Always in My Heart

July 8, 2002
Anderson's newest contemporary romance (after Sweet Nothings) is a maudlin, predictable story that could have been told in half the time it takes here. After their third son dies in a motorcycle accident, Ellie and Tucker Grant drive each other away. Now their surviving sons, Zach and Kody, have run away to an Oregon wilderness area in a last-ditch effort to reunite their grieving parents, who foolishly decide to track them instead of calling in assistance. Ellie and Tucker's reunion is mildly complicated by the presence of new dates (though both are so unpalatable, it's impossible to see why they were attracted to them in the first place); the real obstacle to their relationship, however, is the guilt and recriminations that hang between them. As the situation grows more dire, the author begins inserting clumsy references to God, but parents ultimately find children in a climax that borrows liberally from both Lassie
and MacGyver. Throughout the book, Anderson struggles to sustain some kind of tension between her protagonists by frequently dragging their conversation back to the tragedy, but her efforts only end up making Ellie and Tucker seem hateful. With charmless characters, awkward prose and enough guilt to send even the reader into therapy, this derivative effort fails to live up to Anderson's previous books.

August 12, 2002
Ellie and Tucker Grant have adjusted nicely to their divorce and are enjoying their separate lives. Or so they say. Their two teenage sons, however, think that their parents are still in love, and they decide to do something about it. But their plan to force a reconciliation by running away to the Baxter Wilderness Area in Oregon has unintended results, and although everything does eventually work out, it doesn't happen easily. Emotionally involving, family-centered, and relationship oriented, this story is a rewarding read and should strike a chord with parents, divorced or not. Anderson (Sweet Nothings) is a noted author of heartwarming, historical romances; this is one of her recent contemporaries.

Copyright 2002 Library Journal, LLC Used with permission.

August 1, 2002
When a tragic accident claimed the life of Ellie and Tucker Grant's oldest son, Sammy, it also destroyed their marriage. Ellie could never forgive Tucker for walking out on her and their two younger sons, Zach and Kody, but after building a new life for herself, she believes that she's over him. Then, while visiting their father, Zach and Kody run away into the Oregon woods. With Tucker's expertise as a tracker, he is the logical choice to go after their boys, but Ellie is not about to let him handle this alone. Tucker and Ellie set off on the trail of their sons little realizing that the whole thing is actually a desperate gamble by the boys to bring their parents back together. Guilt and blame drive a husband and wife apart but forgiveness and love reunite them in Anderson's latest superbly written contemporary romance, which features just the kind of emotionally nourishing, comfortably compassionate type of love story this author is known for creating.(Reprinted with permission of Booklist, copyright 2002, American Library Association.)