Book Review: "One Summer" by: David Baldacci

Title: One Summer
Author: David Baldacci
Pages: 320
Personal Rating: 5/5

From the inside Cover: 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 on able to care for them,the children are separated from one another 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 Lizzies’s childhood home on the oceanfront in South Carolina. And there, over one unforgettable summer, Jack begins to learn to love again, and he and his children learn how to become a family once more.

Personal thoughts and reflection: I LOVED this book. I couldn’t put it down, and spent the last night up until 2 am finishing, as I couldn’t just leave the last quarter of the book unread! I had to know how everything resolved itself!!
I liked the character of Jack immediately. I was sucked in emotionally with this one! I have said it before and I’ll say it again. I believe the greatness of a book is shown when it can bring it’s reader to emotion, whether it be sadness, triumph, jealousy, anger, or any other emotion while reading, it has done it’s job! This book evoked so many emotions in me. Sadness, hope, anger, fear, it was all there!

The one thing that struck me about this book was it’s style. Now I have only read ONE of Baldacci’s books so far (The Christmas Train), though I was hooked from that one and went out and started stockpiling his works from then on, I am excited to get into some of his series!! (I’m a big series addict!) But this one reminded me of a Nicholas Sparks book. It read a lot like many of his. He spun a great tale, and I kept thinking “This was written by a guy?” Though some of the fight scenes were obviously written by one of the male gender! (come on, admit it, the thought of a fight scene makes you wanna read it, huh?)
If you are looking for a great, easy, fun, emotional adventure to sink your teeth into, grab this book!! If you enjoy Nicholas Sparks works, grab this book! Heck, Just Grab this book!!!! I promise you , it will grab you back!!