Up From The Blue - Giveaway and Review

Sometimes the best way to understand a tragedy is to view it from an outsiders view of things. That is just what insight the reader is offered in the book by Susan Henderson called Up From The Blue. In this book we are taken between present day and the year 1975 in the life of Tillie Harris' life. In the present day, she is in the process of delivering her baby of 34 weeks at a hospital and trying to convince doctors that her symptoms are genuine and not something from her imagination.

In the life of Tillie Harris of 1975, we are transported in back in time to when she was eight years old. The life that she has with her father, a colonel who spends his life working on a missile defense system for our government whose way of running a home is very rigid and goes by a list of standards he expects in the home. When you enter this time in Tillie's life her mother is withdrawn and facing a series of depressing circumstances in her life that are peeled away slowly layer by layer to where we can understand by the ending of the book, just how Tillie's life has evolved into the present day. Her father sensing that nothing he can do will make her mom snap out of her deep depression, chooses to lose himself further into his work. It isn't until he's offered a new position at the Pentagon that things take a drastic turn for the worse. Tillie is sent off to Anne's home for a week while her brother Phil and her father pack up their home. Her mother, sits on the couch doing nothing to assist and occasionally cries. When she learns that Tillie is being taken away for awhile, her mom truly loses it and has a complete breakdown.

This was a difficult book to read, because it really does take up inside the mom's head to see the depths and destruction that severe depression can have not only on the mom, but on the family and friends as well. It provides the reader a different look into depression that isn't normally known unless you have been personally involved in dealing with someone who has been diagnosed with it. While I don't agree with how things are handled in the book with her mother's depression, it’s a different way to see how each person chooses to deal with their situation and how they have to get through life and still move forward.

I received this book compliments of TLC Book Tours for my honest review and even though the story is difficult it's still worth reading. I would rate this book a 4.5 out of 5 stars for taking on a challenging subject matter and still keeping the story true and the characters life like. They are ones, especially Tillie that you find yourself rooting for and hoping for a happy ending. This book is available in paperback and eBook formats. For more information on this book, the author and where to purchase a copy for yourself, please click on the title of the book below:

Up From The Blue

Thanks to TLC Book Tours, I am offering one lucky follower of my blog a copy of the book. Here are your guidelines to enter to win:

1. Be a follower of my blog, Reviews From The Heart.

2. You must be a resident of the US and NO P.O. Boxes please.

3. I will need a way to contact you in the event you are selected as the winner, so please include your email in the comment box. You can use the words (at) and (dot) instead of the actual symbols.

4. The giveaway will end on October 6th. I will notify the winner by email.

5. Please leave a comment and let me know why you would like to win this book.