2013 Book Review #10: Come Home

Being on Spring Break affords me time for one of my favorite hobbies:  READING!

I have 3 books going right now:  2 Christian non-fiction ones (one is an autobiography of a missionary girl in Uganda and one is for contemporary families and slowing life down for our children).  The other one is an historical fiction one set in  the post Civil War era.

I actually finished this novel in the car as we drove towards Boston this past weekend.  It is a quick read, both because it is a "page-turner, action packed story" and because it is not that lengthy or difficult.

STORY SUMMARY

Most of this author's books are family oriented or involve some kind of family drama and this one does not disappoint!

One of the main characters, Jill Farrow, is a single, suburban mom who has been married twice.  Her first husband died leaving her with Megan who is now a very involved 13 year old junior high girl on the swim team.  She is newly divorced from her 2nd husband, William, who has 2 older daughters (Victoria and Abby).  They all live in the Philadelphia area.

Jill, a part-time pediatrician who loves her patients but NOT the health group she works for, is looking forward to getting remarried to Sam. Sam has an older son Steve, who lives and works in Austin, Texas.  Sam and Megan get along great.  Jill has had no contact with Victoria and Abby since she left William, because William cut off all the contact.  Yet, in her heart, Jill still feels like "mom" to her 2 ex-stepdaughters.

Jill's life is about to turn topsy-turvy.  Abby, now 19 years old, shows up at her door late one evening with the news that her dad (William) is dead from a drug overdose.  And she believes he has been murdered even though the police have not ruled his death a homicide.  She begs Jill to help her solve his death and find the killer.  Jill feels obligated to help and begins to unravel a mess.  As she digs deeper into this saga, she does things that threaten to rip apart her family and destroy her hard-earned happiness.  Her actions might even endanger her own life!

And yet Jill really can't turn her back on her ex-stepdaughters and the fact that she once called them her own children.

Or can she??

MY THOUGHTS

This was a thriller of a story.  It definitely examines the question of "do you ever stop being a mother?" and the question "Can you ever have an ex-child?" Are there any limits to love and family?

This is a well-written book, easy to read and had many twists and turns in the plot.  I was happily surprised at many points through-out the book because I would think I knew who the "bad guys" were only to find out that the author tricked me!  It was most exciting towards the end of the book even though it was a little too much like an NCIS storyline! (my opinion).  It wrapped up much quicker than I was ready for, yet it worked.  It definitely kept my interest right up til the very last page.  The only thing I didn't like, and that felt too much like a "fairy-tale" was the ending that involved Victoria and one of the other characters.  It was a bit sappy. Again, my opinion.  Ignoring that sappy ending for Victoria, I do recommend this read if you like fast-paced simple mystery books.

I also really liked that the author brought out the themes of family dynamics, forgiveness, and unconditional love.

In my opinion, this is a book for ages 14 and older.

On a scale of 1-10, with 10 being the highest, I rate this an 8.