It’s celebration time…Spare Change now has over One Hundred 5 STAR Reviews on Amazon. And that’s not where the story ends…almost 80% of the Goodreads Reviewers who have rate the book gave it either four or five stars.
To celebrate this monumental event, I’d like to share the 100th review with you. It was published on Musings Down Under. bu an Aussie Reviewer. Nice to see this book traveling so far….
An ingenious, edge of the seat and humorous story,January 8, 2013
I read my first Bette Lee Crosby book just a few weeks ago, and it was an excellent read – so quickly snapped up the offer by the author for a free copy of another book when she contacted me after she read my review. I was a bit worried that I may not enjoy SPARE CHANGE as much as the first, `Cupid’s Christmas,’ as it is a completely different genre. But my worries were foundless. SPARE CHANGE is an ingenious, edge of the seat and humorous story. I was hooked from page one and not let go until almost the very last page. The first quarter of the book concentrates on Olivia and then her relationship with Charlie Doyle. Olivia is ruled by superstition, and there is nothing worse in her opinion than the number 11 – so when her husband dies on the 22nd day of their marriage (twice 11) after giving her an unlucky opal she is distraught, but accepting of her fate. She hits rock bottom mentally until she finds the support and strength of will to pull herself out. Not once does the author make the reader feel depressed or overwhelmed with the actions in the book. This is more evident when Ethan’s life is revealed to the reader in the second quarter of the book. My goodness that child goes through hell – and I shed a tear for him as he witnessed first his mother’s murder and then his father’s. But this little chap finds the strength to save himself when he realises the murderer is going to silence him and so ends up with Olivia around the half way mark of the book.
I really liked reading about how Olivia’s relationship with Ethan developed; after all they are so different. She is a mature woman who is scared of the number 11 among many other things, and who has always disliked children. He has been to hell and back and is a foul-mouthed, independent and prickly young boy. Ethan is also aged 11, which is not a number Olivia is comfortable with.
There is a Christian focus to the story, and I can see why the epilogue may not be appreciated by non-believers, but I like closure and this was closure for me – a fitting end to all that went before. While there are scenes of sadness, violence and despair; there is humour and friendship enough to overcome the darkness. The two damaged people have to band together, accept the help of friends and learn to trust in order to save Ethan from being silenced by the murderer.
