Would You by Marthe Jocelyn

I started reading a book called Would You by Marthe Jocelyn. I though it would be about someone who pushes someone into a pool killing them. So far, that's not exactly what happened. Why did I think that? The cover shows someone almost completely under water and it looks like they are falling in. The title would you just made me think "would you push someone into a pool to kill them?" That doesn't have anything to do with the book yet, but you never know.

So far, the book is pretty good. It started out with these to sisters who are really close. One is going away to college in the fall (Claire) and the other is going to be a junior. (I think) The story is being told from Natalie's (the younger one) point of view. I think she is the main character because her sister is in the hospital in a coma, but before that they are just enjoying their summer with their friends. Natalie is a lifeguard and almost every night her and her friends go pool hopping. (Jumping the fence of pools, going swimming when no one is around, and leaving on their bikes when they almost get caught.)

One night, Natalie gets home and her parents tell her that Claire has been in a car crash coming home from the party she was at. They go to the hospital and wait. Natalie is in a coma and has broken and fractured ribs and other things. They don't know if she is going to make it. Natalie and her parents take it pretty hard and they just kind of wait to see if she will wake up. They go in and talk to her and try to trigger some memories. That's where I left off.

At the beginning of the book, everything was kind of boring, but it was kind of shocking when Claire gets in a car crash. I thought that would happen at the end of the book. It makes me wonder what else is going to happen. Natalie and Claire had a very strong relationship, but I would have liked to see them be with each other more before Claire is in a coma. I really hope Claire lives because it seems like Natalie wouldn't have anything besides her friends if she didn't have Claire. Her family is already becoming somewhat dis-functional. Would You is pretty sad, right now, but I have a feeling that might get turned around soon. I'll keep you posted on any new happenings in the book.

I commented on Emma's Lit. Skills Blog.

Speak

I finished the book speak about a week ago. I have to say I really liked it. I'm not going to tell you what happens because you should definitely read it yourself, but I will give you the main idea of it all. Melinda (the main character) continues to lead a very boring, negative life, but towards the very end of the book, her life gets better. That is pretty much all I really want to tell you about the book, but I thought the book had a great ending. Melinda grows so much as a person. For how much I didn't like it in the beginning, the ending sure made up for it a lot. I saw Melinda as like a whole new person by the end of the book. She finally is able to see some better days. I also thought this book sent a very important message(s). I put the "S" in parentheses because you kind of have to interpret if some things have a message or lesson to you or not. I thought this book had many messages and lessons to learn. For example, Melinda teaches the reader that you have to speak up about things even to your friends and enemies. The last thing I have to say about this book is how much the author was able to believably write from Melinda's point of view. Melinda got easier to relate to as the story progressed. Speak might of had a slow, boring start, but now that I think about it, there were some things the author added in to make the book a little more interesting and the ending was pretty amazing. For you readers out there who don't mind reading through a few chapters of bla-bla-bla just to get to a very shocking and dramatic end, then you should definitely read Speak.

P.S. If you can find the platinum edition, I recommend reading that and the interview with the author. (very interesting!)

I commented in Alexis's blog.