THE SOLDIER'S HOMECOMING

Author: Donna Alward ISBN: 9780373175048 3/2008 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: HARLEQUIN

A hero for his country - now he will win her heart! Jonas Kirkpatrick left town to be a soldier without ever looking back. But Shannyn saw him every day in her little girl's green eyes... Six years later Jonas has come home, changed utterly from the carefree boy Shannyn once knew. Hardened by war, Jonas can't allow himself to open his heart. Until he discovers what he left behind—the unbreakable bond with a child he never knew existed, and the enduring love of the only woman who can make him whole again...

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

I loved THE SOLDIER'S HOMECOMING! Now that I've said that, I'll tell you why I loved it so much. First of all, although this is a romance and does have the requisite happy ending, there are parts of this story that are so real, so heartbreakingly poignant, that they gripped my soul. I could feel this hero's pain. Too, the woman he left behind, then met up with again, loves with such intensity that it would have been impossible not to feel the sincerity behind every word she speaks.

Jonas Kirkpatrick is a complex character who returns home from war a different man. He guards his emotions and seems utterly closed off from everyone. Shannyn feels her heart lurch the instant she sees Jonas again, but he barely looks at her. She doesn't really need him to, though, because she knows exactly what his moss green eyes look like. She sees them daily on the daughter she has, the sweet child named for Jonas' dead grandmother-the child Jonas doesn't know exists until he sees her fly into Shannyn's arms one afternoon.

The emotionally gripping aspects of this story make it so much more than an average love story. THE SOLDIER'S HOMECOMING tells not just Jonas and Shannyn's story, but the stories of countless men and women who return from serving their country to find their world, and themselves, changed forever. This portrayal of a stirring subject makes for excellent reading.

THE SOLDIER'S HOMECOMING by Donna Alward is a story of love, commitment and the strength of the human spirit. Well done!

Kay James