Finalist in the 11th Annual National Indie Excellence Awards
STORY-LINE THE REFUGE BY HEIDI MARTIN:
In The Refuge, the reader finds Anne Waters, whose life imploded after the death of her unborn daughter, Claire. As a result, becoming more and more introverted, closing off from emotion, hiding her feelings and true thoughts from everyone, Anne, finds herself divorced and without a job.
Anne dreams vividly of an old oak tree, which starts a journey of discovery and renewal for her. Anne researches and finds South Carolina has such trees. Upon arrival Anne’s amazed to find the very tree with the very same bird cages hanging from the limbs. She knows she has found the place she’s destined to stay.
Meeting Clark, Anne finds a true friend who has had his own share of a troubles and grief. He recognizes another soul who’s lost, grieving, and alone. As a result, Clark helps Anne finds her own spirituality again. Along with Clark, Anne finds others along her journey of enlightenment including Lucita, an adorable girl, whose mother is dying and father’s hiding in alcohol. Her refuge is not without problems, from jealousy to death.
Come along with Anne as she finds her the place her soul’s meant to be. My romance book review of The Refuge follows.
CHARACTERS, PLOTTING, DEVELOPMENT:
The Refuge, an intense journey of self-discovery and new love, grabbed my attention immediately. Heidi Martin created a story-line which explores the human condition. Without favoring any one religion, Martin, in-cooperates the essence of self-awareness, acceptance, and forgiveness; first we must learn to forgive ourselves before we can forgive others.
With well-developed characters and a heart grabbing story-line, my attention did not waver. Anne Waters’ journey from driven, grieving, hurt, and angry to a self-assured and peaceful individual progressed throughout the story. Anne has to learn how “to be still and listen”; which as the author shows, is hard to put into practice.
As with most of us, Anne finds self-forgiveness very hard to achieve, but with meditation and guidance she has a chance in her refuge. Lucita’s characters a joy and a great stroke of literacy genius by Martin. This child seems much older and wiser than her young years; what a wonderful character. She will grab your heart.
Each character in The Refuge journeys through their own personal tragedy and conflict; each deals with their problems in different ways. I found myself thinking of my life’s journey and how I had achieved soul peace and tranquility. Throwing in a love interest, gave those of use who enjoy romance, our dose of love. All the secondary characters add depth to the story-line.
In concluding my review of The Refuge, I found a well-written and developed story-line along with intriguing characters; the readers becomes invested in this small group of people. You will become part of the story as you delve into the heart and soul of this book. I found the pacing a tad slow at times, but not enough to stop me reading. Whether you believe in Tao, Buddha, meditation, spiritualism, new age, or standard religion, this novel is worth reading.
THE REFUGE RECOMMENDATION: STARS 4
FINALLY PLEASE NOTE:
In addition, I purchased this book and chose to voluntarily review the book with an honest romance novel review. Lastly, book reviews of any novel are dependent on the book review author’s opinion. Consequently, all book reviews on-line and on my blog, are my opinion. No one influenced my voluntary romance book review of The Refuge.
THE REFUGE SPECIAL NOTES:
1. OnlineBookClub.org Book of the Day
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
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