The Secret Father: The Calvert Cousins (Harlequin Superromance No. 1154) [Mass Market Paperback]

Anna Adams (Author)

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 304 pages
• Publisher: Harlequin (September 1, 2003)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0373711549
• ISBN-13: 978-0373711543
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.2 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 8.5 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,920,108 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Powerful family drama - Highly recommended, September 30, 2003

By 

C. Penn "WordWeaving" (Greenville, SC) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Secret Father: The Calvert Cousins (Harlequin Superromance No. 1154) (Mass Market Paperback)

Nineteen-year-old Olivia Kendall is pregnant when she sees the headline reporting the death of her child's father Zach Calvert. He had been a pilot in the Navy. In that moment her entire life shifts, and she never even had the chance to inform him of her pregnancy. Despite pressure from her father, Olivia went on raise her son and to build a career. Six years later a news broadcast includes a picture of Zach, who is now a small town sheriff. A life of privilege has not filled her son's desire for a father, but by contacting him Zach opens Olivia to vulnerabilities she has long set aside.

A crash and a head injury robbed Zach of several years of memory. He still discovers skills about himself that he did not know he had. Now divorced, Zach struggles to build a life for himself as a non-custodial father. He is absolutely stunned to meet Olivia and learn that he has a son, but determined to be a good parent to him as well. While he has no memory of Olivia, Zach cannot resist the powerful attraction between them. But she still bears the wounds of his unintentional abandonment.

Anna Adams creates a beautiful tale of second chances in THE SECRET FATHER. By limiting Zach's amnesia to a few years, Adams creates marvelous tension without falling victim to the typical amnesia story devices. Moreover, Olivia strikes a delicate balance between independence and keeping peace with her father, never hesitating to assert herself when necessary. Zach is a powerful sympathetic hero as he copes with a difficult ex-wife and profound parenting challenges. Even the ex-wife proves to be a wonderful secondary character with combination of cattiness and vulnerabilities. A powerfully told tale of difficult family relationships, THE SECRET FATHER comes highly recommended.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Unexpectedly good book!, May 12, 2005

By 

Judi "All hearts open, all people connected" (Bloomington, India) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Secret Father: The Calvert Cousins (Harlequin Superromance No. 1154) (Mass Market Paperback)

I am not a fan of all Harlequin books, having found some of the writing lacking in depth, but Anna Adams does an amazing job and raises the bar for Harlequin - she brings surprising understanding to relationships and interactions between characters that I have not found missing in many of the romances I've read.

This story is about learning to trust and the down to earth realities of two strangers trying to find common ground as parents of a child. The author brings a subtle sense of how difficult relationships and u predictable relationships can be rather than slipping into the predictable, almost silly automatic descriptions some romance books tend to revert to. I highly recommend this book and this writer.