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Hayden Sisters
Father: Unknown
Librarian Note: This edition's ISBN is in conflict with another's in the database - The Bride of the Delta Queen.
9 MONTHS LATER
Her name is Anna. And she's pregnant.
That's all she knows, all the doctors can tell her. Anna was in an accident, and when she regains consciousness, she has no memory of who she is or where she came from. She has no idea who the father of her baby might be.
Jason Whitaker sees the broadcast appeal and comes forward to identify her. This is Anna Hayden. The woman he still loves. The woman who rejected him three months ago. The woman who can't remember him and is now pregnant.
Two months pregnant.
"Tara Taylor Quinn writes with wonderful assurance Her handling of male viewpoint is exceptional; she manages to make her heroes both intriguing and human, which isn't always easy. She seems to genuinely like and understand men, an attitude as refreshing as it is unusual."
Jennifer Blake, author of Kane
9 MONTHS LATER
Her name is Anna. And she's pregnant.
That's all she knows, all the doctors can tell her. Anna was in an accident, and when she regains consciousness, she has no memory of who she is or where she came from. She has no idea who the father of her baby might be.
Jason Whitaker sees the broadcast appeal and comes forward to identify her. This is Anna Hayden. The woman he still loves. The woman who rejected him three months ago. The woman who can't remember him and is now pregnant.
Two months pregnant.
"Tara Taylor Quinn writes with wonderful assurance Her handling of male viewpoint is exceptional; she manages to make her heroes both intriguing and human, which isn't always easy. She seems to genuinely like and understand men, an attitude as refreshing as it is unusual."
Jennifer Blake, author of Kane
296 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 1, 1998
2 people are currently reading
88 people want to read
About the author
Tara Taylor Quinn
379 books1,458 followersTara Taylor Quinn began her love affair with Harlequin when she was fourteen years old and picked up a free promotional copy of a Harlequin Romance in a hometown grocery store. The relationship was solidified the year she was suspended from her high school typing class for hiding a Harlequin Romance behind the keys of her electric typewriter. Unaware that her instructor loomed close by, Ms. Quinn read blissfully on with one finger resting on the automatic repeating period key. She finished the book in the principal’s office. Forced to leave her romances in her locker after that, Ms. Quinn’s typing skills improved - a fact for which she is eternally grateful.
With over 80 original novels, published in more than twenty languages, Tara Taylor Quinn is a USA Today bestselling author with more than seven million copies sold. She is a winner of the 2008 National Reader's Choice Award, four time finalist for the RWA Rita Award, a finalist for the Reviewer’s Choice Award, the Bookseller’s Best Award, the Holt Medallion and appears regularly on the Waldenbooks bestsellers list. Ms. Quinn writes for Harlequin and MIRA Books. Reviewer, Cindy Penn, wordweaving.com says, “Amazing character development is the hallmark of author Tara Taylor Quinn’s work. Indeed, Taylor’s profound observations of human nature and intimate understanding of values and priorities lends extraordinary psychological depth to all her work.”
Tara Taylor Quinn was born and raised in Ohio. Though she wrote her first story at the age of seven, her professional writing career began ten years later when she was hired as a stringer with the Dayton Daily News in Dayton, Ohio. She attended Wright State University and graduated from Harding College in Arkansas with a degree in English and Journalism. She published several magazine articles before turning to writing as a full-time occupation.
Ms. Quinn is a Past President of the Romance Writers of America and served for eight years on the Board of Directors of that association. She has a wide range of experience as a public speaker and workshop presenter for writers groups around the country.
When she’s not home with her owners, Jerry Lee and Taylor Marie, or fulfilling speaking engagements, Tara loves to travel with her husband, stopping wherever the spirit takes them. They’ve been spotted in casinos and quaint little small town antique shops all across the country..
With over 80 original novels, published in more than twenty languages, Tara Taylor Quinn is a USA Today bestselling author with more than seven million copies sold. She is a winner of the 2008 National Reader's Choice Award, four time finalist for the RWA Rita Award, a finalist for the Reviewer’s Choice Award, the Bookseller’s Best Award, the Holt Medallion and appears regularly on the Waldenbooks bestsellers list. Ms. Quinn writes for Harlequin and MIRA Books. Reviewer, Cindy Penn, wordweaving.com says, “Amazing character development is the hallmark of author Tara Taylor Quinn’s work. Indeed, Taylor’s profound observations of human nature and intimate understanding of values and priorities lends extraordinary psychological depth to all her work.”
Tara Taylor Quinn was born and raised in Ohio. Though she wrote her first story at the age of seven, her professional writing career began ten years later when she was hired as a stringer with the Dayton Daily News in Dayton, Ohio. She attended Wright State University and graduated from Harding College in Arkansas with a degree in English and Journalism. She published several magazine articles before turning to writing as a full-time occupation.
Ms. Quinn is a Past President of the Romance Writers of America and served for eight years on the Board of Directors of that association. She has a wide range of experience as a public speaker and workshop presenter for writers groups around the country.
When she’s not home with her owners, Jerry Lee and Taylor Marie, or fulfilling speaking engagements, Tara loves to travel with her husband, stopping wherever the spirit takes them. They’ve been spotted in casinos and quaint little small town antique shops all across the country..
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
November 5, 2009
Reviewed for THC Reviews
"2.5 stars" I can't recall where I first heard about Father, Unknown, but based on the synopsis, I thought this would be another book that I would really enjoy. It has three of my favorite themes, amnesia, pregnancy, and a reunion romance, but in spite of that, the story still fell flat for me. The book got off to a promising start with several different mysteries brewing. No one knew where Anna, the heroine, had been or what she had been doing for the past two months before she turned up with amnesia. Consequently, no one knew who the father of her baby was either, since the doctors were estimating that she was two months pregnant, and she hadn't seen Jason, the hero, for three months. There was also the question of exactly what had transpired between Jason and Anna's sister, Abby, which had caused Anna and Jason to break up, and the mysterious murder of Anna's other identical triplet sister, Audrey, as well as which one of these things might be the trauma that was causing Anna's amnesia. With all these questions to answer, I thought there would be lots of interesting things going on, but unfortunately that was not to be. Jason and Anna uncovered very few clues along the way, and most added more questions instead of answering them, and others, in my opinion, were not properly vetted. For example, a private investigator that Jason hired found the name of a prominent man Anna had been spending time with and Anna receives a phone message from the same man, but no one ever tried to locate or contact him. They used the excuse that he was on an extended business trip in Europe, but in this modern age, it still seems like it would have been a fairly simple matter to track him down. It would have saved everyone a lot of heartache if they had, but then again, the story would have ended about halfway through if someone had been smart enough to try. The mysteries in this book unfolded so slowly, I became frustrated on more than one occasion at the agony of waiting for something to happen, and for the first time ever, I was actually tempted to peek at the ending just to end my misery. Self-control won out, and I didn't though, but sadly, I can't really say that the ending was worth the wait either.
I wouldn't say that I disliked Anna and Jason, but neither did I really warm up to either one of them. Both they and the main secondary characters of Abby and Sunny all seemed to have insecure, dysfunctional and/or co-dependent personalities with very little positive growth occurring during the course of the story, which didn't really endear them to me. Anna and Abby, along with their now-deceased sister, Audrey, were identical triplets. I know that identicals tend to have very close bonds with one another, but the relationship these sisters shared seemed emotionally unhealthy to me. It's no wonder that Anna finally decided to go away to see if she could make it on her own, and I applauded that decision. What I didn't understand was her reasoning in not contacting Jason once she got to New York. When all these things were revealed it ended up being nothing more than a disappointing series of stubborn misunderstandings. I think the author was trying to paint Jason as having a sympathetic childhood of being shuttled back and forth between divorced parents and always feeling like he was playing second fiddle to someone or something else, but his problems didn't seem to be all that unusual to me and probably could have been easily handled through some counseling. I also found myself frustrated with Jason on two counts. First, he continued going out with his co-worker, Sunny, even after he was starting to rebuild a relationship with Anna. Thankfully, he and Sunny had never slept together, and Jason only wanted to be friends with her, but to my way of thinking, he was playing with fire. It was abundantly obvious that Sunny wanted a whole lot more, and Jason knew it. The other thing that aggravated me was that in most pregnancy themed romances where the baby was conceived with a man other than the hero, the hero usually steps up to the plate, doting on both mother and baby. This is a large part of what makes these stories so appealing and romantic to me, but with Jason, it took until the last third of the book for him to finally come to terms with the idea of playing father to Anna's baby and actually become an active part of their lives. Granted it was fairly realistic for the circumstances, but his jealously of “the other man” when he was seeing another woman became rather tiresome. I just didn't feel like the author explored Anna and Jason' s backstories concisely enough, and she made their current circumstances a little too complicated, which made it very difficult for me to get to know them or relate to them.
In my opinion, there wasn't enough interaction between Anna and Jason until over halfway through the book and what had existed up to that point was rather tepid. There were just too many scenes and conversations involving only one of them and a secondary character and not enough scenes with just the two of them. Even after Anna and Jason actively started to rekindle their love, there was a lot of push-and-pull, and holding each other at arms length while fearing the things that Anna might remember. I don't pretend to be an expert on amnesia, so maybe it's normal procedure, but the doctor instructing Jason not to tell Anna about their past together and let her hopefully remember on her own didn't help matters either. Instead, all of these things worked in a counterproductive way to create a lack of any deep romance or emotional development. In fact, I felt so little chemistry between Anna and Jason that I had a hard time believing these two had supposedly been hopelessly in love and near marriage just three months before Anna's accident. The overall pace of the book was pretty slow, and I thought the voice was rather passive. I felt like the author was telling me about what was happening to the characters rather than the characters being active participants in their own story. There seemed to be a lot of repetitive introspection, especially on Anna's part, and I found the dialog to be rather stilted. Overall, I was never able to fully immerse myself in the story or truly care about the characters. Father, Unknown was my first read by Tara Taylor Quinn, and it is the first in an untitled duet about the Hayden sisters with Abby becoming the heroine of the sequel, The Heart of Christmas. I may consider reading it at some point in the future, but with a less-than-stellar first experience with Ms. Quinn and never really gaining a liking for Abby in this book, I'll hardly be in a hurry to do so.
"2.5 stars" I can't recall where I first heard about Father, Unknown, but based on the synopsis, I thought this would be another book that I would really enjoy. It has three of my favorite themes, amnesia, pregnancy, and a reunion romance, but in spite of that, the story still fell flat for me. The book got off to a promising start with several different mysteries brewing. No one knew where Anna, the heroine, had been or what she had been doing for the past two months before she turned up with amnesia. Consequently, no one knew who the father of her baby was either, since the doctors were estimating that she was two months pregnant, and she hadn't seen Jason, the hero, for three months. There was also the question of exactly what had transpired between Jason and Anna's sister, Abby, which had caused Anna and Jason to break up, and the mysterious murder of Anna's other identical triplet sister, Audrey, as well as which one of these things might be the trauma that was causing Anna's amnesia. With all these questions to answer, I thought there would be lots of interesting things going on, but unfortunately that was not to be. Jason and Anna uncovered very few clues along the way, and most added more questions instead of answering them, and others, in my opinion, were not properly vetted. For example, a private investigator that Jason hired found the name of a prominent man Anna had been spending time with and Anna receives a phone message from the same man, but no one ever tried to locate or contact him. They used the excuse that he was on an extended business trip in Europe, but in this modern age, it still seems like it would have been a fairly simple matter to track him down. It would have saved everyone a lot of heartache if they had, but then again, the story would have ended about halfway through if someone had been smart enough to try. The mysteries in this book unfolded so slowly, I became frustrated on more than one occasion at the agony of waiting for something to happen, and for the first time ever, I was actually tempted to peek at the ending just to end my misery. Self-control won out, and I didn't though, but sadly, I can't really say that the ending was worth the wait either.
I wouldn't say that I disliked Anna and Jason, but neither did I really warm up to either one of them. Both they and the main secondary characters of Abby and Sunny all seemed to have insecure, dysfunctional and/or co-dependent personalities with very little positive growth occurring during the course of the story, which didn't really endear them to me. Anna and Abby, along with their now-deceased sister, Audrey, were identical triplets. I know that identicals tend to have very close bonds with one another, but the relationship these sisters shared seemed emotionally unhealthy to me. It's no wonder that Anna finally decided to go away to see if she could make it on her own, and I applauded that decision. What I didn't understand was her reasoning in not contacting Jason once she got to New York. When all these things were revealed it ended up being nothing more than a disappointing series of stubborn misunderstandings. I think the author was trying to paint Jason as having a sympathetic childhood of being shuttled back and forth between divorced parents and always feeling like he was playing second fiddle to someone or something else, but his problems didn't seem to be all that unusual to me and probably could have been easily handled through some counseling. I also found myself frustrated with Jason on two counts. First, he continued going out with his co-worker, Sunny, even after he was starting to rebuild a relationship with Anna. Thankfully, he and Sunny had never slept together, and Jason only wanted to be friends with her, but to my way of thinking, he was playing with fire. It was abundantly obvious that Sunny wanted a whole lot more, and Jason knew it. The other thing that aggravated me was that in most pregnancy themed romances where the baby was conceived with a man other than the hero, the hero usually steps up to the plate, doting on both mother and baby. This is a large part of what makes these stories so appealing and romantic to me, but with Jason, it took until the last third of the book for him to finally come to terms with the idea of playing father to Anna's baby and actually become an active part of their lives. Granted it was fairly realistic for the circumstances, but his jealously of “the other man” when he was seeing another woman became rather tiresome. I just didn't feel like the author explored Anna and Jason' s backstories concisely enough, and she made their current circumstances a little too complicated, which made it very difficult for me to get to know them or relate to them.
In my opinion, there wasn't enough interaction between Anna and Jason until over halfway through the book and what had existed up to that point was rather tepid. There were just too many scenes and conversations involving only one of them and a secondary character and not enough scenes with just the two of them. Even after Anna and Jason actively started to rekindle their love, there was a lot of push-and-pull, and holding each other at arms length while fearing the things that Anna might remember. I don't pretend to be an expert on amnesia, so maybe it's normal procedure, but the doctor instructing Jason not to tell Anna about their past together and let her hopefully remember on her own didn't help matters either. Instead, all of these things worked in a counterproductive way to create a lack of any deep romance or emotional development. In fact, I felt so little chemistry between Anna and Jason that I had a hard time believing these two had supposedly been hopelessly in love and near marriage just three months before Anna's accident. The overall pace of the book was pretty slow, and I thought the voice was rather passive. I felt like the author was telling me about what was happening to the characters rather than the characters being active participants in their own story. There seemed to be a lot of repetitive introspection, especially on Anna's part, and I found the dialog to be rather stilted. Overall, I was never able to fully immerse myself in the story or truly care about the characters. Father, Unknown was my first read by Tara Taylor Quinn, and it is the first in an untitled duet about the Hayden sisters with Abby becoming the heroine of the sequel, The Heart of Christmas. I may consider reading it at some point in the future, but with a less-than-stellar first experience with Ms. Quinn and never really gaining a liking for Abby in this book, I'll hardly be in a hurry to do so.
September 4, 2011
I really enjoyed this amnesia story. There were plenty of unanswered questions about just whose baby she was carrying. The hero and the heroine worked together to piece together her life over the 3 months they were apart. Not that she remembered him but he of course knew. I liked the was that bits and pieces were revealed her and there. The characters both grew over the course of the book. The heroine needed to find herself and the hero needed to learn and accept his part in their break up. I thought that his reaction to her being pregnant with another man's child was pretty valid. After all this was not a case of a man meeting for the first time a woman who was already pregnant with a different man's child but rather he was a man who had to come to terms with the woman he loved jumping into bed with someone else less than a month after they had split up. There was more to overcome there than if it had all happened before he'd met her. The feelings of both protagonists were well done, especially the hero's I thought. The book was not real fast paced but it all made sense and the characters didn't do stupid things. There actions and reactions were more real than you sometimes get in romance novels. I am looking forward to finding and reading the other sister's story.
January 10, 2026
This is a reissue of the author's "Ysterday's Memories".
Some parts were good, but the whole thing turns out to be a letdown. Too much is left hanging. Why was then h's sister murdered? By whom? You're told hardly anything at all about her. Why is her other sister's story (such as it was) left hanging. The h sends a friend of hers to b her sister's housemate, as a sort of replacement for her, yet there's no follow-up on how that worked out. And once the h regains her memory, while it's understandable she and the H would talk out all their unresolved issues, what about the ones with her sister? There should have at least been a phone conversation between them, or a planned visit. It's just left hanging.
It was also silly for the h to assume there was a relationship between the H and the OW (a colleague and temporary friend) just because they had onscreen chemistry as newscasters and went out to eat after broadcasts. Plenty of coworkers go out for meals together and some become friends. Unless she saw them making out there was no reason to jump to conclusions. Besides, they had broken up at the time, and he had no idea she was even nearby.
What was more than silly (outright DUMB, not to mention dangerous) was her accepting a ride from a stranger in his limo, because he was being nice to her when he saw her crying (thinking she'd lost the H for good), and she was lonely and grateful. WHAT???? Just because a guy's rich it doesn't mean he couldn't be a weirdo and going into a dark limo with a stranger's a great way to be a rape victim, maybe a dead one, if the driver gets paid to mind his beeswax. The h was in her late 20's, for goodness' sake, even a teenage girl would have more sense!
Lucky for her, he was one of those beta OM who are willing to wait forever on the off chance she'll get naked for him and doesn't mind that she loves the H because he'll someday win her heart. (Yeah, right! I'll bet he believes in Santa, the Easter Bunny and the tooth fairy, too.)
As for the OW, I said she was a temporary friend, because she turned out to be a real bitch, who kept throwing herself at the H, trying to get him into bed, couldn't handle his just wanting to be friends, and then threatened to ruin his career if he didn't sleep with her. I believe that's known as SEXUAL HARRASSMENT! Fortunately, he didn't rise to the bait (pun intended) and refused to put up with her crap and she backed down. But so much for that friendship!
It's funny: though both the H and h were still in love, it didn't take either of them long (only a couple of weeks) to get close to the OW and OM, and depend on their friendships, which were of course rebounds, without the romance on their own parts. It was pretty selfish of both of them; though I didn't like the OM and couldn't stand the OW, it's still not right to use people.
One good thing is how you get the H's POV, too. This way, you can make a better judgment. Too often, when you get just the h's viewpoint, readers almost always side with her, which isn't always fair.
I liked the way you (finally) hear about all the issues the H and h both had and how they (also finally) got them all talked out and will work on them.
What I didn't like was their one sex scene, when she's about ready to pop out the kid, more YECK! then hot!
And no sonogram can goof up more than once, and an OB/GYN monitoring the h's pregnancy every month would know the baby's size, development, etc., so the baby daddy resolve was a copout on the author's part. More likely, something kinky happened in that limo!
If you skip this one, no big deal. I told you enough, anyway.
Some parts were good, but the whole thing turns out to be a letdown. Too much is left hanging. Why was then h's sister murdered? By whom? You're told hardly anything at all about her. Why is her other sister's story (such as it was) left hanging. The h sends a friend of hers to b her sister's housemate, as a sort of replacement for her, yet there's no follow-up on how that worked out. And once the h regains her memory, while it's understandable she and the H would talk out all their unresolved issues, what about the ones with her sister? There should have at least been a phone conversation between them, or a planned visit. It's just left hanging.
It was also silly for the h to assume there was a relationship between the H and the OW (a colleague and temporary friend) just because they had onscreen chemistry as newscasters and went out to eat after broadcasts. Plenty of coworkers go out for meals together and some become friends. Unless she saw them making out there was no reason to jump to conclusions. Besides, they had broken up at the time, and he had no idea she was even nearby.
What was more than silly (outright DUMB, not to mention dangerous) was her accepting a ride from a stranger in his limo, because he was being nice to her when he saw her crying (thinking she'd lost the H for good), and she was lonely and grateful. WHAT???? Just because a guy's rich it doesn't mean he couldn't be a weirdo and going into a dark limo with a stranger's a great way to be a rape victim, maybe a dead one, if the driver gets paid to mind his beeswax. The h was in her late 20's, for goodness' sake, even a teenage girl would have more sense!
Lucky for her, he was one of those beta OM who are willing to wait forever on the off chance she'll get naked for him and doesn't mind that she loves the H because he'll someday win her heart. (Yeah, right! I'll bet he believes in Santa, the Easter Bunny and the tooth fairy, too.)
As for the OW, I said she was a temporary friend, because she turned out to be a real bitch, who kept throwing herself at the H, trying to get him into bed, couldn't handle his just wanting to be friends, and then threatened to ruin his career if he didn't sleep with her. I believe that's known as SEXUAL HARRASSMENT! Fortunately, he didn't rise to the bait (pun intended) and refused to put up with her crap and she backed down. But so much for that friendship!
It's funny: though both the H and h were still in love, it didn't take either of them long (only a couple of weeks) to get close to the OW and OM, and depend on their friendships, which were of course rebounds, without the romance on their own parts. It was pretty selfish of both of them; though I didn't like the OM and couldn't stand the OW, it's still not right to use people.
One good thing is how you get the H's POV, too. This way, you can make a better judgment. Too often, when you get just the h's viewpoint, readers almost always side with her, which isn't always fair.
I liked the way you (finally) hear about all the issues the H and h both had and how they (also finally) got them all talked out and will work on them.
What I didn't like was their one sex scene, when she's about ready to pop out the kid, more YECK! then hot!
And no sonogram can goof up more than once, and an OB/GYN monitoring the h's pregnancy every month would know the baby's size, development, etc., so the baby daddy resolve was a copout on the author's part. More likely, something kinky happened in that limo!
If you skip this one, no big deal. I told you enough, anyway.
February 2, 2018
Father: Unknown
It starts off with the hero seeing a picture of the woman he last seen three months ago. He finds out that she is in New York city,as he is. They were together back in California. But has broken up when he took a job in New York. But when he finds out that she is pregnant, two months, he has doubts about their own relationship. Now he must decide if he still wants her, even though the child is not his. Or is it?
It starts off with the hero seeing a picture of the woman he last seen three months ago. He finds out that she is in New York city,as he is. They were together back in California. But has broken up when he took a job in New York. But when he finds out that she is pregnant, two months, he has doubts about their own relationship. Now he must decide if he still wants her, even though the child is not his. Or is it?
December 31, 2018
Surprisingly good story and not the typical HP. The story line was interesting and while some criticized the medical aspects, they did make the story work (remember Nothing is 100%. Knew a lady pregnant with twins who ultimately delivered triplets-surprise!) I liked the characters and their relationship. The writing was smooth and flowed well. I would highly recommend.
June 24, 2024
Good and sweet
Amnesia stories can be somewhat predictable. However, this one had a number of twists and turns that made it interesting and held my attention. Goid characters and excellent ending.
Amnesia stories can be somewhat predictable. However, this one had a number of twists and turns that made it interesting and held my attention. Goid characters and excellent ending.
January 1, 2016
Baloney. Very doubtful that an ultrasound would be off 6 weeks. There is so much development going on at the stage the ultrasound was donethat I cannot believe that the doctor would continue to insist that the baby was due later. No way a 17 week fetus could be mistaken for one in the 11th week of development.
July 26, 2012
Anna was in an accident and wakes up with amnesia. She is also 2 months pregnant and has no idea who the father might be. Hero comes forward to identify her. Anna had been on the run.
September 29, 2015
loved the story...
Read
June 12, 2016good
Read
December 31, 2017Her name is Anna. And she's pregnant.
That's all she knows, all the doctors can tell her. Anna was in an accident, and when she regains consciousness, she has no memory of who she is or where she came from. She has no idea who the father of her baby might be.
Jason Whitaker sees the broadcast appeal and comes forward to identify her. This is Anna Hayden. The woman he still loves. The woman who rejected him three months ago. The woman who can't remember him and is now pregnant.
Two months pregnant.
That's all she knows, all the doctors can tell her. Anna was in an accident, and when she regains consciousness, she has no memory of who she is or where she came from. She has no idea who the father of her baby might be.
Jason Whitaker sees the broadcast appeal and comes forward to identify her. This is Anna Hayden. The woman he still loves. The woman who rejected him three months ago. The woman who can't remember him and is now pregnant.
Two months pregnant.
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews