Reviewed by Donna
TITLE: Resurrecting Hope
SERIES: Home for Hope #2
AUTHOR: Shell Taylor
PUBLISHER: Dreamspinner Press
LENGTH: 200 Pages
BLURB:
Adam Lancaster can’t imagine how his life could possibly get any better. He’s on the cusp of moving in with his boyfriend, Elijah Langley. Their charge, Kollin Haverty, finally has a loving, stable home environment, and Home for Hope is up and running, keeping over fifteen LGBT youth off the streets at night. But one phone call from his birth mother, Jessica Lancaster, is all it takes to unravel Adam’s carefully constructed new life.
Informing Adam his grandfather has died, Jessica expresses remorse for abandoning Adam to the state and begs him for a chance to be part of his life again. Jessica’s true colors eventually shine through her façade, and Adam is devastated all over again when he discovers she is only using him to get her hands on the valuable inheritance his grandfather left him. Jessica’s betrayal forces Adam so far inside his own hell, not even Elijah or Kollin can keep him from abandoning all of his responsibilities and running away. Adam will have to dig deep to find the strength to confront his birth parents, heal once and for all, and earn back his place with his new family.
REVIEW:
The beginning of this second book could be found in the back of the first story of the series, Redeeming Hope. Which means that I read the beginning of this book months ago and have been impatiently waiting for its release ever since.
The story begins with Adam and Elijah madly in love and in a secure and stable relationship. The drama with Kollin’s parents is reaching its end and both men are committed to providing a supportive, loving home for the still hurting teen. Life couldn’t be much better for our two main characters, until Adam’s birth mother, Jessica, turns up out of the blue and announces that she wants to be a part of Adam’s life once again. Elijah and Kollin aren’t happy with the unexpected turn of events, they don’t know what to think of the woman who abandoned her gay child, but Adam is desperate to believe his mother, and allows her to worm her way back into his heart.
When I first read the blurb for this book, I wasn’t too sure what to make of it. I wondered why the blurb would tell us that the mother was up to no good instead of letting us try to guess what was going on, alongside the characters. But in the same way the blurb for the first story left me anxiously waiting for one of the kids to be attacked, this one kept me in a similar state just waiting for Adam to find out the truth about his mother. So I figure if the goal was to amp up the reader’s tension levels – mission accomplished. In the end I wanted it to happen to get it over with, but at the same time I was terrified of witnessing the fallout.
And then it happened – and I was not prepared at all. While the Redeeming Hope was emotional, Resurrecting Hope takes heartache to a whole new level, but once again it was Kollin who drew the strongest emotions from me. Or rather, my most powerful emotions were stirred on Kollin’s behalf. While most readers will likely cry (at least inside) for Adam, I wanted to belt that fucker over the head and leave him on the side of the road for the crows to pick at. Adam was pretty much all shiny perfection in the first book, and usually I’d be all for such a flawless bit of humanity losing some of his apparent polish and showing his dents. As far as I’m concerned, Elijah is big enough, strong enough and mature enough to deal with some crap from the man he loves, a man who put up with endless drama from Elijah in the first book. But…no matter what heartbreak Adam was dealt, he had no right to let down Kollin to such a degree, not after he encouraged that vulnerable teen put such trust in him. Now I’m sure that that isn’t the reaction the author was aiming for, but hey, I’m not actually complaining. In fact, I kind of loved hating Adam, because I knew he’d bring me back onside by the end.
As with the previous book by this author, Resurrecting Hope is extremely well written and hooks you into the story from the first page to the last. I really hope that Kollin will get his own story when he’s a little older. I’m really eager for the kid to find his own HEA.
And I just have to mention that cover. I absolutely love it.
RATING: 
BUY LINKS:
[…] Resurrecting Hope (Home For Hope #2) by Shell Taylor […]