The Secret Son (A Little Secret) (Harlequin Superromance, No. 1057)

Rating:
Summary: Hugely Emotional and Satisfying
Review: A chance encounter in New York brings Erica Cooley together with hostage negotiator Jack Shaw. By week's end, Erica, wife of the much older Senator Jefferson Cooley, falls in love with Jack. Though she has no passion for Jefferson, she desires to honor her marriage vows. Fate plays a hand, and Erica and Jack spend one night together. They part the following day knowing they'll never see each other again.

Soon afterward, Erica learns she's pregnant. Jefferson, though deeply hurt, forgives his wife's indiscretion and vows to raise her son as his own. But five years later, Jefferson needs more than just companionship, and he divorces Erica. By chance, Jack reenters her life, but she can't tell him that he's Kevin's father. She admits the truth only when the past begins to impinge upon the present and she's faced with a moral choice.

Jack's hurt is real, and Erica walks a careful tightrope, not wanting to destroy any of them.

Tara Taylor Quinn digs deep into human emotions to bring an intense, richly crafted tale of the many shades of love. Highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Extremely evocative - Highly recommended
Review: A week in New York and a chance encounter brings a senator's wife and freelance hostage negotiator together in a night of passion that leaves them both deeply touched. Jack Shaw awakens Erica Cooley's heart for the first time. She is the first person to touch Jack's heart since the tragic death of his wife and child. They agree to never see one another again, and go their separate ways. But neither one forgets.

Five years later Senator Jefferson Cooley knows that Kevin is not his biological child, but the boy is the child of the senator's heart. He magnanimously forgave his beloved wife's indiscretion, but as the years have passed, he has also come to understand that while she loves him, she cannot offer him the passion he desires. He finally divorces her, and six months later Jack chances back into her life. No matter how she feels, however, she believes that she can never tell him of THE SECRET SON.

Author Tara Taylor Quinn pens a deeply emotional tale in THE SECRET SON, part of the A Little Secret series. Her gift for examining the nuances that flavor relationships, the motivations for protection and secret keeping, and the emotional ramifications of guilt bring THE SECRET SON a deep psychological underpinning. Erica's struggles will strike an empathetic cord with readers, even if they do grow slightly impatient with some of her decisions. Guilt often drives her into excessive self-flagellation, yet is understandable for any woman with her heart caught between two worlds. Her ex-husband Jefferson is a sympathetic and sterling character readers will not soon forget. Jack's struggle to overcome the past and to give into the lure of passion lends his character the emotional flaws that make him believable and provides the power to transform his life. Quinn's daring plotting and careful handling of the related moral issues is extraordinary. THE SECRET SON comes highly recommended.

Rating:
Summary: Could have been better....
Review: The Secret Son by Tara Taylor Quinn (Harlequin Superromance #1057)

In Tara Taylor Quinn's THE SECRET SON, Erica and Jefferson Cooley are a happily married couple living and working together in the heart of our nation's capitol. Jefferson is a high profile senator, and Erica works for him as his PR person, keeping his image to a standard that makes his constituents happy and gets him re-elected each Election Day.

Although old enough to be her father, Jefferson and Erica have a very satisfying marriage, being the best of friends, but unfortunately not the best of lovers. Erica has never been in love with Jefferson, but with him being such a close friend of the family, and Jefferson's being in love with her made up for what passion Erica lacked for him.

In walks Jack Shaw, FBI agent working for the Crisis Negotiation Team. Erica and Jack meet during a business trip in New York, and they spend dinners together for a week, talking and falling in love. Nothing happens, until their last night together. The result: Erica is pregnant, but Jack doesn't know it.

And Erica has no plans of telling Jack, either. Erica and Jack both agreed that after their week together, they would both go back to their own lives. Erica loved Jefferson and felt she owed him loyalty, and Jack could no longer commit to a wife and family, because of a past that still haunted him, and the dangerous job he currently had.

When Erica tells Jefferson of her affair and of her unborn baby, he accepts Erica's baby as his own, and together they raise Kevin and live out their happy family life. But Erica's past catches up to her, and 5 years later, an accidental meeting with Jack brings trouble.

I enjoyed reading THE SECRET SON, but I felt the writing could have been better. Although I enjoyed the story line, I felt that there were a few too many scenes that did not quite belong and could have been edited out, but over all, it was an enjoyable book.