Customer Reviews

Tuesday Night at the Blue Moon

5 star:		(10)
4 star:		(4)
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2 star:		(1)
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I'm not a writer and have never written a review but wanted to put my 2 cents in. Every day I looked forward to my lunch hour so that I could grab this book and read a couple more chapters. The characters were all so interesting and so real. I found it so intriguing to read from Andie's point of view and then from Marty's. It's kind of like seeing flashbacks in a movie. Each flashback helps you to understand the complexities of the situation. This story has some humor, draws some tears and makes you fall in love with the characters who are desperately trying to figure out what they're suppose to do with the unusual circumstances in their lives. Tuesday Night at the Blue Moon is definately a book worth reading.

Every mother's nightmare becomes reality when two girls are switched at birth in Tuesday Night at the Blue Moon. Debbie Thomas has captured the emotions of the major players, from the mother whose daughter is returned to her after the death of the girl she thought was her daughter; to the girl whose world has been turned upside down in the switch. Compelling from start to finish, with an element of faith that helps get these characters through the greatest challenge of their lives.

This poignant, wonderful debut novel by a great new writer (and beautiful wordsmith) was one of the most REAL and honest novels I've read in a while. Debbie Fuller Thomas is one gorgeous writer. Love her descriptive prose. And what an original, captivating story!

It begins (so I'm not giving anything away) with Marty, a single mom grieving the loss of her daughter from a genetic disease who then learns it wasn't even her daughter who died. (Yes, her daughter by virtue of having loved and raised her for 13 years, but not by birth. The hospital mistakenly switched her newborn daughter with another's.) And Marty's birth daughter, Andi, is very much alive, recently orphaned, and living with her aging grandparents--illegally in a seniors mobile home park. So the court awards custody (on a temporary/trial basis) of the teenaged Andi to her birth mother, Marty. What follows is an honest, heartwrenching, and very real tale of grief, love, anger, divided loyalties, and what makes a family.

I LOVED this book! It was so refreshing to read a novel in the faith market that wasn't of a middle- or upper-middle class family, but instead, a single mom struggling to make ends meet in a realistic, hardscrabble existence (without resorting to the cliches of making mom a druggie or alcoholic.) A mom whose husband left and who's doing the best she can for her children with what she has--which includes the aging Blue Moon Drive-In her father owns and Marty helps run when she's not checking groceries at the local discount grocery store.

This is a story about real people in the real world. Bravo, Debbie Thomas for painting such a masterful, realistic, and poignant picture. I can't recommend Tuesday Night at the Blue Moon highly enough! One of my favorite novels of 2008. Leaves so many others by more famous authors in the dust. Can't wait to read more from this talented author!

Also recommended: Beyond the Night by Marlo Schalesky and A Bigger Life by Annette Smith.

Experiencing my own grief while reading this book was like therapy for me. The writing was so real and sometimes so raw that I had to put the book down to compose my emotions to continue reading. I enjoyed getting to know this family, especially Marty and Andie, and the shift in first-person narrative was important to the story . . . . and I thought the author gave both of them an authentic voice.

What a wonderful story! I couldn't put this one down and was rather perturbed it took me so many days to finish it because life kept getting in the way!

Marty's thirteen-year-old daughter Ginger, has died from a genetic disease. After her death, Marty discovers that Ginger wasn't really her biological daughter but was accidentally switched at birth in the hospital where she was born. Marty had raised someone else's daughter and that meant someone else was raising HER daughter! After learning that her biological daughter had been recently orphaned she decided to fight for custody.

Her biological daughter's name is Andrea and her parents were killed in an accident in Mexico while they were on vacation leaving Andie, as she liked to be called, orphaned and living with her elderly grandparents. After a brief court appearance, the Judge agrees and places Andie in the temporary custody of Marty. Marty's youngest daughter Winnie is thrilled to have Andie move in and live with them but Deja, Marty's teenaged daughter isn't so excited or accepting. Having to share her room with Andie only makes matters worse.

Marty and her husband are divorced and she and the girls live with her father at his old 'drive-in' movie theatre which is a bit run down but nonetheless provides some income for the family along with Marty's job as a cashier at the local grocery store.

Marty is so torn between memories and realities and wants so much for God to heal her family but can she get over her angry feelings at God?

Andie IS mad at God. Her hopes and dreams begin to fade away of ever fitting in anywhere. She realizes her Grandparents don't really want to finish raising her, she doesn't want to live with her Uncle Greg in Canada and doesn't feel she'll ever fit in with Marty's family but, healing comes from the last place she ever expected or wanted - the hurting family and loving God she fought so hard to resist.

This was a full-rounded story with great character development and a good plot with many lessons to learn along the way. I'll definitely be looking for more of this author's work and would recommend this novel to everyone!

Debbie Fuller Thomas has written a compelling, sensitive portrait of an imperfect family entangled in a perfect mess. Everything about this story seems real. A mother caught between the family she has and the daughter she never knew, wondering if she's done the right thing. A young girl ripped from the only family she's ever known negotiating the difficult paths of loyalty and belonging. The author takes no easy outs, and she draws her characters with heartrending precision. This is a wonderful story, beautifully crafted.

One of the highest compliments I can give a book is that of authenticity -- everything about this book, from its dialogue to its situations to its descriptions, rang true. That's no small task to accomplish for an author who is dealing with multiple points of view and is able to reach deep into the soul of both a troubled woman who has lost a daughter to a dreaded disease and also into the turmoil of the thoughts of a teenager who has just discovered she was switched at birth and now must live with that woman and her other children. If good fiction causes "the willing suspension of disbelief," then this qualifies because Debbie Fuller Thomas completely captured my attention by sympathetically portraying the feelings of two very different people with sensitivity and insight.

Latayne C Scott
[...]

Tuesday Night at the Blue Moon is a story of less-than-perfect people picking up the pieces of a broken family and rebuilding that family with grace and truth. What could be more hopeful in the times we live in?

Thomas tells the story of a misplaced infant through the voices of a daughter and a mother who reunite after fourteen years and many heartaches for both. She captures the varied viewpoints perfectly and layers the story with meaning.

I love Martie and Andie and enjoyed every step they took toward their new relationship. Well done, Ms. Thomas!

I can't imagine the devastation of finding out that the child you have raised and loved isn't really yours and your flesh and blood baby is out in the world in someone else's arms. This book deals with that situation, thankfully a very unusual scenario - but not unheard of. This would be one reason that I have had my last 4 babies at home - there is no doubt that they are really mine!

The characters in this book are heart wrenching because, as in all things in life, there are two sides to every story. So we see Marty as she deals with having loved the daughter she raised and yet want to insert herself into Andie's life now. Then there is Andie who has just lost her parents in an accident only to find out that they weren't really her parents and now she is taken away from her grandparents and the only people she knows and loves and inserted into a family to "replace" their daughter that died. Not to mention the older and younger sisters already in the family, Marty's dad, Andie's grandparents and even the Blue Moon itself is a character in this storyline. This book made me laugh and cry and I really enjoyed it. For a good women's fiction - turn to "Tuesday Night at the Blue Moon".

Literally. I read this based off a recommendation and now i pass it on to you. This is a truly enjoyable read, even though it kept me crying through the first 4 chapters..at least. its rare that a book can keep you so emotionally invested. the characters are genuine and real despite the slightly far fetched premise. Thomas makes it all real leaves you wanting more. For anyone looking for a book with true emotional grit, regardless of your faith, this book is for you. put it on your list!