Read and Review: Suzanne's Diary for Nicholas

Verse of the Day: Psalm 1:6 The Lord knows the way of the righteous, but the ways of the wicked shall perish.

Trigger warning: Grab your tissues and wine glasses, Patterson has done it again.

In my attempt to be non biased and failing, I must point out that I have been a fan of Patterson's work for many years now. It goes without question what I'd rate this bit of his genius, but let us tally the counts as to why.

James Patterson's, "Suzanne's Diary to Nicholas", gave a whole new meaning to "expect the unexpected." What begins as a story of modern day romance gone wrong take a turn into one of the most beautiful and horrifying realities we as people could hope to face; losing our lives and those in it that we have cherished and forced to rebuild from scratch. When our dear Kate is left behind by her love interest, she is only experiencing half the agony of loss when she encounters a book, a diary left behind for his son Nicholas, written by his wife Suzanne. All of this may sound dark and foreboding but with that comes significant purpose: There will always be more to lose, best to acknowledge our gains while they are to be counted.

By paralleling Kate's circumstances with Suzanne and mirroring the women's existence, we see not only two halves of a whole story but two sides of a woman, on one hand we see an undisturbed woman of the business world, a new mother to be, a wife benefiting from her devoted life as a doctor and satisfied companion to someone she adores on a mutual field of promise for their future. However, in all her contentment she is plagued with illness and stranded at times by moments of doubt and fear.

On the flip side, we have another side, a woman left alone to her dreams of promises, filled with regret and uncertainty when the man she loved walks away without knowing that she too was expecting. Though she is content with where she stands in her everyday life, this event leaves her in pieces, pieces only Suzanne can help mend back together with the story of her life and what it now would mean for them all.

Two women in love, two women in distress, one is the book, the other is the reader, one is a memory and one is a witness to her life in it's pages. The confusion and turmoil experienced by Kate is one you'll leave knowing exactly "What the other woman" is thinking and make you reflect on your own life through hers. There is much to be learned through the history of someone else, for starters, we learn how to create our own history for the better.

Patterson and Suzanne taught Kate and I the importance of five balls of life: Family, Faith, Friends, Integrity and work. Work is like a rubber ball, you drop it? there's a way back, the other five are to be treated as of the most precious glass, take care of them well.

10/10 Quills WILL Read again. :)

"For the love of life and literature, stay prayerful, stay positive and write on!"