Godspeed: a love story

Title:  Godspeed: a love story
Author:  Dan Chabot
Publisher:  Babop/Dan Chabot; 1 edition (September 28, 2012)   
Medium:  Kindle

Amazon Synopsis:

How far will a man go to atone for guilt?

When Derry and Amedee meet during her first day on the job at the Milwaukee Ledger, it is a collision of destinies. Their love affair is so intense and perfect and pure that they are certain it will be eternal. But when it ends in heartbreak, compounded by the ignominy of a disastrously mismanaged funeral service, Derry descends into an abyss of devastation and remorse and despair.

In his overpowering grief this tormented newspaperman embarks on an obsessive crusade for redemption, an astonishing twist that will leave readers tearful yet smiling in sympathetic admiration. His improbable, tender quest eventually will lead him to peace of mind, and to someone who will help him build a new life from the ashes of the past.

"Godspeed" is a bittersweet story of laughter and tears, irrepressible humor, reckless devotion, the value of true friendship, and unimaginable longing for the "forever" that can no longer be. And as the story and its astonishing twists unfold, a poignant question lingers: How can a lie be wrong if it makes so many people feel so good?

I've been out of reading sorts for the last few weeks.  Not sure why.  I've started and put down more books than I can count.  A few were just not readable.  Some were not what I expected. Others were just not capable of keeping my already shortened attention span.  My reading mind was restless.

Then I picked up Mr. Chabot's Godspeed:  a love story.  

This book couldn't have come at a better time for me.  I started reading this a day or so before the tragedy at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, CT.  While so far away, I think this senseless act has touched everyone in some way.  I'm still grappling with it, and can't bring myself to discuss it out loud because just the thought of mentioning it makes me choke up and words fail to form.  I think Godspeed:  a love story is just the kind of book that is needed at a time like this - at least for me, because it calmed my restless mind.  Reading kept me away from the news and from the sadness for a little while.  

Godspeed:  a love story, yes, first and foremost is a love story.  Love can come in multiple forms such as friendship, family, co-workers, a lover, and it can be found on the pages of this wonderful book.   My readers mind was full again.  This book is also about friendship.  It goes to great lengths to show the meaning of true friends, and how they are there for you when you need them most, even if you don't realize it.  Cherish them.

Godspeed:  a love story is poignant, touching, heartbreaking, uplifting, laugh out loud funny, cleansing, has a cast of characters you wished were your friends, and is one of those books that you want to share with everyone you know and don't know and tell them that they HAVE to read it.  It has twists and turns that bring you to an scenic view of beauty and colors you can only find in nature and see with your soul. If you've had a bad day, week or month, it will bring you back to a place that you thought you had lost.  It will restore you faith in whatever you believe in most, if only for a few hours.  

I cherished my hours with Derry and Amedee.  

Thank you Mr. Chabot for those hours.  

We are mourning together as a country.  We need Derry more than ever, today.

Dan Chabot

Love of Shadows

Title:  Love of Shadows
Author:  Zoe Brooks
Publisher:  White Fox Books (October 10, 2012)
Medium:  Kindle

Goodreads Synopsis:
"I had always felt most alive, when I was healing. Without healing I was a tin top spinning out of kilter soon to catch the ground. It took all my energy to hold myself from skidding into chaos."But in the city of Pharsis traditional women healers are banned from practising and the penalty for breaking the law is death by hanging. After being arrested and interrogated twice Judith is careful to avoid suspicion, but then scarlet fever breaks over the city like a poisonous wave, leaving in its wake the small corpses of children. What will the young healer do?
Love of Shadows is the second novel in The Healer's Shadow trilogy, which began with Girl in the Glass, and follows the lives of Judith and her Shadow, Sarah. It is a study in grief, love and defiance.


In this season of being thankful and giving, I am most thankful for authors.  I am thankful for the authors that fill my inbox daily asking me to read and review their book.  I am thankful that author's are patient, because sometimes life gets in the way of doing what you love.  I am thankful that very soon, this blog - only 8 months old - will have 2600 page views.  I am thankful that people who read my reviews and take my recommendations find that they too love the books and authors that I have shared.  I am thankful for the Indy author, who struggles on a daily basis to weave words into sentences that become a beautiful tapestry known as a book.  

I'm very thankful for Zoe Brooks.  She asked me several months ago to review her book Girl in the Glass which I fell in love with immediately.  It is a book that touches on your senses and begs you to slow down and savor every word as the ending draws near.  As I mentioned in that review, I was to happy to find out that the book is a first in Ms. Brooks' Shadows Trilogy.  Whew!  And I am even more thankful to Ms. Brooks because she asked me to review the second book in that series.

Sometimes a series can let you down.  You invest so much time into the characters only to find the next book in the series disappoints you.  Well, let me tell you, Love of Shadows does not disappoint.  It picks right up where Girl in the Glass leaves off.  Ms. Brooks doesn't miss a beat getting right back into the lives of Judith and Sarah.  There is adventure, there is tragedy, there is love, there is pain and there is healing. 

As a reader I was never bored and I was never left unfulfilled.  I was so pleased with this second book of Ms. Brooks, in the fact that she gives such beautiful descriptions and answers all of the questions that rise when one is reading a book.  I really think you should get both of these books, snuggle up and spend your weekend in the city of Pharsis getting to know Judith and Sarah.  You will be so happy to know them.

Zoe Brooks