THE HARD TRUTH ABOUT SUNSHINE by Sawyer Bennett-Review, Excerpt and Book Tour
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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date March 28, 2017
Despite having narrowly escaped death’s clutches, Christopher Barlow is grateful for nothing. His capacity to love has been crushed. He hates everyone and everything, completely unable to see past the gray stain of misery that coats his perception of the world. It’s only after he involuntarily joins a band of depressed misfits who are struggling to overcome their own problems, does Christopher start to re-evaluate his lot in life.
What could they possibly learn from one another? How could they possibly help each other to heal? And the question that Christopher asks himself over and over again… can he learn to love again?
He’s about to find out as he embarks upon a cross country trip with a beautiful woman who is going blind, a boy with terminal cancer, and an abuse victim who can’t decide whether she wants to live or die.
Four people with nothing in common but their destination. They will encounter adventure, thrills, loss and love. And within their travels they will learn the greatest lesson of all.
The hard truth about sunshine…
Warning: This book deals with some tough issues including suicide and sexual abuse.
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REVIEW: THE HARD TRUTH ABOUT SUNSHINE by Sawyer Bennett is not a story of hearts and flowers; nor is it a story about billionaires and beautiful virgins, or temperamental hockey players and the women they love. THE HARD TRUTH ABOUT SUNSHINE focuses on four people who met in a support group for depressed individuals or those suffering with terminal illness. What ensues is a cross country journey where each of our story line characters will come face to face with the realities of life-their own and that of the friends they make along the way.
Told from first person point of view ( Christopher Barlow ) our narrator is an angry US Marine veteran who lost a leg and part of his hand during a mission in the Middle East. Pissed-off at the world Christopher finds himself choosing a support group or face time in prison as his world continues to spiral out of control. Jillian Martel, the group’s optimist and perpetually happy cheerleader is going blind, and suggests a cross country journey as a buffer between the highs and lows; Barb Stiles hides behind a mask of indifference; an abuse victim who waivers between life and death; and Connor McCann, a seventeen year old boy with terminal cancer who uses the journey to complete his bucket list of things to do before he dies. THE HARD TRUTH ABOUT SUNSHINE is their story; their journey to discover the truth about friendship, love, laughter and loss; an honest look at life and death and everything in between.
Sawyer Bennett looks at the brutality of death, disease, abuse and war. All four of our characters must face the reality that is their lives. Some will lose the battle while others will find his or her happily ever after-for now. The journey opens up a new prospective for Christopher Barlow –the potential for a future with new friends but also the possibility of more loss and heartbreak when death comes to call.
THE HARD TRUTH ABOUT SUNSHINE is a story of one man’s introspection of his life; of his emotional and physical trauma; and of four people’s developing friendship throughout the miles, the tears, and the adventure of a lifetime.
Copy supplied for review
Reviewed by Sandy
She doesn’t look away. Not down at the fire, not down to my legs. She stares right at me. Although my gut is turning slightly at the thought of telling her what she asked, I forge straight ahead. For the first time, I tell someone who is not medical personnel or a shrink my story.
“I was driving a military Humvee and the right front tire ran over a roadside bomb,” I say, and Jillian makes a sound of distress low her in throat as her eyes turn sad. “It completely obliterated my buddy sitting in the passenger seat.”
To my surprise, Jillian scoots over closer to me and lays her head on my shoulder. She pushes her hand in between my ribs and my arm, curling her fingers over my bicep. It’s a show of support. Solidarity. That she’s settled in for the long haul of this story, and she wants to hear it all.
“It didn’t blow my leg off,” I tell her, and I can feel her body jerk slightly in surprise. Her fingers squeeze my bicep. “The fingers yes, the leg no. It just shattered and shredded it badly, but the doctors tried hard to save it.”
“Obviously, they couldn’t,” she whispers the obvious.
“They tried for three months,” I tell her, reaching down to grab my phone laying near my left hip. Jillian lifts her head up, watching as I pull up my pictures. I scroll backward, but it doesn’t take long to find what I’m looking for because I don’t take a lot of photos. I hold the phone out so she can see. “This was taken about a month after my injury.”
Jillian makes a strangled sound as she looks at the photo of me in bed. My eyes are half open because I was bombed out on so many heavy-duty pain medications, and I have a grimace on my face. I vaguely remember this picture being taken, and I think it may have been by my brother, Hank, when he came to visit once during that first month. He came a few more times after that, and then he didn’t.
Jillian’s eyes roam over the photo. My leg is encased in the external fixator with several rods leading from the outside of the cage right into my skin, where it’s drilled through and into the bone to hold the pieces together. The wounds on my leg are all open to the air, red and some of them dripping with puss and lined with blisters. I’ve got IVs in both arms and a PICC line in the right side of my neck to deliver the hordes of antibiotics and pain meds I needed to keep me alive and functioning. I took the maximum dosages they allowed me, preferring to try to be oblivious to what was happening. Yet, the pain was so great it just couldn’t be fully erased.
Jillian turns her head to look at me, and I lay the phone back down. “How long were you like that?”
“Three months. But they couldn’t get ahead of the infections, which were delaying the bones from knitting. I was in so much pain that I wanted them to amputate.”
“You had to make that decision?” she whispers.
I nod. “Yup. I mean… the doctors were at the point they felt it was the right way to go, although they were willing to keep trying if I wanted. But I wanted it gone. I was tired of being in the hospital and being in so much pain. I just wanted it gone.”
“Do you regret that decision?” she asks me bluntly, but with that still-sweet melody her voice makes. The question doesn’t bother me, because even her hard questions sound lovely.
“Yes,” I tell her without any shame. “I wonder what would have happened if I held on just a little bit longer. Not long after the leg came off, the pain receded and I became more lucid. Once I’d forgotten how bad the infections smelled, I regretted it.”
“Three months is an awful long time to be in pain like that,” she points out the obvious.
I shrug. “And the rest of my life is a long time to wonder ‘what if.’”
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Best-Selling author, Sawyer Bennett, is a snarky southern woman and reformed trial lawyer who decided to finally start putting on paper all of the stories that were floating in her head. She is married to a mobster (well, a market researcher) and they have two big, furry dogs who hog the bed. Sawyer would like to report she doesn’t have many weaknesses but can be bribed with a nominal amount of milk chocolate.
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Wonderful review, Sandy. Sounds very much like a different type of story line for Bennett.
Terrific review, Sandy. Sounds like an emotional story.
Fantastic review, thanks Sandy . looks absolutely heartbreaking and a tear jerker.
Excellent review, thanks Sandy. Sounds very emotional and something different from the author.
Great review, Sandy. Looks like a different kind of story to read.
Sounds like an amazing story, thanks Sandy. Congrats to Sawyer on the new release.
Sure sounds like something different, thanks Sandy
very nice review, sandy. sounds like an interesting story.
Looks like a heart breaker . Thanks for the wonderful review.