The Last of the Honky-Tonk Angels
Marsha Moyer
Avon, Aug 2004, $24.95, 356p
ISBN 0060081635

In Texas three months have passed since widow Lucy Hatch moved in with carpenter and country blues singer Ash Farrell with the sex remaining as heated as when they first met. However, both are suddenly stunned when Ash's fourteen year old daughter Denny, a stranger he has not seen in almost a decade, is dumped on them by her flitter of a mom. Apparently, Ash's former wife has no room for a daughter when she starts her new job. As the couple struggles to become parents to the brooding angry teen, Lucy also learns that she is pregnant with Ash's second child.

She fears telling Ash because he has ambitions that an infant could thwart. Meanwhile, Ash desires to travel Nashville to perform, but he fails to share his plans with Lucy for fear that his ambition will destroy their relationship. While both try to do right by Denny, she has no interest in anything except to emulate her blues-playing father.

Fans of the SECOND COMING OF LUCY HATCH will enjoy this sweeter sequel starring the delightful Lucy and her significant other Ash. The tale focuses on the impact of keeping important secrets from a loved one as both lead characters cause relationship problems by doing so. Denny and her mom provide deeper insight into Ash's past. Though a couple of subplots spin away from the prime theme of honesty is the best policy in a relationship, family drama fans will enjoy the continuing saga of Lucy and Ash because they are full-blooded characters supported by a powerful secondary team.

Harriet Klausner