Twice in One Lifetime by Judith Otto ... QC #234

4 Stars! ~~~ This was a very emotional and compelling read.

Twice in a Lifetime by Judith Otto

Whiskey Creek Press ~ March 2008

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Two years ago, Rachel Cassidy had been brutally attacked in her own home while her husband was out on business. In a state of shock, Rachel left the house and vanished. Struan had never really stopped searching for his wife, and finding her in a restaurant with another man two years after her disappearance makes him a desperate man. He confronts her and than whisks her off to his home outside the city. In the car he demands answers, where has she been, and where is the child she was carrying? Never in a million years expecting the answer he’s given. All Rachel can tell the stranger is that she’d woken up in a hospital bed two years before, where she had been brought by a motorist who had struck her with his car. The doctors had told her that she had miscarried the baby. The only clue to her identity was her name engraved on a silver bracelet, all of Rachel’s memories were gone. Rachel is wracked with guilt when she learns that not only had she left her husband but also she’d left her now seven-year-old son, Justin. Instinctively Rachel trusts Struan and wants very much to find her past and her life with him and their son. Struan is perplexed by his wife, while her eyes and body tell him she returns his desire, every time he tries to make love to her, she freezes and panics. He knows there is a darker secret she’s keeping from him.

This was a very emotional and compelling read. Right from the first pages, Rachel and Struan are brought vividly to life as we see the glimpses of two people hurt and haunted by the events of the past. Struan is a confident man, one who is used to succeeding. Rachel is learning that she’d been a quiet woman, and that she’d been afraid of her second pregnancy. She’s not at all happy to learn aspects of her former self, and vows that this time around she’ll be different. While Rachel and Struan find their way back together, we also feel Rachel’s anxiety as she tries to figure out who could have had the opportunity to attack her in her own home. That bit of intrigue and Struan’s very sexy assistant give us a nice conflict. Ms. Otto is a new author for me, and I will be very happy to read more of her books.

Excellence: Very Good ~ Steaminess: Sensual

My Totals = 79 ~ Harlequin Imprint = 71 ~ Other Publisher = 8

~~ KatherineT ~~ I'm a Harlequin Addict, and I'm proud of it!
~~ Quiet Canadians ~ 2008 Book Challenge Blog