Life Starring Ellie and Eve

I love reading, next to blogging, playing with my kids, eating chocolate and drinking Coke Zero, it is my favorite activity. So when I was recently given the opportunity to review the novel Irreplaceable by Steven Lovely, I jumped at the chance.

Irreplaceable is a drama; a story about a man who loses his wife and about a woman who gets to live because of that loss. This story is formed around organ donation, more specifically heart donation, and how it effects the lives of not only the donor's family, but also the receipient and their family. Lovely wrote Irreplaceable from the perspective of those most effected by the tragedy of death and the miracle of a second chance at life, some of those perspectives include:

* Alex- the widower who has emotional issues that hold him back in life and relationships
* Bernice- Alex's mother-in-law who wants to find a piece of her daughter by connection with the recipient and her family
* Janet- The heart recipient

Those perspectives along with the voices of others who were effected weave Irreplaceable together and make it a compelling novel about how one moment and the ensuing choices can change peoples' lives forever.

What was my personal opinion of Irreplaceable? It is definitely a book that I would not have picked out for myself; I tend to look for the lighter more comedic books rather than the dramas. But...that being said, I am really glad I had the opportunity to read it since it is a well written, compelling, and an overall wonderful book. I mentioned that Lovely wrote the book from many different perspectives, and that did throw me off for a bit. It took some time to get use to that writing style, but once I did, it made the novel seem more real and helped me connect with the characters in a more personal fashion. The characters had the same emotions and feelings that I imagine a great many people do when faced with similar events; there are times when I wanted to tell them to "pull it together" or to "take a chance and embrace the opportunity" and there were other times when I just wanted to be able to offer support. A good writer knows how to make the reader want to interact with the characters he or she created, and Lovely did just that in Irreplaceable. I also appreciate the fact that Irreplaceable isn't sugar coated; it tells the story of a tragedy and the resulting second chance at life from the perspective of real people; how they would act and feel, not from how happy-go-lucky pretend people would deal.

Overall what are my thoughts on Irreplaceable? This is a book that you should have on your reading list; it is well written, compelling, and really draws you into the lives of the people you are reading about.