Drifting

Rating:
Summary: I want more
Review: After finishing this book, I immediately ordered the other two books by the author. The plot was well laid out, the characters were very real and loveable, and it was an overall well written work. If you want a quick read that will keep your attention, I highly recommend this book.

Rating:
Summary: author's best yet!!!
Review: Claire is a shrink and her husband, Eli, is a vet. They run an inn in a place called Drifting; their children have left the nest. Claire's mother left her when she was 2yrs old and she obviously has never come to turns with this seperation. She grew up with her father, Jack.

A father and his blind daughter, Kayla, arrive at the Inn and there begins the well crafted story. It was quite rivetting in parts and I found it really hard to put down! There are really two stories going on at once and the title means so much. It was abit unsettling at the close of the book so I had to start something lighter.

Excellent read!

Rating:
Summary: A must read!
Review: DRIFTING by Stephanie Gertler
Courtesy of WWW.LOVEROMANCES.COM
September 13, 2004

DRIFTING by Stephanie Gertler is a story within a story. The novel starts with the introduction of Eli and Claire, a happily married couple that is dealing with the last child moving away to start her life in college. Claire is feeling lost and sad, but it is a new start for Eli and Claire. An opening scene describes their faithful old dog Stella, as she is, barely able to walk due to her arthritis. It is a reminder of the years that have gone by, and the changes that now await them. It is the end of an era, and the beginning of a new one.

There are changes in store for them, one of them being more time on Claire's hands. Eli is busy with his veterinary office, and Claire had her career as a psychiatrist, running the Inn, and raising their children. With both Jonah and Natalie off at college, she is feeling a void in her life. The free time is allowing her to think back to her own childhood, remembering the mother who abandoned her and her father Jack when she was only two years old.

Her anger and resentment toward Ursula, or Sulie as she was called, may have been tucked away in the back of her mind, but it had never gone away. Although her father, Jack, did a good job of raising Claire alone, it did not make up for the loss of the mother that Claire felt she needed all those years ago.

When a man and his seven year old blind daughter show up at the Inn to spend a week in their town of Drifting, Claire's mind goes through those memories of her own childhood. With the help of Nick Pierce, the young girl's father, Claire imagines what life must be like for young Kayla, who according to Nick, was to be sent away to a boarding school for blind children because her own mother did not want her. This tugs at Claire's heartstrings, and from this moment on, she latches on to the two of them, emotionally bonding with them because of her own past.

Eli warns Claire that his instincts tell him there is something about Nick that he cannot trust, but he can't pinpoint what it is. Claire defends Nick and tells Eli he is imagining things. But when Nick and Kayla disappear a few days later without a goodbye, Claire realizes the big mistake she's made, and all because she saw herself in little Kayla, letting her emotions blind her.

The novel takes a turn in which it goes from a leisurely atmosphere of a quiet resort to that of a fast paced missing people search. While the novel appears to be mostly about Nick and Kayla, the overall picture points really to Claire, and her need to understand why her own mother deserted their family. This reviewer found this novel wonderfully done; it was a different approach to a story that has been done before. Claire resolves her feelings at the very end, and the reader will find satisfaction with this ending. Highly recommended, Stephanie Gertler is an author to be on the lookout for.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful story of love and hope
Review: I haven't read any stories written by this author until now. But I was so captivated by this book, that I plan on changing that real soon. I enjoyed this story so much that I couldn't put it down until I was finished----held my interest from the first page until the end.
It's the story of abandonment---the main character, Claire, was raised by her father after her mother "took off" when the little girl was only 2. It's the story of love--Claire as a mother and a loving wife to Eli. It's about "letting go" when her grown children go off on their own to try out their wings. Every mother who experiences the "empty nest" can identify with this. There's a darling little girl,Kayla, who is blind--traveling with her father when they enter the story meeting Claire.
It's about mystery---Kayla's father is very mysterious, secretive and we find out a fugitive. It's about hope---that Kayla is returned to her waiting mother and family------and that Claire might someday be reunited with her own biological mother inspite of the pain her abandonment caused.
It's a loving story of people, the people they love and realtionships------a wonderful read.

Rating:
Summary: A wonderful story of love and hope
Review: I haven't read any stories written by this author until now. But I was so captivated by this book, that I plan on changing that real soon. I enjoyed this story so much that I couldn't put it down until I was finished----held my interest from the first page until the end.
It's the story of abandonment---the main character, Claire, was raised by her father after her mother "took off" when the little girl was only 2. It's the story of love--Claire as a mother and a loving wife to Eli. It's about "letting go" when her grown children go off on their own to try out their wings. Every mother who experiences the "empty nest" can identify with this. There's a darling little girl,Kayla, who is blind--traveling with her father when they enter the story meeting Claire.
It's about mystery---Kayla's father is very mysterious, secretive and we find out a fugitive. It's about hope---that Kayla is returned to her waiting mother and family------and that Claire might someday be reunited with her own biological mother inspite of the pain her abandonment caused.
It's a loving story of people, the people they love and realtionships------a wonderful read.

Rating:
Summary: powerful look at relationships
Review: Raised by a loving single father, Claire Cherney knows her life has been good even if she has always felt haunted by her mother deserting the two of them for Hollywood. She loves her husband and her two children, whom are away attending college. She enjoys her works as a Department of Social Services' psychiatrist and takes pleasure in running the Dune Beach Inn in Drifting, Connecticut. Still she misses her dad who died a few years ago and wonders why her mom left when she was two.

Though the off-season, Nick Pierce arrives with his blind seven-year-old daughter Kayla. Following a scary incident in which she sees how concerned Nick is with Kayla, Claire sympathizes with the father and daughter because she believes that the girl's mom deserted the two of them like her mother did her and her dad. However, she soon notices little things like how Nick acts impatient towards Kayla especially in color selections of wardrobe that seems so important to the little girl. She begins to wonder if her own bias blinds her to a different reality than her initial reaction.

DRIFTER is a powerful look at relationships and how one sees the world through incidents that shaped their lives. The story line provides a deep look into Claire who never forgot that her mom left her though her dad nurtured and loved her and her spouse and children also love and encourage her. She sees people through what happened to her. Though the tale adds an unnecessary suspense element towards the end, Stephanie Gertler provides a potent character study.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: powerful look at relationships
Review: Raised by a loving single father, Claire Cherney knows her life has been good even if she has always felt haunted by her mother deserting the two of them for Hollywood. She loves her husband and her two children, whom are away attending college. She enjoys her works as a Department of Social Services' psychiatrist and takes pleasure in running the Dune Beach Inn in Drifting, Connecticut. Still she misses her dad who died a few years ago and wonders why her mom left when she was two.

Though the off-season, Nick Pierce arrives with his blind seven-year-old daughter Kayla. Following a scary incident in which she sees how concerned Nick is with Kayla, Claire sympathizes with the father and daughter because she believes that the girl's mom deserted the two of them like her mother did her and her dad. However, she soon notices little things like how Nick acts impatient towards Kayla especially in color selections of wardrobe that seems so important to the little girl. She begins to wonder if her own bias blinds her to a different reality than her initial reaction.

DRIFTER is a powerful look at relationships and how one sees the world through incidents that shaped their lives. The story line provides a deep look into Claire who never forgot that her mom left her though her dad nurtured and loved her and her spouse and children also love and encourage her. She sees people through what happened to her. Though the tale adds an unnecessary suspense element towards the end, Stephanie Gertler provides a potent character study.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: Fabulous Read
Review: This exciting new author has penned a riveting narrative about how difficult it is to spot child abuse and abusers. Claire and Eli Cherney own the inn in Drifting. It is off season when the child and her father arrive. Although Claire senses a need in the child, it is sometime before she comes to agree with Eli that there is something not right about the father. Gertler's novel explores the delicate situation between mothers and daughters and how some ties never are severed. "Drifting" is not what happens when you open the pages of this haunting tale.
Beverly J Scott author of Righteous Revenge, Ruth Fever and Jena's Choice.