Survival by A.M. Hargrove

Survival by A.M. Hargrove
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was so full of emotion. I laughed, I cried (yep, really did), and then laughed some more!

The characters were well thought out, each with their own personality and each easily identified, which was important in the last chapters where we get different points of view all thrown in together. Surprisingly, the author did a terrific job with that, and it was not confusing at all. You always knew who was speaking all the time; that's sometimes hard to do.

The main character, Maddie, was fun and seemingly carefree, but she had some hurts to get past, namely losing her mom and dad, and really kept her emotions and feelings bottled up. She was so easy to like and so easy to relate to. I felt there were inconsistencies with Maddie's character, though, in that at times she seemed so strong and fiery, able to stand up for herself, and other times it was like she was the one from another planet and too immature for the character that had being built.

Rayn was sweet and caring, definitely a guy you could fall in love with. I loved reading from his point of view the best. He loves Maddie so much but is so conflicted over his feelings for her. In the end, you know that he would do anything for her.

I love having different points of view in a story, and Survival did not disappoint. The author did a great job of transitioning from one point of view to the next without being confusing. The only thing I really did not like was when we switched from Maddie's to Rayn's point of view for the first time we went back and had to re-read everything that had already happened all over again, this time from a different perspective. While that is not always a bad thing, I think that in this book it did not really change anything about the story or give us any new information, other than maybe show us Rayn's feelings for Maddie, which could have been done without going back so far.

One thing that was absolutely amazing in this book was the imagery. The descriptions of the scenery, the mountains, etc., was so beautiful, I wished I was there. The author did a great job creating this world, and even though I'm not a hiker, I could picture the mountains and trails in my head as I was reading.

I really enjoyed the author's writing style. It was simple and easy, which went well with the flow of the story. My only real complaint about this book would be…the end! I cannot believe we were left hanging! Good thing the next book in the series is now out!!

Interview with author A.M. Hargrove:
http://makingconnectionsgroup.blogspo...

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