The Ocean Between Us: Review & Giveaway!

I was asked to review the book The Ocean Between Us by Susan Wiggs along with offering a giveaway to all of you courtesy of Big Honcho Media!

Sign me up, sugar!

First, the review…
 

The Ocean Between Us is a powerful novel of love, duty and second chances.  Susan Wiggs deftly portrays the struggles and triumphs of an American family facing life’s greatest challenges as they come to understand the timeless lessons of the heart.
Grace Bennett has it all—three wonderful children, a devoted husband and a life of adventure and travel. But beneath the calm demeanor of an efficient Navy wife, Grace stands at the crossroads—of her life and her marriage. When she looks in the mirror, she doesn’t recognize the person staring back. She’s tired, out of shape and feeling invisible. Somewhere between her husband’s demanding career, raising a family, the constant uprooting and the Navy’s routine, Grace has lost her sense of self. Something needs to change. She needs to change.

Steve Bennett simply can’t understand the unraveling of his wife’s heart. He thought he was proving his love to her with each promotion. He believed he could still be a good husband and father while juggling an officer’s myriad duties. But he now realizes they were seeing their marriage through different eyes. And when a nearly forgotten secret resurfaces, Grace’s discontent comes into sharp focus. Now Steve must try to make their marriage right again before his next deployment. For himself. For his family. For the twenty years of shared history that have always anchored him to home.
Then duty calls.

Separated by an ocean of regrets and longing, Grace and Steve take a hard look at their faltering marriage, the love that brought them together and the family they cherish. They confront the choices they’ve made, the sacrifices they’ve rationalized and the dreams they’ve set adrift. 

But just as they come to grips with their marriage, the unthinkable happens—a disaster aboard Steve’s aircraft carrier shatters Grace’s world. As she gathers her children around her and waits for news, she faces a Navy wife’s worst nightmare—the cold truth that life’s biggest chances can slip away while you’re looking for guarantees.

-Provided Synopsis (To learn more about Susan Wiggs and her books you can visit her website: http://www.susanwiggs.com/)

I could NOT put this book down.  It took me all of three nights to read it.  The first two nights I had to force myself to close the book because I had to get up for work the next mornings, but on the third night I just kept reading until I was finished.  I never went to bed that night until about 2:00 AM.

I’m not very familiar with the Navy way of life, but this seemed like an accurate portrayal.  I really felt for both Steve and Grace in this book.  I wanted Steve to understand Grace’s point of view and how she was tired and how while she still shared his dreams, she still had dreams of her own.  At the same time, I wanted Grace to understand Steve’s side of things.  I wanted her to realize that  when his secret comes to light, he really needs her support in it.  Throughout the entire book, I really wanted both characters to win in the end.

All the characters and their lives felt real to me.  Ms. Wiggs did a great job of bringing them alive and making them believable.  I knew that not everyone was going to have a happy ending (isn’t that the way all books (and life) are?), but I hoped for their happy endings.  I even found myself crying for the characters that lost in the book.

I highly recommend this book.  It’s a fantastic read and it keeps you intrigued. 

And three of you lucky Pink Park Bench readers are getting your very own free copy of The Ocean Between Us!

But that’s not all!

One VERY lucky grand prize reader will receive, along with their book, a $50 VISA gift card!
So let’s review:

1. Great book!  You must read it!
2. I’m having a giveaway that starts NOW and ends May 5, 11:59 PM EST (and is open to those with US mailing addresses only)!
3. One Grand Prize winner will receive a copy of The Ocean Between Us  by Susan Wiggs and a $50 VISA gift card!
4. Two lucky winners will receive a copy of The Ocean Between Us by Susan Wiggs!

So how do you go about trying to win these fabulous prizes?

Mandatory Entry:

Leave a comment and let me know how you’d get a little renewal in your life with your $50 VISA gift card.

Extra Entries:

(And don’t forget to let me know in your comments that you earned extra entries)

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Three (3) Entries:

Blog about this review/giveaway on your own blog.

Good luck everyone!