The Kari AnnAlysis

From Goodreads.com:

Caitlyn is a telepath in a world where having any Paranormal power is illegal. Caitlyn is on the run from government troopers, who can enslave, torture, or even kill her, or make her hunt other Paranormals. When Caitlyn settles down in a city, she falls for Alex, a Normal (someone without Paranormal powers), which is dangerous because he can turn her in. And she discovers renegade Paranormals who want to destroy all Normals. Caitlyn must decide whether she’s going to stay in hiding to protect herself, or take a stand to save the world.

Wow! This book is powerful! It was so much more than I expected. I wanted to read it because I’m in love with dystopian books right now. I love that authors can jump out of the box and create worlds that are so far from reality, but seem to close and believable.Anyone can make up a fictional story, but not everyone can come up with something so fresh and make it seem real.

I caught myself several times while reading this book thinking off into space about several topics. I thought a lot about what my paranormal power would be if I could have one. I am kind of learning towards being a telepath, but I don’t know if I could handle all the chatter in my head all the time. I have to have peace and quiet. I also don’t know how I would feel about listening to other’s thoughts about me. I would probably be the one who would bust myself out because I would say something when I heard something nasty (who would say something nasty about me??). But I also caught myself thinking about the pain and suffering in this book. While racism is still prevalent and not forgotten in Hunted, the discrimination against paranormals is so strong, it’s terrifying. I often thought about how I would be if I were in this book. Say I wasn’t a paranormal, would I be a hater or a supporter of this group? They did not choose to be this way, but the group pressure to hate is so strong, I’m not sure if I would be strong enough to fight it and form my own opinions. Or if I did, I doubt I would be able to vocalize them. Unfortunately, I think I am the kind of person that makes our world fall when it comes to discrimination.

Past the dystopian theme, this book is deep. When you first pick it up and start reading, you are gripped by the emotion and suspense, but the more you read, the more drawn you are Cheryl pulled deep into her soul to write this and based it on abuse she faced in her life. Caitlyn faces abuse nearly everywhere she turns in so many different forms. If she’s caught, she goes to the government where she will be tortured. If she doesn’t side with the renegades, she may be outed. She has to put up such a mask with all of her friends so they don’t find out and freak out about her talent. But she is also tortured at home, in a different way. She constantly has to stay on her toes, taking care of her mom, always watching, listening, waiting. Ever since her father died, Caitlyn has become more of a mom than her mother is. I don’t know about you, but I think that’s quite a bit to put on the plate of a teenager. Caitlyn finds herself in the middle of a brewing war and pushing harder and stronger than she ever thought she could, against the last person on the Earth she ever thought she’d have to battle.

I felt like this book had so many underlying themes, they all kind of pulled me in different directions. The abuse theme was brought up time and time again and stuck thick in my mind, but there are also hints of manipulation, the importance of friendship, the bond of family, suspense, discrimination and persecution. The list goes on and on.

Rainfield did a wonderful job of bringing hard, painful topics to life in a story that left you on the edge of your seat, hoping for the fairy tale ending, all the while you know that fairy tales don’t exist in such a dark world.

I really liked this book and cannot wait until the next one comes out (Oops, I may have dropped the ball…). I have much more coming up with Cheryl tomorrow, including some book news for the future.

I give Hunted 4 bookmarks.

ISBN: 978-1934813621
Release Date: December 15, 2001 (1st Edition)
Author Website

I recently had the wonderful opportunity to read Maggie Myklebust’s Fly Away Home. After attending a writing class, she penned her memoir. If you missed my review, please take a second to scroll down and take a read.

Welcome back!

In just two days, Maggie and her family and friends (who I know on a first name basis now thanks to her book) will be in Amsterdam for her big book launch, but she took some time out of trip planning to answer a few questions for me about her book.

KA: When you took the class on writing, did you ever, in your wildest dreams, imagine you would be here today with the story of your life in print?
MM: NO! Because I never considered myself a writer, only a person with a story. I wrote the book for my family and then sent it off to my teacher Jo Parfitt in the Hague for editing. After reading it, she persuaded me to submit it to Summertime Publishing and the rest is history.

KA: How long did it take you to write this?
MM: I attended writing classes for one year. Wrote the book in twenty three months (one chapter a month). Rewriting and editing took another four months.

KA: There are several parts of this story that I imagine were hard for you to revisit and actually spell out. What was the hardest? Do you think it helped you to actually talk/write about these times?
MM: Yes, absolutely to both questions… Some things were very difficult to write, especially because I didn’t want to hurt anybody, especially my own family. I still worry about that. Every part of the book provoked a different emotion in me, sometimes happy, sometimes sad. I even got angry a few times and fell in love with my husband all over again. I cried many tears and yet with the passing of each chapter, I felt lighter. The most difficult parts were in chapter 9, Learning to fall, chapter 14, The Great Escape, chapter 15, No going back and chapter 18, Under a stone.

KA: Now that you’ve gotten your feet wet in writing, do you have more stories to tell?
MM: I’m finding out that writing a book isn’t half as hard as promoting one. Right now I have my hands full and can’t even fathom sitting down, and starting over again. With that said, I do have ideas swirling…

KA: I always ask authors who they would cast If their books became movies. This may be a little tough since you would be casting yourself, but who would you choose??
MM: Thats a tough one because my book spans over fifty years, but I’d love for Diane Kruger to play the part. If she’s busy, then maybe Naomi Watts. -hehe

Love these answers! And I’m sure I could have sent her dozens, but since she is such a busy author now, I tried to keep it to a minimum. But don’t think we are done with Maggie just yet. I spoke with Maggie’s daughter Michelle today, who is on her way from West Virginia to Amsterdam for the big day and asked for her to send me pictures and updates of how the launch was going so stay tuned int he next few days

I am going to forego the normal summary then thoughts format on this book and combine them all together.

I found out about Fly Away Home by Maggie Myklebust through Twitter. Her daughter Michelle, whom I met online and we quickly became Internet buddies mentioned that I should read it, so I immediately agreed before I really knew what I was getting myself into (imagine that).

Maggie ended up sending me a digital copy of her book and I downloaded it and got started. It took me a little while to realize this was Maggie’s memoir. I haven’t read a lot of memoirs in my time, I always go for fiction, but let me tell you, Maggie’s story is as close to fiction as you can be. There were times when I was reading the book that I caught myself saying, “This all really happened in her life?”.

Maggie grew up in Jersey, her family came to the US from Norway. After three kids and an unhealthy marriage, Maggie packs up and heads back to her family’s roots in Norway, where she reestablishes her relationship with her teenage crush and things start to look up. Maggie has two more kids and becomes a step mom and becomes a world traveler. She and her husband move back to the US for a few years, then move back to Europe. Her kids grow up and are scattered across two countries. What a life she has lived.

There were times in Maggie’s book where I related and said, “Amen sister.” There were times in her book where my heart broke for her and her children. But most of all, I have so much admiration and respect for Maggie. She has been through several and I mean several tough times in her life, through an abusive relationship, to health issues and she battled through. She is the epitome of never giving up. Now, Maggie says herself there were days and weeks and months she wanted to, but she still fought through and is such an inspiration. And I was so impressed with her will and courage. I knew she had family in Norway and spent time threre in her youth, but not many people can just up and leave a life and start a new one and she did it several times, in several different countries.

One of the things that I loved about this book is that Maggie went to a seminar on writing one day and came back with the idea that she would write her life story and guess what? She did and this is it. Being an (unpublished) author, I had mad respect for her for getting it all down and going with it. Everyone who dreams of being in this business knows the tireless hours that our writing haunts us and stories have to be told. I can’t even imagine writing my personal stories.

Another thing I love (stick with me, there are several) is my connection in this book. As I said, I met Michelle online and throughout this book, I felt like I learned so much about her and know her better now that I know where she came from and know her family’s story.

And finally, my last love point with this book is that Maggie Myklebust wrote from the heart. My biggest fear when writing my life story would be that I make people mad. I have the worst guilty conscience. If I have a feeling that I was rude to my parents or short with them, I end up calling them back, sobbing, apologizing. Not that Maggie bashed anyone in her book, but there were very honest moments about her father and her first husband and she was honest about her son’s autism. These are all very tough moments to write about she did it all very respectably and heartfelt.

I think it’s hard to rate nonfiction books because you can’t judge someone’s real life story like you can a fictional story, but let me say this, you need to read Fly Away Home. It is a wonderful account of a life and story that deserves to be told and read.

From Goodreads.com:

In a single moment, everything changes. Seventeen year- old Mia has no memory of the accident; she can only recall riding along the snow-wet Oregon road with her family. Then, in a blink, she finds herself watching as her own damaged body is taken from the wreck…
A sophisticated, layered, and heartachingly beautiful story about the power of family and friends, the choices we all make -and the ultimate choice Mia commands.

I listened to this book a while back on audio book. I’d seen the pretty blue cover all over several blogs in the past few years, but had never picked it up. But when I was on an audio book scavenger hunt at the library, I couldn’t turn away.

I am horrible at actually knowing what books are about before I read them. I had heard murmurs of this and seen the reviews, but never really paid attention to them and I don’t think I really read the summary when I picked it up. So when it gets to the point in the book, pretty close to the beginning, when the crash that changes Mia’s life happens, I was caught off guard. I kind of like flying blind in books and being surprised. I never want the summary to give away what’s going to happen. But my breath caught when this crash happened and I hated to get out of my car every day because I had to quit listening. It was so gripping, I needed to know what was going to happen to Mia.

Mia is definitely on the list of favorite characters. She is so witty and so wise beyond her years. She reminded me of Rory Gilmore. I am always drawn to intelligent young women. When I was her age, I was into sports and boys and gossip. I was book smart, thanks to endless hours of studying, but wasn’t up on my toes on real life issues. I always envy the girls who have that.

What I didn’t envy in Mia’s life was the decision she had to make about “staying.” I think most people would like to think that no matter what the situation be, they would choose life of anything. But this book makes you think. If you were a teenager, who just lost the three most important people in your life, that decision may not be so easy.

I think the biggest thing I got out of this book was that no matter how down in the dumps I am feeling, or if I ever feel like I would rather not be here, there are always people there by your side. It may not seem obvious from the get-go, but everyone has someone who would miss them. In Mia’s case, she had a whole waiting room full of loved ones from family to friends to her boyfriend and even strangers who were pulling for her. Granted, Mia was having an out-of-body experience and was able to see this, something I’m not so certain everyone would have.

I also have a love-hate relationship with the end of this book. It is a cliffhanger. I just want to know what happens. Yes, I love cliffhangers and knowing there is another book waiting for me to start, but I hate not having it all wrapped up in a little bow. I’m not saying I would have done it differently, just expressing mixed emotions

I give If I Stay 5 bookmarks and am adding the second book, Where She Went to my TBR list.

ISBN: 978-0525421030
Released: April 2009
Author Website
Kari got this audio book from the library

AND THE WINNER IS……

CLARISA SKINNER

Congratulations! Your book will be on it’s way soon! And thank you to everyone who entered! This is by far my biggest giveaway I’ve held! I appreciate everyone stopping by and hope you’ll come back!

CONTEST CLOSED

If you’ve taken a day away from my bog, before you get too far into this post, let me invite you to scroll down just a smidge and read my review of A Perfect Storm.

Ok, now that you are back, we can move on.

So I loved this book, love the two that I have read in this series and I want to give you guys the opportunity to fall in love with these steam boats just like I did. As part of the blog tour for Lori Foster’s most recent book in the Men Who Walk the Edge of Honor (and do it very hotly), I’ve been given a book to give away to a lucky reader.

And to win it, it’s very easy. Just leave a comment saying you would like to win the book and leave me your email address. I am also taking entries on Twitter. You can tweet me (@kariannalysis) and be entered that way. You can only be entered once, but feel free to spread the word on Twitter (unless you want to keep the men inside this book to yourself, and then no one would blame you).

The contest will be open through Sunday evening. The winner will be announced here and on Twitter Monday morning and I’ll contact the winner to get shipping information.

Good luck and may the odds