Anna Adams, The Man From Her Past

The Man From Her Past

Anna Adams

Harlequin SuperRomance, Aug 2007, $5.50

ISBN: 9780373714353

Five years ago, Cassie Warner was attacked. Unable to cope, she divorced her spouse Van Haddon although she still loved him. Next she fled their hometown Honesty, Virginia unable to look at her family either. Before leaving she warned her father and her ex husband to not contact her.

Now with her seventy-three years old father Leo mentally ailing, Van contacts Cassie, who has come home from Washington state where she worked in a woman's shelter to help her father. However, she plans to avoid Van Haddon who she still loves because she cannot deal with his condemnation of her daughter Hope, a result of that violent act. As it is she knows the gossips will have a field day. However, Harmony is too small for Van and Cassie not to meet; as they still love one another, he wants her back, but must prove that her daughter is his too even if she was someone else's seed.

This is a character driven second chance at love filled with realistic protagonists suffering from anguish caused by the attack. Ironically, the result of that violent act is the aptly named Hope, a precocious little girl who executes her septuagenarian grandfather's matchmaking plan to bring her mom and her dad (in Hope's mind Van is dad) back together. Readers will appreciate this angst filled family drama.

Harriet Klausner