Before the Fall by Noah Hawley

I took this book on vacation and I had no idea what it was about. I have an anxiety when it comes to flying. Of course, this book is about a plane crash!! Are you kidding me?! Guess it's my fault, for not seeing what this was about first. haha. 

Anyways, I kept having this book recommended to me but sometimes I'm skeptical. I really liked it. It's so intense that it made my plan ride fast. I just couldn't put it down! You have all these different possibilities and you have no idea, which way the author will take you. 

I really liked the writing. I had a hard time not pulling this back out, right away (after landing). I love how he delves into each of the character's lives and we get more of a background of ALL the characters from this crash. Throughout the rest of the book, we jump from past to present day. I didn't have an issue with this but more about the addition of too many characters later. 

After the fall, aka crash, there are two survivors. Scott ends up saving he and the boys life by swimming to shore. What!! I would have died for sure. I'm terrified of what's in the ocean and I cannot imagine it. It's amazing how he actually makes it to shore, with a boy on his back. As Scott is thrown into the limelight and being pegged a hero, for saving the boys life, all kinds of media comes after him. His life is opened up, while he's trying to stay in hiding. It's amazing how quickly he turns from the hero to the suspect of fowl play. 

Throughout this whole book, I had different conclusions and none of them were right! This book is a decently fast read. The reason I dropped this a star was because once you hit the middle of the book, something is lost and the end is just so-so. I don't particularly like how he introduces the issues with the aunt's life. He introduces too many more characters and it just takes away from plot. It started out so strong, until about half way. The ending was just okay and I was a bit disappointed after I finished. Overall, this is a good book and I liked it! 

Book Recommendations

I've been in a reading slump.. I would love some recommendations for books!! Please comment with your great recommendations! 

True Letters From A Fictional Life by Kenneth Logan

This book really reminded me of “To All The Boys I Loved Before” by Jenny Han. Really, it’s kind of similar, in the fact, all his letters that he writes to people get sent out. Well, not all of them but still. Really this book is just about James trying to come out to his family and friends. 

I felt like this book was not really true to how things would really play out. I don’t buy that his girlfriend and friends would be so accepting right away. I think that’s more of a fantasy and things would play out more how Mark handled things. The way that he casually tells his best friend that he’s into him and he’s just like.. okay, thanks. That’s hard for me to believe. It’s also annoying to me when the main character does not take responsibility! He’s trying so hard to figure out who sent the letters, without really doing anything about it. The ending is just okay, it really fell flat for me. I guess, he’s mostly happy, so that is good. 

I think mostly because of how I kept thinking of Jenny Han's book and so this just really didn't hit well with me. 

Highly Illogical Behavior by

This book could have been much better, if there was more delving into these characters. My biggest issue is that things are kind of just left open and unanswered. We don’t get any ideas what was going on between Lisa and Clark’s relationship. Why was he acting so aloof? I mean the whole time, the author is basically setting up Clark to be gay. Does he changes his mind at the last minute? Was he trying to trick us by being predictable and then throwing a twist? If he’s not gay, what were the problems between him and Lisa?

 Then take Sol and his anxiety. I kept waiting for the big reveal of why he had such a horrible panic attack in school. I kept thinking that there was some issue with a friend or someone found out about his sexual orientation and wasn’t nice. We don’t really get anything just that it happened. I guess those things can happen but I felt like he kept leading up to something and never got there. 

I didn’t really like Lisa’s character at all. She’s trying to “fix” someone’s psychological problems, for an essay, with no experience at all. At the end, I feel like she still didn’t really learn her lesson. The only characters that I really liked from this book are Sol’s parents. They were great! They added some humor and made this book so much better.

 I just felt really unsatisfied with this book as a whole. It’s a great concept but really bad execution. The ending just felt rushed and really random too. We then didn’t’ get any clarification on any of the big plot issues, just an ending.

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys

This is my second Ruta Sepetys novel. I really liked all these characters, well besides Alfred. I do get what she was doing. She was showing how those, who really believed the Nazi philosophy to the core. 

I think that she did a great job with the secondary characters too. I loved them all. My favorite by far, was Emilia. Oh, the shoemaker and all his wisdom. I was devastated when he jumped into the ocean. In this book there are 4 POV’s throughout the book and we flip back and forth to all of them. Every chapter is a different one but chapters are anywhere from 2-4 pages long. This makes for a very fast read.

 To me, the most amazing and phenomenal chapter is when Emilia is dying. She sees her daughter, mother and brother. She’s so happy and realizes that she’s okay. What a beautiful scene to see when you are dying. It made my heart so happy to think that she was so very happy at the end. I think this girl has the most growth and character development, besides maybe Florian. The way she seems so childlike to find out that she’s 8 months pregnant. She tries so hard to believe that it’s her boyfriends and that they love each other, when the truth is more horrific. She then wants nothing to do with the baby but then Florian comes in and saves the day. He restores her hope and in the end she trusts him more than anyone. I really do hope that he did justice to her memory because she is one heck of a person and mother.

 Like I said, this was a quick read. I read it all in one day, in a few hours. The only problem I had was that sometimes I would get lost between the past and present. Sometimes we would just be thrown in the past and I had no idea, until I’m halfway through the chapter. Overall, I really liked this book and you can bet that I did cry at the end. What a tragedy. I just don’t understand how so many people can have so much hate. I feel like this really relates to the world right now and it’s terrifying. The rest of the day, I was in a depressed mood from this book. It amazes me that this is one of the worst losses of life in ship sinking history and I have never heard of it. Ever. The very first I have heard of, Wilhelm Gustlof  is in this book! That just seems crazy to me. 

The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner

This book was very intense. We have three different POV’s and each of their chapters kind of digs into their home life a little more. You learn more about each character, even though, they don’t know these things about each other. These three best friends are in their Senior year and struggling with what to do next in life. One is trying to get into college, another is trying to deal with his father’s ugly scandal and the other is just trying to lay low, from his abusive father. 

First we have Dill, who is the one who is trying to live with his father’s very public fall from grace. He was a pastor that got caught with child pornography and is now in prison. He is being bullied at school and people are shaming him all throughout his town. He has his parents debt to worry about and they are forcing him to help pay it off. He’s also dealing with some serious depression throughout this whole book. One thing is evident, he’s in love with his best friend, Lydia. She’s about to go off to college and he’s jealous and sad. 

Speaking of Lydia, she’s very well off and has a different upbringing. The world is hers to take and she is doing just that. She has a very popular blog that has media attention and she’s becoming well known. She’s got a few things to learn about her friends though. 

Then we have Travis, who is my favorite. He is always laying low and would rather be in his fantasy world or in the Bloodfall world. He’s sweet and caring and just really reminds of like a gentle giant. He’s a big guy and he has a very rough home life. He's quiet but somehow always really relevant to the story. 

These three characters have so much growth in this book and become better friends by the end. I love how the author had such an amazing way with words. I mean, there are times I was just bawling in this book. It will HIT you hard, not even kidding. I love and hated this book at the same time. I had planned on reading 100 pages when I picked it up but ended up finishing it 4 hours later. There are some things that move kind of slowly in the plot but it’s not enough to lose interest. The first 1/3 of the book is just a few days span but then the last 1/3 of the book is months on end. So it does take a while to get into the plot and really get going. There are two parts of this book that have stuck with me and I can’t get them out of my head. 

“Some fall in glorious ways. One green fields of battle as old warriors, surrounded by friends, fighting for their homes, fighting cruelty.

Some fall crawling in the dirt of Forrestville, Tennessee, in the dark, impossibly young and alone, for no good reason at all.” 

“Knight, proud in victory, proud in death. Let your name evermore be a light to those who loved you. Let white flowers grow upon this place that you rest. Yours was a life well lived, and now you dine in the halls of the Elders at their eternal feast.” 

I really liked this book. It made me think and made me hug my husband a little tighter last night. You don’t know when you will take your last breath and you don’t know what kind of life people are living at home. Always be kind and always be brave, just like Travis.