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Jane Solis is done—done with the mental hospital she's been confined to since she tried to kill herself last year, done with pretending she's cured, done with life.  This time, her suicide will be successful.  Not to mention special.  She'll wait to swallow her toxic mix of pills until she's on the plane headed home to New Jersey, then just fade out while soaring above the clouds.  It's fool-proof.  Perfect.  

Before Jane gets the chance to put her plan into action, however, the plane hits some serious turbulence.  As the aircraft takes a nosedive, everything goes black.  When Jane wakes up, she crawls out of the wreckage into a wilderness covered in snow.  She's horrified to find she's one of only two survivors—the other is a cocky Canadian ski instructor named Paul—and that they're stranded in Montana's remote Bob Marshall Wilderness.  As the weather worsens, it becomes clear that help won't be coming.  Their survival is up to them—and suddenly, unexpectedly, Jane realizes how much she wants to live.  But will her new-found determination be enough to save her, let alone both her and Paul?  As the days wear on, that's looking less and less likely ...

The back cover blurb calls Survive, a debut novel by Alex Morel, "Hatchet for a new generation."  I'd have to agree.  It's a gritty survival story that pits two determined teens against a storm-ravaged wilderness that's ready and willing to claim both their lives.  Exciting and unexpectedly heart-breaking, Survive tells a tense, action-packed tale about a girl who's facing her imminent death even as she's finally learning to live.  Although the story and prose are sparer than I would have liked, I still enjoyed this quick, compelling read.  

(Readalikes:  Reminded me of The Raft by S.A. Bodeen and a little of Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick)

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 To the FTC, with love:  I received an ARC of Survive from the generous folks at Razorbill.  Thank you!

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Ivy Darling enjoys all the trappings of a successful life.  She's been married for three years, works at a job she likes, and thrives on the strength of her tight-knit family (if not her in-laws, who've never quite warmed to her).  There's only one thing she needs to be truly happy:  a child.  Her struggles with infertility have left her feeling raw and vulnerable.  Ivy's ready to move on, ready to grow her family through adoption.  If only her husband would agree.  Determined to have "his own" child or none at all, Nick has become increasingly distant and hostile.  Ivy can't stand the constant tension between them, but she's not willing to give up on her dream of being a mother—even if it means doing it without Nick.

When an African-American family moves into the ramshackle house next door, Ivy's interest is piqued.  The single mother and three children look like no one else in tiny Copper Grove, Maine, which doesn't stop Ivy from trying to welcome them to the neighborhood.  She soon realizes why her friendly overtures are being rebuffed—the kids don't want her to know how often they are left by themselves.  When their mother fails to return from work one day, leaving her children scared and locked out of their home, Ivy can't stop herself from intervening.  Taking the trio into her own home, Ivy pours all the love in her mothering heart into their well-being.  Despite Nick's vehement protests, the situation is looking more and more permanent.  Ivy couldn't be happier with the arrangement, but what will it do to her fracturing marriage?  And how will her heart heal if the children are taken from her?  Does Ivy dare risk it all in the hopes of finally creating the family she's always wanted?

The first in a planned series revolving around the Darling Family, All Right Here by Carre Armstrong Gardner, is a hopeful, inspiring novel.  Although it's classified as Christian fiction, the religious aspects of the story feel natural, not heavy-handed.  The story's focus really is family—the warmth, the conflict, the joy, the jealousy, the love, etc. that exist in every large brood.  It examines some weighty issues, but does so in a way that is both realistic and PG-rated.  While I appreciated all of these elements, there were a few things that bugged me about the story.  The altering viewpoints, for one.  I get that, while All Right Here zeroes in on Ivy's story, it's meant to be an introduction to the whole Darling clan.  Which is all well and good, as long as all the different narrators have distinct voices and problems that are intriguing in their own right, something that doesn't really happen here.  I was most interested in the story's main conflict and found it distracting to head-jump.  As the adoptive mother of a bi-racial child, I identified most with Ivy, although there were definitely aspects of her experience that didn't ring very true.  Still, my biggest problem with All Right Here is that, in general, I found the Darlings—the whole lot of them—underdeveloped and just not rounded enough to really live and breathe inside my head.  Considering all of this, the novel ended up being just an okay read for me.  Disappointing, because I wanted to love this one.  Ah, well.

(Readalikes:  I can't really think of anything.  Can you?)

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Although Whisper's cleft palate makes her an outcast in the outside world, the 15-year-old lives a peaceful, happy life in the woods with a group of other disfigured children.  Cared for by a kindly old man, the kids have all been abandoned by their parents—except for Whisper, who still receives yearly visits from her mother.  While Whisper longs to be able to live with her parents like a "normal" child, she knows it's not possible in a society that fears and abuses people who look like her.  She's content with her lot in life, even if she can't quite understand it.

Everything changes when Whisper's mother dies and the father she's never met takes Whisper away from her forest home.  He wants her to live with him—as his house slave.  When she fails to please the hateful man, she's sent to an even more horrifying place: the city.  Forced to beg on the mean streets in order to keep a roof over her head, Whisper fights just to stay alive.  Only one thing brings her comfort: the music she creates with the violin her mother gave her.  

As Whisper learns to survive in the harsh, unkind world, she finds glimmers of hope in the most surprising places.  While being shunned for her "ugliness," she discovers great truths about family, friendship and beauty.  Is it possible that she can find the happiness she desires even in such a cruel place?   

So, I've discovered that the most difficult books for me to describe are those that skimp on plot.  Things happen in these novels, yes, but because the various scenes aren't tightly and skillfully woven together, the whole story feels floppy.  Such is the case with Whisper, a debut novel by Chris Struyk-Bonn.  While the book offers an intriguing futuristic/dystopian setting as well as a very sympathetic heroine, the story drags along in an aimless, unfocused manner.  Why?  Because Whisper lacks a strong, clearly-defined story goal.  Without one, her tale feels too episodic and disjointed.  While this bugged me throughout the book, I did find the overall story fairly compelling.  I also appreciated the lessons it teaches about the true nature of beauty and accepting people for who they are instead of what they look like.  Still, I ended up liking this one, but not loving it.  

(Readalikes:  Reminded me of Wonder by R.J. Palacio)

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