Remember Me

A beautiful romance story set on the gorgeous Oregon coast, Deborah Bedford's novel Remember Me tells the tale of first love, acceptance, and moving on. Sam Tibbits is a small-town pastor, questioning God's calling in his life. In a desperate attempt to reclaim the world he once knew, Sam travels to the beautiful Oregon coast he visited each summer of his youth, only to find memories of his first love. Bedford tells a beautiful tale of love, life, and God. The author does an excellent job of incorporating past events of Sam and Aubrey's history with the lives they currently lead. However, there is little involvement between the two characters. Sam Tibbits, while taking his sabbatical on the shores of Oregon, finds not only himself and his true calling, but his first love as well. Sam is a very strong character and very much a man of God. Aubrey, however, seems to be lacking in development as a character. She does not play a very large role in the story, although one might assume she would. Remember Me is an unforgettable tale, nevertheless. It's a story of God and love, and the choices people are forced to make in life. The ending leaves the reader with a sense of peace, having learned that we may not always get what we want, but it's only because God is holding something better for us. For those who believe in love and second chances, Remember Me, is a wonderful novel. - Emily Day, Christian Book Previews.com

Young Sam Tibbits falls in love with Aubrey McCart while sitting in a storage box full of life jackets on a fishing trawler. Through Sam and Aubrey's early teen years, their love continues to develop, blossoming during the week-long summer visits Sam's family makes to the Oregon coast. Then Aubrey's family undergoes a crisis and she and her family disappear overnight. Sam's heart is broken, and he is set adrift on the sea of young adulthood with no answers to the loss of his closest friend. Years later Sam still loves Aubrey. But now he's a single pastor facing crises of his own. His deacon board has lost faith in him, he's just been forced to perform a funeral for a man he begged God to heal, and his dreams for a church sponsored homeless shelter are meeting tremendous resistance. Mary Grace, the spunky, single, colorful church secretary, provides him with strength and support, but then Sam's nephew makes a reckless decision that costs Sam dearly. Sam reaches his breaking point, spiritually, emotionally, and professionally. Finally, realizing that time and distance may heal some of his wounds, Sam flees to Piddock Beach, the Oregon fishing town where he spent his summers as a child. He agrees to take his nephew, in hopes he can reconnect with the sullen teen. Once there, Sam meets the last person he expected to see again-Aubrey. She too has returned to her hometown seeking balm for tremendous pain. Sam and Aubrey recover some of their old friendship, but they discover boundaries that did not exist when they were teenagers. Will Sam be able to help his nephew overcome the devastation he has experienced? Can Sam and Aubrey come to terms with their rekindling relationship while finding the direction God intends them each to take? Deborah Bedford does an outstanding job developing the characters in Remember Me. They're real people with real problems who face personal and spiritual crises. We have all experienced times when God was silent, even when we begged Him for answers. And many of us have had times when we felt like running away as we faced pressures too great to bear. Bedford's characters experience these emotions in heartbreaking detail. Yet their spiritual journeys from doubt to strength and faith give us hope. Anyone who has felt despair as deeply as Sam and Aubrey have, will find a calm certainty that God holds us in the palm of His hand, in the pages of Remember Me.

There is something magical about our memories of summer vacations. As a boy growing up in the '60s, Sam Tibbits loved those family excursions to Piddock Beach, Oregon, where he explored the sand and the sea. On the beach, Sam met Aubrey McCart, a local girl who became his childhood confidante and later his first kiss. Aubrey enjoyed being with Sam because she could tell him anything and he accepted her unconditionally. Her father, Walt McCart, ran a boat business in Piddock Beach and was much more interested in his oldest son, Kenneth, than his daughter. When Kenneth was killed in the Vietnam War, McCart moved the family away. One summer day Sam arrived to see Aubrey, but she was gone, and the family left no forwarding address. Now fast-forward years later. Sam Tibbits has become the pastor of Covenant Heights Community Church in Iowa. His younger sister, Brenda, lives nearby and struggles with her teenage son, Hunter --- particularly after the death of her husband. Pastor Tibbits attends a meeting of the elders and is given a "forced" sabbatical. Sam takes the opportunity to drive with Hunter back to the vacation place of his childhood, Piddock Beach. Maybe he can find his flagging faith and his missing childhood love. In the missing years, Aubrey marries Gary, an alcoholic who has been in and out of rehab treatment centers without permanent life change. The couple appears to be headed off on a separate trip, leaving their three children in the care of Aunt Emily. Instead, Gary checks into another rehab center and Aubrey travels alone to Piddock Beach for the memories. After checking into her cabin on the beach, Aubrey notices a familiar-looking man with a teenager who is strumming a guitar. The two childhood friends reconnect for a few days. As they revisit old haunts, Sam and Aubrey teach Hunter about life near the ocean. This restored friendship and their conversation help heal the relationship barrier between Hunter and his Uncle Sam when they each verbalize their loss of a friend and a father. But can Sam and Aubrey make peace with their lives without overstepping their moral boundaries? Bestselling author Deborah Bedford has brought readers a sense-filled reading experience. The details of the beach life are so realistic you can practically smell the salt water and feel the sand, and almost every reader will be able to identify with and relate to the character struggles. Beyond the romance and friendship of this novel, readers also will identify with Sam's spiritual search for a restored faith in God. During his return to Piddock Beach, Sam walks past a church and decides to enter. Without even hearing about Sam's struggles, the pastor, Solomon, provides Sam with just the right nudge for his life of faith. "You must remember," Solomon said when Sam opened the massive door to leave, "that you are not called to fix people. You are called to love them. And sometimes that is the more difficult job." The eloquent words from Bedford will to

I see now why Deborah Bedford is a star in the Christian market. REMEMBER ME is a beautifully written book with a message of hope that resonates throughout, even when Sam, the protagonist, is at his lowest ebb. At first I was afraid the book was going to be preachy -- something that turns me off -- but it's not. It's about one man's search for answers -- a search that takes him back to the past he has idealized and the woman he believes is the only woman for him. In revisiting the place that figured so prominently in his childhood, he rediscovers the truths he once knew and learns others that will carry him forward into a future bright with promise. This is truly a love story, filled with wonderful characters that will live in your heart for a long time. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

In the 1960s as a boy Sam Tibbits looked forward to spending his summers with Aubrey McCarts at Piddock Beach, Oregon. During the rest of the year the youngsters diligently exchanged letters. That is until the time he, as a college student, came calling to see her, only to be met by silence as she and her family moved without a forwarding address. They even sold their boats in nearby Portland leaving no trace behind. Sam is heartbroken. Sam has become a dedicated minister fully devoted to his congregation, but especially is there for widowed sister Brenda and his nephew. He never married as he still thinks of his Aubrey as the one. Mentally exhausted from the demands on his time and mind, he needs to get away for awhile. Though there are bittersweet memories, he returns to Piddock beach for the first time since his shattering college visit. Aubrey is there. Sam wonders if this is a miracle or a cosmic joke as she has someone with her. This is much more than a second chance to perhaps rekindle the flame of youth as the story line is a deep character study that focuses closely on memories vs. realties when the recollections are somewhat challenged. The cast makes the tale though Sam is the focus as the prime players are flawed people and even the young die and cancer is a reality. A fantastic inspirational, readers will treasure this keeper as Deborah Bedford rises above the morality noise to provide a powerful tale of life and death leading to hope that readers will remember long after they close the book. Harriet Klausner