“So, I guess we are who we are for a lot of reasons. And maybe we'll
never know most of them. But even if we don't have the power to choose
where we come from, we can still choose where we go from there. We can
still do things. And we can try to feel okay about them.”
- Stephen Chbosky, The Perks of Being a Wallflower
Your freshman year of high school is full of all sorts of things: good, bad, and in between. It's scary going to the bigger school and having to meet new people. Not to mention all the pressures that are presented.
It was no different for Charlie. It was his freshman year, and he had no friends. His only friend committed suicide, and his home life wasn't much better, either. So he felt completely alone.
Soon enough, Charlie met Patrick in one of his classes. Even though Patrick was a senior, he was still in a freshman shop class because he never passed. Charlie went to his first high school football game and was looking for a place to sit when Patrick invited him to sit next to him. And that's when he met her: Sam.
Sam is Patrick's step-sister, and love at first sight for Charlie. The three instantly become inseparable. They brought Charlie into their lives and showed him how to live! They showed him how to be himself and have fun!
One of the most well-known scenes in the book is when the three were riding in Patrick's truck, and Sam climbed in back and stood up in the truck bed as they drove through a tunnel with the stereo blaring. Charlie was introduced to new music, and a new sense of emotions.
This book was written as multiple letters from Charlie to a person we don't know. He tells the anonymous person about what is going on with his family, school, his friends, and how he is growing up. He basically just tells his story of how he developed from being the wallflower to being his own person.
Read about Charlie's struggles, memories, and life-changing moments. Reading this made me view things a little differently. You never really know what someone is going through unless they tell you. If someone isn't outgoing and doesn't do all of the "cool" things, it doesn't mean he/she isn't an incredibly beautiful soul. We all go through different hardships throughout our lifetime, we just have to find friends that will help us through those times and love us no matter what.
Don't let what other people think hold you back! Don't hold yourself back! Just live life, but live it in center stage, not in the audience.
This is now a major motion picture, starring Emma Watson! It was released in fall of 2012 and is now available on DVD. Watch the trailer:
The movie is rated PG-13; however, the movie leaves out a lot of things in the book. In my opinion, the reader needs to be at least 16. There is a lot of mature content within this book.
A BIG THANK YOU to my friends this week for being in my pictures: Nolan (Charlie), Rachel (Sam), and Cameron (Patrick).
"The most formidable foe you will ever have to face...is you."
-Dale Roberts, The Following
This is the first book I've reviewed written by a male author, so I finally didn't read a mushy love story! I thought it was time to mix things up a bit. The Following was not suggested to me by anyone I know or anything like that. I discovered this book through Twitter. The author, Dale Roberts, followed me on Twitter one day, and I took a look at his profile. It said, "NYT, Bestselling Kindle author." WOW!! I'm not sure how he discovered my name, but I was honored to be followed by him. Naturally, I looked for his books on Amazon, and I picked The Following. It had been quite a while since I had read a thriller, so I was excited to read this book.
The main character, Tyson Palmer, was a young journalist. Of course, that gave me an instant connection to this man. There had been a house fire, possibly arson. Tyson wanted to investigate the scene to see if there was a story there, but he was not wanted there. He made his way to the ambulance where a man was wearing an oxygen mask. Questioning the man, Tyson discovered that there might be a hard news story behind the fire. The injured man claimed that there was a group that had been after him for quite some time, and they most likely started the fire. He described the group to be a self-help organization that suck people in and brainwash them into doing their own missions.
Tyson wanted to dig deeper to find a story there. Pulitzer, maybe? He decided to join the group to strictly research and get the story from the inside. His boss, his friends, and even his mother warned him otherwise. They insisted that he didn't know what groups like that were capable of. Tyson was confident that he would not be brainwashed.
So what's the story behind this self-help group? What happens to Tyson? Who started that fire?
Find out for yourself in Dale Robert's The Following.
Honestly, when I began this book, I didn't know how it was going to turn out. It kept me interested, no doubt, but that self-help group was creeping me out! I believe that was the intended effect, because it went with mood of the story. My thoughts of the group went back and forth. One moment it seemed as though they were the manipulating types as Tyson suspected, but at other times I wasn't sure what to think about them. Roberts had me guessing until the very last page. I loved reading this thriller!
This week for my journalism class, I am supposed to "build a case" based on my own opinion. I wanted to do something relative to the book to tie everything together. It needed to be something I could research, so my opinion on the book doesn't suffice. I decided to feed off of a quote in the book:
"If God is all powerful, can he make a rock so big he can't move it?"
-Dale Roberts, The Following
This was spoken in one of the training sessions with the self-help group in the story. I'm not assuming that this is Roberts' point of view. I understand he was writing in the point of view of the trainer. The following argument does not reflect the view of Dale Roberts or his novel. It is strictly my own opinions and research.
Being a Christian, I did not like this statement. I firmly believe that God IS "all powerful" as the quote says, but his power should not be questioned. Isaiah 26:4 states, "Trust in the LORD forever, for the LORD GOD is an everlasting rock." God is described as a rock in this passage, an everlasting rock, at that. Nothing can be greater.
The trainer in the book only said this to make the participants believe that he/she was his/her own god. I believe this view is reflected in many aspects of the world today. Our country was built on Christian beliefs, but it is not practiced as it should be.
“It is about the greatness of God, not the significance of man. God made
man small and the universe big to say something about himself.”
— John Piper
John Piper is the founder and teacher of desiringGod.org and chancellor of Bethlehem College and Seminary.
God did not make us small or powerless to make us feel insignificant or worthless. He created us this way to show how powerful He is. Everyone in the group believed those words from the trainer. They all fell for his taunting.
There will always be temptation in the world and people telling us that God isn't real. I will never believe that. I have faith in my Father. His love is what gets me through each day. I try to show His love in everything I do, including writing these blogs.
Everyone can appreciate sun-power. The sun lights our days so we can
see nature all around us. (Even a blind person can feel the warmth of
the sun.) -Institution for Creation Research
God's power can be seen EVERYWHERE! We just have to open our eyes! I
love how it states that "even a blind person can feel" it! It's not the
physical things we see. It's all about faith!
For more scientific proof of God's power, watch Louie Giglio speaks on some of the physical aspects of the universe that shows just how powerful God is in this video: (There are a total of five videos; this is the first). All of the videos can be accessed on YouTube.
"I couldn't feel anything-except for the pain. Nothing could take away the pain."
-J.A. Templeton, The Deepest Cut
"Maybe there was such a thing as being scared to death..." -J.A. Templeton, The Haunted
"She had haunted me for months now, and I was ready to put it behind me forever." -J.A. Templeton, The Departed
I struck gold in the free books on Amazon over Christmas break. Not only did I find "Waking Up Married" by Mira Lyn Kelly, I also found "The Deepest Cut" by J.A. Templeton. When I read the sample, it was obvious that this book was targeted toward a young adult, or high school, audience. The plot was excellent, so I didn't care if it wasn't meant for my age group.
I can't imagine ever losing a parent, or any loved one close to me for that matter. I don't ever want to know what that feels like. Riley, along with her brother and father, lost her mother in a car accident recently. People, especially teenagers can be affected by this in many different ways. Some become seclusive, some become depressed, and others start seeing ghosts. Right?
Riley isn't exactly sure why she woke up in the hospital with the ability to see ghosts, but she has had to deal with it for almost a year now. She was sent to the psychiatrist, but what does that help? Thinking that the trauma of it all was just too much, the doctor suggested that they move. Naturally, they move to Scotland. Moving into an old inn next to an ancient castle didn't exactly solve the problem.
While exploring around the castle, a young ghost approached her. Never before had she interacted with a ghost her own age. She grew to really love his company, and finally she grew to love him completely. Too bad another ghost wanted her dead.
Laria would stop at nothing.
This isn't your average campfire ghost story. Templeton had me shaking under my sheets when I read every night. I went through all three books like wildfire. There are so many twists; I was always on my toes. Just when I thought I had everything figured out, Templeton would throw me for another loop. There was never a dull moment in these books! The emotions that Riley feels were so real, that I felt them, myself. Templeton's details and imagery will make you think that Laria is watching you, too.
There is also a novella by J.A. Templeton, The MacKinnon Curse, but I did not have the pleasure of reading it just yet. I decided I should probably venture to other books so I could write about them here.
Templeton's books are available on on the Kindle! The first book is free, while the other two were $2.99 each, or at least around that much. Find out why Laria wants to haunt and kill Riley.
This week I did not make my own version of the covers. The covers were all too similar, so I decided to just take pictures representing the series. The first photo shows Laria haunting Riley. She is ALWAYS there. The second is a close-up of Laria. The third represents a scene from the final book where Riley and her friends tamper with a Wigi board. Laria and an accomplice appears at the party. Again, I'm not the best at photoshop, but I tried!
Special thanks to Brandey for posing as Riley, Katy for posing as Laria, and Tabby and Dani for helping with the party scene!
"It's about you and me fitting together. It's about this feeling of rightness you told me about last night. The one I've had since I met you. And I keep seeing signs...Tell me you feel it too."
- Mira Lyn Kelly, Waking Up Married
Picture this, ladies: You are sleeping SO well. When you open your eyes this morning, you don't exactly know where you are. Opening your eyes, you see a very, VERY attractive man next to you. Although this might not be the worst thing to wake up to in the morning, it is very confusing becuase you do not know this man. Looking at your surroundings, you realize you are in a hotel room. Oh no. Oh. NO! That didn't happen. It couldn't have happened! You would remember that...right?? Not knowing what else to do, you get out of the bed and..uh oh..nauseous. Must have had a few too many white-chocolate martinis. After taking care of THAT-shower time. The cold water is sobering, but wait, what's getting caught in your hair. A RING??? Wow, it's gorgeous! But why do you have on a ring? Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse...time to get a lawyer.
Picture this, fellas:
You are sleeping better than ever. Last night was incredible. You met a girl that couldn't be more perfect. At first you talk to her just to prove a point to her friends. After getting to know her, you see that you two are very compatible. She would be the perfect wife. Thank goodness, she agreed! Now, you just hope she remembers it all this morning. You open your eyes and hear her in the bathroom. Yikes, that doesn't sound good. Better go check on her. After all, she IS your wife! Hearing that she wants a lawyer is not what you wanted to hear...time to convince her otherwise.
What you just "pictured" was a glimpse of the first morning of the marriage of Meagan Scott and Connor Reed. Could you imagine waking up and being married to someone you can't remember, or waking up hoping that the woman you married DID remember. Mira Lyn Kelly writes from both perspectives throughout this book. The book constantly goes back and forth between points of view, allowing the reader to be completely in tune with what the characters are thinking and feeling. The first chapters shows what happens the morning the wake up married. The next few chapters are flashbacks to show you how they got to that point, then it returns to the present time.
Sorry, youngsters, again this book is not for you. There is some sexual content, and you can't shield your eyes and ears from a book.
This book is creative and fun, and it keeps the reader guessing and wanting more! It was such a fun book to read! I was addicted and finished it within just a few days! Find Waking Up Married in the Kindle store FOR FREE!! That's how I found it!
I created my own version of the book cover by taking a picture of my friends. Brandey and Cody did such a great job! Thanks for helping out, guys! Brandey posed as Meagan, while Cody posed as Connor. I thought it would be fun to remake the cover, so here it is! I'm not that great at Photoshop yet, but I hope you enjoy my splurge of creativity, anyway!
