"Heart Like Mine" by Amy Hatvany ~ Exceptional Story!

 

 

SUMMARY :

 

From rising star Amy Hatvany, an engrossing new novel about a woman whose life is turned upside down when the man she's engaged to suddenly becomes a full-time father to the children from his previous marriage.

 

Thirty-six-year-old Grace McAllister never longed for children. But when she meets Victor Hansen, a handsome, charismatic divorced restaurateur who is father to Max and Ava, Grace decides that, for the right man, she could learn to be an excellent part-time stepmom. After all, the kids live with their mother, Kelli. How hard could it be?

At thirteen, Ava Hansen is mature beyond her years. Since her parents’ divorce, she has been the one taking care of her emotionally unstable mother and her little brother—she pays the bills, does the laundry, and never complains because she loves her mama more than anyone. And while her father’s new girlfriend is nice enough, Ava still holds out hope that her parents will get back together and that they’ll be a family again.

But only days after Victor and Grace get engaged, Kelli dies suddenly under mysterious circumstances—and soon, Grace and Ava discover there was much more to Kelli’s life than either ever knew.

Narrated by Grace and Ava in the present with flashbacks into Kelli’s troubled past, Heart Like Mine is a poignant and hopeful portrait about womanhood, love, and the challenges of family life.

PARTICULARS OF THIS BOOK :
Published by:  Washington Square Press
Pages:  342 and Readers Club Guide
Genre:  Fiction/Contemporary
Find more here:  Amy Hatvany
Twitter:  @AmyHatvany
Facebook.com/amy.hatvany


SOMETHING ABOUT MS HATVANY :   *Taken from her website

Amy was born in Seattle, WA in 1972, the youngest of three children. She graduated from Western Washington University in 1994 with a degree in Sociology only to discover most sociologists are unemployed. Soon followed a variety of jobs – some of which she loved, like decorating wedding cakes; others which she merely tolerated, like receptionist. In 1998, Amy finally decided to sell her car, quit her job, and take a chance on writing books.

The literary gods took kindly to her aspirations and THE KIND OF LOVE THAT SAVES YOU was published in 2000 by Bantam Doubleday. THE LANGUAGE OF SISTERS was picked up by NAL in 2002. (Both were published under her previous last name, Yurk.)

Amy spends most of her time today with her second and final husband, Stephan. (Seriously, if this one doesn’t work out, she’s done, kaput, no more husbands.) She stays busy with her two children, Scarlett and Miles, and her “bonus child,” Anna. Their blended family also includes two four-legged hairy children, commonly known as Black Lab mutts, Kenda and Dolcé. When Amy’s not with friends or family, she is most likely reading, cooking, or zoning out on certain reality television shows. Top Chef is a current favorite. She eagerly awaits auditions for the cast of “Top Author.” (“Quick Edit” instead of “Quick Fire” Challenge? C’mon, producers! That’s gripping television!) THE DAME'S REVIEW : I really wanted to review "Heart Like Mine" so much and was delighted to be able to get a reader's copy recently.  It was burning a hole in my coffee table all through the Christmas holidays as I was dying for the opportune time to pick it up for a good read.  Well worth the wait, I'm here to report to you! Amy Hatvany is one of the best of the contemporary women writers of today, in my humble opinion.  She knows how to translate women's issues and to bring them to the forefront through believable and endearing characters, both female and male...and those of all ages.  She is a chronicler of our times, I think, in her assessment of what goes on in the contemporary family and in the minds of those mothers who are dealing with them.  She has her hand on the pulse of women in crises and she can tell you about them so that you feel their angst and their push-pull of emotions. My sympathies were torn in this book between the main female characters. Grace, the young woman who really didn't want to be a mother but was thrust into a situation where she had to choose to be one or not to the children of the man she loved.  A tough decision no matter how you look at it!  And, Kelli, the natural mother of the children in question, who died and left them to their father. Both of these women, the children and their father seemed so real in Hatvany's hands!  I thought about them in the hours when I wasn't reading...   If, as so many authors believe, characterization is the thing that makes a book great, "Heart Like Mine" is a great book! It is a gripping novel from the first sentences and it holds on 'til the last.  This is one you won't soon forget, with women you'll be thinking about for days after you put the book down.  A perfect book for book group reading!   5 stars   Deborah/TheBookishDame

 

A Plethora of Mother's Day Gifts! Deborah Batterman & Matt Hammitt's Books

Children's Book Choice:

Summary: In the same manner as touching picture books like bestsellers Let Me Hold You Longer and Love You Forever, I Couldn't Love You More tells a sweet, loving, yet powerful message: I couldn’t love you more, but there is someone who does. Through the unique relationship of adorable animals, the book shares that Christ is always with you and he loves you more than you can imagine. This engaging picture book combines lovable and irresistible images with the lyrics from the song (co-written by Jason Ingram and Matt Hammitt). Matt is lead vocalist for Sanctus Real, a Grammy-nominated Christian rock band. The song is on Hammitt’s latest album, Every Fallen Tear. When Matt and his wife, Sarah, were halfway through her pregnancy, they discovered their son would be born with Hypoplastic Left Heart Syndrome (HLHS), a rare congenital defect. Matt and Sarah’s son, Bowen, was born on 9/9/10 and received a huge following through the Hammitt’s blog (bowensheart.com), K-LOVE, and ABC News. A portion of the proceeds from the book goes to the foundation the Hammitts’ have started to help parents with children who have this heart condition. 

Particlars of the book:  

Publisher~Tyndale House Publishers

Pages~28

Genre~ Children's Fiction/Christian/Inspirational

About the Author :

Matt Hammitt is the lead singer and a founding member of the band Sanctus Real. Over the past decade, the Grammy nominated, Dove Award–winning group has released five albums and has topped the Christian radio charts with fourteen No. 1 and Top 5 radio hits.

  In 2010, Matt and his wife, Sarah, found out they were expecting their third child. Already the parents of two young daughters, Emmerson and Claire, they were looking forward to an ultrasound that would reveal whether they were having a boy or a girl. "We found out it was a boy, and we were all celebrating," Matt recalls. "But only a few minutes later the doctor came in and told us that things weren't right, that half of the baby's heart wasn't developed. At that time, they didn't think he would survive."

 Diagnosed with Hypoplastic left heart syndrome, little Bowen, whose name means "small, victorious one," defied the odds and survived. But it hasn't been an easy road for Matt and his family. Following Bowen's birth, Matt and Sarah watched their newborn son endure two open-heart surgeries, and they spent more than three months by his bedside at Mott Children's Hospital in Ann Arbor, Michigan. Matt and Sarah have shared the pain, as well as the joy, of their journey with others through their blog, Bowensheart.com, which has received more than one million hits to date. Sarah says, "God clearly has His hand in all of this. Our family has been called to walk through this, and we will do our best, even though it's going to be really rough at times."

 "Everything I've watched happen in the hospital—all the pain I've felt—is deepening my faith, strengthening my marriage, and molding my character," Matt says. "Out of what appeared to be a well of emptiness has flowed a fountain of purpose." Matt's album Every Falling Tear, released in 2011, was born out of the heart of a father wrestling with his pain but buoyed by his faith and his love for his family. I Couldn't Love You More is one of the songs on the album. It expresses a parent's desire to share Christ's unconditional love with his child. A portion of the proceeds from both Matt's album and this book will be given to support the Whole Hearts Foundation, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization founded by the Hammitts that is dedicated to helping families with children suffering from congenital heart defects. Matt says, "We've met so many families like us whose children are suffering, and they are looking for hope. It has become our mission to help them find it."

Find out more about Sanctus Real at:  http://sanctusreal.com      and their blog at:  http://www.sanctusreal.com/sanctus-real/c/feed-blog

The Dame's Nutshell Review:   

This is a darling book with the most beautiful of illustrations.  I wish I had a copy for every single one of my 7 little grands to keep on their bedside tables.  The message of Jesus's love and His never leaving them whether day or night is such a comfort.  I know my grands would all be happy to be reminded that someone else loves them much more even than their devoted parents and grandparents!

Matt Hammitt, and illstrator Polona Lovsin have worked together to bring a stunning little book to life with  the collaboration of  songwriter, producer and artist, Jason Ingram's input. 

I have always loved the simple and profound messages of their books, but this one is a stand-out!

I highly recommend it, not just for children with disabilities and those who suffer with hospitalizations, but for all children in all situations.

It's a perfect book for anytime and anywhere.

5 sparkling stars...

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Short Stories Choice of the Month

With poignancy and humor, Deborah Batterman reminds us in these brief, linked essays that every mother is a daughter, too. The insights she brings to simple acts – looking at old photographs, recalling the smells and tastes of her mother’s cooking, making her daughter’s bed or shopping with her – are as beautifully rendered as they are profound.    

About the Author:

  A native New Yorker, Deborah Batterman has worked over the years as a writer, editor, and teaching artist. A story from her debut collection, SHOES HAIR NAILS (Uccelli Press, 2006; digital edition, 2010), was nominated for the Pushcart Prize. Her stories have appeared in anthologies as well as various print and online journals, and she recently completed a novel.    

Find Deborah on her blog at:  http://deborahbatterman.com 

Let The Dame Have Her Say :

Deborah Batterman is a woman who knows the intricacies of writing well.  She is a writer who can take apart a piece of story like boning a fish, bit by tiny bit, and come out with a delicacy.  I love her body of work.  It's a delight to read, and I wonder when some major publisher is going to discover her and put her all over the book shelves in every major city across the country.  For now, any of us can read her work by finding her on Barnes & Noble for a song.  Lucky for us!

In "Because My Name Is Mother," Deborah has highlighted the dark and the light sides of motherhood.  It's a retrospective story making of the push-pull we all probably feel about our own mothers; i.e., that sense of loving them, and at the same time feeling a sort of jealousy or resentment toward them.  And, if not a resentment, an awe of the mystique of them on some level.  The power of motherhood is addressed in Deborah's short stories, as is the personal weaknesses of women who are mothers.  And all this is done with such brilliance and poignancy, we can't help being touched with memory and the madness, and the awareness of our own roles as mothers.

I'm a huge fan of Batterman's work.  I have to stop by her blog fairly often just to get my dosage of her writing and wisdom.  She's an amazing artist.  She's also one of those who actually sees and interprets the world around her on a regular basis.  That's a gift, which makes her a gifted writer. 

 I loved the second story in this collection, for instance, of her showing her grown daughter by example that it's good to enjoy the moment, to take time to distance oneself from busy-ness when having a moment's pleasure and "relaxation" in a manicure and pedicure salon...putting away cell phones, magazines, etc., to enjoy the moment.  She writes of not telling her daughter, but showing by her own choices, and realizing that her daughter might at some time find the way by her example...or not.  That's motherhood at it's most mature.

Let me encourage you to purchase this volume of short stories today or anytime.  "Because My Name Is Mother" is a book you'll be reading and passing on to your mother and friends...

And purchase her book on Barnes & Noble: http://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/because-my-name-is-mother-deborah-batterman/1110356646?ean=2940014548731

5 stars

Deborah/TheBookishDame


HAPPY MOTHER'S  DAY   TO FRIENDS AND FAMILY   and Thanks for stopping by today!!

Mother's Day Week: A Tribute to All Mothers Starting Today: Pearls~

The first pearl I ever had knowledge of was my grandmother whose name was Pearl. 

She was a gentle, kind lady with soft mink colored hair and lavender blue eyes that danced with laughter when I did the least funny thing. She loved me, and I knew it without any shadow of a doubt.  With her, I could do no wrong, and that set my heart free at a time when I needed it most.

To me, she was a safe place I could count on as a 5 year old, and for the rest of my life, until she died when I was a mother with nearly grown children.   There was never a day in her life that she wouldn't have given me anything she owed, could beg, borrow or steal.
 
Grandmother worked full time, on her feet all day at a difficult job, but she took time on her weekends to spend with a lonely child who  had no siblings and no parents to care for her during the week.  I lived with my other, paternal grandmother (who was strict, staunch and Methodist! LOL),  and dear uncle.  My father was away in a hospital, and my mother had taken my younger, baby sister with her to a bigger city to try to make a new life without us.  It was a strange thing to be a child alone like that in the early 1950's.  Grandmother Pearl tried to make our few weekends together seem like fairy tale times.

My Grandmother Pearl was like a radiant angel, to me.  She shone a light in my dark times, bringing me the only crayons, paints and coloring books I would ever  have to play with, a live chick dyed pink at Easter, and stacks of Little Golden Books.  She started me out feeling that coloring and drawing and reading were safe places to be and to work within.  Look what happened to me as a result of all that!

When I found out her name was just like a beautiful piece of jewelry...I knew that's why they named her Pearl.  She was a perfect treasure to me.

On her death bed, when I flew down to NC to see her, I didn't think she would remember me or be able to recognize me.  She wasn't able to do that anymore for so many people, even my mother, her only child.  But when I came into her room and my mother asked her if she knew who I was, Grandmother sat up and said just two words that will remain in my heart forever, "Precious Debi."

Now, many years after she's gone, one of my grandchildren was given Pearl as her middle name. My only daughter, Jessica, and I laugh at that, in joy. Grandmother would love it!  And, so the "pearl necklace" goes on....


So, as we approach this Mother's Day, and I think about the mothers in my life, I first want to honor my Grandmother Pearl.

I want to give her the first pearl on my Mother's Day Necklace...


Do you have a grandmother you want to honor?  What did she do that you remember most?  :]


Deborah/TheBookishDame