The Hunger Games

The Hunger Games

Suzanne Collins

5 Stars

I finished this book late last night and all I have to say is I can't wait until September for the second book! How sad! I loved it and want to read more.

Set in the ruins of what used to be our present day North America is the country of Panem, which is made up of the capital (who controls the country) and 12 districts. Each year the capital builds an arena and hosts what are called The Hunger Games, a reality tv type show that is to the death. Katniss, the main character of the story volunteers when her younger sister is selected to be part of the games.

Survival kicks in and Katniss has to face a lot of different challenges, including love. I really enjoyed the book and could have finished it in one day if I would have had the time. I also think it might make an interesting kind of movie.

This is a young adult book, my sister recommended it to me and she had her 10 year old boy read it, who also enjoyed it. If you are looking for a lot of blood and guts, surprisingly by the description, this isn't the book for you. But trust me, it's a good and interesting read. I also think if you liked Twilight, or the Uglies you would like this book. Check it out.

Winds of Hope

Winds of Hope
Anita Stansfield
4 Stars

The Winds of Hope is the third chapter of the Jayson Wolfe story - and I believe the final book. I was eager to see what happened after the second book, so I read this book fairly fast and loved it.

I loved certain parts of this book, the way that Jayson was introduced to the gospel and the building of his testimony. I loved little Trevin when he told his mom that he needed a copy of the Book of Mormon to give to a friend, it was too cute not to love!

I'm glad that Jayson and Elizabeth were finally able to make it work out and get together - of course I knew that they would eventually get together, it's an Anita Stansfield and they have to get together for it to be a good book by her! I'm also glad that we got to have everything out in the air between the two of them, it felt like such a relief.

There were some parts I didn't expect, the entire ending part with Jayson's family I didn't see coming, but I felt glad that it was part of the book. Macy came back too! I was almost certain that this would happen, but I am so glad it did. I knew that Macy would most likely join the church as well, but I didn't expect it to happen at the same time. I also didn't see her and Aaron together forever, but then again, this made it a happy ending all the way around. I enjoyed the part about when Aaron found out who Jayson was - including the part about believing in forever.

I thought the whole series was fun to read. It had predictable moments, but also moments I didn't see coming. I'm glad it brought up some real issues, teen pregnancy, abuse, adoption, runaways, depression, drug dependency, divorce, and much more - and that we see through this book that the Atonement takes care of all our pain and suffering, no matter the kind.

I recommend this series to anyone who loves Anita Stansfield or needs a clean romance series to read.