Everything happens for a reason
588560
Everything happens for a reason.
Nivea, is a good girl being raised by her bible thumping grandparents. She decides to lie, and take a trip with her friends Dior and Von. Unfortunately, one lie will turn into another lie.  All of the young women have their own stories to tell.  Since the story is so short, I will not give the storyline away. However, I do recommend this book and look forward to the next installment.
4738643
The characters each resonate with our own challenges and insecurities. Day after day coincidences and events of our lives require us to choose our path. Right or wrong, caring or indifferent  ,choices eventually define out history, personalities, and future.
857588
Wonderful things happen for people for love and believe. There were unexpected plot twists and characters to respect. A good read
1327303
Indeed something happens when you start taking action every day. Magic begins to happen. Thank you Miss Hayden for such a great, down to earth program on client acquisition.
3465124
The Book,The Reason, Reminds Me Of A Mix Of Story Lines. Almost Like A Mini-series Where You're So"Into" The Character's Lives, You Just Cant Wait To See What Comes Next. Kind Of Like Lost, Meets Greys Anatomy, Meets Habakkuk, Meets... (Maybe Even A Sliver Of Little House On The Prarie With An Older Pastor & his Wife). (:

All That To Say, I Couldn't Put The Book Down & Read It Through In 3 days. Go Buy Another Copy, Now, To Give Away. Youll Probably Want To Drop It Off With Your Local Barista...Or..__________.

I Felt Like It Had A Slow Start, However, I realized Why After Finishing The Book. The Author Really Does Have Alot Of Charaters& Storylines To Set Up. I Loved How They All Somehow Weave In/Out Of Each Other...Yet Each Character Is Most Certainly In Their Own "Battle"...In Life.
I Believe my Favorite Part Was The Genuiness & Diversity Of "Life" Struggles The Author Included. From Single-ParentHood, To One Night Stands, To Cancer, To unknown Fathers, To Suicide, To blindness, To Autism. You Name It, Someone In This Book Is Likely DealingWith It. It Felt Good To Be Reminded, Life Is Messy...And It's OK!

The Bottom Line Is, Even InThe Midst Of These Character's Lives (Their Struggles, Their victories & Disappointments) They Found A REASON To Press On, To Live, To Fight Another Day As They Understood More Of Their Part In The Grand Design Of This Life. Perhaps Even Their REASON For Being Alive?!
I Don't Want To Insinuate Everyone's Life Was Perfect By The End Of The Book. Nor Is Mine After Reading It. I WILL Say, After Reading The Reason, I Have Never Been More Confident of This:
That Even Though I Dont Understand All Gods WAys, Or "Why" He Does Somethings & Not Others....I'm Certain I Would Trust God With My Life Again Anyday Of The Week (And Twice On Sunday).

Read The Reason & It Will Definitely Renew/Restore  Your HOPE!
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1818581
Life happens.  Choices are made. Sometimes you get another chance.  Story unfolds about how life can change but feelings usually don't.  Perfect beach read
1412302
Things are not as they seem whether they be relationships, national crises, or tragedies. God can use them all to enhance our lives in ways we have never imagined. God is good all the time.
4176327
This story is YA in intent but it's a good read for anyone, really. The characters are around fourteen, mostly, all living the same neighborhood. The plot seems haphazard at first, jumping from one individual or small group of friends to another as they move from spring into summer, but the theme is "connectedness," the ways in which people's lives intersect for the strangest reasons -- or for no discernible reason at all. Sometimes it's taking out the garbage, sometimes it's losing a necklace. Hector wants to learn to play the guitar and he's struggling through the free lessons in the Presbyterian church basement. Debbie is making wishes but being so judicious about it, hemming them about with careful conditions, that "you could end up with a wish so shapeless that it could come true and you wouldn't even know it." Lenny is discovering that he understands how to make things work, that he can see how to fix things in his head. And then there's the old German lady Debbie sometimes helps out, and her visiting grandson, and the little adventure they all have. And the pleasure of being somewhere new for the first time. And there's a nice, slightly-sad-but-hopeful ending. The pace might seem slow, but it's really just careful and relaxed. This is not a pell-mell book.

There are some really nice bits of writing here. (Perkins won the Newberry for this one and she deserved it -- and it's not her first award, either.) Like Debbie being asked if she wants to do something she doesn't want to do, and immediately saying "No" and then "waiting for reinforcement reasons to arrive." Or Hector trying to think of ways to make himself interesting to the new girl -- more interesting than the football player sitting next to him. Or Dan Persik (said football player) considering how much fun it is enticing girls to have a crush on you. Some eye-catching images, too, like the elderly nun pushing a shopping cart full of watermelons down the sidewalk. Or the fact that short, black, plastic combs are to be found almost anywhere on streets or roadsides. (I've noticed that about single shoes.) Or, "It bothered Patty that electrons were so constantly in motion. Science gave her the creeps." Or, how does Nancy Drew know how to do so many things? "You never see her practicing." Chapter 22 (the chapters are pretty short) is written in two parallel columns, describing a boy and a girl in adjacent back yards (one reading Wuthering Heights, the other working on a dirt bike) each being only peripherally aware of each other. An interesting narrative effect. The author assumes her readers are smart enough not to need to be told everything explicitly, either. She'll drop hints and let them figure out the joke on their own. As when Debbie and her friend, Patty, make up quotes for the senior pictures in the school yearbook, but do them as haiku because "then it can be about nothing but sound like it's about something." Good stuff.
1034168
This book has so many fantastic things going on I'm having a hard time with where to start.  The author uses the english language to speak to the soul of the reader.  She shows us how small this world really is.  How by taking time to smell the flowers, or feel the wind on our face, or just look up, whatever we feel overwhelmed with at the moment can and does change.  Life is always changing, and evolving, and we are all connected in some shape or form.  Both characters show the reader that forgiveness is the pathway to freedom.  Freedom of the chains of pain and sadness.  This story shows us how sometimes things happen to shape us into the people we are meant to become.  At times the situation we are born into isn't the picture we dreamt of, but in the end we are given exactly what we need.

I would recommend this book to anyone and everyone!  It is such a well written, easy to follow, inspiring novel.  Be ready to laugh and cry, to feel sadness and joy.  It is an easy read that you won't want to end.  I'm in love with Thank You!!
72204
It is said, Everything happens for a reason." When I began to read this book before bedtime....I had initially intended to read  for about a half hour and continue reading it over the week.. This is not what happened ... I simply could not put it down and read it from cover to cover through the night.

I found myself carrying on this inner dialogue with the author as I turned each page while looking forward to the next.... along this unexpected journey, saying over and over simply brilliant, so true, so much courage to bare your soul with so much grace and clarity...then I loved the lodestones.... waypoint gems that brighten the road and support us to move  ahead ..

As a social worker(59 years old) who has worked  with Pd patients for many years and my husband was dx'd with Pd aprox. 12 years ago.... I thought I knew the story backwards and forwards and inside out;living it, learning etc.taught and supervised McGill University social work students etc..etc...

Hands down, the Unexpected Journey is  the finest book I have ever read on PD.... but once you read it,it is so much more .
Elona Kogan  msw
595593
This is a book about love, life, dreams and sorrow.... sometimes it's hard and hurts but you have to do what's right for yourself.  Fate is funny, if it's meant to be it will happen but fate can only show you what's in front of you.  It can't make you do what's right.  That's your decision to take the leap or stay safe.... sometimes the leap is hard but the landing is worth it!
4726797
Everything happens to easy. They get into trouble then something miraculous happens and they are out of it. Over and over again.
2585496
Date Reviewed: November 20, 2006  (pre-publication)

Old adages sometimes are nothing but mere empty words until you've personally experienced them.  One of those sayings that have been passed along for generations is, "Things always happen for a reason." William McCall learns this is true, along with a few of life's hardest lessons in THERE IS ALWAYS A REASON by William Frederick Cooper.

William's life and belief system is completely destroyed because he gave a brother a hand up and was betrayed in the process.  He almost succumbs entirely to the bitterness until he meets Linda "Lucky" Woodson.  Lucky, having faced some insurmountable odds both personally and medically, recognizes love when she sees it and pursues it, despite William's reluctance.  A chance meeting between the two of them turns into a love story that thaws a cold heart, shows love can conquer all and above all, nothing happens in life without a reason.

Cooper has written an outstanding portrayal of love's aches and pains from a mainly male perspective with a few twists thrown in.  He takes readers on a very deep emotional journey of betrayal, lost love and healing.  Cooper's handling of the subject matter was superb.  He did an excellent job of writing and crafting characters who were believable and engaging. The two main characters were so in synch; it was as though their story was more like a dance, even with distance between them at times.  I was completely caught up in this book, the characters and the plots.  This story was mesmerizing up until the very emotion-filled ending, which was not what I envisioned.  Get ready, because this one is a must have.

Reviewed by Brenda M. Lisbon

of The RAWSISTAZ Reviewers
806141
Some stories squash you right to the back of your chair. The slam the pedal to the metal and never let up. They, however, are not the kind of thrill ride that lasts long. A huge BOO! and YAHOO! and it's over. Not this story. In this one there is a steady irresistible force gently pressing you farther and farther back, a steady mounting tension with a seemingly inescapable conclusion: Murder most foul is on the way and not the heroine nor her dead grandmother's warnings can stop it. Oh there's the usual bits of hope bobbing in that stream of force but you know deep down that they are too few and too late. There's a guy who is beginning to believe, but obviously too late to stop it. There's the victim herself who has a chance to avoid the event but she's too rational to believe it is coming down like a freight train. It's all those movies where the reader or watcher is screaming, "Don't go down there!" at the top of their lungs. Then . . . something happens. Something unexpected.

Want to know what that something is? Buy the novel for gosh sake. Find out yourself. It's stunning.
3810901
Everyone makes mistakes, accidents happen and no single person goes through life without making at least one really bad choice.

Is one mistake, one small lapse in good judgement, a reflection on our personality, our parenting style or perhaps even the state of our mental health? That is exactly what this book is about, someone making the type of mistake you can never quite recover from.

A hard-working stressed out mother, who loves her children and treats them well, becomes the focus of a child neglect/abuse investigation. The moral parameter swings like Poe's Pendulum, from guilt to innocence.

Has Ellen become one of the heartbreaking cases she tends to? As a social worker she sees the very bottom of the soulless pit of violence, abuse, pain, hatred and despair. It is her job to rescue children and women from these desperate situations. Not that rescue is always possible or an option. More often than not the victims of abuse, especially children, are returned straight back to the family home.

Ellen is diligent to a fault. She leaves no stone unturned to help the people allocated to her case-load. Leaves as fast as possible when she gets an emergency call from one of her flock. In fact she is so intent on saving humanity that her family often seems to come second to everyone else.

Then there comes the day when her priorities cause an accident of such epic proportions that her whole life, career, marriage and all her close relationships come close to being destroyed.

I really enjoyed the way the author showed the reality of the flip-side of social work and a social workers life. Being the sounding board for people in need and only having the ability to help them in a marginally small way, can really cause havoc in the minds of the people in that particular career branch. It is also the reason for the high number of burnt out individuals in social work.

The pain and frustration of knowing you just can't save them all, despite all the good intentions you might have. Some of them are going to die, spend their lives in a continuous vicious cycle of violence and neglect. Knowing all that and acknowledging the lack of power you have over being able to change the outcome and futures of these children is enough to drive any person round the bend. Or at least to drive them to a point of complete overload.

This story takes a look at how quickly a person or parent can end up being just another statistic. Going from one end of the parent scale to the other, from good to so-called bad parent. Going from being the saviour or helper to being the abuser.

All it takes is one small moment of not paying attention, a few seconds out of sight and out of mind or a few seconds of being preoccupied by something or someone else.
A great read that takes a close look at boundaries between abuse, neglect and accidents. Sometimes it is hard to know where to draw the line, and more often than not the benefit of the doubt is given to the wrong person and to the detriment of a child or victim.
I received a copy of this book via NetGalley.
1724381
Lots of funny things happen on the way to love. Never knowing what somebody is going to say or do can make life very interesting. Life is short so it was fun having the unexpected happen.
1558976
This is inspiring to all that live though marriages that have ups and downs. Knowing that there is a way to cope and move on when things don't go as planned.