The Seven Year Secret (A Little Secret)

Rating:
Summary: Deeply emotional - Very highly recommended
Review: Six year old Liddy Forrester's kidney transplant brought about eight months of miraculous normalcy before her body's rejection plummets her into ill health and dialysis. Doctors remove the kidney that her mother Mallory donated, and place her on the national donor waitlist. Now Mallory will do anything for her daughter, and decides to contact her child's father to ask for a miracle.

Seven years ago Connor O'Rourke accepted his dream opportunity to develop an early warning system for hurricanes. He left before Mallory told him that she was pregnant. When her letters went unanswered, Mallory moved on with her life. But now she must track Connor down, announce his fatherhood, and ask him to donate a kidney to save his daughter's life. Inadvertently interrupting his bachelor party only proves to be the beginning of their renewed and tumultuous relationship.

Author Roz Denny Fox has a knack for tackling hard-hitting topics and presenting them with flair - a talent she dazzlingly displays with THE SEVEN YEAR SECRET. Having lived with a transplant patient, I've experienced first hand the challenges Fox so deftly describes, particularly as a patient's body rejects a much-needed transplant. In THE SEVEN YEAR SECRET, such frightening issues are sharply compounded by this patient's tender age. On one hand, the child's mother Mallory consequently displays the sharp protectiveness of a lioness any time she believes her daughter to be affected by the actions of her previously absent father. On the other hand, Connor responds with shock and love when he learns of his child, and persistence in the face of Mallory's resistance to his efforts - right to the bitter end. And while I occasionally grew impatient with Mallory's tunnel vision, her preoccupation with her daughter's health certainly justifies her attitudes. THE SEVEN YEAR SECRET comes very highly recommended.