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Dear One
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About the author
Patricia Gaffney
40 books321 followersPatricia Gaffney was born in Tampa, Florida, and grew up in Bethesda, Maryland, a suburb of Washington, D.C. She earned a bachelor’s degree in English and philosophy from Marymount College in Tarrytown, New York, and also studied literature at Royal Holloway College of the University of London, at George Washington University, and at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.
After college, Gaffney taught 12th grade English for a year before becoming a freelance court reporter, a job she pursued in North Carolina, Pittsburgh, and Washington, D.C., for the next fifteen years.
Her first book, a historical romance, was published by Dorchester in 1989. Between then and 1997, she wrote 11 more romance novels (Dorchester; Penguin USA), for which she was nominated for or won many awards. Many of these previously out of print classics are available again today as digitally reissued classics, including the author's most recently re-released and much beloved novels in The Wyckerley Trilogy.
In 1999, she went in a new direction with her hardcover fiction debut, The Saving Graces (HarperCollins). A contemporary story about four women friends, the novel explored issues of love, friendship, trust, and commitment among women. The Saving Graces enjoyed bestseller status on the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, USA Today, and other lists.
Circle of Three (2000), Flight Lessons (2002), and The Goodbye Summer (2004) followed, all national bestsellers. Gaffney’s most recent novel was Mad Dash (2007), a humorous but insightful look at a 20-year marriage, told from the viewpoints of both longsuffering spouses.
More recently, Pat's been indulging her purely creative side in a brand new format for her -- novellas. With friends including J. D. Robb, she has contributed stories to three anthologies, all New York Times bestsellers. In "The Dog Days of Laurie Summer" (The Lost, 2009), a woman in a troubled marriage "dies" and comes back as the family dog. "The Dancing Ghost" (The Other Side, 2010) brings together a pretty spinster and a shady ghost buster in 1895 New England. And in "Dear One" (The Unquiet, 2011), a fake phone psychic (or IS she?) meets her match in a stuffy Capitol Hill lobbyist -- who couldn't possibly be that sexy-voiced cowboy from Medicine Bend who keeps calling the psychic line.
Patricia Gaffney lives in southern Pennsylvania with her husband.
After college, Gaffney taught 12th grade English for a year before becoming a freelance court reporter, a job she pursued in North Carolina, Pittsburgh, and Washington, D.C., for the next fifteen years.
Her first book, a historical romance, was published by Dorchester in 1989. Between then and 1997, she wrote 11 more romance novels (Dorchester; Penguin USA), for which she was nominated for or won many awards. Many of these previously out of print classics are available again today as digitally reissued classics, including the author's most recently re-released and much beloved novels in The Wyckerley Trilogy.
In 1999, she went in a new direction with her hardcover fiction debut, The Saving Graces (HarperCollins). A contemporary story about four women friends, the novel explored issues of love, friendship, trust, and commitment among women. The Saving Graces enjoyed bestseller status on the New York Times, Publishers Weekly, USA Today, and other lists.
Circle of Three (2000), Flight Lessons (2002), and The Goodbye Summer (2004) followed, all national bestsellers. Gaffney’s most recent novel was Mad Dash (2007), a humorous but insightful look at a 20-year marriage, told from the viewpoints of both longsuffering spouses.
More recently, Pat's been indulging her purely creative side in a brand new format for her -- novellas. With friends including J. D. Robb, she has contributed stories to three anthologies, all New York Times bestsellers. In "The Dog Days of Laurie Summer" (The Lost, 2009), a woman in a troubled marriage "dies" and comes back as the family dog. "The Dancing Ghost" (The Other Side, 2010) brings together a pretty spinster and a shady ghost buster in 1895 New England. And in "Dear One" (The Unquiet, 2011), a fake phone psychic (or IS she?) meets her match in a stuffy Capitol Hill lobbyist -- who couldn't possibly be that sexy-voiced cowboy from Medicine Bend who keeps calling the psychic line.
Patricia Gaffney lives in southern Pennsylvania with her husband.
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
August 12, 2025
Stars: 2 / 5
Recommendation: Though readers who read enjoyed it, the short story did not appeal to me. I wish our heroine was more grounded than being a fake which forces the hero to be the same. Ending was very abrupt but it’s a novella so guess that's that.
Dear One is the third novella in The Unquiet anthology book in January of 2011 in which Nora published her novella with four of her recurring authors – Mary Blayney, Patricia Gaffney, Ruth Ryan Langan and Mary Kay McComas. This novella is written by Patricia Gaffney.
In this short story the protagonist is one who owns the psychic phone number, Molly McDougall, aka Madame Romanescue. A chance encounter with new caller named Oliver Woth, grandson of her regular caller Charles Worth, leads to a battle of wills. It also shows Molly how much lonely Oliver is; at the same time she is a fake is what Oliver understands. But a strong romance brews between them that no psychic is needed.
The author thanks all the authors who write with them in the opening page.
I am not into psychic people and those who fake or at least act like they know something of yourself. Like Miss Cleo who made tremendous money with the psychic pay-per-call-minute service called Psychic Readers Network. It threw me off that our heroine fakes being a psychic. I believe people have sixth sense and something beyond that. But I don’t believe in people cashing on other's feelings and humanity.
Though readers who read enjoyed it, the short story did not appeal to me. I wish our heroine was more grounded than being a fake which forces the hero to be the same. Ending was very abrupt but it’s a novella so guess that's that.
Recommendation: Though readers who read enjoyed it, the short story did not appeal to me. I wish our heroine was more grounded than being a fake which forces the hero to be the same. Ending was very abrupt but it’s a novella so guess that's that.
Dear One is the third novella in The Unquiet anthology book in January of 2011 in which Nora published her novella with four of her recurring authors – Mary Blayney, Patricia Gaffney, Ruth Ryan Langan and Mary Kay McComas. This novella is written by Patricia Gaffney.
In this short story the protagonist is one who owns the psychic phone number, Molly McDougall, aka Madame Romanescue. A chance encounter with new caller named Oliver Woth, grandson of her regular caller Charles Worth, leads to a battle of wills. It also shows Molly how much lonely Oliver is; at the same time she is a fake is what Oliver understands. But a strong romance brews between them that no psychic is needed.
The author thanks all the authors who write with them in the opening page.
I am not into psychic people and those who fake or at least act like they know something of yourself. Like Miss Cleo who made tremendous money with the psychic pay-per-call-minute service called Psychic Readers Network. It threw me off that our heroine fakes being a psychic. I believe people have sixth sense and something beyond that. But I don’t believe in people cashing on other's feelings and humanity.
Though readers who read enjoyed it, the short story did not appeal to me. I wish our heroine was more grounded than being a fake which forces the hero to be the same. Ending was very abrupt but it’s a novella so guess that's that.
September 21, 2021
I enjoyed this sweet story.
January 11, 2025
I really enjoyed this. I wish it was longer, but I just fell in love with all the characters. Grandpa is my favorite!
January 10, 2026
People come into your life for different reasons, strange as they might be. Everything happens for a reason.
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews