The Pact

This book is still amazing! I have about 100 pages to go and am very excited to find out what happens in the end! Throughout the part I read, Gus and Michael begin to talk a lot about what has happened in their lives. They both really need to talk about Emily's death and Chris's jail experiences, but their spouses refuse to talk about what has happened. James is acting like nothing happened because that is how he was raised: in a bad situation, pretend like it never happened. Melanie is trying to keep her daughter's death off her mind as much as possible and refuses to talk about it. This is very understandable, but how can you keep something this important and upsetting to yourself for so long? Melanie also does not want to believe that her daughter was suicidal, so she assumes that Chris killed her. She treated him like a son before Emily's death and really cares about him. She is taking her anger out on Gus. She refuses to even speak to Gus because she "thinks" that Chris killed her daughter. Additionally, we learn that Chris never even knew that Emily was pregnant and Chris's lawyer, Jordan, is using this as one of the main defenses. This would most likely be the only reason Chris would actually kill Emily: he wouldn't want her to have the baby and then would have killed her, but he didn't even know. Jordan's investigator, Selena, also goes to Emily's school to talk to Emily's art teacher, Emily was a great artist, about Emily. She sees a painting of skulls, red and black that is labeled "Self portrait". This is a very good sign that Emily was suicidal and did kill herself that night and Chris didn't. He loved her more then anything and said he would have married her if she would have had the baby. Emily knew that he would do this (she wrote it in her journal), so that might have been the reason she killed herself.

The Pact

I am still very much enjoying this book! A lot happened in the section I read! The police suspect that Chris has killed Emily, so he is in jail. You can tell by how freaked out he is and how was freaking out when he got taken away that he didn't do it. You also start to see the relationship between Emily and Chris close to her death. They have a fight and then Chris does something stupid with another girl and realizes what he really wants; to be with Emily. Emily is incredibly upset about the fight and cuts Chris's initials into her wrist. You realize how important he is to her. They are "two halves of a whole" as Emily's mom says. Chris said that Emily was suicidal and that he gave her the gun that she needed to kill herself, but he tried to talk her out of it and did this by showing her that it could happen when she wanted, to scare her. But, she did it anyway. I think that she was suicidal when she knew that she could not be with Chris. This book is called "The Pact" maybe because Emily and Chris were destined to be together forever and maybe for something that happened. Maybe there was a pact between Chris and Emily about her death.

The Pact

I have gotten to the 100 page mark of the book and I am continuing to really enjoy it! Jodi Picoult switches from funny flashbacks to the depressing present times. This is perfect for me because I like books and other things like movies and tv shows that are funny but also have serious and depressing parts. This is also a very good format for the books in general because after the sad parts, there is a funny part to cheer you up. I think Jodi Picoult did a great job with this. There are many relationships in this book. Both couples, the parents, usually have great relationships. The story behind Emily and Chris's relationship is really cute. They both really care about each other at every age. They never went through the "cooties" stage. They both deeply care about one another and will do anything for each other. In one scene, they have their first kiss on New Years at midnight. It is really sweet and romantic! In the present parts of the book, Melanie, Emily's mom, will not speak to her best friend of 17 years and neighbor, Gus, Chris's mom. The police think that Chris killed Emily because he was seen next to her body and next to the gun. Everyone knows this is not true, but Melanie still won't talk to Gus because she doesn't want to believe that her daughter was suicidal. She knows that Chris would never do anything to hurt Emily, but she just doesn't want to believe the truth.

The Pact by Jodi Picoult

I recently started The Pact by Jodie Picoult and I like it so far. I have gotten several recommendations for this book, which is the main reason I started it. I also wanted to read another Jodi Picoult book ( I have already read My Sister's Keeper and very much enjoyed that!) I like this book because I really like realistic fiction and books where creepy/scary things happen. This book takes place in a small town and there are two families, the Hartes and the Golds. The Hartes' have a son, Chris, and the Golds have a daughter, Emily. The families are neighbors. So far in the book, you see the spark of the relationship between the Hartes and the Golds. some parts of the book take place in the future and some in the past. They also show the families' relationships with each other now. I can tell they are very close; they have table reserved for them Friday nights at the Chinese restaurant, which I thought was really funny. The book also talks about how Emily and Christopher were in an accident and Emily got shot. Jodi Picoult describes the bullet hole in detail, which really freaked me out. Emily and Chris had been dating at the time of the accident, after they had already grown so close throughout the years, but at this point in the book, I don't know what Chris's reaction is. I am excited to find out and and to keep reading!

Speak 3

I just finished Speak and I really liked it!!!! Melinda is a very shy character throughout the book, but at the end she really starts to come out of her shell. She makes another friend, Ivy, who she was friends with before she lost all of her friends. She also sticks up to Heather, after Heather dumps her as a friend and then wants Melinda to help her decorate for the Prom, and she sticks up to Andy, who raped her. He gets really mad at her and then tries to rape her again but she fights back and screams and eventually gets him away. The lacrosse team comes to help her and she befriends them too. Also, throughout the book, you see how her art evolves. She needs to make art about a tree and struggles with this the entire time.  At the end, she finally perfects this tree, the last minute of school. This was not the best book to be reading at the beginning of high school because Melinda has horrible experiences though her freshman year, but she grew a lot from her freshman year and I hope I do too. I very much enjoyed this book!!