Picked out of a remainder bin at a nearby newsagent, I did not have high hopes for this tale of investigative reporter Angel Buchanan researching a feature article on Rockwellian artist Stephen Whitney – American icon, family man, recently deceased… and the father who abandoned Angel at the age of four.
Angel is out of her comfort zone from the beginning – the only person at the funeral in black (Stephen liked bright and pastel colours); she strikes up a preliminary conversation with a young girl for background information, only to discover she’s Stephen’s daughter, Katie, her half-sister; and then Angel almost falls of the crumbling edge of a cliff, only to be saved by Cooper Jones, sexy brother of Lainey, the widow Whitney, and her identical twin, Beth.
Angel doesn’t need to be saved, rescued or helped by anyone – her former stepfather, an abusive cop, taught her early that she could only count on herself. Can she change the pattern of a lifetime? Will she tell all about the man who left her but doted on his second family, destroying his image as a staunch upholder of traditional values?
This is a convincing, beautifully depicted romance. Ridgeway manages to squeeze in not only the central romance (between two very damaged characters), and a secondary love story, but also the tangled tale of Whitney himself. All the central characters are complete and wholly realised, and their kives are engaging. The ‘physical love’ scenes are relevant to the plot, believable, and hot without being either coy or explicit. I’m glad I picked a second Ridgeway novel out of that bin! - Alex
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