As I Lay Reading

Book Reviews & Occasional Author and Book - Fangirling

Looking for Alaska by John Green

November 27, 2018 By Kellie Leave a Comment

Looking for Alaska by John Green - Book Cover

Looking for Alaska by John Green is an emotional coming-of-age tale that centers around a smart but awkward teenager named Miles (“Pudge”), whose claim to fame is in memorizing and spouting off the last words of notable people in history.

When the story begins, we learn that Miles has applied to a prep school in Alabama to finish his schooling. Miles is a smart kid, who doesn’t quite fit in at the public school he attends and what’s more, doesn’t feel the need to fit in. He’s an old soul who knows the world is bigger than the small town he lives in. His parents dote on him as he is the only child.

At prep school, he meets a few kids and they become friends. Most notable is his roommate nicknamed “The Colonel”, who like Miles, is also an old soul. I got the feeling early on, that The Colonel had seen things in his childhood that aged him. Often, he comes across as a cantankerous old man.

Looking for Alaska…

Then, there is Alaska, another notable character and friend to Miles and The Colonel. Alaska is an exhilarating whirlwind of smarts, impulsive, beauty, and energy, with hints of profound sadness sprinkled in. She’s a mystery to everyone she meets.

As expected in a young adult novel, the gang has moments of hilarious shenanigans as well as quietly solemn depth.

Each of the prominent characters in this book are searching for something. During their adventures together, they find truth, happiness, peace, and devastation.

This book reminds me a bit of Jack Kerouac’s On the Road as it is very much a coming-of-age tale. The characters are so well fleshed out and perfectly imperfect. These characters are odd but fascinating. Their experiences, good or bad have shaped their personalities and views of the world.

I highly recommend this one and enthusiastically give it 5 stars!

My Rating on Looking for Alaska by John Green:

5 star rating for The Changelings

Jodi Picoult’s Leaving Time

June 4, 2017 By Kellie Leave a Comment

Jodi Picoult - Leaving Time

Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult is a pungent novel that centers around 13-year-old Jenna Metcalf and the relentless search for her missing mother, Dr. Alice Metcalf after a tragedy struck at the Elephant Sanctuary 10 years ago.

Dr. Alice Metcalf is an esteemed scientist who studies the behavior of African elephants. Throughout the story, we learn that she has lived in Africa and that her last known location was an elephant sanctuary where she raised her daughter Jenna and lived with her husband, fellow scientist, and researcher, Dr. Thomas Metcalf. One night, tragedy struck as one of the caretakers in the sanctuary was trampled by an elephant and Alice was taken to the hospital with some serious injuries. She left the hospital in the middle of the night, never to be seen or heard from again. Alice’s husband, Thomas, had a psychotic break, which landed him in a psychiatric hospital.

Jenna Metcalf lives with her maternal grandmother and visits her father regularly. In the first few chapters of the book, we learn that Jenna is saving up enough money to hire a private investigator to investigate the disappearance of Alice Metcalf. A case, which has been cold for 10 years. Jenna decides to find the lead detective – Virgil Stanhope – and ask him some questions, hoping he can shed light on her mother’s disappearance. Jenna finds Virgil but he’s not in great shape as he favors the bottle to help quiet his demons.

Virgil, feeling haunted by Dr. Alice Metcalf’s disappearance, decides to help Jenna. Maybe solving this case once and for all will grant him the redemption he has been desperately seeking.

Jenna also comes across renowned psychic Serenity Jones, who rose to fame by using her gifts to find missing persons. However, an incident in Serenity’s not-so-distant past leaves her feeling broken and not up to the task of finding Jenna’s mother. However, this band of misfits knows that they need one another if for nothing else than to fill the voids that are within. So, they set out on the journey to find Jenna’s mother.

Disclaimer: I review and discuss the book a bit more thoroughly beyond this point. Book spoilers may happen! So, if you don’t want to be spoiled, skip down to the rating. 🙂


Jodi Picoult has been one of my favorite authors since 2008 when I found one of her books in my local library and checked it out so that I could take it with me to read during the downtimes in the hospital after I had my 3rd child.

One of the things I most love about her books is the honesty with which she writes. Each character truly has a different personality, a different set of values and she does a great job of setting the scene. Interestingly enough, even though Jenna is arguably the main character here, I feel like we’re really reading Alice’s story. We switch back and forth from present time / Jenna’s point of view to the past / Alice’s point of view as seen through her journals.

Also, elephants! I have always found elephants to be so fascinating and majestic but haven’t done much research on them past what most people probably know. I loved every fact about elephants that was included in this book! There is so much beauty in how an elephant lives its life – from the way they raise their young, interact with their herd and grieve their losses.

Aside from the elephants, the character that I was especially enamored with was the character of Serenity. Once a legitimate psychic, living the good life and using her gifts to aid in high-profile missing person cases, she loses it all one day. Yet, throughout Jenna’s search for her mother, we see that Serenity starts to get some of it back. Serenity is a good person who has simply lost her way.

It seemed like this book centered around finding what was lost. Virgil needed to get back to having faith in himself, Serenity needed to find her way back to her gifts and Jenna needed to find her mom.

In conclusion, just when it feels like we’re heading down a never-ending rabbit hole without a true resolution, in true Jodi Picoult fashion, we get our resolution in the most shocking yet satisfying way possible.

This book is not one I could easily put down. I thought about this story long after finishing it. Well done, Jodi. Well done.

My rating for Leaving Time by Jodi Picoult

5 star rating for The Changelings

Next Page »

Favorite Places on The Interwebs

  • Good Reads
  • Amazon.com
  • Previously TV

Recent Reviews & Posts

Bold Tricks by Karina Halle -- book review

Bold Tricks by Karina Halle

Bold Tricks is Karina Halle’s thrilling conclusion to The Artists Trilogy. Javier, Ellie and Camden are reluctant allies on the run from Travis Raines and his cartel.  To say that things didn’t go as planned is the understatement of the century.  Now that Travis knows who Ellie is and that Javier is involved, he will […]

Gone With The Wind - As I Lay Reading

Gone With The Wind

At various moments in my bookish life, I have made strides to read some of the classics.  You know, like George Orwell’s 1984 or Steinbeck’s Grapes of Wrath.  Somewhere in that exhaustive list, lay Margaret Mitchell’s Gone With the Wind. Now, I think I should mention that I watched the movie first.  In fact, Gone […]

Copyright © 2023 As I Lay Reading