Gina Holmes, Crossing Oceans

Crossing Oceans

Gina Holmes

Tyndale, May 1 2010, $13.99

ISBN: 9781414333052

Following the death of her mother, a pregnancy in which her lover David Preston dumped her without knowing she was carrying and a fight with her father, Jenny Lucas left Tulleytown, North Carolina vowing to never return. Six years later, she and her daughter Isabella have come home. Her oxygen carrying Mama Peg welcomes her granddaughter and great-granddaughter while her daddy remains hurt and distant until Jenny explains she is dying from cancer just like her mom though a different form of the killer.

Jenny seeks a caretaker for her child as she knows Mama Peg is not healthy enough and her dad failed her. She considers David, but when she goes to tell him he is a father, he is nasty. Ironically his wife Lindsay is nice. Her high school peer Craig Allen who rents a loft is kind to mother and daughter. However, the clock is running out on Jenny and she must decide what is best for her beloved daughter between her father and her former lover; both who failed her when she grieved her mom's death at a time when she needed each of them; she fears they will do again but this time she cannot clean up the mess.

The key to this well written poignant weeper is no miracle occurs saving Jenny, but the right person is there for Isabella if the dying mom can get through the pain of her past to see the future as her dad believes David's dad's misdiagnosed his wife's illness leading to her death. Character driven with a powerful ensemble cast supporting Jenny, readers will appreciate the angst filling an ocean as Jenny worries who will raise Isabella once she dies.

Harriet Klausner