Author: Todd Burpo with Lynn Vincent

Publisher: Thomas Nelson

ISBN: 978-0-8499-4615-8

Publish Date: November 2, 2010

Pages: 162 Trade Paperback

Type: Biography: Religious

Purchase: $8.75 at Amazon.com

Review

After a minister’s son undergoes emergency appendectomy and nearly loses his life, Colton Burpo begins to reveal to his parents the tale of his visit to heaven while in the hospital.  At the young age of 4 years old, he begins to describe to his parents events of his out of his body experience.  For example, he tells them what he witnessed them doing in another section of the hospital while he was in surgery.   He then begins to share with him the glory of heaven and all that had witnessed, including meeting his great-grandfather and unborn sister.  Colton describes in great detail how angels appeared, what Jesus looked like, and the glorious beauty of heaven.

As Colton shares the details of his visit, these provided facts to his father mirror the words which are stated in the Bible.  At his young age, he had not yet read or heard about such things.  Some of the sweeter points of the book were how Colton described that nobody is old in heaven and everybody appears as their best self.  He held such a vivid image in his mind of the way that Jesus appeared, that he claimed that Jesus didn’t look like most of the pictures that were shown to him.   However, upon meeting a young female artist who had also claimed to have seen Jesus and subsequently painted his portrait, Colton confirmed that image as being what Jesus truly looked like.   Colton also shares his amazement of how “really, really big” God is. 

After reading similar tales such as 90 Minutes in Heaven, this story mirrors other books which I have read before about eye-witness accounts of God’s heavenly home for us.  It doesn’t provide a complete validation that there is, in fact, truly a heaven.  However, the book makes a strong case for believing in it. 

Rating

For Christians, a book such as this is a loving reminder of what we have to look forward to after we have finished our earthly life.   For non-believers, I maintain that this book will, at minimum, raise eyebrows and make them consider the possibility of life in heaven after death.  Children of such a young age cannot muster up the facts that Colton was able to bring forth to his parents out of a simple imagination.  Colton was even able to identify a picture of “Pop” after meeting him in heaven (as he had never met him in life).  This boy was also able to reaffirm the greatness and glory of God and heaven.  It was the perfect reminder during the Christmas holiday season of my Christian faith and of what I have to look forward to.

Author:  Nicholas Sparks

Publisher:  Grand Central/Hachette

ISBN #:  978-0-446-54765-9

Type:  Fiction

Pages:  292 Hardback

Publish Date:  October 11, 2011

Website:  http://nicholassparks.com/

Purchase:  $14.26 (HERE) 

The Story

In the small town of Oriental, North Carolina, people tell lies, capture secrets and hold revenge in their hearts.  Like other small towns, some of its citizens move away and start lives anew.  They move away to escape their secrets and avoid the hurts that once held them captive.  Yet, despite their relocations, their roots are tied to their hometown and the love that bounds them there.  Amanda and Dawson are two such people.  Both moved away from Oriental to start their lives over again.  However, neither of them chose the life that they had dreamed of in high school, when they were completely and solely in love with one another.

Amanda Collier came from a wealthy family whose sights were set on her going to college and marrying well.  Dawson Cole was born into a less fortunate family.   Despite her family’s unwillingness to accept or approve of their relationship, Amanda fell deeply in love with her once-in-a-lifetime soul mate.  He was an outcast from a renegade, criminal-minded family with a bad reputation which proceeded them.  He left his home and moved in with Tuck, a local auto-mechanic.  He kept his meager room and board by working, the majority of the proceeds of which were stolen by his menacing, threatening family.   Luckily Tuck understood and allowed Dawson to stay with him.  It was there that Amanda would come and visit Dawson.  Tuck was the constant, supportive friend who was seemingly always there for Dawson and, later, for Amanda.

Years after life had separated their great love due to instance of tragedy, Amanda and Dawson were brought back together via Tuck’s passing.   As they meet up at his home to sort out his belongings and attend his funeral, they were faced with messages from  Tuck.  He knew and loved them both.  As such, he had letters filled with words of wisdom and love for each of them as they rediscover the long-lost love they had for one another.  Although they are able to face this great love and open their hearts to one another, their fates would take their worlds in directions they could never imagine.

The Review

The Best of Me is one of the best novels to come from Nicholas Sparks.  What amazed me the most about this read was the way in which Sparks painted such a vivid, vital cast of characters, all of which the reader wants to learn the fate of.  Like most small towns, everybody is related to another in some manner and this story provided that same feel… that everything and everybody in the story were connected.   In following the fates of these characters, Sparks surprises the reader with not always providing the anticipated results as the pages turned.  Rather, what the reader anticipated didn’t always materialize in the expected way.

The twists & turns, the underlying love story, the uniquely imaginable characters, and the well synchronized story telling cumulate into a heartfelt and memorable novel.

The Rating

On Sher’s “Out of Ten Scale,” I am giving The Best of Me a rating of 9 out of 10.  It has all of the components that a good novel needs… love, family, tragedy,  spirituality and betrayal.  A seasoned writer, Nicholas Sparks provides it all!

Disclosure to new readers: I’m a HUGE Nicholas Sparks fan!  I LOVE LOVE LOVE Nicholas Sparks.  I have read all of his books, own all of his books and the movies based off of them! 

Works By Nicholas Sparks

• Safe Haven
• The Wedding
• Wokini
• The Last Song
• The Lucky One
• The Choice
• Dear John 
• At First Sight
• True Believer
• Three Weeks With My Brother
• The Wedding
• The Guardian
• Nights In Rodanthe
• A Bend In The Road
• The Rescue
• A Walk To Remember
• Message In a Bottle
• The Notebook

Author: Emily Giffin

Publisher: St. Martin’s Press

Website: http://www.emilygiffin.com/

Type: Fiction: Chick Lit

ISBN #: 978-0-312-55417-0

Pages: 368 Trade Paperback

Purchase: $10.19 at Amazon.Com

The Story Line

Tessa Russo is the stay-at-home mother of two small children and married to Nick, a well known plastic surgeon.  Little did she know that on the night of their wedding anniversary, her life would change indefinitely.

Valerie Anderson is a single working mother.  Despite being on her own, she has become a successful attorney.  She is very protective over her only son, Charlie.  Charlie is invited to a sleep-over birthday party at a friend’s house.  While she believes that he is too young for that, she reluctantly agrees to let him go.  The unimaginable happened that night and her son was severely injured.

Nick Russo was the surgeon assigned to Charlie’s case.  Unbeknownst to Tessa, as he works to heal Charlie, he builds a strong friendship bond with Valerie.Even with his best intentions set forth, Nick is tested by his feelings for Valerie.   Tessa struggles to ensure that her marriage remains strong and healthy despite the fact that she feels innately that something is just not right.  All three of them are faced with the challenge of making not only the best decisions, but the right ones as well, while being true to their hearts.

My Review

I am a true fan of Emily Giffin’s books.   She’s well known for her book Something Borrowed, which is now out in theatres.  The sequel to this novel was Something Blue, which earned a 9 out of 10 in my review of it.  Baby Proof followed these two novels and scored high on my list.  Another favorite is Love the One You’re With. The Heart of the Matter had a much different feel than the prior novels.  It was more serious in nature, but contained the depth you crave in a novel.  With well-developed characters and great twists in the plot, this novel measured up to Giffin’s prior works.  Even under the worst of circumstances for these characters, you find yourself pulling for them.  You wanted redemption and love to win.

On Sher’s “Out of Ten Scale”:

The truth of the matter is that I very much enjoyed this book.  Her next work is entitled Where We Belong and readers are treated to an excerpt of that book at the end of this paperback edition.   Giffin has made a lifetime fan of me and The Heart of the Matter measures up to her list of great works.

Author: Kim Gruenenfelder

Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin

ISBN: 978-031261459-1

Publish Date: December 21, 2010

Type: Fiction: Women’s

Purchase: $8.81 at Amazon.com

Be Aware of What You Pull Out of a Cake!

Have you ever been to a bridal shower in which you participated in a “cake pull?”  In this fantastic novel, a bride carefully makes a cake that holds silver charms in each slice.   Each charm is tied by a ribbon that the guest pulls out of their slice of cake to learn a fortune of their future.  Nicole, the bride, believes that these charms will magically change the future of each of her guests.  For example, if a friend was to pull the baby carriage, then a baby was in her future.  Nicole painstakingly arranges the cake to match her seating chart for the bridal shower so that the each charm she chose for her friends match their destiny.  However, the cake gets accidentally shifted and nobody gets the charms intended for them.

Nicole’s best friends, Seema and Melissa, are disappointed to pull the shovel and the chili pepper, respectively.  Nicole is even more disappointed when she pulls the baby carriage charm.  After all, she is marrying the love of her life, Jason, who happens to bring two darling daughters to the marriage.  Nicole had picked out the chili pepper for Seema so that she would have a steamy-hot love life while she chose the engagement ring for Melissa so that she would tie the knot with her long-time boyfriend of 6 years.  All three of the women were disappointed in the charms they pulled and dreaded what that may mean for their future especially because they begin to see the other women’s fortunes coming true!

Over the course of this book, we get to intimately know Nicole (aka “Nic”), Seema, and Melissa as we watch their lives unfold.  Filled with laugh-out-loud moments, the reader gets completely consumed in the lives of these three friends.  This book is so intriguing, yet light enough to read at a deliciously quick pace.   Kim Gruenenfelder scores again with a superb novel.

How Does It Rate?

This author also penned two of my favorite “Chick Lit” novels:  A Total Waste of Makeup and Misery Loves Cabernet. Although this isn’t a sequel to these two other fabulous books, this novel stands proudly on its own.  The characters are well-developed and easily relatable.  You cannot miss with this book as a hillarious tale of self-discovery and love.

Publisher: Berkley Trade

ISBN: 978-0425240861

Publish Date: May 3, 2011

Pages: 432 Trade Paperback

Type: Fiction: Women’s

Purchase: $9.39 at Amazon.com

Summary

The most unlikely trio of women, Madeline, Avery and Nikki are brought together via a mutual tragedy. Their commonality is that they have discovered that their entire life savings has been stolen by their financial advisor in a “ponzi-like” scheme.

Madeline is a housewife whose children, Kyra and Andrew, have left the nest. Unlike some mothers in her circle, she finds joy in the possibilities of her new lifestyle. She looks forward to clearing out the house, creating a craft room, and dedicating her time to personal interests that she’s long since put off after becoming a full-time mother. Madeline is married to Steve, an investment broker, who she comes to find out has placed all of their live savings in the hands of Malcolm Dyer. Malcolm Dyer is now currently missing and under investigation by the FBI for mismanaging millions in private funds. Of course, both Malcolm and the money are nowhere to be found. As Steve had not only invested the couple’s money in Malcolm Dyer’s “to-good-to-be-true-return” funds, but many others as well, he had lost his job months ago. Afraid of Madeline’s reaction, Steve has kept this secret from her leaving for work every day as though it was business as usual. It isn’t until Steve’s mother has an accident that Madeline tries to reach Steven at the office and discovered that he has been lying to her for over 6 months about not only his job, but the fact that they are broke.

Avery is part of the duo who host “Hammer & Nail,” a home fixer-upper show in which she and her gorgeous husband, Trent, renovate projects. Shortly after Trent and their producer begin to have an affair, Avery divorces Trent. Little did she know that when the show was renewed for another season, her contract was not. Not worried about the financial repercussions, she doesn’t go after the normal alimony and financial equality that she was entitled to during the split because the divorce was of her doing. She didn’t expect that she would lose her job just as much as she didn’t expect to discover that her inheritance from her father’s death was completely depleted. Her father had also invested everything with Malcolm Dyer.

Nicole (aka “Nikki”) is a professional match-maker who is suddenly facing financial troubles when she discovers that her nest egg, seemingly growing in Malcolm Dyer’s fund, was lost forever.

What Madeline, Avery and Nikki discover is that, via the Malcolm Dyer investing, they each own a 1/3 share of a home in Florida at Ten Beach Road. This evacuated, beach-side mansion in Florida, is apparently worth millions; that is, had it been in decent enough shape to sell. The trio discover that they are able to double their money in selling this historic building by first bringing it back to life via a renovation. They meet up with an old acquaintance of Avery’s who agrees to perform the renovation, as the general contractor, for a percentage of the sales when the home is sold. He convinces them that the renovation could take place over the summer and that the best approach is for the women to live in the home together and perform much of the “grunt-work” required for the renovation to save money. This begins their adventure, the three women and the contractor on a road to restore their desolate financial situation by renovating and selling this dilapidated home.

Despite their newly discovered camaraderie, family members and secrets emerge that threaten to tear their friendships apart and they almost lose all hope of financial redemption, when a hurricane threatens the nearly-completed mansion.

Rating

The first in a hopefully delightful choice in 2011 summer reads, this book had me longing for a sunset, a margarita, and a great friend to share it with. The novel provides emotional layers of each of the characters and delivers their motivations and fears with subtle precision. For your summer beach-read list, this makes the top 10.

Author: Tate Hallaway

Publisher:  NAL

ISBN #:   978-0-451-23311-0

Type:  Fiction:Teen/Fantasy

Pages: 273 Trade Paperback

Published:  May 3, 2011

Purchase:  $9.99 (HERE) 

Nicole’s Review

Anastasija Parker is just a normal teenager, despite the fact that most of her heritage came from Hell. She is a vampire/witch princess who wants to live a nomal teenage life.  When the spring musical auditions arrive, her first reaction is to try-out.  As soon as they begin, Ana learns that Nikolai Kirov, a vampire hunter and her who often behaves as her boyfriend, will be  performing in the spring musical with his band. When tension rises between the two, their bickering throws her into the arms of Elias, a vampire, she feels a strange attraction to. 

Through the mayhem, Ana finds herself in the biggest trouble of all.  Ana and Elias must track down a secret talisman that was stolen.  If they don’t find it, all of the vampires could be enslaved to witches and killed. The dangers are high and the pressure forces her dad to put a death sentence to her mother. Can Ana and Elias find the talisman and save her mother before the curtain falls?

The Rating

In the mailbox, I received Almost Final Curtain by Tate Hallaway, author of Almost to Die For.  Not being much of a vampire girl, my daughter Nicole will most likely be reviewing the book for ANM Readers.  She’s completely addicted and has read nearly every vampire series there are.

What are you reading this weekend?