LAKESIDE COTTAGE

Author: Susan Wiggs ISBN: 0778321908 8/2005 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: MIRA

If you trust your heart, you'll always know who you are.... Each summer, Kate Livingston returns to her family's lakeside cottage, a place of simple living and happy times—a place where she now hopes her shy little boy can blossom. But her quiet life gets a bit more interesting with the arrival of an intriguing new neighbor, JD Harris. Although she is a confirmed single mother and knows little of JD's past, Kate is soon drawn into the 'sweetness of a summer romance and discovers the passion of a lifetime. JD has good reason for being secretive. In a moment of sheer bravery the Washington, D.C: paramedic prevented a terrible tragedy. Overnight the intensely private man became a national hero. He's hardly able to remember who he was before the media frenzy...until he escapes to this lovely, remote part of the Northwest. Now Kate Livingston and her son have rekindled the joy of small pleasures and peace, something he thought he'd never 'have agairi. But how long will his blissful anonymity last before reality comes banging at his door?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

To label Susan Wiggs' latest novel, LAKESIDE COTTAGE, a romance would be a great injustice and a severe oversimplification. Although there is romance, Wiggs has packed this novel with a myriad of relatable, contemporary issues. Heroism, fame, diabetes, sexual abuse, single parenting and foster parenting add a layer of depth most romance books lack.

However, the affair between JD and Kate is anything but romantic. It is clumsy and awkward and a bit adolescent. Kate seems more like a love struck teenager than a self-confident woman. JD is the strong, silent type who causally dismisses Kate's advances while falling in love with her. At the end, Wiggs redeems herself when JD rides in like a knight in shining armor to promise Kate the world.

Kate and JD's love affair is such a small portion of this dynamic story that it does not interfere with the rest of the book. The plot is fast moving and compelling with characters that evoke emotion. Wiggs has elevated the romance genre with LAKESIDE COTTAGE.

Kendra Wheeler