Reading with CareerSage

To endure the loss of a child must be unbearable, especially to an unpredictable accident. Oscar was seven years old and the son of devoted parents, Rachel and James. On a beautiful morning on their yacht off their Bermuda home, they find their son missing. The Coordinates of Loss is told through two perspectives: Rachel's devastating grief and CeCe, the nanny/housekeeper. The majority of CeCe's chapters are written in the form of letters to Rachel. James is important but not as essential to the plot. It's Rachel's grief we feel. "She could hear her husband screaming louder than she had ever heard and in a way that was chilling, desperate. His lack of control and fear only fuelled her own. It was in that moment of realisation that Rachel Croft looked towards the horizon, weakened, weary and with the certain knowledge that her life had changed. It had changed forever." The journey through Rachel's grief is heartwrenching. The author, Amanda Prowse, ta...

The first thing a cult leader tells you is that nonbelievers are liars. And says that idea in many forms repeatedly. Moonbeam is a 17-year old survivor of a cult where she has been a member since she was five. The cult was destroyed in a fire with a few children as survivors. Told through Moonbeam's voice in Before and After perspectives, After the Fire is a story about power and corruption. How leaders who are charismatic figures can twist faith to serve their own ends. Ultimately, it’s a story about survival; more specifically, one girl’s way back after her world falls apart. I always wondered why cult followers weren't free thinkers, why they followed without hesitation their leader, like Father John, leader of Moonbeam's cult, Lord Legion. Learning about the cult is interesting but the plot follows Moonbeam's thoughts and feelings, her observations. With a mature perspective and the help and kindness of Dr. Hernandez and others, Moonbeam realizes the true n...

Teens think a lot about love. They talk about it, write about it, obsess about it. A Brief Chronicle does all three, especially the obsessing. Lu, the main character, is the portal of the obsession. This is her final summer before college, and her boyfriend just broke up with her.  Why? Because he didn't want to prolong the heartbreak. Lu accidentally meets Cal, and later his girlfriend, Iris. They are in the same situation as Lu but decided to love obsessively until the end of the summer. Lu is an online columnist writing about love. The column provides funds to make her college affordable. But Lu has trouble writing. Instead of writing, she eavesdrops - on the love story of Cal and Iris. And obsesses. If you enjoy reading the obsessive thoughts of a teen in love with the thought of love, you would like this novel. As Lu says, two teenagers "give that look to each other and no matter what kind of cynic you are, you start thinking only teenagers really understand lo...