by Barbara Hannay
Tender romance with a young emotional
heroine
Barbara Hannay's Needed:
Her Mr.
Right is the second book in the Secrets We Keep trilogy. Simone's
secret is dark and emotional, adding another layer to the series and
the friendship between the women. The emotions are intense as the
characters are young and less experienced in life as the characters in
the first romance.
Simone discovered friendship during her cycling charity ride for street
kids in the Himalayas and the courage to deal with her past secrets.
During her trip, she kept a diary where she wrote about the her past
and her dreams---and the secrets her two friends, Belle and Claire, and
confided in her. Once home, she discovers that her diary is missing.
Ryan Tanner, the black sheep son of a mining business magnate, catches
a glimpse of Simone in the airport and in the taxi line. When a book
falls out in the gutter, he grabs it to protect the leather from the
rain. When he finally discovers her identity, can the two trust each
other? Both Simone and Ryan have family secrets. Will their secrets
come between these two lone individuals or will they somehow find a way
to trust one another, heal their past and maybe find that special once
in a lifetime love?
Needed: Her Mr. Right
is a short romance with a couple of tender and classic fantasies
juxtaposed with some dark secrets. Barbara Hannay did not hesitate to
make Simone an individual with her own personality. The couple had a
younger feel than the characters in the first book of the series.
Simone and Ryan, young and somewhat loners at least deep in their
heart, have troubled pasts. Consequently they see and feel with a
heightened sensitivity and exuberance that comes from finally
discovering that person who unlocks their hearts and opens the door to
sharing.
The ending of this romance tied a few too many threads together by
creating adjacent scenes to resolve them. This created an ending that
felt diffuse compared to the compact, dynamic way Barbara Hannay wrote
the scenes between the hero and heroine. If perhaps she had told these
scenes through dialogue (even indirect dialogue as they relate the
events to one another) shared between the hero and heroine, the ending
would have maintained the tightness and dynamic feel maintained through
most of the book. Barbara Hannay has a gift for writing tight, powerful
scenes between the hero and heroine as well as writing dialogue that
would stand out more if she tried to cover less ground in the ending.
Reading the first two books of The Secrets We Keep trilogy together
makes the reader wonder how Liz Fielding and Barbara Hannay planned and
organized. Secrets We Keep is
one of the first multi-author series I have read that truly felt like a
series beyond just a mere construct. One book flows to the next and I
felt a sense of continuity between the two books. Barbara Hannay did
not waste time repeating the construct like I have seen in some.
Instead, this romance takes an image prepared carefully by Liz Fielding
and created a dynamic start that immediately drew me in as a reader. I
find it takes a lot of skill to make a series have such flow from one
book to the next and still maintain a sense of individuality in the
characters as well.
Publisher: Harlequin
Romance (September 2007)
Series: Secrets We Keep
