Reviews for Beyond Our Mothers' Footsteps

The average rating for Beyond Our Mothers' Footsteps based on 2 reviews is 4 stars.

Review # 1 was written on 2019-10-25 00:00:00 Bill Heyer I used to see Mr. Nicholas Sparks as a guy who kills off his characters for sport. Like every time he writes a new story, I picture him rubbing the palm of his hands against each other while madly grinning and asking "Who I am going to kill this time? *insert evil laugh here*" Only after reading this particular novel of his did I learn how wrong I was. I learned that most of his stories' premises are based from his real life experiences or about members of his family and I believe it takes true courage to share to the world something so painful and so personal. I admit I was on full detective mode from page one already guessing which of the wonderful, perfectly kind characters will potentially die but despite that, the story touched my heart unexpectedly. It mostly has to do with the main theme of the story: a parent's unconditional love for his/her child. It also helps a lot that there's a cute four year old boy. They get me all the time-cute little kids in stories.^^ Just to be clear, Mr. Sparks' standard formulaic ingredients are still there: ✽ Small town setting ✽ A simply beautiful female character who turns every man's head in said small town ✽ An attractive male character who wears masculine work boots ✽ Tragic tone ✽ Slow start ✽ More than necessary writing details ✽ *Ahem* A love scene or two (or more) ✽ At least one death ✽ Heart-wrenching scenes/dialogues that'll make you spill tears. (At least I found the perfect excuse to spill tears I have been trying to hold back since my wisdom tooth started growing) BUT, I particularly adore the portrayal of the female character, Denise. Her strength as a woman and as a mother is just admirable. I'm sure every girl could pick up a thing or two from her. The conclusion is far more hopeful and lighter than I expected and if I would recommend anything from the author, I think this would be it.^^

Review # 2 was written on 2011-05-26 00:00:00 Anthony Georma Mr Sparks, you sure know how to break my heart and burn my tear glands. This book left me in tears from the very first chapter till the end. But it's the last two chapters that got me cry like no one could understand what I was going through while crying with the main characters. It was so heart breaking! The story deals with a single mom, Denise, taking care of her 4 year old son, Kyle, who had some delayed learning disability which the doctors couldn't give a proper diagnosis. Then there's volunteer fireman Taylor McAden who was putting himself in dangerous situations to save everyone he could. Both Denise and Taylor had something they could not share with just anyone. A small town story, a story of how different people have a fight going on everyday, a heart warming and a heartbreaking slow burn romance that left me baffled in the end. I appreciate the whole family vibes, learning disability representation and how it was handled really well, PTSD, solid childhood friendship between Taylor and Mitch, Taylor's mother Judy being representative of a strong woman, small town vibes, deaths and grief being handled incredibly well. The characters were very realistic and the story somehow felt so real to me. At times, I felt like the main characters were testing my patience but everything ended well well explained. It will stay as a memorable read for me.