RILEY'S BABY BOY – Karen Rose Smith
The Reunion Brides Series , Book 4
Harlequin Special Edition #2205
ISBN: 978-0-373-65687-5
August 2012
Series Romance

Present Day Miners Bluff, Arizona

Last year, a Miners Bluff High School graduating class from fifteen years ago held a reunion. This reunion had several far-reaching consequences. One attendee finds out about one of those consequences when his high school sweetheart comes knocking at his door carrying the lively result of their private reunion.

After graduation, Riley O'Rourke wanted to make public the love between him and Brenna McDougall, but there were problems with that. Brenna's father had made a business decision that caused a feud between the two fathers.

Torn between her love for her father and her ambitions to leave Miners Bluff and have a career on the one hand, and her love for Riley on the other, Brenna heads for New York to study design. She now owns her own bridal salon on Manhattan and is making a name for herself as a top designer. It isn't that she didn't love Riley, but they were both very young.

Riley was hurt, and his family was torn apart. He made a good decision when he joined the Marines; it settled him some. Now he's home and is partners in a wilderness guiding business. Dancing with Brenna at the reunion brought back all those old feelings, feelings he never completely lost. Apparently neither had she, for they spent the night together. She's back in town to introduce Riley to six-week old Derek. She thinks it only fair that Riley knows his son.

What's to do now? Brenna and Riley have lives nearly a continent apart with work they love. Their families are still antagonistic. Both are reluctant to open themselves to more hurt, yet Riley comes to love Derek and wants to be a major part in his life.

RILEY'S BABY BOY is rich in conflict, angst and family dynamics, yet it's a sweet story of love for a baby that could heal old wounds. Riley and Brenna are good people, strong yet vulnerable in their own ways, and faced with a seemingly unsolvable dilemma.

The Reunion Brides series offers a variety of scenarios resulting from that fateful get-together. Old friendships are renewed, marriages entered into, and careers are born. Then there is always Karen Rose Smith's deft hand at creating realistic relationships. I recommend RILEY'S BABY BOY and the previous books, HIS DAUGHTER…THEIR CHILD (February 2011), ONCE UPON A GROOM (October 2011), and THE CEO'S UNEXPECTED PROPOSAL (#2201, July 2012).

Jane Bowers