Book Review: Heart of the Matter by Emily Giffin

Heart of the Matter

Author: Emily Giffin

Publisher: St. Martins Press

Date: May 6, 2010

Length: 400 Pages


This book review was written by guest reviewer Cindy Phelps Thomas.

About The Author
Emily Giffin is a graduate of Wake Forest University and the University of Virginia School of Law. After practicing litigation at a Manhattan firm for several years, she moved to London to write full time.

No Matter How Flat You Make A Pancake, It Still Has Two Sides

Nick & Tessa Russo have a wonderful relationship. Nick is a world renowned pediatric plastic surgeon and Tessa has recently made the decision to stay at home with their two young children. The couple is very involved socially and have many friends.

Valerie Anderson leads a very different life from Tessa. Valerie is a single mom working as a lawyer who depends heavily on her family for emotional support. Valerie has no real friends due to the stigma that is placed on her for being a single mom in the prestigious area that they live.

Tessa and Valerie have very little in common though they live so close to one another, until the night of the accident. Valerie’s son, Charlie, is severely burned and rushed to the hospital. This is the night Valerie and Charlie meet Nick for the first time. Nick and Tessa slowly become more and more estranged, while Valerie and Charlie are building a relationship with Nick.

Tessa finds herself wondering if quitting her job and increasing her dependence on Nick is causing him to become distant. Valerie is seeing a male figure in Nick that has been missing in their lives for so long and finds herself thinking of him all too often. Charlie is looking to Nick to finally have a dad.

Heart of the Matter takes a journey down the road of love, trust, and forgiveness.

Will Nick and Tessa make it through this obstacle in their life?

Has Valerie finally found someone worth fighting for?

One thing is certain, they will all learn a little about themselves and forgiveness.

My Thoughts
As I read Heart of the Matter, I couldn’t help feeling connected to both of the women in the novel. The character development and the subject nature felt like they could be women I would consider a friend. I liked the style of writing also. Emily Giffin lets the reader experience each story through the eyes of the two characters by alternating views every other chapter.

The subject is a bit controversial, but at the same time it is a work of realistic fiction.

This is the fourth Emily Giffin book that I have read and I look forward reading more. I definitely recommend this novel and all others by this author.

MY RATNG: 5 Stars Out Of 5

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Book Review: What Really Matters; 7 Lessons for Living from the Stories of the Dying

A "perfect storm" is brewing for 79 million members of the baby boom generation, according to Colorado physician Karen Wyatt. With advancing age, these individuals must cope with the passing of their parents while also confronting the inevitability of their own death.
"What Really Matters; 7 Lessons for Living from the Stories of the Dying" by Karen M. Wyatt, M.D., is a collection of stories about dying patients and their insights on living and dying.


About The Author
Karen M. Wyatt is a family physician who has spent her 25 year medical career working with patients in challenging settings, such as hospices, nursing homes and indigent clinics. She has founded a free medical clinic in a homeless shelter, accompanied three medical mission teams to Honduras, and led a non-profit clinic for the uninsured in its growth from a 4-hour per week all-volunteer operation to a full-time, full-service medical center.

7 Lessons For Living
This book was written by a physician who has spent many years caring for hospice patients. She wrote this book to share the life lessons that she learned from her patients. The lessons are based on seven statements that Jesus Christ uttered on the cross;

• The meaning of Suffering "I thirst."
• Love and recognizing life's priorities "Woman behold your son; behold your mother."
• Forgiveness and letting go of limiting beliefs and past traumas "Father forgive them for they know not what they are doing."
• Paradise "Truly I say to you today, you will be with me in Paradise."
• The true Purpose of existence "My God, my God for this I was kept (this was the destiny for which I was born.)"
• Surrender and the key to unlocking the flow of grace "O my Father, into thy hands I commit my Spirit."
• Impermanence and transcending fear "It is fulfilled."

This book uses verses from the Bible but it's spiritual focus is not limited to any particular religious belief. The book has a strong message for readers of any faith or philosophy.

The chapters in this book include case studies of specific patients that Dr. Wyatt has worked with in the past. These stories illustrate how patients and their family members can experience profound spiritual growth during the final days of life.

My Thoughts
I read this book because of the experiences that my family had with hospice care when my father suffered from congestive heart failure and passed away in October, 2010.

I found the case studies and the teachings in this book to be very poignant and touching. I found myself in tears many times as I read this book.

I think one of the hardest lessons to learn is that we will all die and that death is not to be feared. We must stop denying death and focus on living lives that really matter. The final chapter in this book provides ideas for implementing the "7 Lessons" in daily life. I think you will find much food for thought in this book. This book will inspire and motivate you to make some changes in your life.
Highly Recommended!

My Rating: 5 Stars Out Of 5

FYI ~ I received a paperback copy of this book to read and review from the author's publicist. Thank you!

Please share your thoughts in the Comments Section below

Book Review: Cherished; A Novel of Unconditional Love

Kim Cash Tate has written a powerful Christian fiction book about forgiveness, redemption and restoration.  The women in "Cherished" learn that God loves them and He will forgive them if they turn to Him in repentance.

About The Author
Kim Cash Tate is a Women of Faith speaker and the author of "Faithful", "Heavenly Places", and the memoir "More Christian Than African American". A former practicing attorney, she is also the founder of Colored in Christ Ministries. She and her husband have two children.


Unconditional Love
This is a story about a group of friends and family members who were active in a large church in St. Louis. Kelli has recently returned home to St. Louis after living in Texas for several years. She dreamed of being a Christian singer and songwriter when she was in high school. However, she became romantically involved with her boyfriend and got pregnant. Brian, her boyfriend, refused to accept any responsibility for the situation and Kelli was left to fend for herself. She decided that having an abortion was her only option, but she kept this a secret from her family and friends. She has not seen Brian for many years and she does not think she will ever be able to forgive him.

Heather's  life was shattered when she had an affair with a married man and was forced to leave her beloved church. She then had a one-night stand with a singer in a popular Christian band and was devastated when she found out that he had a girlfriend and he had no desire to have a relationship with her.

These women were confused, lonely and broken. Kelli and Heather became friends and learned that they had value and were worthy of love and redemption. They found that anything was possible when they put their faith in God. They received valuable mentoring and friendship from their Christian sisters at church.  The women learned and accepted the fact that they were cherished as beautiful daughters of Christ. The theme of this book is forgiveness....we learn to accept God's forgiveness, to forgive others and to forgive ourselves.

My Thoughts
I do not read very much fiction, but I found this story very inspiring and comforting. I could feel real empathy for the characters in the book. I was laughing, crying, loving and hating right along with Kelli and Heather.
"Cherished" reminds us that we can always go to Christ and receive forgiveness. We are cherished for who we are, not for what we do or don't do. We have hope for a bright future...no matter what we did in the past. I recommend this book to anyone who enjoys Christian fiction and is seeking a book that is uplifting and inspiring.

If you would like to learn more about this book, please click HERE to view the "Cherished" video book trailer.

I would like to thank Audra Jennings from B & B Media Group for sending me a complimentary digital copy of this book to read and review.

Please share your thoughts in the Comments Section below.

The Seventeen Second Miracle

A "miracle" is defined as an extraordinary event in the physical world that surpasses all known human or natural powers. The Seventeen Second Miracle, by Jason F. Wright, is a story about tragedy, forgiveness, hope, love, healing....and miracles. The theme of this book is that it only takes a few seconds to change another person's life....for the good or for the bad. 
The title of the book refers to the 17 seconds it took for a young girl to drown. Seventeen year old Rex Conner was swimming with his girlfriend "Sparks" and her sister "Flick" on Flick's 8th birthday. Flicks mother left Rex responsible for watching the young girl while she played in the water. When Rex turns his attention away for only those few seconds the girl drowns. He tries to revive her but to no avail and the mother holds him responsible.
Rex was overcome with grief and guilt. He gradually started noticing others and their needs. He started doing small acts of random kindness. He also noticed nice things that others did for him. When he shared this with Sparks she told him to write these things down in a daily journal. He would let Sparks read his journal regularly. Then Sparks started her own journal, writing down all that Rex was doing to help others, his "Seventeen Second Miracles".
Rex passed his journals and his legacy of doing good down to his son, Cole.  Cole's father taught him that "love is a verb" and that "doing good" is not the same as being a "do good" person who has self-centered motives. Cole led a "Seventeen Second Miracle Discussion Group" with high school students that were hand-picked by the school principal.  You see, the principal had been profoundly touched by one of Rex Conner's "seventeen second miracles" when he was a young man.
Miracles are all around us if we open our eyes and our hearts to see them. It might take 17 seconds or five hours to reach out and make a difference in another life.  Love is a verb and the time spent doing good is not wasted.

Please let me know your thoughts in the comments section below. 

About The Author
Jason F. Wright, New York Times bestselling author of The Wednesday Letters and Christmas Jars, is also a speaker and political commentator whose editorials have appeared nationwide. He has been seen on CNN, FOX News, and C-SPAN. He lives with his wife, Kodi, and their four children in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley.

Gracenomics

Yesterday I read Gracenomics: Unleash The Power Of Second Chance Living by Mike Foster.  Mr. Foster is founder of "People Of The Second Chance", a movement of people committed to showing unexpected, excessive and scandalous amounts of grace.  The author defines grace as "the act of giving favor when it is not required."  Gracenomics combines this definition of grace with the term "economics".  So,  gracenomics is defined as the science that deals with the production, distribution and consumption of grace.
This is a short, simple book that could easily be read in a couple of hours. Mr. Foster explains that our society has become a "vulture culture".  People love to hear about people who are humiliated and weakened by scandal, addiction and failure.  Not only do other people tear us down, but we also do a pretty good job on ourselves by failing to forgive and move on from mistakes and failures.  The author calls this "chewing on ourselves."  People are often caught up in a victim's mentality and tend to relive the trauma over and over again.  It may be time to escape from Victimville and head on down to Gracetown. Once you accept your failures, you may come to see them less like disasters and more like the driving force behind future successes.
Gracenomics for others is based on adopting this perspective; People are not evil, They are weak. People choose meanness out of impaired vision and skewed understanding.  A reality of the human species is that we love to judge, label and assess value.  Mother Teresa said, "If you judge people, you have no time to love them."  If we have empathy for others, then grace and forgiveness will prevail.
The last part of this book deals with Gracenomics at work.  Mr. Foster empahsizes the importance of being a good listener.  "Gracenomics says wherever you are, be fully there."  The author cites Zappos as a business that found success by listening to their customers and expressing a caring attitude.  The author believes that accountability and truth must be required of everyone in a leadership position. 
The author invites us to give second chance living a shot.  The world could really use the transforming power of forgiveness and grace. 
The People of the Second Chance have a fan page on Facebook and Mike Foster is on Twitter.
I think this book is definitly worth the time you will spend reading it.  It will open your mind and heart to all kinds of opportunities to give grace a chance. 

Book Review; A Promise To Remember

 A Promise to Remember, by Kathryn Cushman, is a story about how two very different families deal with grief.  I chose this book to read because I recently installed the Kindle for PC software on my laptop computer.  The publisher is offering this book as a FREE download for Kindle users.

Chad Phelps and Jeff Johnston are killed in a car wreck.  The Phelps family is wealthy and live in an exclusive area of Santa Barbara, California.  Melanie Johnston is a single mom and works in a grocery store to earn a living.  Chad Phelps had been drinking the night he collided with Jeff Johnston.

This book provides a look at how the families go through  denial, anger, depression and finally acceptance in dealing with the loss of their teenage sons. 

This is a Christian fiction book but it is not preachy.  Christian beliefs and values are used by both families to move forward and accept this tragedy.  The theme of the story is forgiveness. 

I could really relate to this book because I was in a head-on collision with a drunk driver in 1992.  I went through many of the same feelings that were portrayed in this book.  This is a very helpful book for anyone who has gone through a traumatic experience.  It will help you get things in the proper perspective.

Other books by Kathryn Cushman:
Waiting for Daybreak
Leaving Yesterday
Angel Song