I must admit that back in the day, I could read fairly quickly and with the best of them. Not sure what happened to me in the last year or so, except to say that blogging and blog reading took center stage. Don’t get me wrong, I still very much do both, but in order to find a better balance, I am finding myself shutting down in the evening and also during the day sometimes now, too.
When it is quiet here and my family is otherwise occupied by sleep or what not, you will now probably find me reading, which I seriously cannot get enough of nowadays.
That is the thing about reading it can really suck you in and give you promise of things to come in each novel you do put your heart and soul into. And probably why I am kicking that 12 books in a year challenge over at Goodreads and heading towards my seventh and February has just nearly begun.
For the fourth book though, I chose The Promise of Stardust, by Priscille Sibley to read.
I saw one of my fellow Goodreads friends reading this one (I swear it was Kate) and knew once I read the Goodreads synopsis that I had to give this one a go.
Sometimes a book just captures your heart and soul and this one did just that, but first read what Goodreads did indeed have to say on this book below and then I will share my thoughts, too
Goodreads Review:
Filled with grace, sensitivity and compassion, The Promise of Stardust is an emotionally resonant and thought-provoking tale that raises profound questions about life and death, faith and medicine, and illuminates the power of love to divide and heal a family in the wake of unexpected tragedy.
Matt Beaulieu was two years old the first time he held Elle McClure in his arms, seventeen when he first kissed her under a sky filled with shooting stars, and thirty-three when he convinced her to marry him. Now in their late 30s, the deeply devoted couple has everything-except the baby they’ve always wanted.
When an accident leaves Elle brain dead, Matt is devastated. Though he cannot bear the thought of life without her, he knows Elle was afraid of only one thing-a slow death. And so, Matt resolves to take her off life support.
But Matt changes his mind when they discover Elle’s pregnant. While there are no certainties, the baby might survive if Elle remains on life support. Matt’s mother, Linney, disagrees with his decision. She loves Elle, too, and insists that Elle would never want to be kept alive on machines. Linney is prepared to fight her son in court-armed with Elle’s living will.
Divided by the love they share, Matt and Linney will be pitted against each other, fighting for what they believe is right, and what they think Elle would have wanted resulting in a controversial legal battle that will ultimately go beyond one family . . . and one single life.
From the very first page, the author did such justice setting up the above story of the two fated lovers, now husband and wife, Matt and Elle.
The words captured me and jumped off the actual pages as I read their story and how from the moment Elle was born she made Matt whole and complete as a small child, even to their teenage ill-fated romance, where Matt and Elle conceived their first child, all while Elle’s mom was tragically dying of breast cancer and her dad slipped into a deep depression that led him down a path of becoming a bitter alcoholic during this time period.
Poor Elle, even suffered her first of many miscarriages during this time, when her 5 month old baby was forever lost to her and Matt. Then shortly thereafter, this young girl then, of course, lost her mother, who succumbed to her cancer finally after seeing her for months suffering to no end.
After this occurrence. Elle and Matt eventually for years went their separate ways, where Matt had a one night stand with a sorority girl at the Ivy League college he was attending to become a neurosurgeon, finally becomes a neurosurgeon and even gets engaged to another woman for brief time. While Elle went on to not only get her Phd, but also becomes a famous NASA scientist, who moved on with her life (or so she thought).
But fate has a way of bringing people back into each other’s life if it is truly meant as this story so easily proved that theory. So much so, that in the end after all these two went through, they some how and miraculously found their way back into each other’s lives and arms.
They eventually did marry, but unfortunately still had their troubles in the form of conceiving, miscarriages and even a stillborn birth.
We learn, all of the above, through very well written flashbacks that help to develop the story at hand of Elle having fallen off a ladder at her brother’s house while helping him clean his windows at his home. After having survived heaps of tragedy and even seeing space through her NASA adventures, Elle hits her head on a rock upon landing front his fall and suffers irreparable damage to her brain.
She is literally brain dead and this close to be taken off life support, when it is found out that she is pregnant again. Matt (her husband), who again knew her better then anyone in the world, knows in his heart of hearts that she would want this baby to have every chance of survival and goes against what so many others even his own mother, who believes to be true that Elle would not want to stay on life-support, because Elle expressed this so after the long suffering death of her own mom as mentioned previously.
This is where the story takes flight to determine what this tragic, yet once vibrant lady would have wanted. Matt believes it to be quite simple to save the baby at all costs, which many think he is just trying to save his child, while putting his wife’s wishes and needs secondary.
His mom and even Elle’s ex believe she would want to have her life support cut off and not suffer for months on end even if it means losing the last chance at having a baby.
Thus a bitter court battle breaks out between the two camps and mindsets here, all while Elle is no longer capable or able to make her own cognitive choices, as well as the baby growing and becoming more of a reality as the days and months of this battle rage on.
This book also brings up heated issues also such as the Terri Schiavo Case and even Roe Vs. Wade.
These issues aside, the book had me literally gripped and found me unable to physically want to put it down. I read it in less then 4 days times and must admit I truly wished for a happy ending knowing full well that I would be bawling at some point before it was all said and done. Yes, tear-jerker and hanky warning here.
Yet, I would read The Promise of Stardust all over again, because it was that good. Another recommended book on Goodreads that I am truly so happy that I got to read and share here.
What book is next on deck for me?
Reconstructing Amelia, by Kimberly McCreight
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