Alison Strobel, Worlds Collide

Alison Strobel, Worlds Collide - Actor and a Top 25 People magazine hunk Jack Harrington and his wife Grace hire celebrity biographer Jada Eastman to write their story that has had the public salivating for quite a while; with him ailing they feel they have a message to get out. Jada knows that behind the glitter of Hollywood stars, there is always grit, dirt, and worse; in this case she happens to have had a high school crush on Jack so has a personal stake. Still, Jada will spend the next six months with this Cinderella pair to learn how they overcame their perceived radically different lifestyles at least when they first met.

Jack was already on his way to fame and fortune in Hollywood when a car accident introduced him to fifth grade teacher Grace Winslowe. Jack and another person did not have a scratch, but Grace was hospitalized. Attracted to one another from that moment their worlds collided, Jack and Grace swim in different seas with plenty of major differences to overcome to forge a relationship. Perhaps the biggest distinction is not Hollywood, but religion, as Grace has always been deep into Christianity while Jack has been a hedonistic agnostic bordering on the atheism.

This work of fiction rotates perspective between the Hollywood couple so that the audience can best understand their love and their dissimilarities, especially religion. Past the half way point, the fine storyline focuses in on whether Jack embraces Jesus or not. This is well-written tale, blending a soap opera fantasy of a loving relationship between a schoolteacher and a movie star with that of a Christian contemporary tale starring two likable protagonists.

Water Brook, Mar 2005, $12.99, 384 pp.

ISBN: 1578567939

Harriet Klausner