River in the Ocean (Allen)

A River in the Ocean
Michael Allen, 2013
Createspace
264 pp.
ISBN-13: 9781482323405


Summary
When a near fatal accident separates a single father from his daughter, fate has a way of finding her a good home.

While Chris fights for his life in a coma for nine years, his daughter Krista is raised by a well-intentioned couple who have no idea how to properly raise a child. Gilmer has wild ideas that he doesn’t think through. Maggie knows the basics and figures the rest out as she goes. But there is one thing they have in common, the love for the little girl who stole their hearts while her father was absent.
 
When Chris awakens from his coma, he has no idea he has a daughter. Putting his life back together, he takes to furniture repair and then design. But he picks up a paint brush one day when an apparition of a little girl soon starts haunting him even while he is awake. He captures scenes of her on canvas, but he can’t figure out what connection they have. While he paints his little angel, she becomes more and more real to him.
 
Something stirs in both of them when Chris and Krista finally meet late in her teen years. It's certainly a drama, but with comedy to lighten the way.

A River in the Ocean is a heartwarming tale about two lost souls, only one of them feels it and the other has yet to know. He didn’t know he was looking. She didn’t know she needed found. It leads to an overwhelming confusion with the potential to push them together or drive them apart. (From the publisher.)

Author Bio
• Birth—1970
• Born—Cedar Rapids, Iowa, USA
• Raised—in Maryland and Virginia
• Education—B.A., Frostburg State University
• Currently—lives in Clearwater, Florida


Michael Allen was born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. But he was quickly moved from there to be raised in both Cumberland, Maryland, and Fredericksburg, Virginia. He finally graduated from James Monroe High School in Fredericksburg and went straight into the Marine Corps.
 
In 1993, Michael was honorably discharged from the Marine Corps and had some wild oats to sow before finally settling down to earn his B.A. in English from Frostburg State University. Fulfilling a lifelong dream, he was quick to learn that plenty of people would be willing to hire him to write their books.

Over twenty books later, Michael has been able to also publish four books of his own. A Danger to Society is loosely based on a true story. When You Miss Me is a children’s book originally written for his daughter. Thoughts and Reconsideration is a journey in poetry through themes of Love, Hate, Spirituality and Philosophy. A River in the Ocean is his fourth book.
 
Michael currently resides in Clearwater, Florida where he adores the sun, makes his name known along the beaches and volunteers as often as he can. If he’s not substituting to teach English as a second language, he’s filling up plates at a soup kitchen.

When his daughter hit her teenage years, she left him in the dust as most teenagers do to parents they no longer find cool. So if he’s not busy helping people, he tucks himself away in his “cave” tapping steadily away at his next piece of work. (From the author.)

Visit Michael's website.

Book Reviews
(Although A River in the Ocean has not yet garnered reviews, we have included excerpts of two interviews with author Michael Allen by online book sites.)

I was about six years old when I first started writing. At least, that's as far back as I can remember. My first work was a a poem I called Slick Move. It was about people slipping on banana peels and oil slicks. Very age appropriate material. I would have to say it's just something that has always been in my blood, writing many short stories and poems in my youth. But my first contact with a publisher who hired me to write a book was when I realized that I could really do something with it. So, I dedicated myself to it.
Book Junkies Journal


I get to know my characters is about the best way to answer that question. I think them through and know how they would act, how they would talk if they were real. I do not think I’ve ever had a conversation with one of my characters though. But, it does sound like something I would do.
Book Goodies

Discussion Questions
1. What defines family today in the world of broken families?

2. What do you think makes a good parent?

3. Have you ever felt an emptiness or void in your life that actually compelled you to find out what it was about? What did you learn?

4. Have you ever lost anyone who was close to you? How hard was it for you to let go?

5. How would you feel if you suddenly learned that someone you thought you lost had not actually passed away?

6. What would you do if you found yourself having to start over in life?

7. Do you think there’s a special bond family members share, even if they have never met or have been separated for a very long time?

8. What is the significance of the book's title?
(Questions provided courtesy of the author.)

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