Deja Vu All Over Again

I was expecting this book to be even more of an angst-fest than the last one - my favorite kind of read!

Forgiveness by Jean Brashear (HSR 1267)
(2005, Contemporary Series) 5/28/06
Grade: 3.5

The same story from Coming Home is told again, this time from the perspective of Victoria and Sandor. Victoria ran away after her brother’s death, determined to escape the pain and guilt. After living on the streets for six years, she returns home in desperation - and finds everything changed. But for her son’s sake, she’s determined to try again.

A lovely story of hope and healing, this might have been a better read as a stand-alone. Sometimes telling the same story from a different perspective is enlightening, but more often, it’s just repetitive. The love between Ria and Sandor isn’t given enough focus, since so much of the book is a repeat of the last one (in some cases, word for word the same). I wanted to learn something new, instead of just getting an expansion of the last book.

These two books were obviously written to go together, but I think the author should have thought through what it would be like to read them back-to-back. I wanted to know more about Victoria, and this wasn't enough.