I recently had the chance to read The Shadow of Your Smile by Susan May Warren and loved it! It was beautifully written and tugged at my heart in ways that I wouldn’t have anticipated. I am definitely going to be reading more of her books in the future. But before I get to my thoughts about the book, here is a little bit about the book and the author.
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 the Author:
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 of www.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.
My Thoughts:
I have to preface this by saying I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It was a beautiful story that drew me in right from the beginning. I truly came to care about the characters and wanted everything set right in the end.
That being said, parts of this book were hard for me to read. As mentioned in the summary above, an accident erases Noelle’s memory. Without giving away too much of the storyline, Noelle falls and hits her head after running to escape from a coffeehouse robbery. The whole incident hit a little too close to home for me.
When I was in high school, I worked at a fast food restaurant. One night I was working the closing shift when we were robbed at gunpoint. One man jumped over the counter, and another burst through the kitchen door. At the time, I was out sweeping the lobby. I watched in horror while a man screamed at my manager to open the cash registers. The only thought that was running through my head at the time was that I needed to run. I remember thinking they wouldn’t shoot me at the street with all the cars passing by. So I dropped my broom and ran out the door. An incredibly stupid thing to do looking back on it now, but it made sense at the time. The other man promptly chased after me, grabbed me, and yanked me back inside. There were two other employees working that night and we were forced to lie face down in the back at gunpoint. I truly thought those men were going to kill us all. Fortunately for us, the men only wanted the money. However, it took a long time for the nightmares to go away.
So the section of The Shadow of Your Smile dealing with the coffeehouse robbery, as well as the tragic back story of Noelle and Eli’s daughter, had me in tears. Major waterworks, let me tell you! I can attest to the fact that while you eventually move on, a traumatic incident never truly leaves you. You may go on with life, but it leaves invisible scars behind. (My kids probably have that to blame for my helicopter mommy tendencies!) I think it is a testament to Susan May Warren’s writing skills that she was able to evoke such strong emotions in me about an incident that happened 22 years ago and I rarely think about anymore.
Despite my fixation with the traumatic parts, at it’s heart The Shadow of Your Smile is about two people being forced to start over, and how they learn to fall in love again. Can you even imagine having to start from scratch with your spouse and re-learn everything about them? Could you do it? Would you have the strength? What if your memories reset to your college years? Would your former self be shocked at the life you are living now? Would you be disappointed about all those hopes and dreams that never came to fruition? This book definitely had me pondering these questions for quite awhile after I read the last page.
To be honest, I fully expected the author to take the easy way out and have Noelle’s memories return at the end of the story. However I thought the way Warren handled it was more realistic and led to a more satisfying ending. It wasn’t all packaged up in a neat and tidy box, but the reader truly gets the sense that Noelle and Eli’s marriage has been restored and they will both be stronger because of their experiences. Tragedy never truly leaves you, but with God and the support of loved ones, you can move past it.
I ended up reading the entire story over a 2 day period because I didn’t want to put it down. I highly recommend it for all of you Christian romance enthusiasts out there. Although I had never read any of Susan May Warren’s works before, I am definitely going to look for some of her other books, including the rest of the Deep Haven series.
Want to know what other bloggers thought about this book? Then be sure to check out the rest of The Shadow of Your Smile blog tour. If you want a copy of your own to read , you can find The Shadow of Your Smile on Amazon in either paperback or Kindle formats.
Now for a fun giveaway!
Sometimes love requires a little forgetting … Come back to Deep Haven and find out what’s been happening in your favorite quaint hamlet. If you’re new to the Deep Haven series – this is the perfect book to start with – each book in the series is a stand alone story.
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
The winner will be announced on 1/30/12 on Susan’s blog, Scribbles! Just click one of the icons below to enter and tell your friends about Susan’s giveaway on FACEBOOK or TWITTER and increase your chances of winning.
Disclosure: I received a complimentary copy of the book to facilitate this review. Thank you to Litfuse and Susan May Warren for the opportunity! No other compensation was received and all opinions stated are my own.
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I am so thankful the Lord is with us each moment. Thank you for your testimony to His love. I would like to read this first book, for me, of the Deep Haven series.
lanehillhouse[at]centurylink[dot]net