No Place Like Home

November 12, 2001
Over 20 years ago, the protagonist of romance writer Samuel's scrappy hardcover debut left high school and rode far from her Colorado home on the back of a musician's motorcycle. Now, at the age of 40, Jewel Sabatino lives in New York and has a gay best friend dying of AIDS, rancid memories of a nonmarriage to a nonstarter, a teen musician son, an estrangement from her father (with whom she "had not exchanged a single word in twenty-three years") and an unrelieved case of low self-esteem. When she learns, almost simultaneously, that she's inherited her great-aunt's house and that her apartment building in Greenwich Village is going condo, Sabatino knows it's time to go home. She, 17-year-old son Shane and ill best friend Michael Shaunnessey head for her third-generation Italian-American enclave in Pueblo, Colo. There she comes to terms with who she is, helped considerably by Malachi Shaunnessey, a "big, alligator-blood-drinking tough guy" who shows up to ease his dying brother Michael's last days, bringing more than just comfort to Jewel in the process. The sense of place is vivid, the secondary characters charming and many of Jewel's thoughts about her various and often conflicting roles and loyalties are all too recognizable and full of self-deprecating humor. But having established a high-concept situation, Samuel (Night of Fire, The Black Angel) leaves little room for surprises, and of the four main characters only Shane is allowed to display spontaneity.

February 15, 2002
Jewel ran away with a bad boy musician on a motorcycle when she was 17, breaking her daddy's heart. Twenty-three years later, down on her luck, she's back, with her teenage son Shane and her AIDS-stricken best buddy Michael, the deed to Great Aunt Sylvia's house in her pocket. Her big Sicilian-American Colorado clan embraces her, except for daddy, who's still nursing his great hurt. It's an eventful summer; there's a marriage; a funeral; a sweet, unexpected love affair; a tough letting-go; and redemption and reconciliation. This hardcover debut by RITA Award-winning Samuel is a tearjerker but never a downer. Combining the best of romance, women's, and mainstream fiction, this transcends boundaries. It's a triumph. Samuel lives in Pueblo, CO. Jo Manning, Barry Univ. Lib., Miami Shores, FL

Copyright 2001 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

December 1, 2001
After leaving home more than 20 years ago, Jewel Sabatino returns to Pueblo, Colorado. She's broke and traveling with her 17-year-old son, Shane, and best friend, Michael, who is dying from AIDS. Nervous, not knowing what to expect, Jewel is pleasantly surprised by the family welcome, although her father, who told her she was dead to him when she rode off with her musician boyfriend all those years ago, is missing, a sign that he still feels the same way. She settles into the house her aunt left her, but Shane is having difficulty adjusting to small-town life, while Michael, her rock, is slowly losing the battle for life. Jewel sends for Michael's younger brother, Malachi, whom she has never met. The two have an instant sexual chemistry that causes her family to speculate, but Malachi has family issues of his own, which makes the overtures of the Sabatino clan difficult to accept. Samuel tells a truly heartwarming story that proves that sometimes you can go home again.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2001, American Library Association.)