Barbara L. (Barbllm) reviewed on 2/21/2013 + 241 more book reviews

While Dr. Jacob Hartman is capable of understanding the inner workings of the human body, he finds women inscrutable and mysterious. He is a former foster child who has made something of himself, and he now volunteers at the Stone Refuge for children. The new manager, idealistic and naive Hannah Smith, soon gets on his nerves; they disagree about whether new resident Andy will be reunited with his mother or not.

The book glosses over some of the very real problems in the foster care system, but also tries to show a parent doing good as well as parents doing very, very badly. I found it very hard to believe some of the dialogue coming from Hannah: how is it possible that a 29-year-old is this naive and, frankly, stupid, about how kids deal with foster care? Did she mistakenly think that the Disney film "The Rescuers" was a documentary?

The novel tries to be realistic but fails at times. However, seeing Jacob and Hannah go from verbally sparring to sharing heart to heart moments is worth it.

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