In her sequel to Doesn’t She Look Natural
, Hunt’s story moves into heavier themes as Jennifer Graham attempts to rebuild her life after her divorce. Jennifer, just shy of 40 and at the end of her first semester of mortuary school, is happy that her two boys are settling into the small Florida town of Mount Dora. Business is brisk at the family’s inherited Victorian house, which doubles as Fairlawn Funeral Home, under the watchful eye of the elderly live-in embalmer Gerald Huffman. However, things unravel quickly; 13-year-old Clay has fallen in with a trio of shoplifting, rabble-rousing ruffians, and tragedy seems inevitable. When Jennifer unexpectedly discovers she has an illegitimate half-sister with a fundamentalist bigot stepfather, Jennifer’s belief in God’s love and mercy is strained—and more tests of faith loom. Hunt is a prolific, competent author who easily handles the mechanics of her novel. The present-tense narration gives the story an unusual urgency. This novel is more issue-driven than the first, and while the prolife and racial equality themes are weighty, the message of unconditional love helps leaven any preachiness. Readers who enjoyed the first book in the series will find this one more somber, but still engrossing. (May)
