Review: H.T. Night wins MY heart...yet again
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 05 9, 2012
I wanted to say something I feel is important to potential readers. Initially, I was turned off to reading the Winning Sarah's Heart books. I already read EVERYTHING H.T. Night wrote (& co-authored) but I didn't want to read a "kid's" story. At my ripe age, frankly, I didn't want to waste my time.Finally, I decided to give it a try. I became hooked immediately! Cody & his friends are full, rich characters...like in all of H.T.'s books. There's humor, intelligent dialogue, depth of emotion & relationships. Each character is human & is therefore flawed. This series is a great read for ANY age. I highly recommend it! I LOVE the Winning Sarah's Heart books. In my humble opinion, they stand up against anything I've read. Again, H.T. does a great job at touching my heart & soul.I read 1 review that claims that Cody & his friends are so talented, hunky, good, gifted & lucky that impressionable kids that read the series may compare themselves to these high standards & feel bad about themselves. I can see this well-intended point. But I don't agree. Of course it would be close to impossible to be as talented, intelligent & as good as Cody Greer, but I don't think that's bad. I had such a different perspective.First of all, despite Cody's gifts & talents, he makes mistakes, beats himself up inside, judges himself, deals with bullies, compares himself to others, faces obstacles & drama, gets sad & experience losses. Cody & his life are not perfect. He comes from a broken home. He feels helpless at various times, especially when he makes mistakes or when he sees friends hurting. He's human & so "real" in many ways. He's not full of himself. He's just who he is. We all are.Growing up, I was a gifted student with little effort. Some of my friends struggled to get lower grades than me. Cody sees this with his sister & he appreciates her struggles & determination. I related to much of this in the books. However, I'm uncoordinated & not into sports, so Cody & his friends are unlike me in that regard. But that didn't phase me. Cody always tried his hardest. He acknowledged that he was naturally talented in sports. I don't think it was a big deal.Ethically, Cody was so great. I think he could serve as inspiration. Kindness & empathy pored from him. His relationships felt real to me. Cody often had trouble with not knowing what to say or how to deal with certain situations/obstacles. Again, he was human. Cody wants to be a good friend & is deeply touched by any acts of kindness in others. He doesn't seem to take things for granted or in his stride. Cody acknowledges when others make sacrifices. OK, he IS a bit saint-like... but he makes mistakes & life is not all easy for him. That is a life lesson. Even with talent, gifts, luck & intelligence; life is hard. Life takes work & you WILL make mistakes. Nobody is perfect. Learning from your mistakes & life's difficulties is what's important.One last point, for me, reading provides a much needed escape from life's stress. I can immerse myself in another world. I love H.T. Night's worlds. I love his rich characters & relationships. I care about them. Although they are all different from me, they seem human & real. I can relate to them at many levels. I want to be more like them. I learn from them. It doesn't matter if I'm not as good-looking, young, talented, athletic, etc. That's not what I focus on. It's the other details, their inner workings, what makes them tick, laugh, cry, love... the human aspects are wonderfully crafted by the author.I highly recommend Winning Sarah's Heart to people of any age! Try them. My only issue with these books are that I want them to be WAY longer!