Coming Home

This was a profound story that included so many issues from demenia, alcoholism, run-away teens, foster homes, deceit, death and unresolved issues that were intricately woven in the lives of Jessica, her grandmother and best friend, Andy. Jessie thought that running away would solve her problems. But it was only when she was ready to confront her past and all the pain, grief and heart break that consumed her life that she found answers. As she learns the truth about her mother, father and grandmother and can forgive is she able to receive and return the love of her childhood sweetheart. This story touched tender places of the heart with encouragement to resolve conflicts in life that can lead to freedom from fear and regret. This is one book that can't be put down until the mystery is solved about Jessie's mother and how Jessie will handle the life that has been dealt her.

Jessica Lehman doesn't want to remember her past, with all its heartache. She doesn't want to get help, as her latest boyfriend seems to think she needs. All she wants to do is flee to paradise--Oregon. The sea. On her way there, she changes her mind. She decides to face the painful memories. She returns to her childhood home, thinking it will help her to get on with life. Little by little, glimpses of the past come back to her, and it frightens her. Then, she finds out her grandmother--Doris Crenshaw--bought her childhoom home. Angry, Jessie drives to her grandmother's house, ready for a fight. Her grandmother always wanted to own everything. First she stole Jessie's mother--now this. This was stealing a part of Jessie's childhood, leaving it uninhabited and cold. No cheerful family lives in the house, no lights illuminate the windows. When Jessie arrives at her grandmother's house, her nerve leaves her. Her grandmother looks frailer than she remembers, but her manner is the same. Chatty and in charge. Andy McCormick, childhood friend of Jessie's, shows up one day when she meets with her friend Mrs. Robinette, who works at the ice cream shop in her hometown. Andy and Jessie strike up a friendship again, talking of old days and new. As their friendship is reestablished, they go back to Jessie's old house. Memories come back, and Jessie finds herself sharing some of them with Andy. Andy has his own problems, and they intensify when he realizes his affection for Jessie is growing. Andy's parents think he is a Christian, as he once thought. Now, he knows he is not, for doubts of the Bible's authenticity plague him. Jessie herself is not a Christian, he finds. His parents would never understand why he would be interested in a non-Christian, and he also doesn't want to marry a non-Christian. Yet he can't marry a Christian while he is not one. Can Jessie and Andy face their past--and their future? With doses of humor, mystery, and sorrow, David Lewis has written a candid and poignant novel that I will not soon forget.

This book focused on Jessie, who is struggling with many ghosts of the pasts, in somewhat of a literal way. Her mother had a terrible disease and supposedly died. Yet, something is just not quite right about what happened to her mother. So she returns to her grandmother's and tries to figure out what exactly happened to her mother. I really enjoyed the book. All the pain that Jessie struggled with, being separated from her mother, was so traumatic, and that showed right through in this book. The anger directed towards Jessie's grandmother was so easy to relate to, as it came out so well in this book. But in the end, Jessie's grandmother turned out to be a rather loveable character who Jessie was able to forgive. Her grandmother did the best she could with Jessie's mother, and with Jessie. And I loved the character of Jessie's childhood friend, Andy. He was willing to stick by Jessie, no matter what. Andy's parents tried to discourage marriage between Andy and Jessie, but Andy was determined to stand by Jessie, no matter the future. And his questions about faith...so real. We all struggle through doubts at times. And the tragedy of Jessie's father's death came out so well, too. He obviously loved Jessie's mother very much and was very devastated when she became end. The ending was beautiful in many ways. I wish I can tell you about it, but it might spoil the book for you.

Jessica Lehman has decided to go to Oregon. She wants to see the ocean. Her boyfriend, Brandon, is supposed to go with her, but the night before they leave, Brandon breaks up with her, saying she has severe mental problems and needs to talk to a professional. Jessica decides to go to Oregon without Brandon, and starts the journey. But as she passes familiar landscapes in Colorado, she changes her mind. What would happen if she went home--a place she hadn't been for twelve years--not since her mother and father died and she ran away from her grandmother's home and care. Stopping at a quaint gift shop, Jessica makes an impulsive purchase for a childhood friend. She goes into town, thinking maybe it'd be fun to look him up. But as one thing leads to another, Jessica's life starts unraveling. Can she go home again? And what secret is her grandmother hiding? COMING HOME is not an easy book to read. It has to be read in small doses. I was curious where Mr. Lewis was going with this story line as it didn't seem very clear at all. I thought Jessica was crazy at first, agreeing with her ex-boyfriend's diagnosis. Mr. Lewis managed to write an intriguing tale. It kept the pages turning, and the reader guessing what would happen next. Jessica is a likeable character with a lot of baggage to work through, and readers will feel her pain. There isn't a lot of romance in COMING HOME so if your looking for a good love story, this isn't the book; but if you're looking for a sweet story about family relationships, even in seemingly severely dysfunctional families, COMING HOME is the book to read. --- reviewed by Laura V. Hilton for Christian Bookshelf

Pity David Lewis, who has been living in the shadow of his famous wife Beverly, author of numerous bestselling Christian novels involving the Amish. Whether David undertook this project in order to step out of his wife's shadow is unclear, but whatever his motives, it was well worth it. David has made a clean break from his wife's common themes- there is not a single mention of an Amish person in the story. Instead, it is set mostly in Colorado's Front Range, where the author makes his home. It focuses on the plight of a girl named Jessie, a recent college graduate who battles emotional and psychological scars from the death of her parents and the lack of a secure home. En route to a new job in Oregon, she plans to make a short detour to her childhood home in Colorado, but once there, discovers she must face the ghosts from her past that have constantly been haunting her. Along the way, she is also confronted with the issue of faith in a God she has long since abandoned, but can't seem to escape. Jessie's struggles are portrayed in a starkly realistic light, and the characters she comes across are all geniune and believable enough to attach the reader. The story manages to be very moving without getting sappy or overly sentimental. Here's hoping it's not the last by David Lewis.