Review – Rachael’s Return by Janet Rebhan @janetrebhan
Synopsis
In present-day Los Angeles, Caroline Martin has everything but the thing her soul craves most: a daughter. When she undergoes what is supposed to be a routine hysterectomy, she unwittingly aborts the little girl she’s always longed for, leaving the unborn baby’s soul in limbo.
Sharing a hospital room with Caroline is a pregnant woman who’s just been shot by her boyfriend. Her unborn child is barely hanging on—and the soul of Caroline’s hovering baby cannot resist the overwhelming urge to rebirth via this unclaimed fetus.
In the aftermath of these events, two engaging heavenly guides, working together through sensitive humans, struggle to find an alternate way to help Caroline and her would-be daughter forge the link that was always meant to be between them—before the child’s brutal father makes good on his vow to steal the girl and disappear with her forever.
By turns comic and tragic, Rachael’s Return explores the concept of soulmates, the afterlife, reincarnation, and relationships that never die, even as it offers readers a glimpse of the mysteries that exist within the ordinary and challenges assumptions about the true nature of reality.
Review
This novel weaves a tale that combines a bit of suspense, fantasy, and some mysticism that will draw you in right from the start.
I wasn’t sure what to expect with this book but I was pleasantly surprised. It takes a small circle of characters and some souls watching down over circumstances and creates a story that will keep you on edge and captivate you. It also brings to mind the six degrees of separation and how small this world really is with the interactions of the various characters and how each character touched another character’s life in some way or another – through friendship, a chance encounter, or in a hospital room together.
The story flips back and forth from the various character’s viewpoints – this includes those on earth and the souls in heaven or some other plane. Thor and Aurora are two of the souls that are watching over Caroline and Rachael. There is only so much they can do and I found it interesting that those on earth have to pray and ask for help before they can give it, or at least on their level.
I enjoyed the soulmates aspect and how some souls are bound together for all eternity and the lengths they will go to so that they remain in each other’s lives in some respect. There is even a flashback to an event that happened in the mid 1800s that reflects the determination for Caroline and Rachael’s souls to remain together.
This was a different book than I was expecting but I thoroughly enjoyed the story and how it worked out in the end. I almost didn’t want the story to end!
We give this book 4 paws up.
About the Author
Janet Rebhan is the author of the novels Finding Tranquility Base (2012) and Rachael’s Return (2020). Born in West Texas, she was sixteen when she moved to Los Angeles where she graduated from Chatsworth High School before pursuing an acting and modeling career. She went on to study creative writing at UCLA and publish short stories and personal essays. Rebhan has two grown daughters and lives in Los Angeles with her husband.
