Sand dollar was an interesting read. I think that the story started off good but it was a little different. I loved the prologue probably more than I loved the rest of the book. The ex-wife shows up at Noah's love and confesses her love. I think hearing about this was interesting and it made me wonder what in the hell was Noah marrying the new woman.

Then the book goes ahead in the future and Noah is in the hospital. The characters were different and I am not sure I ever really understood the book. I think the jumping around in time was a little strange and made me wonder what in the heck was going on. I am a Nicholas Sparks fan but I cannot compare this book to him. It was good just not great.

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**Note that this book was given to me by the author; it does not influence my review. :)

This was such an unusual book from what I have been reading lately, but I was glad I got the chance to read it. It was a very emotional read for me, I spent time yelling at the characters, and then crying with them at the end.

It is a story about the love and life of Noah and Robin, two lovers who through their relationship are tossed apart. We see an old man, Noah, in the hospital, spending his time talking to an orderly, Josh about his love and his one true soul mate. We follow his memories, both high and low, as he describes his journey to finding, losing, and eventually regaining his true love.

This is a lovely book about one man’s emotional growth into being the man he should always have been, and about learning that love is always there and if you give it enough room, it will return to you.

I am very glad that I read the book. Keep in mind you might begin by cursing the characters, but by the end you will need your hankies!

A great read. ( )

Noah Hartman’s first wife abandons him, only to return 13 years later at the church when he is getting married to Sarah, the woman carrying his child. The story jumps ahead to eighty year old Noah in the hospital. As Noah tells hospital orderly the rest of the story, he jumps back and forth in time with little warning or transitional paragraphs.

It is hard to follow the storyline and keep track of all the characters. ( )

I’m trying to remember if there was another book like Sand Dollar that I read and as soon as I was done with it [I'm talking mere seconds after] that I just wanted to shout to the world and beg people to get it ASAP… come to think of it, it probably happened on one or two occasions, but right now I don’t have the time to ponder when or which book it was, BUT I do have the time to tell you why I think you should find the time to read this story.

First, let me start with how I came across it. The author, Sebastian Cole, asked me if I would have the time to read it and possibly review it for my blog, with him supplying me with the print copy. I decided to sample it from his website before I answered his email and only two paragraphs into it I went to the Amazon and bought the book, not willing to wait for the copy to arrive. I knew that my evening was shot to hell, not to mention my next morning! Nothing was going to get in my way of finishing this book in one sitting!

The above book blurb is quiet comprehensive and it sets up the story that is filled with compassion and plenty of romance. For that reason alone I’ll skip on retelling of the story and dive in to the praise of it. You heard me right! This story is worthy of praise and I have plenty of it.

I’ll start with my praise of the author’s voice. I literally ‘heard’ Noah’s narration of his life story and the gentle yet firm hand of the author taking me to his ‘bosom’ and coaxing me just a bit further, just one more step closer to the heart of the matter…the heart of the story…the revelation of the secret. The author spread the tale in front of me with such ease of telling that I drank it all in and loved every drop coming my way!

Now, I’ll tell you about the three-dimensional characters he took such painstaking time to introduce me to. Noah was one of those Beta heroes that has plenty of Alpha characteristics, but deep down is just ....and for the rest of my review, I would love it and thank you for going to my blog....http://bookworm2bookworm.wordpress.com/2012/10/24/sand-dollar-by-sebastian-cole/

Book purchased from Amazon ( )

I really wanted to like this book. I received it as an Early Review book from Good Reads. The presentation was lovely, but the story itself, needed more development. I did not feel a connection to the characters. Although Robin suffered from Borderline Personality Disorder (BPD),there was not a good description of how that affected either Robin or Noah, beyond her inability to stay with him. There was not enough of a description as to why Noah was so attracted to her. The courtship was short, as was the marriage. She maintained a relationship with Frank for several years after leaving Noah, as well as appearing to be a loving mother to her children,so why did the BPD not affect those relationships? The possible abuse Robin had experienced and the danger she faced as a child were not adequately explained. She and her mother fled a gunman (a jealous man who had raped her mother). Her mother refused to fully disclose what had happened to Robin as a teenager, leaving the reader to wonder what was the traumatic experience that lead Robin to have BPD.

Noah seemed to be a bit naive in his relationship with Robin, his parents and coworkers. He did not seem to have developed much as a man and was well into middle age before he tried to establish himself independently. The writing a screen play in an effort to win Robin back seemed a bit contrived. It seemed as though he did not love Robin, but that he was obsessed with her. When he was dying, why was Sarah, whom he had left at the altar in order to be with Robin, there? Why would she be with a dying man who left her for another so many years before? That relationship was also unexplored in the book.
The author had a nice idea for a story. He needed to flesh it out a bit and add more details. I liked the idea that the romantic interest was a bit overweight in the beginning of the story. It was nice to think a love interest could be someone who was not the ideal size or shape, however, she was that size only in that instant. In the story, when she was young and when she and Noah were reunited, she was not overweight.

I am sorry write so harsh a review, but I am trying to be honest. The premise had a lot of potential. I wish it had succeeded. ( )