Miracle by Elizabeth Scott

Miracle by Elizabeth Scott
Simon Pulse; (June 5, 2012)
ISBN-10: 1442417064
ISBN-13: 978-1442417069
224 pages
Ages 14+
Buy Here for $10.98
My Rating: 3/5
Summary from GoodReads: 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....

The Verdict: Elizabeth Scott is one of my absolute favorite authors. She's also one of the few who I have had personal contact with. So when she announced the release of miracle, I preordered it. But I just now was able to sit down and read it...

I knew going in, this book was going to be a lot heavier than my preferred choices. And while it was beautifully written as I always expect of Scott, it was a very hard book for me.

Now Elizabeth is no stranger to writing triggering pieces. A simple google search can enlighten you to the whole drama involving a certain feminist magazine and her Living Dead Girl, which in full disclosure I haven't read along with a few of her other "darker" books. Most of her recent stuff is pretty heavy actually and not my cup of tea.

I keep hoping she'll go back to the style of her early pieces. Where her books filled that void while waiting for the next Sarah Dessen to come out. No such luck yet. 

And I totally understand her current point of view. She has been going through some pretty scary personal health issues for a few years now. And in fact it wasn't till working on Miracle that she realized she suffered from PTSD. So this book is very close to her heart.

For me though, it was hard to get through :-\ I feel like part of it is because the whole book is about the emotional spiral instead of the help. If I didn't understand what emotional illness felt like nor suffered from anxiety, maybe it would feel cool to get sucked into the head of someone with PTSD; to be able to truly empathize with them. But that's not something I enjoy or need because living with anxiety is to close to reality for me. I read to help me escape my overactive brain and anxiety.... I don't need my books amplifying those feelings. 

Another deterrent was the mother in this book. Basically every time she entered the storyline, I cringed.  She was no help to her daughter emotionally and her basket case views toward God and miracles drove me up a wall. It was really irritating to read any scene she was involved in.
So while Miracle is an amazingly written book, it wasn't a favorite for me :-/