland shore named Pike's Island.
What does exactly make a seemly normal girl and her family to move to a place where she is forced to take a ferry everyday to school? Sadly, for Willow, all her problems started when her dad died.
So now she has to deal with everything that comes with moving to a new place and leaving her whole life back.
But, also for Willow, there will be a mysterious boy that will come with necessary changes for her.

If you are like me, you'll feel slightly annoyed, at first. I just wasn't connecting with the story or characters. But I've learned that you can't judge a whole by it's pieces so as always I went on reading. And I'm glad I know that little piece of information. Eventually, a few chapters after, the whole story starts to make sense and it actually makes you get into the story and feel like you are a part of it, too. Don't believe me? I'm telling you, you'll cry, laugh, and actually yell at Willow for some stuff that goes on.
I have to admit that I couldn't stop myself of rolling my eyes a time or two. Willow is immature and, to me, fell flat a couple of times.
But it was just for a couple situations and that is just my normal reacting to bad judgement and lack of common sense. But still Willow is a likeable character that matches the story perfectly.
And you may be asking about the boy. That one was Michael Cooper, a boy that comes and goes for most of the book while Willow discovers herself and her personal strength.

This book was a combination of very common problems for teens such as the loss of a parent, dealing with alcohol and drugs, trying to fit in in a new place, seeing the remaining parent moving on, even first love.
Personally, I love all that's romantic and stuff, but even I have to admit that very very soon all books start to look alike and eventually bores you to death.But In the Middle of Nowhere was like a breath of fresh air. Unlike so many books out there this one does not stuck the main character and this character's love interest together as if they were joined by the hips. Believe me when I tell you that this is all about Willow and her personal growth, dealing with her mom finding someone that cares for her and her children, trying to make some sense out of the high school's "most bitchy" girl and the girls that surround her, experiencing her first hangover, smoking her first joint, even her desire to learn how to drive and get her first job. Like I said, a normal teenager with teenager problems.
So what does all that mean for Michael? Oh, do not worry, he is there alright. But his part was of the subtle type but that doesn't mean that it was not a huge part. After all, it is through Michael that Willow learns more about herself than with anything else that is currently happening in her life. It is him that teaches Willow to open herself up and to try to embrace her life and let go of her fears for those are her only obstacles of truly living.
I loved Michael form beginning to end, he is a writer and a poet with a secret of his own. The reason why he doesn't go to school  and disappears from Willow's life from time to time.
I do not know if it would be right to tell you...
I couldn't believe it when the truth came out, not because of what it was, you could practically figured it out in a second, but because this was the second time that I encountered it in a book. If you've read  Sing Me to Sleep you may know what I'm talking about. And you may also know what I immediately imagined. I dreaded that possible outcome because the heartache would be unbearable a second time.

So I'll leave it there because it's your mission to find out what happened to Willow those first months of her new life. What Michael's secret is. And if everything went right at the end.
Hint: it does not finished as heartbreaking as Sing me to Sleep did.Just so you'll know.

It was a very good read.The language a little too proper sometimes. I felt that maybe it should've been set in England rather than in Maine.
And it has some faults here in there that I won't lose my time trying to explain because you may not look at them as such. My interpretation is mine alone. Yours may be different, and I'm pretty sure it will be. The thing that I want most is for you to enjoy it and to finish it with a feathery feeling inside you.
This story will stuck with me for many, many reasons for a long, long time.
I'll leave you with Michael's words of wisdom:

"Sweet dreams, my dear. Sweet dreams, you dare? Be done with dreams and face your fear."



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