Book Review: Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult

http://www.jodipicoult.com/

Goodreads Synopsis: One miscarriage too many spelled the end of Max and Zoe Baxter's marriage. Though the former couple went quite separate ways, their fates remained entangled: After veering into alcoholism, Max is saved in multiple senses by his fundamentalist conversion; Zoe, for her part, finds healing relief in music therapy and the friendship, then romantic love with Vanessa, her counselor. After Zoe and Vanessa, now married, decide to have a baby, they realize that they must join battle with Max, who objects on both religious and financial grounds.

466 pages
3.73 average rating on Goodreads
Published: 2011
Genre: Adult Fiction, Drama, Romance, Controversial

My Review:

When I picked up this book I expected an in-depth, multi-viewpoint account of some controversial issue, with quick-witted characters and raw emotions. Jodi Picoult did NOT disappoint.

Max and Zoe Baxter have been married for nine years, and have dug themselves into quite a hole of debt and despair with infertility treatments - the result of which has been two miscarriages and a stillborn. When Zoe says she wants to try again, Max decides he's had enough, and they divorce. Max moves in with his straight-arrow brother and his wife, and finds his way out of the bottle and into the arms of Jesus. Zoe finds her way into the arms of Vanessa, a counsellor at the school where Zoe sometimes works as a music therapist. Though Max and Zoe have gone very separate ways, they must deal with each other once more, in court, to determine what will happen to their remaining embryos, waiting in a freezer at the in-vitro clinic.

I really enjoyed the beginning of this book, which talked in-depth about Zoe and Max's fertility treatments. I hope to one day become a fertility doctor, so I like reading anything involving that branch of medicine.

As usual with Picoult's books, I fell in love with the characters immediately, especially Zoe. You can feel how deeply she wants a baby, and become so connected with her that you feel each injection, each miscarriage, each implantation, along with her. From page one, I was rooting for her to get what she wanted. Vanessa seems to be a super open-minded individual, and she seemed willing to do anything to make Zoe happy. Although Max was a slimeball at times, I generally liked his character as well and kept hoping for things to work out for him.

Is it just me or do all of the books by this author end up with someone in a courtroom? This doesn't actually bother me, but Angela, Zoe's lawyer in this novel, and her attempts at hilarity grew old fast in my opinion, and she got on my nerves quite a bit.

This book's plot is pretty fast-paced; there's always some new issue arising, and thus the plot was never boring. I was really pleased with the ending, although it was a bit abrupt and I wouldn't have minded it being extended, or even a sequel book. I'd like to know what happens to Max's brother, Reid, and if later on in life all of the characters are happy with the decisions they've made.

Overall I give this book 4/5 stars. I really enjoyed it and it will probably be put on my "for keeps" shelf, but I would've liked a longer ending.

If anyone else has read this I would love to know what you thought of it!

May TBR

Good morning everyone!

Today I'm showing you the books I intend to read in the month of May. I'm setting my goal at three books this month. I'd love for it to be more than that but with the school schedule I have coming up I don't see it being possible. I cannot wait for school to be over (57 more days, but hey, who's counting) so that I can have more time to devote to reading. 

So, with that being said, here are the books I plan to read this month! 

1. Pregnant Pause by Han Nolan

This book is one I've had for a while, but have never gotten around to reading. I haven't heard much about it, but I believe the general premise is that a teenage girl from a religious family gets pregnant, and has to decide what to do with the baby, and her life. This somehow leads to her working at a camp for overweight kids until there's a tragedy of sorts? I look forward to reading this book because I don't know much about it and therefore have no idea what to expect. 

2. The Choice by Nicholas Sparks

This is another book I've had sitting on my shelf forever and never picked up to read. Although I am well versed in most Nicolas Sparks books, I have no idea what this one is about, and so this will be another blind read for me this month. According to Goodreads, the book is about a bachelor named Travis who quite enjoys his lifestyle and sees no need for a woman to "cramp his lifestyle" until his new redheaded, not-single neighbour moves in. Travis decides he has to have her, and so ensues the typical guy-pursues-already-taken-girl-and-drama-unfolds plot. I mostly look forward to reading this because of the way Nicholas Sparks writes, and how he makes you fall in love with the words even moreso than the characters saying them. 

3. The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien

I believe I may be the last person on the earth to have never read any Lord of the Rings books or seen any of the movies or be able to tell you the general plot without doing either of the aforementioned things. That, my friends, is going to change this month! 

I bought this book in the fall of 2013 with intentions to read it as a novel study for my English class, but I ended up reading another book for that purpose, so I figure I will read this now. I am told that this book is not exactly a part of The Lord of the Rings series, but more of an accompanying novel, but please correct me if this is not the case. I'm not even going to look this up on Goodreads, because I think it's super fun that I'm going into such a popular book without a clue of what happens in it. 

I'm sure I'll be watching the movie immediately after finishing the book, if only to affirmate that the book is always better, but I will likely post a comparison/review post of both the book and the film.

Although I may not have much time for reading this month, I'm glad I've picked three very different books, none of which I know what about, so that the reading I do fit in should be pretty interesting. 

What are you guys reading this month? Let me know below or tweet me @_withsugarontop ! 

Thank you for reading, and have a wonderful day! 

Pin of the Week: Sprite Gummy Popsicles

Are these not the CUTEST things ever? I would've loved these as a kid - wait, who am I kidding? I'll love these now! 

I found these Sprite Gummy Bear Popsicles (DIY) on Pinterest, from In the Corner 's blog, and I am now impatiently waiting for warm temperatures (defined in my province as anything above 0 degrees C) so that I can give them a try! I'm sure if you don't like gummy bears that any other gummy candy would be delicious as well. 

Thanks for reading! I hope everyone is having a good weekend :)

Coming Up in May 2014

Bout of Books 10.0

Hi Everyone!

Tonight I'd just like to share that I will be participating in the upcoming read-a-thon, Bout of Books 10.0 !

This week long read-a-thon runs from May 12 to May 18, and from what I understand the only goal is to beat your normal number of books read in a week. I'm sincerely hoping that since I have about a dozen tests this week in school, that read-a-thon week will be a light week for school work so I can get in as much reading as possible. I hope to read at least three books, if not more, throughout that week. Not sure what I'll be reading yet but I will of course be posting when I decide.

Here's the official blurb that sums up what the read-a-thon is about, found on the site:

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 12th and runs through Sunday, May 18th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 10 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

Here's where you sign up! It's super simple, just make a post announcing that you'll be participating, and leave a direct link to your post on the website. You can also participate through only Twitter or Instagram as well, and the directions for that are also explained on the webpage.

If you need more information, here's the Bout of Books home page. I hope you'll consider participating in this read-a-thon, and if you do, please leave me a comment or a tweet, letting me know that you're participating, or what you'll be reading throughout the week!

Thanks so much for reading :)

Book Review: Impulse by Ellen Hopkins

http://ellenhopkins.com/YoungAdult/

Goodreads Synopsis: 

Sometimes you don't wake up. But if you happen to, you know things will never be the same.

Three lives, three different paths to the same destination: Aspen Springs, a psychiatric hospital for those who have attempted the ultimate act -- suicide.

Vanessa is beautiful and smart, but her secrets keep her answering the call of the blade.

Tony, after suffering a painful childhood, can only find peace through pills.

And Conner, outwardly, has the perfect life. But dig a little deeper and find a boy who is in constant battle with his parents, his life, himself.

In one instant each of these young people decided enough was enough. They grabbed the blade, the bottle, the gun -- and tried to end it all. Now they have a second chance, and just maybe, with each other's help, they can find their way to a better life -- but only if they're strong and can fight the demons that brought them here in the first place.

666 pages.   

4.30 average rating on Goodreads

Published 2007

Genre: YA, Drama, Realistic Fiction

 My Review:

This book is yet another tragic story written beautifully in prose poetry by the infallible Ellen Hopkins. Three troubled teens, Tony, Vanessa, and Conner all come from very different upbringings, but meet and become friends when they are all admitted to Aspen Springs, a psychiatric centre for young people.

I really liked that parts of the story were told from the perspective of each of the young people. I love when books are written from more than one perspective, so that you get to see the intimate details of the past that make each character who they are.

Tony, raised by a mother who never wanted to raise him, and ignored by a father who never bothered to know him, turns to pills to deal with his feelings. He is unsure of who he is, who he wishes to become, and how to love other people. Tony is an incredibly nice, friendly person, and we get to see him open more as he learns to forgive his father and figure out who he is.

Vanessa was raised essentially by her grandmother, since her military father was usually absent and her bipolar mother preferred the pill bottle to her children. Vanessa now finds that she herself shows symptoms of bipolar disorder, as well as depression (likely brought on by guilt of a rather dark portion of her past). She cuts herself for no reason other than to feel alive. In this book we see her seeking a close relationship with someone who truly cares about her (unlike her ex-boyfriend, Trevor, who just wanted to get in her pants), and affirmation that she has made good decisions in her life.

Conner, raised with his twin sister in a seemingly perfect household, with two perfectionist parents and a nanny, finds himself finally cracking under the pressure to be nothing less than the best. Conner has grown up starving for attention from a mother who never showed him any, and finds himself drawn to older, female authority figures. Though Conner desperately wants love and approval from his mother, he needs his parents to slack off the pressure and accept his depression, and if they don't, the consequences may be fatal.

I enjoyed reading this book but I wish there would've been more time to get to know each of the characters. Some of the plot twists didn't make sense to me (ahem, Tony and Vanessa), but the ending was a complete surprise that I thought was a perfect fit! I also thought Ms. Hopkins did a great job describing each of the characters' thought processes, giving them their own quirky personalities. 

Although I enjoyed this book and plan to read the second one, Perfect, I probably wouldn't consider it a favorite, and likely won't reread it. However, Crank and Glass by Ellen Hopkins, I do consider favorites! See my review of Glass here: http://with-sugar.blogspot.ca/2014/04/book-review-glass-by-ellen-hopkins.html  

Overall I give this book 3/5 stars, simply because it wasn't as amazing as I'd hoped for. If you are new to Ellen Hopkins books though, I definitely encourage you to read it as you will probably think it's fantastic. 

Thanks for reading! :)

                                        

Readathon Recap

Hello Everyone!

I am very excited to have participated in my first readathon yesterday, Dewey's 24-Hour Readthon! Although I definitely did not read for 24 hours straight, I read more pages than I planned to, and it's the most reading I've done in one day for a long time.

Readathon in my time zone started at. 8:30 a.m., at which time I turned off my alarm clock and went back to sleep (oops). When I woke up at 11:00 a.m., I began by finishing my first book of the day, Impulse by Ellen Hopkins. 

This book tells the story of three teenagers who have attempted suicide, and how they help each other in the struggle to recover while in a psychiatric treatment centre.

I read the last 366 pages of this book fairly quickly, finishing around 1:00 p.m., as this book is a pretty quick read, given how few words there are on the pages. 

I took a little break and had some lunch, then relocated to my bathtub to start reading Night by Elie Wiesel. 

This book is the real-life experiences of a man who survived the horrors of Auschwitz as a teenage boy, during WW2 when the extermination of all Jews was top priority in Germany. Wiesel bravely recounts every gruesome detail of his experiences, so that people of the future do not allow history to repeat itself.

This book was only 115 pages, and took me only an hour and 10 minutes to read. 

I then took another break and went out to supper for a friend's birthday. When I came home, I started reading my third book of the day, Sing You Home by Jodi Picoult.

This book is about a 40-year-old music therapist who has been battling infertility for years. When her husband finally decides he's had enough, they divorce and she now finds herself trying to make a new life for herself, the one she had always pictured having recently gone to hell. 

I'm particularly enjoying that, as always with Picoult's books, we get to read from three different points of view: Zoe, the infertile music therapist, Max: Zoe's (ex-) husband, and Vanessa: Zoe's new friend.

It took me about 3 1/2 hours to read the first 202 pages of this book, and I hope to read a great deal more of it today.

SO all in all, I spent a total of 6 hours and 40 minutes reading yesterday, and read a grand total of 683 pages yesterday, which I personally think is pretty awesome for myself, considering my goal was 500 pages. 

I really enjoyed my first readathon, and connecting with other readathoners via Twitter and Instagram. Please leave a comment telling me what goals you accomplished yesterday, or what books you read, or you can always tweet me at @_withsugarontop ! 

Thanks for reading, and I hope everyone else enjoyed the readathon as much as I did!