HIS BROTHER'S SECRET

Author: Debra Salonen ISBN: 9780373715169 9/2008 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: HARLEQUIN

In college, Shane Reynard lacked the nerve to tell Jenna Murphy how he felt. Now, with all his Hollywood success behind him, lack of nerve is not what holds him back. When his latest TV show lands him in Jenna's hometown, he offers her a place on his writing team. Too bad spending a lot of time with her reminds Shane of every single thing he liked about her. But as much as Shane wants to fall for her, there's a family secret he has to confess first. And once she knows the truth, there's a real chance Jenna will never want to see Shane's face again.

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Debra Salonen sets her contemporary romance, HIS BROTHER'S SECRET, (second in the Sentinel Pass series) in the fictional Black Hills small town (fewer than 1000 souls) of Sentinel Pass, South Dakota, where Shane Reynard has arrived to help his friend Coop put together a television sit-com proposal. His secondary purpose in being there is to check on a woman he knew from college. Jenna Murphy was raped at a frat party they were both at and he's carried a torch for her all of these years. In addition, he feels guilty that he left the party because she was flirting with his twin brother. When he finds her in Sentinel Pass, all of his affection for her returns full force, and they quickly renew their friendship. He even takes her on as a writing partner for the sit-com, but the news he has to share with her could be the devastating end of their relationship.

Salonen creates fully rounded characters for Shane (the once geeky, pony-tailed college senior who is now a successful producer) and Jenna, (the once fearful rape victim-college sophomore turned brilliant writer by working out her pain on paper). Shane is afraid that his love for Jenna is brought on by the guilt he feels because he accidentally gave her attacker an alibi. Despite all of Jenna's training in personal safety and working through her pain and anger, her chase dreams have suddenly reappeared. She doesn't think Shane is the reason, but there's someone or something lurking just out of sight. I love that when Shane believes he could lure harm to Jenna, she goes into a "bring it on" stance physically and mentally and doesn't back down, instead going after her man.

There's an inherent problem with serial stories caused by existing plots, characters and setting. Salonen strives to keep the "bringing everybody up to speed" dialogue to a minimum, but HIS BROTHER'S SECRET has a slightly harder time standing on its own than the first book, BABY BY CONTRACT. And, I imagine Salonen would like to fire her editor (I sure do!) considering the number of typos that tripped me up while reading it.

All in all, the plot worked well and it was fun to see Jenna over her rape enough to get pretty touchy-feely (okay, there are a few steamy kisses and one great hotel love scene) with Shane who has been comparing every girl he dates with Jenna for far too long. I think he needs a male bonding support system equivalent to Jenna's "wine, women and words" book group. Wow! I think I need a support group that strong. I can recommend HIS BROTHER'S SECRET to readers who enjoy seeing characters surpassing their circumstances, living life, and making a few mistakes along the way.

Susan Barton