Hannah's Blessing

by Collette Scott

Following her husband’s scandalous death, a devastated Diana Somerset makes a promise at his funeral to never trust so easily again. However, she was not prepared to meet his enigmatic step-brother, Devlan Doyle. He was a man accustomed to getting whatever he wanted, and he wanted Diana. Not only was Diana's child his heiress, but her stubborn pride and disinterest intrigues him. Following a near-tragic accident that forces them together, Devlan sets out to conquer her distrust. Whisked away on a fairytale of a lifetime, Diana and Hannah discover that they are not immune to his charms. But is his determination alone strong enough to win their trust and love, or will he lose the two people he has grown to care for the most?

Genres: Romance, Contemporary, Contemporary Romance, Fiction, Chick Lit, Amazon, Ebooks

338 pages, Paperback

First published July 31, 2011

About the author

I have heard voices in my head since I was just a child. I began writing their stories when I was eight-years-old and sharing them with my best friend. We had a lot of laughs about it and came up with some crazy scenes when we were kids. Since then, my writing has become more serious. I prefer to write stories that do end well, despite the trials and tribulations that my characters go through. So often life deals a hard blow, and it is all in the way that you handle it that makes you a strong and well-rounded person.

Love stories that make you laugh, cry, feel anger and joy are the best stories, and I strive for that goal with each novel I release.

My blog is up and running on my website: www.collettescott.net, where I post news on my upcoming releases. Take a look and have some fun!

Reviews

[Bette Stanek · Rating 2 out of 5]

Meh. This was totally predictable: miscommunication, assumptions, selfish husband killed (under well deserved circumstances), defeated and untrusting widow determined to find herself again, adoring brother-in-law (who has adored from afar for forever) who has a playboy rep, manipulating and conniving girlfriend (who's a girlfriend in her mind only), and a child who must be protected at all costs. The characters were OK, I didn't find a lot of depth in any of them. The action/situations the characters were found in were totally predictable with the normal resolutions. You see it all coming and aren't surprised by any of it. There are no twists or turns that make you sit up and yell, "Holy. CRAP! what just happened?!?!" There were a couple times that I almost put the book down, but I powered through. It wasn't bad, just MEH. OH, did I mention the main problem the main characters faced was miscommunication???

[Mary · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm not much for romances. Midway through story I kept thinking, stop the game playing and get on with the happily ever after.

[Mary Findley · Rating 5 out of 5]

They Got More Than Hannah's Blessing

If any contemporary romance gave excellent advice to its readers, it's this one. It tells lovers, and readers, not to make assumptions. It reminded me a lot of Jane Austen's Pride and Prejudice. There is a small amount of language and non-graphic sexual reference in the book dealt with appropriately for any adult or young adult reader.
I mostly read romance because I write romance. Sometimes after I finish one I want that piece of my life back. This one charmed me from beginning to end. Collette Scott writes about real people. The book explores the consequences of our assumption-making. It also makes an excellent point about how many people we can affect or hurt with the best of intentions. There are so many fun and interesting secondary characters in the book.
Diana, the main character, starts the story as a wronged woman. The fate of her husband was a perfect "let the punishment fit the crime" irony. The title character, their daughter Hannah, unwittingly brings into Diana's life her late husband's stepbrother, Devlan, who has made his niece his sole heir. Devlan's rich, handsome, brilliant, successful, and yet can't manage to communicate clearly to the one person in the world who matters most. It's not Hannah. She loves, trusts, and relies on him with all the sweet innocence of a child in spite of his social blunders.
Diana is deeply wounded after six years of marriage to the wrong brother. She has listened to lies, tried to trust, and felt the pain of betrayal too long. Devlan, experienced with business, celebrity and all the rest of life, is too inexperienced with "real" women to win her trust. Diana is a runner, and how and why she runs from Devlan is pretty stunning. How and why he finally decides it's time to chase her, and how that turns out is also stunning.

[Diana Hockley · Rating 2 out of 5]

There is nothing totally wrong with this story, but the author could have done more to make it more exciting and less weak.

Diana Somerset's husband abuses her and runs around with other women, then tragedy occurs. Diana and her daughter, Hannah, are left alone but along comes a saviour, the husband's womanising, rich stepbrother - and you guessed it, takes over his younger stepbrother's debts. Then trouble ensues and Devlan Doyle, comes to the rescue again and takes over the family this time.

Diana naturally will not spend his money on herself but is quite prepared to sleep with Devlan for the cost of her daughter's medical care. She then runs off into the night with the usual contradictions and lack of communication playing out as per traditional romantic mayhem followed by some nifty deceit.

I wanted to slap both main characters silly because they were very annoying and did stupid things. Diana was supposed to be a professional woman and intelligent, but her wilful misunderstanding totally weakened the plot. There were several loose ends which were not addressed, her husband's Will and how the husband got into Diana's Trust Fund. How Diana was going to get Hannah taken out of Devlan's Will couldn't happen anyway.

There were several anomalies - the "other woman" was thrown out of the car, but was in it later on - and the editing was sloppy in places.

I don't want to give a spoiler, that's not fair to the author, however the plot and ending were conventional. The author, in my opinion, needed to dig deeper and include something unexpected to make the story less predictable and "flesh out" her characters.

[Belinda Buchanan · Rating 5 out of 5]

Diana has had the rug yanked out from under her. She stayed with Peter throughout her dismal marriage for her daughter, Hannah's sake. Now suddenly, she is a broken spirited, penniless widow facing eviction from her home. Where do you go from here?

She has no choice but to move forward carrying her inhibitions with her. Enter Devlan Doyle, her husband's step-brother. Diana has built a wall around her and Hannah to protect her from the hurts previously dealt to her. Despite her objections, she finds herself drawn to Devlan, but refuses to let him get close.

This book had me from the first to the last paragraph, and is full of delightful little twists that I did not see coming. It's a book that makes you stop and think...long after you're done reading it.

[Dawn · Rating 2 out of 5]

I finished this book out of pure stubbornness. This is a contemporary romance and a good reminder to me to not read books that involve children as part of the romantic storyline. I like kids very much in real life and non-romance genre books, but a romance novel that focuses on the children is usually not very compelling in my experience.

I picked this up as a freebie on Amazon, so I can't complain about money spent.

Diana is a wrong woman, whose husband of six years dies in an car accident with his latest mistress after physically assulating Diana and telling her it is over since her money has run out. No, I'm not making up the beginning. It is... a little over the top villainy. At first it seemed that Diana would be a strong character and able to bounce back, but quite soon after the funeral when Devlan, her step-brother in law, shows up the spine disappears.

The start of their relationship is founded on miscommunication. Devlan came out because Hannah, Diana's daughter, is now his heirress and he wanted to check up on her and offer support. But does he spell that out clearly for Diana? No, he's stand-offish, oblique and specifically questions Diana's abilities as a mother. But he's OH SO SEXY that Diana is flustered. Then he quietly takes care of all her debts as a show of goodwill and doesn't tell her so she's forced to move out from her house w/o knowing there is a stalker benefactor who then ignores her for months until Hannah inexplicably (other than to force the leads together) runs in front of a car and is in serious trauma.

Devlan races from California to Denver to aid his weeping Diana (who again was doing JUST FINE on her own until Devlan came along again) and take care of all the bills. And Diana misconstrues his intentions as only willing to pay for Hannah's care if she has sex with him, which is a stretch to say the least and willful misunderstandings.

The book continues with neither Diana or Delvan being direct with each other specifically NOT saying anything in an honest fashion. It is mind boggling to be in their heads and hear their thoughts but watch their interactions. The author writes them as actors rather than real people. Delvan is extremely generous with his money, but parsimonious with his time. Diana means the world to him, but he can go months without talking to her while planning on asking her to marry him. Diana misinterprets any and everything Delvan says, supposedly because of her tragic past except that the husband was a cheater and liar, not subtly misleading. Diana is constantly 'ready to run', even though she stood by her ex-husband for six years and therefore the running aspect doesn't hold true.

I kept hoping that this story would redeem itself but every conversation involved even more unbelievable inability to communicate that I couldn't buy that these two liked each other, much less loved each other.

[Tima · Rating 3 out of 5]

Hannah is distrustful of men. Her husband drained her trust fund and then moved on to other women. After his death she takes her daughter and tries to move on with her life. Then Devlan enters the picture and changes all of her ideas about men and having that forever kind of love. But she's still so scared that she almost ruins everything.

I loved the way that this book was written. It grabbed my attention from the very beginning and never let go. The story flowed well and kept me entertained the entire time. Would definitely recommend if you want a feel good romance.

I received this book free of charge in exchange for my honest review.

[Stephanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Wow... Great book!

[♫Angielee♫]

literary smut so far, but I need a bit of fluffy reading right now...

update:
Very predictable and the leading lady DROVE ME NUTS!! I think I'm done reading from the free kindle books.

[Nikki · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hannah's blessing is an emotional book mainly about miscommunication amongst many other emotions within this book, this is written in such a way it takes you on a wild ride of emotions love, hate, frustration, mistrust and angst.

Hannah is Diana's world and although this is essentially a story about her there doesn't seem to be much we know about her, we know certain characteristics about her by the way author describes she acts but we don't really see a lot about her as a person.

Diana is a woman who has suffered through a horrible marriage of cheating and pain for the sake of her daughter she loves her daughter unconditionally and it's often reiterated in this book countless times by the way she acts on her behalf disregarding herself for her daughters wellbeing and life.

Devlan is Diana's brother in law and since the moment he saw her on her wedding day he fell for her so deep but it was his brothers wife so he didn't pursue it. Devlan is a workaholic, always attached to his phone or laptop always working on the next deal making more money and being seen in the right place, well right until he meets Diana and Hannah, something in him changes and he becomes different more compassionate empathetic and more human.

I enjoyed this story and where the plot line went, what I didn't enjoy within this book was the countless frustration at both of the main characters, there were so many times I wanted to bang their heads together and I don't like to be annoyed when reading so for me this became annoying.

[Therese Bittick · Rating 1 out of 5]

It was not as engaging as I'd hoped it would be Ms. Scott is a great writer, but I'm a huge fan of Diana metlife and d Elizabeth Lowell! When I read the description f2f this book I expected it to .Com somewhere in the middle of those two authors, and it doc's t come close MY FAULT for making aszumptions! I I ould read another book by his aucsincee I re read

All my do.ance novels at least two.or three times
I'm definitely going to rerad this book.She is a good author i just
Refers different style of edited writing reading! Grab my attention on the first page and keep it engaged until the last page. I had found very few authors who can do.that

[Laura B Webb · Rating 5 out of 5]

What A Surprise? Magnificent Story

Caught totally unaware what a marvelous story unfolds, Collette Scott delivers a heartwarming story of relationships and the difficulties resulting from poor communication between the main characters. True love exists after a rough and desert-filled journey. The reader will enjoy this novel from the first word until the last! Happy Reading!

[Pam · Rating 5 out of 5]

Hannah's blessing

What a book what a story I've not put this book down say down all day great story amazing .

[Nancy · Rating 3 out of 5]

Ok

I read it all but stupid people in romances annoy me. This on a was no different. I guess romances just aren't for me.

[Sandy Smith · Rating 5 out of 5]

Romance is alive

So romantic and gives hope that things can always work out. Nothing better than a rich, good looking man with a kind heart

[Kirsty Louise · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice storyline but the characters were too annoying. Devlan with his arrogance and assumption he can have what he wants. And then she just would run away instead of face talking to anyone.

[Claire Madden · Rating 2 out of 5]

Very easily read . Very predictable & I could have written the end myself. It’s very much a will they won’t they type of story

[Betty Vincent · Rating 4 out of 5]

What can happen in every day life

The plot of the story was keeping you in Spence to see what was going to happen next and couldn't put it down wanted to read it all at once

[Lynda M Allen · Rating 3 out of 5]

Frustrating read

I'd like to think that most women would speak up, communicate more and stand up for themselves. At least there was a happy ending. Lynda

[Trinidad10 · Rating 4 out of 5]

Predictable

Twists and turns with roadblocks and mis understanding with also highs and lows but doomed from the start to go through it all

[cheryl doerr · Rating 5 out of 5]

Awesome

My favorite line was money can't buy a family. It was a wonderful book. I loved it. It was awesome.

[Joy Cagil · Rating 4 out of 5]

This novel catches and takes captive of the reader despite its fumbles and tumbles. I was enjoying it until the main character started getting on my nerves somewhere at midpoint. Her distrust of men took many forms and odd directions.

In the story, Diana--the stunningly beautiful protagonist--has suffered a bad marriage and the scandalous death of her husband, ending up wounded and distrustful of men. Her late husband's stepbrother Devlan, a highly successful and handsome businessman, suddenly shows up in her life with the pretext of taking care of Diana's daughter Hannah's affairs, as the child is left an inheritance.

Then, a few months later, when Hannah is badly hurt in a car accident, Devlan shows up again and takes the mother and daughter under his wings. In the meantime, the attraction and love affair between Devlan and Diana has become central to the story. What follows is the heightened tension with a whole slew of mistaken actions, assumptions, and miscommunication on both sides.

At times, this story turns into a fairy tale romance with the male lead too good to be true and the female lead too harebrained because of her false pride and foolhardiness. A few coincidences together with some of the twists in the story felt concocted to me, and although I felt annoyed with Diana's actions, I still kept on reading, since the story flows well, and I became curious about how the writer would tie up the plot.

In short, Hannah's Blessing is an absorbing story that takes unexpected twists and turns, if you are willing to overlook a few blemishes

[Jennifer · Rating 3 out of 5]

Average Read

The book started off well but got less interesting further into the read. The story was drawn out and unrelatably unrealistic. On a positive note, it was an easy read. Conclusively, I neither hated nor loved this book, it was an average read

[Nancy Silk · Rating 5 out of 5]

This novel grabbed me quickly with the death of Diana's dominating and demoralizing husband. Left with her mortgage in arrears, bank acounts drained by her late husband, she is determined to make a better life for herself and daughter, Hannah. She carries reservations of connecting with another man, until her ex-husband's step-brother, Devlan, offers to help her daughter, Hannah, obtain proper rehabilitation after little Hannah is struck tragically by an auto. Diane is gun-shy but accepts his help, but by agreement that Devlan demands. This story moves forward with many twists and turns, apprehensions of both Diana and Devlan, and with bothersome and deceptive deeds of another woman. Imaginations assumed by both Diana and Devlan make it difficult for each to confront each other. This author presents her story in a well written style similar to best seller author, Danielle Steele. Read this book and you'll be glad you did. There are lessons to be learned here.

[KareB · Rating 4 out of 5]

Main Characters: Devlan, Diana, and Hannah

I started to read this book a few months ago but put it away because the husband was all too familiar and disgusting. The second time I picked it up was because I was avoiding reading "The Awakening". Again I almost stopped because it seemed somewhat crude. Wow! I'm glad I stuck with it though. The lack of communication is completely understandable considering what both characters had to face for so long. The fear that they harbored was a real reaction to their experiences. Both of them set on guarding the innocence of a child, trying to guard their own hearts at the same time. This was a fairy-tale mixed with some frustrating real-human feelings and reactions. One complaint...a personal one on my part.... I'm tired of the amazing female being "thin, blonde, and blue-eyed"... LOL. Ready for a little imperfection in the Cinderella being swept off her feet.

[Shelly · Rating 5 out of 5]

This books really caught me off guard. I've never been a big romance reader but I've been reading T.J. Dell's books and they have me craving real romance which lead me to this book.. I'm a reader, not an author, I don't know all the pc terms but I'm starting to enjoy reading real romance, not Harlequin, Fabio on the cover type stuff. I downloaded this book when it was offered free on Amazon and I had sort of forgotten about it until I started cleaning up my kindle. Once I started reading I couldn't stop. Diana's story breaks my heart and although her reluctance or knee jerk reactions may seem unrealistic, I can relate to them. This book had me in tears more than once. I can't wait to see what else Collette Scott has to offer!

[Ingryd Masters · Rating 3 out of 5]

I liked the book. It had the intensity of 50 Shades of Grey without any sex if you can understand that. It was a great little book, but I wish she had continued on with a better ending. I felt like I needed more. She did a great job of keeping you intrigued and wanting you to read more and want more for the characters, but then it's like going to a great fireworks display and the grand finale going bust on the ground and not in the air for you to enjoy. Also, if the book is called Hannah's blessing... I wanted more from Hannah's character. I understand what the author meant by "Hannah's blessing" but I do feel she should have been more of a vocal character as opposed to silent one. It was just an OK finish for such a great book. I wanted so much more for the characters at the end.

[Chuanen Tan]

The writing was good but it isn't very angsty, (I read it for the angst). Can't say much about the middle of the book, the H and h were just very lovey-dovey. But seriously, the ending is the one that sucks. The heroine runs away because one of the tramps interested in H lies off the face of the earth to the h about the H and her being in love and them wanting to have babies. After hearing this, the h runs away. When the H discovers the h runs away, he hunts her down. But the joke is (Oh Wait !) the H is the one who's hurt and the h must apologise to him about 'hurting' him. Even though I don't see what he's so hurt about. The H should have apologised to her about the tramp lying to her but he didn't and instead the h is the one apologising ...

Rating : 3/5

[Tarri · Rating 4 out of 5]

Diana's abusive husband leaves her and her four year old daughter, Hannah, destitute and runs off with a woman who has money. Unfortunately for him, she "distracts" him on a mountain road and he crashes the car killing them both. At the funeral his ultra-rich, ultra-successful step-brother, Devlan, shows up and tells Diana that he wants to ensure they don't want for anything as Hannah is his only living relative. Diana tells him to get lost.

When Hannah needs him, Devlan swoops in to help, getting Diana to warm up to him is another story. Actually it is the story, and it is an enjoyable read.

[Andrea Strickland · Rating 2 out of 5]

Hannah's Blessing was a very big disappointment for me. The story is supposed to center around a 5 year old little girl, Hannah. However, she is hardly ever present in the story. Most of the time, she is asleep. I think she may have had 10 sentences in the whole book. The author obviously has not had any real life experience with children.

This is a romance novel, with a plot that is so predictable that it is probably a fill in the blank script. The characters lacked common sense and were not very likeable.