From Library Journal
Now that Kyle Adams's dream of finding her biological parents has come true (in Another Homecoming, LJ 6/1/97) and she is pregnant, Kyle begins to believe that her life is perfect. However, when a heart condition threatens her young son's life, Kyle's newfound happiness fades. Then her son dies, and she turns her back on God. It takes a great deal of soul-searching before she is finally able to accept God back into her life. The authors deliver a quietly introspective novel about the true meaning of faith. Of special merit is the deep characterization of Kyle, a woman whose struggles with religious questions are achingly real. Highly recommended.
Copyright 1998 Reed Business Information, Inc.
The sequel to last summer's
Another Homecoming is a straightforward lesson in faith, rather than another convoluted tale, more typical of Bunn than Oke, about confused blood-lines and the presumed dead coming to life. It's almost as though Bunn wrote the first novel, and Oke this one, though both productions are blander by far than either writer's individual work. Kyle Adams returns: she's now married to a solid man of faith and is gloriously happy in her gingerbread row house in Georgetown. Kyle's wicked stepmother is back, less wicked now than grumpy; her real parents are back, humble and cornball as ever; and her noble brother, minister to the homeless, is back, too, about to be married despite a congenital heart condition. Speaking of hearts, Kyle has her baby right after her brother's wedding, and her son has a weak heart and may not live. This puts a strain on Kyle and Kenneth's young marriage: they question their faith as individuals and as a couple and wonder why God can sometimes seem remote. Wouldn't it be extraordinary if Kyle's baby were to die, and if, after turmoil and painful introspection, she reached real insights about faith? That might happen if C. S. Lewis were marooned in such a plot, but not with this team: the baby's fine, the marriage is fine, God is fine. Kyle's observation that "the day was just too wonderful, the miracles too abundant" pretty much sums things up.
John Mort
