223. Survive by Alex Morel

Survive by Alex Morel
Published August 2012 Hardie Grant Egmont

From the publisher:
Jane is running away from everything. From the facility she's been living in, from her pain, from her guilt, from life. She boards a plane to Montclair, New Jersey, though her destination does not matter - she doesn't plan to be alive when the plane lands. Jane has planned the perfect suicide. She'll fall asleep on the plane and never wake up. But as she's reaching for her pills in the tiny bathroom, the plane hits turbulence. Another jolt, the engine's down. The plane crashes into the cold, remote mountains of Montana, and Jane and a boy named Paul are the only two survivors. It took a brush with death to make Jane realise that she didn't want to die. But now there is snow, mountains, cliffs, little food and no water standing between life and death. And suddenly it's not just Jane. There is another person in the equation and she needs to get them both to safety. She needs them both to survive.

When we meet the main character of Jane Solis, she is leaving the institution  where she has been living for the last year. Jane is at Life House because she  had an 'incident', a suicide attempt. One year later, she has been doing all the right things, giving all the right answers because she wants the chance to leave and visit home for Christmas.  Jane's plan is not to spend time with her mother, but to end it all by overdosing on the flight.

This book has two very different elements. There's the emotional journey that Jane and Paul are on and the very real journey the two have to face when they battle the elements in the hope that they get off the mountain.

To say this book is a bit cliched may be an understatement. A suicidal teenager, one of only two survivors of a plane crash, now fighting for her life. Luckily the other survivor is a climbing enthusiast. The two start off at odds with each other, but of course they fall in love.

All cliches aside, I enjoyed this book. It was an easy read and really quick to get through. It manages to tug on your heart strings and keep you at the edge of your seat.

Who will like this book: Girls age 15+
Read it if you like: Siberia by Ann Halam