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Her Secret Hope
Can their child bring them back together?
He’s raised their son…
in secret
A writing job in a small town is Melody Williams’s last hope of reigniting her career. But she didn’t expect she’d be working alongside the man whose heart she broke ten years ago. Clay Reynolds isn’t ready to forgive Melody for giving up their baby—a son Clay adopted in secret. But when mother and child start to bond, how long can he hide the truth?
From Harlequin Love Inspired: Uplifting stories of faith, forgiveness and hope.
He’s raised their son…
in secret
A writing job in a small town is Melody Williams’s last hope of reigniting her career. But she didn’t expect she’d be working alongside the man whose heart she broke ten years ago. Clay Reynolds isn’t ready to forgive Melody for giving up their baby—a son Clay adopted in secret. But when mother and child start to bond, how long can he hide the truth?
From Harlequin Love Inspired: Uplifting stories of faith, forgiveness and hope.
- GenresLove Inspired
279 pages, Paperback
Published March 1, 2021
8 people are currently reading
28 people want to read
About the author
Lorraine Beatty
45 books32 followersLorraine Beatty was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, but now calls Mississippi home. She and husband Joe have two sons and six grandchildren. Lorraine started writing in Junior High and has written for trade books, newspapers and company newsletters. She is a member of RWA, ACFW and is a charter member and past president of Magnolia State Romance Writers. In her spare time she likes to work in her garden, travel, and spend time with her family.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
August 7, 2022
First, this is a book in a series that isn't labeled as a series. Prob'ly should be called 'Blessings Bridge' series... but 'The Family He Needs' and 'The Orphan's Blessing' are two other books in the series. Just as an FYI. I wouldn't have known, but I had the misfortune of reading 'The Orphan's Blessing' in February, and hated it so much that when I picked this up in August (having put it and its author out of my mind), it was a HUGE disappointment to realize I'd gotten another crap book in the same vein as THAT hot mess was.
Not that all of Beatty's books are bad. I read one from her "Home to Dover" earlier series, and it was quite good. But apparently her newer stuff is abysmal, and this is no exception.
Melody had a college romance with Clay Reynolds in Georgia. They were so close and so inseparable, that he didn't know where she was from. ((Already we're making sense.)) Melody got a degree in journalism and wants to be an international correspondent, while Clay was at U of G majoring in... we have no idea what. But he later grows up to be a crop duster, and there are only three schools in the country for that (we're told), and the closest to his home in Mississippi is Dallas, Texas... so how he went to college for nothing in Georgia and got his training for crop dusting NOT in Texas, we don't know. This book SUCKS, have I mentioned?
Anyhow, Melody gets knocked up, and while Clay is all familial and proposes, she's a foster kid who has no experience with family and has dreams of her own, so she tells him she'll sleep on his proposal, and then disappears on him. He hires a very expensive private detective to track her down (with what money...? His dad's crop dusting business is stable but NOT lucrative, and he just racked up student loans at U of G, hello...) and then he unbelievably adopts her baby anonymously. Which... in the USA, isn't there a huge wait list? Unless he proved paternity, and got the kid that way, which is never a part of the story, so we're left to think any Joe can just walk in and say, "That baby - that one's mine." That's NOT how any of it works. Not to mention stateside adoption is EXPENSIVE, on the heels of college and the private investigator...
Suspend reality: In chrischun inspirational fiction land? Everything is within reach, with no money down, and 0% interest. Because *GOD*... r'something.
Ten years later, of ALL THE PLACES in the universe, Melody shows up in Blessings, Mississippi - Clay's small-town home. HE HIRES HER - as M. A. Williams, and *DOESN'T* consider that M. Williams might be Melody? *SERIOUSLY!?!?!* Plus he had her resume - with her COLLEGE ON IT. Oh, hey, M. Williams went to U of G for journalism at the EXACT TIME that Melody Williams did... I can't even THINK they might be the same person! He's *AGHAST* to find out he has to work with her, after HE HIRED her.
WHAT IS THAT?!?!?
So she's in town to write the bicentennial history book of Blessings. Except that the author has her gathering personal stories, histories, articles, books, and more... and all for next year's bicentennial... which apparently starts a year early, as there are THREE bicentennial porch crawls in this novel, the year before (while she's gathering info). What the what?!?!?
And we're told that Councilman Reynolds gave her until May (of the Bicentennial year!) to get the book done - it would NEVER be published on time for release in that same year, hello.
Worse, Beatty writes that school is out 'in a few weeks' JUST BEFORE all new information comes in for the book *which is still in the compilation stages* in April?! Are you KIDDING me??? Do we even know how to timeline a novel, Beatty? Seriously, she's in the RWA and was past president of the Magnolia writers guild, and there's no timelining?!
Back to the review.
On top of all this previous absurdity, the big-box crop dusting corporation (!?) is buying out all of the little crop duster businesses, so Clay's business is dying, and there's THAT subplot. Pg 126: "Promise me they won't come after our business", Clay's dad says. "I promise," Clay lies. But then, that's what Clay does. He lied and said his wife died. He lied and said he had no photos of her. He lied and said it's too painful to talk about his dead wife. He lied and said Eli's mother was dead. So why not lie in the crop dusting subplot?
Worse, on pg 17 he's dusting the Clawson's farm - they have a contract for the year, and he's already fulfilling it. Then halfway thru the book, the Clawson's dump his business and go with the new guys "because they're cheaper". But he's already DUSTED the Clawson farm, so... how does that work? It works, because the author says so. And when she wants the big-bad new company to get their *just desserts*, she simply writes in that the owners were arrested for some undisclosed 'fraud and other things'. You do know just because they're arrested, their business wouldn't be shut down, right? (((sigh.)))
On top of THAT subplot, there's the secondary subplot that the local WWI hero might've been a fraud, and Melody has to prove him innocent. This in addition to the 'keeping the truth of mother/son' subplot... which all are interfering with the bicentennial book deadline subplot. The actual plot being the reuniting of two previous lovers. But it's literally buried under so many subplots, it's practically lost.
GAHHHHHH!!!!!
Then there's the fun that Melody had a baby with Clay ten years ago that she put up for adoption. Clay has a ten year old son. But Melody apparently doesn't do math and figure out that 1) that's her son, or 2) Clay was shacked up at college with ANOTHER girl he impregnates at the same time. No, that would be THINKING. Instead, she just PINES for the child... and Clay... and a second chance... and a braincell or two...
Additionally, she has PTSD from a bombing in Shanghai, in which she was not-at-all afflicted with a polite scar. By this I mean that her left (non-dominant) arm was injured, but only shoulder to wrist for convenience of covering it up, and the scar doesn't affect mobility or use of the limb, either. At one point, she's lifting her arms over her head for a stretch, which means NO loss of mobility, at all. A polite scar, isn't it? ((It's my EIGHTH from 'Love, Inspired', this year alone.)) Not. At. All. Believable. If it was so bad that she endured 'grueling months of therapy'...? She didn't get full mobility back.
We're also told that she's fatigued easily, and has to sit and take breaks during the tour of the town. But that's for just the one instance - the rest of the time, she's rushing from library to office to interviews like a mad little rabbit. Whatevs.
Then Eli (her/his son) sustains a 'bad ankle sprain'... but that he'll be fine in a 'week or two'. That's a *MILD* sprain's recovery time, not a 'bad' sprain's recovery time, hello.
PG 32 it says "I'm not going to let you down. Dad, I know how important this is to you." Immediately followed by "Clay had taken on this bicentennial job *only* because he loved the town so much". Okay, so... is he doing it because it's important to his dad and he doesn't want to let his father down, or ONLY because he loves the town?! ((Bad writing!!))
Two paragraphs later, he tells his dad, "The Truth will hurt the only person in the world I care about." ((Meaning his son.)) Well, Daddy-O... you've been demoted to person non-grata. ((BAD WRITING!!!))
We're told on pg 110 (←less than halfway thru the book) that she "had yet to meet the owner of the old plantation". We're not told WHAT plantation or who this guy is... and as an investigative reporter, you'd think Melody would be on that like a hound on a scent, but noooooo... Beatty suspends reality and hopes we forget this person... we don't know why. It's annoying.
Pg 133 - If Melody has a degree in journalism, wouldn't she know that it would be Master Eli, not Mr. Eli, as he's ten years old? Asking for a friend...
Pg 163 - If Melody is researching the notable things having to do with Blessings for a bicentennial book, wouldn't she know about the man who made custom rocking chairs so fine that he made one for the governor? Why is Clay telling her this?
And then - a sixth of the way from the end? Enter yet *ANOTHER* subplot, as suddenly their son develops asthma, and it's genetic, and suddenly Beatty adds a brother we never heard about before who died under her care of an asthma attack... c'MON!! Did we NEED another subplot to keep them apart? Seriously?!?
I... did NOT enjoy this. It was ridiculous. And 'Her Secret Hope'? There was never a secret hope in the story, hello. Badly done, on all levels.
Not that all of Beatty's books are bad. I read one from her "Home to Dover" earlier series, and it was quite good. But apparently her newer stuff is abysmal, and this is no exception.
Melody had a college romance with Clay Reynolds in Georgia. They were so close and so inseparable, that he didn't know where she was from. ((Already we're making sense.)) Melody got a degree in journalism and wants to be an international correspondent, while Clay was at U of G majoring in... we have no idea what. But he later grows up to be a crop duster, and there are only three schools in the country for that (we're told), and the closest to his home in Mississippi is Dallas, Texas... so how he went to college for nothing in Georgia and got his training for crop dusting NOT in Texas, we don't know. This book SUCKS, have I mentioned?
Anyhow, Melody gets knocked up, and while Clay is all familial and proposes, she's a foster kid who has no experience with family and has dreams of her own, so she tells him she'll sleep on his proposal, and then disappears on him. He hires a very expensive private detective to track her down (with what money...? His dad's crop dusting business is stable but NOT lucrative, and he just racked up student loans at U of G, hello...) and then he unbelievably adopts her baby anonymously. Which... in the USA, isn't there a huge wait list? Unless he proved paternity, and got the kid that way, which is never a part of the story, so we're left to think any Joe can just walk in and say, "That baby - that one's mine." That's NOT how any of it works. Not to mention stateside adoption is EXPENSIVE, on the heels of college and the private investigator...
Suspend reality: In chrischun inspirational fiction land? Everything is within reach, with no money down, and 0% interest. Because *GOD*... r'something.
Ten years later, of ALL THE PLACES in the universe, Melody shows up in Blessings, Mississippi - Clay's small-town home. HE HIRES HER - as M. A. Williams, and *DOESN'T* consider that M. Williams might be Melody? *SERIOUSLY!?!?!* Plus he had her resume - with her COLLEGE ON IT. Oh, hey, M. Williams went to U of G for journalism at the EXACT TIME that Melody Williams did... I can't even THINK they might be the same person! He's *AGHAST* to find out he has to work with her, after HE HIRED her.
WHAT IS THAT?!?!?
So she's in town to write the bicentennial history book of Blessings. Except that the author has her gathering personal stories, histories, articles, books, and more... and all for next year's bicentennial... which apparently starts a year early, as there are THREE bicentennial porch crawls in this novel, the year before (while she's gathering info). What the what?!?!?
And we're told that Councilman Reynolds gave her until May (of the Bicentennial year!) to get the book done - it would NEVER be published on time for release in that same year, hello.
Worse, Beatty writes that school is out 'in a few weeks' JUST BEFORE all new information comes in for the book *which is still in the compilation stages* in April?! Are you KIDDING me??? Do we even know how to timeline a novel, Beatty? Seriously, she's in the RWA and was past president of the Magnolia writers guild, and there's no timelining?!
Back to the review.
On top of all this previous absurdity, the big-box crop dusting corporation (!?) is buying out all of the little crop duster businesses, so Clay's business is dying, and there's THAT subplot. Pg 126: "Promise me they won't come after our business", Clay's dad says. "I promise," Clay lies. But then, that's what Clay does. He lied and said his wife died. He lied and said he had no photos of her. He lied and said it's too painful to talk about his dead wife. He lied and said Eli's mother was dead. So why not lie in the crop dusting subplot?
Worse, on pg 17 he's dusting the Clawson's farm - they have a contract for the year, and he's already fulfilling it. Then halfway thru the book, the Clawson's dump his business and go with the new guys "because they're cheaper". But he's already DUSTED the Clawson farm, so... how does that work? It works, because the author says so. And when she wants the big-bad new company to get their *just desserts*, she simply writes in that the owners were arrested for some undisclosed 'fraud and other things'. You do know just because they're arrested, their business wouldn't be shut down, right? (((sigh.)))
On top of THAT subplot, there's the secondary subplot that the local WWI hero might've been a fraud, and Melody has to prove him innocent. This in addition to the 'keeping the truth of mother/son' subplot... which all are interfering with the bicentennial book deadline subplot. The actual plot being the reuniting of two previous lovers. But it's literally buried under so many subplots, it's practically lost.
GAHHHHHH!!!!!
Then there's the fun that Melody had a baby with Clay ten years ago that she put up for adoption. Clay has a ten year old son. But Melody apparently doesn't do math and figure out that 1) that's her son, or 2) Clay was shacked up at college with ANOTHER girl he impregnates at the same time. No, that would be THINKING. Instead, she just PINES for the child... and Clay... and a second chance... and a braincell or two...
Additionally, she has PTSD from a bombing in Shanghai, in which she was not-at-all afflicted with a polite scar. By this I mean that her left (non-dominant) arm was injured, but only shoulder to wrist for convenience of covering it up, and the scar doesn't affect mobility or use of the limb, either. At one point, she's lifting her arms over her head for a stretch, which means NO loss of mobility, at all. A polite scar, isn't it? ((It's my EIGHTH from 'Love, Inspired', this year alone.)) Not. At. All. Believable. If it was so bad that she endured 'grueling months of therapy'...? She didn't get full mobility back.
We're also told that she's fatigued easily, and has to sit and take breaks during the tour of the town. But that's for just the one instance - the rest of the time, she's rushing from library to office to interviews like a mad little rabbit. Whatevs.
Then Eli (her/his son) sustains a 'bad ankle sprain'... but that he'll be fine in a 'week or two'. That's a *MILD* sprain's recovery time, not a 'bad' sprain's recovery time, hello.
PG 32 it says "I'm not going to let you down. Dad, I know how important this is to you." Immediately followed by "Clay had taken on this bicentennial job *only* because he loved the town so much". Okay, so... is he doing it because it's important to his dad and he doesn't want to let his father down, or ONLY because he loves the town?! ((Bad writing!!))
Two paragraphs later, he tells his dad, "The Truth will hurt the only person in the world I care about." ((Meaning his son.)) Well, Daddy-O... you've been demoted to person non-grata. ((BAD WRITING!!!))
We're told on pg 110 (←less than halfway thru the book) that she "had yet to meet the owner of the old plantation". We're not told WHAT plantation or who this guy is... and as an investigative reporter, you'd think Melody would be on that like a hound on a scent, but noooooo... Beatty suspends reality and hopes we forget this person... we don't know why. It's annoying.
Pg 133 - If Melody has a degree in journalism, wouldn't she know that it would be Master Eli, not Mr. Eli, as he's ten years old? Asking for a friend...
Pg 163 - If Melody is researching the notable things having to do with Blessings for a bicentennial book, wouldn't she know about the man who made custom rocking chairs so fine that he made one for the governor? Why is Clay telling her this?
And then - a sixth of the way from the end? Enter yet *ANOTHER* subplot, as suddenly their son develops asthma, and it's genetic, and suddenly Beatty adds a brother we never heard about before who died under her care of an asthma attack... c'MON!! Did we NEED another subplot to keep them apart? Seriously?!?
I... did NOT enjoy this. It was ridiculous. And 'Her Secret Hope'? There was never a secret hope in the story, hello. Badly done, on all levels.
September 19, 2021
“Her Secret Hope” is a heartwarming story of two people who created a child together. Melody Williams wanted an exciting journalism career, and having no family to lean on, “ran” towards the career, giving her child up for adoption. Clay Reynolds finds out the mother of his child is giving it up for adoption and has his lawyer arrange for him to adopt it. Ten years later, Melody has suffered due to her career path. She comes to Blessing to write a history for the town’s bicentennial and comes face-to-face with her past.
This is a story of forgiveness and redemption.
This is a story of forgiveness and redemption.
February 21, 2021
awesome book about a Mother reuniting with her son
April 18, 2022
This was such a good book & a quick read. There were a few things that could have been left out, but I still enjoyed the book.
December 24, 2022
Wow, I simply LOVE this story. It tugged at my heart and capatived my interest at the beginning of the book and keep me very emotional intrigued with high intense anticipation until the very end. The story itself was truly and compassionatly remarkable told.
I love our main characters, Clay and Melody. They were very strong, determined and genuinely kind. They both definitely struggled emotionally, with past decisions and how their unconscious feelings may affects others in their lives. I also thought Dave, Clay's Dad, and Eli, Clay and Melony's son, were excellent supporting individuals.
Phenomenal and excellent dramatic writing, Ms. Beatty...Highly recommended
I love our main characters, Clay and Melody. They were very strong, determined and genuinely kind. They both definitely struggled emotionally, with past decisions and how their unconscious feelings may affects others in their lives. I also thought Dave, Clay's Dad, and Eli, Clay and Melony's son, were excellent supporting individuals.
Phenomenal and excellent dramatic writing, Ms. Beatty...Highly recommended
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews