"Satisfyingly romantic women's fiction"

Luna McGraw has had to overcome many hardships in her life. Abandonment by her father, an unfaithful husband and broken marriage, and worst of all- loosing custody of her daughter due to her own alcoholism. But now Luna has gotten herself back on track. She has a job and a home in New Mexico that she loves, she has been sober for years and her teenage daughter, Joy, is coming to live with her. She is discovering a new hope and promise to life. When a near tragedy brings into her life a man she has secretly developed a crush on, she doesn't know whether to trust in fate and get involved with him, or to run away from the possible complications and heartache she knows a man can leave behind.

Thomas Coyote has also had to deal with heartache and betrayal in his own life. He is divorced, and regrets that he has never been able to have the house full of children he always wanted. It hurts him that his ex is now pregnant with a child he couldn't give her. He has a habit of collecting strays, both animal and human. His grandmother Placida, and Tiny, a young employee in trouble with the law, are now living with him. Tiny is under a restraining order to keep him away from his wife and children and Thomas is trying to get it through his head that violence is not the way. When Thomas meets Luna he is attracted to her and is hopefully optimistic that a relationship could be good for them, in spite of the disapproval of his grandmother and ex-wife because Luna is an Anglo.

A PIECE OF HEAVEN is the story of Luna and Thomas and their relationships with each other and the important people in their lives. Luna especially has to play many roles; mother, sister, daughter, and eventually lover. Her struggle to get through life one day at a time is absorbing, stirring up many sympathetic emotions in the reader. Joy is a remarkable young woman, experimenting at being rebellious but not obnoxiously so. Thomas is a gentle man, with an admirable inner core of strength. The remaining ensemble of relatives and friends are interestingly portrayed and never seem to be just superficial filler. I believe this book will satisfy readers of both women's fiction and romance, and Ms. Samuel's fans will happily devour A PIECE OF HEAVEN.

Review courtesy of Book Barn, Folsom Ca.

Reviewed by Janice Bennett
Posted January 3, 2003

2004 RITA Finalist for a Novel with Strong Romantic Elements

Summary

In the sun-baked hills of New Mexico, Luna McGraw has lived a lifetime of regrets, struggling to conquer the demons that destroyed her marriage and caused her to lose custody of her beloved daughter. But as Luna fights to rebuild a relationship with the troubled teenager, she remains haunted by images of her own childhood and the father she barely knew.

Strong and resilient as the houses he builds, Thomas Coyote comes into Luna's life one extraordinary night when his grandmother nearly dies while conjuring a fiery brew of spiritual enchantment. Luna does not need a man— especially one with a needy ex-wife—to complicate her fragile dreams of the future. Their attraction pushes them both beyond reason into a place where there is only possibility. Yet it will take more than passion to recover the tattered pieces of Luna's soul, more than time to forgive the sins of an offending husband, and more than promises to mend the broken heart of a child.