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Moonpie72
Posted January 8, 2013
This was my first book of Ms. Heal’s and I was very impressed to say the least! What a fun book! It has so many different aspects, suspense, mystery, history, social issues, and humor, challenges faced at different stages of life. She blends and weaves all these into a very enjoyable and interesting story! I must say I have never read a fiction book quite like it! I especially liked the interaction between the characters. The humor and conversations made them very real! Some were so clever I even read them to my husband!
Abby is a personal tutor to teenager, Merri. They accidently stumble upon a computer program that allows them to go back in time and see the day to day lives of those in past. There are only certain places it will work and it reveals details of those who have lived at that location. A true life version of “If Walls Could Talk”! Something I have always wished I could experience! When they share this information with their friend John and he becomes involved in their exciting adventure.
They accept a job house sitting a beautiful Victorian home and looking out for two 85 year old twin sisters next door, Eulah and Beulah. The pair, dubbed the “Old Dears”, is hilarious in their antics and ideas. Very quickly Abby and Merri log into their program and find the house they are staying in was the twin’s childhood home. In fact, they learn more than they are comfortable with about the sister’s past. Through the twist and turn of events and their computer, they are taken back to the time of Lewis and Clark find themselves even witnessing a murder! There were so many times I wished I could grab their laptop and control the program myself. Not to mention take it a few places of my own!
Ms. Heal didn’t just include history, she brought it to life with detailed descriptions of not only the daily lives of the people, but also the thoughts and feelings they might have experienced. At points I truly felt “transported” back to that time. She also touched on the important subject of domestic violence. It isn’t just a problem now but has been throughout history too. Something I had not considered.
I thought her involvement of the elderly sisters as respected, valued and loved was wonderful. It sends a strong message that our senior citizens and their life experiences are not only important, but also how very enjoyable spending time with them can be. A much needed point to be made in a time with the elderly are neglected and not appreciated and esteemed. Their love and delight in being with the John, Abby, and Merri, reminded me of how many older people are longing to open their hearts and homes to the younger generation.
Though not a major part of the book, Merri’s dealings with her mother’s constant working and overlooking her and her father’s neglect and drug abuse shows the effect such parenting failures have on children.
So many wonderful things in one book and a surprise ending too! I look forward to reading Ms. Heal’s first book and her future ones!
I received a complimentary copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest review. I am not required to write a positive review.
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nle1
Posted September 17, 2012
We left Abby, Merrideth and their friends trying to get Merri’s house, Colonel Miles’ house, to return in her computer program Beautiful House. But other chores loom ahead for the group as John’s cousin needs a housesitter just at the time Merri’s mom leaves for conference. As Lucy explains the care and feeding of her antiques and her dog the next-door neighbors pop over. Twins, Beulah and Eulah, one an old maid and one a widow. Grew up in Lucy’s house only to move next door when they got older.
Abby and Merri are trying their darnedest to convince John that they really were inside the program but he’s not buying it. He is totally infatuated with Abby, but can’t lean far enough to go for the inhabiting a computer tale. You can’t blame him. Beulah and Eulah know one of their relatives lived close but died in childbirth. They are trying to finish their family tree with no luck until…..the house across from the old Museum yields some very important information.
This is part two of the Time stories by Debbie Heal and our friends are back. John, the questioning law student; Abby the tutor and, of course Merri who is growing up a bit by now and learning that life may not be how you want it but you’ve got to deal with it anyway.
The things they find in the burned out home will shock them, enlighten them and make them understand why they were meant to be part of history in a much more intimate way. An excellent book! Read part one Time and Again first or lots of this won’t make much sense.
Unclaimed Legacy by Deborah Heal Time and Again Series Book 2 Abby and Merri return for another adventure with the mysterious time-surfing software that seems to bring out the “soul” of a house. This time it’s the old Victorian they are house sitting that belongs to John’s cousin Lucy. Up to this point John didn’t believe Abby and Merri when they would tell him about their adventures to old time Miles Station but now that the program has been uploaded to his laptop and he’s seeing it with his own eyes….well let’s just say for some people seeing is believing. Although Abby would have liked for John to believe her without proof. On this trip we are in Alton, Illinois and we meet eighty-five year old twin sisters, Beulah Mae and Eulah Mae. As our sleuths try and help the Old Dears with their family tree they run into information that isn’t so good. A bad apple on one of the branches. Deborah Heal tells the story with a mystery to solve, humorous events and some tear jerking moments. She also leaves you with some interesting history facts. You may want to read book 1, Time and Again: Charlotte of Miles Station, to know the whole story about their first time-surfing adventures and how Abby, Merri, Michael and John meet.
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Posted October 12, 2012
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