Unbroken: An Olympian’s Journey From Airman to Castaway to Captive by Laura Hillenbrand

Unbroken:  An Olympian’s Journey From Airman to Castaway to Captive (The Young Adult Adaptation of Unbroken) by Laura Hillenbrand is an amazing and fascinating non-fiction novel.  With never a dull moment, Louie Zamperini’s adventurous story kept my attention from beginning to end.  Just when you think things couldn’t possibly get any worse for him, they do!  It’s hard to believe he actually survived drifting on a life raft in the Pacific ocean for 47 days and then being tortured and humiliated as a POW. 

I highly recommend this to anyone!  It is well researched and very informative, giving me insight into a life of a POW that I had no clue about.  Unimaginable horrific things actually happened to our POW’s during World War II.  I was afraid this was going to read like a history book, but it really doesn’t.  It is very well written and stayed on my mind long after I put it down.   I found it astonishing that Louie lived to be 97 after all he went through. 

(Karen's review, 5 stars)

 

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

Teaser Tuesday: 3 For You

Since MizB over at Should be Reading is taking a break for the holidays and not posting the teaser meme, feel free to leave your link to your teaser post in the comments here.

Gerard's:
  
Sometimes I think of my life as two train cars hitched together at the moment of my mom's disappearance--but when I try to see how they connect there's a jarring on the track that jerks my head back around.  I know that I used to be a girl whose hair was strawberry blond, who ran around like a wild thing while my mother took endless notes about the elephants.

From page 26 of Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult.

Karen's: 

Right or wrong, rash or not, she was married now.  She’d just have to make the best of her new situation.  And hope that she hadn’t made the worst mistake of her life.

Pg. 57 from Love Unexpected by Jody Hedlund. (Click link to see my review.)

They'd been adrift for twenty-seven days and had floated at least one thousand miles.  The rafts were turning to jelly.  The men's bodies were pocked with salt sores, their burned lips so swollen they pressed into their nostrils and chins.

From Loc. 99 (Introduction) on Kindle from Unbroken (The Young Adult Abridged version) by Laura Hillenbrand.


Happy Reading!

"Love Unexpected" by Jody Hedlund is Enjoyable and Heartwarming

Love Unexpected by Jody Hedlund is a heartwarming historical romance novel about Patrick, a lighthouse keeper with a 2-yr.-old boy (Josiah) who marries Emma the first day he meets her, the day of his wife’s funeral.  He has left his former criminal lifestyle and has become a God fearing man of God, but is Emma really safe with him?  How did his former wife die?  Can Patrick really put his past behind him?  Can Emma trust him?  Has he really changed?  Will she stay when she discovers the truth about him and his boy?  I’m not saying, you’ll have to read the book.  This is the first of the “Beacons of Hope” series and I look forward to reading more.

I enjoyed this heartwarming clean romance novel and was rooting for Patrick and Emma all the way.  It is a good read based on true lives of lighthouse keepers in Michigan from the 1800s.  I was surprised to learn pirating existed on the Great Lakes back then. 

(Karen's review, 4 stars)  

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!

"Jury of One" by David Ellis is one we both Liked!

Jury of One by David Ellis is about a young boy named Alex who is accused of killing a cop, and Shelly is his attorney.  As she learns more about the shooting, secrets Alex and her have get revealed.  This book is good from beginning to end and the last part of the book with the trial is nearly impossible to put down.  LOVED IT!
(Gerard's review, 5++ stars) 


Jury of One by David Ellis is an intricate plot with several surprises along the way.  Shelly, an attorney who defends youth in civil suits because she believes in second chances, leaves her comfort zone and takes a criminal case, defending a 16-yr-old accused of drug dealing and killing a cop.  The kid is not straight with her and she pretty much has to guess what actually happened along with the reader when Alex and Ronnie, his best friend who is like a brother to him, look out for each other.  As Shelly defends Alex, her past comes back to haunt her and more and more secrets are revealed as the trial goes forward, leading to a big surprise ending. 

This is a good book filled with mystery, loyalty, legal procedures, dirty cops and family secrets.  I liked the main characters and the story line kept my interest.  

(Karen's review 12/18/14, 4 stars)  

 

Have you read this one? What did you think of it? If you reviewed this too, feel free to share your link to your review in the comments. Happy Reading!