Becky and her brother John were best buddies, telling jokes, caring for their dog Toby, and playing soccer. John was always there to cheer her up and help her out—until he died. Becky wishes everything could go back to the way it was. When she is surprised and feels guilty about enjoying a friend’s birthday party, her mom wraps reassuring arms around her and says, “Don’t you think he’d want you to laugh, even now?” She gradually realizes that she can still enjoy the things that they used to do together and that the memories of John continue to make him part of their family. Always My Brother is a sensitive, realistic story about the process of grief, acceptance, and recovery. Phyllis Pollema-Cahill’s lovely illustrations bring readers right into the heart of Becky’s family as they struggle to move forward.

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This book touched the very center of my heart.  I felt the sense of loss that Becky did with every turn of the page.  This book deals with what it feels like to lose someone close to you at a young age.  Appropriately worded to be understood at a grade school level I not only loved the gentle words used by Jean Reagan, but also felt the compassion come through in the illustrations by Phyllis Pollema Cahill.

This book is one I would recommend to any one who has a young child in their life who is dealing with grief.  I think this book should be a must in every grade school library.  I know as someone who dealt with this topic at a young age a book like this would have been wonderful.

Please visit Tilbury House for discussion points, classroom activities, literature links and further resources for using this book in the classroom.

Thank you to Natasha at Maw Books, where I won this autographed copy of this book.  I am now donating this book to Harrison Elementary School in our town, in memory of my sister Tara, who died in a house fire when she was 5.  Truly missed every day of my life.  ♥

Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a mysterious box with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker–his classmate and crush–who committed suicide two weeks earlier.

On tape, Hannah explains that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he’ll find out how he made the list.

Through Hannah and Clay’s dual narratives, debut author Jay Asher weaves an intricate and heartrending story of confusion and desperation that will deeply affect teen readers.

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I won this book from a contest being held on J Kaye’s Blog. I had my pick of several books to choose from but this one with its title and what it was about for some reason called to me.  I wanted to read it.  I had to read it.  A fiction book on teenage suicide and I was drawn to it.  I am so glad that I was.

Hannah was in high school.  As this book opens, she is already gone.  As we enter the read. Clay has just received a series of tapes, 13 actually, that turn out to be from Hannah with instructions to listen to all the tapes and then pass them on to the next person as instructed.

Clay, who secretly had loved Hannah from afar, is appalled that Hannah would record her reasons for committing suicide and wondered what he had to do with it.  In an almost addictive like manner, Clay begins to listen to the cassettes one after another and Hannah’s story unfolds before our eyes.

Told in Hannah and Clays voice, I found myself as addicted to the read as Clay was to listening to the cassettes.  It was hard to stop, knowing what was at stake.  occasionally I would get so caught up in Hannah’s story, when it switched to Clay’s voice I had to pull myself out and read parts again.

I read this book in two days.  On the second day I didn’t plan on sitting down and finishing the book but I just couldn’t put it down.  Each tape, each chapter, each new character drew me in further….. who was it?  Was it one person who caused Hannah to finally end it all or was it a combination of people, of events.

Hannah’s story, while fictional, brings up a valid and important topic.  High school years are hard.  Within the pages of this book you discover that it is not one person or one event that sends Hannah spiraling downward.  As you read, while some of what happened to Hannah is hurtful, I didn’t find where it was intentionally so.  No one in the story knew how fragile Hannah was.  Perhaps someone knowing would have changed the outcome, perhaps not.

This book is a good reminder of how we treat others.  We never know where someone is coming from or where they have been.  I took so much away from this book and could go on and on but instead of saying too much I am going to play the spoiler card and say that if you have read this book and wish to discuss it further, join me in the Spoiler Room where this can be talked about more deeply.

I leave you with this information on Suicide which I pulled from Author Jay Arthur’s Blog called Hannah’s Reasons:

**Later this week I will be posting an author chat with Jay Asher about this book!

My Amazon Rating

I won this book from J Kaye’s Blog

Read in its entirety from the comfy recliner

Maura Sullivan thought she knew what she was getting into when she married soon-to-be pastor Nick Shepherd. But when “the other woman” in her marriage turned out to be her husband’s congregation, she ran. Three years later, she’s back in the small community of Granger, Ohio, for the reading of a will that names both her and Nick as beneficiaries. Now Maura must face the husband – and the congregation – she left behind.

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A friend passes way…. a will is left mentioning both Nick and Maura…. and a stipulation in order for each of them to get an inheritance that they both desire.  But is the stipulation too great?  Maura has been gone from Granger, Ohio for three years.  Three years is a long time and old wounds are still easily rubbed raw and unhealed.

Maura arrives back in Granger having put her own faith on the back burner believing that God has done nothing but let her down time and time again.  As Nick tried to help Maura through this faith crisis it looks as though their is hope for repairing their long damaged marriage as well – yet there is one secret that Maura has yet to share with Nick that may destroy what they are working so hard to repair.

It is a book about love, forgiveness, and letting go.  I appreciated the real characters with real issues. Maura and Nick were real feeling characters and I enjoyed getting to know them with in the walls of their home and in the pages of this book. Watching my own Pastor (I am the Office Manager at our Church)and the hours he puts in really makes me appreciate all it must take to be a Pastor’s Wife.

Jennifer AlLee was born in Hollywood, California and for the first 10 years of her life lived over a mortuary one block from Hollywood and Vine. An avid reader and writer, she completed her first novel in high school. That manuscript is now safely tucked away, never again to see the light of day. Her first inspirational romance, The Love of His Brother, was released in November 2007 by Five Star Publisher.

Besides being a writer, she is a wife and mom. Living in Las Vegas, Nevada, her husband and teenage son have learned how to enjoy the fabulous buffets there without severely impacting their waistlines. God is good!

My Amazon Rating

I received this review book from The Christian Fiction Blog Alliance

This book was mostly read at the gym on the treadmill and eliptical