Jamie Denton, Hard to Handle

Hard to Handle

Jamie Denton

Harlequin Blaze, Jan 2005, $4.75, 251 pp.

ISBN: 0373791704

In San Francisco, child advocate attorney Michaela Corelli joins her two friends Lauren Massey and Rosy Constable on a lock and key party (for the pals' tales see ON THE LOOSE BY Shannon Hollis and SLOW RIDE by Carrie Alexander). To Mikki's shock, her former husband Nolan Baker is at Painter's Cove Resort too. Stunning her even further, Nolan informs Mikki they are still married as the lawyer she selected to handle her divorce was disbarred before the filing.

Though he knows he has a death wish, Nolan still loves Mikki and plans to get back into her life. However, though she enjoys the sex and seems to love him too, Mikki refuses to engage in anything after the resort. She admits to herself she owes Nolan the truth but is too cowardly to reveal her shame, preferring to dim it with alcohol.

The third tale in the Lock and Key trilogy is a terrific ending that stars an intriguing individual who was a victim as a child albeit her profession, but the adult still hides in shadows out of fear. Mikki is not very likable, yet the audience will feel deeply for her and pray that somehow Nolan can reach her. Jamie Denton provides a powerful tale that is more than just an inferno under the covers, but is an insightful, realistic look at how crippling sexual abuse received as a child terrorizes the adult.

Harriet Klausner