Looking for Alaska: The Things We Do For Love

This novel was recommended to me after reading The Fault in Our Stars. It was my first John Green book and I was engrosed.  When my sister told me I should read Looking for Alaska, I told her I was worried it wouldn't live up to my first John Green experience.   After reading it, I've learned that just like a first love,  you always have a special place for a first novel in your heart, but can still love other reads by the same author and get complete different kinds of enjoyment out of them.

This is a boy meets girl story. He finds the girl of his dreams, a friendship blossoms,  and following one of the most monumental points of their relationship,  she is gone.  Looking for Alaska is a gripping tale of friendship, life, and love.

Miles Halter, is in need of a change in his nonexciting life.  He desires to find his "Great Perhaps" and leaves for boarding school in Alabama.  Once he arrives, Miles meets his roommate and new best friend Chip, called the Colonel, and is immediately introduced to a new school with new customs.  As Miles, now called Pudge (which is funny considering the guy is a twig) , acclimates to his new life, he meets her. The bold, the beautiful, Alaska.  Everything about her lures him into her sometimes cool, sometimes mysterious, sometimes complicated life. 

Pudge (Miles) develops a bond with Alaska and his newfound friends after he is the victim of his welcome prank.  Pranks are a big part of what keeps things moving in this academically acclaimed school.  It's the cool kids verses the regulars and you have to watch your back.  But these pranks seem meaningless on the night of one of the most pivotal points for Pudge, Alaska,  and their friends.   He finds his great perhaps and is lost within hours after. Nothing will ever be the same for this group of friends.  After a phone call and tears, Alaska is gone. 

Find out what happened to Alaska, Pudge's path leading up to losing Alaska,  and the path after she is gone.  You will not be dissapointed as this novel will leave you reflecting on life, last words, and finding your Great Perhaps.