The Last Song Entry Four

Ronnie and her father's relationship seems to develop into a friendly one. After Ronnie decides that she does not want to hang out with Blaze and her group, she begins to then try and spend time with her father. That night, Ronnie decides to sleep outside and watch over a nest of a rare species of turtles that are on the beach. The reader may seem surprised that Ronnie has such a deep affection for animals, since it seems as if Ronnie really does not seem to have much care for anyone or anything. Ronnie clearly seems to not want to make friends with anybody else in town. This is demonstrated by Will, who is the volleyball player that hit volleyball at her, which caused another person's drink to spill all over her clothes. Will seems interested in trying to be friends with Ronnie because he constantly thinks about her and he is intrigued by the way she is always assertive. Ronnie truly though has no intention of being friends with him...she didn't even him her name when he asked! Ronnie seems to be the type of girl who really does not want to be friends with anybody and she simply just wants to go through life on her own. Ronnie seems to have a difficult time expressing the type of person she is throughout the book, which I wonder if that is due to all the problems she had with her father......

Nicholas Sparks really does a excellent job at showing how a family is coping with a divorce. I really though would love to see what is going through the mother's mind as her children are with their father. I think that this would make the novel very interesting because the reader could then have another insight added to the book. Also, I would like to see more of Will's personality developed deeper because I find it confusing to get to know him and see what type of person he is. Other than that, Sparks does a overall fantastic job at developing Ronnie, Steven and Jason. The reader can clearly see throughout the novel that Steven is truly upset that he has not been there for his children. I find it interesting how Ronnie and Steven were unable to get along for most of the novel even though they both share a common interest in playing the piano. Ronnie had quit playing the piano, and Steven seems to play on the piano every time that Ronnie and him get into a fight. Symbolically, I think that Steven represents everything that Ronnie lost once he left, such as her love for life and others and her passion for playing the piano. Could Steven be the one that brings Ronnie back and will allow her to see that her real talent lies in playing the piano??

The pacing of book seems to be holding my interest well. However, sometimes I find that there is too much description added when it is not needed. For the most part, I think this book is very touching and should be recommended to readers who enjoy a heart warming stories. The topics that Nicholas Sparks explores in this novel is so widely discussed today that so many people will be able to relate to the book.

The Last Song Entry Three

The way that the main character, Ronnie, develops throughout the novel is quite remarkable. Ronnie's insight that she sees on the people she is hanging out with is so mature and unexpected from a girl who is rebellious to her parents. Quite often we see in today's society that teens are rebellious teens are angry and rude to their parents for various reasons. However, we also find that teens usually are not wiling to use human intellect and reason to decide that their friends are influencing them into behavior that is dangerous and will have a negative impact on their future.

However, Ronnie uses judgment in order to see that Blaze and her group of friends are ones that will negatively impact her. For example, when Ronnie sees that Blaze and her friends are drunk, she refuses to have a drink and then decides to go home to her dad. Ronnie also left Bower's point because Marcus, who was a friend of Blaze, decided to ask Ronnie to go on a walk to the beach with him and Ronnie felt uncomfortable with him because Ronnie really does not trust him and believes that "acting normal was simply a game he played so he could manipulate people."

Nicholas Sparks' writing style is very profound and I like how he contrasts the characters of Ronnie and her brother Jason. Throughout the book, Jason and Steven, their father, are constantly spending time together. Jason is always eager to do something with his dad, from going to the festival to walking along the beach looking at crabs and kite flying. I think that Sparks purposely made the relationship between Ronnie and Steven more distant and complex then Jason and Steven's relationship because I think he is trying to show the difference between teenagers and younger children, and how as children grow up, they rely less and less on their parents for guidance and look at themselves for intellect and reason. However, because Jason is still a young child, it is showing that he still needs intellect, reason and guidance to support him, which is why he wants to spend time with his dad. This occurring theme of maturity and growing up is one that is found in many novels, and if you are a reader that enjoys these type of profound meanings in literature, then you will definitely enjoy reading this book....

The Last Song Entry Two

Nicholas Sparks' change of narrator in each character really makes the novel very insightful and enjoyable for the reader. It is interesting to see the different perspectives that each character has. I am so impressed with the way that Nicholas had developed Ronnie so well and how he makes the reader feel as if we could all relate to a person who is in Ronnie's situation. The problem that Nicholas Sparks explores in this novel is divorce, which I think is a good topic for fiction writers to explore because it is a topic that affects many families today and it is one that does cause a lot of damage and hard feelings to the children affected by the divorce.

So far, Ronnie is unable to enjoy herself at Wrightsville Beach because she finds that there is nothing to do on the island. After escaping spending time wih her dad and her brother, Ronnie decides to go to the carnival and spend time at a booth that gives money to animals that need a home. After going around the carnival, Ronnie decides to go over where a volleyball tournament is being held. Automatically, Ronnie notices that the two guys on the one team "remind her of the spoiled private school types she sometimes ran into at clubs...she'd seen enough of the so-called privileged crowd to recognize a member when she saw one" Sparks provides such an interesting insight into Ronnie when we read this because now the reader is able to see that Ronnie is a person who tries to be true and honest and that she does not like people who pretend to be something they are not. Ronnie also seems to be happy to make a friend when she meets Blaze, who is so impressed by Ronnie's description of what New York looks like. Blaze then shows Ronnie a group of three boys who put on a show using fireballs. Ronnie is impressed by the talent she has, but immediatly freezes when the police show up to tell the three guys that they can not throw the fireballs on the street. Instantly, Blaze and the three boys run off, which leaves Ronnie with no chocie but to follow them as well. Has Ronnie finally found friends on the beach, or willl she soon go back to being depressed and reserved, constantly wishing she was back in New York??

I would definitly recommend this book to readers who enjoy stories about the life of teenagers. So far, I have been reading this book at a steady pace because I find that the book is so good I can not keep it down!!!

The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks

I never read a Nicholas Sparks novel before this one, but from reviews that I have read about him, I can tell that he is a well respected author. I had seen a couple of movies that were based on his books, such as Nights in Rodanthe and The Notebook, and I thought that the movies were excellent. Since I enjoyed the movies, I thought I would enjoy the books as well. So far, Sparks has a very unique and interesting writing style and he has such an interesting way of getting into the main character's head and really demonstrating to readers what it is like to be a teenager in modern day and how children and teenagers often handle the common problem in families--divorce. I picked this Nicholas Sparks book to read because the plot of this book seemed to grab my attention when I read the jacket of the cover and also the plot seemed different from the other book he has written.

Seventeen year old Ronnie Miller is very dissipointed about the summer plans that her mom has arranged for her. She is going to Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina with her brother in order to spend time with her dad. Ronnie is upset that she will be spending time with her dad because she is hurt by the fact that it will be for the entire summer, which means that she will not have any time to spend with her friends. Throughout the car ride there she complains to her mom, and her mom keeps explaining to her that her dad is a good person and that it is good that she is spending time with him since the last time she saw him was three years ago. Ever since the divorce, Ronnie has been upset with her dad for leaving her. Her mom reminds her that her dad has visited and called a couple of times, but every time that happened Ronnie would be hanging out with friends. At this point, the reader may become curious to wonder if there is something more that occured between Ronnie and her father, but Nicholas Sparks has not revealed that to the reader yet. Could Ronnie and her father's relationship ever be saved??

So far, I am enjoying the book and I enjoy how engaging Nicholas Sparks writes and how he goes very deep into the character's thoughts.

Stay tuned for more!!!

My Blogging Observations & Goals For The Second Quarter

After examining my blogs from the last couple of weeks, I notice that my blogging style has a consistent pattern and structure that I use in each entry. I notice that in the beginning of my blogs I tend to discuss the author's writing style and the literary techniques the author uses in order to describe the character. Then in the second paragraph of my blogs I go into a summary of what happened in the book and what certain scenes in the novel show about the main characters. Third, I then mention certain passages that struck my attention as I was reading. I write the quote and then analyze what the passage is saying. After I examine a particular passage, I mention the reading process and discuss whether or not I read the book quickly slowly or if it was easy or hard to understand. After the reading process, I write about which people would be the most interested in reading the novel. I believe that this is a good way to end blog entries on books because then the reader is left knowing if the book I was blogging about is one that they would read or not. Not only due I notice the structure of my blogs are similar, but I also notice that I tend to focus mainly on author's style of writing and how the author portrayed the main character. The reason why I tend to mention this throughout most of my blog is because when choosing a book for independent reading, I tend to read the back of the book or the jacket focus on the quotes (if any) mentioned and try to figure out what the overall mood, feel and tone of the novel will be. I then try to see if the writing style will interest me. This is probably why I mention the author's writing style a lot in my blogs since I want the readers of my blog to choose a book from my blog that they like not only for the plot but also for the writing style and for the deeper meaning that the author is trying to explain throughout the novel. Don't get me wrong being interested in the plot is important-but you must also make sure the writing style of the author is one you can relate to and enjoy as well.

One goal that I have for blogging in the second quarter is trying to expand more on my sentences and trying not to reiterate the same point multiple times. Often times, I find that in my writing I tend to over repeat an idea that I have made previously, and often times this proves to be very boring and uninteresting for the reader because they understood the point I was making in the first place, so then they don't find any reason to keep reading what I have to say. When I write, I tend to become unaware that I am making the same point numerous times, and it is often times after the fact that I realize I have repeated the same idea and not expanded my knowledge of the text nor have I given a lot of insight to the reader as well. I would also like to improve the style of writing that I use in my blogs because I feel that I tend to write in only one style which could be boring to the reader at times. When rereading the blog entries that I have already written, I notice that many of my entries must be seen as boring to the reader because I tend to also start off my blogs in a similar way as well. Whenever I am about to start my blog, I always struggle with what my opening sentence will be. I hope that next quarter I can improve the opening clincher of my blog and learn to give the reader more of an insight to the novel.

Hopefully, in the second quarter, I am able to reach these goals and learn how to grow as a newly appointed independent reading blogger!!!

Beautiful Boy Entry Two

David Sheff continues to take readers on the hard and long journey of what life is like for his teenage son Nic. The way that Sheff describes Nic's teenage I found particularly interesting because the reader would find it enjoyable since Sheff tends to write the experiences that Nic has went though with drugs, and even if you had not had to deal with an experience with drugs, you were still able to understand the point that David was trying to make. David's message that he is trying to send to teenagers throughout describing Nic's teenage years is to try to realize that you should not always participate in activities that all of your friends are doing that you as an individual need to make the conscience decision of whether you want drugs to be apart of your life or not, and you need to decide if you will constantly associate with people who will hinder the amount of peer pressure or if you leave those friends behind and try to find a group that will support you no matter who you are.

Not only is the way that David Sheff uses his own son's experience with drugs a way that he tries to connect with the readers in the book, but also David tries to relate back to the parents of the teenagers who are experiencing drug addiction as well. How Sheff does this is he explains the internal conflict he experiences when he finds that his son was experiencing marijuna at the age of twelve. What causes Sheff to experience an intenral conflict is because he is torn about having to make the decision of whether or not to tell his son about his own drug addiction and how it had effected his life. He even goes as far as to question whether or not he should have moved to America explaining "I have never fantasized that any American suberb or exurb or country town, no matter how remote, is far enough away to be untouched by the perils most often associated with inner cities, but I thought that towns like Inverness must be safter than the Tenderloin." When explaining how he is confused of whether or not to tell his son about his own drug addiction, he says "I blame my hypocrisy. It makes we wince. How can I tell him not to use drugs when he knows thst I have? 'Do as I say I say and not as I did.' I tell him that I wish I hadn't used them. I tell him about friends whose lives were ruined by them. And meanwhile, in my mind, as always I blame the divorce. I tell myself that many children of divorce do all right and many children in inact families don't. Regardless, there is no way to undo what I know would be the most traumatic event of Nic's life." It now becomes evident through David's words that clearly he wants Nic to not experience this hardship, but there is nothing he can't do because he is unable to control all aspects of his life.

Stay tuned for more!!!

Beautiful Boy by David Sheff

As soon as I completed the introduction of the novel, I developed the sense that David Sheff has a very unique writing style. The way in which this memoir is written I find very interesting because usually in memoirs authors tend to sometimes leave out how other people in the world can learn from their life experiences until the end or towards the middle when the author tends to summarize the last thoughts of what they want to leave the reader. By Sheff including certain statistics of drug addiction, it is able for readers to fully grasp the reality of what it takes to try to battle an addiction, whether it be with drugs, alcohol or any other form of addiction. Immediately his writing style grabbed my attention and made we want to learn more about what is son, Nic, had to go through in order to control his addiction with methamphetamine. Another thing I find interesting is how David Sheff described the process by which he had created this book and how many people were so deeply moved by his story because other parents from all over were able to relate to what Sheff had to deal with. This indicates to the reader that this is a book that discusses a problem that is worldwide and it may be for you to read if you enjoy relating well to the novel you are reading.

Nic has just come back home from college for summer vacation. The whole family is so excited to see him, and it seems as if Nic is having a good time, until he begins to ask to borrow the car. Nic's parents have placed a curfew on him, and he seems to be follwing the rules until one day Nic tells his father that he is going out for a drug rehab meeting. His father allows him to go out for the meeting, but then ends up worrying sick about where Nic is when he ends up not being home by 11:30. He keeps trying to tell himself that his son can't possibly taking drugs again after he began to make so much progress in recovery from his addiction. However, Nic ends up not coming back home until 1 in the morning. When discussing the reason fo why he was out so late, Nic becomes very defensive and simply states that many group members in the rehab meeting went to a girl's house in order to socialize and watch a movie. He keeps denying to his father that he is high until his father asks him to come and take a drug test. Once the father had said this, Nic immediatly left the house and admitted he was high since the beginning of his semester at college.

David Sheff seems to be going through a period of time where he seems helpless and confused. He seems to only want to be comforted by listening to other people's problems and mentions that "people are relieved to learn that they are not alone in their suffering, that they are apart of something larger, in this case, a societal plague- an epidemic of children, an epidemic of families." Thus, Sheff is trying to say that by hearing how other parents were dealing with their own children's drug addictions, it gave him the hope that he could find the strength inside himself to help Nic get to a full recovery.

The process of reading this book has been a little slow for me due to the fact that sometimes the sentences are written very long and descriptive, so it takes me awhile to process sometimes the full meaning of what Sheff is trying to say. However, I would definitly recommend this book to anyone who is struggling with a drug addiction or if you know someone battling addiction. This book may just be what it takes for someone you care about to have a full recovery.

The Ending Of Firefly Lane

The Firefly Lane Girls are now entering the age of thirty, and it is amazing to see the difference in the type of life that Kate leads compared to Tully's life. Kate ends up marrying Johnny, however, throughout the book the reader will see that she occasionally doubts herself that he truly loves her and she continues to believe that Johnny is not over Tully. She also ends up having three children named Marah, William and Lucas. Despite the fact that Kate never really pursued a career and simply told everyone that she was a stay at home mom, Kate still fins happiness and joy in her life by helping her kids and being their as a volunteer at school functions or charity events. However, Tully ends up pursuing her career as a news reporter and ends up becoming very wealthy and famous. She takes offers from large corporations and even accepted a deal where she films a live talk show called The Girlfriend Hour. Tully continuously finds herself unsatisfied with her life because she feels alone and wants to share a life with someone. Tully is scared of falling in love and can never understand why. Tully believed that being successful and famous would make her happy, but she ends up feeling abandoned and empty like before.

As the novel progresses, we see the different lifestyles that Tully and Kate leave end up putting a strain on their relationship. Tully spends most of her time in New York filming for her show while Kate spends her time with her family and taking care of her children. Another strain that is put on their relationship is Marah. When Marah enters the preteen years, Kate finds it hard to manage the constant battles that emerge about curfew, clothes and friends. However, Marah tends to force Tully to talk to Kate and Johnny and persuade them so that she could be granted permission to go somewhere or participate in an event. For example, Marah becomes interested in modeling and ends up taking a modeling class. However, one day in class Marah finds out that the class had been invited to go to New York for a week at a costly price. Marah tells Tully about it, who then ends up offering to pay for the trip and to also escort her to New York as well. Kate was furious that Tully would agree to something that was dangerous for a thirteen year old to do. Kate constantly reminds her that Tully is not her mom and that Kate's responsibility is to keep her daughter safe. Also, Kate becomes tired of Tully never apologizing for her actions and how she never will call first to resolve a situation. All of these factors lead to their relationship becoming estranged, which will lead to problems later on when Kate develops inflammatory breast cancer. Tully ends up feeling so much regret for the time that they did not spend together, and how she should have apologized and called Kate back when she called her months ago to tell her she was in surgery. However, Kate reminds her that they should leave the past in the past, and just live in the present.

Kristin Hannah has a distinctive writing style and she had done a wonderful job in developing Tully and Kate. Even the minor characters in the novel, such as Johnny and the children, Kristin had developed so well that the reader will end up feeling as if they know the Ryan family and some mothers can connect to the struggle that Kate has with managing her kids. One writing technique that I found particularly interesting of Kristin Hannah's was how the passage in the prologue of the novel ended up being repeated later on the novel during the time when Kate and Tully were in an argument. Typically, if a writer is going to repeat a certain passage in the novel, the writer will mention the passage in the beginning and then in the end. New before have I seen a passage in a book where it was mentioned in the prologue and then mentioned in the middle of the novel. I think that Kristin Hannah purposely placed the passage in the beginning of the novel because she wanted the reader to get a sense about the book was going to be about and then she probably mentioned it in the end in order for us to understand that the questions we may have had in the beginning had been answered. In the prologue, I was left wondering what exactly happened with Kate and Tully' relationship, and about halfway into the novel, I was able to answer the question. Kate being a guest appearance with Marah on Tully's show ended up not going well because Kate was unhappy with the fact that Tully was calling her a bad mother on television and Tully did not like how Kate mentioned facts about her personal life on television. Thus, this then led to Tully and Kate not talking for awhile until Kate got sick and needed to see Tully again. One quote that shows how Kate is dealing with cancer is when Kristin Hannah writes "She woke with a start, feeling tears on her cheeks. She lay there in her bed, wide awake now, listening to a winter storm rage outside. In the last week she'd lost the ability to distance herself from her memories. Too often lately she returned to Firefly Lane in her dreams, and no wonder. Best friends forever. That was the promise they'd made all those years ago, and they'd believed it would last, believed that someday they'd be old women together, sitting in their rocking chairs on a creaking deck, talking about the times of their lives, and laughing. Now she knew better of course. For more than a year she'd been telling herself that it was okaym that she could go on without her best friend. Sometimes she even believed it. Then she'd hear the music. Their music. Yesterday, while she'd been shopping, a bad Muzak version of "You've Got a Friend" had made her cry, right there next to the radishes." From this quote the reader is able to gather that Kate is having a difficult time dealing with the cancer because even though she has her family's support she still misses the time she spent with her friend. Tully also demonstrates that she feels regret for what she did to Kate on the show when she says to Kate "I'm sorry, Katie," she whispered, hearing how small the words were; all her life she'd hoarded those few those few and simple words, kept them tucked inside her heart as if to them out would harm her. Why, of all the lessons she should have learned from her mother, had she held on to this most hurtful one? And why hadn't she called when she'd heard Kate's voice on the answering machine? "I'm so sorry," she said again, feeling the burn of tears." Basically, the reader can then see that Tully feels a huge amount of regret for not calling Kate back and that she had overcome her fear of saying "I'm sorry." This is significant progress for Tully because it is showing that she is starting to forget about what her mother had done to her and how she will try to move on and become a stronger person than she was. Tully ended up trying to help restore the relationship with her mother, but it ended up not working because her mother ended up in the hospital and said to her that she was not good enough to be Tully's mother and that she wishes she could be what Tully needed growing up but she was unable to provide the care that she needed.

While reading this book, I found that it did take me a longer time then I had expected. However, I just thought the idea of following your dreams and being successful was a powerful topic that the author explored in this novel. It really made me think that even if someone can become sucessful, it does not necessarily mean they will always be happy. I learned that it is important to aprreciate the little things in life, just like Kate did, because that is what you will always remember. As Kate had written in her journal "That's the funny thing about writing your life story. You start out trying to remember dates and times and names. You think it's about facts, your life, that what you'll look back on and remember are the successes and failures, the time line of your youth and middle age, but that isn't all. Love. Family. Laughter. That's what I remember when it's all said and done. For so much of my life I thought I didn't do enough or want enough. I guess I can be forgiven for my stupidity. I was young. I want my children to know how proud I am of them, and how proud I am of me. We were everything we needed-you and Daddy and I. I had everything I ever wanted. Love. That's what we remember."

I would recommend this book to readers who enjoy books that take place over a long span of time and follow people as they grow and develop. This was an amazing book that teaches readers a very valueable lesson-success does not always make you happy.

Firefly Lane Entry Three

Kristin Hannah is still developing the characters very well. However, the reader may begin to notice that Kate's emotions are becoming more developed. I find this interesting because I now find myself considering Kate a main character where before I considered her more of a secondary character because the author would always develop Tully more because of all the problems she had with her mom. By seeing all of the problems that Tully had with her mom and the way that she handled her mom being a drug addict I think revealed Tully as lonely and it also showed that Tully no longer believes in care and compassion in people and she is unable to show her true self because she always finds that she gets broken in the end. As you can see, some changes are taking place between these two characters, and as a reader, it is very interesting to see this friendship span from the beginning of the book when they were fourteen to now when they are out of college.

Tully recently just got dumped by her boyfriend, Chad, due to the fact that he was moving to Tennessee and wanted Tully to go with him but Tully refused because she wanted to continue working at the KILO-TV news station with Kate. Tully was an excellent reporter straight from the beginning. On one of her first television appearances as a news reporter, Tully is reporting about the Seattle SWAT team chasing a robber as he is going through a glass window. Tully ends up being hit by a gunshot and fall unconscious. Clearly, the reader can see that Tully can be viewed as a heroic person because she is willing to make sacrifices in order to follow her dreams of being a reporter with possibility of having to report a story that maybe taking place in a dangerous location. However, while she may be seen a heroic, the breakup with Chad had really impacted the view that Tully has of herself because she says to Kate "There's something missing in me...first my dad saw it. Whoever the hell he is; he must have taken one look at me and run. And let's not even discuss my loving mother. I'm...easy to leave. Why is that?" Basically, I am able to gather the impression that Tully is taking full responsibility for growing up with parents that were not helpful and supportive throughout her childhood, and is unable to understand that her parents were the ones who had problems they were not able to deal with, but it had nothing to do with her. Since Tully blames herself for her parents leaving her, I believe that this plays a significant impact on the friendships that she builds because she can never fully trust anyone because she constantly is burdened by the fact that they one day might just leave her. Can Tully ever get past this fear???

Kate who always demonstrated herself as shy decided to tell Johnny about the feelings she had for him. However, Tully keeps warning her that she could easily just be a rebound girl for him, since Johnny became disappointed that Tully did not have feelings for him. Kate is still a very uncertain girl and finds it hard to trust Johnny. What will become of this relationship??

Stay tuned for more!!!

Firefly Lane Entry Two

Now farther along into the book, the difference in character traits between Tully and Kate is becoming more evident as the book progresses along with their age. Kristin Hannah does an excellent job of allowing the reader to have a clear and distinct insight into the characters in order for us to truly understand what the character is feeling and going through. This is crucial for the author to do when there are two characters that have two different personalities because it is interesting to see how both Tully and Kate are keeping their feelings a secret from one another, and how both characters are developing in two different people. However, the reader might also realize at this point that even though personalities change, some feelings are too powerful that they remain the same.

Tully and Kate are currently finishing college and they are trying to pursue the career choice that they had chosen back in the summer they met when they were 14 years old. Tully and Kate had decided that they both were to become the first female team of reporters. However, Kate begins to think that being a reporter is not the type of career that she planned for herself. She finds this difficult to tell Tully and her mom. The reader may feel surprised to see that Kate is not able to talk to her best friend about her true feelings because in the beginning of the novel, Kate had never kept a secret from Tully. However, Kate decides that she will give broadcasting a try after Tully had insisted that they work together as "interns". She agrees to go meet with Tully's boss, Johnny, in order to fill in the position of a secretary who left for maternity leave. Kate finds herself saying yes to the position after meeting Johnny, who she becomes automatically infatuated with. This secret is one that Kate did not share with Tully because she is afraid that Tully would tell her to ask him out, which causes a problem because Johnny is constantly admiring Tully, which gives Kate the impression that Johnny has the intention of asking her out. Throughout the novel, Kate constantly tells the reader that she feels like she is always Tully's shadow, which may play a significant factor in why Kate does not tell Tully everything.

The distinctive writing style that Kristin Hannah uses really keeps me interested in this book. Kristin writes so profoundly and in depth that it is impossible to put the book down. The friendship of Tully and Kate also progresses in a manner that everyone can relate to. The friendship starts out strong, but now it seems like it is getting weaker. It is almost as if the personality differences is getting in the way of their friendship. Tully seems confused as to why Kate is not her usual self who enjoys spending time with her, and Kate is confused as to why Tully is unable to see what is bothering her. When Kate thinks to herself "deeper down, in a dark place she rarely acknowledged, there was another fear, one she only recognized in her dreams and nightmares. In the cold light of day, she didn't believe it, but at night, alone, she worried that if Tully found out about Kate's love, it might actually make Johnny more attractive to Tully. That was the thing about her best friend; it wasn't that she wanted what she couldn't have. It was that she wanted everything, and sooner or later, Tully got what she wanted. Kate couldn't risk it. Not having Johnny she could live with. Losing him to Tully would unbearable." The reader is now able to see that Kate still is envious of her best friend and how she longs to be admired by someone for the type of person she is. Kat struggles to explain this problem to her friend, which may possibly lead to a disaster later on in the novel--what do you think???

Not only is Kate's feeling of envy staying the same, but Tully also is beginning to get stronger when it comes to dealing with her drug addicted mother, or so she thinks. When Tully was filming for a news broadcast, she remembered that her mom was staying at a local campsite nearby. Tully is surprised that she wants to go, since she has not seen her since the funeral of her grandmother, and she is stunned that she even has the urge to go as well. When Kristin writes "Tully tried to keep the pride out of her voice, knowing it was stupid to expect anything from her mother, but it was there anyway, in her eyes and in her voice, the shadowy remnant of the pathetic little girl who'd filled twelve memory books so that someday her mother would now her and be proud...Tully wished she'd never come here. She knew what to expect from her mother: nothing. Why couldn't she seem to remember that?" It become clear to the reader Tully still feels upset about her mom not being involved in her life, and how she still is hoping that being on the road to becoming a television broadcaster will make her mom proud. Also, but her remembering that she can't expect anything from her mom, it shows that Tully will be pained and reminded of that for the rest of her life, and how no matter how hard she may try to fight the feeling of abandonment, it will be stuck with her.

Look out for more information on what happens with Tully and Kate's friendship!!

Firefly Lane by Kristin Hannah

When starting this book, I became automatically grabbed into the story because Kristin Hannah writes in such a descriptive and interesting manner that the reader wants to continue reading. At first, I was a little hesitant to read this novel because it takes place in the summer of 1974. Due to the fact that the novel takes place in the 1970's, I predicted that it might be a difficult to understand the language in the novel since it was not taking place in modern day. Also, I thought that there might be references in the book to things occurring at this time that I would not be able to relate to it. However, I find that Hannah has written the novel in an enticing way that I am able to connect with it. Tully's problem of having her mom constantly abandoning her due to the fact that she is drug addicted and a hippie is one that many children today in foster care or an orphanage can relate to. Even though the hippie movement may be over, there are still plenty of mothers out there today who are either doing drugs or who are constantly drunk all of the time.

The main characters, Tully and her best friend Kate, have very different personalities. Their personalities are do different that the reader at the beginning of the novel would not even suspect that they would end up becoming friends. Tully is a girl who learned to grow up without her mom and dad. The only positive influence that Tully had in her life was her grandmother who had raised her after her mother had abandoned her for drugs. Tully's mother, Cloud, blames her own mother for a mistake that occurred a long time ago, but what that secret is has not been revealed yet. As Tully continues to get older, she continues to miss her mother and keeps memories from her childhood in her scrapbook in case her mother ever came back and wanted to see what she had missed with all those years of abandonment. However, at the age of 14, Tully stops asking her grandmother to get her a scrapbook and she eventually gives up hope that her mom will come back for her. Tully starts the typical teenage rebellious behavior and starts wearing clothes her grandmother doesn't really approve of. Tully eventually becomes the most popular girl at school, but she constantly feels alone and abandoned despite the fact she has all these friends. Tully's messed up and lonely life is nothing compared to the life that Kate has. Kate has a wonderful and supporting family, but she is constantly embarrassed by her mom's rules and feels alone because she has no friends. When Tully moves on to Firefly Lane with her mom and becomes neighbors of Kate, Kate automatically is jealous of the life she leads. However, would Kate really want to change places with Tully if she really knew what Tully went through??

The way that the Kristin had blended two opposite personalities was done well. It was very interesting for me to realize that two people who come from different lives could end up having one common feeling-lonely. I find it peculiar that Kate is not able to make the connection that her and Tully really did have something in common, and that she was not able to see that Tully's life was really not as good as it seems. Constantly throughout the book Tully would say to Kate that she is lucky to have a mom that is worried about you. Thus, it then shows the reader that Tully would trade the life of independence and popularity to just have a family and have someone that cares for her. It just goes to show you that popularity is not always everything and people all have complications in their lives that they need to deal with.

One particular passage that I found helpful in learning about the inner thoughts and traits of the characters was when Kristin wrote: "Bye. Tully stood there for a moment, feeling awkward. She wanted to hug Kate, maybe even cling to her and tell her how much this night had been helped by her, but she didn't dare. She'd learned a thing or two about vulnerability from her mother, and she felt too fragile now to risk humiliation." It becomes evident now that Tully is having a difficult time trusting a person and that just having someone taking the time to talk to her and truly listen to what is bothering her is all that Tully desires. As Tully had explained "On rare days she still felt...not quite lonely...but something. Adrift, maybe. As if the people she hung around with were placeholders. Today was one of those days. She sat in her regular seat on the school bus, hearing the buzz of gossip go on around her. Everyone seemed to be talking about family things; she had nothing to add to the conversations. She knew nothing about fighting with your little brother or being grounded for talking back to your parents or going to the mall with your mom. Thankfully, when the bus pulled up to her stop, she hurried off, making a big show of saying goodbye to her friends, laughing loudly and waving. Pretending; she did a lot of that lately." Hannah puts so much emotion into this passage that I am able to sympathize with Tully. While this feeling of abandonment is something that I can't fully understand, I am able to see the pretending and loneliness that she feels, and I think that many readers will be able to relate and connect to these emotions.

Overall, this book is off to a great start--stay tuned for more information on the friendship of Tully and Kate!!!

Addition by Toni Jordan

While reading this book, I must say that the way Jordan developed the main character, Grace, seemed very realistic to what someone today would describe as obsessive compulsive disorder. While I would argue the author did an excellent job at showing the reader what goes on with a person suffering from obsessive compulsive disorder, the way that she developed the character could have been done in more detail. It was a little difficult in the beginning of the novel to fully understand why she kept counting everything-literally everything. She would count the bristles on a toothbrush to the size of the piece of cake she would in her mouth at breakfast. It also was unclear exactly when this became a problem for Grace and what events in her life caused her to act in this manner. The reader can gather the impression that Grace was an upset and lonely, but there was no explanation of why until later on in the novel. However, this was not done in a significant amount of clarity as I would have liked to have seen. This may cause a problem for some readers because they would prefer a faster paced novel and one that answers the questions going on their mind as they read.

Grace always kept the fact that she counted everything a secret, and she really did not see it as a problem until a man in the grocery store named Ian noticed it because she had taken one of his bananas in order to have an even number of 10. What I specifically found challenging to understand is how Grace could not know that there was a problem and try to get help. It should have became obvious to her she needed help or she needed to tell someone about her problems when she wasn't able to hold her job as a teacher anymore.

Despite some of the issues I had with the development of the character, overall I would say that the novel was very well written. Toni Jordan wrote in a very interesting manner and it was done in a way that was understandable and enjoyable. The narrator for the duration of the story was Grace, which I find interesting because I wonder if the perception the reader sees of Grace would have been different if the narrator was somebody else or even if it changed from Grace to one of her family members. When you read the novel with Grace as the narrator, you get the impression that she is a lonely girl who just wants to fit in the world despite the fact that she has the compulsion to count. However, in my opinion, the reader would probably think of Grace as either annoying or strange if the story was narrated by her sister or Ian.

I found myself taking a long time completing this book because in the beginning it was a difficult for me to get interested because she begins by discussing numbers. However, eventually I was able to get used to her referring to objects that are countable and discussing her daily routine with time. One quote I found interesting was "Most people don't understand that numbers rule, not just the world in a macro way but their world, their own world. Their lives. They don't really understand that everything and everybody are connected my a mathematical formula. Counting is what defines us...the only thing that gives our lives meaning is the knowledge that eventually we all will die. That's what makes each minute important. Without the ability to count our days, our hours, our loved ones...there's no meaning. Our lives would have no meaning. Without counting, our lives are unexamined. Not valued. Not precious. This consciousness, this ability to rejoice when we gain something and grieve when we lose something-this is what separates us from other animals. Counting, adding, measuring, timing. It's what makes us human." When Grace states this it becomes clear that she wants meaning in her life and that she feels that counting gives meaning because it gives her something to get through the day and to look forward to. However, at the end of the novel, Grace's attitude about life changes and is evident when she says "Life isn't when you are standing on top of the mountain looking at the sunset. Life isn't waiting at the altar or the moment your child is born or that time you were swimming in deep water and a dolphin came up alongside you. These are fragments. 10 or 12 grains of sand spread throughout your entire existence. These are not life. Life is brushing your teeth or making a sandwich or watching the news or waiting for the bus. Or walking. Every day, thousands of tiny events happen and if you're not watching, if you're not careful, if you don't capture them and make them count, you could miss it. You could miss your whole life." Now, Grace is beginning to see that she has wasted part of her life with her compulsions and little details of life that she thought she needed to know when really all she needs to enjoy the simplicity of life itself. Curious to know what makes Grace want to change and appreciate her life??

A connection I was able to make with this book was with the television series Monk. How both this novel and Monk are similar is that they both tell a story about the lives of people who have to live with obsessive compulsive disorder, and how other people view their abnormalities. So, for people who are fans of the television show Monk, this book may be for you to read....

Change Of Heart by Jodi Picoult

"Would you give up your vengeance against someone you hate if it meant saving someone you love? Would you want your dreams to come true if it meant granting your enemy's dying wish?" When I read this quote in the back of the novel for the first time, I became intrigued by the topic and idea of the novel. I mean, it is not often that a person has to decide between continuing to feel hatred or letting someone they care for die. I picked up this book having a feeling that it would be very thought provoking and meaningful, and indeed it was.

After reading this novel, I was impressed by how strongly Jodi Picoult developed the characters. The character, in my opinion, that she developed best was Shay Borne. In the beginning of the novel, you go from thinking that Shay is truly a criminal and just wants to be redeemed for his wrong doings by giving Claire, a girl who has pediatric myopathy, a new heart before he is sentenced to death by lethal injection. However, as the novel goes on and continues, you get a chance to see the type of person that Shay is, and you see that he is not a cold blooded killer who killed June's husband Kurt and daughter Elizabeth. Then, when you find out that he is truly innocent, that is actions were merely to protect Elizabeth because Shay had witnessed Kurt abusing her, you see a side of Shay that is heroic and compassionate. What is confusing for the reader to grasp is why Shay would not tell his side of the story to the police or his attorney. The answer that Shay describes to his spiritual adviser, Father Michael, is that he doubts anybody will believe him since his record is not the cleanest to begin with. Also, because he knows that the DNA evidance proves he murdered them since his fingerprints were found on the gun. So, he just took the blame like he had done with his sister when she had burned the house down. I think that there is more to Shay's thinking th at even the author wanted left to interpretation. After all, there are many reasons as to why Shay could have done this.

Whether his actions were because he sees himself as worthless or that he truly wants to be kind and compassionate and seen as a hero is a matter of opinion. Out of all the books I have read by Picoult my favorite is this one because of how emotional the book is and how much I learned through this book about learning to see different sides of people and not to be judgemental. I even learned just simple basic facts about the death penalty. Another aspect of this novel I found interesting was how she discussed religious beliefs and the justice system in America, since currently many people do not talk about this. The way she does this though, however, is one that is fair and non biased.

One specific part in the book that I found memorable and well written was in the epilogue when Claire says "I have been someone different now for three weeks. It's not something you can tell by looking at me; it's not even something I can tell by looking at the mirror. The only way I can describe it, and it's weird, so get ready, is like waves: they just crash over me and suddenly, even if I'm surrounded by a dozen people, I'm lonely. Even if I'm doing everything I want to, I start to cry." I find this quote very powerful and meaningful because I think this is where readers begin to see that Claire is beginning to understand exactly what Shay was feeling, and Shay is trying to reveal to Claire, in his own weird and crazy way, that his actions were truly for a good reason.

I would highly recommend this book to readers who enjoy novels that teach you life lessons and anyone who enjoys characters that reveal their true selves as the book continues. This novel is surely one that nobody should pass up on--it is truly a moving and powerful read.