REVIEWS

FIVE STARS   The story grabs you from the moment you open the book and holds on tight all the way through! It is a roller coaster ride of emotions from beginning to end. The love story of Boo and Hughie is universal and powerful. Sometimes life is more painful than we care to admit and I applaud the author for writing about such a deep personal story. I hope that it will help others to face obstacles in their lives with the sense of optimism that the characters in this story portray. It would make an excellent movie!

Linda Dharlin

FIVE STARS  This book is inter-twined with so much love and sadness at the same time. It is beautifully written and difficult to put down. I am an ex-catholic and against the celibacy rule and reading this story reinforces my conviction. How sad for both Hughie and Boo. It's true that he made a vow to the church, but human, God given emotions are so strong for all of us. Thank you Tim for writing this story so well that it haunts my heart. Yes, this would make a great movie and I would love to see it.

J. Gillease
 

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FIVE STARS  I absolutely love this book!!!! This is THE MOST AMAZING STORY!!! It has so much depth, love, honesty and It really makes me think about myself being Catholic, I believe that this story would make for a beautiful film about two people who really loved each other and met under DIFFERENT circumstances!! It is a true LOVE Story !!! How often do we REALLY fall in REAL LOVE? IF WE DO? This book has so much compassion it must be MADE INTO A FILM! I can already see who would be the actors!!
TIM ANDERS is such a talented writer! to be able to write such a heart felt story based on his life! I salute you Mr. Anders! For such a remarkable, revealing glimpse of what your life was like. I Toast you Mr. Anders
Warm Regards

Klare Davalle, Actress

FIVE STARS  Who could turn away from a book that states, "My father was a Catholic Priest?" And it never stops shocking the reader! A wonderfully, heart warming story for any reader to cozy up with, be it at the beach, on the patio or snuggling with your puppy on the couch. Incredibly entertaining and an absolute must read!

Sandra L. Zook

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FIVE STARS This story was so dramatic, it's hard to believe it really happened. But the fact that it's a true story made it all the more fascinating. I love strong women, so Bouvette Anders was a real stand-out of a protagonist for me. While finding some of their choices difficult to comprehend by today's standards, I was thoroughly drawn into the power of the Church vs. the power of a man and woman's love for each other and their family. My admiration goes out to the author, for having the courage and tenacity to tell his parents' story. We all have tales to tell, but so few of us ever do it. This will allow his mother's courage to go on and inspire others and her sacrifice will never die. Thank you, Tim Anders, for sharing this story with the world.

Adrienne Armstrong - Author - "Backstage With the Original Hollywood Square"

FIVE STARS This book had me pulled in right from the start. A fascinating and inspiring story that had to be told! This book keeps you in suspense the whole way through and is filled with emotion, wit, sacrifice and the power of love. A must read!!!

S. M. Croken

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FIVE STARS I just finished the book and I have to admit that I was crying while reading the Epilogue.  Tim 'Dr. Hope' Anders truly has a gift for writing.  This book is heartfelt - an Oprah pick for sure!

Jeanette Arthur, President of the San Diego Chapter of Childhelp

FIVE STARS This book absolutely compels you to race to the finale to see what happens to this family. Truly a page turner with such in depth characters facing such seemingly impossible odds. How each deals with their own situation is amazing. This will make a WONDERFUL movie!! This happened many years ago, but the story is as contemporary as they come.

Victoria L. Frerichs, Chef

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FIVE STARS I couldn't stop reading. Every turn of a page was captivating. Hidden agendas, humor, betrayal, courage, conspiracy, the touching romance of two tortured souls deeply in love; this book has it all. I was enthralled and inspired by the strength of this remarkable woman.  Once I picked this book up, I couldn't put it down!

C.  Portuanto, Teacher

FIVE STARS The author did a fantastic job describing the plight of this family. As I read, my heart celebrated with them and bled for them. The characters came alive in this book. Anyone that reads "Everybody Calls My Father, Father" will laugh, cry....and gain insight into a life of celibacy, and its possible danger.

Peggy Sayles

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FIVE STARS Altruistic love extinguished by deceit and deplorable circumstances. I am inspired by the strength of this lady who perseveres though a very difficult dilemma, without compromise to her integrity. I have no hesitation in recommending "Everybody Calls My Father, Father" to anyone who also can appreciate LOVE, INTEGRITY & PERSEVERANCE.  I loved it!

Darcy C.

FIVE STARS This book has all the great things that keep you interested. I found it hard to put down and it gave you a lot to think about when you weren't reading it. It was filled with love, loss, betrayal, trust and truth. I will be recommending it to my book club and you.

Sandy Golden, Book Club Enthusiast

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FIVE STARS This book really moved me. I truly loved this story, I'm sure anyone who reads it will too.

Marlaine Hopper, Receptionist
 

FIVE STARS I  love this story…it made me laugh, then cry, then mad, then happy, but in the end, it left me with lot’s of hope.  I just couldn’t put this book down once I started reading it.  I highly recommend it to everyone!

Helen Zion, Real Estate Investor

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FIVE STARS Everybody Calls My Father, Father fantastic job, could not put it down, touching story, this should be a movie. 

Scott A Hollander, Nursery Owner 

FIVE STARS I read this book in 2 afternoons, just couldn't put it down. This would make an excellent movie. The author should write a sequel about their lives after moving back to Calif. to the present day. This is a timeless story.

Sandra G.

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FIVE STARS This book was everything you could possibly want in a story. It had me from the start. It had romance, humor, suspense and deception. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves an exciting page-turner. I can hardly wait for the movie!

Lorraine V., Beauty Stylist   

FIVE STARS This is a wonderful book with a captivating story. You can't wait to turn the pages to see how it's going to end. It's so well written one feels like they are right there with Boo and Hughie.

Lee Cherry

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FIVE STARS I fell in love with the characters from the very beginning. Bouvette's courage and strength were inspirational. This is a beautiful love story with many unexpected twists and turns. The romance, humor, lies and heart break made it difficult to put this book down. This story is perfect for a movie and I can see the cast already!

JA C

FIVE STARS A passionate love story between a couple doomed by the Church to never be able to live a normal life. This is a story of loves and betrayals. Sort of a THORNBIRDS only in real life.

Laureen Q.

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FIVE STARS It was a very fast moving Book. Also a very touching story, which is hard to understand in todays life how a father could leave his family. But the story takes places in another time, and life was different then. I found my self unable to put it down, even laughing and crying as I was on a plane flying to see my daughter. It is really heartfelt story for the Author, Tim Anders to share with his readers.

Mary C. May

FIVE STARS A wonderful, true love story, set in a more innocent time period. Your heart aches for the love between Boo and Hughie and the forces that tried to keep them apart. The love and strength and commitment of Boo should be inspiring to everyone. Very nicely written.

K. Geuy

FIVE STARS A MUST READ! A fascinating TRUE story that had to be told! This book keeps you in suspense the whole way through. THIS LOVE STORY is filled with emotion and the power of love. AT THE END -THE LOVERS PHOTOS MAKE IT ALL SO REAL.

Daran Grimm

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FIVE STARS This is not only a beautiful love story but a commentary of "how we were" and one which gives pause to reflect on "how far have we come?" By the end of this book I wanted to know even more about this courageous, strong woman who was able to carry out her convictions through so much adversity. I can strongly recommend this book.

Jo Ely

FIVE STARS If you love biographies as I do, this is an easy, fast read. It engages you from the beginning and entices you to keep turning pages and finish the story. Super passionate love story, peppered with the realities of life in the 40'sand 50's. Sobering to realize the prejudices against single motherhood and the lack of freedom that dedication to a religion can bring. Life is always about choice and consequence and how we handle all of it. Enjoyable read. Good book!

Reissah Leigh

FIVE STARS This was an amazingly good read, and I'm not a fan of love stories. OK, I did read "The Bridges of Madison County" and it was good. However, this book was better, and told a story that is more important in many ways. Tim Anders is a magnificent No Limit Texas Holdem poker player, who has taken all my chips on more than one occasion, but as an author, he has made me a richer man.

William J. Ford

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FIVE STARS Everybody Calls My Father, Father by Tim `Dr. Hope' Anders is based on the true story of his mother and father. Bouvette Sherwood, a successful producer and actress of New York Broadway, meets Hughie Hewitt, a Catholic priest. The two soon fall madly in love. There is just one problem though, Hughie, due to him being a Catholic priest, is unable to marry and start a family. Will Huighie and Bouvette be able to work things out?
This is a wonderful book. I enjoyed it immensely. The true story of the author's parents pulls you in and makes you wonder what will happen next. This book is inspiring, it sends the message that you should never give up on what you want the most. Included in the back of this book are pictures of his mother and father. The pictures really help you connect with the story.

M. Ellis

THREE STARS Everybody Calls My Father, Father is a love story that presents its readers with an inside look at the Catholic Church circa 1945. This saga is based on the true account of author Tim Anders parents' perilous and clandestine love affair. The primary impediment to their love was the fact that the author's father was indeed a "Father" (that is to say a Catholic Priest named Hughie Hewitt) who chose to remain in the church rather that leave and assume his parental responsibilities after he had fathered two children.

Anders narrative is based on stories related to him by his mother and it is fairly obvious that his vision of the affair has been embellished and romanticized to make it more palatable to the reader. My problem with "Father Hewitt" is twofold. First, if he was some completely and hopelessly in love why did he not abandon his faith and marry the mother of his children. Second, if he was so devoted to his faith that he was unable (or unwilling) to leave the church, why did he pursue this naive young woman instead of letting her get on with here life. Could it be that he wanted to "have it all"??

Personally, although I have been a member of the faith for my entire life, I have never understood the churches reluctance to allow its priests to marry. This, however, is not the forum in which to debate that particular question. Suffice to say that as a "romance novel" Everybody Calls My Father, Father is an enjoyable and easy read that delivers the requisite number of perils to be overcome by its heroine.

Bookworm

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FIVE STARS This is a great story that has it all; romance, intrigue, betrayal, sorrow and hope. The first page grabs and this book doesn't let go. I read it in a single sitting. The 1940's New York setting was so realistic, I felt like I good smell the garlic in the Italian restaurant where the book opens. What is truly incredible is the deeply personal nature of the story and the author's ability to share it with us. I definitely hope Anders writes and publishes the rest of his story in the coming years.

Keith

FIVE STARS It was extremely difficult to put this book down once I started reading it. Set in the 1940's, this captivating read tells the true story of the author's parents, Bouvette Sherwood and Father Hughie Hewitt The problem is she is a successful Broadway producer and he is a catholic priest. Their story is fraught with tragedy as the "powers that be" within the catholic church try to destroy them rather than have the church face scandal and embarrassment. Everybody Calls My Father, Father is riveting and inspiring. Many thanks to the author, Tim Anders for sharing this story with the world. What a movie this would make!!

M. Flanders

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FIVE STARS Although Tim Anders has been a children's book author, he has produced an excellent adult novel. This novel contains a surprising mixture of intrigue and suspense, joy and sadness, seriousness and humor. It is easy reading, yet captivating. I thoroughly enjoyed sharing the experiences of Tim's parents on whom this novel is based and look forward to other novels by him.

Joe Balding

FIVE STARS The compelling tale on the pages of Everybody Calls My Father, Father, based on a true story opens in a dim bar on Manhattan's Upper East Side where a lovely young woman sat across from a slender man in his thirties. It was Rao's Italian Restaurant where the aroma of marinara sauce filled the air. It was their first meeting, followed by an evening filled with good food, interesting conversation and Hughie Hewitt was completely infatuated.

Everybody Calls My Father, Father a fictionalized tale based on the true story centered on the writers parents, she, Bouvette -Boo- Sherwood, a successful producer and actress of New York Broadway, and Hughie Hewitt, who does not reveal that he is a Catholic priest who is one step from being an alcoholic.

When Hughie realizes he has fallen in love with Boo he asks his childhood chum for advice. Vicente Rao is more than a little taken aback but does offer the simple notion that Hughie must choose, he simply cannot continue as a priest AND have a sweetheart. It is one or the other.

The narrative is driven by the energy of Bouvette Sherwood, who is a successful New York Broadway producer and actress. As their romance develops into a tangle of anticipation, stratagem, betrayal, and romance Bouvette naively offers to become a Catholic so that the pair can marry. She is non Catholic and has no idea that priests not only do not marry; they do not have children.

The lives of Hughie, Boo, their children, Roxanne and Tim, as well as Boo's staunch ally, and Vincent Rao are all intertwined, set down and proffered for the reader to examine. Separation, Bellevue Hospital, a foster home, privation, mistreatment and worse, jail, a private detective, the wrath of a Monsignor bent on becoming a Bishop and will let nothing stand in his way, not a wayward priest, not two small children, not a woman he brands as Jezebel, and a final goodbye all move the narrative to a compelling end.

Writer Anders' mother often thought many years that she might write a book about her life in New York both that as a Broadway actress, and how she had fallen in love with a married man, a man who was married to his church, loved her, but could never leave his first love.

As a teen Anders and his mother discussed her life on Broadway and her relationship with his father. Anders praises his mother's buoyant, never give up mind-set as the motivation for his writing his Life Lessons series of children's books. Following his mother's death Anders determined he would write her story.

Everybody Calls My Father, Father is both a love story and a tale of the force held over priests by the Catholic Church during the 1940s. Somehow the notion that a priest might want marriage and a family was viewed as something so irrational the church leadership would do nearly anything to prevent it taking place.

Anders' account is based on the stories told to him by his mother filled in with a bit of romanticism and hope that may or may not have been part of the real story. The writer's descriptive account of the setting is compelling, draws the reader in to the setting, the relationship between Boo and Hughie is believable, albeit from the outset it is one that the reader knows cannot have a happy ever after type ending.

Writer Anders is a skilled author, presents his tale well, his characters are well fleshed and settings are clearly delineated. Dialogue is at times gritty, some sexuality included may turn away some writers.

Mesmeric and easily read Everybody Calls My Father, Father is presented as a tribute by a son for the love and relationship he wishes his parents had. We cannot help but commiserate with both Boo and Hughie to some degree, although I am troubled today that the leadership of the church during the 1940s seems to be far more distressed that the idea a priest might want marriage and family; viewing it as far more horrific than the child abuse which we now know was being carried out by members of the clergy. Easily read, hard to read. Happy to recommend for those who enjoy slice of life type narratives.

MIDWEST BOOK REVIEWS

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FIVE STARS A must read!! It is a Brilliantly written love story reminiscent of the ThornBirds. I simply couldn't put it down. It would be wonderful to have a continuing saga of the other characters and a Film on the big screen. Surely if the movie "Doubt "was made, This story shows the love and heartache of love and the sacrifice people will accept for their true love. This Book was by far one of the best books I have ever read. It would be a disservice to anyone not to have a chance to enjoy this Love Story. Congratulations to the Writer. and I hope Oprah gets a copy . She will recommend this book to America for her Book Club.

Carolyn Hale

FIVE STARS Its a fantastic, cannot put down love story, brings out your emotions. Touching, heart wrenching classic, that just lets you read on and on. My dear friend of Brooklyn, who now resides in Calif- she is as a sister to me- sent this Everybody Calls My Father, Father - autographed also to me for Christmas- Wow - Its powerful. Thank you to Cathy V N. Thank you to writer, Tim Anders. Hopefully, it can be made into a movie.

Beverly DiCovello

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FIVE STARS "Everybody Calls My Father, Father" is a remarkable urban romance with generous helpings of suspense, discovery and family history. Largely seen through the eyes of a young actress, Bouvette Sherwood, and based on her true life story, this story is an interesting read.

The story begins in an Italian restaurant in the upper east side of Manhattan in 1946. A 25 year old Bouvette meets "Hughie", a distinguished older man with a taste for Dewar's White Label Scotch. Bouvette, or "Boo" as her friends call her, learns more about Hughie, she finds he has a secret. He is a Roman Catholic priest.

As their romance develops, so does the intrigue of a forbidden relationship. Time and passion raise the stakes, and when Bouvette becomes pregnant, the story becomes a full fledged suspense. This developing romance with its surprising twists builds velocity as it moves along. It's well paced and filled with warmly developed characters and locales that sparkle with personality.

"Everybody Calls My Father, Father" is a rich and structurally complex story. The changes between the viewpoint characters, Bouvette and Hughie, are unusual for a traditional romance. Another viewpoint character, the author, appears late in the story to add another colorful square to this interestingly quilted, patchwork story. Bouvette and Hughie each make some tough choices and those decisions determine lives are changed lives forever. The story morphs into biography there, closing the curtain on the author's parent's romance.

Because this story is based on events that really happened and involves real people with real human strengths and weaknesses, some scenes are intense. The story reads very well and satisfies.

D. McCue

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FIVE STARS Everybody Calls My Father, Father is a marvelous book that kept me wanting to read more. It was very interesting how the author's writing style so cleverly portrayed the time period as the characters were developed. You fell in love with "Boo" from  the moment she was introduced. The emotional dilemma of Hughie: stay with the woman and family he so dearly loved or the pull of his calling to the priesthood made me wish for a better ending, one where they could all live happily ever after. It was a love story, drama and comedy all in one. As I read the book I could envision the movie of Everybody Calls My Father, Father being a box office hit!

Mary Heineke

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