Book #14 Week #12, Mockingjay (H.G. #3) by Suzanne Collins

If you have not read Mockingjay yet and if you are anything like me and won't even read the back cover of a sequel because you want to be totally surprised I suggest you stop reading now.

Mockingjay is a very intense book. In the beginning we learn that our beloved District 12 has been destroyed and not everyone was able to escape.  Those that did have been taken in by the mysterious District 13. But any illusions of District 13 being a hopeful, peaceful safe haven are quickly squashed. District 13 is an underground city and it is ran in a very military like order. The people of 12 were taken in as a means to increase the population of 13 rather than as an act of kindness and unity.

Also shocking while Katniss was rescued after the fall of the Quarter Quell, Peeta was captured by the Capitol. There are plans in the works to attempt a rescue and in the meanwhile, President Coin of 13 wants to use Katniss as the symbol of the revolution. Katniss struggles with this as she feels she has been used over and over again but finally gives in but with several conditions.

Things really take off from there. Katniss is being used in political campaign ads for the revolution while she is really itching to get in on the action and try to do some good. One of her conditions is that she'd be the one to kill President Snow who has been sending hidden messages to her and is using Peeta as a weapon against her. Katniss really struggles in this book. She suddenly feels untrusting of people she thought she knew so well. Relationships once set in stone now teeter on the brink of collapse.

I loved The Hunger Games series. Wonderful books with a strong female lead, who is not boy crazy and is trying to find out who she really is. And a quote:

"I drag myself out of nightmares each morning and find there's no relief in waking."

Now for something different. I want to let out my real thoughts on the ending but don't want to spoil anything so you can venture forward at your own risk ...... ***SPOILERS AHEAD***

Book #13 Week #12, Catching Fire (H.G. #2) by Suzanne Collins

If you have not read Catching Fire yet and if you are anything like me and won't even read the back cover of a sequel because you want to be totally surprised I suggest you stop reading now.

Catching Fire starts off with Katniss doing what she does best: hunting. However this time she is alone, Katniss is now rich and Gale is working in the mines so she is hunting for his family.  Today is the day Katniss and Peeta start their victory tour through all the districts but first Katniss is visited by President Snow. Pres.  Snow basically tells her that due to her stunt with the berries at the end of the Hunger Games there is now potential uprisings in the districts. It is up to her to put out the flames by really selling her love story with Peeta or else she will face dire consequences.

Long story short Katniss and Peeta see some very unnerving things on their tour. They decide to have a public marriage proposal to try and calm the people but it doesn't work and soon Katniss realizes she does not have the power to put a stop to the unrest.

Next thing we know it is time for the Quarter Quell, the 75th Hunger Games. Each quell has new and special rules supposedly written on note cards sealed in an envelope during the 1st Hunger Games.  President Snow opens the envelope for the 75th games and the new rule is that the tributes must be chosen from the victor pool of each district.  Since district 12 only has three victors and the only female is Katniss, I bet you can guess who is going back into the arena.

All I will say is this: the 75th games are just as intense and interesting as Katniss' first go in the arena, maybe more so. There is some sort of hidden agenda at work that everyone except Katniss and Peeta seem to know about. Major alliances are made and the ending is a stunner.

I loved, loved, loved, this book! And a quote:

“At some point, you have to stop running and turn around and face whoever wants you dead.The hard thing is finding the courage to do it.”

Book #12 Week #11, The Hunger Games #1 by Suzanne Collins

What? TWO number elevens? Yes that is right two books in one week. I finished The Red Garden on Friday afternoon and just the day before I was loaned a boxed set of The Hunger Games. This is another series I wasn't sure I wanted to read but I picked up book #1 on Friday night out of curiosity and planned only to read a chapter or two and save the rest for next week. But alas it couldn't be done! I flew through this book, it was just that good.

The Hunger Games is set in a future North America which has been destroyed and is now Panem. In the middle is the lavish Capitol surrounded by 12 districts. Each district has their specialty and our heroine sixteen year old Katniss Everdeen is from District 12, the coal mining district.  People are starving and ever since her father's death, five years before hand, Katniss has taken up hunting in the woods (which is illegal) to feed herself, her mom and her twelve year old sister Prim.

Every year for the past seventy-three years the Capitol has held the Hunger Games. One boy and one girl are chosen in random drawing from each district to compete in a fight-to-the-death battle. Despite it being her first year of eligibility and her name is only on one of thousands of slips of paper, Prim is picked as the female tribute from District 12. A panicked Katniss steps up an volunteers to take Prim's place.

Loved this book, full of suspense and excitement. It gives us a strong female lead who is not boy crazy and has flaws. But the book is not without love, Katniss has her admirers but she does not have a lot of time to really think about what she wants, who would when their whole life centers on trying just to survive? Seriously I cannot stop talking about and recommending The Hunger Games. Here is hoping the movie does the book justice!

“Here your dreams are sweet and tomorrow brings them true. Here is the place where I love you.”