Final Hours

by Norma Beishir

Could you live a lifetime in 24 hours?

Jamie Randall thinks he has it all, until a close brush with death brings him face-to-face with reality. An asteroid is threatening to wipe out life on Earth, and Jamie realizes that something has been missing from his life.

As he heads toward safety with his wife, Jamie decides to own his mistakes and pursue the one thing he has dreamed of for the last fifteen years - but this decision comes with a hefty price.

Facing his mortality once again, will Jamie choose to survive... or make things right?

153 pages, Paperback

First published June 22, 2009

About the author

I've wanted to be a writer for as long as I can remember. I used to get in trouble in school because I was writing when I should have been paying attention in class. I foolishly sent a handwritten manuscript to a publisher when I was sixteen. It was rejected, of course--but an editor actually took the time to look at it and wrote me, saying I had talent but wasn't ready for publication yet. Some years later, I found an agent and sold my first novel within six months. Six months later, Berkley bought two more books from me--for a six-figure advance. In all, I published five bestellers with Berkley, nine romances through Silhouette, and--obsessed with having creative control--I made the move to self-publishing for my latest two. I write under my own name and two pseudonyms: Scarlett Martin and Toni Collins.

Reviews

[Beth · Rating 5 out of 5]

Final Hours is about what you would do if you only had a few hours to live. How, and with whom, would you spend that time?

Jamie Randall, a young, early thirties successful business man has been living a lie. A lie he thought he could have been out of by now. He's living a life as a husband to a woman that he doesn't love, having been trapped in the loveless marriage by her getting pregnant. His motivation for marrying her was for business purposes only. But, when she had the twin boys, he knew he couldn't leave her. He loved his boys.

On a business trip to Rome, an earthquake occurs, causing the underground parking lot of the hotel that he owns, to collapse. With a broken leg, crushed by a piece of concrete, he yells for help. That's when he meets nature photographer, Kate.

Maybe it was her beauty, or maybe it was his pain, but he instantly falls in love with her. He's never cheated on his wife before, but suddenly, he wants to be with this woman. She is beautiful and kind, helping him stay alive. But, it's more than that.

And, so begins a love affair that spans 14 years, and from the beginning of the book to the end, their love grows.

This is a book that will make you smile, laugh and cry. There is even one shocking element you find out at the end of the book. I wrote in my review on Amazon, that you know when a book is good when you can't put it down. This was that book.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book and give it a rating of 5 stars!

[Berk Rourke · Rating 5 out of 5]

I love this story on so many levels. I don't love the fact of the main character's inability to make and follow up with a decision concerning ending his loveless marriage and marrying the woman he loves more than anything. I don't love the fact that in the story he simply uses his mistress without meaning for their relationship to be of that kind. But the way the author put the story together, the personal conflict, the agonizing and depression built out of trying to maintain love and a failed marriage, all those things I love. I do not love the main character. In some ways he is a total jerk. But then again he struggles so hard with his life, as only one of great riches could do successfully, that he deserves some respect and caring as well. I love the main character Kate on many levels including her faithfulness to the love she holds for her man. But it is hard to respect her in some ways. This is not a book for children or for young tweens. Older teenagers might read this if they had no on going problems with their parents divorcing out of an affair being conducted by one or the other. I cannot and will not give away the entire story. Read it. You will love it, and have a number of questions in your mind about why.

[Mei Chng · Rating 2 out of 5]

The gist of this story is regrets from Jamie. He had made the wrong decision about marriage. Somehow, knowing that the world was going to end made him see his wrong choices. Because of his wrong choice, he had to pay the cost. Not being able to legally be with that one person he loves, and all the wasted time. I won't read this book again, but if you have a few hours to waste, this would get you through.

[Melissa Hinton · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is actually pretty good even though Jamie is a selfish a-hole.