3.5/5 stars
“I would kill for a cheeseburger. Honestly. If I stumbled across someone eating a cheeseburger, I would kill them for it.”
See here for a 5th Wave inspired burger recipe.
The Story:
After an alien attack on earth separates sixteen-year-old Cassie from her younger brother, she’s on a mission to save him. The 5th Wave is a suspenseful story chock-full of plot twists and plenty of teenage angst.
My Take:
My husband and I read this book out loud together, which was a fun experience. He’s a student on the same campus where I work, so we would spend the morning drive reading and then the walk to work musing, “What’s going to happen?” “Wait, was he an alien?” “No, so and so is definitely an alien.” “Nuh-uh!”
We also had a great time analyzing the characters and their underdeveloped prefrontal cortex motivations.
If you’re familiar with Gretchen Rubin’s Happier podcast, she has a segment at the end of each show in which she and her sister dole out a “gold star” and a “happiness” demerit. In this spirit, I would like to assign my own gold stars and demerits.
Spoilers begin here. You have been warned.
Evan Walker
Creepy-Stalker Demerit
Best-Chef-In-An-Apocalypse-Setting Gold Star (The kid made bread in an outdoor fire oven. That’s mad skillz.)
Cassie Sullivan
Fluff-Brain-When-Hot-Creepy-Stalker-Walks-In-The-Room Demerit
Loyalty Gold Star (I don’t have a little brother, but I may have possibly considered leaving him to the aliens.)
Ben Parish
Brain-Washed Demerit (Come on, Ben! Chris was definitely not an alien.)
Getting-The-Tough-Girl-To-Smile Gold Star (I retract that statement. Another demerit. You’re in the middle of battle, Ben! Get your head in the game and stop worrying about Ringer’s smile.)
Sammy Sullivan
Gold stars all around for adorableness and precociousness
The Novel Bakery 
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