12 Days of Christmas: Day 1 Miracle by Elizabeth Scott

Welcome to my 12 Days of Christmas. Each day I will Spotlight or Review a book and wrap it up for a gift for you. There will be a giveaway each day and at the end of the 12 days I will randomly choose the winners. 

If you would like to join in and host a day on your blog, send me an email and I will include your link in my post. 

Enjoy! 

On the First day of Christmas I received a Miracle!

Title: Miracle 

Author: Elizabeth Scott
Publisher:  Simon Pulse
Publishing Date: June 5th 2012

Pages: 224
Genre:  YA Realistic Fiction

Series: Stand Alone
Source: Hardcover

  

Megan is a miracle. At least, that’s what everyone says. Having survived a plane crash that killed everyone else on board, Megan knows she should be grateful just to be alive. But the truth is, she doesn’t feel like a miracle. In fact, she doesn’t feel anything at all. Then memories from the crash start coming back.

Scared and alone, Megan doesn’t know whom to turn to. Her entire community seems unable—or maybe unwilling—to see her as anything but Miracle Megan. Everyone except for Joe, the beautiful boy next door with a tragic past and secrets of his own. All Megan wants is for her life to get back to normal, but the harder she tries to live up to everyone’s expectations, the worse she feels. And this time, she may be falling too fast to be saved....

I am a big fan of Elizabeth Scott, I think she touches on some very emotional subjects and works through them tenderly. This story is about survival guilt and how to carry on after being a part of a tragedy. I really enjoyed this book. It wasn't quite as emotional as I thought it would be, but it was good. 

Megan survived a plane crash, she was the only survivor. It was a small plan and carried a few people but the impact on her life was huge. Since the accident she has closed down to the outside world, she doesn't remember anything at first, and she feels guilty for surviving, for being a miracle.

The book starts off at the crash site then after just  bit of the crash, Megan is in the hospital, waking up. Megan doesn't remember why she is there or what happened. She says she is fine, she says she remembers, she says she wants to go home. She does go home and the subject of the the crash is ignored. Megan slowly becomes more and more closed off and starts to slide down a steep slope quickly. She skips school, ignores her friends, doesn't do her work, quits her sports team, and tries to act as if everything is OK when she is at home. Her parents see that she is not OK, but figures she is dealing and will get over it or just ignores all of it just to avoid the subject.  It's a bit difficult to read, standing on the outside, wanting to say "hey your all being idiots, something needs to be done!"

I haven't ever been a survivor or a part of a tragedy. Thank goodness my life has been blessed. This book really had me inside of Megan's head. I felt the guilt she felt and for a while guilt is all Megan felt. It is hard to imagine that someone wouldn't talk after such a tragedy but it is also hard to imagine wanting to relive it all just to tell someone the story. I understood the conflict that Megan had but I also wanted to scream at her to talk to someone, anyone.

I could understand why Megan shut down and I could understand the guilt she felt, but I didn't like the fact that sh was allowing it to take over her life. It was hard to connect with her all the way because of the way she shut down but I connected with her enough to want to fix everything for her. I really think the effect the author wanted to get across was accomplished. It was really difficult to be inside of Megan's head.

I think that there was a lot of truth in this story. The guilt, the responses, the memory loss, it seemed so real though out the entire book.  This is what made the book good for me. Everything wasn't fixed the moment Megan returned home from the hospital and the crash effected the entire family. I watched as everything unraveled and it felt like slow motion at times. I believe this is what it would have felt like if I was Megan.
Very realistic.

It was a had book to get through at times, it was a bit depressing at other times but I liked it. It was well written and emotional.

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