Book Review: Happy to be Alive, Because {LitFuse Blog Hop}

About the book: 

Avery is a seventeen-year-old girl whose reality has just been shattered by the death of her mother. Feeling a desperate need to flee from what has become her life, she follows a travel plan meant for her mom and her that leads her to the little beach town where her mom grew up. It's there that she meets a group of three adventurous friends who adopt her into their circle, allowing her to experience a summer she never thought would be possible after suffering such a great loss. Unfortunately, her summer full of experiences threatens to end abruptly when she realizes that one of the three has a secret that causes her to question everything about the new life she has been building.

Avery must learn to balance her grief and her desire for a future in order to achieve her mother's final wish for her: That she would be happy to be alive.

Purchase a copy: http://ow.ly/xlD3V

About the author: 

Chelsea grew up with an immense love for words---both reading them and writing them. She obtained her degree in English and has spent the time since then getting married to her high school sweetheart and chasing adventure so she'll have something to write about. When she's not drinking copious amounts of coffee while writing, she spends her time reading, playing with her puppy named Gatsby, and dreaming, always dreaming.

Chelsea can be found at: website, Twitter

My thoughts:

I misread the description of this book so when I started reading I was a little confused as events started taking shape. I understood that Avery lost her mom and that she made a trip; a trip planned by her mother before her death. What I misread was the part that Avery met three adventurous friends. I thought it said that Avery met three of her *mom's* friends. That totally makes a big difference in how the book is read. 

Now that my mistake is out there in the open, I'll share my thoughts, which were tainted at first by my lack of good reading/comprehension of the description. Ahem.

It would be very unfair of me to say that I did not particularly care for the book, which for about 3/4 of it I didn't. But after reading the book and thinking about it more, I really appreciate the idea behind the book. Avery is devastated by her mother's death and at first just wants to crawl under the covers until it all is 'better'. But things do not get 'better' when ones we love die. So Avery makes what seems like a hasty decision to take the trip planned out by her mother. It's just another attempt at getting away from reality, but through it God works for the good. 

I could not relate to any of the characters in this book. I'm being purely honest. They are all in their late teens, early twenties {although now that I think of it, I don't recall the ages of anyone but Avery and Lily being mentioned- they probably were}. They do things that are of the 'younger generation' {as if I am 'old' lol; I am over the 30 mark.} that I just don't understand any longer. The dialogue is of this age group as well and seemed to me to be lacking something. It does not mean that it is; i to me it just didn't seem to be very deep. Although books do not have to be deep and philosophical when dealing with this topic. It might be just what someone needs to read.

With all that said, by the time I was 3/4 of the way through, I couldn't put the book down until the end. It's a book that you need to hang in there to the end to get it all. Through Avery's trying to get away from reality, she finds that she really cannot escape it. That is the part I want to take away from the book. 

There is no bad language in the book at all. Good. There is only a moment of disrespect shown, which could possibly be 'excused' due to the circumstances. Realistic. There are a couple 'kissy' scenes but they are very mellow. Good. This is probably best suited to the Millenial generation {teens early twenties?}. Okay. Overall, it has a good theme and ends well {it's not exactly a 'happily ever after ending' but it's not a sad ending- that's all the spoilers I give}. Good. 

I think that Chelsea Jacobs has promise of being a really good writer and I'm interested in where this takes adventure takes her. Read other reviews:  http://litfusegroup.com/author/cjacobs 

***Disclaimer: I received the above book free from LitFuse for the purpose of an honest review. No compensation was given. See Disclosure/Policies.***