Chris Coppernoll’s “Screen Play”

Confession time.

I like chick flicks. Well, most of them. Like “Sleepless in Seattle” and “You’ve Got Mail.”

I am known to cry at movies. That’s both at the movie theater and in my family room watching something from Netflix. It doesn’t embarrass my wife because she got used to it after the first 200 or 300 times. I did this in college, too. I saw “Love Story” with Ryan O’Neill and Ali McGraw three times, with three different dates, and I cried at all three. My dates, I should point out, all remained dry-eyed.

I am known to read the occasional love story, too. And yes, if there are weepy scenes in the novel, well, yes, you get the picture.

Guys aren’t supposed to do this. My father didn’t. If he were still alive, he’d die of embarrassment if he knew. My mother knows; she just shakes her head. I’ve kept it hidden from my brothers.

The simple fact is, I’m a sucker for a love story.

Chris Coppernoll’s Screen Play is a love story. It has weepy scenes. I read it in almost one sitting.

Coppernoll is the author of two previous novels – Providence and A Beautiful Fall. Providence is like a love story for guys; A Beautiful Fall is a love story not for guys. I’ve read them both. I liked them both.

Screen Play is about a young actress who’s struggling with her career and her love life – a career that seems to have died and a romance that did die when her boyfriend took off for California. All she has going for her is her faith, and she hangs on to it. Through a good friend, she gets the role of understudy in a Broadway revival. And she meets a guy through an online dating service, a guy who sounds perfect except he’s a pilot in Alaska. They text each other back and forth for a while until he gives her his phone number.

Then she gets her stage break. And it’s huge. Hollywood beckons.

If all of this sounds wildly implausible and clichéd, it is – except in Coppernoll’s hands. Screen Play is fast-paced and well written, and he tells a great story. Especially impressive is that he tells the story through a woman’s point of view, that of the heroine, Harper Gray.

Nice job, Mr. Coppernoll.

And, well, did I get teary-eyed at the weepy scenes?

What do you think?


Since the Federal Trade Commission has nothing else better to do, and in the interests of total disclosure, I should let you know that the publisher provided me with a review copy of Screen Play. I was given no other remuneration or freebie (unless you count the news release accompanying the book, which I don’t). In fact, I asked the publisher to review this book, because I thoroughly enjoyed reading Providence. The publisher did not ask me to give a positive review. And I follow Mr. Coppernoll on Twitter, but he doesn’t tweet much. There’s now nothing left to disclose.

Chris Coppernoll's "Providence" - A Ministry

Chris Coppernoll's novel Providence, published in 2007, was one of the books I found while wandering the stacks of Books-A-Million Bookstore in Shreveport last week. I posted a short review on Amazon a couple of days ago.

I liked it. A lot. I called it a contemporary romance for guys, although I suspect the readership has been largely female. But it shouldn't be. Coppernoll speaks to the hunger for love in every guy's heart. Here's my plot summary from the review:

"Jack Clayton, author of a New York Times mega-best seller on helping the poor and a Time Magazine 'Man of the Year,' has been asked by his publisher to write his own personal story. Jack doesn't want to do that, for a lot of painful reasons. The most painful of all is the love he walked away from 20 years before. But the people on the staff of the ministry where he works convince him to write the book. And the writing gets complicated with a nasty, largely untrue newspaper story about Jack that goes viral. He ends up solving both problems by getting the erring reporter to work with him on the book. The book will untangle his past, but lead Jack in unexpected directions."

The novel is part of a larger ministry, called the Providence Cares Foundation, that "helps families raise money for a child facing kidney and liver transplantation." Families host an event, and Coppernoll will travel, speak and sign books -- at no charge to the family. And 100 percent of the proceeds go toward meeting the need. Check the web site and click on "Providence Cares" on the top navigation bar for more information.

Coppernoll is the host of Soul2Soul Radio, a program heard on 600 outlets in 30 countries. He's interviewed hundreds of Christians -- including names like Max Lucado, Michael W. Smith and Amy Grant -- on issues of faith. He's also a deacon at The People's Church in Franklin, Tennessee.

I learned a lesson here. I love the convenience of ordering books online. But bookstores are critically important, particularly for finding unexpected treasures. I don't think I would have found Providence by online surfing. But I saw it on the bookstore shelf, picked it up, read the back cover, selected a page at random -- and was sold, even without understanding the ministry and foundation. That writing appeared to be that good. And it was.

In 2008, Coppernoll published a second novel, A Beautiful Fall. Which I've ordered.