Cynthia Robertson reviews Dancing in Heaven (with a giveaway)

Cynthia Robertson is a writer living in Arizona. She is the founder of the Arizona Novel Writers Workshop – dedicated to helping writers write and polish their novels for publication. Cynthia has written a monthly newspaper column, Lucid Moments, and has had her short story Peanut Butter Kisses published in a literary journal.  She has recently completed her novel Sword of Mordrey, an historical adventure set amid the sun-baked alleyways of ancient Jerusalem and the squalor and color of medieval London.

I ran across Cynthia’s blog fairly early in my (somewhat brief) blogging career. I remember reading a post where she talked about a stack of books she had to read and review.  I’ll let her tell you the rest.

Dancing in Heaven

By Cynthia Robertson

Book Review and Giveaway

When I was quite young I remember wishing, or maybe even praying, that I could share my life with my sister Annie. In the innocence of my child’s worldview, I suggested to God that perhaps I could take Annie’s place every other week. We could trade places and then she could have the chance to ride a bike, roller skate down the sidewalk, climb trees, have friends, go to parties and do all the things I loved to do. (Quote from Dancing in Heaven)

When Christine Grote asked if I would read and review her memoir, Dancing in Heaven, I was hesitant. I don’t read memoirs typically…and the focus of this one was a younger sister who spent her entire life brain damaged and paralyzed. Would the book be depressing? Would it be maudlin? I knew Christine was self publishing…would the writing be horrendous? Would the layout be a nightmare of typos and random odd formatting? I recall that I wrote Christine back and asked her how many pages the memoir was—figuring if it was short, I could get through it, no matter what. She graciously wrote back that it wasn’t long, 179 pages, and lots of photos, so it could be read in an afternoon or two. “Okay,” I said, “I’ll do it.”

I’m so glad I did.

Read more.

I really hope you will click the link (leave a comment on Cynthia’s blog for a chance to win a copy of Dancing in Heaven) and take a moment to finish reading Cynthia’s review. It moved me to tears. She nailed me with the opening quote she selected. She really “got” it and was in turn able to communicate it beautifully. I want to publicly thank Cynthia for her great sensitivity and insight.

Initially I was hesitant to ask Cynthia for a review. But after having gotten to know her a little better through blogging comments and a few tweets here and there, I decided I would.

I’m so glad I did.