Thursday, February 9, 2012

Mini: His Secret Past by Ellen Hartman

This is one of two books I picked up and read immediately after last month's TBR Challenge. I'm posting my mini-impressions of the book and links to a few full reviews for you at the bottom of my post.

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This Harlequin Super Romance (2008) turned out to be a great read. The fact that it's set in New Jersey just made it that much more fun for me! Mason Star is an ex-rock star who has been living out of the limelight for a long time. He has bad memories of that time and secrets he won't reveal to anyone. Since leaving that life, he has poured his soul into the Mulligan's community center and into making sure he's a good father to his son Christian.

Anna Walsh is well-known for making documentaries, and she wants to make one about Mason Star the rock star, specifically about an incident that affected Anna's own life. Mason doesn't talk about his past to anyone, but Mulligan's is in danger and to save it he makes a deal with Anna that might come at a high personal price. 

This romance was so very well developed for such a short read. Hartman's protagonists get to know each other and work on their internal issues, as well the external conflicts presented by the author as the romance moves along.

Anna and Mason's attraction is believable, as is the ending. I like the way the happy ending for this couple turns out to be realistic. The father/son relationship between Mason and Christian is just as important to this story as Anna and Mason's, at least it was to me. The focus of the story is shared, but this doesn't take away from the overall story, on the contrary, in my opinion the development of that relationship enhanced the story and the romance. A great read! Grade B+

For full, complete reviews visit:
Phyl's Quilt & Books
The Good, The Bad and The Unread 
Dear Author

9 comments:

  1. Sounds quite interesting :) Glad you enjoyed it Hils! Question, how old is Mason's son?

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  2. Yea! So glad you liked it. And thanks for the linkage :-)

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  3. Nath, I read it in one sitting. :) Chris is 17 years old. Hartman did a great job with this teenage character and Mason's fatherly concerns. Their conflict was emotional, I thought. :)

    Phyl, yes! Thank you SO much for reviewing this one. I missed it (and all the great reviews) back in 2008. *g*

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  4. you had me at ex-rock star & NJ ;) adding this one to my tbb!

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  5. Negine! You're going to love some of the dialogue about NJ... I had fun. There's a quote by Chris that I loved (which I had used it). *g*

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  6. People seemed to go on a Super kick for last month's challenge :) Makes me want to dig one out and read tonight (alas, other books to get to first....)

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  7. Wendy, you're right I saw a lot of SRs. I was taking titles down because I tend to like them. I'm still not sure what I'm going to read! Today, I'm choosing. *g*

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  8. Oh, I like rock-star heroes, even former rock-stars. I don't think I've read this author before. Might need to give her a try. :)

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  9. Leslie, me too! This one explores the lifetime from the ex POV. I liked it. This is also a new-to-me author. I'll be looking up more of her books.

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