"The Shadow of Your Smile", by Susan May Warren, grips you from the very beginning and has a hold on you until the last page. A violent crime in Deep Haven triggers an accident which causes Noelle Hueston to lose her memory. She awakens in the hospital believing she is 21 (Why is she so out of shape? What's with the frumpy clothes? Who has she become?) and still in college when in reality she is in her 40's with a failing marriage and a family that is falling apart. Tragedy has struck Noelle and Eli Hueston more than once. They have lost their daughter as well as their love for each other and God along the way.
I really enjoyed the way that Susan May Warren helped Noelle and Eli to rediscover each other again. Due to his wife's memory loss, Eli must go back to the beginning, and start again. In this way they both relearn who they truly were (before the tragic loss of their daughter) and in many ways still are. The only problem is that there are secrets that may hold them back from a future together. There is a lot of humor and a lot of tenderness, as well as raw emotion. I was rooting for them both as they fought to recapture what they once had. Beautifully written and heartfelt.
About the book: The Shadow of Your Smile
A beautiful blanket of snow may cover the quaint town of Deep Haven each winter, but it can’t quite hide the wreckage of Noelle and Eli Hueston’s marriage.
After twenty-five years, they’re contemplating divorce . . . just as soon as their youngest son graduates from high school. But then an accident erases part of Noelle's memory. Though her other injuries are minor, she doesn’t remember Eli, their children, or the tragedy that has ripped their family apart. What’s more, Noelle is shocked that her life has turned out nothing like she dreamed it would. As she tries to regain her memory and slowly steps into her role as a wife and mother, Eli helps her readjust to daily life with sometimes-hilarious, sometimes-heartwarming results. But can she fall in love again with a man she can’t remember?
Will their secrets destroy them . . . or has erasing the past given them a chance for a future? Read the story behind the story here: http://www.susanmaywarren.com/books/the-shadow-of-your-smile.
About Susan: Susan May Warren is an award-winning, best-selling author of over twenty-five novels, many of which have won the Inspirational Readers Choice Award, the ACFW Book of the Year award, the Rita Award, and have been Christy finalists. After serving as a missionary for eight years in Russia, Susan returned home to a small town on Minnesota’s beautiful Lake Superior shore where she, her four children, and her husband are active in their local church.
Susan's larger than life characters and layered plots have won her acclaim with readers and reviewers alike. A seasoned women’s events and retreats speaker, she’s a popular writing teacher at conferences around the nation and the author of the beginning writer’s workbook: From the Inside-Out: discover, create and publish the novel in you!. She is also the founder ofwww.MyBookTherapy.com, a story-crafting service that helps authors discover their voice.
Susan makes her home in northern Minnesota, where she is busy cheering on her two sons in football, and her daughter in local theater productions (and desperately missing her college-age son!)
A full listing of her titles, reviews and awards can be found at:www.susanmaywarren.com.
You can purchase "The Shadow of Your Smile" here.
Susan is celebrating the release of The Shadow of Your Smile by giving away a prize pack worth over $200 from 1/9-1/28.
One grand prize winner will receive:
- A $200 Visa Gift Card (Use that to rekindle a little romance, treat yourself to a spa day, snap up those shoes you’ve been eyeing, or purchase a few great books!)
- The entire set of Deep Haven Books
1 comment:
"What's with the frumpy clothes?" ha ha
Thank you for your review. I would like to read "The Shadow of Your Smile." I have enjoyed reading the reviews. I have not read any of the Deep Haven books yet and would like to start with this one. Eli, by retelling their story, will find out himself what they have together.
lanehillhouse[at]centurylink[dot]net
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