SCCCLD Book Challenge: The Mountain Between Us/Charles Martin/329pages
WOW! What a story of survival! A snowstorm is threatening as Ben Payne is trying to get home after a medical conference/mountain climbing trip and Ashley Knox is trying to make it back home for her wedding. When their flights are cancelled, Ben hires a private charter and invited Ashley to share the small plane. Tough pilot, Grover, gets them off the ground and headed in the right direction before the storm hits but then suffers a heart attack and crashes the plane. Not only is the distress signal equipment disabled on impact but Ben has broken ribs and Ashley has a fractured leg. Adding to their problems, no one knew they were on the plane, Grover didn't file a flight plan and they are miles off course and literally in the middle of nowhere in the middle of the predicted snowstorm with no food. You get most of that from the first chapters in the book. The rest of the story is detailed with what they did trying to survive interwoven with Ben's narratives to his wife, Rachel. You hear the story of Ben and Rachel from when they met in high school, share moments at lots of track events, medical school and marriage. From what Ben shares with Ashley, you hear of a loving, caring marriage. Ben and Rachel seem so perfect for each other that Ashley begins to wonder if she really has met her perfect mate or is she just settling for a trip down the aisle with a good friend. Meanwhile, back on the mountain, they are freezing, starving and doing a good imitation of being the walking dead trying to find civilization. Towards the end of the book you start to get the feeling that something is not right with Ben and his wife. When the "surprise" ending was revealed, I had to go back and re-read portions of the book to see why I hadn't picked up on the details--had I miss read what was written? But no, Martin has just done a marvelous story telling job. Parts of the book had me in tears. Parts of it had me feeling chilly in the middle of August. Many parts had me marveling that anyone, Ashley or Ben, could have been able to do what they did. This was a change of pace book for me--not my usual type--but I loved it and recommend it to all.
Bonnie and Clyde: The Making of a Legend is a new young adult book about one of America's most notorious couples. The book opens when Bonnie and Clyde are in their teens and have not yet met. From there it takes you (in chronological order) through car heists, robberies, murders, gun battles and prison breaks all the while portraying our pair as a nice young couple that seemed to get in trouble a lot. Our author must have used family interviews for her book. She seems intent on correcting some falsehood about Bonnie and Clyde and includes sections that let you know Bonnie was quite a poet and Clyde liked hot chocolate with marshmallows! This is a very readable account of these famous outlaws. The photos are a real bonus.
Ellie Mack was a typical 15 year old girl when she went missing. It has taken her mother, Laurel, almost ten years to recover from the shock, the betrayal and the loneliness of Ellie leaving but she has finally found a man she is interested in (her marriage ended shortly after Ellie went missing) and she is finally starting to realize what she did to her family and her life when she so totally shut down waiting for Ellie to be found. The tragedy comes in the form of the man she is seeing, his family, his daughter and the strange twist of fate that brings closure to the story.
Summer of Us is a young adult novel that takes 5 recent high school graduates on a two week trip across Europe. Aubrey is the planner, best friends with Rae and they have been planning this trip since middle school. Aubrey's current boyfriend, Jonah, is tagging along planning to see Europe before he heads to New York for College. Gabe and Clara round out our travel party--Clara with a secret crush on Rae and Gabe pining for Aubrey--just hoping to make some memories before college in Oregon. Our troop travel to Amsterdam, Rome, Paris and more and by the end of the two weeks they have strengthen some relationships, forged new ones and everyone has a slightly different view of their future. This was really an excellent read. The characters act their age but have an admirable maturity when it comes to their plans after high school. Their personalities mesh and clash in a totally believable and entertaining story 
Valerie is young woman with an unfortunate string of loser boyfriends. Valerie keeps the memories of these guys "buried" in the basement of her mind and drags their corpses out every once in a while to re-visit her failures and maybe to try and see what went wrong. The result is entertaining and oddly disturbing--you smile at a lot of the illustrations but come away with an overall feeling of loneliness and sadness.