Customer Reviews

Home Before Dark

5 star:		(15)
4 star:		(8)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This is a wonderful story of sisters separated by life's deepest issues, and how they find their way back to one another. Not just each other, but the other people in their lives. Older sister Luz rediscovers the magic in her longterm marriage. Younger Jessie is facing a life-changing problem just at the moment she learns to fall in love. It all sounds pretty schmaltzy but trust me, it's not. The sisters are hip, funny, sad and altogether human. You'll never forget them, and the lessons they learn along the way.

Many a historical romance author has tried to make the crossover to contemporary fiction. In rare instances, authors excel equally in both genres, and Susan Wiggs is one of those rare exceptions. With her latest novel, she explores the bond between sisters Jessie Ryder and Luz Ryder Benning.

After almost sixteen years traveling the globe on photojournalism assignments, Jessie is back to see her beloved sister Luz, three nephews, and fifteen-year-old niece Lila, who is actually the baby Luz and husband Ian adopted from Jess who took off years ago. Through the pain of separation and untold secrets, the sisters try to fit into each other's lives again, as Luz and Ian must decide whether to tell rebellious Lila the truth of her birth. And even Jessie has some secrets regarding Lila's conception. Amidst this very realistic glimpse into one family's drama is the surprising romance Jessie finds with local pilot and widower Dusty Matlock, who has a tragic story of his own.

Expertly drawn characters set against the beautiful Texas landscape are the life force of this compelling novel. Not only is the reader entranced by the unearthing of past secrets, but present-day secrets come to light in this thought provoking read with a unique and believable view of one family's ability to stay together despite personal trauma and tragedy.

After living for the past fifteen years in New Zealand and photographing much of the world, Jessie Ryder returns to her hometown of Edenville, Texas near Austin. Jessie suffers from a debilitating illness that will leave her blind, so she needs to see her biological daughter Lila one last time. Years ago Jessie became pregnant after making love to Ian Benning, who later met, fell in love with, and married her sister Luc. Jessie hid the father's identity from everyone and her newly married sister and husband adopted Lila and loved her as their own.

Jessie wants Ian and Luc to tell Lila the truth about whom is her biological mother. As the trio struggles with what is best for Lila, the teen engages in hill hopping which leads to the death of another passenger. Meanwhile, Jessie falls in love with widower neighbor Dusty Matlock and his little girl. However, Jessie does not trust relationships so as she loses her sight she flees, but not before the Bennings tell Lila the truth.

HOME BEFORE DARK is an engaging relationship novel that contains a delightful extended cast. Much of the tale focuses on Jessie, yet readers also learn about the other key characters. Although why Jessie felt that Lila had to know the truth is never fully explained, the audience will savor this warm modern day family drama.

Harriet Klausner

Losing her sight, Jessie Ryder returns to the home that she left fifteen years before--and to the daughter she left, adopted by her sister, Luz. Jessie has been a photographer, taking pictures of the world, rescued from her mistakes by her sister, but her sister can't rescue her from blindness. Jessie intends to see her daughter, visit her sister, and then vanish again. She doesn't count on meeting a handsome pilot with a story of his own, or on her daughter Lile's decision to sneak out of the house for a night of joy-riding. When she must leave, the pain is more than she can stand--still, Jessie leaves, it defines who she is.

Dusty Matlock lost his pregnant wife but kept her on life support until their child, a wonderful daughter, could be born. For two years, he's retreated into himself. But when the pretty photographer comes to take his pictures for an article, he feels the stirrings of desire--and love. Dusty may have lost his love, but he isn't the kind of man to swear off love for a lifetime--and what he feels for Jessie is the real thing. Of course, the onset of Jessie's blindness is a secret--will Dusty be able to survive another terrible blow?

Author Susan Wiggs turns up the emotional intensity with this gripping story. Jessie is believable and thee-dimensional as the woman who sees herself as trouble, runs from her problems, yet who has punished herself more than anyone can. Luz is interesting and an apt counterpart to Jessie's flamboyance (three tattoos?). Dusty breaks the stereotype of romance heros by being confident of his emotions and certain of what he wants. Jessie's blindness is handled sensitively and realistically as she deals with the loss of this critical sense, the loss of her career, and the realization of all that she lost by walking away from her daughter at birth.

Susan Wiggs is a wonderful author who seems to grow stronger with each novel. HOME BEFORE DARK is an important achievement. Highly Recommended.

Home Before Dark is a romantic story about the difficult choices we face in life and about family reconciliation. Filled with love, joy, and heartache, this is a book that simply cannot be put down.

When faced with impending blindness, Jessie Ryder returns home to her family to get to know the daughter she gave up to her sister. 16 years earlier her sister left college early to adopt Jessie's child, marry and raise a family, giving Jessie the opportunity to fulfill her dream of becoming a photojournalist and traveling all over the world. Each, however, longs for the life of the other-Jessie envious of the secure family life her sister has had while Luz pines for the seemingly exotic and exciting life Jessie has led. Secrets abound, and a tragic accident makes this book a real heartwarming page-turner.

I have very much enjoyed the two previous books I had read by Susan Wiggs - they were Historical Romances - but when this book arrived from inter-library loan and I read the blurb on the back it seemed I'd picked the wrong sort of book for me. The story was evidently about family relationships and tensions following a woman adopting her sister's child at birth. I put off reading the book for a while but when I finally started it I was immediately engrossed.

Jessie Ryder is a successful photographer but with secrets. The first secret is that Lila, her niece, is actually her daughter. Her sister Luz and her husband Ian took Lila the moment she was born and have brought her up as their own child along with three sons that came along later. But there are more secrets that Luz doesn't know - Jess and Ian had a brief fling before he got together with Luz and Ian is the father of Lila - both adoptive and natural. But there are even more secrets; Jessie is visiting them now, after sixteen years, as she is losing her sight and wants to take a final `look' at her family, particularly her daughter, before it all goes dark.

Jessie is an interesting character and I wasn't always sure I liked her. She deals with emotions by running away and never seems to stick with anything. She comes like a whirlwind into Luz and Ian's life and appears to be causing disruption - teenager Lila is becoming wayward and ends up involved in a tragedy, and even the grieving widower next door gets sucked in to Jessie's mayhem. And yet she's also a woman who feels greatly for the mistakes that she has made in her life and who wants her family to be happy and does what she can to further that.

Despite me not really being interesting in family relationship books this one was very good - I wanted things to turn out well, for Jess and her sister to go back to the close relationship that they formerly had, for Jess to have the support she would need in her future. This book portrayed the complex family dynamics that can take place in what seem to be ordinary lives and the ways in which those we love can hurt us as well as heal us. There's a gentle and sweet romance in the book too, as well as a fascinating vignette into what it must be like to go blind as an adult. I recommend this book as an enjoyable and excellently-written read.

I feel almost guilty reviewing Susan Wigg's "Home Before Dark" because I like her writing so much, her evocative descriptions of place, in this case Texas Hill Country, and her characters are very real and delightful, as is the dialogue. It's just the plot and the theme or through-line were, for me, obvious, trite, unbelievable, and simplistic. By Chapter Three, it was all so programmatic, as if morality and justice were simple equations that could be added up to create "fairness".

First we have the ambitious, selfish, talented, sort of bad girl photographer sister, who slept with the guy who eventually made a good husband for her good beyond belief sister, and got pregnant by him, and left the child for her good sister and her ex-husband to raise. And the photographer sister goes off to New Zealand without telling her sister that the child is her husband's or I mean that her husband is her ex-lover who fathered the child she leaves behind for them to raise. Get it? I mean, really, I know people have secrets, but this is ridiculous. This sort of thing may happen on Oprah or Dr. Phil, but those people are on those shows because they have huge problems. Fact is stranger than fiction, and it's allowed to be, because it's fact and you can't dispute it. But fiction, unless it's fantasy, has to be a little closer to normal, in my book, anyway.

Anyway, the selfish but talented sister is going blind, just so she doesn't get off scot free after committing the the sin of dumping her premature baby of her illicit affair with her sister's soon to be husband, on her poor sister, who is also talented, but gives it all up for family. But never fear, the soon to be blind photographer comes home to help and finds the man of her dreams before she loses her sight. Whew! Everybody gets their just desserts in this flamingly overblown world of REALLY BIG PROBLEMS, in case you were worried.

And on and on Wiggs goes, parsing out moral punishments and rewards for good and bad behavior like a trainer doling out dogie treats.

I have no objection to the morality of what she advocates, or to her actual writing, I just can see it all coming from page 2, so all her pretty descriptions and fun little scenes feel like emotional manipulation to serve Wiggs' prim, little moral universe. Sorry, can't recommend it

I loved this book. I particularly loved the relationship between the sisters, which I found completely realistic and exceptionally touching. Although they had their differences and were envious of each other's lives and choices, their love for each other shone through.

Ms. Wiggs is a wonderful writer. I don't agree with the Publisher's Weekly reviewer who said she tends to overwrite. The thing some reviewers don't get is that descriptions of emotions are to a romance what descriptions of gore and mayhem are to a thriller.

The only thing I'd have done differently had I written this book (and I sure wish I had!) would be not to tell Lila the truth. Ian needed to know, yes, but I don't think any higher purpose was served by telling Lila.

But that's a minor point in an otherwise totally engaging, intense story that gave my box of Kleenex a workout! HIGHLY RECOMMENDED.

If you like books by Barbara Delinsky, Kristin Hannah and other contemporary stories that cover more than just romance, you'll love this book. Susan Wiggs creates very human and complex characters and then she writes about love between sisters, family members, men and women. A woman comes home to the family she left behind ten years ago for reasons that become clear as the story unfolds. All the characters grow and change. Nothing is tied up neatly, it's all believable, but it's a very satisfying ending. Worth your time.

Anything Susan Wiggs writes is wonderful, but I particularly appreciate her contemporary romances. She so deftly portrays the issues that confront her protagonists that I am compelled to consider the effect that such issues (wether commonplace or unique) might have on myself or those whom I love.

In this story Jessie Ryder, an accomplished photojournalist, returns home to her family after a fifteen year absence when she learns that she is going blind. There she must face the rebellious daughter, Lila, that she gave up to her sister, Luz, at birth and resolve the differences that have grown between herself and the sister she respects and loves. She must also confront her own demons and deal with the fate that she has been dealt.

Wiggs creates a world that is as real as your own and populates it with strong and complicated characters that you will readily embrace. The major issues such as living with the decisions we have made and with the things in life we cannot change that Wiggs addresses are so truthful and well considered that you will think about this book long after you have finished reading.