Markus Holzinger Holzinger itibaren Licat, Arnavutluk itibaren Licat, Arnavutluk

** spoiler alert ** First let me say that my dislike of this book is no reflection on the author’s abilities or skills. In fact, I found her writing style appealing. The story has a fascinating premise, a young man is sent to a rehab hospital in Florida to regain the use of his body after suffering from Guillain-Barre’ Syndrome. Her depictions of the syndrome were interesting as were many of her characters, with the exception of one character—our main character Dane. Dane is an extremely caustic narrator. He is self centered and selfish, and cares for no one but himself. Although he begins to “thaw” throughout the course of the book, I found it difficult reading about this highly intelligent teen with the emotional capacity of a computer. For instance, after one of his ski teammates injures himself in a meet, Dane states that he wishes we humans were like the rest of the animal kingdom and followed Darwin’s survival of the fittest. He says, “Why can’t we just cull out the dead weight so the rest of us can achieve the way we’re meant to?” He later goes on to show that his only interest is in himself and winning when he says “In spite of Forrester’s crap, I think we’ll still win this one.” Dane shows no concern for his injured teammate, and it is ironic that he ends up being the one that becomes dead weight that others have to help to survive. As Dane struggles to regain the use of his body, he does begin to soften and become a little more considerate, but still for the most part he is obnoxious. The book is well written, but I found a difficult read because I didn’t like Dane. It will find it s audience, but it definitely isn’t me. Cautions for sensitive readers: Some sex (although nothing explicit) and foul language are present in this book.

I wasn't wowed by Ally Carter's first Gallagher Girl novel, I'd Tell You I Love You but Then I'd have to Kill You , but I was at the library browsing the audio books and when I saw the second and third books on the shelf I had the desire to find out what happened next. So I took them home. I liked Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy so much more than the first book. I think it's because I'm much more ok with Cammie and company breaking tons of rules for reasons other than getting a boyfriend (the motivation for rule-breaking in the first novel). In the second novel Cammie and the rest of the school get introduced to the mysterious Blackthorn. Cammie meets a boy that I liked much more than Josh, and it appears that the school is being infiltrated by unknown persons for possibly nefarious reasons. Lots of be excited about. Listening to the books (I'm currently listening to the third) is a great way to go to because I find I get less irked by less than stellar writing when listening to audio books. Although I have noticed that Cammie/Ally says "And just then..." way too often.