A Mother in the Making by Lilian Darcy (SSE Feb. 2008)

When Carmen O'Brien meets wounded cop, Jack Davey, while remodelling his kitchen, the last thing either needs is romantic complications.  Jack's life is quite complicated enough with recovering from being shot in the line of duty and struggling to get more custody time with his nine-year-old son.  Carmen has plenty on her plate, too, and has had since the age of fourteen when she and her older brother took responsibility for their three younger orphaned siblings.  But the deep attraction and affinity between Jack and Carmen will not be denied.  As they move warily toward a deeper committment, Carmen discovers they've been hit with the biggest complication of all.  She doesn't have any starry-eyed notions about child-rearing, having seen her younger brother and sisters through the emotional mine field of their teenage years.  Can she go through that all over again with a child of her own? Especially with a man like Jack, whose heroic risk-taking reminds her too much of her self-destructive father?

I'm a very fussy reader and it takes almost nothing to pull me out of a story.  But Lilian Darcy roped me into the lives of these characters and never once let my involvement waver.  There are no stock villains in this story, just real, flawed people with believable motivations and issues.  The hero and heroine are each truly heroic in their actions and attitude toward life.  All the secondary characters were wonderfully drawn, from Jack's son, ex-wife and ex's new husband to Carmen's brother and sister -- yet they none of them overshadowed Jack and Carmen's warm, sensual romance.  I hope Lilian Darcy is planning books for Carmen's brothers and sisters.  I'll definitely be watching for them!    Highly recommended.

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