Richard Paul Evans, The Walk Series

I just finished reading book 3 of "The Walk" series by Richard Paul Evans.  I went back and read the first 2 as I wanted to read them all together.  Not sure I will do it again when book 4 comes out, however, due to memory failure, I just may have to just that.  OK, so I know I will enjoy going through each part of Alan's journey again.

I found myself engaged in the books and then asking myself some tough questions when I put them down.  I so enjoy thought provoking books.

"My name is Alan Christoffersen. You don’t know me. ‘Just another book in the library,’ my father would say. ‘Unopened and unread.’ You have no idea how far I’ve come or what I’ve lost. More important, you have no idea what I’ve found." —Prologue

 

What would you do if you lost everything—your job, your home, and the love of your life—all at the same time? When it happens to Seattle ad executive Alan Christoffersen, he’s tempted by his darkest thoughts. A bottle of pills in his hand and nothing left to live for, he plans to end his misery. Instead, he decides to take a walk. But not any ordinary walk. Taking with him only the barest of essentials, Al leaves behind all that he’s known and heads for the farthest point on his map: Key West, Florida. The people he encounters along the way, and the lessons they share with him, will save his life—and inspire yours.

Richard Paul Evans’s extraordinary New York Times bestsellers have made him one of the world’s most beloved storytellers. A life-changing journey, both physical and spiritual, The Walk is the first of an unforgettable series of books about one man’s search for hope.

This is Book 1.  I got so caught up in the characters, I could not put this book down.  It is a quick read and well worth it.  While the writing is simple, the story is not.

Alan Christoffersen, a once-successful advertising executive, wakes one morning to find himself injured, alone, and confined to a hospital bed in Spokane, Washington. Sixteen days earlier, reeling from the sudden loss of his wife, his home, and his business, Alan left everything he knew behind and set off on an extraordinary cross-country journey. Carrying only a backpack, he planned to walk to Key West, the farthest destination on his map. But a vicious roadside stabbing has interrupted Alan’s trek and robbed him of his one source of solace: the ability to walk.Homeless and facing months of difficult recovery, Alan has nowhere to turn—until a mysterious woman enters his life and invites him into her home. Generous and kind, Angel seems almost too good to be true, but all is not as it appears. Alan soon realizes that before he can return to his own journey, he must first help Angel with hers.From one of America’s most beloved and bestselling storytellers comes an astonishing tale of life and death, love and second chances, and why sometimes the best way to heal your own suffering is by helping to heal someone else’s.Inspiring, moving, and full of wisdom, Miles to Go picks up where the bestseller The Walk left off, continuing the unforgettable series about one man’s unrelenting search for hope.

 

This book did not disappoint as so many sequels fail to live up to the original. 

 

Join one of America’s beloved storytellers on a walk like no other: one man’s unrelenting search for hope.

 

Reeling from the sudden loss of his wife, his home, and his business, Alan Christoffersen, a once-successful advertising executive, has left everything he knew behind and set off on an extraordinary cross-country journey. Carrying only a backpack, he is walking from Seattle to Key West, the farthest destination on his map.

Now almost halfway through his trek, Alan sets out to walk the nearly 1,000 miles between South Dakota and St. Louis, but it’s the people he meets along the way who give the journey its true meaning: a mysterious woman who follows Alan’s walk for close to a hundred miles, the ghost hunter searching graveyards for his wife, and the elderly Polish man who gives Alan a ride and shares a story that Alan will never forget.

Full of hard-won wisdom and truth, The Road to Grace is a compelling and inspiring novel about hope, healing, grace, and the meaning of life.

 

WOW!!  Talk about God using a book to address some issues in my life.  Another sequel that did not disappoint.

 

Book 4 comes out in spring of 2013.  Very sad:(  I am so ready to read it now.

 

Should you buy the books?  Absolutely.

Thunder and Rain by Charles Martin

Tyler Steele was a third generation Texas Ranger, and he wasn’t a baseball player. He wore a silver star in his chest, a white Stetson on his head and – like John Wayne – rode tall in the saddle. He wore starched jeans, polished his boots, and took his hat off when a lady – meaning any female – walked in the room. He was a real Texas gentleman. Which meant that – no matter how he was feeling – when he saw a lady lugging around a heavy load, he would take it from her and carry it himself.

The latest lady with a burden was Samantha – Sam – and her young daughter, Hope. He met them under the worst of circumstances; circumstances that would have made many people label Sam as ‘getting what she deserved’ and not worth being rescued. But years of training are not easily shrugged off; although Tyler was retired, he stepped in to help the stranger and her innocent daughter.

Despite his strong moral compass, Ty has trouble seeing his greatest weakness. His hard outer shell, the one essential to his work, made him incapable of forging the emotional connection his estranged wife Andie so desperately needed.

Now retired, raising their son Brodie on his own, and at risk of losing his ranch, Ty does not know how to rebuild from the rubble of his life. As his relationship with Sam and Hope unfolds, Ty realizes he must confront his true weaknesses if he wants to become the man he needs to be.

I am a big Charles Martin fan so when he decided to venture off his normal genre, I was a little concerned until he said it was going to be about a Texas Ranger.  I have met some Texas Rangers in my time so naturally, my interested was piqued.  While little girls may dream of a knight in shining armor coming to save them, I envisioned a Texas Ranger.  This book did not disappoint!

Let me tell you, Charles Martin had the character of the Texas Ranger pegged.  I have read many books by different authors using Texas as their location.  Authors, even those who live in Texas, can sure exaggerate how we Texans walk, talk and live but not Charles Martin.

 Do yourself a favor!  Buy the book!

Saving CeeCee Honeycutt by Beth Hoffman

"All I new was that I was flying through the night in a fancy car with a woman who showed up out of nowhere and offered to take me, messed-up life and all, to a place called Savannah"

Twelve -year-old CeeCee Honeycutt is in trouble.  For years, she bas been the caretaker of her psychotic mother, Camille - the tiare-toting, lipstick-smeared laughingstock of an entire town - a woman trapped in her long-ago moment of glory as the 1951 Vidalia Onion Queen.  But when tragedy strikes, CeeCee is left to fend for herself.  To the rescue comes her previously unknown great-aunt, Tootie Caldwell.

In her vintage Packard convertible, Tootie whisks CeeCee away to Savannah's perfumed world of prosperity and Southern exxentricity, a world that seems to be run entirely by women.  From the exotic Miz Thelma Rae Goodpepper, who skinny-dips in her backyard bathrub and uses garden slugs as her secret weapon, to Tootie's all-knowing housekeeper, Oletta JoVes, towViolene Hobbs, who entertains a local2Police officer in her canary-yellow piegnoiz, to the women of Savannah who keep CeeCee entertained and entralled for an entire summer.

I read the mixed reviews and decided this book was at least worth trying.  Put it on my wish list and then found it at a garage sale.

First, this is no Gone with the Wind or The Help.  I do believe there may be some error in authenticity for the time perioe] however, this is fiction.  I do not expect any fiction book to be 100% accurate but I do expect it to be believable.  While some reviews said this book was a Southern cliche', others disagreed.  I just enjoyed that fact that it was not dripping molasses on every page I read.

While many reviews said this should be geared toward younger women, I say, hogwash. 

Having been a foster parent,  my heart ached at CeeCee's story and her bag of emotions she toted around with her mother's name on it.    I fell in love with the women whose names became written in CeeCee's Life Book, so much so, that at times I felt like I was peeking through the hedges and into their lives.  In some ways, I wanted to hear more of each of their stories.

Please don't pick up this book to pick it apart.  Granted, it is not the best book ever written and as I said, there are probably some errors in the time period authenticity.  Do read this book just to enjoy getting to know CeeCee and the merry band of women who help her heal and grow.

Sorry guys, but this is definitely chick lit.