Pleasantly Surprised

This book really surprised me.

When I started reading it, I kept thinking when is this going to get better? I actually considered giving it up several times. I never stop reading books.  But I saw here where everyone else had read it and they said they enjoyed it. So I kept trying to struggle through. Then all of the sudden it started to get better. I ended up really enjoying this book in the end.

I liked Joe. At first he was a complete annoying jackass. I couldn't believe we were reading another book where the main character was such an idiot. While he never became the most amazing good guy ever, I started to kinda like him. The fact that he tried hard, but still screwed up made him seem more realistic. I always hate books where people are horrible in the beginning and then suddenly become all wonderful and perfect. That never happens.

I didn't feel like we got to know Brad or Carly or some of the lesser characters as well as I wanted. There would be these bright sharing flashes where you would realize something about a character, but then you wouldn't get any more information.

I agreed with Middle Girl about Jared. I loved Jared. He was great. The paintball scene really made me laugh. It was great! I also really enjoyed Wayne. He was cliched and sort of stereotypical, but still interesting. I liked the fact that Joe had him come live with him. It seemed so right somehow.

A very good book. Although I agree with everyone else about the whole sticking the tongue out to catch the ashes being icky. That was just weird. Otherwise, it was a fabulous way to end the book. And it finished everything up very nicely.

Comments

[Mishka]

Ditto on the ash thing for me...I actually thought that was kind of weird to do.

I read that the movie of this book is in the works...I am always interested to see how books are interpreted in the movies...sometimes they match my vision, and sometimes they don't.