Guest Author - Bettyann Schmidt

The Novelist, by Angela Hunt, Thomas Nelson Publishers

Charles Martin is called a master craftsman by Lifeway: "Double the story-telling ability of Nicholas Sparks, throw in hints of Michael Crichton and Don J. Snyder, and you have Charles Martin." Reviewer San White on tripon.com dubbed this the best book of the year (2006). Coffee Time Romance added, "If you read any book this year, this is the one." RomanceJunkies.com are quoted, "When Crickets Cry is the one of the very best books I have ever read..."

What tempted me to this book was that it is a "Southern" novel. I adore southern fiction. A Southern Living Book of the Month Selection is a good endorsement.

This is not a cozy, light-hearted piece of work but, rather, deep, emotional. This author totally blows me away with his prose. Told in the first person, this is a "moving" story of the wounded heart of a brilliant man who's hidden himself from the world after the death of the only woman he's ever loved, since his elementary school years. He's also walked away from another part of his past, that of a renown heart surgeon career.

When a man writes a romance, there's a depth of feeling that literally breaks your heart. I don't know why. Maybe because the men we love and have been close to aren't as open with their feelings. Or society as we know it has created the image.

Nevertheless, this author tells a story you won't walk away from easily.

The story begins when our hero, Reese, meets a precocious, seven-year-old girl working her lemonade stand and notices an ugly scar on the child's chest not quite hidden by her sunny yellow dress. A bond is formed, and as he's walking away, a life-shattering event occurs. Thus begins an intertwining of lives and a story all about the human heart, from both angles. Medical, anatomical, and the part no one can see.

The story is also a lot about boats, working on, repair of, and competition. Our protagonist, Reese, along with his close companion Charlie, does a lot of boat rowing, and this fact intertwines with the heart in a different light.

The story builds slowly and steadily, light emanating from the characters' faith in God and revealing his almighty power to heal the human heart. Again from both angles, in both respects.

Go to Amazon, link below, if you want to give this book a read. Until then, keep reading, and I will too.