The Beauty That Remains

So this year the book club is doing lists. The leader of the group has themes and each month the members of the group each post the top 5 for that theme and then pick a book from another member's list. I'm a little behind schedule since it took me some time to get to the library, but I finally got novels from the first 3 months and I am reading like crazy! I am hoping to post a lot more this year!

January was favorite books

I picked The Beauty That Remains from a list and I am so glad I did! It was such an amazing read!

So this novel by Ashley Woodfolk follows 3 narrators, each having list someone close to them, and follows them on their journeys through grief. Autumn has lost her best friend in a car accident, Logan's ex-boyfriend has committed suicide by drug overdose, and Shay's twin sister lost her battle with cancer. Each of the characters is dealing with their loss in different ways as they try to figure out how their lives are supposed to continue from this shattering spot.

Woodfolk does an incredible job at expressing the unique ways in which grief effects us and how we choose to deal with it. As she tells the stories of youths already forced to deal with so much from the outside world, she gives each a distinctly different voice that makes them amazing characters. Not everything works out, not everyone is fixed in the end, but we are given hope, something desperately needed after all the pain throughout this novel.

This story broke my heart many times, nearly bringing me to tears often, and then pressed all the pieces back together again with the hope of mending. I don't think I will ever truly be over this book; it will stick with me for some time. If you haven't read this one, I highly recommend it, although with a lot of caution because it could be triggering for those that have suffered similar losses. This book is really a masterpiece!

2017 Reading Plans

Well, I managed to leave last year's challenge in the dust! I read 83 books when my goal was only at 60. Of course, a lot of those were mangas which I will probably being staying away from for this new year since I have read the only interesting ones at the library branch I visit. I will however be finishing the Attack On Titan series as soon as I get a chance, so look for an update for those at some point.

I am going to be putting the bar at 60 once more for this year, and try to tackle more novels for the goal. I will also be going along with the themes set up by the book club my sister moderate once more, so look out for some weird patterns in my reading once more! I look forward to really expanding my base again as I try to meet each theme. As I did last year I will have the themes posted by the month in the right column of my page and my posts labeled. 2 books per theme!

Also on my plans is another of the Game of Thrones series, so be on the look out for that!

I believe that we are also changing up plans for the Texas Teen Book Festival, attending the North Texas one this year in Irving in March. If that is the plan, my update of new books from there will probably be used to fulfill some of the themes. We will just have to wait and see!

I hope everyone has a fun year full of books ahead of them!