#Review - The Rockin' Chair by Steven Manchester

Okay guys, today we are looking at something a little different from our normal genres of books.  However, this one- I believe anyone with a family should read. There is love, the kind that lasts a lifetime and beyond.   Hurry- it's currently free on Amazon and Barnes & Noble!   This is one that you don't want to miss!

the Rockin' Chair

by : Steven Manchester

Publication: The Story Plant (June 2013)
ISBN: 161188067X
ASIN:  B00CNVPHIE
Length: 272 pages
Genre:  Fiction, Family Life


Book Description: 

Memories are the ultimate contradiction.  They can warm us on our coldest days - or they can freeze a loved one out of our lives forever.  The McCarthy family has a trove of warm memories.  Of innocent first kisses.  Of sumptuous family meals.  Of wondrous lessons learned at the foot of a rocking chair.  But they also have had their share of icy ones.  Of words that can never be unsaid. Of choices that can never be unmade. Of actions that can never be undone.

Following the death of his beloved wife, John McCarthy - Grandpa John - calls his family back home.  It is time for them to face the memories they have made, both warm and cold.  Only then can they move beyond them and into the future.

A rich portrait of a family at a crossroad, The Rockin' Chair is Steven Manchester's most heartfelt and emotionally engaging novel to date.  If family matters to you, it is a story you must read.

 Buy it : Amazon - Kindle or Paperback | Barnes and Noble

My Thoughts : 

This is my first Steven Manchester book but it definitely won't be the last!  I am so in love with his writing style, the thought and feeling that he puts behind the words as he builds a story so wonderful you are sucked in deep and left as emotionally drained as the characters.

"Evan, if a fella has a hundred pigeons and loses them and another fella has only ten pigeons and lose them, who do you figure loses more?"
     Evan almost laughed at the childish riddle. It was so easy.  "The man with the hundred pigeons, of course!" he answered.
    Grampa John smiled.  Placing the red cap onto his shiny head, he was almost at teh storm door when he looked back.  "I ain't ever been big in the brains department, but if you ask me, I'd say the both lost everything they had." With one push on the door, he was gone from the house.  The real work had just begun.
    Evan paused briefly in front of the mirror where Tara had received her first lesson.  Taking a long look at his face, he chuckled.  "Wow," he whispered, "the old man's right." Pain was merely relative to one's own experiences.

That was one of my favorite quotes from the book.   At the end of our lives, we are left with our memories.  When John's wife Alice is robbed of those memories due to Alzheimer's , he is left to remember them for the both of them.   As Alice passes away, the family is finally all called home and John realizes that he needs to help each member of the family come to terms with their own memories before he can be at peace to join Alice.   He immediately sets to work giving little lessons to each and realizes that perhaps he needs a few lessons himself. 

This story is about the love of a family.  While many things can tear it apart, love and memories can help heal all.  From returning from war with guilt of a decision he can't live with, to losing one's dreams, to alcoholism and drug addiction.  John has a hard fight ahead of him to help each member of his family overcome their bad memories and help put them in the past to move on.

Many have described Steven Manchester as another Nicholas Sparks.  I can wholeheartedly agree. I thought no one could make me cry like Nicholas Sparks, but I was wrong.  Steven pulls you into the story so that their pain is your own. I laughed, I cried and I sighed with contentment.  It's a wonderful story that everyone should read and appreciate the lessons taught by Grampa John.

5 + Stars!!

Steven Manchester is the author of The Rockin' Chair, as well as the #1 best seller, Twelve Months (2013 San Francisco & 2013 DIY Book Festivals award winner). He is also the author of A Christmas Wish (Kindle exclusive) and the award-winning novel, Goodnight, Brian. His work has appeared on NBC's Today Show, CBS's The Early Show, CNN's American Morning and BET's Nightly News. Recently, three of Steven's short stories were selected "101 Best" for Chicken Soup for the Soul series. When not spending time with his beautiful wife, Paula, or his four children, this Massachusetts author is promoting his works or writing. Visit: www.StevenManchester.com