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The Truth About Tara
Tara Greer's world is fine the way it is—even if some details of her childhood simply don't add up. Life on the beautiful Virginia coast with her mother and young foster brother are all she needs. What she doesn't need is gorgeous stranger Jack DiMarco's suspicion that she was stolen as a child. Because if he's right, the truth would devastate her family.
Steering clear of Jack is the easy answer, right? Wrong! The sexy, compassionate on-the-mend baseball player is everywhere she turns…exactly where her heart wants him. But their future seems unlikely when being with Jack means facing a reality that could cost Tara everything.
Steering clear of Jack is the easy answer, right? Wrong! The sexy, compassionate on-the-mend baseball player is everywhere she turns…exactly where her heart wants him. But their future seems unlikely when being with Jack means facing a reality that could cost Tara everything.
- GenresRomanceContemporary
368 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2012
4 people are currently reading
41 people want to read
About the author
Darlene Gardner
93 books46 followersDarlene Gardner left her life as a newspaper sportswriter behind for love and romance. She has more than 30 books in print, from single-title romantic comedies to emotionally charged family dramas. She’s currently self publishing updated editions from her backlist and working on a series of Young Adult romances with paranormal elements. That is, when she’s not playing tennis.
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Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews
December 23, 2012
Grade: DNF at 33%
The set-up:
An injured ballplayer shows up in a small tourist town to track down a famous orthopedic surgeon. He’s also on a mission to help his private investigator sister solve a cold case.
The hits:
Um…. Gimme a second, here…. Still thinking…. Nope. Nada. Nil. Nothin’. Shut-out.
The wild pitches:
Ugh. Did I say that already? This book was ALL OVER THE PLACE, trying to do and be way too much. This seems to be common for Harlequin SuperRomances — squash as many tropes as possible into one book to appeal to every type of category reader.
The only references to the “hero” being a ballplayer are his injuries, for which he shows up uninvited and unannounced on the doorstep of a world-famous surgeon who’s on vacation.
While he’s on the DL, the “hero” is a stalker. The opening scene is the hero following the heroine in his car as she’s leaving work, then accosting her on the sidewalk. Then he innocently starts appearing at the grocery store, the gym, the camp where she volunteers…. And, poor baby, he doesn’t understand why she tries to avoid him.
Why is he following her, you ask? Because his sister the private investigator asked him to. She’s working on a cold-case kidnapping from 25 years earlier, so she sends him out with an age-progression photo of the now-grown missing child. Take a WILD guess who matches the photo exactly. This whole premise just has WTFery written all over it.
Nothing too overly awful about the heroine, except for her willingness to allow her widowed mother to guilt her into anything and everything. And of course we get the unnecessary and intrusive POV of the TSTL, passive-aggressive mother.
Strike three, game over:
The plot moppets. And not the usual annoyingly precocious plot moppets.
These plot moppets are kids with developmental disabilities. The heroine’s foster brother has Down’s syndrome, and she and her mother volunteer at his summer camp, providing ENDLESS opportunities for heavy-handed enlightenment.
It’s like a Diversity & Inclusion 101 lecture on Down’s syndrome, brain injuries and other conditions. EVERY mention of one of the kids is a “teachable moment” about their physical appearance, communication barriers, emotional control and social interaction. These kids aren’t characters — they’re just props to inject An Important Issue into an issue-driven category romance.
The final score:
Too much of EVERYTHING. And not nearly enough baseball.
If he smiled, he’d be handsome. But if he smiled, she’d be even more freaked out.
The set-up:
An injured ballplayer shows up in a small tourist town to track down a famous orthopedic surgeon. He’s also on a mission to help his private investigator sister solve a cold case.
The hits:
Um…. Gimme a second, here…. Still thinking…. Nope. Nada. Nil. Nothin’. Shut-out.
The wild pitches:
Ugh. Did I say that already? This book was ALL OVER THE PLACE, trying to do and be way too much. This seems to be common for Harlequin SuperRomances — squash as many tropes as possible into one book to appeal to every type of category reader.
The only references to the “hero” being a ballplayer are his injuries, for which he shows up uninvited and unannounced on the doorstep of a world-famous surgeon who’s on vacation.
While he’s on the DL, the “hero” is a stalker. The opening scene is the hero following the heroine in his car as she’s leaving work, then accosting her on the sidewalk. Then he innocently starts appearing at the grocery store, the gym, the camp where she volunteers…. And, poor baby, he doesn’t understand why she tries to avoid him.
Why is he following her, you ask? Because his sister the private investigator asked him to. She’s working on a cold-case kidnapping from 25 years earlier, so she sends him out with an age-progression photo of the now-grown missing child. Take a WILD guess who matches the photo exactly. This whole premise just has WTFery written all over it.
Nothing too overly awful about the heroine, except for her willingness to allow her widowed mother to guilt her into anything and everything. And of course we get the unnecessary and intrusive POV of the TSTL, passive-aggressive mother.
Strike three, game over:
The plot moppets. And not the usual annoyingly precocious plot moppets.
These plot moppets are kids with developmental disabilities. The heroine’s foster brother has Down’s syndrome, and she and her mother volunteer at his summer camp, providing ENDLESS opportunities for heavy-handed enlightenment.
It’s like a Diversity & Inclusion 101 lecture on Down’s syndrome, brain injuries and other conditions. EVERY mention of one of the kids is a “teachable moment” about their physical appearance, communication barriers, emotional control and social interaction. These kids aren’t characters — they’re just props to inject An Important Issue into an issue-driven category romance.
The final score:
Too much of EVERYTHING. And not nearly enough baseball.
September 24, 2012
Good book. Jack has come to the Eastern Shore to see a doctor about surgery on his shoulder so he can go back to being a baseball pitcher. While he's there, his sister has asked him to check into the identity of a woman who may have been abducted as a child. He does, and Tara says it can't be her since she's not the right age and has seen baby pictures of herself. Jack accepts this, then goes on to see the doctor who tells him he can't help, that surgery won't make a difference. Jack doesn't accept this, as he has never wanted to do anything else. He feels that he can rehab his way back. So he stays in the town and decides to volunteer at a children's camp where Tara and her mom help out and her foster brother attends. Tara's brother has Down's and Jack turns out to be very good with him and the other campers. He and Tara begin to get close. Tara starts to wonder about Jack's story and starts investigating on her own. She discovers that maybe she is this missing girl after all, but doesn't want to believe her mother is a kidnapper. I really liked how good Tara is with all the kids. She is also very good with her mom is a rather clingy, needy type of woman. Tara has to face the fact that she could be the missing girl and then has to work up the courage to face her mom with it. I really liked how the mystery turned out. I also loved the way that Jack was finally able to accept his fate and work out what his future would be.
August 27, 2012
The Truth About Tara by Darlene Gardner
4 STARS I wondered how this book would end, I could not see away, but Darlene Gardner did. I wish I could write about characters you like and want things to work out for them. Danny and Susie you just want to hug them. These characters that you meet I really enjoyed reading about them. This novel deals with some hard subjects in a respectful way. Thier is a few love scene but does not get into much detail. Tara Greer is walking to school where she teaches and a truck is following her and then parks. Tara is getting ready to run when Jack DiMarco convinces her to listen to him for 5 min and stays back from her. Jack introduces himself saying he was doing a favor for his sister who is a P.I. and got a kidnapping case and through a software this is what they thought Haley would like now. He handed Tara the paper and said he was on the way to her school to talk to her but saw her on the street and thought it was her. Jack told Tara about Haley's abduction when she was 3 years old. Tara said it does look like her but she has seen her baby pictures, and they have lived here for her whole life. Tara convinces him that she could not be Haley. Jack then leaves calls his sister and let her know the bad news. Then Jack tracked down the Dr. who was vacationing and took his records wanting him to operate on him so he can be a professional ball player again. He had been called up to big league twice and pitched 3 games before being sent back to the miners. The doctor told him that the third time is shoulder would not help best bet was physical therapy not surgery. That is same answer other doctors have given him but Jack plans to beat the odds. He decided to spend the time healing hear by the ocean. So he rents right on the beach. He goes to grocery store and runs into Tara and her foster brother Danny when Danny runs into Jack in the store where he was throwing a fit because he wanted chips. Danny has down syndrome and likes Jack and tells him about his camp he is going to and invites him. Tara has started to questioning herself but she has had nightmares about a lady shaking and yelling at her. Plus her mom does not have any pictures of her when she was a baby. Her mom lost her husband and daughter in ocean and still grieves 30 years later. Jack is wanting to date Tara for himself and he can only do so much exersing his shoulder so he does volunteer at Danny camp because he likes kids. Also a few other people in Tara's life wants to set her up to date Jack. It is a good book to read and based on this book I will read more from Darlene in the future. I was given this ebook to read in exchange of honest review from Netgalley. 09/03/2012 PUB Harlequin Imprint Harlequin Superromance
4 STARS I wondered how this book would end, I could not see away, but Darlene Gardner did. I wish I could write about characters you like and want things to work out for them. Danny and Susie you just want to hug them. These characters that you meet I really enjoyed reading about them. This novel deals with some hard subjects in a respectful way. Thier is a few love scene but does not get into much detail. Tara Greer is walking to school where she teaches and a truck is following her and then parks. Tara is getting ready to run when Jack DiMarco convinces her to listen to him for 5 min and stays back from her. Jack introduces himself saying he was doing a favor for his sister who is a P.I. and got a kidnapping case and through a software this is what they thought Haley would like now. He handed Tara the paper and said he was on the way to her school to talk to her but saw her on the street and thought it was her. Jack told Tara about Haley's abduction when she was 3 years old. Tara said it does look like her but she has seen her baby pictures, and they have lived here for her whole life. Tara convinces him that she could not be Haley. Jack then leaves calls his sister and let her know the bad news. Then Jack tracked down the Dr. who was vacationing and took his records wanting him to operate on him so he can be a professional ball player again. He had been called up to big league twice and pitched 3 games before being sent back to the miners. The doctor told him that the third time is shoulder would not help best bet was physical therapy not surgery. That is same answer other doctors have given him but Jack plans to beat the odds. He decided to spend the time healing hear by the ocean. So he rents right on the beach. He goes to grocery store and runs into Tara and her foster brother Danny when Danny runs into Jack in the store where he was throwing a fit because he wanted chips. Danny has down syndrome and likes Jack and tells him about his camp he is going to and invites him. Tara has started to questioning herself but she has had nightmares about a lady shaking and yelling at her. Plus her mom does not have any pictures of her when she was a baby. Her mom lost her husband and daughter in ocean and still grieves 30 years later. Jack is wanting to date Tara for himself and he can only do so much exersing his shoulder so he does volunteer at Danny camp because he likes kids. Also a few other people in Tara's life wants to set her up to date Jack. It is a good book to read and based on this book I will read more from Darlene in the future. I was given this ebook to read in exchange of honest review from Netgalley. 09/03/2012 PUB Harlequin Imprint Harlequin Superromance
September 15, 2012
The Truth About Tara by Darlene Gardner
ISBN: 9780373718030
Jack DiMarco had followed a doctor to the island off the Chesapeake shore in hopes of having him do an arm surgery so he could play baseball again. After talking to him he was back on the mainland with the advice to find a different job in life or rehab as another had done.
Earlier he had stopped a PE school teacher on her way to work and showed her the picture from his sister Maria, a PI of what a missing 3 yo child would look like 30 years later and it fit her description completed. Tara Greer denied that it was her and that
she had always lived in town, not in another state at all. Problem is she has memories of being someplace else, being shaken to shut up... Could it be that she really is that missing person.
She was always running to her mothers help, she had fostered a Downs syndrome boy. Tara's father and sister had died in a crash in the past and the anniversary date was coming soon and probably her mother'd want to commemorate it.
Her friend Mary Dee had recently married and was always trying to hook Tara up with eligible bachelors.
Love the locale of the seashore, wild ponies and other trips around the area.
Her mother had signed them up for summer camp for 2 weeks so they'd all be together: tara, Carrie and Danny.
Tara begins to doubt things when she asks to borrow the picture albums from before they moved to town and her tells her they all got damaged. There are no infant pictures of her, just toddler ones...
As Jack is rehabbing himself with exercises his coach had given him he finds the ad in the paper for a volunteer position at Camp Daybreak. He figures it will fill in some hours of his new daily life.
Jack's not told Tara about his past and his injuries. Tara has not told Jack about her past, her injuries and life choices...
Besides Jack and Tara spending time together, Carrie has her eyes on the camp owner, Gus, who also plays in the band on Friday nights.
Tara takes matters into her own hands and does and doesn't want to see the results....
ISBN: 9780373718030
Jack DiMarco had followed a doctor to the island off the Chesapeake shore in hopes of having him do an arm surgery so he could play baseball again. After talking to him he was back on the mainland with the advice to find a different job in life or rehab as another had done.
Earlier he had stopped a PE school teacher on her way to work and showed her the picture from his sister Maria, a PI of what a missing 3 yo child would look like 30 years later and it fit her description completed. Tara Greer denied that it was her and that
she had always lived in town, not in another state at all. Problem is she has memories of being someplace else, being shaken to shut up... Could it be that she really is that missing person.
She was always running to her mothers help, she had fostered a Downs syndrome boy. Tara's father and sister had died in a crash in the past and the anniversary date was coming soon and probably her mother'd want to commemorate it.
Her friend Mary Dee had recently married and was always trying to hook Tara up with eligible bachelors.
Love the locale of the seashore, wild ponies and other trips around the area.
Her mother had signed them up for summer camp for 2 weeks so they'd all be together: tara, Carrie and Danny.
Tara begins to doubt things when she asks to borrow the picture albums from before they moved to town and her tells her they all got damaged. There are no infant pictures of her, just toddler ones...
As Jack is rehabbing himself with exercises his coach had given him he finds the ad in the paper for a volunteer position at Camp Daybreak. He figures it will fill in some hours of his new daily life.
Jack's not told Tara about his past and his injuries. Tara has not told Jack about her past, her injuries and life choices...
Besides Jack and Tara spending time together, Carrie has her eyes on the camp owner, Gus, who also plays in the band on Friday nights.
Tara takes matters into her own hands and does and doesn't want to see the results....
September 4, 2012
What would you do if everything you thought you knew about yourself was thrown in to question?
That is the fundamental question of this book for both main characters... I am not going to give much away as I think you should read this to see the answers but the main pair are definitely made for each other even if she tries to fight it from day one.
Tara is a PE teacher and a devoted daughter. She is the kind of person you would love to have as a friend because you know she will be true although I feel for her due to how tightly her mom holds on to her. She allows this and feels guilty that she doesn't do more but I felt that she needed to separate herself more from her mom. I felt for her when she gets some information that would throw anyone for a loop and has her doubting even her own memories.
Jack is doing a favor for his sister on the way to an appointment that could change his life forever. He meets Tara and finds her to be beautiful but writes it off since he is only passing thru. After his meeting he decides on a whim to rent a place on the shore for the summer. He sees an ad for volunteers at a day camp for kids with special needs (Down Syndrome) and decides that it will not only give him something to do but also put him in contact with Tara. I found myself really liking Jack especially when he works so hard to help Tara's foster brother, Danny. He's a good guy and it was nice to see the two of them come together.
There is a lot of angst in this book but it was still interesting to watch two people come to terms with the major changes in their lives but also find love with each other.
Nice read that I thank NetGalley.com and Harlequin for giving me the chance to read this in exchange for my honest review.
That is the fundamental question of this book for both main characters... I am not going to give much away as I think you should read this to see the answers but the main pair are definitely made for each other even if she tries to fight it from day one.
Tara is a PE teacher and a devoted daughter. She is the kind of person you would love to have as a friend because you know she will be true although I feel for her due to how tightly her mom holds on to her. She allows this and feels guilty that she doesn't do more but I felt that she needed to separate herself more from her mom. I felt for her when she gets some information that would throw anyone for a loop and has her doubting even her own memories.
Jack is doing a favor for his sister on the way to an appointment that could change his life forever. He meets Tara and finds her to be beautiful but writes it off since he is only passing thru. After his meeting he decides on a whim to rent a place on the shore for the summer. He sees an ad for volunteers at a day camp for kids with special needs (Down Syndrome) and decides that it will not only give him something to do but also put him in contact with Tara. I found myself really liking Jack especially when he works so hard to help Tara's foster brother, Danny. He's a good guy and it was nice to see the two of them come together.
There is a lot of angst in this book but it was still interesting to watch two people come to terms with the major changes in their lives but also find love with each other.
Nice read that I thank NetGalley.com and Harlequin for giving me the chance to read this in exchange for my honest review.
September 24, 2012
This book tell the story of Jake who approached Tara to show a photograph of someone who look alarming alike to her and the story of a small child being abducted and is still missing 18 odd years ago. Jake wanting to know whether she is the child in question. This question has evoked lotsa of emotion and subsequently questions to her origins. Not only that, Tara seems to be attracted to Jake. What more, when Jake seems to be around at every corner she turn to. When she found out the truth of her identity, she opted out of their relationship for the sake of protecting someone.
When i first downloaded the ebook into my ereader, i was anticipating this book to be a heavy read but after reading thru it, there was nothing "heavy" per se about it. Mystery.. yes where the identity of Tara is questionable and somehow or whether Tara's mum abducted her from the shopping mall. These two questions has been bothering me since from the beginning of the book and the author did a superb job in only twisting the ending of the book. I guess it is a win - win situation for all. Overall, i like this book alot and i enjoyed the time spent reading it ;)
When i first downloaded the ebook into my ereader, i was anticipating this book to be a heavy read but after reading thru it, there was nothing "heavy" per se about it. Mystery.. yes where the identity of Tara is questionable and somehow or whether Tara's mum abducted her from the shopping mall. These two questions has been bothering me since from the beginning of the book and the author did a superb job in only twisting the ending of the book. I guess it is a win - win situation for all. Overall, i like this book alot and i enjoyed the time spent reading it ;)
October 21, 2012
Jack DiMarco knows who he is. He is a baseball player. This is his identity, and he stubbornly refuses to accept that a shoulder injury has put an end to his dreams. Since he has traced a doctor who has worked miracles to an island off Virginia’s eastern shore and plans to follow him there, he agrees to help his sister, a private detective, by checking out one Tara Greer, a physical education teacher who bears a marked resemblance to a digitally aged picture of a three-year-old who disappeared from Louisville thirty years ago.
Tara Greer knows who she is. She’s the surviving daughter of devoted mother who suffered the devastating loss of her husband and other daughter three decades ago. She rejects the suggestion that she may be a stolen child without a thought. When memories that are inconsistent with what she believes about her life surface, she refuses to consider the possibility. But when evidence that Tara may be someone else mounts, she knows that her sense of responsibility toward her mother means staying in Wawpaney, no matter who she is nor how powerful her feelings for Jack DeiMarco are.
Tara Greer knows who she is. She’s the surviving daughter of devoted mother who suffered the devastating loss of her husband and other daughter three decades ago. She rejects the suggestion that she may be a stolen child without a thought. When memories that are inconsistent with what she believes about her life surface, she refuses to consider the possibility. But when evidence that Tara may be someone else mounts, she knows that her sense of responsibility toward her mother means staying in Wawpaney, no matter who she is nor how powerful her feelings for Jack DeiMarco are.
February 27, 2015
As a reader I couldn't seem to connect with the characters or the plot. Too slow paced. Although the topic of a child kidnapped, now grown up, without realizing she had a previous life seemed like it should work, it didn't for me. I've read other books by this author I really enjoyed, but this wasn't one of them.
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December 27, 2014Category: Heart & Home
September 9, 2012
This one didn't work for me. Subject matter hit a trigger and I was unable to get into this story from the viewpoints of the main characters.
Displaying 1 - 10 of 10 reviews