REVIEW--172 Hours on the Moon

I'm back!  I took about a week hiatus because my family went on vacation, but now I'm home and back in the swing of the ol' routine!

Summer--I have such a love/hate relationship with it.  So much makes me happy about summer--my birthday, my kids' birthdays, my anniversary, slushies, pasta salad, late sunsets, swimming.  But there's always a few downers with my summers, too.

For example, last summer I had my beautiful second-born son, Cedar.  And then I got mastitis over and over and was pretty much miserably sick for 6 weeks.

And this summer so far...

We had Cedar's one-year birthday party--a sweet celebration with everything revolving around the letter C.  A very blessed day, indeed!

C for crown!  And C for Cedar!

And of course we went on vacation.  We drove the 12-ish hours down to Pawley's Island, South Carolina, a peaceful community about 30 minutes outside the much-busier Myrtle Beach.  It was a week of relaxing on the beach, going to Brookgreen Gardens (one of my FAVORITE places on Earth to just wander and think), and eating plenty of shrimp.  A great time for sure!

The largest of all the sculptures at Brookgreen, Pegasus.

My beach boys.

And then our washing machine died, our dryer threatened to follow, our van needed unexpected major repairs, and I got a HORRIBLE stomach gastro-something from the trip home.  Blah blah blah.  So expect the unexpected with the good, huh?

But like I said, I'm back at it, and today's post is a review of 172 Hours on the Moon by Johan Harstad.  I was intrigued by this book because I get totally freaked out by space sometimes.  Not having complete control over your movements, possibly getting sucked into the great unknown, the complete silence...*shivers.*  And this book is part sci fi/part thriller.

• Sci Fi / Thriller
• Standalone novel

See the cover?  So creepy with the giant eyeball, right?  Look inside the eye and you'll see an astronaut on the left and then a figure on the right who just happens to be surviving on the moon without any astronaut garb...creepy!

The Gist:
NASA hasn't been getting much attention lately, so to gain support from the public, it holds a one-of-a-kind lottery: it is going to send 3 teenagers into space.  Yes, teens from all over the world simply have to enter their name into the lottery and they could possibly join a space crew that will spend 172 hours on the moon.  The winners?  Mia, a Norwegian who wants her band to get attention through her space-traveling fame, Midori, a Japanese girl who just wants to escape her parents' stifling lifestyle, and Antoinie, a Parisian who was just dumped by the love of his life.  But what these three teens (and the public) don't realize is that NASA may have more behind their supposed motivation for sending a crew to the moon...and the crew just may not get to return home.

What I Loved:

• Like I said, a really cool and creepy concept to me.  Getting stuck on the moon--just gives me chills!
• I actually love the fact that none of the three teens are Americans.  I think we tend to always assume that Americans will win a spot in everything, and that isn't always the case.
• The book was pretty scary and definitely had surprises in characters and plot.  Kept me on my toes.

What I Didn't Love:

• The point of view shifted so often within paragraphs, which got frustrating at times.  I just didn't feel like the characters could be as developed with all this shifting.
• And speaking of characters, I thought they were a little annoying.  Mia was rude and angry, Antoine was wimpy, and Midori was immature.  I wasn't too invested with any of them.
• The ending was unsettling and left me wanting more.  Gah, I hate that!

A creepy, solid read even though I didn't love the style.

How do you feel about outer space and traveling into the unknown?

Tomorrow I'll be showing off an outfit from my vacation, and then I'll be back later this week with an outer space-inspired outfit!  See you then!