Tall, Dark, and Daddy

Angelyn Winters has a dream. Angelyn is tired of being dependent upon the men in her life – who haven’t been all that dependable anyway. Now that she has been widowed, she just wants to sell her house and, with the proceeds, start her own business – a daycare center called Child’s Play. To achieve her goal, Angelyn has been working for her friend Cissie’s temp agency, taking jobs such as part-time nanny and housekeeper. Working for Rick Lawson and his four-year-old son Cory while their housekeeper is away is the last temp job she’ll have to take before her dream comes true.

Widower Rick Lawson has seen many bad examples of marriage, including his own. His goal in life is simply to provide a good life and lots of love for Cory. That includes resisting the wiles of all the single women who seem to have their eye on him as good husband material. Both Angelyn and Rick have blocked themselves off from past emotional wounds and, in the process, from finding love. Can these two wounded people find a way to let the past go and discover that they have a larger capacity for love than they thought?

I really enjoyed this book. It’s a well-written contemporary, with realistic characters. The writing style is clear and straightforward, and the plot is simple and believable. The reader can easily identify with the characters of Angelyn and Rick since, unfortunately, our world contains many examples of emotionally battered women and emotionally distant men. What is gratifying about this book is that both of the characters seek to overcome these problems, and forge ahead to live their lives. The few, emotionally-charged love scenes are romantic, and include nothing beyond kissing. Taking into account that the story involves unfaithfulness and spousal abuse on the part of secondary characters, this would be a great romance novel to share with your mature teen.

Reviewed by: Jean