Review: A Christmas Homecoming
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 12 18, 2012
A Christmas Homecoming is a poignant novella about God's gift of grace, forgiveness, healing, faith and redemption to a family that has been struggling through unfortunate life circumstances for the past seven years. Written in the third person narrative with alternating perspectives from a mother and a daughter, author MaryAnn Diorio weaves an inspirational tale of the beauty of God's grace and the power of forgiveness that brings a family back together, on the road to healing and becoming whole once again.At the age of eighteen, Jody Pettit O'Dair runs away from her home in Falls Church, Virginia, to experience a life of adventure and excitement in Sydney, Australia. She left her family without even saying goodbye, leaving just an impersonal note telling them not to look for her. Now seven years later at the age of twenty-five, Jody realizes that her life of adventure and freedom has instead brought only heartache and trouble. Divorced and left penniless with three year old twins Micah and Greta, she is laid off from a job she hated but desperately needed. With nowhere else to turn to, can Jody go back home to her family in Virginia? Will they forgive her for her selfish actions and the pain that she has put them through? Will they welcome her back into their family?For seven Christmases, Sonia Pettit has prayed for the safety and return of her daughter Jody. Jody's unexplained disappearance has turned Sonia and her family's world upside down. After twenty-nine years of marriage to her husband Rick, he took Jody's disappearance so hard, he developed a heart condition and withdrew from the world as bitter man whose heart gave out, only to die from a broken heart. And their son Ben, who was fifteen years old at the time of Jody's disappearance, is now an angry, bitter and rebellious twenty-two year old. With everything that Jody has put the family through, can Sonia open her heart and forgive her daughter, and welcome her back into the family?My favorite quote in the story is one that sends a powerful message for everyone to follow: Sonia tells her son Ben that "forgiveness is a decision, not a feeling." No truer words could have been written!A Christmas Homecoming is a beautifully written and heartwarming story that will stir your soul. This is an emotional story that provides a wonderful message that will resonate with the reader for a long time, especially during the Christmas holiday season.Disclaimer: I received a copy of the book from the author / publisher in exchange for my honest review and participation in a virtual book tour event hosted by Litfuse Publicity.