Random Hearts, Latest Edition, Moves Directly Into Human Condition..by Warren Adler

The classic romance novel that inspired the Hollywood film starring Harrison Ford and Kristin Scott Thomas, written by the acclaimed novelist Warren Adler, well-known for his iconic novel turned international box-office hit ‘The War of the Roses.’  Soon to be a Stage Play...

Note: Watching the trailer, I quickly decided I preferred the book...

The aircraft fell in line behind a number of others. Outside, the snow continued to fall and swirl about, sometimes completely obscuring visibility through the windows. Leaning over him, she looked out. “Are we really going to take off?” “They know what they’re doing,” Orson said. A plane’s roar split the air. “Listen to that. We’ll be in the sunshine two minutes after takeoff.” 

“When I’m with you, there’s always sunshine,” she said, caressing him. The plane’s speaker crackled. “The flight tower has given us the go-ahead, folks. Sunny Florida, here we come.”

The pilot’s voice was followed by that of the stewardess reminding them to fasten their safety belts and put the seats in an upright position. They obeyed the instructions, although they kept the blanket over them. “I wouldn’t care if we just kept on flying to the end of the world, forever,” Lily said, entwining her fingers in his. 

“That won’t solve anything. We’d have to land someday,” he said, lifting her fingers to his lips and kissing them. The aircraft lumbered forward and began to accelerate. Some loose baggage bumped in the overhead racks. The great jets roared, and the plane’s body quivered as it charged ahead, flattening them against the seat backs. For an inordinately long time, the plane did not lift.

“Hard getting this baby off the ground,” someone said behind them. Orson felt Lily’s fingers squeeze harder as their bodies waited to sense the lift-off. When it happened, her fingers unclasped, and Orson looked out the window into the mass of white. 

Lily leaned over him. “Soon,” he whispered. She lifted the rose to her nostrils and breathed in its delicate scent. Then the plane began to buck and lose altitude. It became deadly quiet; the sudden terror had paralyzed everyone into silence. 

Even when the big plane sheared a railing off the Fourteenth Street Bridge along with the tops of five cars, there were no screams. Then the plane crashed through the ice with an enormous impact.

~~~

Random Hearts

By Warren Adler

I don't know of anybody better than Warren Adler to write on the human condition... Taking things, events, situations that happen routinely in America, he will take readers deeper into his characters, revealing the most intimate of emotions, internal thoughts, or physical actions, daring us to differ in opinion from what he sees as our reality, our lives, living together...

Even as I read, I reveled, knowing, almost immediately, each single event that was going to happen, including the ending. However, that did not prepare me for the "experience" of coming to know each of the individuals I would be meeting in the novel.

Almost immediately, two of the characters are killed in an airplane crash. With the brief introduction, we know that they are very much in love and looking forward to a brief getaway. They leave two spouses behind, not telling anybody where they were going. And they flew under aliases. They were lovers, having an affair... They loved their spouses...but...

And then the mystery begins...

I enjoyed the police officer who was assigned to the task of working with the victims of the crash. When the first body, a female, was found and had to be called a Jane Doe, due to lack of identification, he was somewhat relieved to break the chain of body review and relative notification... Finally, all bodies were recovered. A man was identified by his credentials...who was not scheduled on the flight...

Edward Davis knew his wife was to be out of town for 4 days. Vivien was a homemaker and mother and she and her son said goodbye to her husband as he was leaving for 4 days... As we read about their departure, readers begin to see questions about their relationship; i.e., the relationship between spouses. A good word as we read could be called...content...

So when their spouses were expected home, both Edward and Vivien began to worry. They had heard about the plane crash, but it had been headed for a destination that neither of their spouses was headed... They thought...

We watch as news finally reaches them; they are devastated. Sergeant McCarthy made a decision, which I supported, and brought those two people into a private room to tell them that their spouses were not named earlier because they were traveling under another name and that they had been together...

But answers were needed! And if nobody had known where their spouses were, then they bonded together to find out! How would you feel in this situation? All of the emotional restraints that had been held, sometimes on small things, but now, faced with betrayal, started being considered and pulled out by both Edward and Vivien. Each piece of information was shared...as each raged and vented their own emotions... Nobody else could understand...

Adler's sensitivity, his awareness, his ability to realistically create the overwhelming emotions involved--from each character--is exceptional. There is little doubt that readers will grasp the emotional impact of what is happening to the two remaining spouses. And the key to that readers response is Adler's unbelievable, created understanding of what happened, what the individuals were thinking, what the individuals wanted--revenge, and provided that turmoil for us to feel, to empathize, perhaps, but to also sympathize, with all of those individuals who shared this story...a secret story that the world would never know about, yet see the results...

I loved the ending and the moral to the story... I also loved that both Edward and Vivien were included in the emotionally wrought story so that both sexes were emphasized in this, a situation that exists in the human condition of interpersonal relationships... I think this just might be my last "Personal favorite for 2018!" Loved it!

GABixlerReviews

Betweem These Walls by John Herrick - Top Personal Favorite Past Five Years! Watch for Author Discussion Tomorrow!

One of the important issues in my life has been the church...My mother made sure we were all there every time the door opened. But as I grew up and became more aware of the surrounding world, especially in recent years, the second most important issue to me is sexuality and its blatant use to see anything and everything, while human trafficking has become rampant.

John Herrick is the first author I've read that has taken these two important issues in today's world and created a powerful, realistic, and somewhat devastating look and, yet, a book that will allow each reader to enter into the setting he's created and follow the life of one young man. But there was no way that this book did not become more than the story itself. Readers, including me, will enter into the story. No matter what issues you may have had with these two topics--religion and sexuality in your own life, you will find the emotional and intellectual review to be transferable to your own life. This must-read novel will so involve readers, if they allow it to be more than just another story, that it may, at least, give you the awareness that you are not alone. There are others that are confused, afraid, full of guilt...and filled with secrets...

Has the Little Brown Church Disappeared?

Between These Walls

By John Herrick

Powerful...

Life-Altering...

God-inspired...

Meet Hunter Carlisle. He is a Christian. He is the man next door. He's Gay...

Hunter was a Christian and believed in saving sex for marriage. He held to the concept as a core component of his faith. And it wasn't pious showmanship; he believed positive results would follow if he saved himself for another, giving himself to another as a gift. The concept served as an anchor for his heart.

But in light of his personal struggle with attraction--or lack thereof--to women, the concept of saving sex for marriage had also proven convenient. Not that Hunter had planned it as such; it had merely worked out that way. But it had brought him refuge over the years. By its nature, waiting revolved around time, and this particular wait afforded him an abundance of time to find his way out of his struggle.

Hunter had never looked at his struggle as
perversion. He had always thought of perversion
as the result of a long road of intentional,
specific actions--a series of desired choices,
things people welcomed into their lives. Yet
Hunter's battle felt nothing like a choice, and
he certainly never considered it welcome.
In fact, Hunter's feelings had little if anything,
to do with any type of sexual encounter. Rather,
it felt more like a need for acceptance, a desire
for companionship with someone who could
understand him.
~~~

Hunter had realized before his teens that his feelings were different. But he also felt different within his family. His older brother and his father were both totally into sports. Hunter became active too, but was it a choice to become closer to his father. In any event, when he decided to start dating girls, he made it easy for himself by closing off a relationship before it got too intense. 

By the time the book begins, Hunter is 26, working as a sales rep, and dating Kara. Both being Christian, they have decided to not have sex before marriage. We learn his story through black flashes of parts of his early years.

Lately, however, his sales have plummeted and he's begun to worry about his job. One of the reasons may very well be that he's begun to consider the men with whom he's doing business, checking them out, wondering if they are gay, be ashamed for even thinking what he was thinking... Maybe he just wasn't keeping him mind where it belonged... Maybe that's why he was let go by his company...

Kara, his girlfriend, is also a sales rep but she travels all over the world and they really don't see each other often. Hunter was an individual who didn't trust. His life had been full of secrets most of his life. When he was hurt by his father's favoritism, he held that pain and sometimes anger inside. As he did with all those feelings that came with his attraction.

Hunter's becoming a Christian was the most important event in his life. He was no longer alone. He was loved. He knew God in a personal relationship.

But he was not "fixed" as some people are--you know, no longer smoking or drinking, etc. His secret feelings did not change as he'd hoped. Maybe later?

He started attending church and a men's bible study... Unfortunately, the walls appeared there in that small room. Discussing interpersonal relationships was bound to occur, but when snide remarks regarding homosexuality were thrown out, with no value judgments following, he began to feel the pain and fear. 

If he could not be free of guilt and shame within the Church environment, where could he be safe, where could he find counsel?

Sometimes, when Hunter sat in the midst of a group of people, he wondered if he was the only person who struggled that way. Surely someone else understood. Surely he'd crossed paths with another individual who wrestled the same way and Hunter hadn't known it about him. Or, at least, Hunter hoped so.
Not that he wished his inner torment on anybody else. He just craved someone who could understand.
As the group continued its discussion, Hunter looked around and wondered if anyone else in this room faced what he did. Oh, what he would give to find out, but he wouldn't dare ask! Even if they dealt with the same thing, he knew they would deny it rather than face public embarrassment. That would leave Hunter humiliated with nothing gained. If anything, other guys went overboard in their efforts to quash mere speculation about their sexuality. Hunter could play that masculine game with the best of them, yet he wondered why they placed the game in the first place. It made everything harder for the people who fakes it...
"Okay, I'm just going to say this," said a young guy named Ross..."The whole lust thing--I don't know, it's a major challenge for guys."
Hunter's ears perked up.
"I guess it's okay to admit that here," continued the college student. "I've done okay so far, but a lot of the girls out there--well, they're just as bad about it as the guys are, you know?"
Lust for women. One one hand, Hunter admired the guy's honesty. On the other hand, Hunter wished that were his own admission. The guys could relate to it and provide encouragement. Hunter watched it unfold: the caring words, the you-can-do-it pats on the back...
"it could be worse," Joe chimed in with a chuckle. "I mean, at least you're not gay, right?"
Hunter seized control of his facial muscles before his eyes could react. He felt his arm and leg muscles tighten as he fought to maintain his composure, the way he did any time a conversation in his vicinity turned to homosexuality, jokes or otherwise.
...Ross's face warmed to a shade of pink as he emitted a nervous laugh. "Yea, you're right about that. No worries there.
Joe wouldn't say those things if he knew what it's like to deal with it, thought Hunter.
~~~

It was Ellen, a long-time friend of Hunter, with whom he did share to some extent, that suggested that he try massage therapy and went on to praise the benefit she received in release of tension. Finally Hunter was desperate enough to try it...still no job, an unwillingness to discuss it with Kara. He also didn't feel safe to seek counsel at church--once he had heard somebody sharing what surely was confidential within the church to another member. How can you feel safe with anybody?

Physically, Hunter knew he was in depression and decided to try massage therapy, not even thinking that Ellen's therapist was male... Hunter had just met Gabe Hellman...

As always, I'm stopping short of getting beyond a general overview... There is one key point though that I found important. Hunter and Gabe were no different in their emotional interactions than in any other human relationship. There was the first nervous awareness, the slight, probably accidental touch that still meant so much, and which always led to wondering whether it had been done on purpose, with the pleasure that thought brought forth. Readers will enjoy reading about the connection that each of us has experienced at one time or another in their life. The only difference was the sex of the two participants. As an aside, I found it sad that, when entering searches for the above picture, I was immediately referred to gay sites, with no pictures from the general search. What that tells me is that the stereotype relationship between two men probably is sexual and general pictures such as you can easily find between a man and woman are numerous and readily available. Making assumptions about people is ingrained in our society...

No wonder Hunter and many others keep their thoughts and desires secret. Consider if you would, along with me, that the church generally condemns homosexuality without hesitation, except for a select few... Now consider a pregnant woman who needs help, but doesn't feel she can turn to the church because she has "sinned." What about one of a couple, both of whom are married to somebody else, who couldn't possibly share what has occurred with their pastor... I know that one time I wanted to talk with my pastor--can't remember what about now. What I remember was that a woman on the church board would have to be present. Out goes the confidentiality of pastor-member interaction.

Some churches have become so insular that visitors often immediately feel the tension of being an outsider. I left my last church for that reason. What makes Christians so insensitive to how they may affect the emotional stability of others... This is one of the most important aspects of Herrick's novel...inserting the inner reality of what is found in many of today's churches...

John Herrick's book blasts readers with an unexpected ending. Unfortunately, it wasn't surprising... Learn empathy from Hunter and Gabe... Learn sympathy to those who are out there seeking help and counsel just like Hunter and Gabe... Consider what your own feelings are about Hunter and Gabe and ask, "What would Jesus Say to them?"

Read this book to help you find your way to an answer that only you and God can discover together. Get it...Now...

GABixlerReviews

A self-described "broken Christian," John Herrick battled depression since childhood. In that context, however, he developed intuition for themes of spiritual journey and the human heart.

Herrick graduated from the University of Missouri—Columbia. Rejected for every writing position he sought, he turned to information technology and fund development, where he cultivated analytical and project management skills that helped shape his novel-writing process. He seized unpaid opportunities writing radio commercial copy and ghostwriting for two nationally syndicated radio preachers.

The Akron Beacon Journal hailed Herrick's From the Dead as "a solid debut novel." Published in 2010, it became an Amazon bestseller. The Landing, a semifinalist in the inaugural Amazon Breakthrough Novel Award contest, followed.

Herrick's nonfiction book 8 Reasons Your Life Matters introduced him to new readers worldwide. The free e-book surpassed 100,000 downloads and hit #1 on Amazon's Motivational Self-Help and Christian Inspiration bestseller lists. Reader response prompted a trade paperback.

His latest novel, Between These Walls, returns readers to Hudson, Ohio, to which he introduced them in From the Dead. Herrick admits his journey felt disconnected. "It was a challenge but also a growth process," he acknowledges. "But in retrospect, I can see God's fingerprints all over it."

Review: Author Highlights Safe Haven Law in Latest Novel!

Image by istorija via Flickr

These Things Hidden


By  Heather Gudenkauf












OMG, what a story! Heather Gudenkauf takes on the controversial issue of  Safe Havens for newborn babies, where a new parent or other interested individuals may leave a new baby when these individuals cannot keep the child. When readers consider These Things Hidden as an illustrative example, I believe that there will be no choice as to whether to support the law.

Three young girls, from two different families become involved in the secretive birth of baby twins.

No matter whether it is right or not, the very first thing I wondered about was the home life of the involved girls. One set of parents were extremely proud of their daughter, until she made a mistake. At that point they essentially disowned her.

Another parent had continuously brought new "fathers" into her home, even ignoring that sometimes it was her daughter that they were interested in...

Allison was perfect. She was an excellent student and excelled in sports. She was disciplined and on track, moving toward college and a career.

Until she fell in love...

Nobody had known she was pregnant; she had a tall, slim body and with her rigorous sports and exercise, the fact that she was pregnant did not show. It allowed her to ignore what was happening to her body--she wasn't ready to accept what had happened.

Her younger sister Brynn was there when she came home that day, ready to deliver. For once, Brynn who had been in the shadow of her older beautiful sister since she had begun to win trophies and become so active in school, would be able to help her sister, albeit reluctantly.

But once the baby started coming, and there was nobody else to help, Brynn quickly pulled together sheets, towels and other items that would be needed and worked to help Allison as she delivered a little girl. Knowing what would happen if her parents came home, Brynn wrapped up the baby and layed her in the corner of the room while she cleaned up the room and helped Allison in then delivering the placenta.

Two things then happened.

Brynn saw that the little girl had turned blue and shared the news with Allison, knowing that she would be relieved.

Allison then had another baby--a little boy!

Allison was lost in fear, pain and confusion. When she saw the little boy, she automatically acted--she and Brynn took the baby boy to the home of the baby's father and forced them to take him, screaming that she could not keep him.

Charm had answered the door when Allison came. Finally calling her brother, they were confronted with a small baby boy and expected to keep him. Charm immediately fell in love with him while the baby's father left and had never returned. 

Charm lived with one of her mother's "fathers" who had come to be the only real father she had ever known. When her mother left to be with another man, she and her brother had stated to live with Gus. Gus was now very ill and Charm, while also going to nursing school, was taking care of him. Now she was trying very hard to take care of a new-born child, her nephew. But soon she realized that she couldn't and very reluctantly delivered him to a safe haven...

The little girl, whose mother had never wanted her? She was found in a nearby river...

Allison was in jail for her death...

This is also a story about Joshua, a little boy who had been adopted by Clair and Jonathan. They had worried about the mother coming back to claim her child, as had happened with a little girl they had fostered. But with the Safe Haven law, they were able to quickly adopt Joshua. But that did not take away their fear!

The climatic ending is surreal. Readers know what is coming to some extent, but not this, not the real story, as written. Heather Gudenkauf has grabbed us by the core of our hearts and holds on tight as she reveals These Things Hidden. A powerful, truly unforgettable story about the little ones who are brought into the world, unwanted... If you've read this far, I guarantee you will be sorry if you miss this one!

Book Received Via 

Meryl L. Moss Media Relations, Inc.

GABixlerReviews

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Review: Latest by Darlene Cox A Winner!

Image via Wikipedia

Pearl:


A Life Too Short
A Death Too Long


By Darlene Cox






Darlene Cox read a line in a novel by David Baldacci and used it as her sub-title for her latest novel. I love how imagination is stirred by a writer who then goes on to create an entirely new story! Pearl certainly fulfills the image that we might envision from Baldacci's words...

All the men in town loved Pearl Sutton; some were even in love with her and would have sought a permanent life with her, but she was married to a rich influential man in town. But her beauty and her flirty personality made any man feel just a little more special--what harm did that do? After all, if any of them got a little frisky, she just mentioned that Pappy was expecting her home and she would leave them then and there...

Except for one man...

And sometimes another...

Everybody wondered about her being with "Pappy" Sutton--after all, he was much older than she; but their relationship seemed to work and everybody knew they were very close, even if Pearl would go off alone or with some man most days.

Pearl loved speed and would get into her car to ride off from town. Sometimes she would bring a picnic basket and she would offer a ride to one certain man and they would go off into the woods together. But when she didn't go home at night or came out later in the dark, she headed for only one man's bed and he always opened his home and heart to her...

Now she was dead--murdered, found under a pile of leaves by kids who had decided it was too nice a day to be stuck in school. But when their freedom led to Pearl, they once again were responsible young men and called for help. It was too late for Pearl, but Jon Atherton, the Sheriff, did everything possible, and more, to find the man who had killed Pearl. And many times, during the investigation, his mind would seek out the warmth of his bed whenever Pearl held him close and lovingly. Even though she had told him she was not in love with him, he loved her like no other.

They had spent most of their time in bed. Now Sheriff Atherton started to learn all of the secrets in Pearl's life, some he wished he had known long before she was gone...

But then another young woman was found, burned in the bed on which she had undoubtedly been assaulted, the complexity and relationship between the two murdered women seemed so remote that it was hard to establish any basis for comparison. Jon Atherton had come out of the Marines, wondering what to do with the rest of his life. He was new to law enforcement and the town. Now he realized that he didn't know much about any of the people with whom he worked and lived.

Cox presents a tale of murder in a small town where normally everybody knows everything about everbody, but this town has held their secrets tightly and while readers will begin to solve the crime, they will realize, finally, that they were probably wrong.

But Jon Atherton loved Pearl and he wasn't going to stop until he found out who and why she had been murdered. He owed it to the woman he loved...

Readers will have fun with Pearl. Not in the sense of having murder happen, but rather in following the clues, discovering the past secrets and learning more about the woman who had been loved by all the men in town. Much of the tale is sad... but the characters are those you enjoy learning about. I found myself wishing for a different ending for Pearl...and Jon... Let me know if you agree...

Highly recommended for lovers of whodunits! Pearl: A Life Too Short; A Death Too Long

Book Received Via
Blog Linkup

G. A. Bixler

Interview for Author Spotlight, Robert Noonan

Bob, Where are you from?

I lived most of my life on the far north side of Chicago, Illinois. My early life wasn’t especially eventful, but I had good friends and good times. We played sports in a park nearby and on Saturday afternoons, we went to the theatre to see three Westerns and three cartoons. Of course, you had to check in your cap gun at the entrance. We were poor, but as kids we didn’t know the difference, so it didn’t bother us. We had fun.

During those years I didn’t have much interest in reading books for pleasure, until I read The Lindberg Kidnapping. The details of the case were intriguing. I went on to another book, then another, developing a love for history, whether in books, photos or movies. All of it was fascinating. As the years moved on I traveled extensively. No matter what country I was in, it had its unique personal charm … and history.

In 1975 I married and eventually had two daughters, Alissa and Meris. In 2004 I moved to my country home in Hatfield, Wisconsin where I completed writing my Orphan Train Trilogy: Wildflowers, Bridie’s Daughter and Secrets. I want to go on to my next book, but a lot of my time is spent promoting what I have already written.


I understand your books highlight orphans, what inspired you to write your novels?

Like many people, I had a yen to write, but never got around to it. Then one day while reading a magazine, I ran across an article about abused child laborers during the Industrial Revolution. I had read about it many times before and the same pictures were in this article-except for one. It was a 19th century picture of a little girl about nine years old, wearing a tattered, oil stained dress and she was dwarfed by machinery. The moment I looked at her sad face, I knew she was my story. So I began writing. Half way into the first book, Wildflowers, I realized I could connect it to a second novel. My next thought was, if I write two, why not a trilogy? So it was done.


Like you said, a lot of people want to write, even me, but a lot of us don't have the talent for fiction. What made you think you could write novels?

Pure gut. Plus the desire was there. I believed I had a good enough imagination and sense of humor to conceive a story, describe scenes without difficulty, invent characters and create appropriate dialog to match my characters in a flowing storyline. Once I began, it all came easy, making up the story as I went along. My concern for those children and what they went through drove me on, not wanting their plight to be forgotten. They pulled me forward.


I've already told you, I want to see the next book tell us Hilary's story, do you plan to write more novels?

I want to. I have many ideas, but have to decide on which topic. I’ve had people telephone me asking me to write more , especially to continue the Orphan Train series. That is my first choice, at least one more book in that direction, though I could go on with many more on that subject. I’ve begun writing it in my mind already.



Are you doing anything other than promoting your books right now?

That is where my energies are going at this time. As all authors know, promoting is the difficult part about writing, trying to get noticed. I'm talking to an individual about possible movies. And, just recently, I've started my next book, so I'm starting to balance my time between promotion and writing. I do a lot of online interaction at various sites! Look for me at most book related sites and connect to me!


I certainly congratulate you on your fine trilogy and "guts" but, tell me, when did you first consider yourself a writer?

When I started getting those phone calls from people asking me to continue writing. It began shortly after the trilogy was released. Better yet, when I received fantastic book reviews weeks later. Besides that, I am pleased with my work and want to continue.


Do you strive for a specific writing style?

Not really. As I create the story I stick with what is appropriate to be next in the story, choose suitable characters, dialog and surroundings. Basically, picture the scene in my mind and write it.

How did you select your titles?

In the first novel, Wildflowers, there is a scene early in the book that explains the title. Three little girls are the "wildflowers."

Bridie’s Daughter was a name I pulled out of the air. I needed an orphan girl and a lady to adopt her. Catherine is named after my grandmother on my father’s side. The name Bridie McDonald?I really can’t remember why I selected it. I believe it fits well with the story though.

I selected Secrets because the trilogy was coming to an end and there were incidents in the past of some characters that they were hiding.


Bob, I really appreciate your taking time to share with me and my readers! Your Orphan Train Trilogy not only has great historical significance to highlight the child welfare system, but they are truly three wonderful novels sharing both the good and bad happenings for our children in the past! Thank you so Much!

Readers, to learn more, click the title of this interview to link to Noonan's Novels! My reviews are posted of course at any online bookstore as well as on all of my posting sites! These books are ones that you will want for your personal library to retain and share with your children!