The Chance You Won't Return.

☆☆☆☆☆

The Chance you won't return

annie cardi

Publisher  Candlewick Press

Publication Date:February 3,2014

Genre:YA Contemporary Romance| Psychology

Format|Pages:Hardcover|352

 Source: Library | Goodreads.

When your mom thinks she's Amelia Earhart, navigating high school, first love, and family secrets is like flying solo without a map.



Driver's ed and a first crush should be what Alex Winchester is stressed out about in high school - and she is. But what's really on her mind is her mother. Why is she dressing in Dad's baggy khaki pants with a silk scarf around her neck? What is she planning when she pores over maps in the middle of the night? When did she stop being Mom and start being Amelia Earhart? Alex tries to keep her budding love life apart from the growing disaster at home as her mother sinks further into her delusions. But there are those nights, when everyone else is asleep, when it's easier to confide in Amelia than it ever was to Mom. Now, as Amelia's flight plans become more intense, Alex is increasingly worried that Amelia is planning her final flight - the flight from which she never returns. What could possibly be driving Mom's delusions, and how far will they take her?


 

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Mental Illness is a tough subject to deal with, especially if it’s happening to someone that you love. Even though it not something I am too familiar with, I can relate to it slightly and imagine what Alex must gone through during the difficult time. Though I can’t even begin to imagine if your mother starts to think she is someone else, and thinks of you as someone else instead of your daughter. I don’t know how anybody can deal with such situation. In a way, Alex became the mother, watching her mother to make sure she doesn’t walk off or lose it, along with watching her younger siblings since her father got occupied with the job. How could anyone deal with something like that? Especially when she has other things that she got deal with it, top of everything. She had her moments but I believe that Alex handled herself well, and dealt with her mother pretty well. She always made sure that she was safe, always looked out for her even if her mother believed she was Amelia Earhart. The Chance You Won’t Return was much more than I expected to be. It was real. It had you wondering what’s going happen next. Would she get better? The novel had you on edge of your seat from the first sentence till the last, and even then you will find yourself asking : What happens after? The novel shows you that your life can change in most unexpected way.



I didn’t know much about Amelia Earhart, there were few facts that I was aware about her. Once I read The Chance You Won’t Return it felt like I learned much more about her, that I was aware of before. I believe because there was so much references to her in book, especially when her mother were planning all her trips, and then Alex researched on her. Just so she could somehow bond with her mother, even if at time she didn’t believe that she was one. I felt like at times Alex had easier time talking to her when she believed that she was Amelia then before everything crumbled down in front of her. I enjoyed all Amelia Earhart Quotes in beginning of each chapter, it made me feel a bit more connected to her and understand her a bit more. Plus, a teen’s mother thinking she is Amelia Earhart out of blue? That’s the most original idea that I read about, at least when it comes to mental illness. That’s when caught my attention first, not the cover, not the title but the summary. The first sentence in the summary had me hooked to the book already. Cover is pretty intense too; you can tell that the story itself is going be pretty hard, sad subject. It’s dark, the girl is by herself while plane flying in distance. If summary didn’t catch my attention first, the cover would have.



Jim was one character that I liked from the start. Of course like almost everyone else in story, I did wonder why and how he managed to run into his house. At first I did wonder what his intentions with Alex was, after all he barely spoke a word to her, before now. At same time, as time progressed, when he began helping her to practice driving and fact how they could talk so easily with each other, I saw a connection there. If it wasn’t for him helping her since her father was too busy, I don’t think that she would got over her fear of driving and passed. Jim cared about her, maybe even loved her. He helped her during Halloween and after she confessed what going on with her mother, he helped. He went along with it, he didn’t judge her. That’s love right there and it’s a couple that belong together. In a way, without knowing he helped her deal more with what was happening at home. I am sure he would helped her more if she told him sooner. I loved the scenes between the two of them, most of them was one of the times that I was actually smiling while reading the book.



It’s hard to believe that this was Annie’s debut book. It was both breathtaking and heartbreaking. A novel about family, friendship, love, acceptance and changes. You will cry, you will feel angry at times. The Chance You Won’t Return is worth every page.