Disguised Blessing

Rating:
Summary: Wonderful, SUPERB
Review: Georgia has done it again. This story is believable and thecharacters true to life. It is a nonstop page turner. The maincharacter Catherine has depth and feeling. The victim her daughter is a typical teenager.Vane to a degree. Catherine shows strength and also she puts her daughter first and she changes her world to evolve around her daughter. A true mother. Rick is a mature hero and because of Catherine's bad choices of men in her past she pushes him aside. You laugh and cry with these people and you feel like you are right there with them. I recommend this and ALL her past books HIGHLY. If this is your first try of Georgia I know you will go out and find her previous novels. ENJOY.

Rating:
Summary: You've done it again!
Review: I am never disappointed when I pick up a book by Georgia Bockoven. Her writing pulls you emotionally into the story and doesn't let go, even after you put the book down. If you're looking for great women's fiction, this is the writer for you. If you're looking for a great read, don't miss Disguised Blessing.

Rating:
Summary: Blessing to have discovered this author!
Review: I must exist on another planet because I have never read anything by Georgia Bockoven before today. If her other books are anything like this one, then I have a treat waiting for me. Disguised Blessing is a book that keeps you wanting more and more. Catherine's 15 year old daughter is accidentally burned at a party. She is taken to a burn center where she is assigned a mentor by the name of Rick who is a captain in a fire department. Rick is a fantastic leading man. We all know men like him. He is truly a good man who does whatever it takes to make the world a better place. Meanwhile, Catherine is dumped by her fiance who can't handle anything that doesn't fit into his perfect world revolving around himself. Lynda is a teenager who goes from having it all to learning to cope when life deals her a cruel blow. I expected light reading, what I got was a wonderful story with characters that leave an impact on you. I would really love a continuation of these characters in another book. How about it Ms. Bockoven?

Rating:
Summary: Blessing to have discovered this author!
Review: I must exist on another planet because I have never read anything by Georgia Bockoven before today. If her other books are anything like this one, then I have a treat waiting for me. Disguised Blessing is a book that keeps you wanting more and more. Catherine's 15 year old daughter is accidentally burned at a party. She is taken to a burn center where she is assigned a mentor by the name of Rick who is a captain in a fire department. Rick is a fantastic leading man. We all know men like him. He is truly a good man who does whatever it takes to make the world a better place. Meanwhile, Catherine is dumped by her fiance who can't handle anything that doesn't fit into his perfect world revolving around himself. Lynda is a teenager who goes from having it all to learning to cope when life deals her a cruel blow. I expected light reading, what I got was a wonderful story with characters that leave an impact on you. I would really love a continuation of these characters in another book. How about it Ms. Bockoven?

Rating:
Summary: Writing what you know.
Review: There's an old saying in the writing business, write what you know. I know what it's like to be the wife of a firefighter, I've been that for many years, but that's a long way from feeling the fear that crawls up the back of your neck when you're standing outside a burning house, breathing smoke, knowing there's a child inside waiting to be rescued.

If I weren't as close to the job as I am I would have put a firefighter in a book long before now, but I've listened to too many of them moan in frustration at the way their job is misrepresented in film and television. The last thing I wanted was to have any of them feel this way about something I wrote. I finally solved my problem by making my husband my research assistant. He was enthusiastic, even if unpaid.

He happened to be on shift when I was writing one of the more difficult scenes in the book--a rescue with a fully involved house fire. I must have called him at the fire house twenty times that afternoon, reading him what I'd written and asking questions about what I wanted to happen next.

While I took liberties with the volunteer organization Rick Sawyer belongs to in the book, it was based on a real one in Sacramento, California, The Firefighters Pacific Burn Institute. For over twenty years local firefighters have given time and money to help burned children and their families, putting on a summer camp for burn survivors and helping them in a dozen other ways.

My research for the hospital scenes included a private, behind-the-scenes tour of the new, state-of-the-art Shriner's Hospital in Sacramento. Conducted by one of the brilliant plastic surgeons who worked there, she was as generous with her time as her information.

While research is important, it's the characters that make a story come alive. In DISGUISED BLESSING Catherine Miller faces every parent's nightmare when her fifteen-year-old daughter, Lynda, is accidently burned at a beach party. A week later, the man she is engaged to tells her he didn't sign on to take care of an injured teenager and walks out--just as Rick walks in. Despite the bond that grows between Lynda and Rick as he helps her heal the emotional scars that come with her injury, there's no way Catherine is going to trust another man.

But then she's never known a man like Rick Sawyer.

Rating:
Summary: This writer is always solid
Review: This was a typical book for this author, which is a pretty good thing. Her stories aren't especially gripping but she always delivers a nice love story, this time about a male firefighter and a divorcee who previously has only married/dated wealthy men. There is also a very good teenage daughter in this book who also needs the firefighter's help and affection and a great dog.

Rating:
Summary: <big, heavy sigh> It was that good.
Review: You know the way you finish a book and can't stand to pick up anything else right away. Because the one you just finished insists on lingering inside of your head a while longer, because it was *that* good? This is one of those books. I hesitated over it because of the subject matter, but Georgia handled it beautifully, of course. Lynda, the daughter, was fabulous, and her boyfriend and the friend she made in the hospital. Catherine did what any good mother would do -- holds herself together, no matter what. And I'd take a man like Rick anyday.