Day by Day

Rating:
Summary: strong relationship drama
Review: Anyone who lives in Grand Haven off of Lake Michigan knows that Maggie and Spencer MacKenzie clearly love each other with a relationship so strong few if any can rival it. Though their bonds are robust, the two adults nurture and love their two preadolescent children. While Spence works on a project, Maggie drives to the elementary school to deliver a bicycle helmet for her daughter to use in show and tell. An SUV runs a red light crashing into her vehicle leaving her in a coma.

The children are devastated with the loss of their mother, but perhaps not as much as Spence and Maggie's sister Jackie, already suffering emotional devastation from a recent divorce. After several weeks of raw feelings, Jackie and Spence fall in each other's arms and make love, but both regrets their actions the morning after. When Maggie regains consciousness, she has to learn how to live all over again and even try to love Spence, who is loaded with guilt. Will the once idyllic couple regain what they lost in a nanosecond of fate's intervention or is it over?

DAY BY DAY is an apt title for a strong relationship drama as Maggie recovers one step at a time. Audiences will feel the angst of those characters that cherish Maggie. The sidebar of the one night mistake and its aftermath add unnecessary emotion to an already terse drama filled with passion and feelings. Though that detour turns the novel into more of a soap opera, Sandra Steffen invokes sympathy from her readers who want the best for these basically good people.

Harriet Klausner

Rating:
Summary: This is a CAN'T PUT IT DOWN book.
Review: Spence and Maggie McKenzie have the kind of charmed life most people only dream about. They live in a wonderful beech town on Lake Michigan, have two bright and happy little girls. Maggie has her sister, Jackie, who is her best friend and confidant, friends, neighbors. Most importantly, Maggie and Spence have each other. And then, one morning their idyllic life is shattered when a car accident leaves Maggie in a deep coma. Spence and Jackie rush to her side, and the vigil begins.

Sandra Steffen writes with an incredible emotional depth, bringing these characters to life. Readers will root for them as, day after day, Spence and Jackie do everything they can to hold Maggie's world together. Days turn into weeks, and weeks turn into months. As their hope turns into desperation, Spence and Jackie hold onto each other. Just as everything seems lost, Maggie begins to awaken.

Maggie fights to regain the life she nearly lost. Readers will chear when she takes her first steps, and re-establishes herself as a competant, compassionate mother to her daughers. And yet nothing feels the same. Certainly, nothing can prepare her for the shocking truth. For while she'd slept, the world carried on without her.

Maggie remains certain of one thing: she's been granted a second chance, and she intends to make the most of it. She isn't certain it's possible to repair the rift in her relationship with Jackie, or with Spence. As she pieces things together as best she can, a stronger woman emerges.

Maggie, Spence and Jackie were a delight; the situation they found themselves in was one that no one can prepare for. This is a book about love, tears and laughter. It's about living life minute by minute, hour by hour, Day By Day.