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I'll Know You by Heart: A Novel by Kimberly Job

Stephanie Roberts is a victim of abuse, but making the decision to leave her abuser--her husband Mark--isn’t easy. Time and again she forgives his emotional and physical cruelty; she loves him and wants the marriage to work. However, when Mark lashes out at their teenage son, hitting him repeatedly, Stephanie decides she must act to save her children.

I’ll Know You by Heart, the debut novel of author Kimberly Job, struck a nerve with me because I once found myself in the same situation. My husband of five years was domineering and manipulative. He frequently beat me and I feared for my life. I didn’t leave him because I didn’t think I deserved anything better. It was only when I began to fear for the life of our daughter that I found the courage to depart. That was only the beginning of a turbulent ordeal. My ex-husband was good at showing remorse, he wanted me back under his control. But his good intentions were repeatedly washed away on tides of anger. In some ways similar to that of Stephanie Roberts, my passage to healing was long and painful.

I’ve read that this novel is based on Kim’s own experience—my heart goes out to her. Enduring spousal abuse, being trodden into submission by the man who is supposed to love you, is heart wrenching and demeaning; one of the deepest betrayals of trust. To relive abuse through committing it to paper is something I haven’t yet attempted. I admire Kim for her willingness to journey through turmoil and pain as she constructs the lives of Stephanie Roberts and Jared Wakefield, the man Stephanie falls in love with. Jared has endured his share of heartache as well. After losing his wife in a car accident he struggles to find himself again and to define his role as father to his young daughter.

Kim deftly shows the inner struggles both Stephanie and Jared experience as they strive to maintain emotional equilibrium. And she has penned a cast of well-crafted family members, from children to in-laws, whose lives are also impacted by the inherent anguish and scars of violence, divorce, and loss. The story is testament of the power of love and the strength of the human spirit.

I appreciate the invitation of Kimberly Job's publisher to read and review I'll Know You by Heart. I look forward to reading more of Kim's work.

From the back cover:

The day Stephanie Roberts met Jared Wakefield, she didn’t realize they’d met before. Running from an abusive marriage and trying to safeguard her children, she turns to Jared for support, but he needs more from her than she might be capable of giving. With her abusive husband looming in her past, the difficulties they must overcome to be together seem insurmountable.

Is it possible for love to conquer all? I’ll Know You By Heart is a timeless romance that explores the possibility that relationships span the entire realm of eternity. A story about abuse, hardship, and betrayal, it is ultimately a story about the healing power of everlasting true love.



Price: $16.95
Publisher: Valor Publishing Group, LLC
Genre: Romantic Suspense
Binding: Trade Paperback
Pages: 275
Language: English
ISBN-13: 978-1-935546-13-9

Kimberly Job's Website

think

One day while I was talking on the phone, my eight-year-old daughter wanted my attention. She had a problem that needed to be solved. I gave a motherly hang-on-just-a-minute gesture—my forefinger pressed to my lips—to indicate it would be awhile before I could help. She nodded and left a stack of playing cards on my desk, along with a note.

A short time later, I ended my phone conversation and read my daughter's words. They posed a simple question: Do I have a full deck? I knew she wanted me to help her count her playing cards, but I had to laugh. On occasion I'd asked myself that same question!

Growing up, I often heard the adults in my life refer to various people as being one card (or more) short of a full deck, a euphemism designed to gauge how with it someone was—or was not. As I got older, I gleaned the knowledge that we all must navigate many diverse circumstances in our lives, some not so varied, some vast; each shape us into who we become.

Wouldn't it be wonderful if, no matter our differences, we could strive to see the good in each other? True, there are those, even in our own families, whose life choices divide us on matters of principle. Still, we can choose to look for the good, the best, and accentuate the positive—even if that means we have to love someone from a distance. Author Wayne Dyer has said, "When you judge another, you do not define them, you define yourself."

Back to the old euphemism: I've learned many people—including myself—could, at least at one time or another in their lives, be accused of being a few cards short. I've also learned that it’s what we do with the cards we have that really counts.

live

Life as a TV Dinner

A few weeks ago my youngest and I talked about talents and destiny. We talked about things she’s finding out in life, surprises like discovering she has a real talent for piano. More than a talent—a gift. The discussion came about because of something she felt she had no talent in: history. She has a love hate relationship with the stuff. She loves reading about people and what they’ve done to make the world a better place. She has no regard for those who leave their mark of hatred on humankind, and she doesn’t like trying to commit the details of wars and politics to memory in preparation for tests.

All that got us around to talking about the question of whether or not people come prepackaged with everything they need to succeed in life, to be the best they can be. We decided they do. They just need to chose whether or not to use it. We got silly and concocted a simple analogy: being human is like being a TV dinner.

Remember she’s not yet into her teen years and I often think in the same age range.

A TV dinner comes with a main course, vegetable and dessert. All you need to do is pop it into the microwave and it’s ready: a full meal.

Yeah, I know. Some TV dinners can’t be considered a real meal, let alone a full meal, and the things might get undercooked or overcooked. Overanalyzation aside we decided that you can draw a parallel with life.

Remember I said it was a simple analogy.

Simple being the keyword.

We come packaged with the stuff to make us complete but if we don’t give ourselves a chance, believe in ourselves, we’ll never reach our destiny. We'll never undergo a metamorphosis that will take us from who we are or were, or believe we are or were, to who can become; take ourselves from a frozen state to one of being functional where we can utilize all we’ve been given.

How does that apply to writing? What do you believe are the important factors in helping your characters discover the best in themselves? Then how do you bring it into play in their everyday lives?

Five for Five

A straightforward list by YA writer Ingrid Sundberg of five things editors and agents look for in your first five pages: Five Things

Top Reasons Writers WriteI'm always talking to writers about why they write. Here are a few of their responses:

For the love of the written word.
To exercise their fingers.
Because the pen is mightier than the sword.
So they can tell everyone they're a writer.
So they can name their own characters.
They want to work from home.
A desire to be their own boss.
To vent.
To be understood.

For many their response is that they have to, need to--must--write. I agree. I can't imagine life without writing. Everyday it's as much a part of me as breathing. Whether I'm working on a novel, essay, article, or short story, or simply recording something in my journal, I don't feel whole unless I have a paper and pen in my hands, or a keyboard under my fingertips.

What about you? Why do you write?

Fly: A Story of Adventure

Sometimes we stumble upon who we are by accident, and what we want to do--or feel we should do--with our lives is thrust before us when we least expect it. Generally, however, it takes a great deal of hard work to find out what really makes us tick. For some people self-discovery is a combination of luck, divine providence, and introspect; something occurs in our lives that triggers a thought that leads to taking action.

My grandfather, H.L., was a person who experienced a mix of factors that ultimately led him to his destiny.

A self-made man he spent his life pursuing a dream: flying. Growing up he yearned to attend flight school, but his father clipped his wings. Being the eldest son of a poor farmer did not align him with those who could afford such luxuries. One day circumstance aligned itself with fate and he saw a magazine in an Idaho drugstore. In that magazine was a photo--a photo of a craft that hovered over the ice. It sent his mind soaring. If he couldn't take to the skies, perhaps, he thought, it might be possible for him to fly just above the earth . . .

. . .or the snow.

What ensued is legend in my family. Tales that have been told and retold: Grandpa's bold adventures in the snow bound vistas of western Wyoming and eastern Idaho, his travels to Alaska to sell his inventions--Sno-Planes--to Eskimos, and his desire for speed that led him to win the races that were eventually created to showcase his dream turned reality.

Over the years I thought it wasn't my right to tell Grandpa's story. My father and his brothers knew my grandfather much better, and for much longer, than I. They were the little boys who were right there with him, along for the ride as he flew over both snow and ice. But of late I've realized that there's part of the story only I can tell. The part of adoring granddaughter whose imagination was captured by tales of the past, whose mind took flight when the man she revered as a hero spoke of his life and dreams, his blue eyes dancing in delight with each reminisce.

And so, with two of my general fiction novels in the hands of publishers and two in the hands of agents, I've decided not to sit by the phone and wait for what I hope will be good news. I've decided to start my second young adult novel--the story of my life with my grandfather. Because even though what I've written so far is near and dear to my heart, Grandpa's story and how it impacted me is the novel of a lifetime I must write. I'm still doing the course work for life's class on who I am and telling this tale is part of what I need to do.

voice

"If you're a writer, you're giving a voice to the people who have struggled all their lives to give words to the same thoughts you think." --Holly Lisle