Customer Reviews

Secret Baby, Surprise Parents (Harlequin Romance)

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Grace McAllister cares deeply for others, so much so that she would do anything to ease her sister's Phoebe's pain, even become a surrogate mother. Grace's bold decision puts her at odds with the one man she has ever loved, Josh Kingsley. Successful and popular with the ladies, Josh seems headed on the fast track, a track that leads him farther and farther from home. When tragedy strikes, can Grace rely on Josh to help her? Together can the two of them do what is best for the little baby Posie? In the midst of their grief, can Grace and Josh find a way to share the secrets that they have kept from one another? Can the little baby Posie open their hearts to love?

Liz Fielding's SECRET BABY, SURPRISE PARENTS, is a beautiful romance of love and joy emerging from loss. As the legal implications of surrogacy and parenthood complicate the legal status of Posie, Liz Fielding does an excellent job at showing the emotional depth of Grace's tie to Posie. As the secrets unravel, Liz Fielding creates a emotional landscape that keeps the reader glued to the pages. One feels the emotional loss in the very language of the romance, a language that mesmerizes the reader with its depth as these two wounded souls work their way out of the past and the secrets that have kept them apart. From the depth of their loss, Grace and Josh risk honesty in a way they never have. As they open up to themselves and each other, they find themselves more able to see one another as they are rather than through the image they have built up of one another. From loss, Josh and Grace learn to reach out, creating a new emotional space in which love transforms them. Liz Fielding paints a magnificent portrait of a woman who moves from passivity and dependence upon others to a woman who recaptures her spark for life and an independence that allows her to love like never before with a joyous confidence in herself.

SECRET BABY, SURPRISE PARENTS is a highly emotional romance. Open the cover and be prepared to be glued to the pages from the first tense dynamic moments to the last twists in the epilogue. What an epilogue! Whereas an epilogue in the hands of less experienced authors often fades the story into a lackluster expected resolution, Liz Fielding uses the form of the epilogue to deliver the final wonderful dynamic images of the courage of love. Liz Fielding's epilogue does more than just completes or resolves ---- it transforms all that led up to it, leading the romance to a new height. I love a dynamic ending with a few twists, not just plot twists but something that transforms! Awesome!

In the context of the body of Liz Fielding's romances, SECRET BABY, SURPRISE PARENTS stands out as one of her most emotional romances --- and one of her best! If you love an emotional romance, reserve a block of time just to enjoy this romance uninterrupted. SECRET BABY, SURPRISE PARENTS is a romance you won't want to put down until the last page.

COURTESY OF BOOK ILLUMINATIONS

I liked this fairly well. Occasionally something would happen and I'd think where did that come from? Somehow the character would infer something that I would never have figured out from the conversation or situation. The ending was a bit too simplistic for me, another big leap really. Not great writing and a little contrived. These characters were apart for 10 years which seemed a bit long considering what kept them apart. Still a fairly enjoyable quick read.