Mallory James is returning to Moonglade, her former home to see her ailing uncle. It had been her home and he had been her much needed father figure until she was forced to flee six years earlier. But the now successful child psychologist finds herself heading for POINCIANA ROAD and hopes that the past will stay away.

No such luck, Mallory finds herself not only with her uncle but someone who had easily gotten her goat, Blaine Forrester is there. The biggest shock is the appearance of her one time fiancé the very man whose humiliation had sent her packing all those years ago, now he has a wife, a child and his manipulative, irritating sister forming one bit unhappy family. Working desperately to keep the past in the past, Mallory finds that though, once an irritant, Blaine the one she finds herself turning to when tragedy happens.

POINCIANA ROAD is poignant with a touch of sweet romance in spite of interference. Margaret Way is one of my favorite contemporary Australian writers and has never disappointed me. Her stories are usually of a lighter storyline despite featuring dysfunctional families and some of the most intriguing settings I have read. In this book readers will find a study of the different psyches of people that includes touches of madness and traces of arrogance that either will make you angry or sad for those people. I do have to admit that one of the things that did bother me was there was a lot of psychoanalyzing going on, that is Mallory's profession, but I, personally found it tedious. The hero of the book is Blaine, who knows what he wants, that being Mallory. She had a lot of tragedy to overcome, but when the time finally came to fall in love, Blaine was there waiting for her.

There are quite a few unexpected twists to this storyline that I did not see coming but that just demonstrates what an intriguing writer Ms. Way is. POINCIANA ROAD is going on my shelf with all the others I have read and can't wait for the next one.