A Reason To Live : The True Story of One Woman's Love, Courage and Determination to Survive

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Summary: A Reason to Live
Review: When I received a galley copy of "A Reason to Live", I couldn't put it down.Every spare minute it was in my hand. As a SC Law Enforcement officer & Forensic Photographer I worked on the case that the book is about; Ronald Woomer and Wanda Summers.In addition,I was the female police officer that secured the Sequested Jury the second sentencing phase. The book took me back in time, and I felt like I was right there in it. I'm usually on the crime and criminal focus, but bringing out the crime and victim side in the book is beautiful. After all the victim is usually the forgotten one.Hudson and Hills did a powerful job with the delivery of such a heartful story of a courageous woman...TO LIVE.

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Summary: An Explosive, Powerful True Crime Novel
Review: WOW! For the first time in a long time, I am left speechless after reading a book. I am not a big reader in this genre, but from the moment I read the first chapter of A Reason To Live and learned from Jimmy Summers "the truth" about his wife's face, I was hooked. I am told the first few pages sells a book, and let me tell you after the first paragraphs I was sold on this one. I could not stop reading until I found out what had happened to Wanda's face and how she had survived. Finally, after putting everything else on hold, my family, my job, etc. I finished A Reason To Live. If you are looking for a powerful story, whose plot and characters literally explode off the page and grab you, well, this is one of those. This is the first book I have read by authors Hills and Hudson, but they wrote a wonderful story. I can't recall any other story like this one, which told the story from the victim's point of view. Probably in the hands of another true crime author this would have been a different story, directed more toward the acts and behavior of the criminal, and we would have never gotten to hear the other side of the story, Jimmy and Wanda Summer's story of determination and survival. I think we need more books like A Reason To Live, which depict the "true" horrors of crime-the victims. Kudos to the authors for giving us what so few other true crime writers have had the foresight to do. And my prayer is that God would comfort and heal all the families involved in this terrible tragedy.

Rating:
Summary: Hills & Hudson are the BEST at true crime
Review: WOW! I didn't think they could top their first book (An Hour to Kill), but they have done so with "A Reason to Live". I felt as if I was at the kitchen table with the heroic victim of this story. The crime story is important, but feeling the anguish and the suffering of the victim so intensely is something I have never before experienced....
This book should be required reading for all those who pass judgement on perpetrators in the justice system. This family, particularly this woman, are just as heroic as those involved in the Sept 11th attacks. And Hills and Hudson are remarkable in their storytelling. I can hardly wait for their next book!!!!