Counting Stars

Counting Stars
Michele Paige Holmes

Publisher: Covenant Communications
Release: January 2007
format: paperback (9 x 5.8)
pages: 388

This is Christian Fiction. More specifically LDS fiction, the "Mormons" and you need to know a couple of things when you read this book. "Mormons" do NOT believe that prayer will heal you. It isn't that simple. The prayers are for the doctors to know what to do, for help to endure the pain, for peace within the family, for greater faith that everything will be okay. The prayers may be for acceptance of the Lord's will - even if it's death.

That said, in a perfect world, an LDS girl & an LDS boy would fall in love and marry. It would happen in what is called a Temple for it is the greatest commitment and the strongest bond - that of eternity. And they would live happily ever after. But we don't live in a perfect world and neither does Jane.

from the back cover:

Jane was hoping for a date-maybe even a boyfriend. What she wasn't expecting was Paul Bryant's completely original and sincere pick-up line: Hi. I'm Paul. I have terminal cancer. My wife was killed in a car accident, and I'm looking for a woman to raise my children.

It was never Jane's plan to fall in love with a dying man and his two infants. But her seemingly simple decision to date someone outside her faith leads to one complication after another. With the stakes this high, is choosing to help Paul a choice to be alone forever?

And how can Paul feel so confident that this woman - who's never managed to keep a checking account for more than six months - should be the one to raise his children?

How can something that seems so unbelievably insane feel so completely right?

Sometimes love is found in the least likely places, and the greatest blessing are discovered while counting the stars.

Granted, it has been several months since I read this book but I still remember laughing and crying and feeling like part of the family. I wanted to shake Paul and then let him cry on my shoulder, if he'd let me. There were parts that I thought were unrelated and they threw me for a bit but they were mostly their own chapter and it all makes sense in the end.

I have several people I want to loan this to but it will be hard to let it go.

Amazon.com's sales rank as of July 19: #111,769 in Books