Between Here and Forever / Elizabeth Scott / 256 p

When Tess falls into a coma, Abby finds her life put on hold in her sister's absence.  Living in Tess's shadow is one thing...but it's unbearable now that she's in a coma. As Abby works through a plan to bring her sister back (involving the handsome love interest, Eli), she has to learn a lot of hard truths about who here sister really is.

Abby is a fairly typical self-deprecating younger sister living in the shadow of her "amazing" older sister.  Throughout the story, I honestly wanted to slap her more times than I can count and tell her to open her eyes.  Her insecurity is pounded into your head throughout the entire book, and honestly, it made me almost completely unable to get behind her as an main character.

Tess is, in Abby's mind, the girl who everyone likes and I have to admit that I felt like I got to know her more through the story that I did Abby.  As Abby learned about the Tess she didn't know, I did too and I really liked her.  She was a teenager dealing with a lot of emotional difficulties and tough choices.  I loved how Tess was unveiled slowly throughout the story.

Eli....oh Eli.  Eli was such a real, fabulous love interest and friend.  His character was beyond well-developed and I loved the dynamic that he brought to the story.  Again, I don't want to give too much away, but suffice it to say that Eli is awesome.  You will fall in love with him.

What this book does fantastically is bring in diversity and sexuality in such a seamless way that it doesn't come across as preachy or forced or any of the things that often happen when an author tries too hard to do those things.  I don't want to spoil anything so I'll leave it at that but be prepared for a well-rounded cast of characters.

Shine / Lauren Myracle / 376 p.

Shine is the story of a small-town with backwards thinking.  When a young boy is the victim of a hate-crime, his former best friend will stop at nothing to get to the truth and find out who hurt him. From the moment I read the opening newspaper article to when I read the final page, Lauren Myracle's Shine pulled me in. It was a truly spell-binding read--one that I put off for far to long. I know I won't be the first to say that some of Myracle's other popular novels don't hold a lot of appeal to me--not that they're not probably fantastic reads, just not my type. I guess it just goes to show Myracle's diversity as a writer because Shine was my "type" of book.

From the start, I felt completely sucked into the atmosphere the author creates. The bigotry was so indicative of the small-mindedness that is often engendered in that setting. I could connect so well to the characters that I felt stifled right along with them - stuck in a world where my ideas didn't fit in.

The main character, Cat, was incredibly relatedable in all her flaws. She's far from a perfect character, but I fell in love with her more and more every page. She became my best friend. I wanted to know on a personal level why she had separated herself from all her friends. I wanted to understand and I wanted to be there for her as she worked through years of pain and separation. When the description calls this a coming-of-age story, it's spot on. Watching Cat essentially grow up in the span of just over a week is harrowing and beautiful all at the same time--watching her open back up to people in her life and even the possibility of a new friend/love.

All the characters in this novel were really well-done. They were so dynamic and did things that you didn't expect. It was truly refreshing. It made every turn of the page a new adventure because the characters could turn out to be or do something different than you expected at every turn.

The mystery is, of course, the plot focus, but I really felt that the atmosphere and character were the driving force. They created the mystery and moved it along and created the twists that made the story unpredictable and kept me turning page after page.

Monk in the Inner City / Mary Lou Kownacki / 176 p.

Let's start with this: Mary Lou Kownacki is NOT your average nun, or at least, not what I, in my apparent small mindedness, envisioned a nun to be like.  In a series of stories, recollections, and simple thoughts arranged in alphabetical groupings, Mary Lou leads the readers on a spiritual journey. Mary Lou is a Benedictine Sister living in Erie, Pennsylvania, attempting to "stretch [her] monk's robe until it embraces the suffering world."  She offers insights to a variety of topics from angels to Thomas Merton to zen wisdom and everything in between.

Reading this was actually a lot more fun than I expected.  Sister Mary Lou is a bit of radical, at least in my mind.  She participates in peace demonstrations and gets thrown in jail.  She advocates for better roles for women in the Catholic Church.  She surprised me at every turn.  Her stories tugged at your heartstrings and made you stop and think.  I felt like she made you stop and reconsider your preconceived notions about monastic life and about religion/Christianity in general.  An enlightening read.

Where She Went / Gayle Forman / 208p.

In this sequel to If I Stay, three years have passed, and Adam and Mia have moved on to lead very separate lives.  Adam's band has risen to stardom and things have really changed for Adam.  The band doesn't get along very well and Adam's heart isn't really in the music anymore. Adam gets stuck in NYC and by chance comes across Mia giving a concert.  The two reconnect, explore Ne York, and start to process some of the events of three years ago together.

I had a little trouble getting into Adam's point of view on this one.  I think I was angry with him (or Mia) at the beginning--which in and of itself shows how compelling the novel is.  Forman's writing is, once again, beautiful and thought-provoking.  I read this one right after reading the first one--both in one sitting. 

(This book will be released on April 5, 2011)

Amish Grace / Donald Kraybill, Steven Nolt, & David Weaver-Zercher / 220 p.

I picked this book up as part of a church group reading program, but I must admit that I chose it because I truly have a fascination with Amish life and culture.  This book tackles the 2006 school shooting in the Nickel Mines Amish schoolhouse.  On 2 October 2006, gunman Charles Roberts took ten young Amish girls hostage and opened fire on them shortly before killing himself. Five of the young girls died that day.  The book deals with Amish forgiveness in the face of tragedy and the widespread media attention that their actions received.  The authors attempt to give a thorough examination of the motivations behind forgiveness, while revealing much about the culture of the Amish along the way.

The book gives a very thorough examination of Amish beliefs in regards to forgiveness.  While the examination started out very interesting, there were definitely parts that began to feel repetitive as the book continued on.  I found it, on the whole, a very informative book and an interesting read.  The interview with the gunman's mother at the end was very moving and probably one of my favorite parts of the book.  I was also pleased that the authors included an appendix section that gave a brief history of Anabaptist religions, the Amish, and their basic religious belief system and way of life.  As someone who passes Amish horse and buggies on a daily basis, it intrigues me to learn more about their way of life.