• Title: Pressed Pennies
• Author: Steven Manchester
• Format: Paperback 355 pages
• Publisher: The Story Plant
• Published: 29 May 2014
• Genre: Contemporary Fiction, Spiritual Fiction
• ISBN 13: 9781611881356
• ISBN 10: 1611881358
• Source: Gifted for Review
• Buy: The Book Depository|Amazon|Nook

In an apple core (The Bookworm’s version of a nutshell)

If you are in need of a good read that makes you all fluffy inside and that teaches you not to give up and to believe that love is the way, you need to read this book! A book about love and family that should not be missed.

Summary 

Rick and Abby grew up together, became best friends, and ultimately fell in love. Circumstance tore them apart in their early teens, though, and they went on to lives less idyllic than they dreamed about in those early days. Rick has had a very successful career, but his marriage flat-lined. Abby has a magical daughter, Paige, but Paige’s father nearly destroyed Abby’s spirit.

Now fate has thrown Rick and Abby together again. In their early thirties, they are more world-weary than they were as kids. But their relationship still shimmers, and they’re hungry to make up for lost time. However, Paige, now nine, is not nearly as enthusiastic. She’s very protective of the life she’s made with her mother and not open to the duo becoming a trio. Meanwhile, Rick has very little experience dealing with kids and doesn’t know how to handle Paige. This leaves Abby caught between the two people who matter the most to her. What happens when the life you’ve dreamed of remains just inches from your grasp?

Pressed Pennies is a nuanced, intensely romantic, deeply heartfelt story of love it its many incarnations, relationships in their many guises, and family in its many meanings. It is the most accomplished and moving novel yet from a truly great storyteller of the heart.

Click here to read an excerpt from the book

My Thoughts

Steven Manchester’s latest foray differs from his usual lessons on life. This outing is not as serious as his previous novels and revolves around true love. Not just the love shared between a couple, but one within a family. This is Steven’s greatest strength, weaving tales interwoven with messages we can all learn from and apply in our very own lives.

Pressed Pennies is about having the courage to want something better and not just accepting what is easy. We learn about how love can conquer all odds put before it, if only you have a little faith. It’s a bit of a sweet love story with the pains of reality thrown in for good measure.

Life lessons are seen through the relationships between the two main characters as well as the difficult relationship between Rick and Abby’s daughter Paige. At first glance, Paige is portrayed as the bane to Rick’s existence, being the strong, unrelenting barrier that separates Rick from progressing in his relationship with Abby. But it is from Paige that we garner the most wisdom from. Paige’s actions and reactions are some that we all go through and experience in life, it is the fear in our hearts. And it is the acceptance of those fears and standing up to them that frees us from our chains.

We also learn about courage when Abby left her drunkard husband to take care of Paige as a single, unemployed mother and had to start all over again. Fate brings them back to where it all started and now Abby has to juggle not just raising a young child, but also another chance to fall in love again.

Pressed Pennies teaches us about patience, understanding, persistence, standing up for yourself and most of all, love, acceptance and not being afraid to believe that anything is possible. We see how much one is willing to put up with for love, and how hard one is willing to fight to protect that love. Even the side characters in this book portray love from other angles, that love has no bounds, be it age or time. And as per a Steven Manchester book, all the characters are lovingly well-rounded, so much so that you’ll feel like you call them your friends.

For those who found Steven’s previous novels too heavy, you’ll be glad to know that this latest offering is a much lighter read. All of Steven’s books display realistic situations but this one differs from the rest in its simplistic nature. It is not as serious as it doesn’t follow the route of every Nicholas Sparks novel, if you know what I mean. It’s time to create some extra space on that bookshelf, because this one, like every other of Steven’s books, if a definite keeper.

Steven Manchester is the published author of the #1 best seller, Twelve Months, as well as A Christmas Wish (the holiday prequel to Goodnight, Brian). He is also written Pressed Pennies, The Unexpected Storm: The Gulf War Legacy and Jacob Evans, as well as several books under the pseudonym, Steven Herberts. His work has appeared on NBC’s Today Show, CBS’s The Early Show, CNN’s American Morning and BET’s Nightly News. Recently, three of his short stories were selected “101 Best” for Chicken Soup for the Soul series.

Check out Steven’s other books:

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