Customer Reviews

Touching Stars (Shenandoah Album)

5 star:		(17)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

I love Emilie Richards' books ~~ I have been hooked on them for the last six years and will read them whenever I can get my hands on one. However, this book is definitely not her best one. I am disappointed as it is lackluster in comparision to "Endless Chain," which I adored or even "Whiskey Island," which got me hooked on her books.

This book focused on Gayle, who runs the local bed and breakfast place in Shenandoah Valley, Va., and her relationship with her ex, Eric, who is a hotshot TV journalist who was captured by the Taliban in Afghanistan. He comes home to recover and to get to know his sons that he has neglected over the last 12 years. There's three of them, Jared, the eldest who just graduated high school; Noah, the artistic and sensitive middle son; and Dillon, the youngest and most hyper of the three ~~ and one that Eric doesn't know at all. Gayle has raised the sons by herself all those years and still carried a torch for her ex. This book explores their relationship as well as their relationships with their sons.

It is a sweet and endearing book ~~ but for some reason, the characters are not as memorable as Helen Henry or even Sam, the local minister. There is a story tied in from the past where Lincoln's assassin might have taken shelter in one of the local farmhouses just after Lincoln was killed. But I got the feeling that this book was hurried and not well-thought out as her other books ~~ which is disappointing. But at the same time, I was still engrossed enough to finish the book. It's a perfect summer beach read ~~ but if you want to know the author better, I really suggest reading "Whiskey Island" and "Iron Lace" ~~ some of her older books. They definitely satisfy the reader in me who always want a good story told as well as a good mystery.

10-22-07

This is the 4th of the Shenandoah Quilt series by Emilie Richards. Each book is great, this one is the heartwarming story of a divorced mother of three deals with the day to day running of a bed & breakfast will raising her sons. Then, her ex-husband comes back into her life. Will they get back together or is there someone new in her life?

Each book stands alone, but if possible read them in order. Characters from previous books show up in each new one.

In TOUCHING STARS, author Emilie Richards again exhibits her wonderful ability to create realistic characters and interesting stories. This book is in her Shenandoah Album Series. All of the books in this series have some quilters living in the stories and there's always a quilt on a frame waiting to be finished.

Gayle Fortman is the divorced mother of three sons. They make their home in Virginia's beautiful Shenandoah Valley. Gayle's a smart and very resourceful woman who also runs a successful Inn that she named Daughter of the Stars. Her former husband Eric is a well-known television newscaster who travels the world reporting on various stories. After the divorce their relationship has not been close, but usually friendly. Her biggest regret is that her boys never had a father who was there when they needed one. Over the years they had not see their father enough and his relationship with his youngest son is almost non-existent. When Eric experiences a horrible attack on his life in the Middle East, he is wounded and traumatized. Gayle invites him too stay and recuperate at the Inn. Having Eric with the family again causes many feelings of old resentments and also a longing for what could have been. It also makes them wonder if the family could be together again.

TOUCHING STARS also contains a second story. A local summer day camp for teenagers is doing an archaeological dig on a nearby property. There is some mystery about the family that had lived there during the Civil War and the students and their teacher hope to find an answer to some old questions. This aspect of the book was particularly fascinating to me!

The author's choice for the name of her Inn and the book's title came from the word SHENANDOAH which means "Daughter of the Stars," and it's the American Indian name used for both the river and the beautiful valley. The Inn also has numerous "star" quilts in many of the rooms.

The other books in the Shenandoah Series are: WEDDING RING, ENDLESS CHAIN and LOVER'S KNOT. I recommend them all!

Judith Miller

Since divorcing broadcast journalist Eric Fortman, who deserted her and his kids, Gayle and their three sons (eighteen years old Jared, sixteen years old Noah and thirteen years old Dillon) live a nice life in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. Her Daughter of the Stars bed and breakfast is a major success while she also covers for her former spouse when he consistently fails his offspring.

Whereas Eric is never there for his children, Gayle's neighbor Travis Allen is always there for the kids. He also has become her best friend. As Jared is about to graduate, Eric comes home for solace. He almost died at the hands of the Taliban while on assignment in Afghanistan and has not mentally recovered. Gayle offers him a chance to make it up with his three boys by offering him a room at the inn. Eric accepts but though he loves his former wife and his sons, he thinks of returning to the international scene if he can find his courage. However, this is also perhaps his last chance with his family as each of his three sons takes him to task.

This is an interesting family drama starring a hot shot journalist struggling with battle fatigue syndrome after a close brush with death. The lead pair and the ensemble cast (including a female reporter girlfriend) are fully developed characters highlighted when Eric who is no Fred McMurray deals with his angry at him offspring in combo and as individuals. Readers will appreciate Emile Richards' strong contemporary tale with a delightful final spin that feels plausible and right but will surprise the audience.

Harriet Klausner

Nothing great....just a nice story. I read it and then put it in a basket of quilt items for a door prize. If I would have "loved" it, I would have kept it.

Another EXCELLENT story from Emilie, hope there's another in the near future. While it's the fourth in the series you don't have to have read the first three to enjoy this one.

Touching Stars was one of those that you can't put down until it is finished. Reality was on every page, and everyday problems presented in a tasteful manner. It would be quite easy to put yourself in the place of the characters,. and coping with the young adults more than real.

I started reading Touching Stars, and I have to say I'm really disappointed. I loved the other books in the Shannandoh Album series, but this one is a let down. I feel like it is a cheap rip off of A Mighty Heart - Eric even says he hopes Brad Pitt would play him in a movie version and Angelina Jolie his wife!!! I'm sure it was meant to honor Danny Pearl and all of the other journalists overseas, but in my mind it is done in a distastful manner, cheapening what they have really been through.

A gentle reminder to Booklover 101. The movie she cites, A Mighty Heart, was released at the same time (end of June 2007) as this novel. So there's no possibility the author could have "ripped off" the movie, as she suggests. Authors, like everyone else, can rarely see into the future or into the heart of Hollywood. Emilie Richards pays tribute to the dangers inherent in broadcast journalism, particularly in war zones, but the novel is so much more, most importantly a look at a family in crisis and the effects of divorce. I enjoyed this addition to the Shenandoah Album as much as the previous books.

I received my book in the time stated. It was a nice Paperback book. I would order again from Billie's Book Barn