Wednesday, July 6, 2011

Expiation

ExpiationAuthor: Greg Messel
ISBN: 978-1-4269-2855-0
Publisher: Trafford Publishing
Purchase Link: Expiation
Source: Pump Up Your Book Blog Tour

About the Book:

In 1968, Dan and Katie are one of the hottest couples at Ballard High School in Seattle. He is the hero football player, and she is the beautiful cheerleader. These high school sweethearts believe theirs is a love that will never die.

Life changes when Dan leaves Washington to start college at the University of California Berkeley and pursue his dream of working for a big time newspaper in the glamorous city of San Francisco. The quest for his dream occurs against the turbulent background of Berkeley and San Francisco in the 1970s as Dan and Katie go their separate ways.

Now, thirty years later, Dan is back in his hometown of Seattle attending his mother’s funeral. He’s never stopped thinking about Katie, his long-lost love. But the two former high school sweethearts reconnect in a most unexpected way as the rest of the world grows more fearful of Y2K and the dawn of the twenty-first century. They are hoping that their love, once lost, can now be reclaimed.

Review:

Expiation is a beautiful story of life in the rawest of forms. This romance is one of young love, dreams and aspirations, along fears and insecurities that awaken hope and reality. The story starts off in the present and then alternates between past and present as the story unfolds. I appreciated the chapter headings which gave a date and a beautiful quote. This story is believable and natural with an author whose writing style flows smoothly and steadily. It was addicting to read. I found myself wanting to know more about the characters past as well as their present life. It is a touching and relatable story. After all, who hasn’t had a first love?

I really enjoyed the characters in this novel. Both Dan and Katie are everyday people. I could easily imagine them coming to life and living the ordinary yet complex lives we all do. After going their separate ways and living life, they find themselves together again after a chance meeting. Their story is not impossible. It made me think of the numerous times I have run into people from my past. I felt drawn to them and hoped they would be able to re-discover each other. While reading this novel I couldn’t help but think of my first love. I also had to laugh at my Y2K memories. I think this is the first book, I have read that deals with Y2K. If I have read others it hasn’t been in quite some time. I actually had to wonder how many people will read this novel and say “What’s Y2K?” Could I be that old already? Do they teach about the event in history classes? I also enjoyed the other historical aspects in this book. The author sites the sources he uses for true events in the back of the book. I appreciated this because it helped me realize what was fiction based on fact and what was just fictional.

Overall I enjoyed this novel. It’s steady pace, heartwarming story, likeable characters and smooth writing made it a pleasure to read. In addition I always enjoy novels set in the Pacific Northwest. The Seattle setting made this book enjoyable for me. I would recommend this novel and based off it I will read his first novel, Sunbreaks.

About the Author:
Greg Messel has spent much of his life in the Pacific Northwest living in Portland, Oregon and in the Seattle area since 2008. He has been married to his wife, Carol, for 40 years. Greg and Carol were high school sweethearts just like the couple in “Expiation.” He has lived in Washington, Oregon, California, Utah and Wyoming. Greg grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and graduated from high school there and also attended a year of junior college. Greg went to Brigham Young University with Carol and then began a newspaper career in rough and tumble Wyoming town of Rock Springs. Greg and Carol have three married children and nine grandchildren.

Greg has always loved writing. He worked as the news editor and sports editors of the Daily Rocket-Miner newspaper. He won a Wyoming Press Association award for his column. He also submitted and had published articles in various sports magazines. He left the newspaper business in 1981 and began a 27 year career with Pacific Power. Greg retired in 2008 and moved to Seattle.

It was there that he returned to his first love of writing. He has written two unpublished memoirs and published his first novel with Trafford in September 2009. His first novel was called “Sunbreaks.” The second novel “Expiation” was published in the spring of 2010 with Trafford. A third novel is in the works.

Currently, Greg and Carol live on the Puget Sound in Edmonds, Washington, just north of downtown Seattle. They have three adult children who are all married and have nine grandchildren. He also enjoys running, he has been in several races and half marathons. Visit his website at http://www.gregmessel.com/.

Connect with him at Twitter at www.twitter.com/gregmessel and Facebook at www.facebook.com/greg.messel.


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