Baby Love (Mass Market Paperback)

by Catherine Anderson (Author) "Drifting in the misty unreality of dreams, Rafe Kendrick surrendered himself to the images that moved softly through his mind..." (more)
Key Phrases: line shack, Rafe Kendrick, Lonnie Boyle, Sergeant Hall (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review
Setting: Contemporary Idaho and Oregon
Sensuality Rating: 6

Bestselling author Catherine Anderson captivates readers with her tale of a desperate young mother, her newborn son, and the rundown drifter who rescues them one bitterly cold night. Little does Rafe Kendrick suspect that his long-frozen heart will crack wide open when he offers the warmth of his coat to a desperate runaway and her hungry baby. Maggie Stanley has little reason to trust any man, much less Rafe, the drunken cowboy she meets hitching a ride in a boxcar. But when he puts his own life in danger to protect Maggie and her baby, Jaimie, from the lowlifes sharing their railroad car, she's forced to place her battered body and equally battered heart into Rafe's hands for safekeeping. Bound together by circumstance, the two zealously guard their secrets until love permits Rafe to let go of the tragic deaths of his wife and child that sent him running from his former life as a successful rancher. And Rafe's gentle and loving care of Jaimie allows Maggie to see that here is finally a man willing and able to protect her from the harsh realities around every corner. Full of gut-wrenching emotion and plenty of human drama, Catherine Anderson's Baby Love shouldn't be missed. --Alison Trinkle

From Publishers Weekly
Anderson's newest contemporary romance (after Simply Love) begins with a rescue: vagabond Rafe Kendrick prevents Maggie Stanley from being raped by boxcar bums. Saving Maggie and her baby gives Rafe's life meaning again, and he decides he'll do anything to keep them from harm's way. In order to protect Maggie from her ne'er-do-well stepfather, Lonnie, Rafe contacts his family, who hasn't heard from him since he abandoned his profitable ranch after an accident that killed his wife and children. Although she distrusts his motives, Maggie returns with Rafe to his Oregon ranch and they marry. As Maggie heals in body and spirit, their love becomes mutual. While the premise is riveting, the Cinderella-like aspects of the story are overdone, and Maggie's stepfather's drive to do evil is almost cartoonish. Rafe is not only a successful rancherAhe's got $50 million in the bank. Equally unrealistic is the premise that Rafe can stop drinking without suffering any symptoms of withdrawal. However, Anderson is a strong storyteller, and the book should appeal to fans of the genre despite its clich?s. (Oct.)
Copyright 1999 Reed Business Information, Inc.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 432 pages
• Publisher: Avon (November 28, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380799375
• ISBN-13: 978-0380799374
• Product Dimensions: 6.7 x 4.2 x 1.3 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.3 out of 5 stars See all reviews (37 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #23,764 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

  Popular in this category: (What's this?)

  #12 in

  Books > Romance > Authors, A-Z > ( A ) > Anderson, Catherine

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

19 of 19 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Another Keeper from Catherine Anderson!!!, September 4, 2000

By	Maudeen Wachsmith "BeachReader" (Port Townsend, WA) - See all my reviews (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

Maggie is running and running scared. With her newborn infant in tow, she jumps on a freight train in order not only to get away but to hide her tracks. Naively, she believes this will be her ticket to a better life. What she doesn't expect is to find the boxcar already inhabited by several drunken transients. When two of them, traveling together, try to attack Maggie, the third comes to her rescue.

Rafe Kendrick is running, too. Running from his memories but can't escape them. After losing his wife and children in an accident for which he blames himself, he left his home, drank himself senseless, and has pretty much kept himself drunk for a couple years. But when he sees Maggie's need, he decides to help.

Maggie is very secretive about her personal life, not willing to divulge her last name, her hometown, or details about how she received the bruises covering much of her body. Rafe is afraid she's running from the law. Knowing she needs to rest and a good meal, he accompanies her to a motel in a little town in Idaho where he pawns his wedding ring to provide Maggie and her infant son with food, clothing, and shelter. When Maggie becomes too ill to care for her baby herself, Rafe knows that he has to stay sober in order to help both of them.

But when Maggie becomes so ill she needs to be taken to the hospital, secrets are revealed putting her life as well as that of her infant son, in danger. Once again Rafe comes to her rescue. Of course Rafe has a few secrets of his own, the most important being that he isn't just your ordinary downtrodden transient.

How these two wounded souls are able to heal one another is an inspiring story from one of romance fiction's most talented authors. Rafe and Maggie are able to give one another the happiness neither one ever expected to find. Catherine Anderson hooks the reader from the very beginning and until its dramatic conclusion she doesn't let go. BABY LOVE is another winner in a long list of keepers from this talented author whose books consistently tug at the heartstrings and pull at the emotions. Don't miss this one.

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars More than 5 stars worth, December 11, 2004

By	Romatic Reader "metime" (a small town in Kansas USA) - See all my reviews

What a wonderful book with great characters. I have to say this was one of my top 5 favorite books. Rafe is such a tough yet tender guy. One you would dream about. Maggie is tough in her own right coming from an abusive situation. She is running away and meets Rafe, who is also running but for different reasons. He begins to look out for her and take care of her and the baby when she falls sick. From that point on what a beautiful story to get caught up in. I would recommend this to anyone who loves a good romantic story. Some reviewers said that it's to good to be true, but I found it to be so captivating. Besides, fact is stranger than fiction and there is probably someone out there who lived a story similar to this. So READ IT!!! You won't be sorry. Block out time, it's a hard one to put down.

11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars Good, except for the usual too-good-to-be-true stuff, October 29, 2002

By A Customer

This novel is the first of a 3-part series (Phantom Waltz & Sweet Nothings are the other two). It's pretty good, but if you've read a lot of Catherine Anderson, you'll note that her M.O. is all over this. That's either good or bad, depending on your viewpoint. Anderson always gives us an interesting plot, with just enough twists to make the romance interesting without pretending to be anything other than a romance. And, as usual, we get the too-good-to-be-true hero who falls hard for the heroine who is either imperfect or is in an imperfect situation. I know that all romance novels have heroes that are really fairy tale heroes, but Anderson's heroes even go beyond the usual. This, to me, is a drawback.

In this novel, Rafe (the hero) falls almost instantly in love with Maggie (the heroine) and her son. He falls so hard that he gives up his hobo existence and his drinking to help them. Lo and behold: he happens to be a multi-millionaire. Oh, and by the way, he's also gorgeous, kind, patient, etc., etc., etc.
He asks Maggie to marry him to help her out of her bad situation. Here's the part that annoys me: Maggie starts to become annoyed at the attention she's receiving from Rafe & others in his family. So readers are supposed to understand when a sick, homeless, destitute, single mother running from her psycho stepfather gets annoyed at the gorgeous, kind, patient, multi-millionaire who volunteers to save her???? Get real! Anderson does this in all her novels. Although I like the fact that her heroines have interesting personalities, it gets on my nerves that they never seem to appreciate being helped by the hero. This is completely unrealistic even for a romance novel.

That's the major problem with this novel. If you can live with that, you might find it interesting.