Keeping Faith (A Little secret)

Rating:
Summary: Challenging family issues - Recommended
Review: Comfortable in the "henhouse" as her mother calls it, Hannah Riley enjoys having her extended family surround her. Loyal to a fault, Hannah appreciates the way her family supported her through the darkest days of her life, when her heart was broken and depression sent her life spiraling out of control. But recently, resentment of her family's smothering begins to build. Especially when a week before her daughter Faith's sixth birthday, Hannah spies an ad for a performance of Liam Tully, singer for Celtic folk group and Faith's father.

Stunned that Hannah did not have an abortion six years ago, as her mother claimed, Liam scarcely knows how to react to the announcement of his daughter. When Hannah brings him pictures, however, Liam sees himself in the beautiful child and feels the pull of blood. Soon he finds his way to Hannah's home, but recriminations from her family make creating space for a relationship with his daughter difficult and with Hannah virtually impossible. Yet Liam cannot imagine returning to his world of music and forgetting either one of them.

KEEPING FAITH brings an unexpected dazzle to the opportunities presented by second chances. However, while Janice Macdonald gracefully tackles challenging family issues, some readers may grow a bit impatient with this thirty-one-year old heroine who still lives at home and lacks appropriate family boundaries. Her ongoing inability to live her own life destroyed her marriage six years ago and threatens her opportunity for second chances. Consequently, readers may find it difficult to stick with this dysfunctional family long. Nevertheless, those willing to savor the heroine's remarkable growth will thoroughly enjoy the complications that make the road to happiness a complicated goal. In addition, secondary characters provide a powerful presence, especially with Macdonald's tactful yet honest portrayal of an eating disorder. KEEPING FAITH comes recommended.

Rating:
Summary: a great book!
Review: KEEPING FAITH by Janice MacDonald
September 29, 2004

In this Harlequin Superromance, a thirty-one-year old single mother finds herself confronting her ex-husband and her mother about some decisions that were made for her when her daughter was born six years ago. KEEPING FAITH's protagonist Hannah Riley finds out by accident that her mother lied to her then-husband Liam Tully, a full-time musician, telling him that Hannah had an abortion. This started off a string of events that led to their eventual divorce.

When Hannah first meets Liam, it is in Ireland while on vacation, and he is singing with his Celtic folk band The Wild Rovers. They fall in love and end up marrying on a whim. Hannah's parents never approved of Liam, and her mother Margaret blames Liam for Hannah's father's death, as well as Hannah's nervous breakdown after their breakup.

It is now six years later and Liam finally knows he has a daughter. Hannah had assumed all these years that he wanted nothing to do with them, but now she knows the truth. Liam's dilemma is whether he really wants to get involved with Faith. He's not father material, and he loves his life as a musician, in the recording studio as well as touring on the road. Faith, their daughter, has no idea she has a father. She was told her father was in heaven.

Hannah is angry with her mother for manipulating her life by lying to Liam about the baby. She now feels it's Liam's right to see his daughter and to get to know her. Margaret, however, has other plans for them, and does her best to discourage Liam from getting close to Hannah and Faith.

As the story progresses, Hannah battles with her mother and questions whether her mother has as much right to Faith as Liam does. It doesn't help that Hannah and Faith live with Margaret, where their every move is monitored and watched by the entire family. Hannah finds she does not have any privacy, and cannot do a thing without the scrutiny of everyone. At the same time, she isn't sure if she wants to start up a relationship with Liam again. She never really stopped loving him, and neither did he. But is she making the same mistake twice?

This is one Harlequin Superromance I have to say was so good I am rating it 5 stars. MacDonald is a superb writer, and her skills as a novelist are almost too good to be relegated to just plain old romances. Lots of interesting characters; she does an excellent job with creating these characters and making them feel real. Great dialogue, and excellent plot, too. I am definitely reading more by her, as I am sure each novel will be a page-turner as this one was. Highly recommended.