More Than Words Can Say audiobook

Once in a blue moon you come across an exceptional book that leaves you in awe of just how great the story is and how emotionally connected to it you are. I have found such a treasure in the latest book from Robert Barclay, More Than Words Can Say, and to say if you haven't read it, you'll want to pick this one up and completely set aside some time to get lost in the characters and the story.The premise of the story takes place at a lakeside cottage tucked away in the Adirondack mountains where Chelsea Bartlett has been left with her grandmother, Brooke's lakeside cottage and the contents of the home in her grandmother's will. The stipulations of the will state that Chelsea can do whatever she wants with the cottage after she visits there and locates the contents of a small tin, her grandmother has hidden beneath the floorboards of the guest bedroom.Chelsea takes her grandmother's advice and heads to the cottage sure she will sell it once she sees it, but once she arrives, she feels a sense of peaceful tranquility that can't be explained. No one has lived in the cottage for 60 years and is has been carefully looked after by a French couple who were hired by her grandmother's attorney.Chelsea finds her grandmother's journal and some old photographs hidden in a tin box that will take her back to a summer of 1942, that her grandmother spent at the cottage shortly after the war began and just recently married to Bill. The time at the cottage for Chelsea and reading the contents of the journal will change her life forever in profound and never expected ways as she finds herself transported back to a simpler time during one summer in 1942.I received More Than Words Can Say compliments of William Morrow, a division of Harper Collins Publishers for my honest review and was so sad to reach the end of the book. I could perfectly imagine myself sitting on the porch overlooking the lake, hearing the waves lap upon the shore and the smell of pine trees blowing in on the summer breeze as Chelsea spends time with her grandmother in a very special and unique way that will bond them together in a life changing way. If you're a fan of Nicholas Sparks, then meeting Robert Barclay's characters and writing style will be a literature lottery of sorts. An exceptional read and one you WON'T want to miss. I am HIGHLY RECOMMENDING this one and awarding it 10 out of 10 stars! Trust me, once you read this one, you'll want more!

I will tell you right away I liked this book. I really love a book that will suck you into it within the first ten pages. The hook in this book is that right from the beginning- you are intrigued by the letter Chelsea's grandmother leaves her and you just have to know what is going to happen. I don't want to give anything away so I'm going to be annoyingly vague about it. Some great things about this book are that it's about a woman's self discovery in a not cheesy way, there aren't sweeping romances or things that realistically probably wouldn't happen. I also really love books about multi generational connections and learning about your family history and secrets- which this book definitely has. The only thing that I find annoying, and this is just a life annoyance I have, is that people are too easy to say that a revealed secret can change everything in their world or who they are. No it can't, don't be stupid. I'm starting to think I really am one of a kind in that I don't let history or weird family things or whatever to hinder what I do now. Basically- I don't let any of that stuff be an excuse for how I am today. Does that make sense? So when I felt like this is where that book was going, I'll be honest- I felt stabby. But in the end it didn't matter because I loved it just the same. It is a very fast read because you want to dig up the secrets with Chelsea and you almost feel like you're her summer camp buddy on a mystery hunt. I am the first stop on this tour, but check back here to see what other people are saying!

This was a great read.I very nearly gave it five stars. But I couldn't wrap my head around the last letter, leading up to the ending of the book. Any connection I felt with the character Brook Bartlett just faded away, like so much fog. It really unravelled for me. And I can't even give a spoiler without completely ruining the entire book.I would recommend this to my friends, with the disclaimer that you may not like, or understand the choice made by Brook when her reasoning becomes clear in the end.

Absolutely loved this book. Very easy read a d totally enjoyable. Details but not overloaded.

Very good!

Only a grandmother’s love can help us find true peace in life

It was a great story, but a strained read. It's like one of those movies that you can't help but keep watching but you know what's going to happen.

2012 is shaping up to be a great year as far as books go. I am really in reader heaven. So far every book I have read this month has really been worth my time! More Than Words Can Say is one of those books I will mention to my friends as a must read.I read this book last week, over 4 books ago and in 1 day. I thought this review was already written and will do my best to do it justice in a typical Amateur Book Review. Fortunately, I have talked about the book for a week now with my girlfriends so it has stayed fresh in my mind.Chelsea's beloved Grandmother, Brooke has passed away. In the lawyer's office, she is told that her grandmother has left her a summer cottage and a note that the lawyer is to give to her. The note is from Grandma and tells her to go to the cottage alone, pick up a few floorboards under a bed and find a box with more information.Already, I am picturing a mystery and I am not big on mysteries. It isn't, it is a beautiful double love story told through grandma's diary flashback chapters and Chelsea's life.I loved how sure Chelsea was that she would sell the cottage before she got there. She expected a run down summer place that hadn't been used by the family ever since Grandma closed the door so many years ago. While Grandpa was fighting in WWII, grandma was quietly falling in love with a painter who lived next door.Chelsea's new cottage neighbor is a very cute doctor who wraps up her hand on their first meeting. Together they read Brooke's diary and piece together the past that shaped a love story and created a family.The fact that this love story was written by a man was something I had to remind myself of more than a few times. Robert Barclay is a great writer. Romance novels can for me, get too wordy but this was a quick read with a lot of heart.The story is character driven and while it is sweet, it isn't sappy. In a nutshell Brooke's husband was fighting a war while she was making guilty goo goo eyes at her club foot, artistic, available, neighbor. She closed the house up and ran as fast as she could away from her heart. She loved two men at once and while I am unsure why she never went back, I loved Brooke who we only got to know in flashbacks. She was a spirit fire with a huge heart.

While this book had a somewhat predictable outcome, I enjoyed it nonetheless. After inheriting the cottage, Chelsea receives instructions through her Gram's lawyer, that she must visit the cottage and retrieve and read something that her Gram hid under some floorboards there before she decides to sell it. She honors these wishes because of her close relationship with her Gram, even though she considers herself a city girl. She is not sure what she will do with herself at a lake cottage.Soon after arriving she meets Brandon, her next door neighbor, and an attraction develops. From this point the story actually becomes two parallel stories. Chelsea finds under the floorboards a journal that her Grandmother kept in 1942, soon after she was married and her husband was off preparing to go to war. As she begins to read the journal and discovers that her grandmother was a more complex woman than she ever knew, she is soon immersed in the summer of 1942. Inherintly knowing that what her grandmother has to say will probably change her life, she invites Brandon to read the journal with her. As she learns of her grandmother's attraction to her lake neighbor in 1942, Chelsea and Brandon's relationship also deepens. I particularly liked the way that the story went back and forth between 1942 and the present. Her grandmother's name was Brooke and the neighbor's name was Greg - and even though those names aren't anything like Chelsea and Brandon, I would sometimes get confused as to who was the grandmother and granddaughter. I think it is because I don't picture "Brooke" as living in the 1940's! Once I was able to keep the characters clear in my mind (definitely my issue - not the author's) the story moved along very quickly. This was my first time reading Robert Barclay, even though he has a previous book, If Wishes Were Horses. I will be adding him to the list of authors that I enjoy reading and his previous book has already been added to my huge TBR list!

In this extremely good novel Chelsea Enright, a successful art teacher, inherits her grandmothers lakeside cottage and her wartime recipe book. She is led on a journey of personal discovery as she learns more about her late grandmother, Brooke Bartlett, through her wartime diaries which were hidden in the cottage.Chelsea meets her true love while staying in the cottage that eventful summer, her story has very close parallels to her grandmothers with some major positive differences.You will meet some very clear, strong characters in this book who I am sure you will fall in love with, as did I. It is a very cleverly written romance/drama/historical novel with some mystery thrown in for good measure. There is something for everybody in this book and it comes to a very satisfying conclusion.I like the way in which Robert Barclay flashes back to Brookes actual life when the excerpts from her diary are read by Chelsea and her neighbour Brandon, I found this a very cleverly constructed style which worked amazingly well.I also liked the fact that Barclay included some of the wartime recipes in the back of the book, I think I will try to replicate some of them one day. There is a useful reading group guide which would open up some very interesting topics of discussion.I thoroughly enjoyed this book and intend to read Barclay’s other novel If wishes were horses and I will be keeping my eyes open for future books from this author.The only negative that I could find were a few editing errors but this did not detract from the overall enjoyment of the book.ExcellentPersonal read 5/5Group read 5/5Published by Harper CollinsISBN 978-0-06-204119-7USA $14.99

The other reviewers have covered the plot numerous times so I won't go into that too much. All I will say is that I throughly enjoyed this book while setting in front of a warm fireplace this winter. Even though the plot of this story is set in mostly the spring and summer the way the author describes the beauty of the Adirondack mountain cabin just makes me want to get cozy and warm! This would probably be a good beach read in the summer too.I picked this book because, I live about an hour or so from the Adirondack mountains and I have camped on islands in some of the lakes in the area. Perhaps that made the author's descriptions of Brooke's cabin and the lake just come to life more for me. Just experiencing first hand the vast mountains in the Adirondacks really adds an understanding of the plotline.Usually, I don't care for storylines that jump back and forth in the timeline telling Brooke's story one piece at a time from Chelsea reading it in Brooke's diary, but, the author went back and forth seamlessly. It's not an easy thing to do in a story and keep it fluid, interesting and making perfect sense.The story is reminiscent of a Nicholas Sparks novel as other reviewers have mentioned, so if you don't like those types of novels I wouldn't recommend. It's a very simple romance story and some might think it too simple and predictable. Even though Brooke's secret's are fairly easy to guess right from the beginning I was interested in the characters and seeing how it would all play out.Overall, an enjoyable book I'd rate it a 4.5. This is the first book I've read from Robert Barclay and I'd definitely read another one.

wonderfully written. perfect love story.

I read an uncorrected proof copy of this book that I got from First-Reads at Goodreads.I really liked this book. I've never been to the Adirondacks but would love to visit, especially after reading this book! I liked the idea of having a family secret to discover and found the characters quite enjoyable.Chelsea inherits her grandmother's cottage that no one but her family has ever been to. Before Chelsea sells the cottage, she receives a mysterious letter at the lawyer's office, from her grandmother, written before Chelsea was even born, asking that Chelsea go to the cottage to uncover a secret box - then decide whether or not she wants to sell. What unfolds is part love story, part mystery, part family secrets, part history. Overall this story kept my attention mostly throughout. At the end of some chapters the author liked to do a brief internal monologue with Chelsea recapping (again) the choices she had to make - to me, these were unnecessary and got a bit old. Also, the last 1/4 of the book or so, the story started moving rather quickly and seemed out of place. The whole first 3/4s of the book went almost day by day, but then something happened that started the ending wrap up of loose ends and the timeline moved very quickly. I don't know, to me it just seemed an unnatural way to end a beautifully put together book. I wouldn't say that the timeline of the ending ruined the story by any means, it was still a great story.Overall, a great story. I would recommend it to anyone who wants a light read, love story with a little bit of mystery.

Since I just finished Lost Lake, I wanted another book about a tranquil summer at the lake, and this was the perfect read. It also reminded me a lot of Fireworks Over Tocoa, another fun summer book. In this book, Chelsea has lost her beloved grandmother, so she is called to her lawyer's office to find out that she has inherited the mysterious cottage at Lake Evergreen. Her grandmother left the lake very suddenly one year and never returned. However, she didn't want to sell the property, so she enlisted a French couple to be caretakers. Chelsea doesn't want the cottage, but her grandmother's will states that she must go and read her journals that are hidden there. Once there, Chelsea falls in love with the place, and the handsome doctor who recently bought the cabin next door isn't so bad either! But soon Chelsea finds out that there was a very real reason that her grandmother left that summer during WWII, and she's not sure that she can bear finding out the truth. I loved the setting and also enjoyed the two dogs in the story. I also liked the mystery of what happened to Brooke, the grandmother, back in the 1940's. It makes us all wonder what secrets our family has hidden away that we may never find out about. I also liked how everything was tied together in the end. Fun summer read!