To Protect and Serve (Staci Stallings) Book Review

2016 Reading Challenge

38. To Protect and Serve by Staci Stallings

Synopsis:

     To save others' lives, they will risk their own.
     Houston firefighter, Jeff Taylor is a fireman's fireman. He's not afraid of anything, and no situation is too dangerous to keep him on the sideline if lives are at stake.
     Lisa Matheson runs a semi-successful ad agency that's on the brink of falling apart. Her employees are incompetent and her schedule has become exhausting. When she takes on a client with a brilliant idea for a big conference, she thinks that maybe, finally this is her lucky break. However, the fire station wasn't what she had in mind for finding conference speakers. When she falls for a handsome but shy firefighter, it's possible that life might just be going her way for a change. The only problem is she can't control Jeff and the death wish he seems to have.

My Review:

     Jeff is a firefighter, whose mission is to save and protect as many lives as he can. I really liked getting to know more about the life of firemen. We always hear in the news the stories of them putting out fires, saving lives when they can, and serving the public. And just like police officers, we sometimes hear about losing them in the line of duty. But we don't get to see the other side of things - what firefighters go through when they lose one of their own or can't save someone despite taking every measure possible, or even how they separate their work life from everything else. It was interesting and insightful to see that perspective. When it comes to police, firefighters and even paramedics, they can be bothered by what they see and do when they get called to serve the public. It can be hard separating that from their personal lives. As the story progresses, you can see why Jeff wanted to become a firefighter and why he wants to protect and serve the community. He has a bit of a sad background and it was heartbreaking to see that side of him come out.

     Lisa owns an ad agency, but has trouble letting go of control and taking no for an answer (the latter of which you'll understand when you read the book). When her work unexpectedly takes her to a firehouse, the last thing she expects is to start falling for a guy she just happened to meet a couple days earlier and finds out that he works at the aforementioned firehouse. They both have reservations about falling in love due to past history. We get to see how Jeff and Lisa try to combine both of their lives together and overcome their own concerns together. With Jeff, that would be wanting to keep his work life separate and opening up about certain things, and for Lisa, it would be learning to give up some control and let others in. We also get a glimpse of what it's like to be a significant other of a firefighter, especially when it comes to losing a comrade.

     While reading To Protect and Serve, I realized how dangerous it can be for a firefighter. Granted, I've always known that, but I found out more in depth. Just like police officers, they don't know if they're going to make it home alive to their family after their shift. And vice versa for their families. This issue was tackled somewhat in this story. I liked that although Lisa worried about Jeff's well-being and safety on the job, she realized that she couldn't tell him to give up his dream. Coming to that realization wasn't easy, but it was interesting to see her go through that process.

This is a light read. Here are two quotes from the book that I liked:

"You have this moment and only this moment. What you do with it is your choice."

"Life's not easy - for anybody. The wind and the waves are right there all the time waiting to knock you over, but the point is you have to step out of the boat anyway. You have to trust God enough, to believe that He sees the bigger picture and would never let the wind and the waves get the better of you."

Happy Reading and Keep on Writing!

♥Meg♥

From the Heart (Rosemary Hines) Book Review

2016 Reading Challenge

30. From the Heart by Rosemary Hines
      Theme/Topic: book you can read in a day

Synopsis:

After the loss of her beloved husband Phil, Joan Walker struggles to stay afloat in a sea of grief. Then she happens upon a discovery that will impact her entire family and challenge her future.
Will Phil’s legacy be able to restore joy to her broken heart?

My Review:

This is the most heartbreaking, emotional, and moving book in the series. Joan is at the forefront of this novella as she tries to come to terms with Phil's passing, adjusting to life without him. As the family start going through his things, they discover his secret project that he put so much time into during Around the Bend. It's a bunch of Christmas gifts he left for each family member. But the meaning behind them is what makes them special. The gifts include two video tapes: one for all of them and one just for Joan. While I won't go into what they contained, as I feel that doing so would take away the purpose of reading it, have your tissues ready. What I also liked was that you find out how they met and fell in love.

When we lose someone we love, some days are better than others. Grief can strike at any time. Even the simplest thing can evoke that feeling. I don't think we ever truly get over losing someone, but we simply get used to a new normal without them in our life. I'm going to end this with a quote from Joan herself, which perfectly sums up grief:

"Grief is a funny thing. It hits like huge waves in the sea, one after the other, at first. Then the waves are a little less frequent until eventually a whole day may pass without one hitting. But when it does, each wave is nearly as intense as the first. And they can come at the most unexpected times." - Joan Walker

This is book five in a series. Click below for the other book reviews I did for this series:
Out of a Dream
Through the Tears
Into Magnolia
Around the Bend

Happy Reading and Keep on Writing!

♥Meg♥

Looking for Alaska Book Review

2015 Reading Challenge

15. Looking for Alaska by John Green

       Theme/Topic: book written by someone under 30

   

Synopsis: 

Sixteen-year-old Miles' first year at Culver Creek Prepatory School (boarding school) in Alabama includes good friends and great pranks, but is defined by the search for answers about life and death after a fatal car crash.

My Review:

This is about life before and after a tragic event of losing a friend in a car crash. We tend to take our family and friends for granted and don't always realize how much they mean to us. Oftentimes by the time we do, it's too late. I liked how John Green showed Miles, aka Pudge, and his friends/c!assmates go through the grieving process just like anybody else, but more importantly, that they each went through it differently. 

Losing someone close to us, whether suddenly or not, is heartbreaking. Just like Pudge, I think all of us question life and death after someone dies. I related to what Pudge went through because I felt a lot of the same things when I lost an uncle in 2001 and my grandmom in 2010. One died suddenly and the other died unexpectedly, but I kind of knew it was coming. With both, I found myself asking what if I had done this or that (they're both extremely personal stories), would it have made a difference. And I'm sure a lot of people feel the same way. 

Suicide. Although we never find out if Alaska dies by accident or crashed as a way to commit suicide, suicide is an importañt issue not to be taken lightly. I've known two people who did take their life and although I wasn't that close to either of them, I still found myself questioning why someone would want to do that.  The answer is that you just don't know. There's no way of knowing what that person is thinking right before that moment or even what led up to that moment. If you or someone you know is considering suicide as a way out, please get help. 

This book is good for young adults and adults in their 20s and 30s because it's during those times when we question life and death and discover what we want to become and where we want to be in life. 

I'm going to end this with the most thought defining quote from this book: 

"How will I ever get out of this labyrinth?" - Alaska Young

Happy Reading and Keep on Writing!

Meg

Author Spotlight: Colleen McCullough and More

I'm starting an Author Spotlight feature and I will be making some notes at the end of this.

Author Spotlight Week 1

For my first author, I've chosen Colleen McCullough. I just finished reading The Thorn Birds the other day. In addition, Colleen died at the end of January and has been in the news recently.

Colleen McCullough was an Australian author who is best known for The Thorn Birds and being a  romance novelist. When she first started writing, she had established the neurophysiology department at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London, as well as being a neurophysiological researcher at Yale for ten years and would write in her spare time. She was often criticized for supposedly basing her characters off of other books. However, Colleen always stated that she wouldn't copy off other authors' works. Altogether, she would end up writing 25 novels in her career. Colleen passed away on January 29, 2015 at the age of 77 and leaving behind her husband Ric Robinson.

Colleen was known for sexist and lude writing, which was joked about in an obituary that an Australian newspaper published right after she died. Here's my take. Sex scenes in books/movies sells, there's no denying it. And the romance genre is above love making and sex of course. I've actually read authors who were more descriptive and provided more detail than what Colleen did in The Thorn Birds.

The Thorn Birds. Since the characters in the book were Catholic, this brings up an interesting point. Father Ralph was a priest, but still had feelings for Meggie and vice versa. It goes to show that nobody in any given vocation or career is perfect. Priests have to go to confession just like everybody else who believes in God. I am a born and raised Catholic myself. In recent years, I admit that I've fallen a bit out of my faith and that's okay too. It's okay to question anything and everything, including religion/faith. I hope and pray that someday I will get back fully into the Catholic faith. I'm not going to get into why I've lacked faith over some years because the issues are personal and I will figure out some way to deal with those issues and move on. I do believe in God and most of the Catholic faith; it's only little things and I know I'll get through it by trusting in God, among other things.

Second chances in life are acceptable and maybe someone thinks they would like to be in a certain profession/career/vocation/calling, only to find out that once they are, they don't care for it like they originally thought. It's like Maria in the Sound of Music. Maria thought she wanted to be nun, but couldn't really get into their rules/way of life and fell in love with a man instead. I knew someone in high school who wanted to do anything and everything to do with horses. When she went to college for it, she found out she wasn't interested in that type of lifestyle on a professional and permanent level. You have to do what makes you happy and writing romance was what made Colleen McCullough happy.

My Favorite Quotes from The Thorn Birds:
“The bird with the thorn in its breast, it follows an immutable law; it is driven by it knows not what to impale itself, and die singing. At the very instant the thorn enters there is no awareness in it of the dying to come; it simply sings and sings until there is not the life left to utter another note. But we, when we put the thorns in our breasts, we know. We understand. And still we do it. Still we do it.”

“Belief doesn't rest on proof or existence...it rests on faith...without faith there is nothing.”  

“We can know what we do wrong even before we do it, but self-knowledge can't affect or change the outcome, can it? Everyone singing his own little song, convinced it's the most wonderful song the world has ever heard. Don't you see? We create our own thorns, and never stop to count the cost. All we can do is suffer the pain, and tell ourselves it was well worth it.”

“There is a legend about a bird which sings just once in its life, more sweetly than any other creature on the face of the earth. From the moment it leaves the nest it searches for a thorn tree, and does not rest until it has found one. Then, singing among the savage branches, it impales itself upon the longest, sharpest spine. And, dying, it rises above its own agony to outcarol the lark and the nightingale. One superlative song, existence the price. But the whole world stills to listen, and God in His heaven smiles. For the best is only bought at the cost of great pain… Or so says the legend.”  

Information on Colleen McCullough:
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/01/30/books/colleen-mccullough-author-of-the-thorn-birds-dies-at-77.html

http://www.theguardian.com/books/australia-books-blog/2015/jan/30/myozobituary-colleen-mccullough-fans-mock-the-australians-churlish-obit

http://www.cnbc.com/id/102382743#.



Special Notes:
I'm going to try my best to write a post every Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday/Sunday. Author spotlights will be on Thursdays except for this one of course. On Tuesdays, most likely I'll post writing tips/exercises and personal essays. And for the weekend, I'm going to attempt to do something fun, like a book tag or a personal tag, etc.

In April, I will be taking part in a blog challenge and I'll tell more about that in the upcoming weeks.

Happy Reading and Keep On Writing!

Meg