Wednesday, December 12, 2012

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!


MiracleTitle: 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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13 comments:

  1. <3 <3 <3
    I hope you spotlight more lesser known great books like this here :)
    Thanks for the giveaway

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  2. It drove me crazy that no one helped her. It was so obvious she was NOT OK, and all the adults in her life just ignored it. I though her pain was realistic, but the way it was handled was not...

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  3. Oh this is a cool event! I love the cover of this book and I have been meaning to read it for so long! It sounds right up my alley and so realistic and emotional.

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  4. Isn't it interesting how what some people perceive as a miracle is far from it to those involved. People who survive when others don't have a whole lot of "baggage" to work through.

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  5. This book sounds amazing and I love the cover. I love Elizabeth Scott's Living Dead Girl. Great giveaway!

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  6. Enjoyed your review. I also enjoy it when we get to see the issues played out and are not just fixed when the character returns from a position of peril. Looking forward to the read and appreciative of the giveaway opportunity.

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  7. Thanks so much for the kind review of the book--as someone who suffered from undiagnosed PTSD when I wrote the book--talk about my mind trying to tell me something, right? -- I can say that not only can other people not notice how really wrong things are, but sometimes *you* don't even notice what's wrong.

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  8. Interesting review. Have not heard of this book before. Thanks for this

    raffle name: Nikki O

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  9. Thank you so much for the giveaway! I've haven't heard much about Miracles, but the blurb sounds delicious.

    Lilian @ A Novel Toybox

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  10. Thanks for the review! I'll definitely have to check it out!

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  11. I've had my eye on this one for a while. Thanks for the review. :)

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