I'm not sure why I wanted to read this. Maybe, I was hoping that the previous book was just a big miss and he would be on track again. Boy, was I wrong. This book is a little better than, See Me, but not by much.

There are a few things that really bug me about this book. First, there is so much disconnect. He would add a snippet or story from the past, at the beginning of every chapter. Sometimes I had no idea why or what it meant. Some of them were important to the book but not most. At times, it felt to be just too much. Not to mention, this book is almost 500 pages long! That's way too long. Some of his best are a lot shorter than this. I don't know if he had to fill a quota or what but it made for a pretty boring read. I will say that I read it in one day. It's basically all I did though. I had to return it to the library soon and there were so many holds. I plowed through and I was disappointed.

Second were the characters. I really had a VERY hard time liking Russ. He had no backbone, whatsoever. He was the "nice guy but too nice" but he accepted that. He let his wife just manipulate and rule his every move. The worst part is that he KNEW what she was doing and still said NOTHING. He never once, stood up for himself or his rights to his daughter. He does nothing to fight back and never tries to correct any of her misconceptions. Then in the end, she still gets what she wanted. It made it a lot harder to like his character.

I will say that the bond between he and his daughter was nice. I did like reading about that part. His sister was the only character that I really liked. I loved Margie but I feel like what happens is just so last minute. It didn't really make much sense to me and it was so predictable. I feel like he did it to her just for the sake of doing it.

Another thing that annoyed me was the past girlfriend, Emily. She was a tad bit annoying and I really didn't like her. Their time together just didn't feel genuine and forced. I think that whole situation was just really too fast anyways. I'm sorry, I just didn't care for them as a couple.

This book wasn't terrible, it wasn't as bad as the previous. I will admit that I did shed some tears around the end. I will say again, I think his wife was a lot more involved with his writing. The tone is completely different. I don't really want to read 3/4 of a 500 page book about a failing marriage. Then try to force a love story with the past girlfriend. I just couldn't get behind this book. It does not feel like a true "Sparks" book. I was a huge fan but now I will not pick up another of his books! He's either lost his touch or his wife took all the greatness, in my opinion.

This is my second Ruta Sepetys novel. I really liked all these characters, well besides Alfred. I do get what she was doing. She was showing how those, who really believed the Nazi philosophy to the core.
I think that she did a great job with the secondary characters too. I loved them all. My favorite by far, was Emilia. Oh, the shoemaker and all his wisdom. I was devastated when he jumped into the ocean. In this book there are 4 POV’s throughout the book and we flip back and forth to all of them. Every chapter is a different one but chapters are anywhere from 2-4 pages long. This makes for a very fast read.

To me, the most amazing and phenomenal chapter is when Emilia is dying. She sees her daughter, mother and brother. She’s so happy and realizes that she’s okay. What a beautiful scene to see when you are dying. It made my heart so happy to think that she was so very happy at the end. I think this girl has the most growth and character development, besides maybe Florian. The way she seems so childlike to find out that she’s 8 months pregnant. She tries so hard to believe that it’s her boyfriends and that they love each other, when the truth is more horrific. She then wants nothing to do with the baby but then Florian comes in and saves the day. He restores her hope and in the end she trusts him more than anyone. I really do hope that he did justice to her memory because she is one heck of a person and mother.

Like I said, this was a quick read. I read it all in one day, in a few hours. The only problem I had was that sometimes I would get lost between the past and present. Sometimes we would just be thrown in the past and I had no idea, until I’m halfway through the chapter. Overall, I really liked this book and you can bet that I did cry at the end. What a tragedy. I just don’t understand how so many people can have so much hate. I feel like this really relates to the world right now and it’s terrifying. The rest of the day, I was in a depressed mood from this book. It amazes me that this is one of the worst losses of life in ship sinking history and I have never heard of it. Ever. The very first I have heard of, Wilhelm Gustlof is in this book! That just seems crazy to me.

This book could have been much better, if there was more delving into these characters. My biggest issue is that things are kind of just left open and unanswered. We don’t get any ideas what was going on between Lisa and Clark’s relationship. Why was he acting so aloof? I mean the whole time, the author is basically setting up Clark to be gay. Does he changes his mind at the last minute? Was he trying to trick us by being predictable and then throwing a twist? If he’s not gay, what were the problems between him and Lisa?

Then take Sol and his anxiety. I kept waiting for the big reveal of why he had such a horrible panic attack in school. I kept thinking that there was some issue with a friend or someone found out about his sexual orientation and wasn’t nice. We don’t really get anything just that it happened. I guess those things can happen but I felt like he kept leading up to something and never got there.

I didn’t really like Lisa’s character at all. She’s trying to “fix” someone’s psychological problems, for an essay, with no experience at all. At the end, I feel like she still didn’t really learn her lesson. The only characters that I really liked from this book are Sol’s parents. They were great! They added some humor and made this book so much better.

I just felt really unsatisfied with this book as a whole. It’s a great concept but really bad execution. The ending just felt rushed and really random too. We then didn’t’ get any clarification on any of the big plot issues, just an ending.

This book really reminded me of “To All The Boys I Loved Before” by Jenny Han. Really, it’s kind of similar, in the fact, all his letters that he writes to people get sent out. Well, not all of them but still.

I felt like this book was not really true to how things would really play out. I don’t buy that his girlfriend and friends would be so accepting right away. I think that’s more of a fantasy and things would play out more how Mark handled things. The way that he casually tells his best friend that he’s into him and he’s just like.. okay, thanks. That’s hard for me to believe. It’s also annoying to me when the main character does not take responsibility! He’s trying so hard to figure out who sent the letters, without really doing anything about it. The ending is just okay, it really fell flat for me. I guess, he’s mostly happy, so that is good.

I think mostly because of how I kept thinking of Jenny Han's book and so this just really didn't hit well with me.

I took this book on vacation and I had no idea what it was about. I have an anxiety when it comes to flying. Of course, this book is about a plane crash!! Are you kidding me?! Guess it's my fault, for not seeing what this was about first. haha.

Anyways, I kept having this book recommended to me but sometimes I'm skeptical. I really liked it. It's so intense that it made my plan ride fast. I just couldn't put it down! You have all these different possibilities and you have no idea, which way the author will take you.

I really liked the writing. I had a hard time not pulling this back out, right away (after landing). I love how he delves into each of the character's lives and we get more of a background of ALL the characters from this crash. Throughout the rest of the book, we jump from past to present day. I didn't have an issue with this but more about the addition of too many characters later.

After the fall, aka crash, there are two survivors. Scott ends up saving he and the boys life by swimming to shore. What!! I would have died for sure. I'm terrified of what's in the ocean and I cannot imagine it. It's amazing how he actually makes it to shore, with a boy on his back. As Scott is thrown into the limelight and being pegged a hero, for saving the boys life, all kinds of media comes after him. His life is opened up, while he's trying to stay in hiding. It's amazing how quickly he turns from the hero to the suspect of fowl play.

Throughout this whole book, I had different conclusions and none of them were right! This book is a decently fast read. The reason I dropped this a star was because once you hit the middle of the book, something is lost and the end is just so-so. I don't particularly like how he introduces the issues with the aunt's life. He introduces too many more characters and it just takes away from plot. It started out so strong, until about half way. The ending was just okay and I was a bit disappointed after I finished. Overall, this is a good book and I liked it!

This was a pretty quick read. I had so many other commitments and it took a while to actually get to this one. I usually like when an author can incorporate a few different time periods and intertwine the stories. In this case, it was a bit confusing. I had some trouble getting them figured out. I did like the characters and how unique this story is. I didn't expect the ending and I'm not quite sure how I feel about it. I feel a little disappointed, hence a notch down in stars. I think it's a quick read and if you want something different and unique, go for it!

I was given a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review. These are my thoughts and opinions.

Amadou and Seydou are two brothers, who have been sent to work on a cocoa farm. They are told that they will be there until they pay back what they owe. Although, they are never told how much they owe or what they make. Although, the really never get any food either. They have a girl arrive on the camp and it changes everything. They are plotting their escape and the last half of the book is them trying to get away from this camp.

I loved Khadija and her spirit. From the beginning you know that she was taken because it just doesn’t add up. She is treated horribly and bad things really happen to her but she never, ever gives up! She is really what changes everything for the boys. This book is really intense. The whole time you are hoping that things just start to go right and there are so many close calls that it leaves you on the edge of your seat.

It’s very eye opening to a real problem and makes you not want any chocolate. I loved that the author didn’t shove any agenda on you throughout this book. She’s just informative and you read this story, which I’m sure happens so much. What an amazing story and journey. They were lucky to get away, when most probably will not. She does shed some light at the end in the authors notes about the Ivory Coast and her research.