Rating: 
Summary: High Five For This Book
Review: A Reason To Live earned 5+ stars for me. It is a celebration of
the human spirit, of sorts, in that Jimmy and Wanda Summers triumphed over ever adversity they faced in this tragedy. Truly a
gigantic story about love, courage, and commitment of a husband
and wife, A Reason To Live will stir every human emotion--sadness, anger, revenge, and, eventually, happiness in the end
when the Summers family is able to move beyond this horrible crime. I have no reservations about Rusty Woomer's execution--the courts found him guilty and sentenced him to ultimately pay
for what he did with his own life. This is the the penalty as set forth by the American Justice System. I would recommend this
book to anyone who wants to read a page turner--a story which is nearly impossible to put down until it is finished. I am now reading Hudson and Hills' first book, An Hour To Kill, and find
the story and writing just as enjoyable.
Rating:
Summary: Superb book about the Death Penalty
Review: A Reason To Live is a easy-to-read book detailing why the American Criminal Justice System should enforce the Death Penalty. For all those bleeding heart liberals, the heinous acts committed upon Wanda Summers, her family, and the other victims by Woomer and Skaar is another example of innocent people being victimized. After hearing what Woomer had done to Della Louise Sellers and Wanda Summers, the jury foreman, Raymond Finch, said it best: "We didn't think Woomer should even breathe the same air we breathe." It's about time we Americans stood up and take the courage to punish these sick individuals for the crimes they commit against society.
Rating:
Summary: Exciting and Emotive
Review: A Reason To Live is a true story that will stay with you a long long time. Although I hate to admit that I forget many of the books I read, this one has not only stayed fresh in my mind, but continues to linger in my thoughts. The crimes of Woomer and Skaar are so vividly described that I felt the fear that the victums experienced. As in their first book, An Hour To Kill, Dale Hudson and Billy Hills have told the story of the crime with articulate creativity without compromising the dignity of the victums.The book relates a series of events that is wrought with drama, and is told tastefully. The primary focus is on the surviving victum, Wanda Summers. She is a living testimony of how a victum can survive and carry on with a healthy productive life. She took a shotgun blast to the face at close range, and lived to see her killer executed for it. Justice and recovery was a slow and painful journey that will make you think seriously about the consideration of victums' rights, or the lack thereof in our criminal justice system. The list of victums in this case goes way beyond merely those who died that day when Rusty Woomer and Eugene Skaar decided to rob and kill their way into drug and alcohol oblivion. The loved ones of the victums make the list much longer, and this book is about the suffering that was endured by all of them, but especially Wanda Summers. She is the lucky victum who lived. This is her story of survival and the support from her family who struggled to hold their lives together in distorted normalcy throughout the long healing of her wounds, both physical and mental. It is also the chronology of events comprised of an intricate web of legal nightmares which eventually delivered the perpetrators to their final justice. This is a very moving story you should not miss. Because it is written with the class and polish of compassionate professionals, you will recognize this work of literature as something to be savored and contemplated for a very long time.
Rating:
Summary: Unique Style of Writing
Review: A Reason To Live is a very moving book that has a unique combination of being not only heartwarming but also a great true crime read. Dale Hudson and Billy Hills managed to draw me so into the book that I actually had feelings of anguish and pain. You feel like you are right there with the family sharing in the anger and frustration. This is definitely a page turner from the beginning to the end.
Rating:
Summary: This book is a real tearjerker.
Review: A Reason To Live is a very moving story of Wanda Summers, who was kidnapped, raped, shotgunned, and left for dead. What happened to her was horrible, and it is hard to believe this courageous woman survived and was able to put her life back together. I wept openly as I read the details from her nightmare, the endless surgeries to reconstruct her face, and her painful recouperation to become normal again. Those of us who read this book and have not had to suffer as Wanda and her family should count their blessings. Billy Hills and Dale Hudson are superb writers with a real talent for writing such an engaging story. It is about time someone told us about the victims's side of the story and how they suffer rather than the criminal. As in most cases, the criminals continue to live in a rather convenient, self-sustaining life style while the victims struggle to return to a normal life.
Rating:
Summary: It's about time: A Victim's Story
Review: A Reason To Live is a wonderfully written story about Wanda Summers and her family, and how they suffered as victims of a horrible crime. Beginning with the Prologue, Hudson and Hills guides the reader through the events and lives of two misguided criminals and their crime spree in 1979, ending with the assault of Ms. Summers and her friend, Della Louise Sellers. Using the crime as the backdrop, the authors paint a suspenseful masterpiece, detailing the aftermath of the crime and the struggles and sacrifices endured by the Summers family just to survive. Before reading this story, I wasn't a death penalty supporter, but I do believe this sentence was warranted in this case. I'm not going to even think about whether the killer's "jail house conversion" was sincere, but I am glad he had time to make peace with God, which was something apparently his victims never got the opportunity to do before he murdered them. This book held my attention from beginning to end, andwas very well-written. I would recommend it highly as a book to be put on your reading list. An added bonus are the number of pictures the author's included in the book. Nice job, you guys!! You have outdone yourselves again.
Rating:
Summary: You Must Read This Book
Review: A Reason To Live is an outstanding book. No wonder my friend recommended it to me. What Rusty Woomer and Gene Skarr did to their victims made me realize how horrible and sick people can be. They both deserved to die for what they did, and in my opinion the death penalty wasn't harsh enough for them. I want to say to Wanda Summers and her husband, Jimmy, you are two of the most inspiring and courageous people I have read about in a long time. I am happy you both never stopped loving each other and were able to move beyond this and find some well-deserved happiness. To Billy Hills and Dale Hudson, thank you for bringing this story to your readers, without you we would have never heard about Wanda. I am now waiting to read your next book. You two guys make one hell of a team.
Rating:
Summary: YOU HAVE TO READ THIS BOOK
Review: After all that has happened since 9-11, we need an inspiring book
like A Reason To Live. Wanda Summers demonstrates the great American spirit of courage and determination to survive, a will to rise up out of the ashes of despair and the pits of hell to
prevail and hold on to what little of her life she was able to
salvage. A wonderfully written book about SURVIVIVING that everyone will want to read, whether we have ever been a victim of
crime or not. It's refreshing to see a new approach to a true crime story, where the good guys win in the end. These two guys
should become the top writers in this genre. I know I am going
to tell all my friends about Wanda Summers and A Reason To Live.
Rating:
Summary: A Riveting Tale, Couldn't Have Been Better.
Review: After reading this book, I am not sure what to say. This being not only my first true crime book I have reviewed, but one of the only books whereby I was so emotionally drawn. I still haven't been able to put this nightmare out of my mind, which is why I don't like to read true crime. It is about the suffering of real people. But A Reason To Live is one of the better true crime books I have read. I suppose I should say for the benefit of my own convictions that was justice was dealt in the end, but then again, I am not so certain. Maybe Rusty Woomer was a changed man, and truly didn't deserve to die, who should have been spared the Death Penalty. But, on the other hand, nothing is
going to ever deliver justice to these families, or Wanda Summers. How can you erase what Woomer and Skaar did to them?
After pondering this thought and how the victims suffered, I have to agree with Don Sellers, Rusty's death was too easy. In
that light, he deserved to suffer like his victims. Overall, in
spite of this horrible story, A Reason To Live is one of the best true crime books I have ever read, and the only one I can
remember where a victim survived to tell about it. My gratitude
to the authors for the way they presented the story, more like
a novel than a true crime story, and for introducing us to these wonderful, inspiring and strong characters. May the victims rest in peace, and Wanda continue to overcome with great courage and
conviction.
Rating:
Summary: A Victim's Triumph
Review: Although A Reason to Live by Billy Hills and Dale Hudson is classified as a true-crime book, the focus is not only on the crime, but on the aftermath and its effects on the one of the victims and her family. Through carefully researched storytelling, the authors portray just how far-reaching the effects of a horrific crime can be, not just impacting the victim, but the families, caregivers, legal system. The writers were very moved by this story, and they expressed that well through the writing of this book, which flows more like a novel than a re-iteration of the facts of the case. Wanda Summers is a true hero, and everyone should read this book to learn how to gracefully overcome enormous adversity. Thanks to these remarkable authors for sharing this story, I look forward to reading more of your work!
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