Excellent narration. Story was ok.

Would you try another book from Diane Burke and/or Coleen Marlo?

I would not try another book written by Diane Burke. I would try another book narrated by Coleen Marlo though (her narration was excellent).

Has One Perfect Day turned you off from other books in this genre?

No

Any additional comments?

In my personal opinion, the author is still very much dealing with all of the situations she refers to in the book and her writing is more therapeutic for her. Much of it comes across as very "poor me", which I found turned me off quite a bit throughout the book. I listened to the end with the hope that there would at least be a shift in the "poor me" nature of the book towards the end, and unfortunately I didn't find that. As I said above, the narration of the book was excellent though and I would highly recommend another book narrated by Coleen Marlo.

7 people found this helpful

Agenda much?

I'm adopted and found my biological family so I like reading books like this, and I tried to ignore the religious stuff in this one, but I finally gave up and quit listening once the story became a moral lesson and the author went on and on with superstitious nonsense. Regarding the writing itself, it's hard to believe she is a professional writer. I'm glad her search had a happy ending though.

3 people found this helpful

well, made it to chapter 9 before I quit

What could have been a good story ends up being a judgmental Christian story.
I ignored one thing after another. Finally done.

2 people found this helpful

Too heavy on the religion for me

I have worked in mental health and disability services for a very long time, and been involved in genealogy my entire life. At present, I'm a doctoral student focusing on the intersection of psychology, identity, genealogy, and DNA. Misattributed parentage is the main focus of my work, and adoption is one of the most prominent - though by no means only - sources of this.

To that end, I have been listening to and reading as many memoirs and similar publications as possible regarding seeking family, reuniting family, the psychological journey each person takes, and so on.

This one intrigued me as being jointly written, but about halfway through, it also became the first of these types of books that I wanted to stop and not pick back up.

Perhaps it was mentioned in a tag or label or description somewhere that I did not see or somehow missed, but the mother in this book developed a strong Christian faith somewhere in midlife. That is by no means an issue, as many times people lean on religious and spiritual beliefs when in challenging circumstances especially.

What WAS an issue for me was the invocation of religious speech to the point that I almost felt the author had decided that she was no longer responsible for anything at all in her life and it was all God's doing. The mental image of her as a marionette with a puppeteer came to mind more than once. I actually caught myself starting to cringe any time I heard a new chapter start and her name spoken as the author of that chapter.

Had it not been for the dry and factual, somewhat incredulous and very real writing of her adult son who had sought her out after he was put up for adoption as an infant, I don't think I would have continued this book, and may even have returned it.

I doubt it, but possibly. I remind myself that people have all sorts of responses to these situations, and in the interests of fairness and objective information gathering for my research in development, I need to keep an open mind and simply do the listening/reading. Still, this one was a tough one for me. Very tough.

While I myself am not Christian, one of my parents is a Christian pastor and the other very active in the church as well. I am no stranger to the inclusion of religious speech of this type in daily use, but this book... Well, it quickly became over the top for me. I remember glancing at the display and thinking I was on Chapter 14, near the end, I could stick out the rest of the book. Had to give myself that pep talk. So I did finish it. Whew!

The actual facts of the story as related are fascinating and I would have lived to know more about the search process, the reactions of other family members, so much more about both mother and son and the blending of the families as it came about in various ways. I just wish the religious component was dialed back about 50%, particularly from the middle of the book on.

Had I realized how heavy that would eventually get, I probably would not have selected this book. It came as a surprise to me when it kicked in but by then I was too invested in the story to stop.

Overall, having a male and female narrator would have been ideal, but the narrator did an adequate job differentiating between the mother's chapters and the son's. Content was interesting. Writing style, particularly the inclusion of so much religion so late into the book, was a distinct drawback to my enjoyment of the book overall.

I am beyond happy this family was reunited and I wish them all the best in the future. I'm sure many will not have any issues at all with the religious aspect included here. For those who are sensitive to such things, for any reason, this is your heads-up so you may make a personally informed decision.

2 people found this helpful

Yearning

This book tells the story of a young girl that gets pregnant and must give up her 1st born, a son, for adoption. She holds him in the hospital and then is forced by her mother, to give him up. Almost 40 yrs. later, and after 3 marriages or more and other children, her son hires someone to find his birth mom. She is very receptive to the invitation to meet with him. She and his new family bond together. Their is a hint of mixed emotions as the adopted mom shares moments and milestones of the sons’ life. The book reminds you that if you love someone you set them free and if it’s yours it will return. A good read.

2 people found this helpful

could not finish it

did not read the other reviews before I downloaded this book, but once I started it, I sensed early on an OH SO smug and self righteous sermon was coming soon, so I abandoned it. Then I read the reviews and it confirmed what I suspected . so glad I did not waste any more of my time. Too many other great books to enjoy, this needs to be labeled better. It is religious, and the author has an agenda. It was well performed so this is in no way a review of the reader...just eye rolling material.

2 people found this helpful

Disappointing

I agree with another reviewer. Was interesting until she started throwing in all the religious and superstitious stuff. Disappointed.

2 people found this helpful

Sweet story

A very interesting real life story. However when I heard "I firmly believe that everything that has happened to Steve and I both, before and since, are signs of God's work in our lives" I realised that the author and I differ in our delight in grammar as well as in our perceptions of faith.

8 people found this helpful

It Started Ok …

This was a freebie book. My first impression was I didn’t like the narrator. Kind of self righteous or some sort of tone. I am very picky about narrators, so YMMV. The story started out interesting enough but after about an hour or so it became tedious and I could now see where it was headed - Into a morals/religion/Christian direction. Sigh. I gave up at the 2 hour mark. I’m glad I didn’t pay for this.

1 person found this helpful

Holesome

I loved this story it will touch a lot of heart great ending felt like I was watching the story

1 person found this helpful