{"id":5088,"date":"2010-06-29T20:32:14","date_gmt":"2010-06-30T01:32:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/\/?p=5088"},"modified":"2010-06-29T20:32:14","modified_gmt":"2010-06-30T01:32:14","slug":"the-mailbox-by-marybeth-whalen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/?p=5088","title":{"rendered":"The Mailbox by Marybeth Whalen"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/a>\"\"<\/a>It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour<\/a><\/strong><\/span> <\/strong> book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason it is called a FIRST Wild Card Tour is that you never know if the book will be fiction, non~fiction, for young, or for old…or for somewhere in between! Enjoy your free peek into the book!<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

You never know when I might play a wild card on you!<\/em><\/span><\/p>\n


<\/p>\n

Today’s Wild Card author is: <\/strong><\/div>\n


<\/p>\n

Marybeth Whalen<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

and the book:<\/span> <\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n

The Mailbox<\/a><\/span><\/strong><\/p>\n

David C. Cook; New edition (June 1, 2010)<\/p>\n

***Special thanks to Audra Jennings of The B&B Media Group for sending me a review copy.***<\/p>\n

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:<\/strong><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Marybeth Whalen is the general editor of For the Write Reason and The Reason We Speak as well as co-author of the book Learning to Live Financially Free. She serves as a speaker for the Proverbs 31 Ministry Team and directs a fiction book club, She Reads, through this same outreach. Most importantly, Marybeth is the wife of Curt Whalen and mother to their six children. She is passionate about sharing God with all the women God places in her path. She has been visiting the mailbox for years.<\/p>\n

Visit the author’s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\n<\/embed><\/object>\n<\/p>\n

Product Details:<\/p>\n

List Price: $14.99
\n Paperback: 320 pages
\n Publisher: David C. Cook; New edition (June 1, 2010)
\n Language: English
\n ISBN-10: 0781403693
\n ISBN-13: 978-0781403696<\/p>\n

AND NOW…THE FIRST CHAPTER:<\/span> <\/strong>
\n <\/span><\/p>\n


\n <\/span> <\/span><\/strong><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Sunset Beach, NC<\/p>\n

Summer 1985<\/p>\n

Campbell held back a teasing smile as he led Lindsey across the warm sand toward the mailbox. Leaning her head on Campbell\u2019s shoulder, her steps slowed. She looked up at him, observing the mischievous curling at the corners of his mouth. \u201cThere really is no mailbox, is there?\u201d she said, playfully offended. \u201cIf you wanted to get me alone on a deserted stretch of beach, all you had to do was ask.\u201d She elbowed him in the side.<\/p>\n

A grin spread across his flawless face. \u201cYou caught me.\u201d He threw his hands up in the air in surrender.<\/p>\n

\u201cI gotta stop for a sec,\u201d Lindsey said and bent at the waist, stretching the backs of her aching legs. She stood up and put her hands on her hips, narrowing her eyes at him. \u201cSo, have you actually been to the mailbox? Maybe the other kids at the pier were just pulling your leg.\u201d<\/p>\n

Campbell nodded his head. \u201cI promise I\u2019ve been there before. It\u2019ll be worth it. You\u2019ll see.\u201d He pressed his forehead to hers and looked intently into her eyes before continuing down the beach.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you say so \u2026\u201d she said, following him. He slipped his arm around her bare tanned shoulder and squeezed it, pulling her closer to him. Lindsey looked ahead of them at the vast expanse of raw coastline. She could make out a jetty of rocks in the distance that jutted into the ocean like a finish line.<\/p>\n

As they walked, she looked down at the pairs of footprints they left in the sand. She knew that soon the tide would wash them away, and she realized that just like those footprints, the time she had left with Campbell would soon vanish. A refrain ran through her mind: Enjoy the time you have left. She planned to remember every moment of this walk so she could replay it later, when she was back at home, without him. Memories would be her most precious commodity. How else would she feel him near her?<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know how we\u2019re going to make this work,\u201d she said as they walked. \u201cI mean, how are we going to stay close when we\u2019re so far away from each other?\u201d<\/p>\n

He pressed his lips into a line and ran a hand through his hair. \u201cWe just will,\u201d he said. He exhaled loudly, a punctuation.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut how?\u201d she asked, wishing she didn\u2019t sound so desperate.<\/p>\n

He smiled. \u201cWe\u2019ll write. And we\u2019ll call. I\u2019ll pay for the longdistance bills. My parents already said I could.\u201d He paused. \u201cAnd we\u2019ll count the days until next summer. Your aunt and uncle already said you could come back and stay for most of the summer. And you know your mom will let you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, she\u2019ll be glad to get rid of me for sure.\u201d She pushed images of home from her mind: the menthol odor of her mother\u2019s cigarettes, their closet-sized apartment with parchment walls you could hear the neighbors through, her mom\u2019s embarrassing \u201cdelicates\u201d dangling from the shower rod in the tiny bathroom they shared. She wished that her aunt and uncle didn\u2019t have to leave the beach house after the summer was over and that she could just stay with them forever.<\/p>\n

The beach house had become her favorite place in the world. At the beach house, she felt like a part of a real family with her aunt and uncle and cousins. This summer had been an escape from the reality of her life at home. And it had been a chance to discover true love. But tomorrow, her aunt and uncle would leave for their home and send her back to her mother.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t want to leave!\u201d she suddenly yelled into the open air, causing a few startled birds to take flight.<\/p>\n

Campbell didn\u2019t flinch when she yelled. She bit her lip and closed her eyes as he pulled her to him and hugged her.<\/p>\n

\u201cShhh,\u201d he said. \u201cI don\u2019t want you to leave either.\u201d He cupped her chin with his hand. \u201cIf I could reverse time for you, I would. And we would go back and do this whole summer over.\u201d<\/p>\n

She nodded and wished for the hundredth time that she could stand on the beach with Campbell forever, listening to the hypnotic sound of his voice, so much deeper and more mature than the boys at school. She thought about the pictures they had taken earlier that day, a last-ditch effort to have something of him to take with her. But it was a pitiful substitute, a cheap counterfeit for the real thing.<\/p>\n

Campbell pointed ahead of them. \u201cCome on,\u201d he said and tugged on her hand. \u201cI think I see it.\u201d He grinned like a little boy. They crested the dune and there, without pomp or circumstance, just as he had promised, stood an ordinary mailbox with gold letters spelling out \u201cKindred Spirit.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI told you it was here!\u201d he said as they waded through the deep sand. \u201cThe mailbox has been here a couple of years,\u201d he said, his tone changing to something close to reverence as he laid his hand on top of it. \u201cNo one knows who started it or why, but word has traveled and now people come all the way out here to leave letters for the Kindred Spirit\u2014the mystery person who reads them. People come from all over the world.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cSo does anybody know who gets the letters?\u201d Lindsey asked. She ran her fingers over the gold, peeling letter decals. The bottom half of the n and e were missing.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think so. But that\u2019s part of what draws people here\u2014 they come here because this place is private, special.\u201d He looked down at his bare feet, digging his toes into the sand. \u201cSo \u2026 I wanted to bring you here. So it could be our special place too.\u201d He looked over at her out of the corner of his eye. \u201cI hope you don\u2019t think that\u2019s lame.\u201d<\/p>\n

She put her arms around him and looked into his eyes. \u201cNot lame at all,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

As he kissed her, she willed her mind to record it all: the roar of the waves and the cry of the seagulls, the powdery softness of the warm sand under her feet, the briny smell of the ocean mixed with the scent of Campbell\u2019s sun-kissed skin. Later, when she was back at home in Raleigh, North Carolina, she would come right back to this moment. Again and again. Especially when her mother sent her to her room with the paper-thin walls while she entertained her newest boyfriend.<\/p>\n

Lindsey opened the mailbox, the hinges creaking as she did. She looked to him, almost for approval. \u201cLook inside,\u201d he invited her.<\/p>\n

She saw some loose paper as well as spiral-bound notebooks, the kind she bought at the drugstore for school. The pages were crinkly from the sea air and water. There were pens in the mailbox too, some with their caps missing.<\/p>\n

Campbell pointed. \u201cYou should write a letter,\u201d he said. \u201cTake a pen and some paper and just sit down and write what you are feeling.\u201d He shrugged. \u201cIt seemed like something you would really get into.\u201d<\/p>\n

How well he had come to know her in such a short time. \u201cOkay,\u201d she said. \u201cI love it.\u201d She reached inside and pulled out a purple notebook, flipping it open to read a random page. Someone had written about a wonderful family vacation spent at Sunset and the special time she had spent with her daughter.<\/p>\n

She closed the notebook. Maybe this wasn\u2019t such a good idea. She couldn\u2019t imagine her own mother ever wanting to spend time with her, much less being so grateful about it. Reading the notebook made her feel worse, not better. She didn\u2019t need reminding about what she didn\u2019t have waiting for her back home.<\/p>\n

Campbell moved in closer. \u201cWhat is it?\u201d he said, his body lining up perfectly with hers as he pulled her close.<\/p>\n

She laid the notebook back inside the mailbox. \u201cI just don\u2019t want to go home,\u201d she said. \u201cI wish my uncle didn\u2019t have to return to his stupid job. How can I go back to \u2026 her? She doesn\u2019t want me there any more than I want to be there.\u201d This time she didn\u2019t fight the tears that had been threatening all day.<\/p>\n

Campbell pulled her down to sit beside him in the sand and said nothing as she cried, rocking her slightly in his arms.<\/p>\n

With her head buried in his shoulder, her words came out muffled. \u201cYou are so lucky you live here.\u201d<\/p>\n

He nodded. \u201cYeah, I guess I am.\u201d He said nothing for a while.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut you have to know that this place won\u2019t be the same for me without you in it.\u201d<\/p>\n

She looked up at him, her eyes red from crying. \u201cSo you\u2019re saying I\u2019ve ruined it for you?\u201d<\/p>\n

He laughed, and she recorded the sound of his laugh in her memory too. \u201cWell, if you want to put it that way, then, yes.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWell, that just makes me feel worse!\u201d She laid her head on his shoulder and concentrated on the nearness of him, inhaled the sea scent of his skin and the smell of earth that clung to him from working outside with his dad.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverywhere I go from now on I will have the memory of you with me. Of me and you together. The Island Market, the beach, the arcade, the deck on my house, the pier \u2026\u201d He raised his eyebrows as he remembered the place where he first kissed her. \u201cAnd now here. It will always remind me of you.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I am going home to a place without a trace of you in it. I don\u2019t know which is worse, constant reminders or no reminders at all.\u201d She laced her narrow fingers through his.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo are you glad we met?\u201d She sounded pitiful, but she had to hear his answer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI would still have wanted to meet you,\u201d he said. \u201cEven though it\u2019s going to break my heart to watch you go. What we have is worth it.\u201d He kissed her, his hands reaching up to stroke her hair. She heard his words echoing in her mind: worth it, worth it, worth it. She knew that they were young, that they had their whole lives ahead of them, at least that\u2019s what her aunt and uncle had told her. But she also knew that what she had with Campbell was beyond age.<\/p>\n

Campbell stood up and pulled her to her feet, attempting to keep kissing her as he did. She giggled as the pull of gravity parted them. He pointed her toward the mailbox. \u201cNow, go write it all down for the Kindred Spirit. Write everything you feel about us and how unfair it is that we have to be apart.\u201d He squinted his eyes at her. \u201cAnd I promise not to read over your shoulder.\u201d<\/p>\n

She poked him. \u201cYou can read it if you want. I have no secrets from you.\u201d<\/p>\n

He shook his head. \u201cNo, no. This is your deal. Your private world\u2014just between you and the Kindred Spirit. And next year,\u201d he said, smiling down at her, \u201cI promise to bring you back here, and you can write about the amazing summer we\u2019re going to have.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cAnd what about the summer after that?\u201d she asked, teasing him.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat summer too.\u201d He kissed her. \u201cAnd the next.\u201d He kissed her again. \u201cAnd the next.\u201d He kissed her again, smiling down at her through his kisses. \u201cGet the point?<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will be our special place,\u201d he said as they stood together in front of the mailbox.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlways?\u201d she asked.<\/p>\n

\u201cAlways,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Summer 1985<\/p>\n

Dear Kindred Spirit,<\/p>\n

I have no clue who you are, and yet that doesn\u2019t stop me from writing to you anyway. I hope one day I will discover your identity. I wonder if you are nearby even as I put pen to paper. It\u2019s a little weird to think that I could have passed you on the street this summer and not know you would be reading my deepest thoughts and feelings. Campbell won\u2019t even read this, though I would let him if he asked me.<\/p>\n

As I write, Campbell is down at the water\u2019s edge, throwing shells. He is really good at making the shells skip across the water\u2014I guess that\u2019s proof that this place is his home.<\/p>\n

Let me ask you, Kindred Spirit: Do you think it\u2019s silly for me to assume that I have found my soul mate at the age of fifteen? My mom would laugh. She would tell me that the likelihood of anyone finding a soul mate\u2014ever\u2014is zero. She would tell me that I need to not go around giving my heart away like a hopeless romantic. She laughs when I read romance novels or see sappy movies that make me cry. She says that I will learn the truth about love someday.<\/p>\n

But, honestly, I feel like I did learn the truth about love this summer. It\u2019s like what they say: It can happen when you least expect it, and it can knock you flat on your back with its power. I didn\u2019t come here expecting to fall in love. The truth is I didn\u2019t want to come here at all. I came here feeling pushed aside and unwanted. I can still remember when my mom said that she had arranged for my aunt and uncle to bring me here, smiling at me like she was doing me some kind of favor when we both knew she just wanted me out of the picture so she could live her life without me cramping her style.<\/p>\n

I tried to tell her that I didn\u2019t want to come\u2014who would want to spend their summer with bratty cousins? I was so mad, I didn\u2019t speak to my mom for days. I begged, plotted, and even got my best friend Holly\u2019s parents to say I could stay with them instead. But in the end, as always, my mother ruled, and I got packed off for a summer at the beach. On the car ride down, I sat squished in the backseat beside Bobby and Stephanie. Bobby elbowed me and stuck his tongue out at me the whole way to the beach. When his parents weren\u2019t looking, of course. I stared out the window and pretended to be anywhere but in that car.<\/p>\n

But now, I can\u2019t believe how wonderful this summer has turned out. I made some new friends. I read a lot of books and even got to where I could tolerate my little cousins. They became like the younger siblings I never had. Most of all, I met Campbell.<\/p>\n

I know what Holly will say. She will say that it was God\u2019s plan. I am working on believing that there is a God and that he has a plan for my life like Holly says. But most of the time it feels like God is not aware I exist. If he was aware of me, you\u2019d think he\u2019d have given me a mom who actually cared about me.<\/p>\n

Ugh\u2014I can\u2019t believe I have to leave tomorrow. Now that I have found Campbell, I don\u2019t know what I will do without him. We have promised to write a lot of letters. And we have promised not to date other people.<\/p>\n

A word about him asking me not to date other people: This was totally funny to me. Two nights ago we were walking on the beach and he stopped me, pulling me to him and looking at me really seriously. \u201cPlease,\u201d he said, \u201cI would really like it if you wouldn\u2019t see other people. Is that crazy for me to ask that of you when we are going to be so far apart?\u201d<\/p>\n

I was like, \u201cAre you kidding? No one asks me out. No one at my school even looks at me twice!\u201d At school I am known for being quiet and studious\u2014a brain, not a girl to call for a good time. Holly says that men will discover my beauty later in life. But until this summer I didn\u2019t believe her. I couldn\u2019t admit that no one notices me at school because, obviously, he believes I am sought after. And I knew enough to let him believe it. So I very coyly answered back, \u201cOnly if you promise me the same thing.\u201d<\/p>\n

And he smiled in that lazy way of his and said, \u201cHow could I even look at another girl when I\u2019ve got the best one in the world?\u201d<\/p>\n

And so now you see why I just can\u2019t bear the thought of leaving him. But the clock is ticking. When I get home, I swear I will cry myself to sleep every night and write letters to Campbell every day. The only thing I have to look forward to is hanging out with Holly again. Thank goodness for Holly, the one constant in my life. In math class we learned that a constant is something that has one value all the time and it never changes.<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what Holly is for me: my best friend, no matter what.<\/p>\n

I wonder if Campbell will be a constant in my life. I guess it\u2019s too soon to tell, but I do hope so. I\u2019m already counting down the days until I can come back and be with Campbell. Because this summer\u2014I don\u2019t care how lame it sounds\u2014I found my purpose. And that purpose is loving Campbell with all my heart. Always.<\/p>\n

Until next summer,<\/p>\n

Lindsey<\/p>\n

\u00a92010 Cook Communications Ministries. The Mailbox by Marybeth Whalen. Used with permission. May not be further reproduced. All rights reserved.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

MY REVIEW:<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Mailbox<\/a><\/strong><\/em> is a perfect summer vacation read and could easily be a candidate for a Hallmark movie. <\/a>A fictional account based on the actual Kindred Spirit mailbox on Sunset Beach of Bird Island, North Carolina, <\/a>The Mailbox<\/a><\/strong><\/em> tells the story of Lindsey who was introduced to the mailbox by Campbell, her very first love.\u00a0 Although Campbell did not become a permanent part of her life as planned,\u00a0 Lindsey made her annual pilgrimage to the mailbox when she spent a week at her aunt and uncle’s beach house. After a particularly painful divorce, Lindsey returns to Bird Island with her children to lick her wounds.<\/p>\n

The story is told through flashbacks, Lindsey’s letters, and current events and also features both Lindsey’s and Campbell’s point of view. In spite of that, the narrative is easy to follow and quickly read. Fairly predictable (and how many romance novels aren’t?) but unique enough to be enjoyable.<\/p>\n

The Mailbox<\/a><\/strong><\/em> is a story of second chances – at love and with God. It’s a story about forgiveness and grace and redemption. A story of flawed people who are given a chance to learn from their mistakes, The Mailbox<\/a><\/strong><\/em> is a sweet romance that will tug at your heart.<\/p>\n


<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It is time for a FIRST Wild Card Tour book review! If you wish to join the FIRST blog alliance, just click the button. We are a group of reviewers who tour Christian books. A Wild Card post includes a brief bio of the author and a full chapter from each book toured. The reason […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,60,41],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5088","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-books","category-contemporary-fiction","category-romance"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5088","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=5088"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5088\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":5130,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5088\/revisions\/5130"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=5088"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=5088"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.daysongreflections.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=5088"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}