Handle With Care By: Jodi Picoult

Another heart-wrenching, controversial novel by Jodi Picoult, Handle with Care introduces Willow, a smart and charming five-year-old who was born with a brittle bone disease called osteogenesis imperfecta. Over her lifetime, Willow will have hundreds of broken bones. Her mother, Charlotte, will do anything to give Willow the best life possible — even if she has to say under oath that Willow never should have been born. In pursuing a wrongful birth suit against her obstetrician (and best friend for nearly a decade), Charlotte is willing to put everything on the line in hopes of gaining the financial means necessary to take care of her daughter. Picoult constructs an emotionally complex novel, weaving tender and poignant moments into a difficult story of suffering and sacrifice. Charged with thought-provoking questions about medical ethics, morality, parenting, and honesty, Handle with Care asks just how far we would go to care for the ones we love.   

            Handle With Care by: Jodi Picoult is fantastic! Utterly astounding! I thought that this book is certainly a five star book! In this book Jodi Picoult make the reader feel like they are implicated in the book and trial. I typically do not cry in books but I teared up a little while reading this book. That is how much emotion this book shows. Jodi Picoult brings real life characters into the situation too. There is Willow, the daughter born with OI also known as osteogenesis imperfecta, which causes your bones to break. Willow is an independent, young, strong, adorable, and extremely luminous child who completely understands what is going on, in this case, her mom is starting a lawsuit against her best friend, Piper, who is also her obstetrician. Her mother, Charlotte believes that Piper should have been able to notify the O’Keefe’s about Willow’s condition before the twenty-seven week ultrasound.

            Then there is Amelia, Willow’s older sister. Amelia’s just another teenager who likes boys, but is over weight. Amelia is a size 11 and all her friends are size 00. Amelia tries to fit in by doing many things to take the ache away from being a girl who is entirely ignored because her younger sister is “breakable” and should be watched and pampered more than Amelia is even noticed. Amelia takes drastic measures into her hands. Amelia meets a boy at the OI convention that they go to but she lies to him saying that she is Willow, but that doesn’t change their feelings for each other.

            There is also mom and pop O’Keefe, Charlotte and Sean. Charlotte is just another protective mom but is she slacking on her job? Does she tell the truth in court that she wished Willow was aborted? Sean on the other hand doesn’t agree with the lawsuit. He is on the opposing side. Sean throughout the book shows his emotions whether physically or emotionally, but does Sean change his mind and agree with the lawsuit that Charlotte has brought on? Does Charlotte back down from the lawsuit? Does Willow end up breaking or the hearts of many others? The O’Keefe’s will have to learn that they need to live for the moments that they cannot put into words because words are deadly and they kill just as good as any bullet. Read this book to uncover the truth behind Willow’s story and the will people have to go far for the one that they love.

The Last Song By: Nicholas Sparks

 Seventeen year old Veronica "Ronnie" Miller's life was turned upside-down when her parents divorced and her father moved from New York City to Wilmington, North Carolina. Three years later, she remains angry and alientated from her parents, especially her father...until her mother decides it would be in everyone's best interest if she spent the summer in Wilmington with him. Ronnie's father, a former concert pianist and teacher, is living a quiet life in the beach town, immersed in creating a work of art that will become the centerpiece of a local church.

The tale that unfolds is an unforgettable story of love on many levels--first love, love between parents and children -- that demonstrates, as only a Nicholas Sparks novel can, the many ways that love can break our hearts...and heal them. 

    The Last  Song By: Nicholas Sparks is an amazing book. The characters are all different in their own way. You have Ronnie, the main character who is a seventeen year old girl who lives in New York. She is forced by her mom to go visit her father over the summer in Wrightsville Beach, North Carolina. Ronnie is also rebellious and independent, meeting and changing through the process of discovering the truth about living life to the fullest. Then, there is Jonah, Ronnie's little brother. Jonah is completely different than Ronnie. He is thrilled to go see his father and spend time in North Carolina. Then there is Will, Ronnie's love interest. Will works at the local aquarium and is a volleyball player. Ronnie soon develops feelings towards Will making it one of Nicholas Sparks' great love stories. There are a few characters that Ronnie interacts with along the way. Those include Blaze, a young women who has so much potential but hangs around with the wrong group of people. Steve, Ronnie's father who was a teacher at Julliard for several years but quit and moved to North Carolina. He is currently working on a project for the local church and Jonah starts to help. Marcus is the boy that gets everybody into trouble. He grows up with the wrong group of people and uses them for partying and having fun. Marcus is extremely self centered and doesn't really care what other people want but focuses on what he wants.

   The setting is on a beach in North Carolina. Having a beach in the setting helps reflect the emotion and enhances the feelings of the characters towards each other. Steve lives on the beach which  is the location where Ronnie and Will meet.

   I personally adore this book. With romance and life experiences it makes this book a package. I do recommend this to women young (teenagers) and women old. All ages will love this book. It really showed me that hanging out with the wrong crowd can bring you down, and to always look up and be happy for the times that you can spend with someone (not just a lover but anyone including family, friends, neighbors, homeless, the less fortunate) because you never know they just might change or leave the next day.