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Something in the Water
Something in the Water
6
6.0 (2 Ratings)
Book Rating
Erin and Mark are about to get married. Before their wedding day, they have a few things to deal with. Erin has to prepare everything for the documentary she is working on, about how inmates re-enter the real world. And Mark, loses his job as an investment banker, which was their main source of income. This forces them to change some plans of their wedding and honeymoon, but also make the break that much more needed.

While honeymooning in Bora Bora, they go on a scuba diving excursion where they find a bag floating in the water. What's inside will lead them on a journey where they will find out more about each other than they ever expected.

Thank you to NetGalley and Ballantine Books for the opportunity to read and review this book.

Someting In The Water, gives you the ending of the book first, then goes back three months for us to see what could have possibly happened. The book starts with Erin digging a grave to bury Mark in. If they are newlyweds, what could he have done in such a short time that she is now burying his body in the middle of nowhere.

This book started out really well and it was hard to put down at first. But, as the story went along, the details just became more and more implausible. To me, Erin was an idiot and the fact that she couldn't see what was happening right under her nose, and some of her actions were just ridiculous. The things that occurred in this book did not seem possible for an investment banker and a film maker to pull off (Eg. cutting the lining of their luggage to hide money). It's said this book is supposed to be a psychological thriller, but to me it was just psychotic.

This is debut novel from this author, so I'm willing to give her another chance, if she rights another book. This one reminded me of the movie Into the Blue with Paul Walker and Jessica Alba
  
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close
Jonathan Safran Foer | 2006 | Fiction & Poetry
10
8.8 (6 Ratings)
Book Rating
I have never been a big fan of history. There have been events in history which have captured my attention...the Holocaust, JFK's assassination, the Civil Rights movement, the Beatles. I think my issue with history is just that, its history. I had no connection to it. All of that changed on September 11, 2001, my generation's version of the day that will live in infamy. Like most everyone who was old enough to remember, I remember that day like it were yesterday...where I was when I heard, what it was like to watch those massive building collapse, the fear, the uncertainty, the need to have those I loved close to me, how I knew it was real but just not being able to comprehend that I was watching the news & not some movie. I didn't have a personal connection with losing someone that day thank God.
Jonathan Safran Foer's book gave me that personal connection. While I know it is fiction, it felt SO incredibly real. His writing was very heartfelt...funny, depressing, hopeful, and heartbreaking all at once. It tells the story of Oskar Schell who lost his father on that horrible day. It tells the tale of the aftermath for those left behind, those who still today stuggle to get a handle on wrapping their minds around their loved one being gone, even though there is nothing to put closure to their loss.
Oskar spends months a searching for an explanation to a key he found at the bottom of a vase in his father's closet after he died. He embarks on the search hoping to feel close to his dad, if only for a little while longer. That search leads him all through New York and into the homes of a very eclectic group of people who are all dealing with some kind of tragedy. In the end, what he finds surprises Oskar, but also manages to pull him back to his mother and deal with his anger at the same time.
I'm not sure what I was expecting, but this book was a pleasant surprise. I laughed & cried, often times all from just one page of text. The story is accompanied by photos that just add to the personal nature of the story. I don't do this often if ever really, but I think this is a book I will read more than once.
  
    Decked Builder

    Decked Builder

    Games and Entertainment

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    Decked Builder is the premium deck building app for Magic the Gathering -- providing a sleek user...

TW
The Weight of Water
8
8.0 (1 Ratings)
Book Rating
After reading One by Sarah Crossan I wanted delve into more of her works. This is Sarah's debut novel and I really enjoyed it. What makes her books unique is that they are written in verse, so you can either read it like poetry or just as a normal book.

The weight of water follows Kasienka and her mother who are Polish migrants travelling to the UK to find her father who upped and left one day never to return, all they know is that he lives in Coventry. They manage to rent a bed sit with one bed that they have to share and with little money Kasienka's mum takes on a hospital job. Kasienka's mum is determined to find her husband and as Kasi's English is better than hers she is forced to walk streets of Coventry looking for her dad. Not only does she have to contend with her mum, she also started a new school where she doesn't fit in and becomes a target to bullies. The only thing that Kasienka was good at was swimming which she loved and was also pretty good at. It was where she could escape, It was there she met William.

I loved this book, it is so realistic, raw and heart - breaking. In the UK we have thousands of Polish people come to live in the UK sometimes for work and sometimes for unknown reasons but what we forget is how hard and challenging it can be for them to arrive in a country they are not familiar with and the language barrier.You also forget how difficult it must be at school for them - due to Kasi's language barrier the teacher was not aware of how intelligent she was and enrolled her in a younger year. Kasi is 12 and a very intelligent girl who just wants to fit in at school or even better to return to Poland with her Mother and Father. You see the struggles that she has to overcome and her developing and hitting puberty. I really liked the fact that Sarah Crossan didn't shy away and told us Kasi's periods starting and her becoming more body conscious it makes it so much more real and relatable.

The bit that I really liked was when Kasienka realised that she had treated a new girl at her school back in Poland just as she was being by the bullies in her school, she wasn't perfect and she knew it.

This is a brilliant coming of age story that could be classed as middle grade though it has more depth to it as deals with Poverty, bullying, immigration and families

I definitely recommend this book for anyone that wants to read YA,Poetry or contemporary

Overall I rated 4.5 out 5 stars.
  
    Calendars by Readdle

    Calendars by Readdle

    Productivity and Lifestyle

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    Calendars is the most elegant and easy to use calendar application available on the App Store. It...