“Hope, Healing and Faith” are the words that best describe this book about “the challenges of rebuilding lives after Hurricane Katrina.” The premise of this story is the tale of a man’s journey to recover his missing father, Charles, from the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. When he leaves Manhattan to find his father, Luke does not know whether he would find his father dead or alive. Based on his past relationship with his father, he is reluctant to go to New Orleans, but finds in the end that it was the journey he needed to for his life to start its second verse.

The Review:

Title: Recovering Charles

Author: Jason F. Wright

Author’s Website: http://www.recoveringcharles.com/index.html

Publisher: Shadow Mountain Publishing

Publisher’s Website: www.shadowmountain.com

Pages: 288 paperback

ISBN #: 978-1590389645

Type: Fiction

Jason F. Wright is a New York Times Bestselling Author of The Christmas Jars and The Wednesday Letters, both of which I have not read, but would like to after reading Recovering Charles. This story is about a man, Luke, who is a professional photographer living in Manhattan and in a relationship with his best female friend, Jordan (a saint of a woman, if you ask me!). The reader discovers that Luke lost his mother as a young man to her tragic overdose to sleeping medications as a result of depression. His father, Charles, never quite recovered from the death of his beloved and inevitably becomes an alcoholic.

Despite his childhood tragedies, Luke moves on to become a successful young man, avoiding alcohol and his father’s phone calls for more money to keep him “afloat.” In my opinion, Luke’s heart has grown hard to his past and his father. Luke gets that dreaded call, after Hurricane Katrina, from a friend of his father’s that Charles has, in fact, gone missing. As it had been more than 2 years since Luke’s last phone call with his father, he wasn’t convinced that Charles was in fact missing. Luke’s intuition told him that maybe Charles had moved along to another town, like he had done in the past. But, after speaking with his esteemed mentor and Jordon, he decides that it is worth the road trip to New Orleans to see if he can locate his father.

In New Orleans, Luke meets the people in his father’s life that seemed to know Charles the best during his period of recovery from alcoholism. These people knew Charles during his second chance at life and his renewed spirit of helping those around him. They aid in Luke’s search for Charles and accompany the reader through the trip through a devastated New Orleans after the levees broke.  What is remarkable to me about this book is that I read it so very quickly. It is a well written book, whose characters I got a strong sense of and a terrific visual of. The book is well written, poignant, and yet not overwhelming to the senses. The reader can walk with Luke through this journey and pull for him to write the second verse to Charles’ song, which will be the beginning of Luke’s life.

The Song:

love-me-if-you-can1

“Love Me if You Can”
Music and lyrics by Cherie Call

Tonight I tried to write the perfect song of love
But all the words I sang were blue
Because I’ve tried and I’ve tried to win you over
And I’ve done the best I can do
So we may never be together
But my heart is in your hands
And if you ever think about me in your long-lost dreams
Love me if you can

I know that you’ve moved on, it’s what you had to do
I never had the chance to say good-bye
It’s on my list of all the things I never said
It goes on for pages and it keeps me up at night
And my heart is missing pieces
That only you could understand

So if you ever think about it in your long-lost dreams
Love me if you can
So this song I sing is a little sad
And it’s unrehearsed
I just hope you hear that this broken life
Has had a second verse

‘Cause in those days gone by, I tried to build you castles
And maybe they just turned to sand
But if you can only love who you wished I could have been
I wish you knew it’s finally who I am
I remember how you needed me
And I know yesterday will never come again
But if you feel me reaching for you in your long- lost dreams
Love me if you can

BookClub Discussion Questions:

My Favorite Recovering Charles Book Club Discussion Questions

3. Charlie was sure that Luke would have a “love at first sight” experience just as he had with his wife. Discuss Luke’s relationship with Jordan and with Bela. How are they different? How are they the same? Do you agree with Charlie that “love at first sight” is possible? I do believe that love at first sight is both possible and probable. There is an inexplicable connection with the person that your soul is meant to be with. Luke had that with Bela, but more of a comfortable, logical relationship with Jordan.

8. Charlie called them premonitions; Luke called them dreams. Is there a difference between them? How did Charlie’s premonitions influence his behavior and beliefs?  Do you feel they dictated his actions in any way? For some, I would say “yes, there is a difference.” For others, they are one in the same. Most of my dreams are premonitions and you can feel the difference between them and the simple “stress” dreams that your subconscious lets out for the sake of your sanity in your sleep. Charlie was in-tune with his spirit and his dreams, he knew the importance of them.

10. Why is it so important to say good-bye? I’m not sure that it is. Sometimes goodbyes are harder than living with what is. This is a question that will take more thinking on my part… but, one for all of us to consider.

On Sher’s “Out of Ten” Scale:

This book, well it’s lovely. I would most definitely recommend it. Jason F. Wright has a fantastic blog, which readers can access via the book website. It’s soft and easy like a song… yet makes you think, remember and long for that heart inside where you are true to yourself. If I were to place it in the American Fiction Genre, I’d give it, within that genre, an 8 out of 10. Thank you, Penny of Author Marketing Experts for the opportunity to read and review this ARC.

You can purchase this book for $14.93 at Amazon.com by clicking here.

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