I read this because a reviewer on All Things Considered recommended it. Wasn't very well written, but stupid me, I am reading the antecedent anyway, because I like to know the whole story. ( )

An enjoyable read. Jo-Ann Mapson infuses this book, set in Santa Fe, New Mexico with southwest culture. At first I found the constant use of Spanish words distracting since an explanation of the word had to follow each usage, but once the rhythm of the story took over it began to feel more authentic. The main story centers around a woman, her husband and their adoptive daughter. The story opens from the perspective of a ghost who resides in the new home they are about to purchase, which was an interesting introduction to the story. Plenty of foreshadowing early on in the story also helped keep my interest. I was a little thrown when the story jumped forward in time so quickly and felt that we hadn't fully established the characters when clues were being dropped about troubles and sorrows in their past- I didn't quite care yet enough about these people to be curious about their problems. I really started to enjoy the story when it started flipping back and forth between several characters. At first it was in an effort to understand how these people were linked. I will say the ending was rather obvious, but the author allowed you to invest in these characters' happiness and want good things to happen for all of them. All in all, this was a sweet book and I would definitely recommend it as a heartwarming read about family love ( )

I was charmed by the descriptions of New Mexico. Juniper was adopted by the Vigils after her parents deaths and her sister disappeared. I enjoyed the Vigil family. They are the type of people who are willing to go the extra mile to help people. They are also the type who are willing to make room for one or live by the more the merrier motto. ( )

I hadn’t realised that Finding Casey is a continuation of a story begun in Mapson’s Solomon’s Oak, which introduces the characters of Glory, Joseph and Juniper, not that it matters as this novel works well as a stand alone.

Set in Sante Fe, Glory and her new husband Joseph Vigil, a police officer retired on disability, have not long settled into a new home they share with a ghost nicknamed Dolores, and their adopted daughter, Juniper, when she is home from college in Albuquerque. When Glory discovers she is pregnant at 41 she is stunned yet excited, even with the persistent morning sickness and concerns about carrying a baby to term at her age.

Juniper is excited to be welcoming a baby brother or sister to their family but she can’t help but be reminded of her younger sister, Casey, who was abducted as a young child and never found. Juniper refuses to dwell on the long ago tragedy though instead focuses on the challenges of college and her budding relationship with the handsome but feckless Topher.

As Glory nests, Joseph considers a career change and Juniper experiences the joy and heartbreak of first love, a young woman named Laurel defies her isolated religious community to seek medical help for her seriously ill daughter, Aspen. As Laurel sits by her child’s bedside willing her to recover from the coma she has slipped into, she reflects on her history with Seth and the Farm while trying to avoid the probing questions of the hospital’s social worker and staff.

The connection between Laurel and the Vigil family soon becomes apparent but it is a remarkable, if unlikely, twist of fate that brings them together. Not that I minded much, even with the predictability of the plot and uneven pacing, because I had come to care about the characters and wanted the best for each of them.

Finding Casey is a charming story of family, love and redemption. ( )

Finding Casey covers a lot ot territory with a down-home, western, contemporary tone. Glory Vigil at 42 has a new husband, an adopted 19 year old daughter with a history, and is hugely and unexpectedly pregnant. Add a parallel plot of an abducted and abused young woman, and don't be surprised when everything is resolved neatly in the end. Well written ( )