Charles Martin

“Charming characters and twists that keep the pages turning.” —Southern Living A man with a painful past. A child with a doubtful future. And a shared journey toward healing for both their hearts. It begins on the shaded town square in a sleepy Southern town. A spirited seven-year-old has a brisk business at her lemonade stand. But the little girl’s pretty yellow dress can’t quite hide the ugly scar on her chest. Her latest customer, a bearded stranger, drains his cup and heads to his car, his mind on a boat he's restoring at a nearby lake. The stranger understands more about the scar than he wants to admit. And the beat-up bread truck careening around the corner with its radio blaring is about to change the trajectory of both their lives. Before it's over, they'll both know there are painful reasons why crickets cry . . . and that miracles lurk around unexpected corners. Praise for When Crickets Cry: “A testament to the power of words—from Shakespeare and Longfellow to Ezekiel—to heal and empower humanity.” —Lynne Thomas, retail manager, Jekyll Books at the Old Infirmary “If you read any book this year, this is the one.” —Coffee Time Romance “Martin's writing is gifted and blessed and insightful. His prose captures the essence of the story with beauty and sensitivity. I look forward to reading more of his work, past and future.” —Once Upon a Romance A Southern Living Book of the Month selection Stand-alone novel (approx. 85,000 words) Includes discussion questions for book clubs Also by Charles Martin: The Water Keeper, The Mountain Between Us, Send Down the Rain, and Chasing Fireflies

When Crickets Cry

Martin, Charles

When crickets cry

McKlayne Marshall

Melody Izard

** spoiler alert **
           Oh my god I've made a mistake. 

I will review later. But one of the things that stands out - among so many - is that of all the dang books to have a character read, who didn't really like to read much, and had not read any of the "classics", - this novel has her read "Robinson Crusoe". I mean that is one hard book to love. I say that with all respect for Defoe and for the fact that it just may have been the beginning of the realistic fiction genre. Everyone knows the story line, or thinks they know it. But have you read it lately? It takes a while for our good man to even land on that desert isle. And there is a good bit of mundane humdrum that goes on before we meet the cannibals and the well know sidekick, Friday . It would not be a book I'd put into someone's hands to turn them into a first-class reader. I just decided for laughs to see if the author had read it. And maybe he just has not gotten around to adding his favorite books to his "read" list, or maybe he's never read the actual Robinson Crusoe. Or maybe I'm just being too picky. But there are not a whole lot of books up there on his GR bookshelf and R. Crusoe is certainly not one of them.

OK, why not, I'll go ahead and finish the review. This book is just too scripted for me. A world class heart surgeon's wife dies because someone else gets the donated heart and he's been taking drugs and he can't forgive himself and goes into hiding, but he and his blind brother-in-law, who know how to do everything to perfection, meet a little girl, who everyone in the town loves and who is showered with more than lemonade money, and I'll be damn if she doesn't have the same dang heart issue that his dead wife had and she also has a pretty aunt. He saves her life in almost the exact way that he almost saves his dead wife's life, but not before they have rescued a young lad from the slimy hands of the devil and lost their perfect home to a tornado. Crickets fit into the story line, but they get let loose before they ever have to give their lives over to a fish. 

That's not much of a review. But this was just not the book for me. If you like your ducks in a row, your lemonade sweet, and your women and your bars pure and wholesome, then you're opinion will differ.

When Crickets Cry

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