That thing called love

by Susan Andersen

Anderson weaves a story of the prodigal son and a woman who has made it past her days of hard knocks.  Said prodigal son just happens to have a child of his own, and that boy's guardian is none other than the tough girl who has made good.  Andersen concocts vistas of the Northwest that make a reader feel the mist of the ocean.  She also can write a steamy sex scene better than most.  This woman knows her foreplay and she can drag it out for an entire chapter.  It takes a while to get to that first hot scene, but then again, it takes a while to get through it, too.  Really, the blush on my face as I write this is all due to the hot coffee at my side.

The actual plot:
Jake left town shortly after his young wife died and her parents assumed responsibility for the baby that scared him to his toes.  The elder generation has also passed on though, and now he realizes that it is time to man up and become a father.  First he has to get past Jenny.  She's tough, and everyone knows it.  She also can't understand how the whole town can possibly regard her as sweet.  Worst of all is that Jake breaks through the defenses quickly in his attempts to soften both her and his son to the idea of taking the boy away from everything he has ever known.