Book #3: Jake's Choice

Title: Jake's Choice (Follow-up to "To Save a Life")

Author: Jim and Rachel Britts

Date started reading: Jan. 4, 2012
Date finished reading: Jan. 8, 2012

Publish date: Oct. 2010
ISBN: 978-1935541158
Number of pages: 320

Official summary: "The second novel in the To Save A Life series find Jake Taylor at college thousands of miles apart from his girlfriend Amy. Befriending a young girl with a traumatic history leads Amy back to the father who abandoned her. Jake's position on the Louisville basketball team lands him in the midst of parties, beautiful women and one decision that will shake him to the core. When everything Jake believes is challenged, will he go with the flow or stand alone for what is right? One choice will change everything" (http://www.outreach.com/products/Outreach-Books/Jakes-Choice-13627.aspx)

How I obtained the book: Given to me as a Christmas gift

Memorable quotes: The youth minister/friend to Jake says "How you doin'?" like Joey Tribbiani from the "Friends" TV show. The book just says that he said it in a Joey Tribbiani voice and doesn't explain who Joey was. Sadly, some teenagers (who this book is mostly aimed at) may have no idea who that is by just seeing the name. But regardless of that, since I did know who it was referring to, I could hear the minister doing his best Joey impression and laughed. It was pretty funny

• "(Men are) like bananas: They take a while to mature, but once they do... MmMmMmmm." ~ Cari (youth minister's wife)

My commentary: I loved the "To Save a Life" movie which the first book in this series was based on. I would love for them to make another movie based on "Jake's Choice," but I doubt they will. I really love how the authors include graphics in the book (more this one than the first). They do things that look like cell phone texts (see the image below), a personality quiz, internet chats, post-it notes, etc. Plus, I love the typography throughout the book. You'd think by the title and the description that the book would focus mostly on Jake, but half of it focuses on Amy. In the end, it was more Amy's choice that was the biggest dilemma (but Jake did have some major things come up). I struggled to get through the first half of the book; normally I'm a speed-reader, but I went rather slow with this one. My favorite part is when this old man who Jake meets named Buddy takes him to Chuck E. Cheese for a lesson on faith in God; Buddy turns skee-ball into a religious lesson (AWESOME!). I definitely see a third book ahead because they left it totally open for another book. Talk about a cliffhanger... Just a really random, stupid little observation: Every time it shows a phone text screen like the one below, the phone battery is always full with full tower strength. Call me crazy, but that doesn't seem realistic at all. I never have a full battery and full tower strength! Haha!

Buy on Amazon.com: Jake's Choice (To Save a Life)