A breath-taking story
590554
A powerful historic account about a son and a father who survived the war somehow and an interesting journey of discovery to understand the events that took place during the war. This amazing story touched me from start to finish, with a solemn, and moving story, and a greatly written account of what so many families went through in the war. What was particularly interesting for me, was how much I could relate to this book. He accounts that his children had to do a project called, Roots, but could not fully immerse in the project because of an untold history of their lives during the war. I went through the exact same thing when I had to do a similar project and when it came time to writing about my fathers side, all the information stopped at my grandmother just because they could not talk about what happened to them.

I truly loved this book and could not put it down! I think it is of great importance to read stories about the war, and the aftermath, in order for the next generation to understand the importance of peace.
3407838
A warm, poignant story that captures your heart and leaves you breathless at the end. One of my very few five stars, but so deserving.
3844858
When you talk about epic reads, or those stories that pull your heart strings until their taught, The Air He Breathes, is in that group that readers hold close to their hearts. There is one difference. The Air He Breathes is a story that is heartbreakingly beautiful, that it makes me contemplate how ever Brittainy found it in herself to finish writing. The strength she must possess as a writer to allow her characters to tell their story, this story, is amazing, and The Air He Breathes sits on a shelf on its own, basking in its own glory of love lost, of heartbreak no person should endure, and of a love reborn but still with its flaws.

  I WILL NOT be that reviewer who will shed any light on the contents of this book. I may have received an advanced readers copy, but just like most, I only had the blurb to read that made me want to read further. I mean, its also a Brittainy C. Cherry read, to me, that in itself makes me want to read without warrant. But yes, I did go in reading this story blind if you will. And thats how I want everyone else who picks up this MUST READ story. At no point was I disappointed in the words I read. At no point did I have a grasp of where the words were going to take me. At no point was I not swimming on the brink of tears. At no time did I regret my time that I spent In The Air He Breathes. As emotional as it was, tragic even, the way it was brought forth is smartly written with a style that is trendsetting and stands apart from others. The way Brittainy owns her craft is inspiring to authors and only gets better with each piece of art she publishes.

  Thank you Brittainy for writing this story and publishing it. Thank you for allowing me to be a part of the greatness that was the end result and thank you to everyone reading this {non} review in advanced for being gracious enough to understand that I am saying to JUST READ THE AIR HE BREATHES. Just read it.

  You know that place in between nightmares and dreams? The place where tomorrows never come and the yesterdays don't hurt anymore? The pace where your heart beats in sync with mine? The place where time doesnt exist, and its easy to breathe? I want to live there with you. TC
1632311
A beautiful story, skillfully woven. The life choices, experiences, and humanity will resonate with your own heart throughout this book.  Cicada's Choice immerses you in the world of a young greek girl who faces the choice of life in America with an unfamiliar American husband, or the heart pull of her childhood love.  The story in itself is riveting, and the opportunity to step into another culture is a wonderful experience.  Add to that the thread of humanity that ties us all together, and you have an excellent book.  With all the heartfelt connections of family, choice, gain and loss, disallusionment and ultimate triumph of life, you will not be disappointed in this poignant tale.  Can't wait for the next book in this series.
1755345
In starting this review, I have to take a deep breath. Because that is what is necessary after reading this heart-wrenching, gripping tale of love, forgiveness, sacrifice, and the inherent goodness of the human spirit.

How many people would never doubt their spouse's wishes for a single second, no matter what they were? Well, Demi Stevens is one of those people. Her late husband's dying wish was for her to be there for his cousin upon his release from prison. She was to pick him up, drive him across the country, where he was to begin residing in the garage apartment behind her house. She had never met Connor, but she trusted her husband completely, and so she welcomed him into her world.

I enjoyed the fact that Toler brought bits of current hot-button issues into the story, while not necessarily making them the primary focus. Demi's position as a special education teacher working with children with autism is one example. There are other issues that weave into the story in different ways; ones that I won't mention due to the potential to spoil aspects of the book for readers.

Connor and Demi's characters were well-developed, as well as the secondary characters- even the ones we only meet through memories. They love, they feel, they face adversity, they fight for what is right in the world. They never give up; never let go.

I'll be the first to admit that I was prepared to write a strongly worded message to the author at one point because she had my emotions running so high...but she does that. She gets the reader so into the story that they feel like they are right there, experiencing everything along the way. I'm happy to report that I forged on, and was able to get a handle on my emotions.

BN Toler is fast-becoming an author that I will one-click without reading blurbs about her stories. They're that good. They suck you in, and next thing you know, you're bleary-eyed, staring into your cup of coffee as the sun rises, a pile of tissues by your side.
4486727
"Wildflowers From Winter" was one of those books that I couldn't put down. Its powerful story grabbed me and wouldn't let go. It is a story that is difficult to read at times because the characters are so real that it is too easy to sympathize with their tragedies and grief as if they were actually a part of your life.

Bethany has nearly achieved the goals she only dreamed of as a teen when suddenly the rug is pulled out from under her feet. About the same time, Bethany receives tragic news regarding her former best friend. Although she has vowed to never return to her home town, Bethany decides she owes it to her friend to pay her respects then leave quickly. Once there she is compelled to stay despite her reservations. Then another death adds to the burdens already on her heart.

Bethany is a complex character who at first seems cynical and cold. Flashbacks gradually reveal the pain in her past and reasons for her resistance to God and close relationships. Her encounters with Evan Price are at first prickly but evolve into a trusting friendship. Bethany's journey from a lonely young woman who is angry at God to one who is finally open to love from both Evan and God is a sometimes heart rending tale that is also filled with hope.

I find it incredible to believe that this is Katie Ganshert's first novel. If "Wildflowers From Winter" is an example, I can't wait for her next novel.

This book was provided for review by WaterBrook Multnomah Publishing Group Blogging for Books.
2636361
It took me a week to digest this entire story after I finished reading it before I felt qualified to write a short review of it.  It has been some time since I've been so moved by a story such as this.
The character development in MCS is stunning.  I really felt that I knew Kiyoki  personally, and suffered along with him as he strove to find himself.  Many  times, I found myself cheering him on, hoping for the best, and celebrating  his joy and sorrow.
I found the familial history not only to be critical  to the plotline, but wonderfully presented in well-designed flashback  chapters which segued well with the main story.  In addition, Richman  clearly knew her subject matter to have been able to evoke such images of  Japan in the late 1800s.  Her descriptions brought to mind many colorful  and vivid images...to the point where many times in the quiet of my rooms I  could hear sandals sliding across rough floors.
I highly recommend this  story.  It only took me 3 days to read, I could hardly put it down.  And  that hasn't happened in quite some time!
990022
Part mystery, part courtroom drama, but also a deeply moving exploration of the human psyche.  The book opens in the voice of what at first might seem an anti-hero teenager, but soon it becomes clear that there is much more going on beneath the surface.  The story is so enthralling, I simply couldn't put it down.  You can't help but to care deeply for the main character, and become anxious to turn each page and find out more.  Even minor characters fully come to life, creating many indelible portraits. The story never loses touch with reality, making it all the more inspiring when the main character makes a crucial decision and revelation.  If you enjoy reading at all, you will love this book!
3557902
It took me longer than I anticipated to read this book, because I found that I got emotionally drawn into it and found it difficult to read at times. I needed time to think about it and mull it over.  For me, it truly came alive - the author was able to capture reality intermixed with the emotion one would have to feel when reading, whether planned or not.  I do believe that everyone needs to read this story, for its historical value as well as the implications of long-term impact at so many levels.  This is a story that draws you into places in your mind and heart that are often silenced by complacency.  The author did a great job of drawing the reader into the plight of a culture and its people, in close proximity to the environment and its relative impact.
190567
A captivating story so intricately wrought it will crush you with empathy. For young Blue, a troubled teenager with a talent for woodcarving, the world she has inherited is a place of abandonment,confusion, and unanswered questions. The paths she takes and the twists and turns of this story will cast you down and lift you up on wave after wave of breathless expectation and hope. The fact that the author lingers a little too long on secondary characters after the amazing and stunning conflicts in Blue's life are resolved doesn't mar the story, but I felt it could have been stronger had it not moved on to such a long history of her newly found relatives. I loved Blue and wanted only the taste of her to be with me as I closed the book on her life.
819542
Lila and Theron is a little jewel of a love story that unfolds over a long, ambitious arc of time, and it rewards in both dimensions.  Its set in northern Vermont, but it takes you deep into the hard, uncertain rural life shared by many of our grandparents and great-grandparents all across this country, and not so long ago, with bitter cold, the back-breaking labor of farming, the struggle just to stay alive.

But there is compassion and the strong bonds of community as well. When Therons mother dies in childbirth, and his father, eking out a living on a hardscrabble dairy farm, is incapable of caring for him, the local doctor, Doc Jewett, and his nurse, Elise Jackson, come to the rescue. Elise arranges for a family in a neighboring town to take in baby Theron. He flourishes with the Cleveland family.  Being cared for, the small boy gains a grounding in family life, learning how to love and care for others before he has to return to a lonelier life with his troubled father.

Time passes. Lila and Theron are born in the 1890s and their story takes us all the way to the 1970s, but their lives are so involving and the characters so compelling that the reader experience the changes gradually, as they do, not as mere historical backdrop.

Schubart writes with respect and affection for his characters and their culture, and his knowledge of rural life illuminates every page. When Theron comes home from school one day and cant find his father, he runs to the barn and fumbles for the Mason jar of stick matches to light the lantern hanging on a nail nearby. Before electricity brings light from a switch, people are careful to keep needed objects in a consistent place so they can be found in the dark. He finds his father passed out, huddled for warmth against the haunches of a cow as she lies in the darkness.

Decades later, when electricity comes to Lila and Therons house in the 1950s, Theron is persuaded to bring it into his milking parlor as well: the dairy coop is about to mandate a new milk storage system and . . .cold boxes and milk cans will soon be obsolete.

The coming of electricity brings a kind of magic as well. The next time Theron goes to town, he buys Lila a Philco tabletop radio. Theron pushes the plug into the new wall socket . . .and turns the knob clockwise past the click as Jack Morton has shown him and suddenly the room fills with music . . . Lila comes running into the house and beams at Theron. She grabs him by the arm and begins to waltz him around the small kitchen to the strains of Woody Herman.

Its a spare and shapely story, a pleasure to read, and at the risk of serious buzzkill, I think it should be on every high school reading list. With its nuanced detail and textured depiction of our shared past, and with its tale of enduring love in the foreground, its a gift to us all, especially the young.
3131214
As in "A Higher Call," Adam Makos places the reader square in the heat of the action, inside the cockpit or in a foxhole. My heart was racing. This is a story on many levels:  A Korean War story, a compelling and significant story of the lives and friendship of two heroic Corsair pilots set in the late 1940s and early 1950s, a story of racism when it was shockingly blatant, and a beautiful love story. I now understand and appreciate the Korean War and am grateful that Americans such as those in Devotion gained freedom for South Korea.
2030865
In the region of Vorarlberg, in Austria, a young boy is traveling in the back of a car.  As he stares out the window, he glimpses a mystical black lake out his window, and begs his father to pull over so that he can get a better look at the beautiful scene.  When he and his father get closer to the strangely mesmerizing lake, an old man is sitting there, and tells them the story of a young girl named Katharina, and how the black lake came into being.

This is how, literally, one of the most beautiful stories I've ever read begins.  I was completely enthralled with the young maiden, who spent most all of her days walking, standing, and resting beside the lake.  The water was pure, crystalline; she could see all the way to the bottom, as if waiting for a gorgeous underwater world to appear before her eyes.  She also spent her time talking to the lake, telling it all about her happiness and sorrows.

One day, a young man by the name of Paul is already at the lake when Katharina arrives.  He is a handsome man - with skin as black and magical as the night.  He exudes kindness from every molecule of his body and soul, and Katharina soon finds herself running back to her home in order to bring the man food and water.  You see, Paul doesn't want to go with her to her house, because he says that people are frightened of his color.  But Katharina simply doesn't understand.  After a while, she begs him to come meet her parents because she truly feels as if she is madly in love with Paul and wants to spend the rest of her life with him.

I will say no more about the beautifully written words that this author has provided to the children's literary community.  I truly want everyone to go out and buy this book, sit down with their children, and REALLY read the wonderful tale of Paul and Katharina.  For me, I have always believed that to see people - really SEE people - we have to use our hearts to see the good that's contained in a person's soul.  If everyone could do that, prejudice would be wiped from this earth and we'd all be a happier, less violent people.

I was fortunate enough to read this author's first book titled, Mozart in the Future, and loved that one, as well.  This storyteller has quite a bit to say, and I really pray that everybody will take the time to read and listen!

Until Next Time,
Amy
2495826
Enjoying such a mesmerizing story, and looking forward to either a second installment or a movie translation. I'm confident you'll enjoy this book - it's intense, and short enough to actually finish. Which makes it all the more powerful. Appreciate the Blessing of a great story, by Ms. Dupre
1094842
I sobbed when I came to the end of this beautifully written story.  I haven't cried when reading a book in a long time.

The book starts in the middle of a difficult subject--the death of two teenage boys--so it took me a while to keep reading past the first chapter; the grief of the two mothers was so well described I could not stop thinking about how awful I would feel if anything happened to my children.  Fortunately, I pressed on and read the entirety of this very compelling story.  I enjoyed how she portrayed each mother's story sympathetically; "the truth" is never as simple as it first seems.
4031314
Here I sit with tears in my eyes, having just finished Sheila. Maybe because I've so recently felt the nearness of old age, maybe because I've had so many dear pets, I am deeply affected by this tale.

The story is so well wrought - all the details that describe a loving family life; the sons, adults now, cold and practical; the clarity of the old man's mind and his respect for the law.  All these details draw the reader in, and lead inexorably to the surprising ending.

A wonderful read indeed! I look forward to seeing more stories from Rebecca Wright.
2328038
I don't normally give 5 stars, but this story captured my interest and my heart. Mary, Anthony, Blossom, and the rest of the characters make up such a delightful parade of small-town living mixed with life's practical and impractical situations and consequences. Everything felt so real, from the descriptions of the town to the heart-rending choices the characters had to make. I'm so glad I took the time to read this story and highly, highly recommend it.