Every Breath by Nicholas Sparks
UK Publisher: Sphere (16 Oct. 2018) £18.99
US Publisher: Grand Central (October 16 2018)$28.00

In the romantic tradition of The Notebook and Nights in Rodanthe, #1 New York Times bestselling author Nicholas Sparks returns with a story about a chance encounter that becomes a touchstone for two vastly different individuals -- transcending decades, continents, and the bittersweet workings of fate.

Hope Anderson is at a crossroads. At thirty-six, she's been dating her boyfriend, an orthopedic surgeon, for six years. With no wedding plans in sight, and her father recently diagnosed with ALS, she decides to use a week at her family's cottage in Sunset Beach, North Carolina, to ready the house for sale and mull over some difficult decisions about her future.

Tru Walls has never visited North Carolina but is summoned to Sunset Beach by a letter from a man claiming to be his father. A safari guide, born and raised in Zimbabwe, Tru hopes to unravel some of the mysteries surrounding his mother's early life and recapture memories lost with her death. When the two strangers cross paths, their connection is as electric as it is unfathomable . . . but in the immersive days that follow, their feelings for each other will give way to choices that pit family duty against personal happiness in devastating ways.

Illuminating life's heartbreaking regrets and enduring hope, Every Breath explores the many facets of love that lay claim to our deepest loyalties -- and asks the question, How long can a dream survive?

I have heard about Nicholas Sparks' books for quite a long time but this one knocked on my door, so Every Breath is the first of his that I've read. It was impressive; something that makes you want to reach out and hug your loved ones as Every Breath is one of those emotive love stories that gets your eyes watery and your nose all red and sniffly. The story of these two souls of Tru and Hope colliding is a poignant one and seems improbable that a love so deep can blossom from a simple weekend of a chance encounter. It is a fictional story of course, but the writing sets it up so that you are unconsciously pulling for these two characters as if they are as real as you and I.

Kindred Spirit is the name of a mailbox that is located near a resort community that inspires both the story and our characters, and I will always (incorrectly) associate this book with that title. It perfectly described the connection between Tru and Hope. Have you ever met your own kindred spirit and selflessly let them go? Have you always wondered what would happen if you met again, perhaps in a different time, a different circumstance? Have you loved two people at the same time, but maybe in a different way? It's a romance novel yet so poignant and touching that you really could not forget these two characters. Go ahead and give Nicholas Sparks a try.. I am so glad I did!


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The 49th Mystic (Beyond The Circle #1) by Ted Dekker
May 2018, Revell/Baker Publishing group
Review copy from publisher, thank you for your generosity!

Some say the great mystery of how one can live in two worlds at once died with Thomas Hunter many years ago. Still others that the gateway to that greater reality was and is only the stuff of dreams.

They are wrong. In the small town of Eden, Utah, a blind girl named Rachelle Matthews is about to find out just how wrong.

When a procedure meant to restore Rachelle's sight goes awry, she begins to dream of another world so real that she wonders if Earth might only be a dream experienced when she falls asleep in that reality. Who is a simple blind girl to have such strange and fantastic dreams?

She's the prophesied one who must find and recover five ancient seals--in both worlds--before powerful enemies destroy her. If Rachelle succeeds in her quest, peace will reign. If she fails, both worlds will forever be locked in darkness.

So begins a two-volume saga of high stakes and a mind-bending quest to find an ancient path that will save humanity. The clock is ticking; the end rushes forward.

Ready? Set?

Dream.

The novel focuses in on a strange little town of Eden all on its own, dependent on each other as a whole with a new world order and Rachelle must go on a journey to save it from itself. It's a little bubble of a town and nothing goes in and nothing goes out. But the Shadow Man is there suddenly and Rachelle and her life are turned upside down.

"What begins as White that man has made Black?" is the first riddle that Rachelle needs to solve to save her little Eden. Rachelle is blind (but are we all blind anyway?) and the Shadow Man comes along and heals her blindness (or was it a scientific breakthrough) then kidnaps her dad or is it just a spell? Or just a dream? A nightmare.

Blessed are the clean of heart, for they will see God. and the lion lays down with the lamb. Where is your faith? Is it in the seen? What is your cognitive perception? As Rachelle tries to deal with living in two different worlds and being tasked to save Eden and find five seals to defeat evil she is undergoing a transformation of what she really is. Can she master her earthen vessel and sacrifice that what she holds dear? Can she live up to her prophecy as the One?

"There are those among the human race called mystics who know that God is infinite." - says the Shadow Man who calls brains tissue tops. There is a wonderful fluidity of the writing of Dekker even when your own tissue top brain is struggling to keep up with the reality of what is going on in their world and yet it is so similar to what is in our world in front of us today. "The light only used the darkness to reveal its brilliance."

"God is infinitely secure, the mystics say. Would such a being ever need to defend himself...".
I can't quite accurately explain The 49th Mystic as we have theology and science doing a merry dance in a circle and it brings us to the one undeniable truth that the world is doing its very best to forget and ignore, much to our peril. To read and comprehend this book is a gift, but to actually live out the message is a challenge. Do you dare?

A book that I will cherish and pick up when I need a reminder of my purpose as there are so many hidden gems throughout that one just needs a minute to find one and then a few more minutes to mull it over. It will be a lifetime before I reach the ultimate goal that is hinted at but it would be a blessing to die trying. Cannot wait for the second installment and I also feel so blessed that I have so many other of Ted Dekker's books to read too!

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