I Was Here by Gayle Forman

From Goodreads,

"When her best friend Meg drinks a bottle of industrial-strength cleaner alone in a motel room, Cody is understandably shocked and devastated. She and Meg shared everything—so how was there no warning? But when Cody travels to Meg’s college town to pack up the belongings left behind, she discovers that there’s a lot that Meg never told her. About her old roommates, the sort of people Cody never would have met in her dead-end small town in Washington. About Ben McAllister, the boy with a guitar and a sneer, who broke Meg’s heart. And about an encrypted computer file that Cody can’t open—until she does, and suddenly everything Cody thought she knew about her best friend’s death gets thrown into question.

I Was Here is Gayle Forman at her finest, a taut, emotional, and ultimately redemptive story about redefining the meaning of family and finding a way to move forward even in the face of unspeakable loss."

Goodreads - I Was Here

I had a conversation a while back with a friend about what types of books we like to read and the themes we tend to gravitate to.  I've come to realize that I tend to gravitate to books that have cancer or suicide themes.  I'm not sure why, but I do.  Death and dying absolutely terrifies me.  It's easily my number one fear.  Maybe I'm just trying to get over my fear of dying by reading about it.

In this book we are introduced to Cody who is coming to terms to the fact that Meg has committed suicide.  She is asked to travel to town where Meg was going to college and clean out her room.  Once she gets to the university she finds that there is a lot she didn't know about her best friend and she makes it her goal to figure out what happened.

I connected with Cody and Meg in this book because I saw some of my own friendships in these two characters.  Meg was obviously suffering from depression, but she always put on a good face.  She always made it seem like everything was okay and that life was great, while behind closed doors she was drowning.  I think that a lot of people my age will admit that they have felt like they were honestly drowning in life before.  I had a conversation with a friend one day and we talked about college and the struggles we had dealt with.  We both realized we had faced different battles, but yet we both had faced some things that put us in depressed states.  Neither of us ever had the courage or the will to reach out to the other and say "Hey.  I'm struggling with life right now and I need help."  But somehow we both were able to get through what was going on.  This same friend actually told me that she had considered taking her own life because she couldn't handle it all anymore.  I was devastated that she didn't feel comfortable coming to me for help or talking to me about what was going on.  I had no idea that she had had those thoughts.  Depression is a serious issue in today's society, but many people in their 20s don't seek the help they need.  There is so much pressure to maintain a social life and a job and get an education and get plenty of sleep and be healthy and so on.  Gayle Forman addressed depression and I love that she tied it back to one of the main reasons that Meg took her life.  Society needs to be exposed to the fact that depression can lead to suicide and that not everyone exhibits typical depression symptoms.

Something I absolutely hated in this book was the attempt at romance between Cody and Ben.  Ben happens to be a guy who knew and dated Meg.  After Meg dies and Cody goes to clean out the room, Ben turns his attention to her.  It was one of the most bothersome things I've ever encountered in a book with a best friend committing suicide.  Spoiler alert: Cody ends up with Ben.  All girls know that you don't hook up with your best friends ex.  I just felt like Cody wasn't respecting her dead best friend.  I somewhat understand that Forman wrote it in so that the reader would understand how Meg fell for Ben, but at the same time I feel like Forman could have given Cody the strength and ability to resist Ben.  There would have been a better storyline if Cody had insisted that she respect Meg and moved on.  I'm a HUGE fan of friendship in books.  I feel like thanks to this romance storyline, the friendship that Meg and Cody had was completely thrown out the window.

Overall, I have to give this book 4 stars.  It was better than I expected.  The only downfall was the romance storyline between Cody and Ben.  This is a topic sensitive book and I recommend this only to mature readers who can handle the content included.  I can see this book being on shelves in high schools and being read by twenty somethings.

Worthy by Donna Cooner

From Goodreads,

"Download the app. Be the judge.

Everyone at Linden's high school is obsessed with Worthy. It's this new app that posts pictures of couples, and asks: Is the girl worthy of the guy? 

Suddenly, relationships implode as the votes climb and the comments get real ugly real fast. 

At first, Linden is focused on other things. Like cute Alex Rivera. Prom committee. Her writing. But soon she's intrigued by Worthy. Who's posting the pictures? Who's voting? And what will happen when the spotlight turns... on Linden?"

Goodreads - Worthy

This book follows Linden, a student in high school who falls under the scrutiny of an app called Worthy.  Worthy is an app that lets the public decide if the girl is worthy of the guy she is dating.  But not only does it let the people vote, it allows them to make comments about the couple.  Couples in the school are critiqued on Worthy, but the true question is will the relationships and friendships be able to withstand the public judging them?

This book is very relevant in today's world.  We are a society that is centered and focused on our phones.  I think that in this aspect this book would be very popular with young adults.  I really enjoyed how the book was separated by what was being posted on the app.  As the couples were being judged there was information or comments that were included that separated the book up.  There were also things that were posted by the app moderator that helped create a more immersive experience that made it feel like I was experiencing the app.  I feel like that was a nice touch to help better incorporate the reader into the story.

This book had the potential to have a big message about cyberbullying, but it didn't.  Cooner really missed the opportunity on this.  We live in a world where everyone is glued to their phones, and instead of students being mean face to face, most do it through a computer or phone screen.  I think that Cooner should have really tried harder to incorporate an anti-cyberbullying message into this book.  Most students have experienced some form of cyberbullying, and I think this book would have been more relatable if she had taken this route.  I'm a teacher and we all preach that bullying of any kind is not tolerated.  But then we have books like this where cyberbullying is happening, the app was published in the school newspaper, but yet nobody did anything to investigate or stop what was happening.  It's books like this that give teachers a bad reputation.  A parent or teacher could have and should have found out about the app and put a stop to it.  There should have also been a consequence for the student who created the app, or at least given us the satisfaction that someone punched him because he was causing drama in their relationship.  He gave students the perfect outlet to critique, judge, and comment on others and tell why they were or were not worthy of the person they were dating.  I just find it a very unbelievable situation that no adults knew about the app and that there wasn't any kind of consequence for the student who started all of this.  Cooner missed opportunities for this book to have a huge message and make a huge impact.

I give this book 2 stars.  This book was very much a teenage book with high school drama.  There were plenty of opportunities for this book to have an important message, but unfortunately it didn't.  I would recommend this to junior high or high school students.

This Life I Live: One Man's Extraordinary Ordinary Life and the Woman Who Changed It Forever by Rory Feek

From Goodreads,

"The Love Story that Captured a Nation’s Heart

Joey and Rory Feek were enjoying a steadily growing fan base in country music when Joey was diagnosed unexpectedly with a rapidly spreading cancer. This vibrant and beautiful young woman would soon be on a unique journey for which no one is ever fully prepared. Her husband, Rory, and children, Heidi, Hopie, and Indiana, were beside her each step of the way. Rory, a prolific songwriter, entrepreneur, farmer, and overall tender man, has seen God bless his life in countless unexpected ways and had started a blog, thislifeilive.com, not really knowing its purpose other than he needed to write. That purpose soon became clearer when Joey’s cancer battle hit.

By inviting so many into the final months of Joey’s life, this astounding couple captured the hearts of millions with their powerful love story, the manner in which they were handling the diagnosis, and the inspiring simple way they had chosen to live their lives.

In this vulnerable book, Rory takes us into his own challenging life story and shows what can happen when God brings both his presence and the right companion into our lives. He also gives never-before-revealed details on what he calls “the long goodbye,” the blessing of being able to know that life is going to end and taking advantage of it. Feek shows how we all are actually there already and how we can learn to live that way every day. He then goes into detail toward the end of the book on what it’s like to try to move on with your life once you’ve “had it all.”"

Goodreads - This Life I Live

This book is the story of Joey and Rory Feek's love and how they both got to where they are in life.  It tells of the struggles that Rory faced and how he found Joey which turned his life around and gave him a whole new purpose.  All of the happy moments, and the sad, are chronicled in this book, and it gives the reader a new perspective on love and how life should be lived.

I remember watching Joey and Rory on Can You Duet?.  My mom absolutely fell in love with them.  She followed their music and their story.  She was absolutely excited when they announced they would have their own TV show, and even more excited when they announced they were expecting a baby.  At that point I joined in the fun and started following their story and their journey.  My mom and I were devastated when we found out that Joey had cancer.  I would update my mom when Rory posted on his blog.  We were both heartbroken when we heard the news of Joey's passing.  I remember where I was when I read the news article.  There was a lot of information shared of Joey and Rory's journey, but this book really gave all the details, good and bad.  I love how raw and real this book was.  Rory shared all the bad things that had happened to him, and how he wasn't the best person when he was younger.  He shared all of the troubles he and Joey faced, as well as all the love they shared.  I always saw Joey and Rory as a couple who had a perfect life with no troubles or heartaches.  I now understand that just like everyone else, they had their own battles they were facing or had faced.  This book really has helped me in my own relationship to understand that neither of us are perfect, our relationship isn't perfect, life isn't perfect, and that is absolutely okay.  Joey and Rory loved unconditionally, even through the bad times.  They worked their problems out instead of throwing in the towel and calling it quits.  I took a lot away from Joey and Rory's relationship with each other, but I honestly wish there was a separate book that focused just on their relationship with each other instead of having all the back story of Rory's life.

I only had two complaints about this book.  The first was that the chapters were very, very short.  The chapters were so short it was hard to keep me hooked.  I would read a couple chapters, feel like I hadn't read very much, get discouraged, and not pick up the book for a couple weeks.  It took me three months to read this book.  My other complaint, as I mentioned above, was that in this book was there was a LOT of back story on Rory, as in I felt like there was more back story than there was story of Joey and Rory.  I understand that Rory had to set the scene for how he was with relationships in his past.  This was very crucial because it showed how Joey had changed and transformed him into something amazing.  But at the same time, I was wanting more stories of Joey and Rory.  I was wanting to read the funny stories of them together or the sad moments they shared.  I felt like it was very quick at the end.  They got married, they disagreed on babies, they had a baby, she got cancer, the end.  I really wanted more on their relationship and their story.  What was shared in this book really spoke to me about my relationships with my boyfriend, friends, and family.  I would love to see another book that is really focused on their relationship together and how they relied on each other and helped each other grow.  I just need more than what was given to me in this book.

Overall, I would give this book 4 out of 5 stars.  I think if I had sat down and read the book straight through I would have given it 5 stars, but I really lost interest while reading it.  I would recommend this book to anyone who has followed Joey and Rory, and to anyone who is looking for a good book that is based on relationships and faith.