It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old...or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!You never know when I might play a wild card on you!
Today's Wild Card author is:
and the book:
Center Street (January 6, 2009)
My Thoughts:
This Side of Heaven is a terrific story of denial, responsibility and acceptance. According to his parents, Josh just can't seem to get it together after the terrible accident that has left him in intense pain. His time is spent waiting for the settlement to come through from the drunk driver's insurance, but it's been three years already and it seems like it will never come.
Josh's mom, Annie, is a busy lady. Her plate is full with helping her husband get re-elected to the State Board of Education which means making sure people are happy and entertained. She knows how other people judge her son because he isn't as successful as he should be. But Annie can't really argue with them because deep down she feels the same way.
Josh is intent on finding his daughter, but can't afford to search for her until the settlement from the accident arrives. No one believes she is his daughter, but he never gives up. Annie especially wishes Josh would put all that behind him and move on.
What Annie and the busybodies don't know is that there is more to Josh than they realize. They don't know that he's reconnected with his relationship with God or anything else about his life. They never asked. When another tragedy strikes Josh's family learns more about him in one day than they've known his whole life. How could they have missed it? And what are they going to do about it now?
I really enjoyed This Side of Heaven and the issues it highlights. Why is it hard for parents to accept their children sometimes? What keeps them from getting to know their child instead of dwelling on what they are not? Annie gets a rude awakening and will never be the same again. Some things just can't be reversed.
I'll warn you, this book is a tear-jerker but it's also wonderful and insightful. It will touch anyone no matter what stage of life they're in. Life can change in an instant and there are no do-overs.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
New York Times bestselling author Karen Kingsbury is America's #1 inspirational novelist. She's written more than thirty novels, ten of which have hit #1 on bestseller lists, and her Center Street novel Just Beyond the Clouds hit #13 on the New York Times bestseller list. There are nearly seven million copies of her award-winning books in print, including more than two million copies sold last year alone. She lives in Washington state with her husband, Don, and their six children, three of whom are adopted from Haiti.Visit the author's website.
Product Details:
List Price: $14.99
Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Center Street (January 6, 2009)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1599956780
ISBN-13: 978-1599956787
AND NOW...THE FIRST CHAPTER:
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