I started reading this book way back in February. It took me several months to get through the first half. Not because it was bad. Just because it wasn't quite a page-turner and I was always reading something else at the time. And the first half of the book was a lot of flashbacks to past outdoorsy expeditions, which were described in a technical outdoorsy way, and I just wasn't super interested. However, I finished the last half of the book in three days. It was a page-turner by that point! I knew he got out, and I knew how (from the back of the book), but I still couldn't stop reading. We got to hear about things from his point of view, and what his friends and parents did once they realized he was missing. His thoughts, visions, ideas, and the things he went through while he was stuck were just fascinating, (in a horrifying sort of way). I'm really glad I read this book and I'm really glad I stuck with it through the end.
I've read three other books since my last update. One was great- Before I Fall by Lauren Oliver. If you haven't already, read my previous review about Lauren Oliver's second book, Delirium. I was blown away by Delirium, and not only because it was dystopian but also because of Oliver's beautiful writing. So that's why I decided to give Before I Fall a shot. It's about a snobby, mean, popular teenager who dies and has to live her last day over and over again. Sounds kind of horrible, right? But it really wasn't. I LOVED it. Main character Samantha really grew and changed and learned and loved. And even though the whole story was the same day 7 times.. it didn't feel repetitive. Samantha did different things with her last day every day, and the book was actually impossible to put down. And like Delirium, it was beautifully written. I think I may have just discovered a new favorite author!
The other two books I read weren't as good- If I Stay by Gayle Forman, and the sequel Where She Went. The first book is about a girl named Mia who is in a car accident with her family. Her entire family is killed, and she gets to watch through an out of body experience as her friends and family gather around her unconscious body at the hospital. She realizes that she gets to choose- does she stay here without her family? Or does she leave with her family? (aka die) I really didn't like this book much.. and I don't think it was only because it was morbid, because I loved Before I Fall. It just didn't capture me. The sequel was slightly better, it was told from Mia's boyfriend's perspective after the accident, but I still just didn't really like it. And it didn't feel like a young adult book either. Anyway, those two books just weren't for me.
In other news, I've done really well on my no buying new books in May rule, so far, but I've just heard about a new YA dystopian that I'm dying to read. So we'll see if I can last.. Surely it'd be ok to buy one new book in May, right?
p.s. I forgot about one other book I read. Linger by Maggie Stiefvater, the sequel to Shiver, a paranormal romance that anyone who even remotely liked Twilight will love. (Click here to read my review!) Linger was just as good as Shiver, and I'm absolutely dying to read the third one, which comes out sometime this summer.
