Genre: Contemporary
Fiction
Description:
“After the heartbreak of losing their newborn son to a previously
undiagnosed genetic condition, Phillip and Anna Lewinsky managed to patch their
lives back together and move forward, filling the emptiness with friends, work,
and travel.
When Anna unexpectedly finds herself pregnant again at the age of
forty-three, Phillip is thrilled to have a second chance at fatherhood in spite
of Anna’s objections.
As desires clash, misunderstandings abound, and decisions are
irrevocably made, the foundation of their marriage begins to crumble until only
tragedy remains.”
Author:
“Melinda Clayton is the author of Appalachian
Justice, Return to Crutcher Mountain,
Entangled Thorns, and Blessed Are the Wholly Broken. Clayton
has published numerous articles and short stories in various print and online
magazines. In addition to writing, Dr. Clayton has an Ed.D. in Special
Education Administration and is a licensed psychotherapist in the states of
Florida and Colorado.”
You can also find Ms. Clayton at Indies Unlimited, where she
contributes a monthly post on any- and everything related to self-publishing.
To learn more please check out her website.
Appraisal:
Given a choice, I’d prefer to like a book and give it a good review
than the opposite. Yet, it seems writing a negative or even lukewarm review is
much easier. Articulating why a book didn’t work for me is normally easy,
usually a matter of listing which common faults I found, both of a technical
nature (inadequate proofing, grammar problems, convoluted verbiage) and issues
with the story (inadequate or too much characterization, lack of conflict,
nonsensical plot points) with examples.
You’d think a good review would be a matter of working from the same
mental list of what can go wrong and explaining that it didn’t. Sometimes I do
just that. But how many times can a reviewer say “fun (or entertaining) story,
good characters, buy this book?” Even if the readers of the review don’t
notice, the reviewer knows and feels like he or she is repeating the same old
thing. It may not bore you, but sometimes it bores me writing it. Often the
books I like the most are the toughest to figure out how to explain why. Blessed Are the Wholly Broken is one of
those books.
Melinda Clayton’s first novel, Appalachian
Justice, has been on my short list of books to recommend to others since I
first read it. This book is as good in its own way, but much different. Maybe
the way to get at the appeal of this book is to compare and contrast the two.
The main characters in Appalachian
Justice (I’ll abbreviate the two books as AJ and BWB going forward), due to
the environment they were born into, both have much to overcome just to
survive. Although one of the characters in BWB was born into a situation that
isn’t much better, when we pick up his story he appears to have moved beyond
his troubled beginnings (whether that is actually true, I’ll leave to the
reader to decide). In any case, the characters and the setting of the story in
BWB are going to feel more familiar, a lot more like what the typical reader
has experienced in their own life than those in AJ.
The story conflict, those things the characters need to overcome, is
also something most readers will more easily be able to relate to their own
life or someone they know, even if they’d handle the conflict in a different
way. Another difference between the two is the overall tenor of each story.
While both have emotional ups and downs, AJ is much more positive and ends on
an emotional high while BWB is the opposite, darker throughout with enough of
the ending hinted at in the prologue lurking in the readers head to temper even
the happiest points in the book.
In the end, both are excellent stories, but much different reading
experiences. Picking a favorite would be tough and ultimately comes down to the
reader’s taste.
FYI:
Some adult content.
Added for
Reprise Review: Blessed
Are the Wholly Broken by Melinda Clayton was a nominee in the Contemporary/General
Fiction category for B&P 2014 Readers' Choice Awards. Original review ran December
10, 2013
Format/Typo
Issues:
No significant issues
Rating:
***** Five Stars
Reviewed
by: BigAl
Approximate
word count: 60-65,000 words
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