Customer Reviews

A Family of His Own (Harlequin Romance)

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(1)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

Very enjoyable tale about a widower rediscovering life and love when a woman trespasses in his garden to pick blackberries. It was very evocative of England and English gardens, a heartwarming tale of how and when to move on after loss.

Kay Lovell was normally a strictly law-abiding citizen, but the tempting blackberries in a neighbor's neglected garden called to her. She took some of the berries and, feeling a bit guilty, came back the next day to replace the broken lock on the garden gate. While in the garden, a thin, haunted-looking Dominic Ravenscar spied her from a window in his house. Believing that Kay is really his dead wife, Sara, Dominic enters the garden and kisses Kay. Kay is shocked by the kiss; not only is she shocked that a stranger is kissing her, but she's more shocked that she is responding to the kiss - something she hasn't done in a long time.

Dominic Ravenscar is also shocked - shocked that he could have mistaken Kay Lovell for his beloved deceased wife. Sara has been gone for six years, and for six years Dominic has lived in a shadowy world, never pausing to fully grieve the loss of his wife. He believed that if he kept running, the pain wouldn't catch up with him. Six years of running, however, hadn't done him much good, and so he returned to his old home to sell it. He wants Kay's help in selling his home, but can Kay help him more than he imagines and heal his broken heart?

At first, I was really into this book. There was a mystery surrounding Kay and her daughter, Polly, which I thought could be quite interesting. I also loved the premise of the story with a dark, brooding hero. It almost reminded me of a gothic novel, and I like those once in a while. The more I read, though, the more boring the story became. The first half of the book was pretty good - Kay is determined to help Dominic overcome the ghosts of his past while she keeps her own secrets to herself - but after the 100 page mark, things went downhill fast. Kay became a rather weak heroine as time wore on, and Dominic went from miserable one day to completely healed over night. The timeline was pretty unrealistic after the first 100 pages, as well. There was a huge development in the story that was pretty much glossed over with just a few pages devoted to it, and a huge potential hindrance to the relationship went away without much discussion at all. The book was okay, but I won't be reading it again.

A Family of His Own by Liz Fielding
Harlequin Romance # 3798 - May 2004

Returning to his home after six years away, Dominic only wishes to put the house on the market and bury the past. Finding Kay trespassing in his wife's garden, for a moment it was as if it had been Sara. But that wasn't right because Sara was dead. Kay couldn't stop herself from rescuing the bushes in the apparently abandoned garden from the choking vines. When Dominic confronts her trespass, Kay put her hand forward and offers herself for the job of setting the garden straight. She sees the torment in Dominic and wants to pass on a healing touch; similar to the one she herself received when she was at her rope's end.

This is the story of overcoming tragic pasts. For Dominic, it's the loss of his pregnant wife, and for Kay, it's the loss of her youth and fear for her child. Together they learn to fight for life and love. I'm quickly finding that Ms. Fielding never disappoints. An awesome story.