The Homecoming by Dan Walsh

A reluctant war hero returns home and encounters a new chance at love.


No sooner has Shawn Collins returned home from the fighting in Europe than he is called upon to serve his country in another way--as a speaker on the war bond tour. While other men might jump at the chance to travel around the country with attractive Hollywood starlets, Shawn just wants to stay home with his son Patrick and his aging father, and grieve the loss of his wife in private. When Shawn asks Katherine Townsend to be Patrick's nanny while he's on the road, he has no idea how this decision will impact his life. Could it be the key to his future happiness and the mending of his heart? Or will the war once again threaten his chances for a new start?


Dan Walsh does not disappoint in this tender story of family ties and the healing of a broken heart.

My review:

This book is a sequel to Walsh's first book, The Unifinished Gift, a Christmas novel, and possibly the best Christmas novel I have ever read. This book, The Homecoming, takes up where the first book left off, and though it is an excellent read, I did like the first better, but I am parital to Christmas books.

Walsh takes a page from Karen Kingsbury, who is known for righting an emotional story that grips your heart and makes you a bit misty-eyed, or outright cry. In this book, the widowed father has come back from the military and wants time to grive and spend time with his little boy, but the US military has other ideas. Walsh does a great job portraying the anguish of a father wanting to stay with his little boy, but duty-bound to obey his superiors.

There is some military action in the book - World War II is going on - which adds to the book and made it even more interesting and enjoyable. Also some romance.

I had one disappointment with the book. I do not partake of alcoholic beverages, and don't believe Christians should - I've heard all of the arguments, and I'm not out to argue about it in a book review - but when there are still a lot of Christians who feel the same way, I do wish authors would leave the consumption of alcohol by Christians out of their books - but that is my only gripe with the book. It is an excellent read, and Dan Walsh has a running head start to being an accomplished author in the Christian fiction market. I look forward to reading more from him in the future.

About the author:

Dan Walsh is the author of The Unfinished Gift and a member of American Christian Fiction Writers. He is a pastor and lives with his family in the Daytona Beach area, where he's busy researching and writing his next novel.



Available June 2010 at your favorite bookseller from Revell, a division of Baker Publishing Group.

Thanks to Revell for the review copy.