About the book: The Shadow of Your Smile
A beautiful blanket of snow may cover the quaint town of Deep Haven each winter, but it can’t quite hide the wreckage of Noelle and Eli Hueston’s marriage.
After twenty-five years, they’re contemplating divorce . . . just as soon as their youngest son graduates from high school. But then an accident erases part of Noelle's memory. Though her other injuries are minor, she doesn’t remember Eli, their children, or the tragedy that has ripped their family apart. What’s more, Noelle is shocked that her life has turned out nothing like she dreamed it would. As she tries to regain her memory and slowly steps into her role as a wife and mother, Eli helps her readjust to daily life with sometimes-hilarious, sometimes-heartwarming results. But can she fall in love again with a man she can’t remember?
Will their secrets destroy them . . . or has erasing the past given them a chance for a future? Read the story behind the story here: http://www.susanmaywarren.com/books/the-shadow-of-your-smile.
My thoughts:
I received this book as part of a Litfuse Blog Tour. I read it last month before the holidays and it was just the read I was looking for. We did not have any snow last month, but it was easy to imagine how treacherous roads can be and the stress of driving in bad weather. When Noelle has her accident everything about her life as well as the lives of her family members changes. But you are left to ponder if the memory loss is a curse or a blessing. Thing of all the things we hold with us that are better left to fall away, what if you could let all that go in an instant. No longer feel angry about petty life issues that can easily weigh us all down. Whose turn it is to take out the trash, who is being taken for granted, who has let go of dreams or wishes. To see all that gone and not even know it is gone might lift you up.
Noelle and Eli have to relearn each other and she has to relearn the life that she used to have and decide if that is the life she still wants to have. Pieces of the puzzle of who she was in the twenty-five years that have been erased come back to her or to Eli and they don't always make sense until they are brought into focus and moved to the right place, getting a little bit of information from her friends, acquaintances and her children bring about a picture of the secrets she was keeping or that Eli stopped trying to share. Eli has secrets as well that come to light. The fragility of the marriage they had is opened up and decisions must be made.
I was drawn in by this couple and their struggle. I wanted them to be honest with each other and to find their way. So often when the going gets tough people head for divorce, but if there was something there worth believing in then one would hope it would still be there and just needs the chance to be nurtured and grown. After reading this book I want to go back into Deep Haven and find out more about some of the other residents. I haven't had the chance to look for those books yet, but they have been added to my TBR list!
About Susan: Susan May Warren is an award-winning, best-selling author of over twenty-five novels, many of which have won the Inspirational Readers Choice Award, the ACFW Book of the Year award, the Rita Award, and have been Christy finalists. After serving as a missionary for eight years in Russia, Susan returned home to a small town on Minnesota’s beautiful Lake Superior shore where she, her four children, and her husband are active in their local church.
Susan's larger than life characters and layered plots have won her acclaim with readers and reviewers alike. A seasoned women’s events and retreats speaker, she’s a popular writing teacher at conferences around the nation and the author of the beginning writer’s workbook: From the Inside-Out: discover, create and publish the novel in you!. She is also the founder ofwww.MyBookTherapy.com, a story-crafting service that helps authors discover their voice.
Susan makes her home in northern Minnesota, where she is busy cheering on her two sons in football, and her daughter in local theater productions (and desperately missing her college-age son!)
A full listing of her titles, reviews and awards can be found at:http://www.susanmaywarren.com/.
Link to buy the book.
Blog tour schedule here.
Come back to Deep Haven and Win!
Enter 1/9 - 1/28.
Sometimes love requires a little forgetting ... Come back to Deep Haven and find out what's been happening in your favorite quaint hamlet. If you're new to the Deep Haven series - this is the perfect book to start with - each book in the series is a stand alone story.
Susan is celebrating the release of The Shadow of Your Smile by giving away a prize pack worth over $200 from 1/9-1/28.
One grand prize winner will receive:
- A $200 Visa Gift Card (Use that to rekindle a little romance, treat yourself to a spa day, snap up those shoes you’ve been eyeing, or purchase a few great books!)
- The entire set of Deep Haven Books
"... getting a little bit of information from her friends, acquaintances and her children bring about a picture of the secrets she was keeping or that Eli stopped trying to share."
ReplyDeleteThis was one of my questions, about wondering what part does she remember?
Do we hear each other? Vulnerability and sharing is so important, setting hurt aside. I would like to read "The Shadow of Your Smile." I have not read any of the prior Deep Haven novels.
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