Happy to be Alive, Because - by Chelsea Jacobs

About the book: 

Avery is a seventeen-year-old girl whose reality has just been shattered by the death of her mother. Feeling a desperate need to flee from what has become her life, she follows a travel plan meant for her mom and her that leads her to the little beach town where her mom grew up. It's there that she meets a group of three adventurous friends who adopt her into their circle, allowing her to experience a summer she never thought would be possible after suffering such a great loss. Unfortunately, her summer full of experiences threatens to end abruptly when she realizes that one of the three has a secret that causes her to question everything about the new life she has been building.

Avery must learn to balance her grief and her desire for a future in order to achieve her mother's final wish for her: That she would be happy to be alive.

My review:  This is a funny, but also heart-wrenching story that made me both laugh and cry.  I love the theme of living life to the fullest and not taking the little things for granted.  I can't imagine experiencing a loss so profound and I'm very close to my mom as Avery was, so it was too easy to see how I might feel if I was to lose my mom.  Avery thinks a lot and there is a lot of sorting through emotions and feelings in the story.  I liked her a lot, especially her quirks and I loved the group of friends she meets.  Major is hilarious and so is his sister.  They really came alive and I loved how they treated her and especially how sweet and understanding Rob was with her.  I love the ocean and I so want to move to this beach town!  I did wish we got to see Rob's perspective of their relationship.  There's a little bit about faith, but it seems very vague and I found it sad that Avery doesn't seem clear on if there's a Heaven or where her mom is.  I was hoping for more of a spiritual message.  This was more of a clean read than a Christian book.  There's an interesting couple of twists as it seems Rob is keeping a secret and her mom was, too.  I would recommend this book for girls from teen to young adult!

I received this book free from Litfuse Publicity in exchange for an honest review.

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About the author: 

Chelsea grew up with an immense love for words---both reading them and writing them. She obtained her degree in English and has spent the time since then getting married to her high school sweetheart and chasing adventure so she'll have something to write about. When she's not drinking copious amounts of coffee while writing, she spends her time reading, playing with her puppy named Gatsby, and dreaming, always dreaming.

Chelsea can be found at: website, Twitter