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Finders Keepers
New York Times bestselling author Fern Michaels thrills us, once again, with the story of an unforgettable young woman who was stolen as a toddler from a poor but loving family, and who must journey through a maze of heartbreak before she can reclaim her true identity.
Raised in a magnificent Charleston house, Jessie Roland wants for nothing. But as she grows into young adulthood, all she feels is loss and a desperate need to break free from the stifling possessiveness of her "parents." Somewhere, in the deepest part of herself, Jessie believes that the world she has always lived in is not the one she came from. . .or belongs in.
Now, at nineteen, she has escaped to Washington, D.C., where no one knows her, and where she is swept into a whirlwind marriage to a Texas senator's son. But the past will not release Jessie, who is still haunted by a sense of lost happiness, of simple, tender gestures buried in her memory. Only in Luke Holt, a reclusive rancher, will she discover the strength to penetrate the darkness, and find her way back to a place she can call home.
Raised in a magnificent Charleston house, Jessie Roland wants for nothing. But as she grows into young adulthood, all she feels is loss and a desperate need to break free from the stifling possessiveness of her "parents." Somewhere, in the deepest part of herself, Jessie believes that the world she has always lived in is not the one she came from. . .or belongs in.
Now, at nineteen, she has escaped to Washington, D.C., where no one knows her, and where she is swept into a whirlwind marriage to a Texas senator's son. But the past will not release Jessie, who is still haunted by a sense of lost happiness, of simple, tender gestures buried in her memory. Only in Luke Holt, a reclusive rancher, will she discover the strength to penetrate the darkness, and find her way back to a place she can call home.
431 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published July 1, 1998
357 people are currently reading
3277 people want to read
About the author
Fern Michaels
427 books6,531 followersFern Michaels isn’t a person. I’m not sure she’s an entity either since an entity is something with separate existence. Fern Michaels® is what I DO. Me, Mary Ruth Kuczkir. Growing up in Hastings, Pennsylvania, I was called Ruth. I became Mary when I entered the business world where first names were the order of the day. To this day, family and friends call me Dink, a name my father gave me when I was born because according to him I was ‘a dinky little thing’ weighing in at four and a half pounds. However, I answer to Fern since people are more comfortable with a name they can pronounce.
As they say, the past is prologue. I grew up, got a job, got married, had five kids. When my youngest went off to Kindergarten, my husband told me to get off my ass and get a job. Those were his exact words. I didn’t know how to do anything except be a wife and mother. I was also a voracious reader having cut my teeth on The Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Cherry Ames and the like. The library was a magical place for me. It still is to this day. Rather than face the outside world with no skills, I decided to write a book. For some reason that didn’t intimidate me. As my husband said at the time, stupid is as stupid does. Guess what, I don’t have that husband any more. Guess what else! I wrote 99 books, most of them New York Times Best Sellers.
Moving right along here . . . Several years ago I left Ballantine Books, parted company with my agent, sold my house in New Jersey that I had lived in all my married life and in 1993 moved to South Carolina. I figured if I was going to go through trauma let it be all at one time. It was a breeze. The kids were all on their own at that point. The dump was a 300 year old plantation house that is listed in the National Registry that I remodeled. Today it is beyond belief as are the gardens and the equally old Angel Oaks that drip Spanish moss. Unfortunately, I could not get my ghost to relocate. This ghost has been documented by previous owners. Mary Margaret as we call her, is “a friendly”. She is also mischievous. It took me two weeks to figure out that she didn’t like my coffee cups. They would slide off the table or counter or else they’d break in the dishwasher. I bought red checkered ones. All are intact as of this writing. She moves pillows from one room to the other and she stops all the clocks in the house at 9:10 in the a.m. at least once a week. When the Azaleas are in bloom, and only then, I find blooms on my night stand. I have this glorious front porch and during the warm months I see my swing moving early in the morning when the air is still and again late in the day. She doesn’t spook the dogs. I always know when she’s around because the five of them line up and look like they’re at a tennis match. As of this writing we’re co-habiting nicely.
Most writers love what they do and I’m no exception. I love it when I get a germ of an idea and get it down on paper. I love breathing life into my characters. I love writing about women who persevere and prevail because that’s what I had to do to get to this point in time. It’s another way of saying it doesn’t matter where you’ve been, what matters is where you’re going and how you get there. The day I finally prevailed was the day I was inducted into the New Jersey Literary Hall of Fame. For me it was an awesome day and there are no words to describe it.
I’ve been telling stories and scribbling for 37 years. I hope I can continue for another 37 years. It wasn’t easy during some of those years. As I said, I had to persevere. My old Polish grandmother said something to me when I was little that I never forgot. She said when God is good to you, you have to give back. For a while I didn’t know how to do that. When I finally figured it out I set up The Fern Michaels® Foundation.
READ FERN MICHAELS' FULL BIOGRAPHY HERE: http://www.fernmichaels.com/biography/
As they say, the past is prologue. I grew up, got a job, got married, had five kids. When my youngest went off to Kindergarten, my husband told me to get off my ass and get a job. Those were his exact words. I didn’t know how to do anything except be a wife and mother. I was also a voracious reader having cut my teeth on The Bobbsey Twins, Nancy Drew, The Hardy Boys, Cherry Ames and the like. The library was a magical place for me. It still is to this day. Rather than face the outside world with no skills, I decided to write a book. For some reason that didn’t intimidate me. As my husband said at the time, stupid is as stupid does. Guess what, I don’t have that husband any more. Guess what else! I wrote 99 books, most of them New York Times Best Sellers.
Moving right along here . . . Several years ago I left Ballantine Books, parted company with my agent, sold my house in New Jersey that I had lived in all my married life and in 1993 moved to South Carolina. I figured if I was going to go through trauma let it be all at one time. It was a breeze. The kids were all on their own at that point. The dump was a 300 year old plantation house that is listed in the National Registry that I remodeled. Today it is beyond belief as are the gardens and the equally old Angel Oaks that drip Spanish moss. Unfortunately, I could not get my ghost to relocate. This ghost has been documented by previous owners. Mary Margaret as we call her, is “a friendly”. She is also mischievous. It took me two weeks to figure out that she didn’t like my coffee cups. They would slide off the table or counter or else they’d break in the dishwasher. I bought red checkered ones. All are intact as of this writing. She moves pillows from one room to the other and she stops all the clocks in the house at 9:10 in the a.m. at least once a week. When the Azaleas are in bloom, and only then, I find blooms on my night stand. I have this glorious front porch and during the warm months I see my swing moving early in the morning when the air is still and again late in the day. She doesn’t spook the dogs. I always know when she’s around because the five of them line up and look like they’re at a tennis match. As of this writing we’re co-habiting nicely.
Most writers love what they do and I’m no exception. I love it when I get a germ of an idea and get it down on paper. I love breathing life into my characters. I love writing about women who persevere and prevail because that’s what I had to do to get to this point in time. It’s another way of saying it doesn’t matter where you’ve been, what matters is where you’re going and how you get there. The day I finally prevailed was the day I was inducted into the New Jersey Literary Hall of Fame. For me it was an awesome day and there are no words to describe it.
I’ve been telling stories and scribbling for 37 years. I hope I can continue for another 37 years. It wasn’t easy during some of those years. As I said, I had to persevere. My old Polish grandmother said something to me when I was little that I never forgot. She said when God is good to you, you have to give back. For a while I didn’t know how to do that. When I finally figured it out I set up The Fern Michaels® Foundation.
READ FERN MICHAELS' FULL BIOGRAPHY HERE: http://www.fernmichaels.com/biography/
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 153 reviews
July 4, 2024
Book recommendation from a coworker. It was okay. 🫤 I didn’t love that ending. 👎🏻
April 14, 2009
I have no idea why I'm attempting to finish this syrupy goo of a book. A curse of mine is the feeling that any book started must be finished. The plot is good; the "spoken" dialog detailing every action is really, really bad.
June 13, 2015
I enjoyed this story up until the end. I was disappointed by how thongs shook out. It felt rushed and incomplete.
June 22, 2024
Okay so Izzy and I picked out random books for each other at goodwill and basically I hated it but I loved to hate it. Never does this author ever set the scene I never know where I am and the dialogue was so crazy like huge chunks of one person talking and responding to themselves. This book infuriated me but also I wasn’t bored by it.
February 23, 2016
My mother gave me this book to read she loved it, I don't have the heart to tell her it was one of the worst books I've read. I had a hard time getting through it and almost put the book aside.
For me this wasn't a love story or a mystery. I didn't like the storyline or it's flow, I felt it dragged on and on. I didn't like any of the characters and had a hard time with the actual writing.
I can see that many people loved this book and wrote very complimentary reviews. I am not one of those people.
I won't be recommending this book to any of my friends or family.
For me this wasn't a love story or a mystery. I didn't like the storyline or it's flow, I felt it dragged on and on. I didn't like any of the characters and had a hard time with the actual writing.
I can see that many people loved this book and wrote very complimentary reviews. I am not one of those people.
I won't be recommending this book to any of my friends or family.
December 14, 2011
This was a great story that had a lot of potential. This is where an editor at Zebra Books\Kensington should have come in to flesh out the storyline a little bit better. Too many loose ends.
February 4, 2023
I really don’t know what I think. It was good and it sucked at the same time so 🫢🤷🏼♀️
April 3, 2013
About a year ago I read my first Fern Michaels book, LATE BLOOMER, and I loved it. It was an emotional roller coaster. It made me want to find everything else she’s written, and I’ve been steadily collecting her books ever since, though I didn’t read another one until this one. And I’m sorry to say if FINDERS KEEPERS had been the first one I read instead of the second, I probably would not have bothered to look for any others.
The story itself was good. It was an interesting premise. We meet Jessie as a child, growing up within a rich and affluent family, but terribly unhappy. As soon as she is of age, she drives away, and with Sophie’s help, creates a new identity for herself so that her parents won’t be able to find her. That aspect was a little unbelievable to me, and was glossed over. We don’t know how Sophie got this new identity for her, but Sophie is rich and knows people and can get anything done. Despite the fact that Jessie has a new social security number and a fake background to tell people about, she still uses her real name.
Through Sophie’s connections, Jessie gets a job working for a senator, whom she comes to be very fond of and vice versa. One year, knowing she will be alone for Christmas, he invites her to spend the holiday at his ranch in Texas, where she meets his son, Tanner, and Luke, a neighboring rancher. (One little nitpick I had here – the back cover copy says “Lucas Palmer”, but his last name in the book is Holt and the name Palmer never appears.)
Towards the end of the book I stayed up way past my bedtime because I didn’t want to close the book without finding out what happened next. But the writing. Or rather the writing style I guess. There was a lot of dialogue. Which is fine, characters talking to each other is great. The first scene where Jessie meets Tanner and converses with him was hilarious and made me want to see them get together. But often one character would talk and just ramble on. For instance, Jessie would answer the phone and hold a conversation, and we would only get her side of the conversation. Instead of a back and forth, she says something, the other person says something, we only heard her side of it, but she would repeat what the other person said, almost as if narrating the other person’s side so we, the reader, wouldn’t be lost. It was annoying. Even in person though, sometimes one character would begin talking and go on and on, and you know the other person is responding, but instead of that person’s dialog being written down for us to read, the first character would almost narrate the conversation.
And the mothers in this book! They are all over the top! Jessie has grown up with a mother who is incredibly overbearing. She ran every aspect of Jessie’s childhood, and made all of her decision, right down to what clothes to wear, what to eat for her snack, what to do with practically every minute of her time. Growing up, Jessie only had one friend. Sophie’s mother and Jessie’s mother used to be best friends, but apparently drifted apart after Jessie’s family moved away from Georgia. Jessie and Sophie, however, maintained their close friendship, seeing each other during the summer and whenever else they could. While Jessie was at school every day her mother would go through her room. Her father knew she did this, wondering what she could be searching for, but not interfering. When Jessie would come home, she was expected to change into the clothes her mother had laid out on her bed, and then instead of playing like a normal kid, she played games with her mother or did some activity with her. When Jessie’s father gave her a pair of overalls, her mother had a cow, insisting that Jessie take them off and that she cannot possibly appear at the dinner table dressed like that. And on and on and on, until Jessie could not wait to get away.
Then there’s Sophie’s mother, who roamed around the world with her latest boy toy, leaving her daughter home with the household staff. She missed birthdays, Christmas, even her daughter’s college graduation. And the senator’s wife was also incredibly overbearing with her children, but whereas Jessie’s mother loved her to pieces, smothered her with that love and seemed to live only for and to be with Jessie, Tanner’s mother was distant and formal and lived to put on a good appearance for all the neighbors.
Overall, I liked the book, liked the story, despite how implausible it all was. The synopsis hints at a secret about Jessie’s parents, and even though that secret is revealed to us, the reader, in the prologue, I don’t want to say what it is, but it is the driving force of the book, right up to the last chapter.
I will say one last thing that some might construe as a spoiler, so skip this paragraph if you want: I was disappointed when I read the epilogue. I don’t like the way it ended, and how one of the two men just seemed to disappear from Jessie’s life without any explanation.
The story itself was good. It was an interesting premise. We meet Jessie as a child, growing up within a rich and affluent family, but terribly unhappy. As soon as she is of age, she drives away, and with Sophie’s help, creates a new identity for herself so that her parents won’t be able to find her. That aspect was a little unbelievable to me, and was glossed over. We don’t know how Sophie got this new identity for her, but Sophie is rich and knows people and can get anything done. Despite the fact that Jessie has a new social security number and a fake background to tell people about, she still uses her real name.
Through Sophie’s connections, Jessie gets a job working for a senator, whom she comes to be very fond of and vice versa. One year, knowing she will be alone for Christmas, he invites her to spend the holiday at his ranch in Texas, where she meets his son, Tanner, and Luke, a neighboring rancher. (One little nitpick I had here – the back cover copy says “Lucas Palmer”, but his last name in the book is Holt and the name Palmer never appears.)
Towards the end of the book I stayed up way past my bedtime because I didn’t want to close the book without finding out what happened next. But the writing. Or rather the writing style I guess. There was a lot of dialogue. Which is fine, characters talking to each other is great. The first scene where Jessie meets Tanner and converses with him was hilarious and made me want to see them get together. But often one character would talk and just ramble on. For instance, Jessie would answer the phone and hold a conversation, and we would only get her side of the conversation. Instead of a back and forth, she says something, the other person says something, we only heard her side of it, but she would repeat what the other person said, almost as if narrating the other person’s side so we, the reader, wouldn’t be lost. It was annoying. Even in person though, sometimes one character would begin talking and go on and on, and you know the other person is responding, but instead of that person’s dialog being written down for us to read, the first character would almost narrate the conversation.
And the mothers in this book! They are all over the top! Jessie has grown up with a mother who is incredibly overbearing. She ran every aspect of Jessie’s childhood, and made all of her decision, right down to what clothes to wear, what to eat for her snack, what to do with practically every minute of her time. Growing up, Jessie only had one friend. Sophie’s mother and Jessie’s mother used to be best friends, but apparently drifted apart after Jessie’s family moved away from Georgia. Jessie and Sophie, however, maintained their close friendship, seeing each other during the summer and whenever else they could. While Jessie was at school every day her mother would go through her room. Her father knew she did this, wondering what she could be searching for, but not interfering. When Jessie would come home, she was expected to change into the clothes her mother had laid out on her bed, and then instead of playing like a normal kid, she played games with her mother or did some activity with her. When Jessie’s father gave her a pair of overalls, her mother had a cow, insisting that Jessie take them off and that she cannot possibly appear at the dinner table dressed like that. And on and on and on, until Jessie could not wait to get away.
Then there’s Sophie’s mother, who roamed around the world with her latest boy toy, leaving her daughter home with the household staff. She missed birthdays, Christmas, even her daughter’s college graduation. And the senator’s wife was also incredibly overbearing with her children, but whereas Jessie’s mother loved her to pieces, smothered her with that love and seemed to live only for and to be with Jessie, Tanner’s mother was distant and formal and lived to put on a good appearance for all the neighbors.
Overall, I liked the book, liked the story, despite how implausible it all was. The synopsis hints at a secret about Jessie’s parents, and even though that secret is revealed to us, the reader, in the prologue, I don’t want to say what it is, but it is the driving force of the book, right up to the last chapter.
I will say one last thing that some might construe as a spoiler, so skip this paragraph if you want: I was disappointed when I read the epilogue. I don’t like the way it ended, and how one of the two men just seemed to disappear from Jessie’s life without any explanation.
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January 2, 2017Thea Roland, wife of Barnes Roland, was at her doctors office to get help. She had 3 miscarriages and 2 stillborn children. Their daughter had just died. She was in terrible mental shape. They left Atlanta to go home and stopped to get gas in Tennessee. There was a little girl left outside with her dog, Jelly, while her mother was inside picking up her husband from work. Thea grabbed the little girl and put her in their car and Barnes drove off quickly. Thea yelled out the window, "Finders, Keepers!"
The Roland's raised Hannah Larson as Jessie Roland but Thea was overbearing and overprotective. Jessie grew up resenting her very much. She graduated from high school and after a couple of years in college, took off without telling her mother where she was headed. She left telling Barnes that she was never coming back. Jessie was raised wealthy. The Roland's had plenty of money and had left her a trust fund. They also sent money to her birth family every year out of guilt. Her best friend, Sophie, helped her escape her the Roland's by sending her money whenever she needed it. Sophie's mother was not involved in Sophie's life at all but sent her more money than she would ever need. She married a count in another country and just kept sending more money. Sophie resented her as much as Jessie resented her parents. Sophie was beautiful, rich, and smart. She graduated from college as valedictorian of her class and again her mother didn't show up at graduation. She sold the car the Roland's had given Jessie and purchased another one in her own name. The Roland's were afraid now that Jessie was grown and on her own that someone would find out that she had been kidnapped by them and they flew to Spain. They weren't taking any chances that they could end up in prison.
Jessie landed in Washington DC and Sophie helped her to get a job as secretary to Senator Angus Kingsley. She got to know his son, Tanner, during the three years that she worked for him through conversations. She knew what he looked like by the photographs she dusted almost daily. She met him once when she tripped in the airport on her way to Sophie's college graduation. She recognized him when he helped her up but he had no idea who she was. She met him again at an airport when the senator sent her to his home in Texas to deliver Christmas gifts. He was supposed to go home with her but changed his plans at the last moment to spend the holidays with his companion in Washington. Irene had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and this would be her last Christmas. Irene was the Senator's first wife. She and Angus divorced when his current wife became pregnant. She wasn't in love with Angus, she just wanted access to the power he held. Angus went back to Irene once she decided to take him back. She didn't ask him for a divorce because of the children. His children knew and loved Irene. They didn't care for their own mother. Angus couldn't bear to leave Irene alone for her last Christmas.
Hannah's parents in Tennessee hadn't used any of the money that the Roland's had sent. They had just put it in a box in Hannah's room. They finally decided that they had to use some of the money live and to pay for their oldest son's, John's, college tuition. Ben and Grace still missed Hannah but didn't really expect her to return anymore. John thanked his parents for allowing him to attend Clemson and told them that he would make them proud and that Hannah would return some day. He just didn't know when.
Sophie graduated as an architect and was living in Costa Rica working on an internship. She had gotten engaged to Jack. He was a civil engineer working for the firm that Sophie was interning with.
Hannah told Tanner that she wasn't going to stay for Christmas due to his mother's attitude. She didn't really want to leave and was flattered by the attention she was getting from Tanner. She met his sister, Resa, and together she and Tanner found out that she was engaged to a co-worker, Joshua Kelly, at the same school where she taught. She hadn't told her parents yet because her mother had run off her last fiancée. Tanner congratulated her and agreed to keep quiet about the engagement. He and Jessie got along well and teased each other about getting married and other things.
While Jessie was at the ranch, Alexis Kingsley was upset that Angus didn't come home. She flew to Washington to confront her husband. Jessie had called the Senator to warn him so they weren't at Irene's house. Alexis found the key to the house and went inside and destroyed things in Irene's home. She smashed every ornament on her Christmas tree, her china, cut up and burned her rugs and chair cushions. She cut up her clothes and shredded her towels. Alexis then replaced the key and flew back to her ranch and told her children that she never left the airport. She then accused Jessie of breaking into her room and stealing her perfume. Jessie had received the expensive perfume as a gift from Sophie. Tanner quickly defended Jessie and they left. Their father called and told them about Irene's house and they suspected their mother.
Tanner, Jessie, Resa and her fiancée changed their Christmas plans and went to Washington to see their father and Irene. Sophie called after Jessie had a particularly bad night. She had another bad dream like those she had as a child. Resa told her that she had been yelling for jelly. Jessie told her that she hated jelly and didn't understand. She suggested that something traumatic must have happened to her as a child. Jessie flew to Atlanta to spend the week with Sophie. Tanner called and they made plans for him to fly there and spend New Year's Eve with Jessie in Atlanta. Sophie told Jessie that she was going to have the Kingley family checked out and the report would be locked in her safe in case Jessie ever wanted to look it over.
Sophie was out the next morning when the phone rang. Jessie answered it and it was an attorney telling her that Sophie's mother had been killed when the race car driver she was with drove them off a cliff. She packed their bags and they were off to the funeral. They stopped off in Spain to see Jessie's parents there. When Jessie's nightmares were brought up, her parents acted strangely. She didn't realize it but her father knew that she was remembering the kidnapping and it frightened him. Thea stayed drunk the entire time they were there. Sophie apologized for making Jessie see them and agreed they were acting strangely.
Jessie had a date with Tanner and he showed up three hours late due to the weather. He ended up staying the night and she had another bad dream. Tanner was there and they had sex in the morning. It was Jessie's first time. She was sceptical about their relationship though because he had mentioned again about them getting married and he didn't want her to work if they were to get married. He also mentioned that there would be no Sophie. Sophie had called before they had sex and told Jessie that she was concerned for her relationship with Jack. She said that there was a rumor that he was in France at the same time they were. Jessie suggested that she hire people to check him out and see what was going on. When she recieved the information, she could then decide what to do. They were supposed to be married in June and Sophie was concerned about what she was hearing and she hadn't told him about her financial situation or her mother.
Two months later, Jessie found out she was pregnant. She called Tanner and tried to break things off. She tried to find Sophie but couldn't. Tanner didn't like their relationship so she had quit talking to her as much. Tanner came and found her at Sophie's place and she told him she was pregnant. They agreed to get married when she graduated. Sophie didn't show up at her wedding and wasn't at Jessie's college graduation. She was on her way to marry Tanner when a lawyer drove up and told her that Sophie had killed herself in the exact same place her mother had died after finding out that the man she loved was just after her money. She left everything she had to Jessie. Jessie had a pre-nup with Tanner and didn't tell him anything about her trust fund or what Sophie had left her. She found out that her belongings had been gone through and figured that it was Tanner who knew that she had a trust fund. She married Tanner knowing that they weren't in love. They went to the ranch house and Alexis pushed Jessie down the stairs, causing a miscarriage. She told Tanner and his father. His father told him that she wasn't a liar at that it had been Alexis who had broken into Irene's place and torn it up. Irene had passed away by this time.
Alexis kept Jessie drugged up most of the next year. There came a time when she put a stop to it. She found out that Tanner had been having affairs while she was being drugged and told him she was leaving him and filing for a divorce. He hit her and she slept with him that night to keep him from hitting her more. She had first run away to a neighbor's house, Luke, and she went back there after she had been beaten the second time. Luke helped her get in touch with Sophie's attorney and she found out that a place for her to live had been arranged. She saw Luke almost every evening while she was there. She told Luke that she wanted a dog and he found a mother and puppy for her. She named the mom Jelly and the puppy Fred. She was still having nightmares and they were getting worse.
She found out that when Tanner was younger, he had a friend that he called J.J. That person was the Jack that Sophie had been dating. He and Tanner had a competition to find a marry the richest woman they could find. Sophie had been targeted by JJ and Tanner was left to deal with Jessie, her best friend. Jessie was shocked and angry.
She and Luke decided to marry but she had to finish and break her connections with Tanner's family. She found out that she was pregnant. She tried to keep it from Tanner and in the end, he regretted all that he had done and agreed to quietly divorce Jessie. Jessie told him that she was pregnant and she would let him see the child sometime in the future when things had died down. Tanner's father, Angus, was tied up in a political scandal due to deals he had made to give Irene and her twin sons money for them, because he was their father, and for their parents medical bills. Angus died in disgrace at his family ranch.
Sophie had called her parents in Spain to ask them about her nightmares. She called them again and asked them to come to her wedding and meet Luke. Her mother got really sick as they were planning to run away again to Argentina after the first call. Barnes was even more frightened after the second call and felt like Jessie knew about the kidnapping and was asking them to come back to the States in order to be arrested. They once again made plans to go to Argentina and Thea had another heart attack and died. Barnes left Spain alone. Before he left, he had made scrapbooks of all the articles that he could find on the kidnapping of Hannah and he sent them on the plane to Jessie. They arrived and her and Luke went through them. Luke then took her to meet her real family. They spent Christmas together that year. Luke went to Penn State to begin a teaching career. Jessie went to Africa to build a bridge to fulfill a request left to her by Sophie.
Hannah wrote to Tanner and told him they had a son. She had named him after his father. His name was Angus. She told him that she would bring him for a visit after she completed the bridge that she was overseeing the building of.
A Summer Surprise -
This is a short story about a veterinarian, Andrea or Andi Evans. Peter King's grandmother was the CEO of a lipstick company and they wanted her property. She told them that she wanted a million dollars an acre and Peter reluctantly agreed. His grandmother, Sadie King, pretended to be homeless and Gertie. She became friends with Andi and got to know her. She thought that she would be perfect for Peter. Peter met her and quickly fell in love.
Andi was disappointed when they had a date and he didn't show up. Sadie's cat, Hannah, had died and Peter stayed with her and didn't think he needed to call Andi. He apologized but then a woman who wanted to marry him for his money, took a file he had on Andi and left it where she would find it. Andi got upset again. He had to apologize again and invited her to his Christmas party. Then Andi found out about Gertie and had just about given up. The final straw came when she had a contract to move out on the day of that party and she was very sick. The contractors came to tear up her house and they hadn't left yet. She still had another three days and was sick. Peter couldn't be located so she packed up all the animals and took them to his party. The other people there all left and Sadie told him to take Andi upstairs and put her to bed. Peter laughed at what Andi had done and told her they could all live with him if they needed to but the contractor had an amended contract showing the dates weren't the same as what he was trying to use to get Andi out of her house. Peter told Andi that he was in love with her and that he was going to marry her. Sadie told him that she wanted 5 great grandchildren.
The Roland's raised Hannah Larson as Jessie Roland but Thea was overbearing and overprotective. Jessie grew up resenting her very much. She graduated from high school and after a couple of years in college, took off without telling her mother where she was headed. She left telling Barnes that she was never coming back. Jessie was raised wealthy. The Roland's had plenty of money and had left her a trust fund. They also sent money to her birth family every year out of guilt. Her best friend, Sophie, helped her escape her the Roland's by sending her money whenever she needed it. Sophie's mother was not involved in Sophie's life at all but sent her more money than she would ever need. She married a count in another country and just kept sending more money. Sophie resented her as much as Jessie resented her parents. Sophie was beautiful, rich, and smart. She graduated from college as valedictorian of her class and again her mother didn't show up at graduation. She sold the car the Roland's had given Jessie and purchased another one in her own name. The Roland's were afraid now that Jessie was grown and on her own that someone would find out that she had been kidnapped by them and they flew to Spain. They weren't taking any chances that they could end up in prison.
Jessie landed in Washington DC and Sophie helped her to get a job as secretary to Senator Angus Kingsley. She got to know his son, Tanner, during the three years that she worked for him through conversations. She knew what he looked like by the photographs she dusted almost daily. She met him once when she tripped in the airport on her way to Sophie's college graduation. She recognized him when he helped her up but he had no idea who she was. She met him again at an airport when the senator sent her to his home in Texas to deliver Christmas gifts. He was supposed to go home with her but changed his plans at the last moment to spend the holidays with his companion in Washington. Irene had been diagnosed with terminal cancer and this would be her last Christmas. Irene was the Senator's first wife. She and Angus divorced when his current wife became pregnant. She wasn't in love with Angus, she just wanted access to the power he held. Angus went back to Irene once she decided to take him back. She didn't ask him for a divorce because of the children. His children knew and loved Irene. They didn't care for their own mother. Angus couldn't bear to leave Irene alone for her last Christmas.
Hannah's parents in Tennessee hadn't used any of the money that the Roland's had sent. They had just put it in a box in Hannah's room. They finally decided that they had to use some of the money live and to pay for their oldest son's, John's, college tuition. Ben and Grace still missed Hannah but didn't really expect her to return anymore. John thanked his parents for allowing him to attend Clemson and told them that he would make them proud and that Hannah would return some day. He just didn't know when.
Sophie graduated as an architect and was living in Costa Rica working on an internship. She had gotten engaged to Jack. He was a civil engineer working for the firm that Sophie was interning with.
Hannah told Tanner that she wasn't going to stay for Christmas due to his mother's attitude. She didn't really want to leave and was flattered by the attention she was getting from Tanner. She met his sister, Resa, and together she and Tanner found out that she was engaged to a co-worker, Joshua Kelly, at the same school where she taught. She hadn't told her parents yet because her mother had run off her last fiancée. Tanner congratulated her and agreed to keep quiet about the engagement. He and Jessie got along well and teased each other about getting married and other things.
While Jessie was at the ranch, Alexis Kingsley was upset that Angus didn't come home. She flew to Washington to confront her husband. Jessie had called the Senator to warn him so they weren't at Irene's house. Alexis found the key to the house and went inside and destroyed things in Irene's home. She smashed every ornament on her Christmas tree, her china, cut up and burned her rugs and chair cushions. She cut up her clothes and shredded her towels. Alexis then replaced the key and flew back to her ranch and told her children that she never left the airport. She then accused Jessie of breaking into her room and stealing her perfume. Jessie had received the expensive perfume as a gift from Sophie. Tanner quickly defended Jessie and they left. Their father called and told them about Irene's house and they suspected their mother.
Tanner, Jessie, Resa and her fiancée changed their Christmas plans and went to Washington to see their father and Irene. Sophie called after Jessie had a particularly bad night. She had another bad dream like those she had as a child. Resa told her that she had been yelling for jelly. Jessie told her that she hated jelly and didn't understand. She suggested that something traumatic must have happened to her as a child. Jessie flew to Atlanta to spend the week with Sophie. Tanner called and they made plans for him to fly there and spend New Year's Eve with Jessie in Atlanta. Sophie told Jessie that she was going to have the Kingley family checked out and the report would be locked in her safe in case Jessie ever wanted to look it over.
Sophie was out the next morning when the phone rang. Jessie answered it and it was an attorney telling her that Sophie's mother had been killed when the race car driver she was with drove them off a cliff. She packed their bags and they were off to the funeral. They stopped off in Spain to see Jessie's parents there. When Jessie's nightmares were brought up, her parents acted strangely. She didn't realize it but her father knew that she was remembering the kidnapping and it frightened him. Thea stayed drunk the entire time they were there. Sophie apologized for making Jessie see them and agreed they were acting strangely.
Jessie had a date with Tanner and he showed up three hours late due to the weather. He ended up staying the night and she had another bad dream. Tanner was there and they had sex in the morning. It was Jessie's first time. She was sceptical about their relationship though because he had mentioned again about them getting married and he didn't want her to work if they were to get married. He also mentioned that there would be no Sophie. Sophie had called before they had sex and told Jessie that she was concerned for her relationship with Jack. She said that there was a rumor that he was in France at the same time they were. Jessie suggested that she hire people to check him out and see what was going on. When she recieved the information, she could then decide what to do. They were supposed to be married in June and Sophie was concerned about what she was hearing and she hadn't told him about her financial situation or her mother.
Two months later, Jessie found out she was pregnant. She called Tanner and tried to break things off. She tried to find Sophie but couldn't. Tanner didn't like their relationship so she had quit talking to her as much. Tanner came and found her at Sophie's place and she told him she was pregnant. They agreed to get married when she graduated. Sophie didn't show up at her wedding and wasn't at Jessie's college graduation. She was on her way to marry Tanner when a lawyer drove up and told her that Sophie had killed herself in the exact same place her mother had died after finding out that the man she loved was just after her money. She left everything she had to Jessie. Jessie had a pre-nup with Tanner and didn't tell him anything about her trust fund or what Sophie had left her. She found out that her belongings had been gone through and figured that it was Tanner who knew that she had a trust fund. She married Tanner knowing that they weren't in love. They went to the ranch house and Alexis pushed Jessie down the stairs, causing a miscarriage. She told Tanner and his father. His father told him that she wasn't a liar at that it had been Alexis who had broken into Irene's place and torn it up. Irene had passed away by this time.
Alexis kept Jessie drugged up most of the next year. There came a time when she put a stop to it. She found out that Tanner had been having affairs while she was being drugged and told him she was leaving him and filing for a divorce. He hit her and she slept with him that night to keep him from hitting her more. She had first run away to a neighbor's house, Luke, and she went back there after she had been beaten the second time. Luke helped her get in touch with Sophie's attorney and she found out that a place for her to live had been arranged. She saw Luke almost every evening while she was there. She told Luke that she wanted a dog and he found a mother and puppy for her. She named the mom Jelly and the puppy Fred. She was still having nightmares and they were getting worse.
She found out that when Tanner was younger, he had a friend that he called J.J. That person was the Jack that Sophie had been dating. He and Tanner had a competition to find a marry the richest woman they could find. Sophie had been targeted by JJ and Tanner was left to deal with Jessie, her best friend. Jessie was shocked and angry.
She and Luke decided to marry but she had to finish and break her connections with Tanner's family. She found out that she was pregnant. She tried to keep it from Tanner and in the end, he regretted all that he had done and agreed to quietly divorce Jessie. Jessie told him that she was pregnant and she would let him see the child sometime in the future when things had died down. Tanner's father, Angus, was tied up in a political scandal due to deals he had made to give Irene and her twin sons money for them, because he was their father, and for their parents medical bills. Angus died in disgrace at his family ranch.
Sophie had called her parents in Spain to ask them about her nightmares. She called them again and asked them to come to her wedding and meet Luke. Her mother got really sick as they were planning to run away again to Argentina after the first call. Barnes was even more frightened after the second call and felt like Jessie knew about the kidnapping and was asking them to come back to the States in order to be arrested. They once again made plans to go to Argentina and Thea had another heart attack and died. Barnes left Spain alone. Before he left, he had made scrapbooks of all the articles that he could find on the kidnapping of Hannah and he sent them on the plane to Jessie. They arrived and her and Luke went through them. Luke then took her to meet her real family. They spent Christmas together that year. Luke went to Penn State to begin a teaching career. Jessie went to Africa to build a bridge to fulfill a request left to her by Sophie.
Hannah wrote to Tanner and told him they had a son. She had named him after his father. His name was Angus. She told him that she would bring him for a visit after she completed the bridge that she was overseeing the building of.
A Summer Surprise -
This is a short story about a veterinarian, Andrea or Andi Evans. Peter King's grandmother was the CEO of a lipstick company and they wanted her property. She told them that she wanted a million dollars an acre and Peter reluctantly agreed. His grandmother, Sadie King, pretended to be homeless and Gertie. She became friends with Andi and got to know her. She thought that she would be perfect for Peter. Peter met her and quickly fell in love.
Andi was disappointed when they had a date and he didn't show up. Sadie's cat, Hannah, had died and Peter stayed with her and didn't think he needed to call Andi. He apologized but then a woman who wanted to marry him for his money, took a file he had on Andi and left it where she would find it. Andi got upset again. He had to apologize again and invited her to his Christmas party. Then Andi found out about Gertie and had just about given up. The final straw came when she had a contract to move out on the day of that party and she was very sick. The contractors came to tear up her house and they hadn't left yet. She still had another three days and was sick. Peter couldn't be located so she packed up all the animals and took them to his party. The other people there all left and Sadie told him to take Andi upstairs and put her to bed. Peter laughed at what Andi had done and told her they could all live with him if they needed to but the contractor had an amended contract showing the dates weren't the same as what he was trying to use to get Andi out of her house. Peter told Andi that he was in love with her and that he was going to marry her. Sadie told him that she wanted 5 great grandchildren.
April 27, 2023
Full Disclosure: I won a digital copy of this book in a Goodreads giveaway, and while I'm not required to give a review I am, with provisos. Don't expect to read of current events and technologies. This book was first published in 1998, and is set from 1957 through the late 1970s or early 1980s. People then used landlines, not cell phones, typewriters, not computers, and newspapers were printed and read daily. And the ubiquitous CCTV cameras we see everywhere now didn't exist. Since those were some of my formative years, I found myself a bit nostalgic at times.
≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠≠
Wealthy Atlanta socialites Thea and Barnes Roland lost their infant daughter to SIDS (though it wasn't given that name until many years later). A year later, desperate to pull Thea out of her grief, Barnes insists they spend a couple of weeks up in the mountains. Along the way, they stop at a gas station/convenience store in a small town. Thea's eyes are immediately drawn to the little blond-haired girl sitting outside in a stroller, with her pet retriever, Jelly, tied up nearby. In a flash, Thea snatched the little girl and jumped in the car, yelling "I found her! Finders keepers!"
Jessie Roland grew up having nightmares, waking up screaming, but doctors and everyone wrote them off, saying she would grow out of them. She knew something wasn't right about her relationship with her parents, but didn't know why she felt that way. Her mother was super clingy but her father was more tolerant. Though they had moved to Charleston, Thea kept Jessie so close she didn't have any friends. Except for Sophie, the daughter of Thea's best friend back in Atlanta.
Sophie was the neglected child of one of the world's wealthiest women. She was lucky if she got to see her mother three times a year. She and Jessie bonded over long phone calls and short summers. Jessie leaned on Sophie's advice and it was with Sophie's help that Jessie was finally able to escape from Thea for good after her high school graduation. As far as the Rolands were concerned, Jessie had dropped off the face of the earth.
On her way to New York as originally planned, Jessie visited Washington, DC and fell in love with the city so she stayed and got a job as the assistant to a powerful senator from Texas. She became privy to all kinds of secrets, not the least of which was the senator's long-standing and common-knowledge affair. His wife and son very rarely came to DC and even after three years Jessie hadn't met them. Then one Christmas the senator asks her to accompany him to his ranch for the holidays. On the way to the airport, they stop at the senator's lover's home, ostensibly to drop off gifts. Then the senator announces he is staying in DC to spend the holidays with his dying lover and her kids and sends Jessie on to the ranch by herself.
Needless to say, Jessie arriving at the ranch alone didn't go over well with the Mrs. But the son, Tanner, became enamored of Jessie and talked her into staying for the holidays instead of returning to DC. When they later married, Jessie got pregnant quickly, but a push down the stairs from the senator's wife caused her to lose the baby, which Jessie grieved for a year. Just as she was getting her feet back under her, she gets word that Sophie is dead. Suddenly, Jessie was the world's third wealthiest woman.
It takes a while for Jessie to sort things out and figure out what she wants to do. She finds a new love and adopts a golden retriever she names Jelly and her puppy. Then one day, while walking in the park, she meets a woman with a baby and a very talkative toddler. When Jessie asks him what his baby sister's name is, he replies "Hannah, Hannah Banana!" That name sends Jessie into her nightmare and she passes out. Soon afterward, a box of scrapbooks sent to her by Barnes Roland arrives. Those scrapbooks lead Jessie to the truth of who she really is.
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Wealthy Atlanta socialites Thea and Barnes Roland lost their infant daughter to SIDS (though it wasn't given that name until many years later). A year later, desperate to pull Thea out of her grief, Barnes insists they spend a couple of weeks up in the mountains. Along the way, they stop at a gas station/convenience store in a small town. Thea's eyes are immediately drawn to the little blond-haired girl sitting outside in a stroller, with her pet retriever, Jelly, tied up nearby. In a flash, Thea snatched the little girl and jumped in the car, yelling "I found her! Finders keepers!"
Jessie Roland grew up having nightmares, waking up screaming, but doctors and everyone wrote them off, saying she would grow out of them. She knew something wasn't right about her relationship with her parents, but didn't know why she felt that way. Her mother was super clingy but her father was more tolerant. Though they had moved to Charleston, Thea kept Jessie so close she didn't have any friends. Except for Sophie, the daughter of Thea's best friend back in Atlanta.
Sophie was the neglected child of one of the world's wealthiest women. She was lucky if she got to see her mother three times a year. She and Jessie bonded over long phone calls and short summers. Jessie leaned on Sophie's advice and it was with Sophie's help that Jessie was finally able to escape from Thea for good after her high school graduation. As far as the Rolands were concerned, Jessie had dropped off the face of the earth.
On her way to New York as originally planned, Jessie visited Washington, DC and fell in love with the city so she stayed and got a job as the assistant to a powerful senator from Texas. She became privy to all kinds of secrets, not the least of which was the senator's long-standing and common-knowledge affair. His wife and son very rarely came to DC and even after three years Jessie hadn't met them. Then one Christmas the senator asks her to accompany him to his ranch for the holidays. On the way to the airport, they stop at the senator's lover's home, ostensibly to drop off gifts. Then the senator announces he is staying in DC to spend the holidays with his dying lover and her kids and sends Jessie on to the ranch by herself.
Needless to say, Jessie arriving at the ranch alone didn't go over well with the Mrs. But the son, Tanner, became enamored of Jessie and talked her into staying for the holidays instead of returning to DC. When they later married, Jessie got pregnant quickly, but a push down the stairs from the senator's wife caused her to lose the baby, which Jessie grieved for a year. Just as she was getting her feet back under her, she gets word that Sophie is dead. Suddenly, Jessie was the world's third wealthiest woman.
It takes a while for Jessie to sort things out and figure out what she wants to do. She finds a new love and adopts a golden retriever she names Jelly and her puppy. Then one day, while walking in the park, she meets a woman with a baby and a very talkative toddler. When Jessie asks him what his baby sister's name is, he replies "Hannah, Hannah Banana!" That name sends Jessie into her nightmare and she passes out. Soon afterward, a box of scrapbooks sent to her by Barnes Roland arrives. Those scrapbooks lead Jessie to the truth of who she really is.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 12, 2019
Mediocre book with a story and kind of characters that Fern Michaels repeats in many of her books.
January 15, 2023
It was sad to read this book, the mental toll on the father , the total confusion of the child, the mind blowing depression of the mothers!!
Happy with the conclusion but sorry about the journeys
Happy with the conclusion but sorry about the journeys
February 19, 2025
What a great story
April 18, 2025
Not the ending I expected .. :(
January 23, 2023
There were way too many storylines in this book some were incredibly interesting, but the fact that there were so many different ones made it dilute all of them. It was frustrating to read, because quite a few of the storylines had big back stories to them that Were not well explained.
Disappointed
Disappointed
September 23, 2023
Meh. This was a Goodreads Giveaway. The first 1/4 was really interesting; the dual perspectives kept me engrossed in the story. After that it was mediocre. Once Jessie left home it actually got kind of boring. I could understand the reasons Jessie was constantly on the move, but at the same time found it distracting.
Additionally, there were very long paragraphs of dialog that made it seem like characters were just spouting off long diatribes that often jumped from subject to subject almost like they all had ADHD. There was no indication of how they were speaking (i.e., yelled, whispered, demanded, etc.) so it all sounded monotone in my head. There was also no action explanation in the dialog. For example, Jessie and Tanner were in the house talking then Tanner said “climb in” like they were getting into his truck, but the dialog didn’t explain they ever left the house so it was like these characters were teleporting as I read their conversations. It was just weird. I took off a star because I found it all so distracting.
Additionally, there were very long paragraphs of dialog that made it seem like characters were just spouting off long diatribes that often jumped from subject to subject almost like they all had ADHD. There was no indication of how they were speaking (i.e., yelled, whispered, demanded, etc.) so it all sounded monotone in my head. There was also no action explanation in the dialog. For example, Jessie and Tanner were in the house talking then Tanner said “climb in” like they were getting into his truck, but the dialog didn’t explain they ever left the house so it was like these characters were teleporting as I read their conversations. It was just weird. I took off a star because I found it all so distracting.
March 14, 2025
I did not like this book right from the start but took the chance that it would get better... it didn’t. It was very jumpy, meaning she would just kind of leave you hanging mid-scene, not finishing what was happening. Before you knew it you were a couple days ahead or years ahead. I did not care for the authors writing style at all. It was very abrupt and did not flow well. I found it choppy and not well polished, amateurish. Like she was just throwing words onto the page. I picked it up at a resort and threw it in the trash when I finished so no else would have the misfortune of wasting their time reading it while on vacation! Btw, the ending is even worse than the rest of the book!
February 6, 2023
Ugh. That’s a whole week of reading I’ll never get back. Between the underdeveloped characters, the annoyingly run-on streams of consciousness, the plethora of plot holes and the absolutely mind-blowingly infuriating conclusion I’d say skip this one. I feel like this book was written over a weekend to meet a deadline. I mean, she named her baby, a product of rape, after the rapist and his father?!?! And she (ambiguously) winds up with him?!? I’m so mad I wasted time and money on this stinker.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 9, 2015
I really wanted to like this book more than I actually did. There was just so much going on in it that I felt it didn't do any one storyline all that well -- either it's about a kidnapped child, or a cheating senator, or a mother-daughter relationship -- there was so much going on I felt it diluted whatever the main purpose of the book was supposed to be.
January 3, 2022
I was not really a fan of this. I love Fer Michael's but this was not one of my favorites of hers. Too sad...
February 16, 2022
Waste of my time. Drags out, mostly predictable, foolish ending after all the waiting.
March 3, 2022
I found it quite interesting but the story was a little 'all over the page'. The ending, not what I would have expected, but still is was enjoyable.
September 30, 2022
Great book
I don't understand the end of this book. It's darn good book so what's with the ending? I am really mad, I want to cuss. What gives Ms. Michaels
I don't understand the end of this book. It's darn good book so what's with the ending? I am really mad, I want to cuss. What gives Ms. Michaels
November 3, 2024
A Southern saga of family lost and found from the #1 New York Times-bestselling author of the Sisterhood books. Fern Michaels thrills us, once again, with the story of an unforgettable young woman who was stolen as a toddler from a poor but loving family, and who must journey through a maze of heartbreak before she can reclaim her true identity. Raised in a magnificent Charleston house, Jessie Roland wants for nothing. But as she grows into young adulthood, all she feels is loss and a desperate need to break free from the stifling possessiveness of her “parents.” Somewhere, in the deepest part of herself, Jessie believes that the world she has always lived in is not the one she came from . . . or belongs in. Now, at nineteen, she has escaped to Washington, D.C., where no one knows her, and where she is swept into a whirlwind marriage to a Texas senator’s son. But the past will not release Jessie, who is still haunted by a sense of lost happiness, of simple, tender gestures buried in her memory. Only in Luke Holt, a reclusive rancher, will she discover the strength to penetrate the darkness, and find her way back to a place she can call home. Praise for Fern Michaels “Prose so natural that it seems you are witnessing a story rather than reading about it.” —Los Angeles Sunday Times “Michaels just keeps getting better and better with each book . . . She never disappoints.” —RT Book Reviews
November 4, 2018
As has been the case with all the Fern Michaels books I have read thus far, I enjoyed this book, and found myself wanting to get back to it every time I had to put it down. The story moves along nicely, and has interesting twists and turns. The biggest problem I had with the book was the printing, which had quite a few noticeable grammar and spelling errors. Boo to the editor, someone wasn't paying enough attention. Also, at the end of the book, there is an additional short story entitled "A Summer Surprise", which is very sweet and a nice little bonus.
Brief synopsis:
Raised in a magnificent Charleston house, Jessie Roland wants for nothing. But as she grows into young adulthood, all she feels is loss and a desperate need to break free from the stifling possessiveness of her "parents." Somewhere, in the deepest part of herself, Jessie believes that the world she has always lived in is not the one she came from. . .or belongs in.
Now, at nineteen, she has escaped to Washington, D.C., where no one knows her, and where she is swept into a whirlwind marriage to a Texas senator's son. But the past will not release Jessie, who is still haunted by a sense of lost happiness, of simple, tender gestures buried in her memory. Only in Luke Holt, a reclusive rancher, will she discover the strength to penetrate the darkness, and find her way back to a place she can call home.
Brief synopsis:
Raised in a magnificent Charleston house, Jessie Roland wants for nothing. But as she grows into young adulthood, all she feels is loss and a desperate need to break free from the stifling possessiveness of her "parents." Somewhere, in the deepest part of herself, Jessie believes that the world she has always lived in is not the one she came from. . .or belongs in.
Now, at nineteen, she has escaped to Washington, D.C., where no one knows her, and where she is swept into a whirlwind marriage to a Texas senator's son. But the past will not release Jessie, who is still haunted by a sense of lost happiness, of simple, tender gestures buried in her memory. Only in Luke Holt, a reclusive rancher, will she discover the strength to penetrate the darkness, and find her way back to a place she can call home.
August 27, 2023
Interesting plot. Unfortunately I like books where I can actually almost believe that the plot can actually happen.... And this book is totally not realistic.... It is entertaining.
Fern Michaels thrills us, once again, with the story of an unforgettable young woman who was stolen as a toddler from a poor but loving family, and who must journey through a maze of heartbreak before she can reclaim her true identity. Raised in a magnificent Charleston house, Jessie Roland wants for nothing. But as she grows into young adulthood, all she feels is loss and a desperate need to break free from the stifling possessiveness of her “parents.” Somewhere, in the deepest part of herself, Jessie believes that the world she has always lived in is not the one she came from . . . or belongs in.
Now, at nineteen, she has escaped to Washington, D.C., where no one knows her, and where she is swept into a whirlwind marriage to a Texas senator’s son. But the past will not release Jessie, who is still haunted by a sense of lost happiness, of simple, tender gestures buried in her memory. Only in Luke Holt, a reclusive rancher, will she discover the strength to penetrate the darkness, and find her way back to a place she can call home.
Fern Michaels thrills us, once again, with the story of an unforgettable young woman who was stolen as a toddler from a poor but loving family, and who must journey through a maze of heartbreak before she can reclaim her true identity. Raised in a magnificent Charleston house, Jessie Roland wants for nothing. But as she grows into young adulthood, all she feels is loss and a desperate need to break free from the stifling possessiveness of her “parents.” Somewhere, in the deepest part of herself, Jessie believes that the world she has always lived in is not the one she came from . . . or belongs in.
Now, at nineteen, she has escaped to Washington, D.C., where no one knows her, and where she is swept into a whirlwind marriage to a Texas senator’s son. But the past will not release Jessie, who is still haunted by a sense of lost happiness, of simple, tender gestures buried in her memory. Only in Luke Holt, a reclusive rancher, will she discover the strength to penetrate the darkness, and find her way back to a place she can call home.
May 10, 2025
This is one of the most poorly written books I have ever read. The characters are wooden caricatures of people. Everyone has a billion dollars. The love interest/hero mentioned in the blurb on the back doesn't show up in person until 390 pages in. Jessie is completely unlikeable as a character and totally inconsistent, one minute being sheltered and naive and one moment being ruthlessly worldly and smart.
Soap opera tropes abound:
Sheltered kid gets amazing job and is super good at it immediately.
Falls in love in 36 hours. Oh and he's a total dick.
Guy basically coerces her into sex but even though she's a virgin and he is pushing every boundary and being a jerk she has an orgasm first time.
Inevitable pregnancy leading to forced marriage.
Vengeful mother in law does the oh so original stair push causing miscarriage and amnesia. (Seriously??)
Best friend kills herself and leaves millions and billions of dollars to her.
Plus she finally finds her true family and true love and IMMEDIATELY takes off for Africa to build a bridge for three years in a hasty epilogue and gives her PHYSICALLY AND EMOTIONALLY ABUSIVE EX HUSBAND millions and millions?
This book is utter nonsense and I only finished it to see how bad it could get.
Soap opera tropes abound:
Sheltered kid gets amazing job and is super good at it immediately.
Falls in love in 36 hours. Oh and he's a total dick.
Guy basically coerces her into sex but even though she's a virgin and he is pushing every boundary and being a jerk she has an orgasm first time.
Inevitable pregnancy leading to forced marriage.
Vengeful mother in law does the oh so original stair push causing miscarriage and amnesia. (Seriously??)
Best friend kills herself and leaves millions and billions of dollars to her.
Plus she finally finds her true family and true love and IMMEDIATELY takes off for Africa to build a bridge for three years in a hasty epilogue and gives her PHYSICALLY AND EMOTIONALLY ABUSIVE EX HUSBAND millions and millions?
This book is utter nonsense and I only finished it to see how bad it could get.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
May 3, 2023
This was a free book and my first read by Fern Michaels. The reviews said if one has never read anything by Fern Michaels not to start with this one or you may never pick up another one. I think they are right. This wasn't very good. The dialogue was awkward and stilted. AND way too long.
The beginning grabbed my interest though. A 2 yr old, Hannah, is stollen out of her stroller by a sicko woman and her passive husband. The kidnappers were never found. They were very wealthy and gave the child, now Jessie, everything she could possibly want but they were so overbearing that she grew up miserable and having flashback nightmares. Her only friend, Sophie helped her along the way and when she's an adult helps her get away from her "parents." She gets a job for a senator and marries his son, Tanner, who is a very good guy, then becomes a spouse beater/rapist, and then suddenly a good guy again. Excuse me? Yes, it is a long saga and will she ever realize she has another family? The ending was one page long and leaves you throwing your hands in the air. What????
Should I give Fern Michaels another chance? 2 1/2 stars.
The beginning grabbed my interest though. A 2 yr old, Hannah, is stollen out of her stroller by a sicko woman and her passive husband. The kidnappers were never found. They were very wealthy and gave the child, now Jessie, everything she could possibly want but they were so overbearing that she grew up miserable and having flashback nightmares. Her only friend, Sophie helped her along the way and when she's an adult helps her get away from her "parents." She gets a job for a senator and marries his son, Tanner, who is a very good guy, then becomes a spouse beater/rapist, and then suddenly a good guy again. Excuse me? Yes, it is a long saga and will she ever realize she has another family? The ending was one page long and leaves you throwing your hands in the air. What????
Should I give Fern Michaels another chance? 2 1/2 stars.
May 5, 2024
I don't believe I've read Fern Michaels previously, but 'Finders Keepers' is a paperback I picked up when a promotion/discount was offered. I read the 450+ pages as a distraction to the pain I was experiencing (and while having to elevate my leg) following knee replacement surgery. In the beginning, I wasn't sure the book would keep my attention, but I eventually got wrapped up in the life of 'Jesse' – a young woman who was stolen from her parents at a young age but has little to no memory of that event until much later in life. She takes a job in Washington, D.C. and lives a whirlwind life thanks to her own perseverance and a trust fund established by her very wealthy parents.
All that said, I did notice that while both Jesse and her friend, 'Sophie' were supposedly vegan, when offered meat sandwiches, they both accepted the invitation. I thought it odd that an editor never caught that mistake. I would read other books by this author.
All that said, I did notice that while both Jesse and her friend, 'Sophie' were supposedly vegan, when offered meat sandwiches, they both accepted the invitation. I thought it odd that an editor never caught that mistake. I would read other books by this author.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 3, 2023
Normally, with a Fern Michaels book, I love the storyline, but I don’t like the way it’s told. In real life, people don’t speak in long, drawn out paragraphs, covering 6 to 7 topics at a time, and then have the second person respond to those topics in the next paragraph, in random order. I always feel like I’m reading someone’s email exchange rather than a face-to-face conversation.
In this particular book, I had a problem with the storyline too. It started out great, but about halfway through the book I started wondering where this was going. Normally there comes a point where things start to gel. That never happened in this book. The ending, if you can call it that, was disappointing.
In this particular book, I had a problem with the storyline too. It started out great, but about halfway through the book I started wondering where this was going. Normally there comes a point where things start to gel. That never happened in this book. The ending, if you can call it that, was disappointing.
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