Looking for Your Next Favorite Book? Here!

…You’re on a beach, the sun kissing the sand all around you, an umbrella protecting your skin (freckles + burn = not fun). You lean on your backrest, lift your eyes from the page, look out at the waves and think about what you would do in Nora’s position.

No.

That’s not right.

Lying on a picnic blanket—not unlike Nora’s—in Maritime Park—close enough to hear the clang of the Powell Cable car but not so close as to hear the tourists—you pull your eyes from the page and raise a hand to your brow to block the sparkling sun. Gulls cry overhead; in the distance you think you hear—could swear you hear—the bark of sea lions mixed in with the sound of surf lapping the thing ribbon of sand below you.

But no.

Really you’re sitting next to a wood stove that is blazing away, trying to shut out the sub-zero chill of this Suddenly Very White end-of-February. You’re bundled in thick socks, slippers, flannel PJs, and a snuggly robe, realizing that you really should take a shower and get on with the day—but you can’t.

You
can
not.

Like any knitter, you’re used to “just one more row” but now you’re struggling with “just one more page”—a feeling you haven’t had in a long while. But you’re reading an advance copy of Rachael Heron’s latest book, Splinters of Light and now you’re at that ‘can’t put it down’ stage. You wish for an audiobook because you’d really like to have Nora and Ellie and Mariana and Harrison and Paul in your ears (in your head… in you) for just a bit longer and the day is pulling you away from your book cocoon and you don’t want to go but…

That’s what it’s like to find yourself immersed in Rachael’s latest novel. (Well, that plus the pile of tissues you suddenly realize has been growing next to you. Bring a box.)
It snuggles its way into your heart, wraps around it like Mariana’s feet twisting a sheet around Nora’s leg, and doesn’t let go until the heartbreaking/heartwarming, lovely-as-it-should-be end.

There are plenty of others more well-known than I who have favorably reviewed (all of) Rachael’s books—including this one—but I’ll bet few of those reviewers can also tell you this: Rachael is a LOT of fun to Skype with and even more fun at SOAR. That, plus, honestly, she’s one of the nicest people you’ll ever be lucky enough to meet.

Get the book and read it on a beach during Spring Break, sitting by a fire right now, or in bed every night. But don’t say I didn’t warn you that reading in bed will fix your fate: it will be 4am before you look at the clock and remember that you needed to sleep. Like any gateway drug, you won’t be able to put Splinters of Light down. Thank goodness that, when you finish it, there are many dealers bookstores out there from which you can pick up a fix another (or 15) of Rachael’s other books to read right away on your Kindle, iOS device, Kobo reader, or Nook.