*REVIEW* Miracle

Synopsis:

Megan survived the plane crash—but can she survive the aftermath? An intense, emotional novel from the author of The Unwritten Rule and Between Here and Forever.

Megan is a miracle. At least, that’s what everyone says. Having survived a plane crash that killed everyone else on board, Megan knows she should be grateful just to be alive. But the truth is, she doesn’t feel like a miracle. In fact, she doesn’t feel anything at all. Then memories from the crash start coming back. Scared and alone, Megan doesn’t know whom to turn to. Her entire community seems unable—or maybe unwilling—to see her as anything but Miracle Megan. Everyone except for Joe, the beautiful boy next door with a tragic past and secrets of his own. All Megan wants is for her life to get back to normal, but the harder she tries to live up to everyone’s expectations, the worse she feels. And this time, she may be falling too fast to be saved....

Miracle follows the story of Megan, a girl who is the sole survivor of a plane crash, and her journey as she tries to deal with all that has happened. Will Megan be able to pick up the pieces and find a way to move on with her life? Or will everyone's expectations of her throw her into a tailspin she may not be able to recover from?

The story begins when Megan wakes up to learn that she has survived a plane crash and that the other people with her on the plane did not make it. The problem? Megan doesn't remember the crash or what happened afterwards. Rather than coming clean with this fact, Megan lies to the doctors, her parents, and everyone, because a strange thing has happened... everyone is viewing her as a miracle, as a gift from God himself. And Megan is too afraid to let people down, not when they're looking at her as if she is a special gift from above.

As Megan goes through the motions of her day-to-day life, she starts to become more and more isolated. Something inside her is broken... and no one seems to notice. No one except Joe, a troubled neighbor dealing with his own issues of grief, loss, and an inability to move on. As flashes from the crash and aftermath start to assail Megan, will she be able to handle it, make peace with the events and move on? Or will she continue to unravel?

I'm really on the fence with this one. There was SO MUCH potential with this book for it to be a truly moving story. But for some reason, I just couldn't seem to get there with the main character. While I read about her pain and saw the images through her eyes, for some reason an emotional connection to her and her story was missing for me.

And let's talk frustration... I was SO frustrated with Megan's parents throughout this entire book. Maybe I can't relate because I don't have children and I can't imagine what it would feel like to be told that my daughter had died and then to find out that she had survived, but I wanted to smack them! HOW can you not insist that your child speak to a therapist after surviving such an ordeal? HOW can you sit by and watch her unravel, her interests and personality change, her stop hanging out with all of her friends, and DO NOTHING? I just found that so unbelievable. Yes, they're thrilled that their "Miracle" Megan survived but COME ON! The girl is clearly struggling with some serious PTSD and you're doing not a darn tootin' thing about it!

*deep breath* Maybe it's the counselor in me, but that really peeved me. All in all, the story wasn't bad and it could be worth a read. I'm hoping that it will touch some people emotionally in a way it didn't for me, because it's definitely powerful material.

Miracle releases June 5, 2012. A special thank you to Around the World Tours for the ARC.