STOLEN SON

Author: Fran Shaff ISBN: 097372613X 4/2005 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: CHAMPAGNE BOOKS

A woman learns that the widower who has captured her heart is the adoptive father of her kidnapped son. Blurb: Ella Mason has gone through the motions of living for five years. Ever since her newborn son Mica was taken from his crib in the hospital, she's given up on hope and love. Then Rafe Wallace walks into her life. Her heart begins to beat with an urgency she thought long dead. Ella lets herself start to care for Rafe even though she suspects he has a secret. But she never dreams his secret would bring back her son or chase away her chances for love.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

As the mother of a young child, I could never imagine living my life for five years without my child, not knowing where she was or if she was eating enough food. Not being able to hear her cry, or cover her with blankets in the middle of the night, is something that I couldn’t even see myself living through. In STOLEN SON, that is exactly what our lead character, Ella, has to go through. Her son was stolen from her right out of the hospital a few days after his birth, and since then she has been struggling to make it without him.

Enter Rafe, a tall, dark and handsome stranger who is looking to scope out Ella and make sure that she is a safe and decent person before letting her know that he has her son. He has raised him from the time he was stolen and now wants to put his dead wife's secrets behind him, even if it means giving up Christopher. In my eyes, Rafe was a hero the minute he stepped through Ella's front door.

This book kept me completely hooked from the first page, literally. I love that the hero/heroine met right away, and there weren’t a lot of other things going on in the book. It gave the reader a chance to really soak up what was going on with Ella and Rafe, not to mention that I could hardly wait to turn the page to see what was going to happen next. Christopher is an adorable little boy who plays a wonderful and vital role in this relationship without "stealing the show", so to speak. He adds very nicely to the story.

It is wonderful watching these poor, lost people become a family, and tagging along as they overcome one obstacle after another. To me, this book is just about perfect and will make every reader wish for a hero like Rafe to come and bring them their greatest wish.

Kristal Gorman