In Hope’s Shadow
By Janice Kay Johnson
Publisher: Harlequin (Superromance)
Eve Lawson is doing her best to control her feeling that the
miraculous restoration of her adoptive parents’ “real” daughter means that Eve
no longer has a place in the family. Her relationship with her mother is
particularly strained. The new pressures in her personal life make her job as a
social worker even more important to Eve. Much of her time is spent checking on
foster children, a part of her caseload that is especially important to Eve
because of her own painful memories of foster care. Eve has no interest in
beginning a romantic relationship at this point. She was never in love with her
sister’s fiancé, Detective Seth Chandler, but it stings that he could so easily
turn away from her once he met Hope. Still, she can’t deny that Seth’s partner
Ben Kemper is too attractive for her comfort.
Ben Kemper is a single father devoted to his young daughter
and dealing with complicated feelings about his former wife. While he has no
objections to enjoying the benefits of a no-commitment relationship, he knows
that he is not ready for anything more. He has a gut feeling that Eve Lawson is
all about more. He doesn’t even understand the wild attraction he feels for
her. She is a far cry from his usual type, blue-eyed blondes like his ex and
like Hope Lawson.
When Eve and Ben
start dating, they both have reservations, and things get complicated quickly.
Hope’s life is in turmoil, and she is wary of being hurt. Ben is reluctant to
let go of the life he once knew and reluctant to allow Eve fully into his life.
Great sex is not enough to resolve these issues, and tension between them
ratchets higher when one of Eve’s clients is charged with murder—and it’s Ben’s
case. Eve is determined to prove the teen’s innocence, and Ben is convinced of
his guilt. Can these two resolve the issues that divide them and accept the
love for which they long?
In Hope’s Shadow
is the second book in Janice Kay Johnson’s Two Daughters duet, following Yesterday’s Gone, which offers the story
of Hope Lawson/Bailey Smith, a daughter kidnapped as a child and reunited with
her family as an adult. This book is the story of the daughter who was adopted
after Hope’s disappearance. Johnson has the ability to take a plot ripped from
the headlines and humanize it. She does this once again with the Two Daughters
books.
Eve Lawson, like Johnson’s other characters, has the feel of
a real person. She is complex and contradictory, and her life is messy,
internally and externally. She is not perfect. She makes bad choices sometimes,
and she can feel sorry for herself. But she is a good person, one with an
enormous capacity for love. Although the romance with Ben is central to the
story, Eve’s relationships with her father, her mother, and her sister are all
important as well. Honesty in those relationships is a necessary prelude to
being ready to love Ben and his daughter without fears and reservations.
Ben’s life is not the stuff that propels media frenzy, but
it is no less complicated for that. He is legally divorced, but emotionally he
is still tied to his ex. He can’t completely let go of the way his life was
supposed to go. He is a good dad who loves his child wholeheartedly, but he doesn’t
have all the answers. He wants Eve in his life, but he fears the changes she
will bring. Sometimes even a macho cop is afraid and confused.
I’ve been reading Janice Kay Johnson’s Superromances since
the mid-1990s. She is remarkably consistent in giving her readers stories that
are authentic and entertaining, and she is one of the authors I recommend highly
when I urge readers to give category romance a try. In Hope’s Shadow is another JKJ winner. I’m glad I read it after
reading Yesterday’s Gone, but Johnson
provides enough backstory in the second book for it to be read as a standalone.
My recommendation: try it; you’ll like it.
~Janga
Thanks for the review, Janga. About 2 weeks ago I was at a loss for what to read - nothing was clicking. So, I got on Amazon and downloaded a couple JKJ categories I hadn't read yet because I knew she'd deliver.
ReplyDelete