SECOND NATURE A Love Story

Harrowing situations and the characters embroiled in them are no strangers to Jacquelyn Mitchard's novels. Here, narrator Rebecca Lowman grasps the lead character's tenacity and courage throughout her moving performance. Sicily Coyne has lived with a severely disfigured face since she was 13, when her father, a firefighter, died in a fire at a school event. Twelve years later, Sicily decides to attempt a normal life by having revolutionary facial transplant surgery. Believe it or not, that’s not the gist of the novel's engrossing drama. Sicily's restored beauty leads to new adventures and romance—and a life that becomes entangled in moral dilemmas and life-threatening crises. Lowman conveys the novel's building suspense with heart and deftly portrays the varying degrees of affirmation Sicily finds in those who support her. A.W. © AudioFile 2011, Portland, Maine [Published: DECEMBER 2011]