The Color of Heaven (The Color of Heaven Series #1) by Julianne MacLean

Summary:

Sophie Duncan is a successful columnist whose world falls apart after her daughter's unexpected illness and her husband's shocking affair. When it seems nothing else could possibly go wrong, her car skids off an icy road and plunges into a frozen lake. There, in the cold, dark depths of the water, Sophie experiences something profound and extraordinary--something that unlocks the secrets from her past, and teaches her what it means to truly live.
Summary & Cover taken from Goodreads.com
Length: 316 pages (Kindle)
Source: Review Copy
Available Formats: Print/E-book/Audio
Publication Date: January 23rd 2011 by Julianne MacLean (first published January 1st 2011)

Several weeks ago one of my favourite authors (Genevieve Graham) contacted me to see if I'd be willing to review fellow author Julianne MacLean's books in her The Color of Heaven series and after reading the blurbs for the books I just had to say yes so when Julianne contacted me herself I immediately started reading the books.

I don't read a whole lot of contemporary fiction, and that isn't because I don't enjoy it it's because I just get suckered into historical novels, and less realistic things *cough*vampires*cough* quite often and they've become my go to books. With The Color of Heaven though I really enjoyed my departure from my usual reads.

Right away I was hooked on Sophie's story. She went through so much with her daughter and her bastard of a husband (sorry but cheating is something I hate. Even in fiction), a car accident as well as secrets from her past that she has to confront, move past and begin the healing process. This woman went on one hell of a wild emotional roller coaster ride that I just wish she were real because sometimes the stuff she was facing in particular parts of the book really made me want to give her a hug. I really liked Sophie a lot as a character. She wasn't perfect but she was real and the realistic nature of her character was made even more apparent because I got to see her grow as a character. She turned out to be along with the main character in the second book in this series some of my favourite characters this year.

The side characters in the story were also really well developed and I appreciated the fact that they weren't just props and added a lot to the story and made everything balance out very well. I'm not a fan of when side characters are just used as filler and have very little purpose in the overall telling of the story at hand so Julianne did a bang up job with that in my opinion.

In terms of plot, I thought the pacing was just right. When it needed to go more into depth to reveal something in a certain situation it did so without any of that halting starting and stopping then travelling at warp speed to another event leaving me flummoxed (always wanted to use that word in a review) and lost. I know I'm being a bit vague about the plot, but I'm doing it for good reason since this is one of those books that while it is easy to read there are layers and you have to pay attention to what is one the page to fully enjoy the story.

Overall, I thought this was an amazingly emotional read and I loved it and wouldn't  hesitate to recommend it to EVERYONE who enjoys contemporary fiction with a good plot and great characters.

I loved it!
★ ★ ★ ★ ★ 

*I received a free copy of this book in exchange for my free and honest review. All thoughts and opinions expressed herein are 100% my own.

 

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