A Better View of Paradise - Randy Sue Coburn

I received this book via Dorothy at Pump Up Your Book Promotion as a opportunity to participate in the novel's blog tour. When I received it, I see palm trees, ocean, something that looks like sarongs (that would make my hips look big), and a big sticker on the front that says "Redbook Red Hot Summer Read". Well. What that says to me is Chick Lit, right? I'm OK with that. It is good for a woman's soul to read Chick Lit (although I am basically offended by the term). What I found was just a bit beyond something chick-ish, however. Come with me while we dig a little deeper.

Stevie is a renowned landscape architect. She lives in NYC, and has just finished a high-profile job in Chicago. One that could really put her on the map. Instead, she gets raked over the coals by a critic that doesn't like her benches, and her long-term boyfriend dumps her simultaneously. A woman who appears to be crazy approaches her, seeming to know her father, with a DVD of familial linkage. The icing on the cake? Her father calls her from his home in Hawaii. He is dying of lung cancer.

Stevie sweeps up her dysfunctional life and rushes to her father's bedside. Her father has always been an unemotional man, one that insists on picking oneself up by the bootstraps. What she finds is an emotionally raw, vulnerable man, withering away. Stevie begins to attempt to nurture what is foreign to her...her new extended family she never knew about, her father's obsession with baseball and especially the Cubbies (gotta love the Cubs, despite their frailties and the billy goat curse), and a damaged veterinarian with whom she feels an immediate connection.

What we have here is something for everyone...a successful woman in her field who "goes home again". The spiritual mysticism of Hawaii. The healing forces of a dog and a good book. The elusive bond between father and daughter. The religion of baseball. The opportunity to love again, to create life in the face of death, and to rekindle relationships of the soul. While this novel is not unpredictable...we know this story, really...it is the anthem of everywoman. And Randy Sue Coburn captures it beautifully.

Her prose is eloquent, but just a tad hard-nosed. She has done her homework. She obviously understands what it means to have lost, the nuances of being a daughter, a lover and a friend, and struggling to make one's own name. I was swept away with the story, and while predictable, very pleasurable. You love the eccentric characters, and want to adopt them as your own.

You want to hear the best news of all? I have two copies to give away. People, this is my first giveaway. Let's stop and pause for a moment of coolness. Please leave a comment, letting me know where you would go if you could "go home". If you are one of my followers, you will be entered into the giveaway twice. Also, if you please, include an e-mail address so I can contact you. I will draw two names on 8/19 for the winners!

4 out of 5 stars