Sunday, February 22, 2015

Proof of Angels


When Sean Magee, a troubled 30-year-old firefighter, becomes trapped while battling a raging inferno, he bargains with God: "If you get me out of this... I promise... I'll be a better man." As if in answer to the prayer, a mysterious angelic light leads him to an escape, where he is forced to take a blind leap. His jump from the three-story building casts him into a new life filled with disabling and prolonged physical challenges. 

Sean's story is a spin-off thread from Mary Curran Hackett's previous novel, Proof of Heaven, in which a young boy with a life-threatening illness and his mother found their faith tested. "Uncle Sean"--a volatile, emotionally distant alcoholic--couldn't deal with their situation, so he ran away and created a new, single, solitary life in California. Proof of Angels, set three years later, delves into Sean's history, including how and why his heart was badly broken on an ill-fated trip to Italy years before.

After the fire, personal regret inhibits Sean's healing, and his physical immobility forces him to examine his conscience and make good on his life-saving promise to God. He must reconcile his past with the present, addressing his relationships with family, friends and caretakers who all have struggles of their own and, ultimately, with the woman he left behind across the ocean. Hackett delivers another gritty, yet hopeful story about the myriad ways broken human beings are often brought together to help and heal each other.

William Morrow & Company, $14.99 Paperback, 9780062279958, 320 pp
Publication Date: November 4, 2014
To order this book via INDIEBOUND link HERE

Note: This review is a reprint and is being posted (in a slightly different form) with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (11/18/14), click HERE

Friday, February 13, 2015

Fretting Friday the 13th?





Friday, February 13, 2015
Opinion/Editorial: "Other Views/ Guest Columnist" (Section A-9)
BY KATHLEEN GERARD

To read the article in its entirety, click on the highlighted title above

Sunday, February 1, 2015

The Gift of Maybe: Finding Hope and Possibility in Uncertain Times


Before she became a business consultant and life coach, Allison Carmen was a stressed-out attorney working at a large Manhattan law firm. Plagued by depression, sleeplessness and hopelessness, she was "addicted to certainty," a need to know the future and what was going to happen next.

One day, Carmen's Qigong instructor shared a parable that sparked an epiphany, changing her way of thinking--and her life. Carmen realized that the unexpected is often viewed through a prism of negativity clouded by fear. She learned to apply a new approach--what she calls Maybe, a transformative, life-strengthening philosophy. No matter how dire a situation may appear or how far it may deviate from the plan, Maybe encourages us to investigate what is possible in a situation, rather than what is impossible. Seemingly bad circumstances, disappointments, failures, struggles and losses can become gateways that lead toward positive breakthroughs.

Carmen illustrates her Maybe philosophy with examples from her own life and those of ordinary people who have faced challenges in business, relationships, health, finance and retirement. She also cites stories of notable figures, such as Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps, whose personal setbacks have often become sources of empowerment. Thought-provoking questions and strategies, such as breathing exercises, visualization techniques, meditations and mantras, will inspire seekers challenged by uncontrollable aspects of life to consciously bend their minds toward the idea that everything has the power to be a good and positive life force.

Perigee Trade, $15 Paperback, 9780399169533, 352 pp
Publication Date: November 4, 2014
To order this book via INDIEBOUND link HERE

Note: This review is a reprint and is being posted (in a slightly different form) with the permission of Shelf Awareness. To read this review on Shelf Awareness: Reader's Edition (11/18/14), click HERE