Still Lolo

I recently read Still Lolo by Lauren Scruggs, the Scruggs family, and Marcus Brotherton. I had heard about Lauren Scruggs in the media and was interested in reading the whole story about what had happened to her, so I chose this book. In December 2011, she took a short plane ride to look at Christmas lights over Texas and walked into the propeller blades while disembarking the plane. Several surgeries followed, and she miraculously survived, mostly intact. Still Lolo skips back and forth between Lauren, her twin, her dad, and her mom. It details her childhood, her parent's marriage troubles, her life as a young adult, and of course, the accident and recovery period. I have to be honest about this book, but I'll detail the parts I liked about it first. This book was a very quick read (I read it in about 24 hours), definitely a page turner (since it kept flipping perspectives, you wanted to keep reading to find out what would happen next), and very interesting. Honestly, the most compelling part to me was about the homeless man her dad picked up who wrote the amazing predictions about their lives. I found that the most touching and interesting part of the entire book. I really enjoyed reading the portions about her parent's marriage struggles, divorce, and remarriage. I really want to read their book now. However, this book definitely had some issues. A major one for me was that the family seems to be at a high income level (huge houses, expensive neighborhoods, designer clothes, vacations, expensive colleges, etc. etc.). I absolutely cannot relate to this and it kind of put me off. Then towards the end of the book, I was shocked at her dad saying how he barely makes any money and they couldn't afford her medical bills - while Lauren's buying new designer clothes, getting her nails done, getting hair extensions, and going on a vacation. Definitely kind of a turn off. Then there's the issue that Lauren seems to be absolutely obsessed with her looks - clothes, hair, makeup, nails, you name it. It seems at odds with Christianity to be so obsessed over physical appearance. Now, the book does address this and says that she began counseling with a Christian program and some different things and is learning to let some of this go. However, it seemed a bit odd and I had trouble relating with portions of the book. Overall, it was definitely interesting and exciting to read. I'm sure some people will be able to relate with it more than others, though. It was worth reading for the meatier portions. I received a copy of this book from Tyndale Blog Network in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

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