Review | The Probability of Miracles by Wendy Wunder

    Campbell Cooper has never been in love. And if the doctors are right, she'll never have the chance. So when she's told she needs a miracle, her family moves 1,500 miles north to Promise, Maine--a place where amazing, unexplainable events are said to occur--like it or not. And when a mysterious envelope arrives, containing a list of things for Cam to do before she dies, she finally learns to believe--in love, in herself, and maybe even in miracles, as improbable as they may seem.

   
    *Shakes Head* *Sighs* The Probability of Miracles is a hard hitter in every possible way. It targets your heart and your head. First off, Campbell has cancer, the big C. She has just been told that there is nothing else that the doctors can do for her. But Cam doesn't dwell on that because she's way too good for that. She's just found a list from her past in her glove compartment and she's going to finish it. While reading the book, after what Cam just found out, you can't help but be a little melancholy....  Rest assured though because you won't stay that way for long. If there is one thing about Cam, she's hilarious. She has a carefree, whatever, attitude that you can't help, but laugh at.

"Yup. That happens. Next time you see that, grab a tongue depressor so a person doesn't swallow her tongue. Mind if I take the flamingo?"
"It's $2.89."
"Whoa, Darren, you drive a hard bargain. How about I'm just going to take it?"
Cam grabbed the flamingo and threw it into the backseat, started the Beetle and peeled out of the parking lot.  

    See what I mean? Of course, Cam isn't all perfect. She is quite cynical and hopeless. She doesn't believe in miracles or love or anything good in the world. She doesn't even believe in Disney World! Without giving too much away, the place she goes to is full of miracles, but it takes Cam to be able to see that she is the miracle. Walking around stealing donkeys and growing gardens and all the while leaving everyone with something to remember her by. She inspires miracles when she only came to receive one.

     Spoiler (Highlight to read): I usually don't read books with dying in them. I have sensitive emotions and endless tear ducts, not a good combination. There's always this hope that you know that there's going to be a HEA in most books. Cam is going to live, you think. Miracles happen in Promise, Maine.... But she doesn't. And you're sad, but the ending is so.....so final that you can't cry. You realize that the climaxes happened in the middle of the book and now....it's just right. Cam is better there. 

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Review: Saving June by Hannah Harrington

    'If she’d waited less than two weeks, she’d be June who died in June. But I guess my sister didn’t consider that.’ Harper Scott’s older sister has always been the perfect one so when June takes her own life a week before her high school graduation, sixteen-year-old Harper is devastated. Everyone’s sorry, but no one can explain why.
    When her divorcing parents decide to split her sister’s ashes into his-and-her urns, Harper takes matters into her own hands. She’ll steal the ashes and drive cross-country with her best friend, Laney, to the one place June always dreamed of going California.
     Enter Jake Tolan. He’s a boy with a bad attitude, a classic-rock obsession and nothing in common with Harper’s sister. But Jake had a connection with June, and when he insists on joining them, Harper’s just desperate enough to let him. With his alternately charming and infuriating demeanour and his belief that music can see you through anything, he might be exactly what she needs.
     Except June wasn’t the only one hiding something. Jake’s keeping a secret that has the power to turn Harper’s life upside down again.

     Saving June was so raw and wonderful. I can't fully explain it, but it, like, drowns you in beautiful things. Harper's sister has killed herself and left Harper behind to deal with her own feelings. harper is way bitter and tired of all the "I'm Sorries." Then at June's wake, she meets this boy with crazy hair and with her loyal friend Laney, they embark on a journey to truly save June.
    Harper's voice just spoke to me. She has hardcore and saw the world with no blinders. She was honest and stubborn and a really incredible character. Taking her sister's ashes was a brave action. It was the epitome of her personality.
    Jake was definitely my kind of boy. He knew his music and his candor and honestly is slightly awkward and really funny. His sweet moments with Harper helped her find herself and without him, the book wouldn't have been half as good. Everybody, go get saving June!