Mary’s Monet Moments in Reviewing... COME HOME by Lisa Scottoline

Being a mother is a very difficult job and I can only imagine what being a stepmother is like.  As parents our children at times barely acknowledge our existence so a child that doesn’t have to like you I suspect can get away with not liking you.

In COME HOME by Lisa Scottoline the subject of stepchildren and what happens when divorce tears a second family apart is explored.  There is a mystery involved that brings the stepchildren back around but at the core of the subject to me was – being a mother regardless of whether blood is involved or not.  I have nieces and nephews that I treasure as if they are mine and could not bear for them to be removed from my life – how do you handle stepchildren that have come, and then are gone with you having no rights to see them. 

I have read and reviewed COME HOME by Lisa Scottoline that I received from St. Martin’s Press.  Now it is time to let someone else enjoy it and provide this copy to one lucky winner.  To be eligible to win please leave a comment on “is there a child out there you love as if they are your own?”  You must come back on Sunday – June 3^rd to see if you have won and then email me with your address.

As a fan of Claude Monet’s I am always moved by how he took the negatives in his life to made them positives.  No one liked his paintings, they criticized his innovative style, and what he thought was okay he went with.  Life may knock you around but look for the one shining moment in the day and celebrate a Little Victory. 

REVIEW from Mary Gramlich "The Reading Reviewer"

COME HOME by Lisa Scottoline

Do we ever stop being a mother to our children?

For Jill being a mother doesn’t have a time clock or a switch to turn off even after a divorce.  So when Abby, the stepdaughter she thought was lost to her when her marriage fell apart comes crashing into her home Jill never hesitates to open the door.  The man she is about to marry is not as thrilled with the baggage from a prior marriage invading their space, but realizes this part of her past overlays the present.

Jill tries to piece the bits of information Abby is explaining about Jill’s ex-husbands death.  It has been ruled a suicide but Abby believes that it was murder and her case may be wrecked with emotional outbursts but the facts seem to be strong.  Jill should stay out of it and manage her own daughter’s life but a mother never walks away from a child in need regardless of whether they are tied by blood or not.  Abby pulls Jill into the tangled web of deception that was the man she thought she loved life.  Her ex-husband was always under the radar pulling one swindle after another but the one that may have cost him everything was a house built on a very fine paper trail.  Jill pulls fact from all the fiction trying to involve the authorities who just won’t buy into her hypothesis, even one well construed.

Lisa Scottoline knows how to write a story will be pull you in emotionally and keep you riveted to the end.