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Upcoming to Read-List March is going to be a busy month

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There are lots of good books coming out.  March is going to be crazy with new releases!!

  1. Purple Hearts by Michael Grant (January 30)-The final book in the Soldier Girls Trilogy. Will Frangie, Rio and Rainey survive the end of the war?  Who has the narrator been this whole time?
  2. Immortal Reign by Morgan Rhodes (February 6)-Another series ender.  The Falling Kingdom Series has had so many twists and turns that it’s hard to predict how this one will end and who will live?  The body count this high, it’s amazing we have so many still alive.
  3. Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi (March 6)-So excited for this one.  The buzz around this one has been incredible.
  4. Restore Me by Tahereh Mafi (March 6)-Now that Juliette is the leader and with that can only come new challenges.
  5. Tiger’s Dream by Collen Houck (March 20)-The long awaited final book in the Tiger’s Saga.  It’s been four years since we last we heard from Kelsey and her tigers.  One was left behind in the past but it’s not like thousands years apart can keep them away from each other long.
  6. I Have Lost My Way by Gayle Forman (March 27)-One of the best contemporary writers out there.  She’s not afraid to tackle tough issues and this doesn’t look to be anything different.
  7. Aru Shah and the End of Times by Roshani Chokshi (March 27)-First book to be released from Rick Riordan Presents.  It’s funny how many books I’ve read about Hindu mythology and this will be the first actually written by a Desi author.

And I’ve already looked at April’s release schedule.  I won’t be going out much until July at this point.  haha

Review: I Was Here by Gayle Forman

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Featured imageGayle Forman knows how to make people cry. If you are familiar with her other books, If I stay and Where She Went then you know that.  She took a little bit of a break from the waterworks with Just One Day, Just One Year and the novella, Just One Night.  There were tears in those too but it wasn’t the weepers as her previous novels.  I Was Here, is back to making you cry.

I Was Here is about two best friends, Cody and Meg.  They were inseparable.  Did everything together until Meg went off to college and Cody didn’t.  When Meg commits suicide no one is more surprised and baffled by it then Cody.  How could Meg be so unhappy that she wanted to kill herself and Cody had no idea.  Cody tries to figure out what happened to Meg after she left for college and what does the mysterious Ben McAllister have to do with it.

Really, this isn’t a story about suicide but a story about self-discovery.  For Cody, it was always Cody and Meg.  They made plans together and when those plans fell apart when Meg got a scholarship and went to college and Cody didn’t and stayed in town.  Now that Meg is gone, who is Cody?  Before Meg’s death, Cody still had plans of joining her in College next year.  So what now?  Who is Cody without Meg?  Cody must overcome her own insecurities and fears to face a future on her own.  Meg may be gone but Cody is still here.

Forman knows how to make dynamic and sympathetic characters.  I really felt bad for Cody.  She comes from a broken home with little support.  Her mother is really just a roommate and not a mother.  Meg’s family really helped take care of her.  So it was a real blow when Meg went off to college and Cody couldn’t afford it and stayed home.  She cleans people houses to make money and goes to the library but little else.  Her life is on pause.  With Meg’s death, what little hope she had went with her.  By the end of the book, she is in much better place but I won’t say more.  My only problem is the resolution seemed to quick and sudden.  After all the discoveries and mysteries, the reason seemed too simple and really obvious that how could Cody not have figured it out long before Meg left.  Other than that it was a satisfying read but have your kleenex near by.