Remember Me [Hardcover]

Deborah Bedford (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1, 2005

Sam Tibbits loves life--especially life at Piddock Beach, where his family spends their vacations. It's here that he's come to care for Aubrey, his childhood confidante. So the year Aubrey's family moves away with no forwarding address, Sam is crushed. He was going to propose.
Aubrey McCart enjoys being with Sam; he accepts her unconditionally like her father never has. But when her father's pride and joy--her brother--is killed in Vietnam, Aubrey is unable to cope. She chooses a path that changes her life forever, leading her away from Sam.
Years later, when Sam and Aubrey find themselves back at Piddock Beach, the two are forced to confront their abandoned friendship and make peace with their lives. But can they do so without overstepping their moral boundaries?

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

In a novel that's far subtler than run-of-the-mill Christian fiction, bestselling author Bedford (If I Had You) introduces us to Sam Tibbits, a beautifully drawn bachelor pastor who is sure to give Mitford's Father Tim a run for his money. As a boy in the late 1960s, Sam summered with his family at Piddock Beach in the Pacific Northwest. There, he became good friends—actually, more than friends—with a girl named Aubrey. They corresponded during the fall and winter and always looked forward to seeing each other again when summer rolled around. But during college, Sam arrived at Piddock Beach to find that Aubrey and her family had up and moved, leaving no forwarding address. The heartbroken Sam got on with his life, though he never married. As the novel opens, Sam is a minister who devotes himself wholly to his parish, and to his widowed sister and her son. He's a good pastor, but clearly on the road to burnout. To escape the pressures of his job, Sam returns to Piddock Beach and of course encounters Aubrey. On the surface, this novel explores the well-worn plot line of reconnecting with one's childhood sweetheart. But it's about many other things, too: Vietnam, vocation and the difference between dreams and reality. It's a multilayered, rewarding read. (Nov. 15)
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

About the Author

Deborah Bedford is a career fiction writer who began her professional life as a journalist in a Colorado mountain town. Deborah and her husband, Jack, have two children and live in Jackson Hole, Wyoming. --This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Product Details

• Hardcover
• Publisher: Warner Faith (November 1, 2005)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0446533572
• ISBN-13: 978-0446533577
• Product Dimensions: 9 x 6 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (9 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,115,539 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A beautiful story, November 24, 2005

By 

Patricia Kay "author and avid reader" (Houston, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Remember Me (Paperback)

I see now why Deborah Bedford is a star in the Christian market. REMEMBER ME is a beautifully written book with a message of hope that resonates throughout, even when Sam, the protagonist, is at his lowest ebb. At first I was afraid the book was going to be preachy -- something that turns me off -- but it's not. It's about one man's search for answers -- a search that takes him back to the past he has idealized and the woman he believes is the only woman for him. In revisiting the place that figured so prominently in his childhood, he rediscovers the truths he once knew and learns others that will carry him forward into a future bright with promise. This is truly a love story, filled with wonderful characters that will live in your heart for a long time. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Assurance of God's presence in our lives, January 16, 2006

By 

Diana Urban (Texas USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Remember Me (Paperback)

Young Sam Tibbits falls in love with Aubrey McCart while sitting in a storage box full of life jackets on a fishing trawler.

Through Sam and Aubrey's early teen years, their love continues to develop, blossoming during the week-long summer visits Sam's family makes to the Oregon coast. Then Aubrey's family undergoes a crisis and she and her family disappear overnight. Sam's heart is broken, and he is set adrift on the sea of young adulthood with no answers to the loss of his closest friend.

Years later Sam still loves Aubrey. But now he's a single pastor facing crises of his own. His deacon board has lost faith in him, he's just been forced to perform a funeral for a man he begged God to heal, and his dreams for a church sponsored homeless shelter are meeting tremendous resistance.

Mary Grace, the spunky, single, colorful church secretary, provides him with strength and support, but then Sam's nephew makes a reckless decision that costs Sam dearly. Sam reaches his breaking point, spiritually, emotionally, and professionally. Finally, realizing that time and distance may heal some of his wounds, Sam flees to Piddock Beach, the Oregon fishing town where he spent his summers as a child. He agrees to take his nephew, in hopes he can reconnect with the sullen teen.

Once there, Sam meets the last person he expected to see again-Aubrey. She too has returned to her hometown seeking balm for tremendous pain. Sam and Aubrey recover some of their old friendship, but they discover boundaries that did not exist when they were teenagers.

Will Sam be able to help his nephew overcome the devastation he has experienced? Can Sam and Aubrey come to terms with their rekindling relationship while finding the direction God intends them each to take?

Deborah Bedford does an outstanding job developing the characters in Remember Me. They're real people with real problems who face personal and spiritual crises.

We have all experienced times when God was silent, even when we begged Him for answers. And many of us have had times when we felt like running away as we faced pressures too great to bear. Bedford's characters experience these emotions in heartbreaking detail. Yet their spiritual journeys from doubt to strength and faith give us hope. Anyone who has felt despair as deeply as Sam and Aubrey have, will find a calm certainty that God holds us in the palm of His hand, in the pages of Remember Me.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unforgettable romance, April 5, 2006

By 

Christian Book Previews "Christian Book Previews" - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Remember Me (Paperback)

A beautiful romance story set on the gorgeous Oregon coast, Deborah Bedford's novel Remember Me tells the tale of first love, acceptance, and moving on. Sam Tibbits is a small-town pastor, questioning God's calling in his life. In a desperate attempt to reclaim the world he once knew, Sam travels to the beautiful Oregon coast he visited each summer of his youth, only to find memories of his first love. Bedford tells a beautiful tale of love, life, and God.

The author does an excellent job of incorporating past events of Sam and Aubrey's history with the lives they currently lead. However, there is little involvement between the two characters. Sam Tibbits, while taking his sabbatical on the shores of Oregon, finds not only himself and his true calling, but his first love as well. Sam is a very strong character and very much a man of God. Aubrey, however, seems to be lacking in development as a character. She does not play a very large role in the story, although one might assume she would.

Remember Me is an unforgettable tale, nevertheless. It's a story of God and love, and the choices people are forced to make in life. The ending leaves the reader with a sense of peace, having learned that we may not always get what we want, but it's only because God is holding something better for us. For those who believe in love and second chances, Remember Me, is a wonderful novel. - Emily Day, Christian Book Previews.com