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Hannah Baker just can’t seem to get the thought of suicide of her mind. Ever since this gigantic chain of reactions started, everything has snowballed into one big fiasco. Coping with the rumours, ignorance, and her own self destruction, Hannah is on the road that know one wants to be travelling. Reality and the surreal are clashing together and soon this distraught teenager can’t deal with it any longer. Ending her life, Hannah leaves 13 tapes to be mailed anonymously. In these tapes are 13 reasons why Hannah committed suicide: all of these reasons being 13 people who played a serious part in her death.

Clay Evans recieves a mysterious shoebox and is shocked at the message lying within Hannah’s tapes. He begins to realize what caused her death, and how much pain she endured when she moved here just 4 years earlier. Rumours and snickering began to haunt Hannah the day she moved to her new hometown. Rumours turned into “supposed truths” in which Hannah couldn’t defend herself against. As the lies built up, Hannah found herself in a devastating situation. Finally, she made the choice to end her life.

We see ourselves in a different light than others see us. Sometimes, it is positive and sometimes, it is negative. So why is it that we see oruselves differently than others? Mostly I believe it depends on how much self confidence we have. No matter how bad it gets and how hard people try to bring us down, if we have a high sense of self confidence, we can get through anything. No one can tell us that we won’t accomplish our dreams and they certainly cannot tell us who we are or what we should be like.

Author Jay Asher captures the personality of a teenage girl going through high school drama precicly as I see it. We try and try to be who we want to be, but with todays society it is impossible to know our true self identity. Media, social situations, and the internet greatly contribute to the self image issues girls face. Hannah’s decision to commit suicide was based on the fact that she couldn’t even love herself any longer.

If no one else saw worth in her, why should Hannah believe that she had any? Tired of fighting for the correct answer of this question, Hannah finally decided it was time to make a huge impact – one that would change a significant amount of peoples lives; and end hers. But while I read this book, I realised that there never is a correct answer to this question. Any decision we make involves knowledge, possibly some research, and non biased thinking. But it all comes back to self worth and self confidence. If we can’t believe in ourselves how are we supposed to stand up for what we think is right? Making it through that hardships in life is all about holding your head up high and sticking to our values.

Emotion effects of death are common in everyone we has to go through the experience. Hannah’s “thirteen reasons” were forced to suffer even after her death. But the tapes taught them valuable life lessons that now are making them see why someone might feel worthless and alone. They are now recognising the snowball effect even before it begins. If we could all simply know when a decision that we make would affect someone for their entire lives maybe we would think twice before acting.

When my mother suggested the novel The Deep End of the Ocean the first thought that ran through my head was, do not judge a book by its cover! The book presented a green cover with waves and a picture of a boy looking into a treasure chest of ocean water. Not something a teenager would normally be drawn to. But I trusted my mothers instincts and decided to read the book anyway. I was instantly drawn into the captivating theme of the book and could not find a reason good enough to put it down while I was reading it.

The novel written by Jacquelyn Mitchard can capture the interest of any reader just within the first few pages. Beth Cappadora is the mother of 2 boys, Vincent who is 5 and Ben who is 3, and a newly born baby girl, Kerry. Her and her husband Pat lead a normal life in a small town just outside of Chicago. When they decide attend Beth’s highschool reunion in the city no one is prepared for the events that would follow. The Cappadora family arrived to the hotel in Chicago and Beth was finally starting to look forward to her reunion. While she is up at the desk talking to a clerk, Ben mysteriously goes missing. Everyone in the hotel lobby is in a panic and Beth can’t help but be sick. How could she allow her child to leave her sight?

For months on end the police search for Ben who seemed to have disappeared without a trace. Candy, a friendly detective grows close to the Cappadora family and is willing to do anything to find their missing family member. Candy’s character inspires me because it is not easy for someone to feel such emotion towards someone’s child who you have never met. Yet, she perseveres towards achieving her goal of finding Ben. If everyone had as much determination and drive as Candy’s character we could all accomplish anything we set our minds too. The Cappadora family is completely torn. Pat and Beth cannot believe that with a blink of an eye their son was gone, possibly forever. Each of the family member attempts to deal with their loss in different ways. Pat takes up smoking and working long hours while Beth will not talk and lays in bed until the point of attaining sores. As for their two children, Vincent starts to get in trouble at school because of his high level of neglection from his mother. Kerry is also neglected and spends the majority of her time sleeping and playing in her crib.

For years the Cappadora family tries to cope with their loss. But one day, Beth spots a boy not even a block down the street who resembles her lost son greatly. After days of investigation, it is discovered that in fact Sam is their long lost child. Sam who is now twelve doesn’t remember the kidnapping at all and has a hard time adjusting to life back in the Cappadora house. Beth and Pat try their best to accommodate Sam, but it doesn’t seem like things are working. Will Sam ever feel like part of the family again?

Adjusting to a new life can be very difficult, especially for a child who is stuck in a confusing situation like Sam. He attempts to fit in, just to make his family happy. But sometimes it is hard to fit into a family you don’t belong in. Every family had different beliefs and do things different ways. For Sam it was like being in a whole new world. Some days I wish I could live a new life, but after considering the consequences I know that I am happy with what I was given. I couldn’t imagine being put in a situation where I would have to chose between my parents. A similar situation is divorce, kids might feel they are forced to choose between their parents. This can be a lot of pressure for one person. If I was forced to choose I would feel like I failed my family. A decision like this can break a person down emotionally and physically. No one should be forced to choose between the people they love the most.

Griffin and Sabine is a short illustrative story written by Nick Bantock. When an artist named Griffin receives a postcard from a woman he has never met before. She claims that she “watches” him paint. He quickly replies, eager to find out more about the mysterious writer who calls herself Sabine. As they continue to exchange postcards and letters filled with intimacy, they learn much about each other and know that they are somehow connected. Griffin begins to fall in love with Sabine, or the woman who may just be a figment of his imagination. Driven mad, Griffin tells Sabine he will not write to her any longer. Sabine replies furiously, calling him foolish and saying she will visit him instead. Later Griffin’s studio is found empty, all except for the wondrous letters which remain taped to the ceiling – Griffin Moss is also missing.

This book entranced me as I tried to find the meaning behind all of the abstract pictures. The pictures themselves were able to tell a different story apart from the one in the letters. Each postcard presented the personalities of the two separate artists, yet showed there was a relation between them. The simplicity of the objects painted and how complicated they became when put with other objects presented the whole picture with an entirely new meaning. Even the change of a back drop color or addition of new detail changed the end result of the art.

The true madness behind the letters sent a chill down my spine when I realized that either Griffin Moss is insane or Sabine truly did come for him in the end; like kidnapping a child. Whether she was a figment of Moss’s imagination or a real life person, no one will ever find out. Normally I don’t enjoy a book where the ending drops off without an explanation, but the abrupt ending was perfect for the storyline in Griffin and Sabine. The series continues followed by the book “Sabine’s Notebook“.

I experienced exhilaration when opening the letters embedded in the book. Griffin and Sabine brought a new light to reading and I felt a strange satisfaction to be looking at someone else’s mail. Getting a firsthand look at the relationship between Griffin and Sabine presented a new eccentric kind of love. A love that is strong and full, but yet maybe is not real. As the reader, I saw a crystal clear view of the madness in Griffin’s own mind. Will Griffins love for Sabine be destructive of his own life and sanity? He must decide within himself if Sabine if a figment of his imagination or if she is the love of his life. Although he doubts she is real, somewhere deep inside he had fallen for the character of the woman Sabine and must figure out how to deal with the frightening situation he is faced with.

It is difficult to lose a lose a loved one. Especially when that person has so much more life to live. In Telling Christina Goodbye by Lurlene McDaniel, many students enjoying their senior year have to endure the pain of losing one of their fellow students. Trisha and Christina are best friends and are hardly ever separated. Once Trisha learns that Christina’s boyfriend Tucker is going to ask Christina to marry him, she tries everything to stop him. Finally giving in, Trisha and her boyfriend Cody take Christina and Tucker to a basketball game at a nearby town. On the way home Tucker decides to drive and when he tries to pass a car on the right side of the highway, the four teens are sent into a living nightmare. Their car goes flying and rolls into the snow covered ditch. The result: Christina is dead, Cody is in a coma, and Tucker walks away from the accident with hardly a scratch. Trisha is absolutely furious. How could Tucker risk their lives just to pass a car illegally? Now she must learn to live life without Christina and cope with the fact that Cody’s life is also at stake.

Being faced with the fact that someone close to you has died can be impossible to deal with. Most people change and are never the same again. Two years ago I lost someone close to me and although it seems like a lifetime ago, I still feel the pain of it every day. The biggest challenge of losing someone is to find stability in your every day life. Most of the time, it is difficult to even concentrate let alone find a routine and move on with the rest of the world. I found that when I remembered my favorite memories of the person I lost helped me get through the day. In the book Telling Christina Goodbye, Trisha refuses to find a balance and spends the majority of her time in a hectic panic mode. Once she learns that Cody is out of the hospital she is able to find a small amount of comfort knowing that she won’t lose 2 people she loves dearly.

Trisha finds comfort in her boyfriend and a new friend at school who has dealt with the death of her brother. Slowly she learns to live with the fact that she cannot change the past and she needs to live her life for Christina. Guilt is a factor of moving on with your life after someone dies. It is not uncommon for someone to feel guilty when they keep going forward with their life. They might feel like they are leaving that person behind when the truth is, they will always carry their memories with them. It is impossible to forget someone you love and for the most part we know deep down that that person would want us to enjoy life to the fullest and have what they couldn’t.

Often we can find the help we need for our most darkest moments somewhere very unexpected. We search for that tiny ray of light among the darkness to hold on with all our might. However, if we are patient in the darkness, daylight will eventually come and everything will be bright again. We all use different methods to over come a difficult situation, some people ignore their feelings pretending nothing ever happened, while others will cry out loud seeking attention. When I find myself faced with a difficult situation I generally keep my feelings bottled up inside; only sharing them with a piece of paper and pen. The Breakup Bible written by Melissa Kantor is a perfect story to help you get over one of the most darkest of situations-a break up.

Jen Lewis’s life generally revolves around her place as an editor at the school paper and her absolutely amazing boyfriend Max, who is also the paper’s chief editor. But her world will be turned completely upside down when Max tells her, “me and you just weren’t meant to be together”. Completely stunned, Jen questions herself on what she did wrong to make the relationship end. Unable to reach a conclusion, she slumps into a dark hole filled with hopelessness and self-pity. Jen’s grandmother stops by one day to see how she is doing and tells her grand daughter she has a surprise for her. Pulling out a pink book labelled the Breakup Bible, she gives Jen the book hoping it will somehow help. Knowing the book can’t pull her out of her funk, Jen quickly tosses the book into the trash as soon as her grandmother leaves.

Jen struggles with her heartbreak for weeks not knowing how things could get any better unless Max will take her back. Jen values everything she ever had with her ex-boyfriend and would do anything to get it back. Without any effort, Jen cannot help herself retreat from her sadness. As a last resort, she turns to Dr. Emory Emerson’s help in the Breakup Bible. Soon she learns she needs to love herself before she can love anyone else. Self-discovery is one of the very first steps to overcoming a difficult situation. If we cannot make time for ourselves then we cannot make time for the other people in our lives. Jen has spent most of her time trying to impress everyone else around her by getting good marks and being part of the school paper. Although she is doing what she loves, she had never made an effort to explore the world outside of her comfort zone. The paper has been all that she’s ever known.

Dr. Emerson helps Jen find the light when she gives in and begins to read The breakup Bible. She finds the true meaning behind the relationship she shared with Max and that maybe, he wasn’t so perfect after all. While going to visit her father in New York, she is set up to go on a blind date with a guy named Eugene. Jen doesn’t know how the date could possibly turn out well, but she agrees to go ahead with it anyway. Sometimes part of over coming a dark moment is to take a risk. Risks allow your adrenaline to rush through your body and you can begin to see the light spread through your windows. You are beginning to see the light for the first time. Jen realized it may have been a bit too early to take a risk. The curtains shut over the light that had begun to shine through and she is back to complete darkness when Max runs through her mind.

Months after the breakup, Jen begins to find herself and discovers what makes her truly happy. She is given an internship at the “New York Times” for the summer. Delighted, she takes the job and heads to the city. On the first day of her internship, Jen sees a familiar face across the room. Eugene smiles and waves her over to where he is sitting. As they start to listen to their bosses speak, Eugene passes Jen a note. She opens it up and reads what it says. A smile creeps across her face when she realizes he wants to go out to for coffee with her later. Jen has finally overcome her darkness. She found the light and was ready to explore what it revealed. Her relationship with Eugene would hopefully grow and Jen would experience a new happiness that she thought she would never see again. It is important for us to overcome obstacles that we encounter in life. If we choose to ignore these obstacles we will fall behind and never move on to bigger and better things. We are all human and it is only natural to experience dark moments in our lives, but it is up to us to find the light.

When someone experiences the loss of someone close to them, it takes a long time to recover from the grief and pain. The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen is about a teenage girl named Macy who has recently lost her father and watched him die in her arms. Blaming herself for the tragic accident that occurred. Her mother Deborah and sister Caroline have a hard time dealing with their loss. Each of them react to the tragedy and express it in different ways.

Caroline lets out her feelings by constantly sobbing at every memory left of her father. Macy and her mother however, are the complete opposite. Deborah feels the need to work to the point of exhaustion and to get rid of anything ever having any relation to Macy’s dad. Macy doesn’t know how to feel, she wants to scream out and cry but something holds her back. For her mothers’ sake Macy remains calm and tries to act as perfect as possible; holding back every feeling she wants to let out.

The constant feelings built up from trying to hold back the grief Macy is suffering from causes her to seclude herself from the world, to act absolutely perfect, and to date the most uptight guy she could possibly find. But as her brainiac bofriend Jason heads off to brain camp, Macy begins a job at Wish Catering with the most unorganized group of people on the earth. She begins to see that her emotions cannot be kept bottled up inside any longer. Jason and Macy break up and before long Macy starts to fall for Wes, a worker at Wish Catering who has visited Jail but cleaned up his act as soon as his mother died. Wes felt the same grief Macy had and they are able to connect on a level no one understands. They can talk freely to each other and begin to play a game called Truth. The game allowed them to trust each other with their deepest secrets.

Together Wes and Macy over come their doubt and fear. Becoming someone she has always been looking for Macy is able to get up the courage to confront her mother. Macy tells her mom how she feels, saying she misses her father and she knew her mother did too. At first, Deborah lashes out at her daughter by screaming and raging. But in sudden realization, Deb knows she has been hiding her grief behind work and breaks down crying in Macy’s arms.

All of the characters learned a very important lesson in this book. it is okay to have doubt and fear when someone close to you dies. It takes time to heal and we need the people around us to help us get on our feet again. I believe everyone can learn something from the saying ” What doesn’t kill us will only make us stronger” because no matter how rough things may seem, we will make it. In the end we can say we overcame a very tough obstacle in our life and we are proud to be able to stand in front of others and tell them it only gets better from here on. LIfe is a precious thing, and we cannot waste it on being sad or disappointed.

Breaking Dawn is the final book in the Twilight Saga written by the famous best selling author, Stephenie Meyer. Many themes are demonstrated in this book including love, decision making, self discovery, trust, and loyalty. Meyers powerful way of writing is attention grabbing and can help you recognize the themes that the book is based on. I felt strong feelings towards the characters while I was reading and my interest was completely captured from start to end. The diverse perspectives of all the characters is in relation to the ones we have in our ever day lives between different cultures and races. Although there is many differences in between the families and groups in this book they manage to work together to achieve their goals no one had thought possible. This to me is an important life lesson, we cannot give up until we are defeated. There is always hope and anyone can beat the odds.

Tension and apprehensiveness is present in the early chapters of Breaking Dawn as Bella and Edward near their wedding date. But both quickly realize that they have been looking forward to the day more than they thought as soon as the words “i do” are spoken. Bellas old friend Jake returns after a long journey to see her on her wedding day. When they are reunited, it is like each of them area completed once more. In search of themselves, they both discover it has been in front of them the entire time. Although they are both from completely different backgrounds, they know this shouldn’t keep them apart. But Bella and Edward are scheduled to leave for their honeymoon that night and they departed once again.

Located on a private island, Edward and his new wife Bella enjoy themselves for a month until Bella appears to be extremely sick. In a panick, Bella comes to the conclusion that she is pregnant. And though it has only been days, it looks like she is ready to give birth. Scared and confused by the rapid pregancy, the couple fly home to Edwards father Carlisle who is a doctor. Carlisle comes to the conclusion that Bellas rapid pregancy is caused by her mortality and Edwards immortality as a vampire. Now everyone is faced with a difficult decision. The potential risk of Bellas baby killing her is high as it continues to drain her of life. But Bellas motherly instincts tell her that she will do anything for this baby, including giving her life. Her family and friends try to convince her to do what is right and save herself, but the pressure does not get to Bella and she refuses. Bellas perserverence pays off as the baby is delivered a while later even though she shares a close brush with death. To save her, Edward bites her spreading his venom into her heart and makes her an immortal.

Pain like fire, nothing is worse when it is trapped inside of you. The process of becoming a vampire is worse than death itself. But Bella knows that her never-ending life ahead is worth it. When she awakes, everything seems clearer and she feels immensely strong. For the first time, Bella meets her baby girl Renesemee or rather, her tottler. Renesemee ages at a pace that resembled Bellas pregnancy. Only 3 days after birth Renesemee is much like a one year old. Bella quickly adjusts to her new life and is happier than she has ever been.

Before long, a crisis appears as Alice, Bellas sister-in-law envisions the Volturi coming for them to destroy Renesemee because she poses as a threat to the secrecy of the vampire world. Everyone knew that their fate rested in the hands of the Volturi. To prepare for their arrival coming in the next month or so, the Cullen clan began to search far and wide for their vampire friends to act as witnesses. If they could pose as a threat this could give them time to explain why Renesemee would not pose any form of danger for the vampire secrecy. Truth and justice had to be served. According to law, Renesemee was not breaking any rules. It was up to the Cullens to prove just that. Sometmes there is a very fine line between what is right and what is wrong. It is easy to confuse the two when you weigh pros and cons determining what is the law and what is morally right.

When the Volturi arrived, the Cullens and their 26 witnesses were prepared. They were able to buy some time to explain why Renesemee wasn’t breaking any laws and prove that she was in fact, half mortal and half immortal. After a long deliberation, the Volturi decided that there was no point in starting a fight when there simply wasn’t any justice to be served. Combined with the perseverance, willingness, trust and bonds between the people who supported the Cullens, everyone was able to go free. Edward, his wife Bella, and their daughter Renesemee were able to live together in peace.

Now that the series has come to an end, I have concluded these are some of the best books I have read. Chances are I will probably read them again. It teaches so many different life lessons in a way that you learn without realizing. As the main characters were in search of themselves, they tumbled upon learning to love, to never give up, and find their own strengths deep within themselves. Many people can easily relate to the emotions expressed in the book. I would recommend this series to anyone as the books ony get better and better.

The third book of the Twilight saga written by Stephenie Meyer is an intriguing book that I never wanted to put down. It captured my interest mostly because of the constant action and drama. I constantly was pulling for certain characters’ to get their way and for others to fail. The book really made me feel like I was in the story myself.

The setting takes place in the small town of Forks, Washington. Hidden away in the forests, Forks is like any other rural place. There is hardly any excitement and things stay fairly calm. Especially the weather. Rain is a common factor and the sun rarely gets to shine. Although this town is dull and always rainy, it beholds some of the strangest creatures around: A family of vampires who call themselves the Cullens. Dr. Carlsile Cullen and his wife Esme, have 5 adopted children: Edward, Alice, Emmett, Jasper, and Rosalie.

When the chief of polices’ daughter moves in with him, Bella Swan finds little to entertain herself in the gloomy town of Forks. She even starts to look forward to school. That is, until she meets Edward Cullen. At first, Edward seems to hate her and she just can’t understand why. But once she begins to do oher research, Bella discovers that Edward is a vampire. And she is matter-of-factly, is in love with him.

Together, Bella and Edward face many adventures and fall deeply in love. Their relationship is tested many times and presuming that it is best for Bella, Edwards leaves her to live her human life and keep her out of danger. In her grieving Bella becomes close friends with Jacob Black, a werewolf whom she gets along well with. But months later, Edwards believes that Bella is dead so he travels to Italy in order to face the Volturi, a group of “royal” vampires who will kill anyone who does not obey the laws of the sworn secrecy of their kind, and get them to kill him.

Back at home in Forks, Edwards sister Alice, discovers that Bella is very much alive. And it is now their job to assure that Edward does not kill himself. Travelling to Italy they arrive just in time to stop Edward and he confesses his mistakes to Bella promising her that he will never leave again. They return to Forks where everything is safe and sound.

At the beginning of Eclipse, Jacob has written Bella a letter saying that he cannot forgive her for being with his worst enemy, a vampire. But he says he misses her and hopes she is happy. Bella cannot stand not being around Jacob and they quickly became friends again. Although Edward doesn’t like Bella hanging out with a werewolf, he allows her to visit the reserve he lives on called La Push.

Mysterious murders occurring in Seattle begin to show up in local papers and Edward believes that this could be the work of thirsty newborn vampires. A few days later Bella returns home from spending time with Edward and finds that her things have been gone through. The Cullen family is puzzled as to who could be doing this, but they have an idea it could be the newborn vampires and their creator. Alice Cullen starts to see visions of the newborns coming to Forks and they decide that they must come up with an attack plan.

While they wait patiently for the newborns to come closer to Forks, Bella and Edward spend some alone time together and Edward proposes to her. Reluctantly Bella accepts not sure if she is ready for marriage. The night before the battle the Cullen family joins forces with the werewolf pack in order to win the fight. As everyone else prepares for battle, Edward, Bella, and Jacob camp up in the mountains. Jacob spent the night in the tent with Bella and Edward before he could go back to join in on the battle.

When morning comes, Jacob overhears Edward and Bella talking about their engagement and is extremely upset. He threatens to join the fight and get himself killed because Bella doesn’t love him. In order to stop him, Bella kisses Jacob and realizes that she loves him too. Although her feelings for Edward are much stronger. Victoria, a vampire destined to kill Bella for revenge, tracks Edward’s scent to Bella. Edward is forced to fight, although Bella wants to keep him safe. Victoria and her newborn army are destroyed in minutes. Bella then tells Jacob that she does love him, but she can’t live without Edward as her soul mate. When summer begins, Jacob receives a wedding invitation from Edward along with a thank you note for keeping Bella safe. Jacob runs away in his wolf form to escape the pain he feels, angry at Bella’s decision to become a vampire.

I found the end of this book to be slightly disappointing in the way it was written in order to keep you guessing at a dead end. Overall, I would recommend Eclipse to any reader who loves fiction and an action packed romance. It is my favorite book of the series and the best I have read this year.