It's Not About Me by Michelle Sutton - Guest Review By Melissa

Sheaf House (September 1, 2008)

From the Back Cover:
Annie has it all. She's attractive, graduated with honors, was accepted at the college of her choice, has supportive parents, good friends, and a steady boyfriend who loves her. The focus of her life is to please everyone and not make any waves. Her reputation means everything to her.

But one night Annie's safe world is shattered. As she fights to put the pieces of her broken life back together, against her will she is caught in a war between two brothers, both of whom claim to have her best interests at heart.

Who will Annie choose? And will she finally come to know the One whose love will never fail, even in her darkest hour? Will she learn the truth about life - that it's not about "me"?

My Review:
It’s Not About Me is a bittersweet story of a young woman’s growth through trials no one should ever experience. God does some amazing things in both her life and the lives of those around her through the terrible challenges she faces after an unwarranted attack that will leave her forever scarred. Michelle Sutton has brought the events of this short span of Annie’s experience to life and penned a collection of vivid characters that will live on for the reader beyond closing this book. I am amazed at the debut authors I am discovering who have a power with words that I have rarely seen over many years of reading. I suspect that her books along with two of my other favorite new authors this past year - Geralyn Beauchamp and Julie Lessman - will one day join the ranks of authors such as Karen Kingsbury and Francine Rivers due to the exceptional power in their writing. While this novel’s main characters are in their late teens and early twenties it still touches a chord with readers at a variety of places in life and chronological age because of the emotionally gripping narrative and her ability to draw the reader into the lives of her characters such that it is difficult to put the book down once you have started it. Michelle has done what few authors have succeeded at, she has drug my emotions through a ride that I and they will not soon forget with an intensity that is rare to see in any book but especially those appealing to teens and college age readers and the stereotypical romantic plot lines with their HEA endings and fluff filled stories. I will certainly be begging Michelle to read her next book as soon as I can get my hands on a copy of it. (ISBN#9780979748516, 352pp, $12.99) My Rating: 6/5

Written by Melissa (ForstRose) at Bibliophile's Retreat