Dear Readers,
Lisa Samson writes books that everyone should be
reading. There is nothing about them that makes them completely
inspirational, but they are uplifting. Her characters are usually quirky
and struggling with some sort of issue in their lives. They often are
trying to do it on their own and have sort of withdrawn from society in some
form or another.
In A Thing of Beauty you meet Fiona Hume. She is a
former child star who not only was talented, but made quite a reputation
for herself when she divorced her parents when she found out they were
mismanaging her money. Now there is more to the story than what meets the
eye, but that is the reason she always gives. She walked away from
Hollywood and everything that had to do with it when she got out of drug
rehab. Fiona had plans for her life, she was going to take her money and
become an artist. One who up-cycled other people's junk and made beauty
out of it.
Jump forward 10 years and all Fiona has is a house full of
junk and no art pieces to speak of. It is all coming to a head
because her mother is going to be releasing a tell all book about the divorce
and what happened. Fiona decides to strike first and go on a national
show to give her side of the story. She needs to have a makeover for that
and for the makeover she needs money. So she decides to rent out a room
in her large sprawling house. That is where things start to change.
No matter how unique Lisa writes her character, I find
myself relating in some way or another with them. I have no idea what it
is like to live as a child star or what it is like to have parents like
Fiona’s, but just the same I found my heart aching for the little girl that
just wanted her parents to love her and not worry about themselves. Fiona
goes to great lengths to guard her heart from any more hurt. She doesn’t
make friends, though she does force herself to go out to a quaint little coffee
shop so she isn’t a complete hermit.
I can never put my finger on the exact thing that makes me
love Lisa’s books so much, but I think part of it is I can so easily insert
myself into her stories. Her characters are rich and very three
dimensional. They are people that I find myself wishing I lived next door
to and could count as my friends. But I also think part of it is they
make me want to be a better person who would be worthy of their
friendship. Whatever it is, I hope she continues to write and I promise
to continue to read them all.
Happy Reading,
P.S. For those church librarians out there, know that there
is a bit of swearing in the book. Not the “F” word, but the use of a few
words that might offend some readers.
