Christina Dodd, Close to You

Christina Dodd, Close to You - Marilyn and Skeeter Montgomery are elated to adopt the ten-month-old Caitlin. However, both have doubts about the man handling the deal, Pastor Wright and his adoption agency. Still, Marilyn calls her new daughter Kate so as not to confuse the toddler and she is nurtured in love.

Twenty-three years later, Kate Montgomery reports on the air from Galveston on a hurricane when Evelyn, wife of State Senator George Oberlin, recognizes her as Lana Prescott, dead for over two decades. Not long afterward, the TV reporter gets a job at KTTV in Austin where she meets George, who is very nice to her. When someone tries to run her off the road, her station hires Teague Ramos to keep her safe. As they become acquainted with each other, they fall in love, even while her biological siblings, Hope (see JUST THE WAY YOU ARE), Pepper (see ALMOST LIKE BEING IN LOVE), and Gabriel continue to search for baby Caitlin and also try to uncover the identity of the person who murdered their biological parents twenty-three years ago.

Christina Dodd closes her delightful Prescott trilogy with a terrific romantic suspense that answers all the questions from the previous two tales. The storyline is action-packed and fast-paced as the culprit will not allow Caitlin or her siblings to learn the truth. The reuniting of the Prescott brood adds a touch of sentimentality that is handled deftly and allows the novel to include a touch of a homecoming with the return of Hope, Pepper, and Zack. However, it is the two-plus-decade-old murder mystery with an eerie chance of reoccurring that makes this a strong intrigue.

Pocket, Apr 2005, $6.99, 400 pp.

ISBN: 074345619X

Harriet Klausner