Two Korean babies - Jin-Ho and Sooki - are delivered to two waiting families one August night in Baltimore. Though the Donaldsons and the Yazdans have nothing in common besides the arrival date of their adopted daughters, they form a bond of friendship that unites them for years and ultimately make them family. Recommended. ( )

I actually forgot I was reading one of Tyler's books; the characters weren't as quirky as they usually are. Instead, Tyler goes global/multi-cultural in this story about two families (one with Iranian heritage) who meet and become friends after they welcome their adopted daughters from Korea on the same day. You don't have to have adopted children to recognize the tensions that can happen when these two families have very different ideas about how children should be raised and can't help but compare and compete at least a little bit. Tyler doesn't resort to stereotypes in making one of the families Iranian-American. Sometimes it's important and sometimes it's not. In fact, that's something that some of the members of both families have to figure out.

This provides a fascinating insight into the cultures of immigrant families in America. It considers the cultural issue of adopting outwith one's country and how the two families find connections from their experiences.

The characters are believeable and the misunderstandings that arise between Maryam and Dave are heart-wrenching - worht the read just for that. ( )

On Aug. 15, 1997, two baby girls arrive at the Baltimore airport from Korea. Jin-Ho is swept into the exuberant arms of Bitsy and Brad Dickinson-Donaldson, who are throwing 'what looked like a gigantic baby shower' in the waiting room with their extended family. Sooki is quietly handed over to the Yazdans—Sami and his wife, Ziba, accompanied by his mother, Iranian immigrant Maryam—who rename her Susan. Wanting to connect Jin-Ho with another Korean child, outgoing Bitsy pulls the Yazdans into her family's orbit and establishes the annual tradition of celebrating the girls' Arrival Day. The two couples become close, especially Bitsy and Ziba, but Maryam is dubious about these brash Americans, with their slightly tactless self-assurance and intrusive questions about Iranian traditions. The ensuing culture clash enriches Tyler's narrative without diminishing her skills as an engaging storyteller and delicate analyst of personality. She examines the insecurities underneath Bitsy's overbearing manner, American-born Sami's amused condescension toward both his natal home and the land of his ancestors and a host of other complex aspects of her well-developed characters, including Ziba's nouveau-riche parents and Bitsy's easygoing father, Dave. Maryam is the novel's central figure: a teenaged immigrant, widowed before she was 40, who has never felt quite at home anywhere and maintains a critical distance from Americans and Iranians alike. Only Dave breaches her defenses. After his beloved wife's death—Tyler's portrait of his grieving is sensitive and touching—he unabashedly declares his need for Maryam, who reciprocates and then panics. Readers will hope that these flawed, lovable people will find happiness, but they won't be sure until the final page, so deftly has the author balanced the forces that keep us apart against those that bring us together. KIRKUS REVIEWS

This book was a quick read with some well defined characters. I'm not a big fan of Tyler's books so I can't compare it to others I've read.

To me the main thread was the conflict between being yourself and trying to be someone you are not. ( )