Book Review: Better Together by Raymond M. Rose

Photo taken  from Goodreads

 Book Info

Title:  Better Together 

Author:  Raymond M. Rose
Publisher:  Christopher Williams Books

Language: English

Format:  E-Book

Pages:  290 pages
ASIN:  B004A14V28

Source:  From the Author

Buy this book on Amazon 

Summary

From Goodreads:

"Paul Rhoads, a successful horror novelist, has moved back to his hometown in Pennsylvania. Moving back home turns out to be more than just returning to his roots but starting up a relationship with his high school sweetheart, Annie. Annie, recently divorced, is the mother of a precious eight month old, Max. However, when Annie dies in a freak car accident, Paul finds himself catapulted into the role of father and decides to do something he would never have imagined himself doing: raise Max as his own."

Review

When I was younger, I had this silly fear that I was just adopted.  The fact that I never looked like any of my parents back then only added more to this fear.  It was only when my brother was born and he was my spitting image that I was finally able to quell this insane thought.

Paul was supposed to live with Annie and her little son Max happily ever after, but Annie died and left Paul with Max just shortly after getting married.  Stunned with grief by the sudden departure of his beloved wife, he becomes overwhelmed by an even bigger responsibility of raising Max as his own son.  This book details the ups and downs that Paul (and every parent) encounters when dealing with raising kids and striving to be the best parent a child ever had.

Remember how you used to understand and remember stuff better when it's told through a story rather than listening to usual instructions?  This book, Better Together by Raymond M. Rose is certainly a good story for parents who are tired of looking for that perfect self-help parenting book.  This will not tell you everything about raising a child, not really about how hot the bath water should be but more on how to deal with the emotional side of taking care of your little one.  Instead of getting all too preachy as some parenting books, this book is like a friend who tells you everything he/she experienced during his/her own time raising children and passing all the knowledge to you.

The premise is unique and the events occur in such a way that the reader gets caught off guard by the turn of events despite a small touch of predictability.  Endearing and sweet, this book will completely hook any reader, especially those who have had children as they are taken back in time in the early stages of their children's lives.

But as amazing as this book may sound, I just have a few problems with how this was presented:  Told from a third person perspective, the voice sometimes shift from different characters rather too quickly that sometimes, the reader gets confused as the points of view get jumbled up.  One minute you were reading about Paul's thoughts, another minute you realize the narration has shifted to Annie's.  But it does get better as you turn the pages and finally get a good grasp of the voices within this book.  As for the text, there were a few typographical errors that was a bit distracting but once you get past that, you will definitely be in for a treat as you read this heartwarming story.

An important lesson to be gained from this book is this:  Children should be loved not because they carry your blood in their veins, not because they look like you, not because they were born from you - but because they, as human beings, deserve to be loved, not matter who or what they are, or where they came from.

Rating

If you have any questions on this particular rating, please refer to my ratings system here.

Notice 

I received this book free of charge from the author, Raymond M. Rose, in exchange for an honest and truthful review. This, in no way, affected my opinion or review of this book.

Please contact me for questions, comments, and suggestions.  

Quiz: If Your Life Story Was A Book, What Book Would It Be?

Ever wondered how your life story would turn out if a book was written about it?  Did you ever feel like your life could have been a book bestseller but you just weren't sure if writing an autobiography is the way to go?  Well, here's your chance to find out!

I would like to think that my life is simple enough and not that worth too much attention.  Certainly not book worthy.  But it would be thrilling to find a book that would relate to my life story.  So when I found this quiz on ProProfs Quiz Maker from adamadamadam, I answered it and was surprised to find that my book would be The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.  One of my favorite books of all time!  I used to think that Holden and I had a lot of things in common so this result was really awesome. 

Take the quiz now to  find out what book your life story would be!

It would be awesome if you could share your quiz result in the comments section.  Let's have some fun comparing answers!

10 Good Things on a Monday: Ten Lady Gaga Outfits I Love

10 Good Things on a Monday is a weekly feature  I am doing dedicated to every person's compulsive list-writing.  Every Monday we are going to make a list of 10 things that will cheer us up and help tide us over the whole week.

<a href="http://buoyreading.blogspot.com/search/label/good%20things" target="_top"><img src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8ZLJhw831LIwGjiA8RrpkyCa2Kw0vJ-MCDZ92vwi4is-CRlAzDfrov1rTTH16ntcfHxERkDFchxdM-bLazZ6g9M8tSP4JfsgI1z6BjiHzILQVknmvbcSdG9PpCXAdG9SZ1LU5PvsKPpM/s1600/10.JPG" border="0" /></a>

Here's how it works:

1. Think of a particular group of good things you want to make a list on, does not necessarily have to be about books, e.g. your current book wish list, or your favorite book foods (you know, foods you love to eat while reading, if you're like me), or your favorite girly names, whatever you can think of, as long as it makes you feel good.
2. If you have no ideas for a list, you can always visit my blog post to check out my theme for that week and you can take a cue from my list.
3. Post your list on your blog, grab that cute ARGH button above and put it on your post too, so we'd know you're doing this meme.
4. Leave the link for your post on my own 10 Good Things post for the week, if you see others doing it, comment too and let's share our good things with everybody.
5. Everybody goes through the whole week happy!

----------

My 10 Good Things for this week:  Ten Lady Gaga Outfits I Love

Lady Gaga is one of the biggest stars in the music scene right now.  I don't know if you like her or not, I myself am still at a crossroads on that one.  On one hand, I don't care much for her music - though they always get  me dancing - but they're not something I would listen to say, while reading or doing something that needs music to keep me going.  On the other hand, her outfits really make my day.  They may be outrageous and totally crazy but that's her brand and it's what gets her noticed.  I love how she owned her weirdness and turned it into a formidable asset.

But no, I did not like the meat costume.  All those wasted would-be steak!

1.  The Origami Dress - I really loved this costume, it looks so cute on her:

2.  The Layered Cake Outfit - Something that's very easy to do for Halloween!

3.  Pretty in Pink - I love pink! And she looks semi-normal here:

4.  The Hello Kitty Dress - I love Hello Kitty and although Gaga looks a tad too weird here, all those Hello Kitties save the day:

5.  The Bubble Costume - Very unique!

6.  The Lace Cover - If it weren't for the whole hilarious effect, I'd say this is pretty scary:

7.  The Grammy Gown - Can I go use this for my wedding?  :D

8.  The Chain Jail-Bird Outfit - Her hairstyle is what I loved best in this outfit, but the whole ensemble is pretty awesome too:

9.   American Super Hero Costume - She looks like a modern-day Wonder Woman:

10.  The Bad Romance Diamond Outfit - I thought this was a pretty fabulous get-up, and she looked so hot in this:

 There you go for my good things this week.  What are yours?

The Weekly Book Report 3/28 - 4/3/2011

Another week is over, and wow it's already April!  That means the first quarter of 2011 is officially over.  Time flies really fast these days right?  But that's fine with me because I am definitely looking forward to the coming weeks - there really isn't any special occasion that I am excited about, I'm just the type who loves looking forward to what's going to happen next.  

But before I obsess about what's might happen in the next few days, let me take you to a recap of the week that was:

Book Review:
Sea Glass by Anita Shreve

The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

The Washingtonienne by Jessica Cutler - also a Ten Good Things on a Monday post but may also be considered a book review, whichever way you look at it :D
 

Author Interview:

Awesome Author Interview with Richard Mabry, M.D., author of Diagnosis Death and the rest of the Prescription for Trouble Series

Features:

10 Good Things on a Monday  Ten Reasons To Read The Washingtonienne by Jessica Cutler

Music Monday First-ever post:  'Lacrymosa' by Evanescence for The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon

Teaser Tuesday from Sea Glass by Anita Shreve

Miscellaneous Post:

What I Got Out of Someone's Kindness

Books Received:

Gift from The Boyfriend (I love him!):

     The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

Random Acts of Kindness from Ash of English Major's Junk Food:

     These Things Hidden by Heather Gudenkauf 

Currently Reading:  The Sky is Everywhere by Jandy Nelson

Have a great week ahead of you!

 

Book Review: Sea Glass by Anita Shreve

Photo taken from Goodreads

 Book Info

Title:  Sea Glass 

Author:  Anita Shreve
Publisher:  Little, Brown Books

Language: English

Format:  Hardcover

Pages:  384 pages 

ISBN - 10:  9780316780810

ISBN - 13:  978-0316780810

Source:  Gift

Buy this book on Amazon 

Summary

From Goodreads: 

"It is a house on the beach. Honora doesn't mind renting - despite its age and all its flaws, the old house is the perfect place for a new marriage. She and Sexton throw themselves into fixing it up, just as they throw themselves into their new life together. Each morning, Honora collects sea glass washed up on the shore, each piece carrying a different story in its muted hues.

 

Sexton finds a way to buy the house, but his timing is perfectly wrong. The economy takes a sickening plunge, and as financial pressures mount, Honora begins to see how little she knows this man she has married - and to realize just how threatening the world outside her front door can be.

 

Like those translucent shards that Honora finds on the beach, Sea Glass is layered with the textures, colors, and voices of another time. There is Vivian, an irreverent Boston socialite who becomes Honora's closest friend even as she rejects every form of convention. McDermott, a man who works in a nearby mill, presses Honora's deepest notions of trust - even as he embroils her in a dangerous dispute. And there's Alphonse, a boy whose openness becomes the bond that holds these people together as their world is flying apart."

Review

One of the risks in writing a period novel is crowding your book with too much history that the story itself gets drowned within all the historical trivia.  Striking the perfect balance between historical fact and fiction is therefore essential in ensuring that the story presents an accurate portrayal of the chosen setting, yet dreamlike enough to remind the readers that they are traversing a fantastical realm.

 

Sea Glass by Anita Shreve is set in the Great Depression in America where it follows the lives of Honora and Sexton, a newlywed; Vivian, a flighty socialite; McDermott, a half-deaf Irish immigrant; and Alphonse, the young boy who has found a father figure in the latter; and Alice, Honora's mother.  Every chapter tells a story of a particular character that seamlessly blends into succeeding chapters that comes full circle towards the end.

 

In the tradition of this author's intense character examination, each of the cast in this book were given enough room to demonstrate their unique personalities and stories that by the end of this book, the reader feels like he/she is already friends with all characters and knows them inside out.  However, this does not mean that they are already very predictable; indeed, they - like the story itself - was very unpredictable and complex that the reader could only read on to learn what will happen next, any speculation as to what will come of this book would only be proven wrong towards the end.  But never fret, the ending is as remarkable, vivid, and profound as the rest of this story.

 

But.  Yes, I had a slight problem with this story.  I felt that it read a bit too slow and most of the significant events were all shown towards the ending and the beginning and middle chapters of this book was mostly dedicated to thoroughly examining each character's background.  I have no problem with detailed character descriptions, but this story had too much character background than need be.  There were a few other plot twists that could have been explored as related to each character's overview but were otherwise left untouched.  I think that leaving some threads hanging is not too much of a big deal but the character detailing could have been shortened a bit more in order to provide a better pace for this novel.

 

Other than the slow pace, I have no other issues with this book and would probably read this again and again.  In fact, my mother read this before I even had the chance to thumb through its pages and she was also very satisfied with how this turned out but felt that it did read a bit slow.  For those who do not mind an intensely detailed character overview and a slightly slow-paced book, Sea Glass would prove to be a very magically realistic story of that sadly unforgettable time of the Great Depression. 

Rating

If you have any questions on this particular rating, please refer to my ratings system here.

Notice 

All opinions expressed in this book review are my own and not influenced by any party in any way.

Please contact me for questions, comments, and suggestions.  

Awesome Author: Interview with Richard L. Mabry, M.D. (Diagnosis Death, Prescription for Trouble Series)

We've got a new interview with a great writer, Richard L. Mabry, M.D., the genius behind the Prescription for Trouble series.  Awesome Author is where I do interviews with writers of some of my favorite books, and some of the most fabulous authors out there!

Today is a very special day for Richard as it's the release date for the newest book off his medical thriller series, Prescription for Trouble.  Diagnosis Death is about a young doctor who gets embroiled in a series of deaths of critically-ill patients.  So to celebrate this great day, I am going to treat you to an awesome interview with this awesome author.

 

The idea to interview authors was formed when one author commented on a review I posted on my blog and apparently, he liked it so much that it gave me the courage to ask some of my favorite authors to do an interview.  And do you know which writer I was referring to above?  It's none other than the one we're interviewing today!  I read the third book in his Prescription for Trouble series, Diagnosis Death.  His books, though in a series, can be perfectly read on its own, but to appreciate it more, you'd be better off reading the other books as well.  He writes mostly medical thrillers and if you read my review of Diagnosis Death, you'll definitely get hooked and would want to read the rest of the books.  Diagnosis Death is going to be released today so go get yourself a copy now!

 

Let's hear it for Richard L. Mabry M.D.! 


Tell us about your books. 

My first book was a non-fiction one, The Tender Scar:  Life After The Death Of A Spouse (Kregel Publishers, 1996), written after the death of my first wife. As I tried to learn the craft of writing preparatory to putting that book together, several authors of Christian fiction encouraged me to try my hand there. After four years spent writing four novels that garnered forty rejections, I finally hit on the particular type of fiction—what I call “medical suspense with heart”—that I enjoyed writing and people seemed to like.  Diagnosis Death, the third of the four-book Prescription For Trouble series, will be released about April 1. 

What made you decide to use mercy killing as a topic in Diagnosis Death? 

A physician whom I know, practicing in another city, was accused of euthanasia about the time I started writing the book. I intended to include the decision of a family to discontinue life support in the novel, because I’ve been there myself and know the emotional trauma that goes with it. I put the two together, and that was the beginning of Diagnosis Death. 

How were you able to come up with such effectively frightening events in the book?  The phone calls, the little messages, they were all so very simple but equally scary.

Some of my friends—Brandilyn Collins, for example—write what I call “sleep with the lights on suspense.” I prefer to make my novels “sleep with the lights off suspense,” so I try to include things that are worrisome and even dangerous, but not likely to cause nightmares. Where do I get the ideas? I suppose I just follow the advice of Donald Maass: think of the worst thing that could happen to your protagonist, then make it even worse.

What do you do when you are experiencing writer’s block? 

There are two types of writers: those who admit they run up against a dead end in their writing and those who’ll lie about it. Seriously, all writers run dry at times. For me, I put the work aside and do something else not related to writing. My favorite activity at these times is reading the work of some of my favorite writers, not to steal their ideas but to relax my own mind. Quite often I’ll awaken in a day or so with the solution that gets me past my block. Stephen King calls this “Letting the boys in the basement work.” And it’s worked for me. 

What is one book that you think everybody should read? 

The Bible. If you mean a book that will be meaningful for readers, I was deeply touched by my colleague Christa Allan’s novel, Walking On Broken Glass, a sensitive work that deals with alcoholism. For writers, I have a two-foot section in my bookcase devoted to books on writing, and there’s no dust on any of them. For fun, writers should read Lawrence Block’s Telling Lies For Fun And Profit. For the craft of fiction, start with James Scott Bell’s Plot and Structure. 

What do you love most about writing?

I began to write fiction because it gave me a reason to get up in the morning after I retired from medicine. I still go to work in the morning, but my commute is down the hall to my office with a cup of coffee, and I can work in my bathrobe if I want to.

What do you love least about writing?

Deadlines, especially when you hustle to meet them and then the publisher drags their feet with the publishing process. Bad reviews, and believe me, they come—I learned early on not to get too high or too low after reading reviews.  People who say, “You know, I may write a book myself.” Good luck, and let’s see how long you stay at it. Conversely, my hat is off to those who do produce one book, then two and three. They can call themselves writers, not wannabes.

What do you do before writing?

Do you have a ritual that you must do every time before you write? Not really, at least not before I write. Once I start, I go back and read the preceding chapter I wrote, editing it as I go. That way, I get back into the flow of the story, and there’s less editing to do at the end of the story.

When are you able to write best, mornings or evenings?

Mornings, definitely. If I try to write in the evening, I find it difficult to sleep, while writing in the morning makes me feel better about being productive that day. Evenings are family time with Kay, often watching a movie on DVD or recorded sitcoms.

When you were younger, did you ever see yourself as a writer?  If not, what did you see yourself doing in your age right now?  If yes, did you picture yourself writing these medical thrillers or you used to favor other genres?

I never pictured myself as a writer, not even of medical papers or medical textbooks, although I ended up authoring over a hundred of the former and writing or editing eight of the latter. Then again, the circumstances that got me into writing weren’t on my horizon at that time, either. I’ve read thrillers, suspense novels, and police procedurals all my life, but avoided medical mysteries the same way I avoided medical dramas on TV, figuring I got enough of that in my practice.

What advice can you give for amateur writers?

Learn the craft, and never stop learning it. Practice writing, have it read by someone who knows what they’re talking about it, edit it, and write some more. Editors tell me it takes writing three novels before authors start to “get it.” Don’t give up. Persistence pays.

What advice can you give younger doctors and nurses? 

I presume you mean as regards writing. To answer, I’ll cite my friend, colleague, and New York Times bestselling author, Dr. Michael Palmer. He knew Dr. Robin Cook from the time of their medical training, and when Robin’s classic novel, Coma , was published, Michael decided, “If Robin can write one, I can, too.” It wasn’t that simple, but he persevered and was eventually published. Turn that one around a bit. “If Richard Mabry (or Harry Krause or Candace Calvert) can write a book, I can, too.” If that’s what you want to do, start right now. It can be done. 

Thank you very much Richard for doing this interview!

 -----

You can learn more about Richard Mabry at his website and follow him on his blog.

    



 

What I Got Out of Someone's Kindness

In the fun yet busy month of March, I found the time to sign up for the March edition of Random Acts of Kindness hosted by Isalys and Vanessa over there at Book Soulmates.  I was not really expecting anyone to take note of my wishlist until I got this message in the mail:

Hi Nina,

I just found your blog through Random Acts of Kindness. I love the design and the artwork you post! I noticed you have These Things Hidden by Heather Gudenkauf on your wishlist. I'd love to get this book for you as my random act of kindness since Gudenkauf is an alum of the university I attend and lives about an hour away from me. I'd love to sprinkle an Iowa writer in the Philippines! If you send me your address I'll order the book through The Book Depository for you!

Best,
Ash
English Major's Junk Food
Green Reads podcast

I was totally freaking out that someone took notice of my wish list there!  Ash from English Major's Junk Food has such a great blog that not only did I get a new book from this cool blogger, I also found another blog to stalk :D

Yesterday, when I got home tired and irritable from work, a very mysterious package was lying on the table.  I asked my brother who it is for and he said that it's for me.  I went to pick it up and found that it's from The Book Depository, and since I haven't bought anything there for me, I immediately thought of Ash and the book she was going to send me.  I opened it and gasped, this book that I have been scouring bookshelves of all bookstores I've been to in the past few months, this book that seems very hard to find here in the Philippines, this book is finally in my hands!

Click on the photo to know more about this book

To Ash who sent me this book, ARGH and I would like to say:

And that's how I got a book out of someone's kindness. :D