Sam's Letters to Jennifer by James Patterson - Review

For my first review project I chose Sam's Letters to Jennifer by James Patterson. You will find I may end up reviewing many of Mr. Patterson's books because, well, he's a fantastic author - one of my absolute favorites.  I enjoy how well he pens such diverse characters from Lindsay Boxer to Alex Cross and all the characters in-between.

Summary:

Sam's Letter's to Jennifer is a novel about learning to live life and find love even after tragedy. Jennifer is a woman drowning herself in work to escape from the death of her husband but after a devastating phone call, she finds herself thrown back into life once more.  Her grandmother, Sam, has fallen into a coma so Jennifer races back to the town she grew up in to be by her side.  While waiting for improvement, Sam discovers letters written to her by Sam.  In these letters contains a story she never thought she'd hear. A story she can hardly believe and completely turns her world upside-down.  Through these letters, Jennifer learns that no matter what cards are dealt to you in life, love is always there, waiting to be embraced. She also happens to meet a friend from her childhood who seems to have his own demons he's dealing with as well.  As they begin to trust and open up to one another, they both find their tragic tales have brought them together for a reason.

My Opinion:

I suppose it goes without saying, I really enjoyed this book. I found myself hoping for the fairy tale ending but knowing not every thing ends happily-ever-after.  I was able to connect with the character Jennifer, a woman that was so torn from heartbreak, she forgot that true love could happen, if she'd only let it. Reading Sam's letters to her opened a world not only to Jennifer but to myself as well. Finding out Sam's true story was inspiring.  Here's a woman that had already lived her life, raised a family and thought she was destined to continue in the same manner of just existing. Yet she finds another life that finally brings her joy and happiness.  For anyone that has loved and lost, no matter what type of loss it is, will truly be inspired by this novel.  What can I say? I'm a sucker for this kind of thing.

"We kissed under all those billions of twinkling stars. Then we kissed again, longer and harder. But that was it. There we stood, two people falling in love but separated by my marriage, our families, but especially his children, who were still at home with Doc." -pp 111-112

One of my favorite parts of a James Patterson book, is the short chapters. Many times, I only have a few short moments to read and the short chapters are very encouraging / enticing.  It leaves me wanting more.  If you are a reader with a short attention span or not much time between reading times, a James Patterson book like this is the way to go.


Sam's Letters to Jennifer
By: James Patterson
Publisher: Little, Brown and Company
Publication date: 2004
ISBN: 0-316-71057-1 (hard cover)
263 pages
Fiction

4/5 stars

The Beginning Of It All

After reading blogs from several people, some of whom I know, others - well, not so much, I realized I too could be blogging about my interests. If I'm interested enough in others opinions of books then I'm sure there are people out there that just might be interested in my opinions.  I don't claim to be an authority. In fact, in the grand scheme of things, I'd say I probably haven't read nearly enough in my life. But, I do enjoy it and I have tried to live my "reading" life by my dad's rule: Always give a book 300 pages before you decide whether you like it or not."  Now, not all books are going to be at least 300 pages.  Many will be less, and if that's the case then you can read all the way to the end before deciding.  I'd have to say there has only been a handful of times where I just flat out gave up on a horrible read.

This blog is intended to maybe get others interested in books they may not have otherwise picked up before.  A word of warning though: I sometimes get fixated on a particular author or series. Hey, when I like something I don't want to stray until I'm ready to move on.  I hope that if nothing else happens with this blog, I get at least one person interested in grabbing a book and checking it out.

Happy Reading!