Friday, September 3, 2010

Book Review: Where My Heart Belongs by Tracie Peterson

About the book:

The journey home brought equal parts healing and heartache....

Amy Halbert left home twelve years ago, eager to cast aside the hindrances of small-town life.  Her sister, Kathy, remained behind, left to witness the ripples of consequences that followed Amy's departure.

When Amy suddenly reappears, her arrival sends Kathy into a maelstrom of emotion.  Bitterness and betrayal threaten to consume her as the past is reawakened.  But Kathy soon realizes that Amy has had burdens of her own to bear....

Drawn together by their dying father's wishes, these sisters will travel down the difficult road of reconciliation...toward one another, and toward God.

My thoughts:

Tracie Peterson has always been one of those authors that I can always rely on for a good read.  Through the years, I have particularly enjoyed her contemporary fiction simply because she always weaves a good tale.  I remember the last book I read of hers (The Long Awaited Child) was devoured in a day.

I hate to say that I did not completely enjoy this book.  I could tell after the first few chapters that the story would be a little redundant, and Kathy would have a very difficult time forgiving Amy's mistakes.  It's not that Kathy should have forgiven Amy with no questions asked, but the topic just kept coming up over and over again.  I also didn't like some sections of the book where some of their conversations seemed full of pat responses to one another.

Another subject that seemed to come up over and over again was the death of their mother shortly after Amy left home.  Kathy, as well as a few members in their small community, blamed Amy for breaking her mother's heart when she demanded her inheritance and flew the coop.  Now, I understand that the death of a parent is difficult, but geez, it seemed that everyone couldn't keep from piling a huge load of guilt on Amy because of it.

I hope Where My Heart Belongs was just one of those flukes that some authors seem to have at least one of.  Thankfully, this one book is not enough to keep me from reading any more of Tracie's books in the future.

2.5 Stars

2 comments:

  1. I agree 100% with your review, Christy. I was disappointed with this book as well.

    Thanks for sharing your thoughts! :)

    Have a great Labor Day weekend.

    *hugs*

    ReplyDelete
  2. I have a couple of series of Tracie's that's been on my TBR list, but thankfully it isn't this one. :) I have heard great things about here other books, though.
    Thanks for the review! :)

    ReplyDelete

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