The Big 5-Oh! by Sandra Bricker

The Big 5-Oh! by Sandra Bricker will release in February, 2010, but I couldn't wait to share my thoughts on this fun book!

Here's the back cover copy:

Olivia Wallace has a birthday curse . . . or so she thinks. It was a broken heart on her 16th, a car accident on her 21st, pneumonia on her 30th, and a fall down a flight of stairs on her 35th. There were Ohio blizzards on her 38th, 39th, and 40th; and six days before her 45th, she lost the love of her life to a heart attack. Numbing grief stole that birthday and a couple more to follow and, on the morning of her 48th birthday, she received the call she’d dreaded ever since losing her mom so many years ago…she was diagnosed with stage-3 ovarian cancer. The doctors didn’t hold out a lot of hope, but Liv survived and maintained her faith. Months of surgeries and chemotherapy and radiation treatments followed.

But now, as her 50th birthday creeps up the icy Ohio path toward her, her hair has grown back, her energy level is up, and she is officially cancer free. It makes her nervous. After everything she’s gone through, Liv hates the idea of driving on icy roads and returning to work as an O.R. nurse in a local Cincinnati hospital.

Her best friend Hallie knows just the thing to break Liv out of the winter doldrums, while providing a safe haven of warmth, sunshine, and a time to regroup: a holiday in the Florida sunshine!

And now, my review:

This is the second Sandra Bricker novel I’ve read. The first was her fantastic Love Finds You in Snowball, Arkansas out through Summerside Press. (Read my review here.)

Sandie’s books are fun. While reading The Big 5-Oh! I recall laughing aloud when I was in no mood to laugh! That’s what good fiction does—takes you away from your circumstances and lets you have fun. She made me enjoy myself even against my will. (Thanks, Sandie!) I appreciated one of her themes—that even tough circumstances can be used by God as He works behind the scenes in our lives. That's been very true for me.

There is a shortage (in my opinion) of romantic comedies. Sandie’s books help fill the void. And readers of any age will enjoy it, I feel, because I’m a ways out from 50 (thanking God since I’m so not ready) and I enjoyed this novel. Quirky characters, alligators, and lots of fun await readers of this novel.