2014 - Book 17

"If I Stay" - Oregon

This story was heartbreaking. A young girl, so full of promise, is involved in a tragic car accident. She then has an out-of-body experience where she can move around and witness what is going on around her, even though her body is in a coma. A couple of the nurses taking care of her tell her that is up to her to decide if she fights through and stays on this earth, or if she dies. I can't say that I agree with all of the religious or moral views of some of the characters in this book, but that didn't make me enjoy it any less. I thought the book was very well written and I was really able to connect with the characters. Also, as a budding cello player, I really liked the fact that she was fantastic at the cello . . . it makes me want to play more. Her love interest was good, the author kept it very PG-13, and everyone was described so well, it really made it seem like the reader could be part of the family too.

It seems this is getting turned into a movie, and a sequel is coming out as well. I don't think a movie will be able to do it justice, since so much is going on inside her head, but it might be interesting to see. As for the sequel, the first chapter was included at the end of this book, and I'm not looking forward to it too much (I'm a sucker happy endings and I'm not sure this one will be), but I am curious to see where the author takes the characters. Even though this is going to be a series, it is a good stand alone book, and you just try to keep from getting emotionally involved ;)

The recipes I have to share today are: pecan pralines and chicken nacho bake.

The pralines were not my favorite, but I might not have made them right. I guess I wanted them to be more chewy and caramel-like, but they weren't. They still had a good flavor, but since they aren't a very appealing color, they weren't a very big hit at the gathering I took them to either. They did take a bit longer to make and by the time I was finishing putting them on the parchment paper, they had cooled off and the oil had started to separate out of them resulting in very ugly pralines. Overall, the taste and time was just not worth it for me to make them again, oh well.

The chicken nacho bake on the other hand was very good and super easy to make. This is one recipe that could easily be made any night of the week. Easy and tasty . . . an excellent combinations.

Enjoy your week :)