The Celebrity
Warning: mysql_fetch_assoc(): supplied argument is not a valid MySQL result resource in /home/ofceleb/public_html/wp-content/plugins/max-banner-ads-pro/max-banner-ads-lib/include/max-banner-ads.cls.php on line 433
Caught Between a Charade and the Truth.
Jamie D. Lane is many things: multi-talented, handsome–and the most sought-after pop star in the world. But there’s one thing he isn’t–happy. At the height of his singing career, a family tragedy stops him in his tracks. And in an effort to settle a private matter and put the past behind him, Jamie cuts his trademark blonde curls, assumes a new identity, and secretly slips away from his celebrity lifestyle and heads to the Pacific Northwest in cognito. But what he finds in small town Washington could open up Jamie’s future–and change him forever.
A teacher to inner city kids and former high school track star, Anne Stewart had once believed she could change the world. Then a near-fatal accident left her grappling with both the devastating effects of head injury and deep bitterness toward the drunk driver who crippled her. When a man she knows as “Joe Bradley” hits town, however, he unexpectedly helps to restore her self-confidence and passion for life. But when the scope of The Celebrity’s deception becomes clear to Anne, will it be too much to forgive?
Can The Celebrity Reveal His True Identity–
Without Losing Everything?
Customer Review: The true life of a celebrity
Many of us have wished at one time or another to just drop everything and run off and start over again...and that is what happens...but the discovery is that you can't run from yourself.
A famous pop star, burned out, devasted at his mother's death, simply disappears one day. He calls his manager and says he is going away for awhile. Jaime takes his mother's ashes and returns to her tiny home town. He somehow finds himself living in a simple bare room at a monastary while he works at a bakery. The townspeople do not recognize this famous singer. As he observes the townpeople around him, he becomes the mysterious Angel who when seeing a need, supplies gifts of roofs, pianos and bakery machinery. All the while Jaime is learning what he really wants in his life and just maybe who he wants in his life.
Annie has also returned home after a devastating car crash robs her of her self confidence. Annie struggles with short term memory issues and trying to learn how to rebuild her life. The mystery man who shows up and begins working in her father's bakery is a closed book. As she trys to learn how to live her life, she is encouraged by this man who can play piano beautifully, sings like a dream, and helps her with her school musical.
The book is a feel good story. How God works in our lives in ways that are so beyond what we expect or hope for. It was a fast read, pleasant. My only criticism is that it wound up very fast, suddenly Jaime is back in the limelight, his manager is gone, and the romance with Annie is just a tantalizing hope for the future.
Customer Review: Robert Elmer writes great adult fiction!
"Fame lost its appeal for me when I went into a public restroom and an autograph seeker handed me a pen and paper under the stall door." - Marlo Thomas
So begins Robert Elmer's heartwarming book, The Celebrity.
When Jamie D. Lane, a singer "who's better than that Groban guy," faces a family tragedy, he realizes the spotlight he basks in nightly might be the headlight of a train bearing down on him. On the edge of a breakdown, and tasked with filling a loved one's last request, he disguises himself as "Joe Bradley" and disappears into small-town America.
Then he meets Anne Stewart, the victim of a traumatic brain injury, and his reasons for hiding his identity change.
Anne, a teacher and former track star, struggles with anger over the accident that changed her personality and her life. She's not the same person she was before, and she can't forgive the drunk driver who nearly killed her.
Forced to return to her hometown after the accident, she finds a job teaching at the local school, where she finds acceptance with her students in spite of her physical limitations.
When "Joe" starts working for Anne's father, he is instantly drawn to Anne. They both fight the attraction: he knows he plans to leave town, and she doubts his ability to love her despite her limitations.
Things start to unravel when Joe offers to help Anne with a school project, and she learns more about him than he intends. Will her discovery ruin their relationship or cement it?
Elmer does a fantastic job developing the relationship between Jamie and Anne. Both characters seemed so real, I felt as though I might know them from somewhere. I sympathized with Anne as she came to terms with her disability. Jamie's search for God touched me, and his kind-hearted nature warmed me. You'll be inspired and encouraged by the generosity of the story's mysterious Good Samaritan as well.
Watch for Robert Elmer's next book, The Recital, a sequel to The Duet, due out from Waterbrook June 2006.
