"LETTING GO AND MOVING FORWARD"

I'm usually waiting anxiously for any book that is coming out by Karen Kingsbury but I was even a bit more anxious for this particular book. Kingsbury developed such a unique yet sensitive storyline when she wrote ONE TUESDAY MORNING and as most of her fans will agree, I was dying to find out what happened next.

Once again Jamie Bryan finds herself alone raising a child. The first time was because her firefighter husband was killed in the twin towers on September 11th and this time was because the man who they had told her was her husband, regained his memory and returned to his wife and child.

Jamie is doing a good job of taking each day, one day at a time and her volunteer work at St. Paul's, a refuge for visitors and family members who come to visit the former Twin Towers site. Each time she holds someone's hand or offers a gentle hug to someone hurting, it helps ease her own pain just a bit. She also has the friendship of her husbands fire captain Aaron who has made it clear that he'd like to become more than just friends.

Jamie's life takes a strange twist one morning on the ferry when she is almost abducted by some men who are intent on raping her. The man who comes to her rescue is Clay Michaels who is on his way into New York during his paid leave from the police department in California. Wanting to do something special to thank the man who saved her life, Jamie invites Clay to her home for dinner.

What starts out as a simply appreciation dinner, will evolve into something so much more. Clay is immediately captivated not only by Jamie but also by her beautiful, charismatic daughter Sierra. During the next three weeks, Jamie will spend every spare moment he has with Jamie and Sierra and the romance that develops between these two wounded souls will warm every heart that reads this book.

However, what Jamie doesn't know about Clay and his family, will end up threatening their newfound romance and any chance of a future they might have. It will take some special prayers for everyone involved to move past the startling discovery and into a future together.

Kingsbury once again deserves kudos for developing such an intense storyline that will captivate the reader and keep them up into the wee hours of the morning as they wait for their happy ending.

Reviewed by Shelby Bagby
Posted December 28, 2004

Summary

The hope-filled sequel to the bestselling One Tuesday Morning In this new novel by Karen Kingsbury, three years have passed since the terrorist attacks on New York City. Jamie Bryan, widow of a firefighter who lost his life on that terrible day, has found meaning in her season of loss by volunteering at St. Paul's, the memorial chapel across the street from where the Twin Towers once stood. Here she meets a daily stream of people touched by the tragedy, including two men with whom she feels a connection. One is a firefighter also changed by the attacks, the other a police officer from Los Angeles. But as Jamie gets to know the police officer, she is stunned to find out that he is the brother of Eric Michaels, the man with the uncanny resemblance to Jamie's husband, the man who lived with her for three months after September 11. Eric is the man she has vowed never to see again. Certain she could not share even a friendship with his brother, Jamie shuts out the police officer and delves deeper into her work at St. Paul's. Now it will take the persistence of a tenacious man, the questions from her curious young daughter, and the words from her dead husband's journal to move Jamie beyond one Tuesday morning. "Jamie Bryan took her position at the far end of the Staten Island Ferry, pressed her body against the railing, eyes on the place where the Twin Towers once stood. She could face it now, every day if she had to. The terrorist attacks had happened, the World Trade Center had collapsed, and the only man she'd ever loved had gone down with them. Late fall was warmer than usual, and the breeze across the water washed over Jamie's face. If she could do this, if she could make this journey three times a week while Sierra was in school, then she could convince herself to get through another long, dark night. She could face the empty place in the bed beside her, face the longing for the man who had been her best friend, the one she'd fallen for when she was only a girl."