If I Stay by Gayle Forman

If I Stay by Gayle Forman is a sad story about a girl, Mia, and the biggest decision of her life. She is blessed with a wonderful family, perfect boyfriend, and an amazing musical talent - playing the cello. Although she is the odd ball of her family, she truly loves her life. This is until her family is involved in a car wreck, each member of her family being killed. Mia has the choice to wake up from her unconsciousness and stay with Adam, but without her family, or to leave and be with her parents and little brother. She loves her boyfriend, her best friend, and her grandparents - how could she ever leave them? But how could she ever stay without the parents and little brother that she loved so much? It is her choice, but only she can make it. What will she choose?

           This book was one of the best I've ever read. I really encourage everyone to read it. It was a quick read and such a page turner. It really made me think - does this really happen? Before we die, do we get the choice? It's an interesting point of view, and I have never read anything like it before. This book was really awesome and you should all read it!!

Dear John

Dear John is a heart-catching novel by Nicholas Sparks. This novel follows John Tyree through his life after high school during his military experience and into his late twenties. John’s mother left him when he was very young so he lives with his father. His father has a quiet personality and he enjoys collecting coins, which is the only topic that he truly feels comfortable discussing. John graduates high-school but he isn’t really sure about what he wants from his future so he joins the military. On one of his leaves, he meets Savannah Curtis, a young woman who is conservative and well-mannered. He dives into the ocean waves when her purse falls in and then they are introduced. They spend about a week together and during that week they fall head-over-heels for each other. Savannah’s good friend, Tim, is secretly in love with Savannah but he approves of her relationship with John. When Savannah meets Mr. Tyree she understands his passion of coins and over the course of time she helps John change his view of his own father.

When John’s leave is up, he has to go back to Germany so they promise to write to each other and to call whenever possible. On his next leave, they meet near Savannahs hometown and he meets her parents and some of her friends while staying with her in her apartment. Time changed both of them so getting back to the way it was before was a lot harder that he thought it would be. John had less than a year left before he was a “free man” and he promised to marry Savannah when he came home for good but then America was attacked on September 9, 2001 and he re-enlisted with most of his other army friends and that hurt Savannah mentally because she wanted him to be home but she still admired his dedication to the safety of his country. The extra time apart was not good for their relationship and Savannah married her old friend, Tim, while John was away. When tragedy strikes Savannah and Tim’s home John is forced to decide whether to help Tim and Savannah’s relationship survive or to avoid helping them and maybe be able to kindle his love with Savannah.

Dear John is another great novel by Nicholas Sparks that causes you to truly consider what true love actually is.

Songs of the Humpback Whale by Jodi Picoult

Songs of the Humpback Whale by Jodi Picoult is a story of new beginnings for Rebecca Jones and her broken family. Rebecca, a fifteen year old from California, is the daughter of Oliver Jones, a world-renowned marine biologist. Oliver, while idolized by the scientific community, neglects his family to pursue his research and love of humpback whales. Finally, when Oliver returns home only to bring news that he will once again be leaving, Jane, Rebecca’s mother snaps and hits her husband. Realizing the enormity of her actions and hating the monster she has become, she flees with Rebecca from everything they have ever known and begin to drive cross country to Massachusetts, where her brother is living. Joley, Rebecca’s brother, guides them across the country through letters, sending them to important destinations along the way. Upon arriving at the apple orchard where Joley is living and working, Rebecca instantly finds herself at home. However, Jane finds the owner despicable and cannot stand the place. Despite the rough start, Jane grows to share Rebecca’s feelings for the place and truly starts her life over as she is entangled in new love, new friends, and new feelings.

Meanwhile, Oliver has been putting his tracking skills to use to find his two family members. Although the journey started out as a burden and an annoying task that takes him away from his beloved whales, by the end of the long journey he discovers that he loves Jane and Rebecca more than his whales. He figures out the true meaning of family. He decides to go to Jane’s brother’s house for a happy reunion and to regain his loving family. However, when he arrives at the apple orchard, tragedy strikes, and Oliver’s dream of reuniting with his family might not go the way he planned.

Jodi Picoult writes a beautiful story of loss, family, and love. To learn more about her visit: http://www.jodipicoult.com/

Rocket Boys by Homer H. Hickman. Jr.

Homer Hickman is a teenage boy living in Coalwood, a small mining town. Homer's dad is a miner, along with most of the men in town. Elsie, Homer's mother, is a housewife always dreaming and talking about living on Myrtle Beach. She wants the best for her two sons, but Homer's brother Jim shows a more promising future than Homer with football. To the families of Coalwood, football is the only way out. Homer shows no talent until he sees the launch of Sputnik (a Russian space satellite). From then on, Homer and 3 other inspired friends are constantly building rockets with hope they have finally found their way out of Coalwood. Unfortunately things do not get immediately better for the Rocket Boys. There are constant battles throughout the book between the boys and their families. Homer's father is the least supportive and pushes Homer to give up all progress on the rockets in order for him to work in the dangerous mines. Will the Rocket Boys ever leave Coalwood?

Well written, interesting, funny, and inspirational are perfect descriptions of this memoir.

A Walk to Remeber by Nicholas Sparks

A Walk to Remember is by far my favorite novel by Nicholas Sparks. The story is told by a fifty-seven-year-old Landon Carter, who is looking back to his high-school years in Beaufort, North Carolina.

Landon Carter is a rebellious and popular senior in high-school, while Jamie Sullivan is a shy, unpopular, and angelic senior. Jamie's dad is the minister of the local church, which holds an annual play called "The Christmas Angel", which is based off the story of the Sullivan's loss of Jamie's mom. Landon hangs around a bad crowd, which make fun of Jamie. Landon is the class president and he is stuck without a date to the Homecoming dance, so he asks Jamie to go with him. They bond over helping Landon's drunk ex-girlfriend get cleaned up. Later, Jamie asks Landon to play the part of the father in the church's play, and Jamie has already been cast as the angel. Landon agrees, and along the way learns some very interesting details about Jamie.

During the preformance of the play, Landon notices how beautiful Jamie actually is, and the love between them starts to spark. However, Landon knows his friends will not approve of her, so they have a fallout. Landon then realizes how special Jamie is to him, and they begin dating.

They kiss for the first time, and after a few dates, Landon notices bruises on Jamie's body and how weak she has gotten. Landon ignores the symptoms and tells Jamie that he loves her. Jamie cries and tells him she has a deadly form of lukemia and will not live much longer. Landon is set off by sadness and realizes that he needs to find her a miracle.

Landon asks Jamie to marry him, because he loves her and he wants to spend every one of her last minutes with her. Jamie agrees, and her walk down the isle gives the book it's name: A Walk to Remember. The book does not give away the main detail in the ending, leaving the readers to decide for themselves how they think it ended.

This book is a tear-jerking and smile-producing book that will have you not able to put it down and feeling the emotions that the characters feel! This is a must read!

A wonderful website for the author is http://www.nicholassparks.com/.

If you like a great love story with an excellent plot-line and wonderful characters, this book is for you!

Jennifer Harris and Cameron Quick have been each other’s only friend throughout their childhood. They stood up for each other, were always spending every second of their time together, and experienced the best and worst times together. One of these times being a life threatening encounter with Cameron’s abusive father. One day Cameron disappears without even saying goodbye to Jennifer. Jennifer is dumbfounded, heartbroken and allows herself believe her snotty classmate, Joanna, who claims that he died. A piece of Jennifer is missing, a large piece that can only be fulfilled through her relationship with Cameron. When Jennifer comes home to her mother who is caught up with her own life and multiple jobs at the time, she hides the truth from Jennifer by letting her believe Cameron has died. Years later, Jennifer transforms into a new person as she endures many new changes in her life; a step father, a new home, a new school, friends, a boyfriend, and even a new name. As senior year approaches, the new Jenna Vaughn is making herself love her new life until a note from Cameron Quick appears in her mailbox. Jenna’s world is about to be changed as their treasured childhood memories are unfolded and the biggest loss in her life is regained.

To learn more about Sara Zarr follow this link: http://www.sarazarr.com/bio

The Pact by Jodi Picoult

Two young teens, Chris and Emily, were hopelessly, aimlessly, and carelessly fallen in love, until Emily was found dead with Chris by her side. The families of the two were friends since the babies were born: the mothers were pregnant together and plans for the wedding were silently in the works. Now, however, the families are falling apart. Emily’s family asks Chris what happened. Chris’s answer shocks everyone. There was a pact. But, what was it? Did Chris do his part of the pact, or did he murder Emily? This book is a love story with a tragic twist that enthralls the reader in a page-turner like no other book.

Jodi Picoult is forty-three years old and studied at Princeton University. Now, she currently lives with her husband in Hanover, New Hampshire. She is also the author of My Sister’s Keeper, Nineteen Minutes, and Keeping Faith. The Daily Telegraph (Sydney Australia) commented, “With a strong, topical theme, Picoult gets into the heads of her well-developed characters.”

You may go to Jodi's website, www.jodipicoult.com