Andrew D. Himmel

Will Alexander is a lawyer, an up-and-comer at his firm who is just trying to get through the daily grind. His life changes when he meets Erica, a social worker turned energy healer. Will and Erica are drawn to one another. Erica sees a strong energy around Will, one that he doesn't realize he possesses. Will tries to dismiss Erica's beliefs as eccentricities, however as he is pulled more into Erica's life and healing practice, Will's own beliefs begin to waver as Erica tells Will that he has helped her patients simply by being with them and one of Will's legal clients feels a weight lifted off of his shoulders after Will met with him. Will begins to realize that there might be something about him that can help others, but his beliefs are still on the fence and his legal mind won't allow him to admit to doing anything, even as he begins to take on his own clients in Erica's practice.
The Reluctant Healer is a book to read with an open mind. It is the story of a perfectly ordinary man, Will -who thoroughly believes he is an ordinary man despite evidence of the extraordinary. There isn't a lot of action or suspense in The Reluctant Healer, it is mostly the story of Will coming to grips with forces within himself yet outside of his control, and slowly changing his worldview and belief system. Even without a lot of excitement, The Reluctant Healer still had me intrigued. I really wanted to know what Will's ability was, how he was going to decide how to use it and if it had any limits. Since this is a story of Will, his character is really the only one who is fully fleshed. Erica is a large part of the story, yet I didn't get the feeling that I knew her too well. Will's choices were what powered the story. I found some choices very natural and some choices baffling, especially towards the end. Overall, The Reluctant healer is a story of opening your mind to a world of opportunities beyond what you would normally consider.

This book was received for free in return for an honest review.… (lisätietoja)

As New York attorney Will Alexander discovers, Kalil Gibran spoke wisely when he said “Doubt is a pain too lonely to know that Faith is his twin brother”.

THE RELUCTANT HEALER gently meanders through Will’s growing love for Erica and his struggle with doubt about her unconventional metaphysical beliefs, in general, and about his healing abilities, in particular.

After a series of, to Will, inexplicable events, he reaches the point where he takes a leap of faith – he takes a six month leave of absence from his legal firm to explore his healing abilities. The real world intrudes on Will’s inner journey with betrayal and other challenges that inexorably push him onto a new path – a path that, for all his questions and doubt, show Will as a man of faith who has the capacity to bring spiritual, if not physical, healing to others.

With touches of humour, an easy-to-read style and well-drawn characters, Himmel weaves thought-provoking questions into the tapestry of a very human man reluctantly experiencing the transcendental powers of an inner awakening. Love is the catalyst that pushes Will Alexander out of his comfort zone, but it’s his own innate capacity for an enquiring faith that allows Will to survive the initiate’s journey and embark on the next phase of his spiritual evolution, strengthened by both his deepened concept of love and his unanswered questions.

If you’re a reader who wants a light-hearted book to escape your questions, this is not the book for you. If you’re willing to look beyond the ordinary concepts of faith and healing, there is much in THE RELUCTANT HEALER to engage both your reason and your emotion.… (lisätietoja)

I received this book for free from Smith Publicity in exchange for an honest review.

This book was a pleasant surprise. When I was offered this book to review, I have to admit that I was a bit hesitant because of the healing aspect of the book. I decided to give it a chance since it is about a lawyer and I am currently in law school.

I wasn’t a huge fan of the first third of the book. It started off a little slow and I didn’t know what direction the book was going to go. It wasn’t until Will takes a leave of absence from his law firm that things really picked up and got exciting.

As a law student I LOVED the legal aspects of the book. I loved that it was written as a Memorandum. I loved how it showed him going to court and the opinion at the end. Since the author is a lawyer it was all very authentic. I even saw some of the things I am learning about in school (like failure to state a cause of action and references to Learned Hand).

As for the healing aspect of the book, it was interesting. I still don’t know what to think about it all, but it did provide a lot of food for thought.

Character-wise, I wasn’t the biggest fan of Erica. At times she bothered me a lot because of her attitude. But on the other hand I loved Will. I loved seeing his journey and how he grew throughout the book.

Overall, this was a different, yet intriguing read.… (lisätietoja)

Will Alexander is a young intern at a large law firm. When he meets Erica, he is immediately drawn to her. She claims that he is surrounded by color auras and she believes he’s a natural healer. Erica is a social worker who is beginning to believe she can heal people through energy healing. Will is very conflicted about his ability to heal, despite evidence to the contrary.

I struggled through over a third of this book but could not take it any further than that. When I got to the part when Will, Erica and a man who wanted healing all lost consciousness and Will sees them running through a field, suspending themselves in the air and then they were all striking and punching each other. That’s where I gave up. It’s not often that I don’t finish a book that I intend to review, but I could not waste any more time with this one.

Let me say that I have a very open mind when it comes to alternative healing. I’m a Reiki practitioner myself and believe in energy healing and thus the reason I was attracted to this book. My review is more based on poor writing and a story that I could not find any reason to continue reading. It seemed very disjointed to me and I had a hard time following it. Other negative plot points would include the fact that when Will first becomes involved with Erica and for quite some time afterwards, he thinks she’s crazy but he wants her sexually so he continues to see her. That turned me off from the start. As for Erica, she may well be an energy healer (and I assume they’re talking about Reiki here though I don’t believe they actually use the word) but she has such a strange way of dealing with people. When she was trying to convince Will of their healing powers, she grabs the arm of a woman to force her to show Will that her skin condition was healed. She also worked as a social worker, yet was apparently incorporating energy healing into her work with her clients, which had to be unethical. There were quite a few instances of strange responses by the characters and nothing rang true to me.

Unfortunately, I can’t find anything good to say about this book so I can only give it one star. My apologies to the author and Goodreads giveaways but this wasn’t for me.

Not recommended.

This book was won by me in a Goodreads giveaway contest.… (lisätietoja)