What's in Your Library Bag Wednesday??

     What's in Your Library Bag this Hot Hot Wednesday Library Friends? I just finished reading the new novel by David Baldacci, One Summer. This particular novel was totally out of character for David Baldacci. He is typically what I would call a Mystery/Thriller author. However, in this novel, he writes a story of love, love lost, losing a loved one, miracles, and family. It is actually more typical of say, Nicholas Sparks. In fact, it reminded me a lot of a Nicholas Sparks story.
     By the third chapter of One Summer, I was in tears and knew it was going to be a good story. I don't particularly like to cry when I read a novel, but I love it when an author has written the story well enough to make me cry when I read it. Do you know what I mean? Anyway, the story begins with Jack Armstrong, a.k.a. the Dad, lying in bed, terminally ill with cancer. It is a week away from Christmas and he is just trying to hold on until after the kids open their presents. As he lays in bed contemplating his death, he writes a letter every night of the week before Christmas to his wife, Lizzie, trying to express how much he feels for her.
     In a strange twist of fate, Lizzie rushes out on Christmas Eve to collect medicine for Jack, and dies in a car wreck. What follows is the story of what becomes of the Armstrong Family after their mom dies and their dad is supposed to die soon from his terminal cancer. It is a story of second chances. Second chances for Jack. Second chances for love and second chances for a small family that was torn apart with grief. You'll have to stop in and pick it up to see what I mean.
     David Baldacci really stretched his writing in creating this novel, One Summer, so different from his typical story and I think he did a really good job. I give it a thumbs up!