Review: Girl Underwater

Title: Girl Underwater

Author: Claire Kells

Publisher: Dutton

Publication date: 03/31/2015

Stars: 5

Where to buy: Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Indie Bound

Summary: An adventurous debut novel that cross cuts between a competitive college swimmer’s harrowing days in the Rocky Mountains after a major airline disaster and her recovery supported by the two men who love her—only one of whom knows what really happened in the wilderness. 

Nineteen-year-old Avery Delacorte loves the water. Growing up in Brookline, Massachusetts, she took swim lessons at her community pool and captained the local team; in high school, she raced across bays and sprawling North American lakes. Now a sophomore on her university’s nationally ranked team, she struggles under the weight of new expectations but life is otherwise pretty good. Perfect, really.
That all changes when Avery’s red-eye home for Thanksgiving makes a ditch landing in a mountain lake in the Colorado Rockies. She is one of only five survivors, which includes three little boys and Colin Shea, who happens to be her teammate. Colin is also the only person in Avery’s college life who challenged her to swim her own events, to be her own person—something she refused to do. Instead she’s avoided him since the first day of freshman year. But now, faced with sub-zero temperatures, minimal supplies, and the dangers of a forbidding nowhere, Avery and Colin must rely on each other in ways they never could’ve imagined.
In the wilderness, the concept of survival is clear-cut. Simple. In the real world, it’s anything but.

Review: This book... so many things I want to say. From the beginning it's an extremely gripping tale. The book jumped around a bit. Which I normally hate. However, in the first half of this book it's perfect! I love that it does that. It gives you glimpses of what had happened and what is happening. At the end of the book I do not like it so much. It feels a little sloppy and can be a bit confusing. I really had a hard time following those parts. Like when they were drinking and things started to happen or the part near the end in which I cannot describe because I don't want to ruin it. I feel the beginning of the book was perfect. But once you got to the end it just seemed to fall apart. The story still worked but I had to re-read pages more than a couple times. I loved that she got back on the plane. I feel like she should have said something to the lady that laughed at her for saying something about a plane crash though. I loved this book so much that I do not know how to rate it based off of that. However, I was extremely satisfied with the epilogue. That is how I had hoped the book would go the whole way. It's a perfect fit. Colin I loved Colin. He is such a strong character. You love him from the very beginning. Well at least I did. Even when Avery tries to avoid him like the plague. I didn't like Lee so much. I didn't even know Avery had a boyfriend in the beginning of the book. She was talking about how hot Phil was. Lee as a person, he was a good guy. But I didn't like him because I didn't want them to be together. Those little boys were so strong and continued to be strong especially Tim. Then there was Avery although I am not a big fan of her name and I connected with Colin before I connected with her. She was amazing. When she wasn't strong Colin was. They were an amazing team getting through those 5 days together. She put too much on herself and she didn't want help at first after they were rescued. It took her a long time to heal. But she did, she finally accepted help. I would recommend this book based on that just be weary of the end.