THE GIFT: REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

A BINGLE BELLS BOOK CHOICE

GIVEAWAY ENDED
THE GIFT
A NOVEL
BY CECELIA AHERN

ABOUT THE BOOK:

The Gift is a magical, fable-like Christmas story from Cecelia Ahern, the celebrated New York Times bestselling author of P.S. I Love You and Thanks for the Memories. The story of Lou Suffern, a successful executive frustrated by the fact that he spends more time in the office than with his doting wife and two young children, The Gift is “a tantalizing tale wrapped in a tale. . . . [the] perfect treat for the holidays.” (Sara Gruen)

New York Times bestselling author Cecelia Ahern spins a witty, warm, and wise modern-day fable of love, regret, hope, and second chances.

Extremely successful executive, Lou Suffern is always overstretched, immune to the holiday spirit that delights everyone around him. The classic workaholic who never has a moment to spare, he is always multitasking while shortchanging his devoted wife and their adorable children. And ever since he started competing for a big promotion, he has barely seen his family at all.

One frigid morning in an uncharacteristic burst of generosity, he buys a cup of coffee for Gabe, a homeless man huddled outside his office building. Inspired by his own unexpected act of kindness, Lou decides to prolong his charitable streak and contrives to get Gabe a job in his company's mail room. But when Gabe begins to meddle in Lou's life, the helping hand appears to be a serious mistake. Gabe seems to know more about Lou than Lou does about himself, and, perhaps more disturbingly, Gabe always seems to be in two places at once.

With Lou's personal and professional fates at important crossroads and Christmas looming, Gabe resorts to some unorthodox methods to show his stubborn patron what truly matters and how precious the gift of time is. But can he help him fix what's broken before it's too late?

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Before she embarked on her writing career, Cecelia Ahern completed a degree in journalism and media communications. At 21, she wrote her first novel, P.S. I Love You, which became an international bestseller and was adapted into a major motion picture, starring Hilary Swank. Her successive novels—Love, Rosie; If You Could See Me Now; and There's No Place Like Here—were also international bestsellers. Her books are published in 46 countries and have collectively sold more than 10 million copies. She is also the cocreator of the hit ABC comedy series Samantha Who?, starring Christina Applegate. The daughter of Ireland's former prime minister, Ahern lives in Dublin, Ireland.

MY REVIEW:

Cecilia Ahern has certainly given her book the right title, THE GIFT. This book is truly a gift especially at this time of the year. When all of us double and triple our already full workload, we wind up asking ourselves why? So most of us will relate somewhat with the main character, Lou.

Lou is the king of multi-taskers except that he often needs to single task and pay more attention to other things in his life like his wife and family. He is so busy doing so many things at once, is life it on a treadmill. When Lou gets a chance for a promotion at work, he winds up doing even more. Even when he is home with his family, his mind is not there with them but on what else he needs to be doing.

On a winter morning that all changes. Lou finds a homeless man outside his office building and almost passes him up and then decides that maybe this is someone he can help. He introduces himself to the man whose name is Gabe and before you know it, he helps Gabe get a job in his company. Lou figures if he does that, Gabe will be able to take better care of himself and in turn that makes Lou feel great. Gabe gets a job in the mail room however, he also starts to get in Lou's way. It seems like every time Lou turns around, Gabe is there. Before you know it, Lou begins to resent it and feel his personal space is being invaded. It also makes Lou suspicious at how Gabe always seems to know where Lou will be and shows up there.

Christmas isn't far away and Lou realizes slowly how valuable time really is. He learns how important certain things in life really are but he also learns a very hard lesson as well. What happens and what part does Gabe play in this? What secrets will be revealed? The story shows how just like a gift can hide something under layers of usually good looking paper and bows, so can people be a different thing once you unwrap them and discover their true secrets...and what is really important in life.

GIVEAWAY

THANKS TO KYLE AND HIS SUPPORT
FROM HARPER COLLINS PUBLISHING,
I HAVE THREE COPIES OF THIS
HOLIDAY BOOK TO GIVE AWAY.

RULES

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--No P.O. Boxes, Please
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HOW TO ENTER:

+1 ENTRY: Go to Cecilia's Website HERE and read about her. Comment on one thing you found interesting from that site about this author.

+1 MORE ENTRY: Blog or Tweet about this giveaway and leave link in your comment!

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+1 MORE ENTRY: Read my review above and comment on whether you think I gave too much away....it is OK, you won't hurt my feelings and it won't hurt your chances to win!

ALL ENTRIES DUE BY

6 PM, EST, DECEMBER 2

GOOD LUCK!