Rachel

Originally written:  August 10, 2016 
The book was a 3 out of 5 stars for me. It was just okay. I found the characters hard to relate to as spoiled rich kids with “first world” problems. It had a lot of typical YA cliches though that made me roll my eyes, especially when the narrator went on and on about how much Gat was the love of her life.

I did enjoy the twist (which I did not predict), but I also didn't feel that it was believable that  the characters would just burn a whole house down like that, even if they DID drink a lot of wine. They just didn't exhibit any destructive behavior beforehand. The fairy-tales in between the chapters got old fast, too.

I listened to this on audiobook, which is probably the preferred way if you don't like the “prose” style of writing like I do. I probably would have given it 2 stars if I had read it instead of listening it. The narrator of the audiobook, however, was very good.

Brian, a 13-year-old boy, is on his way to visit his father on a two-person plane. Suddenly, the pilot has a heart-attack and the plane crashes, leaving Brian to survive on his own in the Canadian wilderness. Armed with his trusty hatchet, Brian must figure out how to find food and shelter while he waits for help. All the while, he recalls painful memories of home, including his parent's recent divorce and his mom's affair.


This was a very engrossing book and I found myself on the edge of my seat wondering if Brian would survive. It was very entertaining to see how Brian used the things around him to the best of his ability, even though he didn't have much prior knowledge of survival. This book helps to illustrate how it can be an enthralling read with just one main character. The author did like to repeat a lot of phrases, though, which I found distracting.

This book is overrated and pretty silly. I'm all for people looking at the positive in situations, but when the author is telling you to open your bills you get in the mail and pretend they they are checks? That's when she lost me.

Also, does anyone else notice this book smells like oranges? I swear!

Kristina, a character based on the author's own daughter, goes from a model student to a drug addict after discovering crystal meth – also known as “crank”. Told in a series of poems, we follow Kristina as she discovers her alter-ego Bree and becomes an entirely different person so addicted to the crank that she will do anything to get it.


This can be a very upsetting book, but it is a powerful read for teens. Even though it is written by an adult, the author does a good job at portraying the teenage voice that others will be able to relate to. We can sympathize with Kristina as we follow her journey, and throughout the book we only want her to get better, even though it doesn't seem like it will. This book shows the extreme dark side of hard drugs and would make a teen think twice, especially girls, to see if that's really how they want their life to turn out.