Greetings from the Flipside by Rene Gutterige

This week, the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance is introducing Greetings from the Flipside B&H Books (October 15, 2013) by Rene Gutteridge

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

Rene is the author of seventeen novels. She also has extensive experience writing comedy sketches, and worked for five years as the director of drama for a church. She has a degree specializing in Screenwriting, for which she earned the Excellence in Mass Communication Award, and graduated magna cum laude.

She is married to Sean, a musician and worship leader, and has two children. They reside in Oklahoma, where Rene writes full time and enjoys instructing in college classrooms and writers conferences.

ABOUT THE BOOK

Hope Landon has been rewriting other people's greeting cards since she was six years old -- there's always a funnier caption. She's all set to chase those creative dreams with her musician fiance in New York City until he leaves Hope at the altar, deciding he must not really love this girl if he can't write a song for her. That may give her something to write about . . .

Hope disappears alone on what was supposed to be the couple's month long honeymoon. Upon returning she learns of her funeral -- everyone in her life concluded Hope must have killed herself after being jilted. Needing a fresh start more than ever, she heads for the Big Apple only to discover it's not that easy to rent a place when you've been declared dead.

Taking shelter at the YWCA, Hope soon lands a job at a Christian inspirational greeting card company as an assistant to Jake, a guy who shut down his organization's humor department. She has lost her faith in love; he needs to find something or someone that will make him laugh.

Is there anything in the cards for these two? Find out in the truly original Greetings from the Flipside by authors Rene Gutteridge (Boo) and Cheryl McKay (screenplay for The Ultimate Gift).

My Thoughts:

“She said if you are not happy, geography isn’t going to change a thing.”  (p. 66)

Hope Landon thought her life was about to change dramatically when she married.  She was going to move away from the small town that kept her trapped from her own potential and move to New York and pursue her dream.   Well, things didn’t turn out like she planned.  Actually, things go horribly wrong. 

But through the horrible change in circumstances she is able to learn about her life from a totally different perspective.  What she learns is a very important lesson about facing reality and accepting the gifts God is gives you with open hands and heart instead of running headlong in the opposite direction.

I think Greetings from the Flipside is a book only Rene Gutteridge and Cheryl McKay could have written.  It’s a quirky book by many standards but has humor and a dose of truth woven among the story line that grab your attention.  Flipside is a light read, but it offers a profound call to pay attention to the blessings that are right in front of you.  God loves His children and is longsuffering toward us when we decide – for whatever reason – to run the opposite direction of His best plans for our life.

If you would like to read the first chapter of >Greetings from the Flipside, go HERE.