This book followed the main character and her family and friends for a span of 30 years. It was full of details and events that occurred during that time. The author vividly recalled key moments in history with popular songs, descriptive details, and wonderful storytelling. I was enraptured with the trials and tribulations the main character, Cherie, faced throughout this book. In a time when things were suppose to be one way, she took the chance and went another, not for her, but for her child. All of life's ups and downs were touched upon and had me turning the pages eagerly dying to know what was going to happen next. I rooted for love and happiness, cried during pain and sorrow, and jumped for joy when the book hit its major climax. There was one particular part of this book, when the Jack of Clubs showed up at a crucial moment, that gave me goosebumps like you wouldn't believe. I too, felt what Cherie felt at one point, and I cried, yes I admit it, I cried because I JUST KNEW, I just knew what happened, when it wasn't fully at a later point. Although it was terribly sad, it was beautifully written and extremely heartfelt. There is not one bad thing I can say about this book.
Thank you, C Michelle McCarty, for a truly amazing book. I have highly recommended it to others *you reading this, yeah you! You have got to read this book*
My mother can't wait to start reading it, she after all, was the first person I recommended it to!!
Platinum Reviewer ~ Jaime
Platinum Book Reviews gives C Michelle & The Jewel Box:
4.5 Platinum Rings
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Blurb:
A mouthy small town girl takes on big city life assisted by her "Spiritual guide through sin city" who pulls a Professor Higgins on Cherie while offering advice on single parenting and multiple affairs the heart...
Back in the Sixties while Motown hits filled the airwaves, naïve Jill Novak acknowledged her knack for choosing losers when boring Husband Number One vanished, leaving her to support their two-year-old. The perpetual daydreamer soon morphs from small town Jill to sophisticated big city Cherie, but a new name does not a better future bring. In 1969 Houston, Cherie encounters a rogue’s gallery of characters unlike those from her small Texas hometown; a drop-dead gorgeous transsexual, a snarling wannabe Mafia hit-man, a hairy cop who incorporates fondling girls into his job, and a ditzo neighbor whose desire for friendship borders on stalking. But it is two distinctly different men—a middle-age gregarious gambler and a twenty-something gruff intellectual—who jump on board her turbulent thirty-year roller coaster ride and journey with her into the 21st Century and womanhood. A tough and tender Texas-sized romance with a mild metaphysical slant, The Jewel Box highlights moments from the mystical, laid-back Age of Aquarius through the materialistic, high-speed Internet era. Music and references to the times/political climate convey the nations rocky terrain (and subsequent growth) parallel with that of the main character. This is a story of an engaging and open-hearted woman with no plan, making her way through life by fits and starts, and ultimately succeeding by turning out to be stronger than she thought.
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Excerpt:
Several coughs escaped between Beau's personal explanation and the actual quote:
"To laugh is to risk appearing the fool.
To weep is to risk being called sentimental.
To reach out to another is to risk involvement.
To expose feelings is to risk showing your true self.
To place your ideas and your dreams before them is to risk being called naive.
To love is to risk not being loved in return.
To live is to risk dying.
To hope is to risk despair,
and to try is to risk failure.
But risks must be taken, because the greatest hazard in life it to risk nothing.
The person who risks nothing, does nothing, has nothing, is nothing and becomes nothing. He, or she, may avoid suffering and sorrow, but simply cannot learn and feel and change and grow and love and live.
Chained by their certitudes, they are slaves who forfeit their freedom.
Only the person taking the risks is truly free."
I understood why the risk sentiment hit home with Beau, and wanted it to saturate my skull. Maybe the time for me to take risks and become truly free had commenced.
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