Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult

"Things break all the time.
Day breaks, waves break, voices break.
Promises break.
Hearts break."

Ask any expectant parent if they want a perfect baby.

They'll reply that they just want a healthy one.

If you were to ask Charlotte and Sean O'Keefe they would say the same thing.

But they weren't given that choice.

Sleepless night. Mounting bills. Pitying stares of the "luckier parents". And worst of all, the "what-if" thoughts, is what they have.

But to them, it's all worth it though, because Willow is perfect.

Smart. Beautiful. Kind. Brave.

For a five-year-old, Willow has a deep source of wisdom.

She is the same in sickness and in health.

A series of events soon occur, forcing Charlotte and Sean to ask the worst what-if questions of all.

What if they would have known of Willow disease before?

What if everything could have been different?

What if Willow, had never been born?

These questions are always in Charlotte's mind now, along with one more.

What makes one life valuable, and another one not?

5 STARS

Jodi Picoult has a very unique way of telling a story. She puts in so much emotion; anger, sadness, pain, sorrow, joy, hope, happiness. The thing that allows Jodi Picoult to do this, is that fact that she doesn't just choose some random topic, she picks on that's going on in the society around us, one that has so many different sides and angles to it. Handle With Care has a very different, but none the less provocative topic, can we as human beings decide who has the right to live and who doesn't? Not just after then grow and learn, but before they are even born, just a fetus in the womb. With this book, Jodi Picoult asks everyone this question, and in turn she gets many different answers, many different views. She pits husband against wife, friend against friend, mother against daughter, and so on. Everyone has a different opinion, everyone wants to be right, everyone just wants to protect the one person they love, Willow. Handle With Care will make you laugh and cry from the very beginning, like any of Jodi Picoult's amazing books. But this one has an ending no one can really ever be ready for.

Lexi<3

Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols

Summary: Getting away, was all Meg ever really wanted to do.

She dreamed about it, yearned for it.

Getting away from high school. Away from her parents. Away from her small town.

One evening, there's a dare involving the towns forbidden railroads tracks.

Meg goes too far. Almost not making it back.

John made a different choice. He chose to stay.

Stay in the small town. Stay even after at times it's too hard for him to remember.

To enforce the rules, to serve and protect.

He has nothing but contempt for childish decisions, childish rebellion as he sees it.

John soon wants to teach Meg a lesson that she will, hopefully, not forget.

Along the way Meg questions everything John learned, everything he stayed for.

Which leaves John questioning her back, wanting to know why she won't stay, why this town is so horrible to her.

Will they end up going over the edge together?

Hand in hand?

Did one crazy night end up with more then both of them could ever imagine?

Rating: 4 Stars

Review: Going into this book, I wasn't quite sure if it was something I would enjoy. But after I got about 30 pages into Going Too Far, I HAD to know what was going to happen. To me, this book was very.. insightful, almost, it made you think but yet, was still a very enjoyable and easy read. The chemistry between Meg and John was there from the very beginning. All you wanted to know was what was going to happened between them. The decisions and choices that would be made. Jennifer Echols has showed us how much one night can change our lives. Not in any extreme way, but like Going Too Far in a way that has you thinking and wondering. This was a good book that I think many other people, whether your a die hard reader like me, or just someone who wants a book to read at night every now and then, anyone can enjoy Going Too Far by Jennifer Echols.

-Lexi(:

The Host by Stephenie Meyer

Summary: Our world has been invaded.

Just like our bodies.

Humans become hosts to the souls. Their minds handed over while their bodies live a semingly unchanged life.

Humans that have not been captured, living a life in hiding, are called "wild".

That's exactly what Melanie Stryder was before she was captured.

Souls that are placed into human bodies are warned about the challenges.

Overwhelming emotions. An abundance of senses. Vivid memories turned into all too vivid dreams.

Wanderer was warned of all these things when placed inside Melanie.

But there was one thing she was not warned about at all, Melanie's refusal to turn herself over to Wanderer.

Wanderer though, has a job to do.

She has to look through Melanie's memories, thoughts, dreams, in the hopes of finding the other hiding, "wild", humans.

But, Melanie has a different plan.

She gives Wanderer visions of the one man that Melanie loves, Jared.

Wanderer begins to want the man Melanie loves, the man she is supposed to expose.

Melanie and Wanderer are soon forced to become allies which sends them on a dangerous search through the desert, following clues left by an all but crazy uncle.

They hope to find the one they both love, but it might just be for different reasons.

Rating: 5 Stars

Reveiw: Stephenie Meyer has proved to me that she can write more then a teenage love story. The Host is a different love story for our time. With this book, there is darkness and danger followed by pain and suffering, but somewhere in there Stephenie finds a place for hope and light to shine through. The Host happens to be very hard to put down. I read this 600+ page book in less then four days. You have to know what happens next. Even though this book doesn't really have any major cliff-hangers to speak of, The Host definitely leaves you sitting on the edge of your seat, yearning for what's next. This is really an amazing book. Few authors probably ever get the chance to write something this brilliant. Along with The Twilight Saga, Stephenie Meyer has showed us that her and her books aren't going anywhere for some time.

-Lexi(: