TEMPORARY FATHER by Anna Adams
March 16, 2007


Rating **** (4 Stars)


TEMPORARY FATHER is the first book in a new Superromance miniseries, which takes place in a small town called Honesty, Virginia. In this first book, Aidan Nikolas is staying at a friend's cottage in this small town, recuperating from a minor heart attack at the young age of 42. Aidan feels the heart attack was brought on due to tremendous guilt after the suicide of his wife. His friend, Van, owns the cottage in which he's staying at, while Van's sister Beth and her pre-teen son Eli are living with Van. Beth is divorced, and her jerk of an ex refuses to pay child support, saying he doesn't have the money. Nor does Eli's father make the time to visit with his son. Eli does love both his parents, but is taking out his anger over the divorce out on Beth. He would rather live with his father.

Eli's story is central to the novel. What no one knows but is revealed early on to the reader is that Eli may have been the cause of a fire that destroyed their home, and he's living with the guilt. Beth doesn't notice it at first, but Aidan, who is familiar with signs of depression and suicide, recognizes the same warning signs in Eli that he saw in his wife. Aidan warns Beth, who at first refuses to believe him, but slowly she realizes that Eli is acting as if he is hiding a secret, and that it is eating him alive.

Beth and Aidan want to start a relationship, but Beth does not want to get hurt, nor does she want Eli to be hurt yet again by a father figure. She knows that Aidan is only in town until he is well enough to return to work in D.C., and nothing Aidan tells her convinces her otherwise.

While the "successful business tycoon/model" may be a little over the top, the reader will find the story that centered on depression and suicide a page-turner. One will empathize with Eli, a boy that is going through so much anguish and guilt, and wasn't able to talk to anyone because of the fear of losing the love of his parents. He already lost his father to the divorce. He didn't want to lose his mother as well.

Aidan's story runs parallel to Eli's, as he is still going through guilt feelings of his wife's suicide. When he meets Eli, it scares him that there is yet another person that may die if Aidan doesn't do something to help. Van, Beth's brother, is not happy that Aidan is getting involved in Eli's problems, and thinks that Beth is going to ask Aidan for business help. However, Aidan finds a new purpose to life when he meets Beth and Eli. Instead of living in the cottage feeling like an invalid, he focuses on Eli and his mother, and finds for the first time since his wife's death, that he may be able to love again. With Eli, he feels this is his chance to make amends, since he feels it is his fault that his wife killed herself.

Overall, TEMPORARY FATHER was an enjoyable read, a look into the world of depression and mental illness and how it affects loved ones as well as the person suffering from it. While most of the characters were written realistically, the reader will need to suspend belief regarding Aidan's double life as a business tycoon and life as a model. Most readers will, however, love Aidan's devotion to his newfound friends, and with Eli's story almost taking center stage, the book becomes a real page-turner. This reviewer recommends TEMPORARY FATHER and is looking forward to the remaining books in the series. - Courtesy of Love Romances and More - M. Lofton