Book Review – Open, Shut by Nonnie Jules #RRBC

The sun is shining, the birds are singing and I have hurt my back! So what else is there to do but get out the sun lounger and relax.. and of course, read!

I started this afternoon’s reading with the short story Open, Shut by Nonnie Jules

Blurb: Darcy Lynn has a few problems: her sister, Lola, killed by a drunk driver, leaves her with an eerie message right before her death; her parents are atheists; her father drinks a little too much, and her brother, Bud, is just annoying. But, her most pressing issue is that things are mysteriously opening and closing around her and she hasn’t a clue as to why…or how.

In this short “sad but uplifting story with a wonderful message,” as one reader tags it, Author, Nonnie Jules flexes her writing chops once again, by introducing her readers to a normal, everyday family, whose lives are altered, not once, but twice by unexpected and unusual circumstances.

If you came into this story only believing in things seen with your own two eyes, and things heard with your own two ears, you walk away with a new and refreshing added sense…the ability and the courage to change, based on where your heart leads you.

Rating: 4 / 5

My thoughts: For a short story this certainly covers a long time period, despite that it seems to still flow well and the time jumps don’t feel jarring at all. After the loss of the eldest daughter of the family lives are changed forever.  Despite this being a story of a family finding their faith, not being a religious person myself, I also saw it as a family finding each other again after such a traumatic loss. Lola had done what she could to ensure that happened. A quick, easy read, with an uplifting message.