Customer Reviews

No Ordinary Child (Harlequin Superromance No. 1126)

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NO ORDINARY CHILD by Darlene Graham

In this Harlequin Superromance by Darlene Graham, a 10-year old mentally challenged girl helps bring together two lonely people in NO ORDINARY CHILD. Sam Solomon is a successful architect who has a fulltime career in Oklahoma, while his daughter Meggie lives with her mother in California. Because Meggie has the developmental skills of a 3-year old, she lives with her mother full time, making it easier for Sam to pursue his career dreams. Unfortunately Andrea, Meggie's mother and Sam's ex-wife, learns she has cancer and cannot care for Meggie on her own until the chemo and radiation treatments are over. Sam has no choice but to take over the childcare, but he's in the middle of a very important project. His career is very important to him, and with his workaholic schedule, he does not have time to take on a child like Meggie fulltime.

Sam's mother Gayle steps in and finds a young woman named Christy Lane to help out. Christy is currently the part time nanny for another family and works part time at a Wal-Mart to supplement her income. But Gayle Solomon finds a way to convince Christy to quit both her jobs and help Sam out for a while, at least until Andrea is able to take Meggie back. Promised fulltime work as Meggie's new nanny, Christy agrees. It would be a little more income, and would give her more time to work on her music, as she is an aspiring songwriter waiting for her big break.

Christy starts work with Meggie, and finds that Sam's home is not the environment she thinks is best suited for a growing family. It is cold and sterile, lacking warmth in a home that should have exuded warmth and comfort. But Christy fixes that, and Sam slowly notices a change in his house, as she brings to Sam and Meggie something that was missing from their lives - a women's touch.

One thing Sam doesn't know is that Christy remembers Sam from a previous life. Christy had the biggest crush on Sam when they were in high school, but he didn't even know she existed!

I enjoyed NO ORDINARY CHILD. It was well written and the characters were believable. I also felt that the character of Meggie was portrayed in an honest fashion, and seemed very realistic and true to life. The plot line focused a lot on Meggie and how Christy tried to correct some behavioral problems that Meggie developed over the years, instead of focusing only on the romance between Christy and Sam. This was definitely a plus for me, as it was again not the stereotypical romance novel that we've seen for the past 20 or 30 years. Thumbs up for NO ORDINARY CHILD.

Tulsa based historical restoration architect Sam Solomon works on his dream project, restoring Moonlight Grove, Oklahoma, a town flooded when Greer Dam was built in 1939. However, Sam has an immediate personal problem to contend with when his ex-wife Andrea calls to tell him she is going into a cancer treatment clinic with a life threatening disease. He will have to raise their ten-year-old daughter Meggie, who's mentally equivalent to a three-year-old.

Sam's mother hires wannabe children's songwriter Christy Lane to serve as Meggie's nanny. Christy had a crush on Sam back in high school, but he does not recognize her. As Christy begins improving the behavior of Meggie by showering her with love, praise when warranted, and involvement in activities like softball, she and Sam fall in love, but both knows the child comes first.

The romance takes a back seat to the efforts to nurture Meggie, which is well done, but fails to show the toll on the adults lovingly doing this. The story line works because no miracles occur that magically turns Meggie into a fully functioning ten-year-old, but the hard work of Christy enables the child to have friends. Christy is Mary Poppins while workaholic Sam struggles to balance work with the needs of the four women (his mother and ex-wife as the others) in his life. Darlene Graham provides a deep look at raising a mentally handicapped child with an endearing romance to lighten the intense tale.

Harriet Klausner

This is my first time to read anything written by this author. No Ordinary Child was a heartwarming story. Sam Solomon is the handsome architect and Christy Lane is the woman that adored him all during her high school years. Even though she dresses differently with attention grabbing garbs that don't match, Sam is quick to notice his new nanny is sweet, talented and extremely beautiful. But she's great with kids, even children who are born with a mental handicap such a Meggie. And this was Sam's reason for hiring Christy in the first place. Sam's ex-wife, Andrea, is dying of cancer and sends Meggie to stay with her father. He's looking for a nanny to take care of Meggie because he's too busy with his work. The story revolves mostly around the three of them, with a couple of exciting scenes where Meggie is endangered and Christy saves her once and Sam saves her the second time. There are a few twists and turns to this novel that are cute, but overall, it isn't hard to tell where the plot is going. Characters are good and strong, writing is smooth and flows easily. There wasn't as much romance as I expected, but that's okay too because the story was good anyway. I had only one minor problem with this novel, which seemed to grate on my mind as I continued to read. It wasn't a biggie, but something that I continually noticed. The author kept referring over and over to Christy Lane. If I read that name once, then I lost count of how many other times I read it. Christy Lane this and Christy Lane that. She needs to watch this in her future novels. Overall, I think this author has refreshing talent. I look forward to reading more of her novels. I think she's fairly new, and I certainly wish her well.