The Best of Me ~Nicholas Sparks~

Generally I'm not a huge fan of Nicholas Sparks. I used to be when I was more into reading the 'romance' genre, but as of late, his writing seems cheesy to me. Because of this reason, I went into this book with low expectations.

I'm not going to say it exceeded my expectations by far, since the first half of the book was poorly-written; however, as the book proceeded, I enjoyed it more. Because the book is about the relationship between two lovers, one who is married, I was afraid that the relationship would turn into a sexual one. But it didn't. Which is rather surprising. Especially because Nicholas Sparks has a habit of over-adding sexual innuendos and coitus.

Therefore, I was pleased when the book had some enjoyable elements. One of the reasons that I like Nicholas Spark's writing is that a love story from a guy's perspective tends to skip the nitty-gritty lovey-dovey details; whereas, a woman romance writer tends to write like "when he touched me I felt like the most important thing in the world" or "his lips were soft" etc. Gag.

I also liked that Sparks changed perspectives so many times throughout the book. It kept me in suspense, but more importantly, it showed me even the minor character's thoughts and ideas. It was interesting to see a person's view of someone vs. who they actually were.

I like the name Dawson. And the lead male character's name is Dawson. So, I liked that.

The end of the book had me in tears. I was expecting a happy ending, and so when the book ended with a heart-wrenching plot twist, I put on some music and cried. All in all, I'm glad I read the book because it was a fun change and also, I feel like my worldview on love is maybe a little bit different now.

Not sure if it's a good thing or not that Nicholas Sparks is changing my worldview on love, but it happens.

 “Because you aren't just someone I loved back then. You were my best friend, my best self, and I can't imagine giving that up again." He hesitated searching for the right words. "You might not understand, but I gave you the best of me, and after you left, nothing was ever the same.” 

“I gave you the best of me, he'd told her once, and with every beat of her son's heart, she knew he'd exactly done that.”  

“Love, after all, always said more about those who felt it than it did about the ones they loved.”

 ~Nicholas Sparks

"Everybody stares, as she goes by
'Cause they can see the flame that's in her eyes
Watch her when she's lighting up the night
Nobody knows that she's a lonely girl
And it's a lonely world
But she gon' let it burn, baby, burn, baby
This girl is on fire." 

-Alicia Keys (Koryn Hawthorne version)

Farenheit 451 ~Ray Bradbury~

Suggested to me by multiple friends, I had high expectations for this book; and, to my delight, it met every one. Fahrenheit 451 is a thought-altering book filled with beautiful words and deep themes. Below is a video I made with flashes of key themes or characters from the book: fire, books, time, running, talk and writing, why not how, ash, ignition, masks, river, moon, suicide, hound, dandelion dust and love, television, and burning, especially burning.

Kisses from Katie ~Katie Davis~

Since I first started reading Katie Davis’ blog, I was inspired to be like her. After reading her book Kisses from Katie, I fell even more in love with her lifestyle and her relationship with God. Katie Davis was a teenager with a heart for children and missions. Instead of living the life her parents had planned for her, she broke away from the “American dream” and moved to Uganda. Now, she has adopted thirteen little girls, and continues to work with the broken and hurting people of Uganda. 

When people used to ask me who I wanted to be like when I grew up, or who inspired me the most, I would say Katie Davis. I even decided to focus on Child Development Studies in college with the intention of following Katie’s footsteps of faith. 

As time has passed, this desire to care for orphans has remained; however, I am realizing that I can’t live my life trying to be like Katie Davis. In her book, her main theme is love, and how this love doesn’t come from anything we muster up in ourselves, but from Christ. In the same way, it’s pointless for me to just try and copy her life and her attitude. It’s a relationship with Christ that will give me an attitude of love, nothing I can do in and of myself.

“People tell me I am brave. People tell me I am strong. People tell me good job. Well here is the truth of it. I am really not that brave, I am not really that strong, and I am not doing anything spectacular. I am just doing what God called me to do as a follower of Him. Feed His sheep, do unto the least of His people.”-Katie Davis

The Twilight series ~Stephenie Meyer~

Knowing that if I wrote a review for this series it would last a couple hundred pages, I had a crazy spur-the-moment idea to make a video blog. However, upon turning on the camera, I realized that talking "to yourself" for 15 minutes is pretty awkward. So, excuse my awkward self---I would promise I'm not like that in real life, but unfortunately, I am. :)