ALWAYS A MOTHER

Author: Linda Warren ISBN: 9780373714995 6/2008 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: HARLEQUIN

At eighteen, Claire and Dean were already planning their future. Until they suddenly found themselves parents. With Dean on the road pursuing a football career, raising their daughters became Claire's first priority and full-time job. Now, with the girls grown, she can finally pursue her long-deferred dream of going to college. Then she gets the news: she's going to be a mother again. Coming to terms with her midlife pregnancy means confronting her hopes, fears and choices she's made. Through twenty-five years of joy, struggle and near tragedy, the one constant was Claire's love for Dean. Is that love strong enough to weather the biggest crisis of their marriage and help them embrace the future-together?

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

ALWAYS A MOTHER by Linda Warren is a warm, endearing story of a woman faced with the challenge of a new pregnancy right before she embarks on obtaining her dreams of a college degree.

Claire and Dean Rennels have been together since he started pulling on her ribbons in the third grade. An unexpected pregnancy right before their high school graduation put Claire's dreams of going to law school on hold, as she and Dean married and began to raise their young daughter. Now, having seen the second of their daughters off, Claire is about to finish her degree and become a teacher, a dream she has held onto even as she has had to put it off many times over the years. But then, Claire finds out she is pregnant once again. Her gut reaction is to have an abortion, but she cannot go through with it. Instead, she goes home and packs, taking with her the love letters she and Dean have written to each other over the years, and goes to the family house on the lake to come to terms with the life inside of her. Dean shows up, wanting to help his wife, but she tells him to leave as this is a decision she has to come to terms with on her own. By reading the letters and reliving the hard times of the past, Claire is reminded of the strong bond of love that binds her, Dean, and their family together.

I loved Warren's ALWAYS A MOTHER. The letters prove to be a great segue way into Claire's memories of her life spent with Dean—from the separation she encountered with her parents upon learning she was pregnant, through the ups and downs of raising two young girls while her husband was often away, working to provide for their family. Through it all, Claire is able to remember the love that she and Dean shared, the love that still plays a big role in their lives to the very present. And as much as she wants to go ahead with her dreams and not have to worry about having another child at forty-three, Claire begins to understand that first and foremost, she is ALWAYS A MOTHER and the child she carries is the proof of her love with her husband.

I truly enjoyed Linda Warren's story ALWAYS A MOTHER. Even though the happily-ever-after had been reached, there were still obstacles to be faced by the couple. And using the past to deal with the present isn't often used in romances although it is how we, as people, deal with our lives, and I liked that it played a big role in this novel. I will look for more of Warren's stories in the future as I enjoyed this one immensely!

Maame Kanbi