A Special Man

by Billie Green

Book is in good condition. Very light wear on the cover.

Genres: Romance, Mystery, Contemporary Romance

251 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published October 1, 1986

Reviews

[Jacqueline J · Rating 4 out of 5]

from the back cover
"Greenleigh Acres was a refuge for the rich and famous, and it was there that Amanda first saw the man she knew only as "Danny." Her heart ached at seeing him confined, and she vowed to let him taste freedom.

Away from Greenleigh,"Danny" became Daniel Phillips, wealthy leader of industry. Someone wanted him out of the way so badly that they'd kept him drugged and imprisoned--and now Daniel was out for revenge. Amanda stayed with him, her heart breaking as he delved into the past - because all her dreams were of the future."

I reread this every so often. Amanda comes to work at the private care facility were Danny is kept drugged. He has the mind of a 6 year old but Amanda comes to care for him. When she finds out he is going to die, she breaks him out of the facility. Once off his drugs, Daniel regains his faculties and doesn't remember her.

I really loved the characterization of both Amanda and Danny/Daniel. Amanda is struggling to do the best for someone she cares for. Danny is written as incredibly sweet and insightful and he helps her come out of her shell. When he becomes Daniel it is a drastic change but she doesn't give up on him. Both characters were very well written and the book is very different and fun to read. It is pretty suspensful in places as the crime is unraveled. There is a solid plot and it all made sense with just the tiniest bit of willing suspension of disbelief needed over the drug they use on Daniel.

[Saly · Rating 3 out of 5]

Somehow I never connected with the book. The heroine gets a new job as a book-keeper at a resort of sorts, a place where the wealthy come to deal with their issues and where she meets the hero Danny. Danny is one of the brain damaged people there and according to the doctor has a mind of six year old but the heroine after being initially uncomfortable in front of him becomes his friend and she doesn't see emptiness in him. Her feelings grow beyond friendship and when she finds out that the special patients dies, she has to get Danny out, to let him be free. So, they escape and she marries him so that she has a say over what happens to him but a missed dosage changes everything. Danny becomes Daniel, a cold, harsh man in control of all his faculties whose mind had been taken away from him through drugs. We see them figure things out and the heroine is confused and wants Danny while the hero knows he can never be that. Things happen, the mystery was a doozy and they get together. I didn't connect with the book at all.

[Su · Rating 3 out of 5]

A smart author. A memorable reading. Plot stacked on my mind.

[Rita · Rating 2 out of 5]

It an interesting yarn but a bit too angsty for my tastes now.

[Janet · Rating 4 out of 5]

SSE #346

[Maura · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amanda gets a new job as an accountant at Greenleigh Acres, a rest home for the rich and wealthy, where the rich send their embarrassments, old and infirm. There she meets Danny, a wealthy businessman whose disorder has caused him to take on the mentality of a six-year old. Amanda and Danny become close friends. When she learns that his disorder is a death sentence, she makes plans to arrange his escape, so he can die with freedom and dignity. But when his medicine is destroyed, Amanda worries that she's already lost him. And she's right. Because the medicine is what made him Danny - without it, he's Daniel Phillips, a cold, cynical adult who cannot trust. Amanda feels the grief of losing Danny, the man she loved. But she gets to know Daniel, and can't deny the physical attraction. But Daniel isn't a man who loves - even when they discover the villain who locked Daniel up, she knows he'll never want a future with her.

So this was a delightful 80's gem. I approached it with skepticism and found that this surpassed my expectations. I was concerned when I picked this up because Amanda falls in love with a man who is more or less a child - or so the blurb would have us believe. In reality, I'd call him simple, not a child. Danny was less concerned with the finer details in life and simply looked at things optimistically and with a child-like wonder. That's as close as he gets to a child. In fact, it was super easy for me to understand why she fell in love with him. I had a little more trouble understanding how she was able to see Danny as a "part" of Daniel, since they were a night and day difference, but that was an important aspect of her love for Daniel. And that very cleverly came back full circle in the epilogue - which I enjoyed very much. In the epilogue we have evidence that would imply that Daniel, perhaps regained his memory of being Danny or and this would be even better to imagine, that Daniel is so happy now that he is able to connect with the "part" of him that is Danny... what a great ending! . The suspense part of the story, and figuring out the villain wasn't the best, but it was still interesting. It was really easy to figure out who did it. But where the suspense plot comes in is it gives Daniel and Amanda time together so that she can get over Danny and begin falling in love with Daniel.

[Linda C · Rating 4 out of 5]

Amanda Timbers takes a job as bookkeeper at an exclusive resort in Southern CA for the rich who need treatment. Dr Sutherland also has a small medical research lab there. Over the next few months she gets to know the staff and many 'guests'. One in particular, Danny Phillips, draws her interest. He is a handsome man with the mentality of a child. He must have his medication every 12 hours or he gets unruly. He is then confined until his meds are reestablished. When she finds out his brain condition is fatal and he has a limited expectancy to live long, she determines to remove him from the facility and give him a taste of freedom and the world. She steals him and a supply of drugs and takes him to a cabin near Las Vegas that she owns. Things do not proceed as planned when he misses a dose and ends up smashing his meds. A new Danny appears and now they need to solve the mystery of how he got where he was. You need to suspend belief in order to digest this story. Nothing is plausible but it was a good read. This was an old keeper reread before weeding.

[Lynsey A · Rating 4 out of 5]

Nice introduction to a new author. I may have find some more of her books to read.

It was pretty obvious who was behind what happened to Daniel.

Good story.