Customer Reviews

From Friend to Father (Harlequin Super Romance)

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Sarah is used to being abandoned. Her father abandoned her. Her husband abandoned her when she got pregnant, and now her best friend is dead in a car accident. Which is bad enough except Sarah is carrying the baby her friend Vanessa had so desperately wanted...fathered by Vanessa's husband, sexy Reece. Giving up the baby would have been hard enough if Vanessa had still been alive, but with her dead, it'll be doubly hard. Except, Reece doesn't come around, doesn't answer her calls, doesn't seem interested until Sarah is fully bonded with her beautiful baby.

His wife's death leaves Reece devastated. His most important job in the world was to protect her and he failed. He retreats into work, into himself, for months. Even when he comes out of his funk, he can't get over Vanessa's death, can't get over thinking that Sarah is Vanessa's friend and his attraction to her some sort of betrayal. He's already abandoned Sarah and his baby, but he swears he won't do it again...until he does.

Author Tracy Wolff creates a compelling conflict between the woman who's certain she'll be abandoned and a man who seems intent on abandoning her again and again. I liked Sarah, although I think she could have been a little more uncertain rather than confident she would be abandoned. Reece, on the other hand, is not especially sympathetic. He lives down to Sarah's lowest expectations so completely that I had a hard time buying the resolution. After all, what, exactly, has he done that makes us confident that he won't abandon Sarah one more time? That he keeps coming back after he runs away is certainly better than staying running, but he did run.

Wolff's polished writing, strong sensual scenes, and her sympathetic handling of the overwhelmed Sarah are the story's strong points. Reece, with his anger and his tendency to run at the slightest pretext weakens the story.

"FROM FRIEND TO FATHER" by Tracy Wolff is a well-paced, warmly-told story of two fiery and stubborn people who grow as individuals as their relationship comes together. Sarah and Reece are friends because his wife is Sarah's best friend. When Reece and his wife, Vanessa, are not able to conceive a child to save their strained marriage, Sarah agrees to be a surrogate mother. Before the child is born, Vanessa is killed in a car crash, leaving a devastated Reece unable to cope with the responsibility of Sarah's pregnancy. He does not visit Sarah until after the baby, Rose, has been born. Sarah had once been married and also has five year old twin boys whose father abandoned her and the children. She is reluctant to trust Reece when he states that he wants to take care of her and the boys and be a true father to Rose. He moves in with Sarah and the kids, and all their lives are eventually changed for the better. A very good family story with plenty of heat between Sarah and Reece!

Vanessa and Reece Sandler ask her best friend Sarah Martin to be a surrogate mother, which she agrees to do. Pregnant, Sarah is shocked when Vanessa dies in a car crash. Reece grieves his loss and cannot find the courage to see his daughter Rose after Sarah gives birth; this is her third child as she is the single mother of five years old twins, Johnny and Justin.

Several months later, Reece finally forces himself to meet his infant daughter. He feels remorse as he knows he has been neglecting his responsibility and allowed unfairly for Sarah to shoulder the load of raising Rose. When Rose becomes ill, he panics. Reece moves in to help Sarah raise the three kids. However, an attraction explodes in which love and guilt war for supremacy.

This is an interesting family drama starring a very responsible single mom and a grieving widower unable to move on past the death of his beloved spouse to raise his daughter. The twins add humor with stunts like providing a funeral at sea for their toy Pirate Jack by flushing him down the toilet leading to stuffing the commode. However, it is Reece who makes the angst filled story line work as he knows he needs to move passed his grief to take care of his baby, but feels incompetent and does not want to harm Rose. Fans will root for this quintet to turn into a family of five, but doubt love can overcome grief.

Harriet Klausner