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Secret Daughter
THE BABY DECEPTION
Soon after rebel Joe Donnelly's sizzling night with debutante Imogen Palmer, she had fled. Now, ten years later, she was back, and Joe wanted answers. For he had stumbled upon the secret behind her hasty departure.
In his search for the truth, Joe was about to uncover an astonishing story — one that would culminate in a heart-rending reunion with the daughter he never knew he had.
Soon after rebel Joe Donnelly's sizzling night with debutante Imogen Palmer, she had fled. Now, ten years later, she was back, and Joe wanted answers. For he had stumbled upon the secret behind her hasty departure.
In his search for the truth, Joe was about to uncover an astonishing story — one that would culminate in a heart-rending reunion with the daughter he never knew he had.
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
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48 people want to read
About the author
Catherine Spencer
282 books60 followers In the past, Catherine Spencer has been an English teacher which was the springboard for her writing career. Heathcliff, Rochester, Romeo and Rhett were all responsible for her love of brooding heroes! Catherine has had the lucky honour of being a Romance Writers of America RITA finalist and has been a guest speaker at both international and local conferences and was the only Canadian chosen to appear on the television special, Harlequin goes Prime Time.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
June 5, 2019
Re The Secret Daughter - Catherine Spencer brings us a trainwreck angstfest drama of epic proptions.
The h and H in this book were teenagers when they had a night of bliss. The h was the sheltered upper class princess and the H was the rough, tough guy from the wrong side of the tracks.
The h's mother is an obsessive control freak and so when the h turned up preggers, the h's mother decided the h was raped- tho the h vehemently denied this- and sent her away. Then when the baby was born, the h's mother lied that the baby had died and then sent the baby off to a nanny and boarding school.
When the book opens the h is being pressurized by her meddling friend to go see her estranged mother. The h decides maybe that is a good idear and returns to her hometown. While trying to reestablish a connection with the nematode parasite slime witch mother, she runs into her old flame.
As this is HPlandia, the lurve force mojo is still going strong and the h has been pining all these years as HP h's do. The H has been lady lurving it up and getting ahead in the world, as HP H's do - tho interestingly this H is NOT an independently rich bootstrapin' business guy. The H still works for someone else and the h still has more money than him cause she has a trust fund.
The h never told the H about the baby, but his sister hears the gossip and spills the beans. The H and h have a big fight, (one of many, many verbal bickerfests in this wrecky drama,) and the h admits she still loves the H and explains that her baby died.
Then the h finds out the truth from her mother that the baby did NOT die, but is living with the h's old nanny in a town a few hours away and attending private school.
The baby is now eight years old and for some reason, neither the h nor the H call the police or the FBI and charge the slime witch snot snarfing mother with kidnapping.
(Tho this h does have a smidgen of backbone and tells the snot globule waste of a mother off.)
The H and h go and meet their daughter and then have to figure out how to tell the girl that she has parents and a family.
In a a burst of inspiration, CS has the H buy a local horse farm and convince the h and the nanny and the daughter to all live there with him - the h and he get married for the daughter's sake- and the h and H can establish a relationship with their child and then break the big parent news.
As the farm needs a lot of work, the H and h join forces to get things into livable conditions and gradually are able to reestablish a decent relationship. (Tho the h has to tell the H off once or twice cause he is JUST like the h's obsessive controlling mother.)
Eventually the h and H declare they still love each other and there is a huge family reveal for the daughter. The H's family and the h and the evil snot blobule grandmother that precipitated this are all reunited for a happy little HEA.
We even get a bonus epilogue where the H and h do a white wedding redo hosted by the h's snot globule mother and the H and h are now also the proud parents of a bouncing baby boy, for a nice extended HPlandia HEA.
This one was great in the way it approached the daughter getting to know her parents situation and I thought the H and h struggles were believable for the kind of people they were. What I absolutely cannot condone and what really knocks this down is that the h's mother suffers no consequences for her actions.
She kidnapped the h's child and then dumped her into school with a nanny and tried to control her life just like she did the h's and had no consequences for her criminal behavior. The woman should have gotten ten to twenty years in cage with a roommate named Killa.
I wasn't at all happy that the woman was allowed to remain in contact and be a part of her grand kids life - the woman is a criminal felon and the very least that should happen should have been a banishing to the mists of HPlandia.
However, CS did not write it that way and the snide apology the snot globule mother makes drags this book down to 2 stars. I gave an extra half star for the way the daughter was allowed to acclimatize herself to her new family. But I also felt that if the daughter hadn't been amendable to reconciliation between herself and her parents, the H would have been out of there like a shot.
So the romance and devotion on the H's part are a lot lacking, as they are in most CS books and that makes this one a trainwreck of angst, but romantically mediocre HP outing.
The h and H in this book were teenagers when they had a night of bliss. The h was the sheltered upper class princess and the H was the rough, tough guy from the wrong side of the tracks.
The h's mother is an obsessive control freak and so when the h turned up preggers, the h's mother decided the h was raped- tho the h vehemently denied this- and sent her away. Then when the baby was born, the h's mother lied that the baby had died and then sent the baby off to a nanny and boarding school.
When the book opens the h is being pressurized by her meddling friend to go see her estranged mother. The h decides maybe that is a good idear and returns to her hometown. While trying to reestablish a connection with the nematode parasite slime witch mother, she runs into her old flame.
As this is HPlandia, the lurve force mojo is still going strong and the h has been pining all these years as HP h's do. The H has been lady lurving it up and getting ahead in the world, as HP H's do - tho interestingly this H is NOT an independently rich bootstrapin' business guy. The H still works for someone else and the h still has more money than him cause she has a trust fund.
The h never told the H about the baby, but his sister hears the gossip and spills the beans. The H and h have a big fight, (one of many, many verbal bickerfests in this wrecky drama,) and the h admits she still loves the H and explains that her baby died.
Then the h finds out the truth from her mother that the baby did NOT die, but is living with the h's old nanny in a town a few hours away and attending private school.
The baby is now eight years old and for some reason, neither the h nor the H call the police or the FBI and charge the slime witch snot snarfing mother with kidnapping.
(Tho this h does have a smidgen of backbone and tells the snot globule waste of a mother off.)
The H and h go and meet their daughter and then have to figure out how to tell the girl that she has parents and a family.
In a a burst of inspiration, CS has the H buy a local horse farm and convince the h and the nanny and the daughter to all live there with him - the h and he get married for the daughter's sake- and the h and H can establish a relationship with their child and then break the big parent news.
As the farm needs a lot of work, the H and h join forces to get things into livable conditions and gradually are able to reestablish a decent relationship. (Tho the h has to tell the H off once or twice cause he is JUST like the h's obsessive controlling mother.)
Eventually the h and H declare they still love each other and there is a huge family reveal for the daughter. The H's family and the h and the evil snot blobule grandmother that precipitated this are all reunited for a happy little HEA.
We even get a bonus epilogue where the H and h do a white wedding redo hosted by the h's snot globule mother and the H and h are now also the proud parents of a bouncing baby boy, for a nice extended HPlandia HEA.
This one was great in the way it approached the daughter getting to know her parents situation and I thought the H and h struggles were believable for the kind of people they were. What I absolutely cannot condone and what really knocks this down is that the h's mother suffers no consequences for her actions.
She kidnapped the h's child and then dumped her into school with a nanny and tried to control her life just like she did the h's and had no consequences for her criminal behavior. The woman should have gotten ten to twenty years in cage with a roommate named Killa.
I wasn't at all happy that the woman was allowed to remain in contact and be a part of her grand kids life - the woman is a criminal felon and the very least that should happen should have been a banishing to the mists of HPlandia.
However, CS did not write it that way and the snide apology the snot globule mother makes drags this book down to 2 stars. I gave an extra half star for the way the daughter was allowed to acclimatize herself to her new family. But I also felt that if the daughter hadn't been amendable to reconciliation between herself and her parents, the H would have been out of there like a shot.
So the romance and devotion on the H's part are a lot lacking, as they are in most CS books and that makes this one a trainwreck of angst, but romantically mediocre HP outing.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
hq-to-read
November 17, 2019THE BABY DECEPTION
Soon after rebel Joe Donnelly's sizzling night with debutante Imogen Palmer, she had fled. Now, ten years later, she was back, and Joe wanted answers. For he had stumbled upon the secret behind her hasty departure.
In his search for the truth, Joe was about to uncover an astonishing story — one that would culminate in a heart-rending reunion with the daughter he never knew he had. (less)
Soon after rebel Joe Donnelly's sizzling night with debutante Imogen Palmer, she had fled. Now, ten years later, she was back, and Joe wanted answers. For he had stumbled upon the secret behind her hasty departure.
In his search for the truth, Joe was about to uncover an astonishing story — one that would culminate in a heart-rending reunion with the daughter he never knew he had. (less)
July 10, 2019
LA NOVELA MAS TONTA Y RIDICULA QUE HE LEIDO EN MUCHO TIEMPO
January 7, 2018
The Secret Daughter
This story was about a meddling mother who thought no man was ever good enough for her daughter. She tore apart her daughter and the one man she loved . And his the child that was conceived from that affair. Now they are back at the same place and the animosity runs high between them. What happens when he finds out about his child is the main part of the story. The other is when she finds out the child is still lotions and we'll taken care of? Did the the Kessler ever think of the treachery and troubles of the child's psyche of being abandoned by her parents? I had trouble getting through this story line. But have since re-read it a couple of times now.
This story was about a meddling mother who thought no man was ever good enough for her daughter. She tore apart her daughter and the one man she loved . And his the child that was conceived from that affair. Now they are back at the same place and the animosity runs high between them. What happens when he finds out about his child is the main part of the story. The other is when she finds out the child is still lotions and we'll taken care of? Did the the Kessler ever think of the treachery and troubles of the child's psyche of being abandoned by her parents? I had trouble getting through this story line. But have since re-read it a couple of times now.
June 8, 2008
Gostei bastante. O aspecto mais negativo do livro é a rapidez da acção e a facilidade com que tudo se resolve. Trata-se de um romance do passado muito conturbado, com consequências tristes e que ficou por encerrar à 9 anos até esse momento.
Um romance de leitura rápida e agradável de ler.
Um romance de leitura rápida e agradável de ler.
July 11, 2015
I will add this book to the right shelves later.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews