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After the Frost
Hoping to reclaim her daughter and begin a new life, Belle Sault confronts the child's father, Rand, realizes that she has been denying her true feelings for him, and must prove that she can be a caring mother. Original.
400 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published September 1, 1994
About the author
Megan Chance
33 books778 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name. See this thread for more information.
Megan Chance is the bestselling, critically acclaimed author of several novels. Booklist calls her writing “Provocative and haunting.” Her books have been chosen by Amazon's Book of the Month, Borders Original Voices and IndieNext. A former television news photographer with a BA from Western Washington University, Megan Chance lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband. Visit her at www.meganchance.com
Megan Chance is the bestselling, critically acclaimed author of several novels. Booklist calls her writing “Provocative and haunting.” Her books have been chosen by Amazon's Book of the Month, Borders Original Voices and IndieNext. A former television news photographer with a BA from Western Washington University, Megan Chance lives in the Pacific Northwest with her husband. Visit her at www.meganchance.com
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Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews
May 23, 2026
quickly before my brain doesn't remember anything:
this book started off angsty and didn't let up. Six years ago, at age fifteen, Isabelle "Belle" Sault was kicked out of her home after telling her mom she was pregnant with her step-brother's baby. After giving birth to her daughter, Sarah, Belle needed to earn more money so she left her young child with a boarding house she was working at, entrusting Sarah's care to a woman who took Belle in. While Belle was in New York City, her mom, Lilian, and her step-brother, Rand (who was 22 when he had sex with Belle) track down where Sarah is and take her home to Ohio with them. When Belle eventually finds out about this, after what appears to be years??, she decides to go get her daughter back. Belle's reappearance is treated like a threat to her family: her mom and step-brother lied about who Sarah's real mom is (they make up some woman who they said died during child-birth). So when Belle is reunited with her child, she can't tell her she's her mom. also, she promises to take Sarah away with her when she leaves again.
this was all in the first, like, two chapters. Rand, the step-brother, is the love interest. Belle's mom married Rand's dad when Bell was 10 (I think) and Rand was 17 or 18. I think this is supposed to signal to the reader that they didn't grow up together, so they didn't connect as siblings, but as friends. The age-gap in this book is purposefully uncomfortable. Rand spends most of the book agonizing over the night him and Sarah had sex and how he treated her after. I do think we spend a little too much time wallowing in Rand's guilt and not enough with Belle's emotional state during her pregnancy when she was all alone and scared or when she had to leave Sarah behind to try and make more money for them. When Belle comes back into town, she doesn't know how to be Sarah's mother. it's awkward for her to figure out how to not just be her friend, especially since her mother and Rand don't want her to tell Sarah that she is her mother. this was brutal! AND I think there's a lot of gaps in story about how Belle feels about everything vs how guilty Rand feels for being horny.
I do think the ending needed a little more room to wrap up. who even am I?? I never say that!
anyway, Megan Chance! this woman is always making me cry.
this book started off angsty and didn't let up. Six years ago, at age fifteen, Isabelle "Belle" Sault was kicked out of her home after telling her mom she was pregnant with her step-brother's baby. After giving birth to her daughter, Sarah, Belle needed to earn more money so she left her young child with a boarding house she was working at, entrusting Sarah's care to a woman who took Belle in. While Belle was in New York City, her mom, Lilian, and her step-brother, Rand (who was 22 when he had sex with Belle) track down where Sarah is and take her home to Ohio with them. When Belle eventually finds out about this, after what appears to be years??, she decides to go get her daughter back. Belle's reappearance is treated like a threat to her family: her mom and step-brother lied about who Sarah's real mom is (they make up some woman who they said died during child-birth). So when Belle is reunited with her child, she can't tell her she's her mom. also, she promises to take Sarah away with her when she leaves again.
this was all in the first, like, two chapters. Rand, the step-brother, is the love interest. Belle's mom married Rand's dad when Bell was 10 (I think) and Rand was 17 or 18. I think this is supposed to signal to the reader that they didn't grow up together, so they didn't connect as siblings, but as friends. The age-gap in this book is purposefully uncomfortable. Rand spends most of the book agonizing over the night him and Sarah had sex and how he treated her after. I do think we spend a little too much time wallowing in Rand's guilt and not enough with Belle's emotional state during her pregnancy when she was all alone and scared or when she had to leave Sarah behind to try and make more money for them. When Belle comes back into town, she doesn't know how to be Sarah's mother. it's awkward for her to figure out how to not just be her friend, especially since her mother and Rand don't want her to tell Sarah that she is her mother. this was brutal! AND I think there's a lot of gaps in story about how Belle feels about everything vs how guilty Rand feels for being horny.
I do think the ending needed a little more room to wrap up. who even am I?? I never say that!
anyway, Megan Chance! this woman is always making me cry.
May 23, 2026
This was a very angsty and emotional read, at times a little melodramatic (running into the fields melodramatic lmao).
What I loved:
- That internal tug I got from reading this story.
- The FMC’s character development.
- The human way this story was presented.
What I did not like:
- The final conflict dragged a bit.
- Some conflicts were resolved too easily / not sufficiently addressed.
- Not enough was said about the interim 6 years. (The FMC was a teenage single mum on her own in a big city!)
Overall, a good read.
CW: statutory rape (I doubt there was a law back in the settings of the book though but if you are applying modern sensibilities then it is rape)
What I loved:
- That internal tug I got from reading this story.
- The FMC’s character development.
- The human way this story was presented.
What I did not like:
- The final conflict dragged a bit.
- Some conflicts were resolved too easily / not sufficiently addressed.
- Not enough was said about the interim 6 years. (The FMC was a teenage single mum on her own in a big city!)
Overall, a good read.
CW: statutory rape (I doubt there was a law back in the settings of the book though but if you are applying modern sensibilities then it is rape)
November 9, 2014
Emotionally griping story of love, betrayal and second chances. I had a hard time deciding how I felt about the book. There was a powerful writing and beautiful characterization that you expect from such a good author as Megan Chance. But the story felt little bit too long and repetitive and there were aspects of it that made me uncomfortable (the characters were stepsiblings, heroine got pregnant with hero's child when she was 15 years old, he was calling her a "little girl").
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 9, 2021
Slow but steamy
This was a pretty good book but it was extremely slow for most of it but it got pretty steamy and sexy at the end so it made it worth it. This is the third book I've read by this author and I like her storylines but the beginning and middle of her books are very slow and so.stones repetitive and then the good parts are fleeting.
This was a pretty good book but it was extremely slow for most of it but it got pretty steamy and sexy at the end so it made it worth it. This is the third book I've read by this author and I like her storylines but the beginning and middle of her books are very slow and so.stones repetitive and then the good parts are fleeting.
December 13, 2021
Like the tension on never knowing what will happen on next the next page. It had my attention thru out the book.
I felt to me it's worth the 5 star rating.
Very emotional with Belle feelings and Rand not sure of his feelings, it kept me wondering w what will happen next chapter.
I felt to me it's worth the 5 star rating.
Very emotional with Belle feelings and Rand not sure of his feelings, it kept me wondering w what will happen next chapter.
January 27, 2021
After the Frost has Chance’s usual excellent historical research and wonderfully flawed characters. Like most Megan Chance books, the romance is somewhat yikes, so YMMV.
January 18, 2022
Highly recommended
March 4, 2021
Read orig in 2016. Reread in 2021. I love Megan chance books, they are so vivid. The characters the setting the emotions. I love deep drawn out character driven storylines that keep u reading to find out what happens next or what made a character act a certain way or what a character is going to do. I loved the protagonist Rand and Belle and their daughter, 5 yr old Sarah. So cute.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
June 25, 2013
Not much of a story as the characters spent the majority of the book in their heads thinking about the past. More than once I found myself wishing the action would hurry up and get there. However, the storyline of their past was interesting
May 4, 2012
A keeper.
July 3, 2013
One of her earlier works. Thank God she got better--tons of melodrama and not much substance. The ebook version was pathetically edited too.
January 15, 2014
I enjoy this author~a historical fiction/ romance. I will read more from her~this just got a little to sappy for me.
October 12, 2014
dont bother
Displaying 1 - 15 of 15 reviews