Thursday, March 11, 2010

Review #49: Circle of Friends: Book 5- Heather by L. Diane Wolfe (BLOG TOUR)

Title: Heather- The Circle of Friends Book V

Author: L. Diane Wolfe
Publisher: Dancing Lemur Press
Format: Review Copy for Blog Tour
Genre: Fiction/Young Adult
Series: The Circle of Friends
ISBN: 978-0-9816210-5-0
Price/Pages: $19.95/275


My Review and Description:

I was asked to participate on this blog tour quite some time ago when I was pretty fresh to the blog world. (not that I'm an old hat by any means) I was honored to review a book by a blogger that I had come to know and follow and respect.

That blogger buddy/author/inspirational speaker is L. Diane Wolfe. The Circle of Friends series are five different stories of young adults navigating life's choices with humor, spirit, faith and inspiration. I have only read the latest installment Book 5, Heather.

Heather's story begins with a new position at Clemson, coaching basketball. She is enthusiastic and ready for the challenge however her personal life is far from stable. Her father, her constant supporter, is dying. Her best friend and former crush, Matt is married with new babies. Her little sister, Dawn, lacks ambition and responsibility towards life.
Through this all she reunites with Mark, Matt's older brother and they begin a unexpected relationship.

I had no idea what to expect when I read this. Like I said, I have not read the others and I was worried that they would be some how connected and I would be at a loss for back story. But really the history of the characters is explained quite well and the character's themselves are created quite nicely. You really are given solid personalities with each character.

This book had strong themes which I enjoyed. I haven't read much faith based fiction and though I would not entirely categorize this as that, I felt that the pace of this book was based on making smart decisions. This is not something you find in a lot of novels. Heather was extremely devoted to her family, in supporting her mother and in caring for her father. She was motivated in her career and demanded the best out of her athletes. When faced with a possible serious relationship her and Mark were both up front and honest, sometimes to an annoying fault, about who they were and what they wanted.

Though in the beginning I struggled with Heather, I did end of warming to her in the end. She had a transformation throughout this book, rightfully so, due to some serious life changes. I reacted to her reactions quite strongly at times and would try to struggle through some of her actions, especially towards her little sister. Heather could, quite frankly, be a bitch sometimes. :)

In the end, what L.Diane Wolfe created here was a realistic story of a professional, hard-working woman, close to her friends and family, and working her way through her life being as honest and true to herself as possible. It is worth reading for young adults and old adults. We could all learn from the importance of valuing ourselves and those around us.

Rating: 5 stars/6 stars
Thought-provoking, heart-warming, humorous and spirited. I recommend it.

I will be interviewing L. Diane Wolfe on March 19 so please stop back.

If you would like more info on her now, check out her website Circle of Friends or her blog Spunk on a Stick.

Thanks for stopping by! Happy Reading.

red headed book child




9 comments:

L. Diane Wolfe said...

LOL! Yes, that is the word I would use to describe Heather as well...

I'd made her such a hateful creature in Book II and it was a challenge to come back to her character and make her likeable. I'd hoped that by giving the backstory behind her behavior would make her seem more real and less harsh.

Michelle, thank you again! See you next week.
We redheads gotta stick together you know!

Tales of Whimsy said...

Great review :)

Julie@My5monkeys said...

Great review and I have never heard of this author or book . adding to my reading pile.

StephTheBookworm said...

Such a great review! I'll be reading this one next week and your review has made me even more excited to read it!

Michelle (Red Headed Book Child) said...

Thanks JuJu, as always, for stopping by!

Julie, I had never heard of her either before we discovered each other in the blog world. I'm so glad we did. This book was quite good.

Steph, I'm glad my review could help get you excited.The book went really fast for me!

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Thanks, Julie!

Steph, hope you enjoy it.

And Michelle, I AM glad we bumped into one another in the bloggy world! I treasure all the special people I've met through blogging.

Lisa said...

Aren't you glad you liked this since you've developed a relationship with the author?! Trish of Hey Lady and I have been discussing this very thing this week. I'm wondering how I would handle it if I really didn't like a book by one of the authors I've befriended.

L. Diane Wolfe said...

Lisa, that is always a sticky question! I've seen other bloggers talk about this issue. Switching from a review to a feature is always an option!

Anonymous said...

Diane is a talented writer. I follow her blog as she has great writing and marketing advice as well as terrific interviews.

Stephen Tremp