The Medium Next Door Reviewed By Sandra Shwayder Sanchez Of Bookpleasures.com
- By Sandra Shwayder Sanchez
- Published May 6, 2011
- Self Help
Sandra Shwayder Sanchez
Reviewer Sandra Shwayder Sanchez: Sandra is
a retired attorney and co-founder of a small non-profit publishing
collective: The Wessex Collective with whom she has published two short fiction collections
(A Mile in These Shoes and Three Novellas) and one
novel, Stillbird.
Her most recent novel, The Secret of A Long Journey is soon to be released by Floricanto Press in April 2012 and her first novel, The Nun, originally published by Plain View Press in 1992 is being  reissued in a 2nd Edition with additional material by PVP in March 2012.
Click Here To Purchase The Medium Next Door: Adventures of a Real-Life Ghost Whisperer
Author: Maureen Hancock
Publisher: Health Communications, Inc.
ISBN: 978-0-7573-1564-0
The author is clearly a very nice person, good sense of humor, and has a gift that seems extraordinary but which she claims anyone can develop with practice. I must admit I enjoy Ghost Whisperer on TV so I’m probably predisposed to believe that communication with those on “the other side” is possible. And maybe I’m predisposed to believe because my own beloved brother died at the young age of nineteen and I wanted to be able to communicate with him and believed that the dreams I had about him for the next couple of years were in fact messages (sometimes indecipherable) from him.
Reading about this author’s amazing life is like hearing her stories over a cup of coffee in her kitchen. These are stories of intense drama but she tells them in a tone of modesty and throws in a few self deprecating jokes. I’d love to get to know her in person (and of course would not mind if she conveyed messages from my brother). At the end of each chapter of her life she adds a couple of pages of advice on how to get the most out of your life. It is the usual, “think positive”, “believe in your dreams” kind of advice that seems a bit facile in the midst of these depression era days of deprivation and disappointment but her sincerity is obvious and likable. More importantly, she herself has overcome serious obstacles in her own life beginning with surviving a coma induced by lead poisoning as a child, so with that track record it makes sense that she has faith in faith.
I personally like books that mix the mundane with the extraordinary, magic with reality (as we understand it). I really liked the personable tone of voice. Clearly this woman cares about helping other people, including her readers, more than in garnering fame or fortune for herself. The book is important for several reasons, whether you finish believing you can communicate with loved one who have passed on or not. Whether she convinces you to share her beliefs or not, you cannot help but have your own humanity validated and enhanced by getting to know her through her writing. Sometimes I just want to thank an author for sharing and this is one of those times. Highly recommended.
Click Here To Purchase The Medium Next Door: Adventures of a Real-Life Ghost Whisperer