Spotlight: Hopefully Ever After: Breast Cancer, Life and Me by Linda Barrett

StoreyBook Reviews 

Hopefully Ever After

 

Title: Hopefully Ever After
Author: Linda Barrett
Publisher: Linda Barrett
Genre: Memoir
Pages: 204
Language: English
ISBN-10: 0988978032
ISBN-13: 978-0988978034

Linda Barrett could be any one of us. She’s an ordinary woman living a wonderfully ordinary life – husband, kids, teaching, writing – totally unprepared for Murphy’s Law on steroids. In February 2001, everything goes wrong. She discovers her breast cancer exactly when she starts a brand new teaching job which is exactly the same time as the release of her very first published novel. Secrets must be kept to protect her fledgling career as a writer. No secrets in the classroom however. Her adult students, preparing for the GED exam, out her in five minutes when they spot her wig!

Nine years later, Linda is fully recovered from her lumpectomy, chemo and radiation when breast cancer hits a second time. She is no longer a random one-in-eight woman who develops this disease. Blood tests show she’s a target of faulty genes, a carrier of the BRCA 1 gene mutation. Without drastic measures, she’d be susceptible to a third or fourth cancer hit. Murphy’s Law once again comes into play. This second time around coincides with a thousand mile relocation from Houston to Tampa. Putting a house on the market while handling a double mastectomy, implant prep, and six rounds of chemo is not for the faint of heart. Linda’s heart is not faint as she implores: “Do house hunters think we’re part of HGTV? Real homes aren’t perfect!”

At the heart of this memoir, however, is a love story. Cancer is merely the vehicle that exposes a mature marriage in full bloom. With her Knight-in-Shining-Tinfoil at her side, Linda and Michael Barrett meet the challenge of two enemies: cancer and fear. Their fight is hard won, but with cancer now in their rear view mirror, they are relaxed and laughing again. As Linda says, “Life is good. After all the turmoil, we’ve landed in a soft place. Friends and family are all around, and I expect to live out a natural lifespan however long that may be.”

Everyone deserves a Hopefully Ever After, and that’s what you’ll find here.

goodreads-badge-add-plus

amazon buybn buykobo

About the  Author

Linda BarrettLinda Barrett is the author of 13 novels of contemporary romance. She’s earned many industry awards through Romance Writers of America, including the Holt Medallion, The Award of Excellence and the Write Touch Reader’s award. Family Interrupted is her first women’s fiction story. A graduate of Hunter College, Linda now lives in the Tampa area with her husband. They have three grown sons and the most adorable, intelligent, super-duper grandchildren ever!

Website * Facebook

Recommended Posts

5 paws Book Release Review romance

Review – If Tomorrow Never Comes by Allison Ashley

  Synopsis Fated mates | Crossed paths | Cancer and remission On the eve of her stem cell transplant to treat her leukemia, Elliott Holland decides to live like it’s her last night on earth. It’s destiny when she crosses paths with a handsome and charming stranger, Jamie Sullivan. The chemistry is magic. So is […]

StoreyBook Reviews 
Book Release excerpt fiction LGBTQ+

Excerpt – Rabbis of the Garden State by Daniel Meltz

  Synopsis In the suburbs of New Jersey, where temple gossip flows like Manischewitz wine, eleven-year-old Andy becomes entangled in a whirlwind of maternal quirks and religious intrigue. His mother’s bizarre obsession with Rabbi Landy transforms their once-quiet life above a candy store into a tale of surprises. Andy’s world features a colorful a fiery […]

StoreyBook Reviews 
4 paws Review suspense Thriller

Review – Falls to Pieces by Doug Corleone

  Synopsis A mother and daughter in hiding are threatened by more than secrets and lies in a twisting novel of paranoia, revenge, and psychological suspense by bestselling author Douglas Corleone. For two years, Kati Dawes and her teenage daughter, Zoe, have lived off the grid in Hawai‘i, hiding from a past Kati must forget […]

StoreyBook Reviews