Monday, February 22, 2010

Book Review-Musical Chairs

Last week I was sending out requests to other authors seeing if anyone wanted to review my book Sensitivity 101 for the Heterosexual Male and was pleased when Jen Knox replied back to me. Jen asked if I wanted to do a cross promotion--one where she read my book and I read hers. Since I had never done that before, and it sounded interesting, I agreed. So, here is my act of kindness for this week--my first book review.

In Musical Chairs by Jen Knox, we get to see the honest and painful story of one girl's past. As you learn about her running away from not only her family, but in reality from herself for a while, you can feel the pain she suffers. As she tries to fill the void, she falls into other vices--bad relationships, friendships that don't work out, alcohol, drugs and becoming invloved in the less than perfect occupation of stripping--and it is a wonder she feels the need to continune on. Not beng a woman myself, I can only imagine that other young girls feel the same things at times and hope that they take different measures in order to find themselves.

It is ironic that the way Jen "comes back to life" is through trips to visit her grandmother, who is slowly losing her own life to mental illness. And although at first Jen is apprehensive, these trips let her re-unite with the great-grandmother she never met and allows her to connect emotionally to her. Despite all this and her constant batlle fighting her own panic attacks, finally Jen is reunited with the family she once ran away from and reconciliation is complete for now. But I'm sure there is more to the story...

Honest, hard-hitting and sometime hard to believe, Musical Chairs is not your typical "feel-good" get lost for a few hours book. It is a real life, sometimes hard to read, book about recovery and inner self. The author bares her soul and allows the reader to see that not all is perfect about life, but that with hard work you can through most anything. You must credit Jen for her honesty and for being strong enough to let her story be known.

So there you have it, my first book review. Any comments, how'd I do?

Until next week

Phil

2 comments:

  1. I'd say you did a pretty good job! And doing the review for each other is a great idea!

    Best,
    Glenda

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  2. Your first book review is great. "Musical Chairs" sounds like a book that promotes emotional strength and maturity. I would love to read it!

    Janette

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