fire | redpillows

About the Book:

Kilee Brookbank was a typical sixteen-year-old, thinking about school, soccer, her friends, and her boyfriend. But her last ordinary day erupted in an explosion that consumed her house, burning over 45 percent of her body and sending her to the very brink of death. After thirty-eight days of surgeries, skin grafts, perpetual physical therapy, and excruciating pain, she had to discover how to live again.

When Kilee returned home, she had to find a new “normal,” relearning how to tie her shoes, put on her makeup, and even turn a doorknob. In each moment of her long journey back to everyday life, she had to make choices that would define who she was and who she would become.

With unwavering support from her mom, Lori, and the rest of her family, Kilee faced her journey with determination, strength, and a positive attitude that inspired not only her community, but people around the world.

Told together by Kilee and Lori, Beautiful Scars is a story of recovery, healing, and hope, reminding us all that we’re never powerless, never alone, and that each challenge we face helps make us the people we are meant to be.

My Thoughts:

This story of 16 year old, Kilee Brookbank’s experience with skin burns and her positive outlook to fight back and live a fulfilling life is encouraging and inspiring. The idea to get her story out there, to teach people to love themselves in spite of how they look or the scars they bear is wonderful and I applaud Kilee for the same!

This book brings out the sequence of events from both Kilee’s POV and her mother, Lori’s POV, thus helping us to understand all sides of the story and the feelings of everyone involved. It is a scary thing that happened, but the way in which it was approached and dealt with, made a huge difference to the recovery.

How do you recover from the pain and shock of the burns to living a normal life again? How does someone accept that they no longer look the way they used to, they are different in many ways? All this is covered and shared in great detail. The strength and support of the family and the people around them is wonderful and this story of hope and healing tells us that we are not alone, as long as we do not hesitate to ask for help. There is always someone out there who has gone through what you are going through and there are support groups and help if we seek it out. This is a story of growth and healing of not only of Kilee but also of her family and her mother who stood by her and supported her. They treated her as a normal person, in spite of her burns and the difficulties she faced initially. She had to re-learn to do all the everyday things by herself and I think Lori deserves a huge amount of credit for her unwavering faith and support. The idea to help people deal with the trauma of burns and healing makes Kilee’s story worth a read!

About the Book:

Esper Files: The Sky Cult (Esper Files #2)

After the events of the first book, Freya has joined the Institute – an organization created to help Espers control their powers, and she thought she’d finally found peace.

That is, until Anti-Esper weapons find their way into the hands of The Coalition, a radical group who is determined to kill anyone with powers.
At the same time, the Sky Cult has arisen, claiming that Espers have the right to rule over lowly humans.
The timing couldn’t be worse, as all of this happens three days before Esper Day, the first holiday designed to show that humans and Espers can coexist.

Now Nathan, Freya and the team have to fight both organizations in a race against time before one of the radical groups tips the scales, and plunges the entire world into their own version of Armageddon.

My Thoughts:

Esper Files: The Sky Cult, picks up where the first book left off with Freya now a part of the institute, learning to control her powers as she tries to help keep the peace along with Nathan. After the end of the last book, we are introduced to some more villains or “the bad guys” as we normally refer to them. Their agenda at first seems quite clear, but as the story progresses, we realize that there is more to the front shown.

The Sky Cult is brought in for a specific purpose, but is that the whole point of this plot? Or is it just a diversion from the main plot line?

These are just some of the questions that may arise, but don’t worry, you’ll get your answers in due time. True to the author’s style of writing, the story is action packed from the beginning, with a lot of things happening, one of the most important being The Esper Day. As preparations go on, we are introduced to a few new characters and the truth about some of the old ones are revealed. The progression is wonderful and the story is fast-paced, ensuring that the reader remains hooked until the very end. Red Cap and The Phantom Thief are interesting characters who add more life to the story and the professor seems to be hiding more secrets than anyone. Nathan, with his ability to abosorb and replicate other Esper’s powers, once again manages to save the day, but at severe cost to his life. There are so many secrets surrounding him and his abilities and the importance Freya now has, that the story is quite intriguing. The concept of Esper’s, and the whole Institute concept reminds me of The X-Men and Professor Xavier!

The story ends with a twist as usual, leaving us with a longing for more and a rough idea of what all can happen next. There seem to be endless possibilities and this makes it even more fun to read!