"Divergent" by Veronica Roth

This was another book I couldn't put down, I read it in just a day. I liked it a lot! It's the story of a city which is run by five different groups called "factions", and the children at the age of 16 choose which faction to join. They can stay with their families, or join a different one. Each faction represents a different character trait- Amity represents love and friendship, Erudite represents knowledge, Candor represents honesty, Abnegation represents selflessness, and Dauntless represents courage. The main girl, Beatrice, chooses to go to Dauntless instead of stay with her family in Abnegation. The rest of the story is her initiation into the faction, which she must pass to remain. Spoiler alert- she likes a boy during initiation. The other thing is that since Tris didn't have a clear choice right in front of her for a faction, she is considered "Divergent" and is a danger to the government. I won't give much else away.

But I liked it! It had many similar themes to the "Hunger Games", which made it less exciting. But I am dying to get the next one and read it ASAP. It's a good light read for sure- I just wish they had more character development with some of the main characters.

"The Fault in Our Stars" by John Green

I just POUNDED my way through that book, and cried my eyes out so now I need to get my yes to stop burning before I can fall asleep.

It's a story of a girl, Hazel with terminal cancer, and her story about finding love with a boy named Augustus (Gus), which by the way I think is adorable. On the one hand, teenage love story- you know. On the other hand, her thoughts of life and death are a very haunting and real thing. I've always had the fear of someone being taken away from me far too young-- Brandon, right now, or our kids some day. And let's be honest- I HATE CANCER. I hate it I hate it. So that stuck out to me. Brandon once told me that every married couple has at least one serious health challenge... His parents' was his mom's Guillan-Barre, and my parents have had some melanoma scares. I've been more and more aware of that as I've been married, and kind of morbidly wondered when our turn will strike and what will happen. I know it's a completely unrealistic thing to worry about but I just love my life and don't want it to be drastically altered for the worse.

But man, I want to reread it and read more about what Hazel was thinking. It only took me 4 hours to read, but I loved it. Now I have a delirious husband who is mumbling something about "that's why you don't sleep", so I'll take advantage of my time.