ONE SUMMER BY DAVID BALDACCI: REVIEW AND GIVEAWAY

 GIVEAWAY ENDED
 ONE SUMMER

BY DAVID BALDACCI

ABOUT THE BOOK:

From #1 New York Times bestselling author David Baldacci comes a moving family drama about learning to love again after heartbreak and loss.

It's almost Christmas, but there is no joy in the house of terminally ill Jack and his family. With only a short time left to live, he spends his last days preparing to say goodbye to his devoted wife, Lizzie, and their three children. Then, unthinkably, tragedy strikes again: Lizzie is killed in a car accident. With no one able to care for them, the children are separated from each other and sent to live with family members around the country. 

Just when all seems lost, Jack begins to recover in a miraculous turn of events. He rises from what should have been his deathbed, determined to bring his fractured family back together. Struggling to rebuild their lives after Lizzie's death, he reunites everyone at Lizzie's childhood home on the oceanfront in South Carolina. And there, over one unforgettable summer, Jack will begin to learn to love again, and he and his children will learn how to become a family once more.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

David Baldacci was born in Virginia, in 1960, where he currently resides. He received a Bachelor of Arts in political science from Virginia Commonwealth University and a law degree from the University of Virginia. Mr. Baldacci practiced law for nine years in Washington, D.C., as both a trial and corporate attorney.

David Baldacci has published seventeen novels: Absolute Power, Total Control, The Winner, The Simple Truth, Saving Faith, Wish You Well, Last Man Standing, The Christmas Train, Split Second, Hour Game, The Camel Club, The Collectors, Simple Genius, Stone Cold, and The Whole Truth; and in his young adult series, Freddy and the French Fries: Fries Alive! and Freddy and the French Fries: The Adventures of Silas Finklebean. He has also published a novella for the Dutch entitled Office Hours, written for Holland's Year 2000 "Month of the Thriller." Baldacci authored a short story, "The Mighty Johns," as part of a mystery anthology published in 2002.

His works have been in numerous worldwide magazines, newspapers, journals, and publications. Baldacci has authored seven original screenplays. His books have been translated into more than 45 languages and sold in more than 80 countries. All of his books have been national and international bestsellers. Over 60 million copies of Mr. Baldacci's books are in print worldwide.

David Baldacci's books have been publicly discussed and/or read by everyone from Howard Stern and Don Imus to Newt Gingrich and Rush Limbaugh, from George H. W. Bush and Bill Clinton to Charlie Rose and Larry King.

David contributes to, and is involved in, several philanthropic efforts. His greatest efforts are currently dedicated to his family's own Wish You Well Foundation. The Wish You Well Foundation, established by Michelle and David Baldacci, supports family literacy in the United States by fostering and promoting the development and expansion of new and existing literacy and educational programs. Recently the Wish You Well Foundation partnered with Feeding America to launch "Feeding Body & Mind". Through Feeding Body & Mind, hundreds of thousands of new and used books have been collected and distributed through area food banks, helping feed both body and mind. For more information, visit WishYouWellFoundation.org and FeedingBodyandMind.com or call 703-476-6032. 

David Baldacci serves as a national ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and participates in numerous charities, including the Barbara Bush Foundation for Family Literacy, the American Cancer Society, and the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. He sits on the boards of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities and Virginia Commonwealth University. Baldacci also holds various honorary chairs.

MY THOUGHTS/REVIEW:
David Baldacci briefly abandons his popular best-selling genre of thrillers to give readers a heartfelt gift in his latest novel.  ONE SUMMER illustrates Baldacci’s brilliant talent as he presents a gifted and realistic account of what terminal illness does to a family as a whole. From the start, readers meet Jack Armstrong who is the dying father of three children and is married to Lizzie, the love of his life. Told from Jack’s viewpoint, with Baldacci’s fully fleshed out characters, the story immediately draws you in as one becomes part of this whole tragic scene.

Right off, we find Jack telling Lizzie that he is fighting to hang on to spend one more Christmas holiday with his family, as a terminal illness ravages his body. Lizzie’s desperate wish is that Jack will be with them even longer so they can return to South Carolina as a family to visit her childhood beach home for one last summer. But all that changes on Christmas Eve when Lizzie rushes out to pick up Jack’s forgotten prescription. Against Jack’s advice, she goes out in a storm and the full force of what she has done strikes as Lizzie is killed in a car accident that night. In what seems a whirlwind, Jack’s family is gone as grandparents come and take the children knowing Jack can’t care for them in his final days.  Jack enters a hospice, while the children are divided up to live with other family members.

David Baldacci creates another twist as Jack gains strength that he believes comes from Lizzie above.  Miraculously, Jack recovers to the shock and surprise of all his medical team. Able to fight anything now, Jack gets his children back and takes them to settle where he knows Lizzie would want them in her childhood home in South Carolina.

This all happens in the beginning of the story and then we see Baldacci at his best.  Jack must deal with depression at losing Lizzie, while learning to be a single parent, and building relationships with the children who are still grieving as well. Jack can’t let go of Lizzie yet as he feels her spirit all around him but especially at the beach house. At a very special lighthouse, something strange begins to happen as Jack is drawn there. This is where we learn that Lizzie had once searched for her twin sister who died a long time ago.

In ONE SUMMER, David Baldacci has written a story that moves you while also gives us a reason to understand how powerful love can be. With very real characters placed in quite honest situations, Baldacci highlights the strength of family and friends, and the part that love can play in every aspect of our lives. Realizing that even miracles can happen when love is involved, ONE SUMMER will keep you turning the pages on yet another first-class David Baldacci book.  

GIVEAWAY 

THANKS TO BRAD AND MY GOOD

FRIENDS AT HACHETTE BOOK GROUP,

I HAVE TWO COPIES OF THIS WONDERFUL

DAVID BALDACCI BOOK TO GIVE AWAY!

 
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