Amazing Adventures with Dev
This is a moving and heartfelt chronicle of the life, death, and afterlife of an amazing young man.
On Good Friday 2013, Melody L. Boulton’s twenty-three-year-old son, Devon, was taken off of life support, putting an end to his struggle with a rare, aggressive lung disease. Amazing Adventures with Dev is Boulton’s tribute to her son and to the love between them, giving a glimpse into the ways in which they continue to encourage and support each other beyond the veil of death.
A psychotherapist with a troubled past, Boulton writes that she first came to know how joyful love could be with her relationships to her two sons. Devon, her second son, born of a second marriage and after a reversed tubal ligation, was a miracle for her. From the very beginning, she felt a special connection with him, and her spiritual studies and past life regressions indicated that they had shared many lifetimes over thousands of years, trading roles as each other’s teacher.
She describes Devon as a sensitive, intuitive, wise-beyond-his-years child who gave himself wholeheartedly to whatever he did, was cheerful and optimistic, and always thought better of others than they did of themselves. Always ready to help a friend in need, he was able to make each person he met feel special and at ease, a trait that continued as he grew into a handsome, athletic, capable young man.
Boulton writes that Devon seemed to know that his time on earth would be short and highlights a drawing he did as a small child in which he wrote his name at the peak of snowcapped mountains. After his death, and without knowing of the drawing, friends scattered his ashes at the top of a Swiss mountain. She points to this and many other synchronicities and uncommon events that occurred both before and after Dev’s death as signs of his continued presence with her and with other family members and friends.
While the book is focused on her continued communication with Dev, Boulton does not underplay the immense grief she felt at the loss of his physical presence. At one point, her grief and depression were so severe that they interrupted the communication between them, leading Devon’s spirit to say to her, “I can’t do this alone! Just show up and breathe!”
While generally well written, with natural, flowing dialogue, the book does contain errors in grammar, syntax, and word usage. Missing words and occasional punctuation and capitalization errors are also distracting. The concepts presented in the text are well supported by Boulton’s experiences and spiritual studies, but a certain repetitiveness in their presentation tends to slow the pacing. The book’s interior design and layout are pleasing and easy on the eye, and the bright, clear photographs of highlights in Devon’s life add a personal, colorful touch to the text.
Amazing Adventures with Dev is a moving and heartfelt chronicle of the life, death, and afterlife of an amazing young man and of a love that survives even death. Boulton presents an alternate scenario for coping with the loss of a child, and her wise and compassionate counsel, while not denying any of the harsh reality of loss, offers a bright spark of hope to those who grieve.
Reviewed by
Kristine Morris
Disclosure: This article is not an endorsement, but a review. The publisher of this book provided free copies of the book and paid a small fee to have their book reviewed by a professional reviewer. Foreword Reviews and Clarion Reviews make no guarantee that the publisher will receive a positive review. Foreword Magazine, Inc. is disclosing this in accordance with the Federal Trade Commission’s 16 CFR, Part 255.
