"Jennifer: An O'Malley Love Story" by Dee Henderson

It's been about 10 years since I first met the O'Malley family, and I've enjoyed all of their stories as brought to us by Dee Henderson. The O'Malleys were once seven unrelated orphans living in a group home, but they chose to become their own family and adopted each other as they grew, eventually agreeing to change their last names to reflect their commitment to each other. Now all adults with compelling careers, the first six O'Malley books focused on specific siblings:

Kate as a hostage negotiator; Marcus as a U.S. Marshal; Lisa as a forensic pathologist; Jack as a firefighter; Rachel as a trauma counselor; and Stephen as an EMT. But through them all, it was Jennifer's story which claimed the prominent subplot. Now Jennifer, the youngest of the family, finally gets her own story in this prequel novella.

"Jennifer: An O'Malley Love Story" introduces us to this caring pediatric doctor at a time when her life is wrapped up in caring for her patients. She's surprised when surgeon Tom Peterson takes an interest in her, and they become fast friends. There's a lot about Tom that draws Jennifer to him, but some things about him she doesn't understand at all, like his faith. Beginning to care deeply for him, she agrees to take a look at the Bible and see if she can discover the amazing love of God for herself.

This novella is full of Dee Henderson's signature writing style, and she does a great job getting this story, which goes on to be carried through the rest of the books, off the ground. I feel that to discuss the plot more would give too much away, but let me say that this has made me interested in picking up the other O'Malleys off my shelf and giving them a reread. While I'm at it, I shouldn't forget to mention the other O'Malley prequel, "Danger in the Shadows," which is an excellent suspense story with just the right amount of scary to keep you up all night. "Jennifer" is a gentle story, and one I'd encourage anyone to check out if they wanted to be introduced to the O'Malley clan.

My copy of the book was provided by the publisher in exchange for this honest review. All opinions are my own.