What Matters Most

Luanne Rice

Edition	Mass Market Paperback
List Price	$7.50
	$7.50 (Save 0%)

Published by	Bantam
Release date	2008-06-24
ISBN	0553589709
Availability	Usually ships in 24 hours

With every New York Times bestseller, Luanne Rice illuminates yet another of the secret wonders of the heart. Her unforgettable evocations of family, friendship, and loves lost and won in such novels as The Edge of Winter, Sandcastles, and Summer of Roses give voice to our most powerful emotions. Now she brings back two of her most beloved characters to tell of their journey across the sea to unravel the mysteries of a shared past?and two undying love affairs.?

What Matters Most

Sister Bernadette Ignatius has returned to Ireland in the company of Tom Kelly to search for the past?and the son?they left behind. For it was here that these two long-ago lovers spent a season of magic before Bernadette?s calling led her to a vocation as Mother Superior at Star of the Sea Academy on the sea-tossed Connecticut shore. For Tom, Bernadette?s choice meant giving up his fortune and taking the job as caretaker at Star of the Sea, where he could be close to the woman he could no longer have but whom he never stopped loving. And while one miracle drew them apart, another is about to bring them together again.

For somewhere in Dublin a young man named Seamus Sullivan is also on a search, dreaming of being reunited with his own first love, the only ?family? he?s ever known. They?d been inseparable growing up together at St. Augustine?s Children?s Home, until Kathleen Murphy?s parents claimed her and she vanished across the sea to America. Now, in a Newport mansion, that very girl, grown to womanhood, works as a maid and waits with a faith that defies all reason for the miracle that will bring back the only boy she?s ever loved.

That miracle is at hand?but like most miracles, it can come only after the darkest of nights and the deepest of heartbreaks. For life can be as precarious as a walk along a cliff, and its greatest rewards reached only by those who dare to risk everything?for what matters most.

From the Hardcover edition.

Customer Reviews - courtesy of Amazon.com ( Marked4Sale.com is not responsible for review content )

Powered by a fine narration by Blair Brown, an award-winning performer

Sister Ignatius has returned to Ireland with Tom Kelly to search for a song they left behind, while one Seamus Sullivan also searches for his first love from an orphanage. WHAT MATTERS MOST follows very different journeys that end in miracles, and is powered by a fine narration by Blair Brown, an award-winning performer. Any library strong in audio stories will find this poignant and winning.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

One of my favorites!

If you are looking for a "happy ever after" book, this one is NOT for you. If you are looking for a "tug at your heartstrings" book, this one IS for you. For me, it all made sense and I wouldn't have chosen a different ending. After all, how often is reality happily ever after??

Rice, in Bernie, developed a believable, conflicted women who was able to hold onto her beliefs and commitments. Some readers were disappointed in the choices that Bernie made. I was disappointed to an extent but also glad that Rice made Bernie strong in her faith. I guess only a Christian or a Catholic may be able to grasp the magnitude of the choices that Bernie made.

I have yet to see anybody comment on the message to Bernie toward the end. I do not want to give away plot details, but the message was "Be ready". I did not understand this at all and was a little frustrated! I don't know if I was tired or if the conversation between Bernie and Seamus was not written well but I finally grasped what Seamus was getting at.

The end of the book did seem a little rushed. I wish she had taken the time and pages to work through Seamus' angst and Bernie's pain over the events at the end. I feel that she brought John, Honor and the girls into the mix too much in the end. I would have rather seen the words devoted to Bernie and Seamus.

I don't feel that you have to read Sandcastles to appreciate this book. There's a part toward the end of What Matters Most that pretty much sums up the gist of Sandcastles (without all the emotion of course).

A Good Read

This is a good read - Luanne Rice at her best. Loved the characters, the settings and the story line.

Wonderful!

I decided to give Luanne Rice another chance after I trashed her book Blue Moon. What Matters Most is incredible. I loved it and would recommend it to anyone! What a great story! Just keep the kleenex handy; you will need it. Great job!

A not so great read

What Matters Most
Irish angst and Roman Catholic guilt! I plowed through this one while on vacation on Cuttyhunk Island, where there are no stores, restaurants or anything to do but sit and read. This was one of 3 books I read in 4 days and the only reason I finished it was lack of anything else to do.
The characters are not believable and the plot is trite. Perhaps if there was a warning to read the prequel I would have found it more satisfying.