If you read nothing else before you die, read THIS series!!!!

It's been awhile since I've read a really good book.  A  book so good that I immediately wanted to hop on the computer and blog about it.  (Of course, at the time, I was at my cabin....no internet....no blog post...still, no excuse, I should have written this blog post at least a month ago!  The bonus about reading this book back in August was this:

There were THREE more books already available in the series that this book was a part of!!  And even better....the books were available to purchase at a reduced price in good 'ol Costco!

Back in the spring, a friend of mine, mentioned this series of fiction books to me and I made a note in my Iphone to order them from our local library.  She was headed to Regina, to pick up the latest book in this series for a mutual friend.  She found the book at the store the author owned and said I would LOVE this store.  She said it was filled with Butterflies when you walk in.  Now, I have a HUGE list of books in my phone waiting to be ordered from the library so I knew it would be awhile before I actually ordered these books.  However, I knew that this series of books should and would take priority over the rest as I was told the author was a local Saskatchewan artist.  In case you haven't realized, I love Canadian books and Saskatchewan books are even better!  She also told me that his books take place right in the city of Regina.  Thinking back, I don't know why I waited at all to read these books, but I did and this is how it came to be that I finally did read them.

Life went on, spring turned into summer.  I had planned for a few months that I was taking the entire summer off from babysitting in my home.  I knew I would have plenty of time to read over this vacation.  July went by quickly.  I read a few books, tried to get back into reading Marie Calder's series about post WWII in Germany where her father was stationed.  I did finish one book in that series.  Then I moved on to a book I picked up at the red barn one weekend.  The title caught my eye as being one of the books in my Iphone 'to order' list.  It was The Postmistress by a gal named Sarah Blake.  That book was worth reading as well.

I read a few more romance type of novels, none really stood out as being that great.  At the end of July, we were taking our oldest son into Regina for the Rams' football camp.  We stopped at Chapters.  I browsed around knowing I certainly did not NEED to buy any books.  I came across the series of books I recalled my friend speaking of.

I picked up a copy of Pewter Angels by Henry K. Ripplinger, author of The Angelic Letters series.  I read the back of the book.  I knew that I would enjoy it and so I bought it.  After dropping our son off at football camp, my husband, 12 year old son and I ventured on to visit friends in Manitoba at their summer cabin.  I read half the book on the way there.  I told my this other friend about the series.  She had picked up the same book in Costco the week before, while the Author was signing the books! She hadn't started it yet.  I told her she had better get busy!  I knew that she of all my friends, would enjoy this book the most!

After our visit to Manitoba, we were headed back to Regina to pick up our son.  I also picked up books two, three and four of the Angelic Letters series in Costco.  I was all set for at least another week of reading!  We were off to Cypress Hills for a family reunion.  There were a few hours of driving ahead.  I was able to get halfway through book two by the end of the weekend.

Back at our cabin, I was enjoying the remaining books, trying to make them last longer, but knowing that soon, I would be finished the fourth book and would have to wait like the rest of Mr. Ripplinger's fans, for what we thought was the fifth and final book in this life changing series!  I was captivated by the easy flowing, but suspenseful inspirational romance, chalked full of important life lessons.  The characters seemed to be alive and real to me. 

I texted back and forth with my Manitoba friend who was now hooked on the series as well!  She, being a very devout catholic was enjoying the books, probably moreso than I was!  The only complaint we had, other than the wait for book five, was the fact that the grammar and punctuation needed some work.  Considering that these books were self published, we both agreed that overall, the look and feel of the book were very professional, the story was by far, one of the best we had ever had the pleasure of reading, and that we were now fans.  We wanted to visit Regina, see Mr. Ripplinger's store and gallery, eat at his cafe, and maybe one day, I thought I could meet him and have him sign my books as well.

Enter social media.  I 'liked' the Henry Ripplinger Facebook page.  I even sent the moderator a private message, thanking Henry for writing such an inspiring series of novels which I felt could be enjoyed by people of all ages, faiths and walks of life.  I also expressed my concern over the minor typesetting issues which increased as the series grew.  Book four had many more errors than book one.  I tried to do this in a kind way but wanted his people to know that these books were amazing and that I was recommending them to everyone I spoke with. 

The very next morning, my phone rang. This was back in September.  I was back to work.  I was sitting in my living room, feeding my new charge her bottle when I saw the telephone number come up on my television screen.  It was Henry K. Ripplinger!  How could that possibly be??? 

But it was, and while I couldn't answer the phone due to a now sleeping baby on my lap, my cell phone was close by.  I grabbed my phone and proceeded to text my friend, telling her she wouldn't believe it, but Henry Ripplinger just called my house!   Then moments later, in mid text.... my cell phone was ringing too!  This best selling, Canadian novelist was on the phone, calling my number!  I quickly hit the 'answer' button, thinking to myself, this man seems to have all the answers to life's questions....

Henry introduced himself, asking if now was a good time to chat.  No time like the present, I thought!  He explained that he had received my message and asked if I was still willing to offer my proofreading services to him.  Was I?

He went on to say that book four was so popular that a second printing was taking place in three weeks and was there any way that I could re-read this book and submit to him, any changes that I could suggest. 

I got right to work. 

Two weeks later, I had finished reading the book for the second time. I probably learned more and got more out of it, that I did the first time!  I am not one who generally reads a book twice, although I have kept plenty of them just in case!  My copy was marked up, highlighted and now it was time to type up all my findings and send them off to Henry.  I was running out of time and to type this all up would take hours!  Desk work is not for me.  My back hurts, my wrists burn, but there was a job to be done.  I submitted a few chapters to Henry, mentioning that in the future, perhaps if I had a computerized copy where I could highlight any changes, that would be less time consuming.  He agreed.  But I continued with my project in the meantime as he only had a PDF file which could not be changed.

When I was finished, Henry emailed me, like he had been doing throughout the assignment, thanking me for my attention to detail.  He did not realize the extent of the effort I was putting into this.  There wouldn't be a way to include all the punctuation in the second printing as he explained to me that each 'change' or 'correction' made to the copy that the printers already have on hand, costs money.  In the end, he submitted 80 corrections. 

We spoke on the phone a couple of weeks ago, before he was leaving for the Maritime provinces to continue his book signing tour with Costco.  He was getting a package ready for me, to thank me for my help.  He also indicated that a sixth book was in the works.  He asked me if I would be willing to assist with the proofreading once the fifth book was finished.  I know he's hard at work right now, writing the ending to that book.  By the new year, I should be getting a sneak peak at what is in store for Jenny and Henry.  I can not wait!!!!  I am honored to be a small part of this process, it really is a lifelong dream of mine.  I am contributing to a wonderful end result of a book.  I may not be the one God inspired to write The Angelic Letters Series, but I do believe I can help make book five the best it can be. 

I am not a perfect proofreader by any means.  I recently took an online grammar test and only scored 91 percent!  But I do have a really good eye.  One day, perhaps I will write my own book but for now, this is a good place to start! 

I didn't reveal a whole lot here in my blogpost that indicates what I found so amazing about these books.  I want YOU to discover that for yourself.  We should all be so blessed to have a Mr. Engelmann in our lives to mentor us on our spiritual journey to becoming closer to God.  These books are probably the next best thing to personally knowing someone like that in our day to day lives, because lets face it, those folks are few and far between in this day and age in society.  God is real and He is out there, waiting to be known by us all.  You can find Him in these books and ultimately, find Him in your own self.   What are you waiting for?  Borrow a copy from your library, or from a friend.  Go buy one at Costco!  Only $12!!!  Get hooked on these books like so many others I know! 

And if you are local to Saskatchewan, you will have to check out Henry's in Regina.  It's been around for two decades already and I did not know this wonderful store/gallery/cafe even existed.  Some ladies and I checked it out two weeks ago.  The food was amazing!  The atmosphere was relaxing.  I will be going back there to browse around some more because we were pressed for time that day.  Henry's beautiful prairie art work, his books and so much more is available there.  You could say it's almost a little piece of heaven in itself!    Here is a link to the website:

 http://www.henrysonline.ca/default.html

Happy reading!