My Child, Our Child by Patricia Hagan
Written: Feb 28 '04
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Product Rating:
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Pros: light hearted romantic read, not over done fluff
Cons: none
The Bottom Line: My Child Our Child is written by best selling authoress, Patricia Hagan. I found the book entertaining and not overdone with fluff.
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| rngpie's Full Review: My Child, Our Child (#1277) Books |
I recieved My Child, Our Child in a load of used books that I purchased by the box full.
The book was written in 1999, and is published by Siloutte Special Edition. The book contains 248 story pages, with 8 pages of advertisement at the end, for other books.
New this book would have cost $4.25 US or $4.75 CA. It can now be found for as little as .75 cents at Half.com.
My Child, Our Child
The story begins with divorcee Jackie Lundigan entering her workplace, Dove Haven Rest Home for the elderly, a little late.
It is ok however, because she is the registered dietician and has been there a few years.
As Jackie begins making notes on patients charts based on what they ate for breakfast, she soon notices that one patient, Libby, whom she has grown close too, did not eat anything at all for breakfast. This alarms Jackie because Libby has always had an healthy appetite.
While trying to track down a nurse who might know why Libby didnt eat anything that morning, Jackie gets the first of 2 personal phone calls.
The first phone call is from supposedly a friend who is trying to protect Jackie's feelings while yet spreading malicious gossip. Dottie, the caller, is quick to tell Jackie, that Jackie's ex husband is flying to Las Vegas for a quickie style wedding because his new wife is already very much pregnant.
Dottie claims she is only telling Jackie, so that Jackie can be prepared when the news comes out.
Jackie is somewhat shocked and very much hurt by the news. After all, it was she who scrimped and saved and put Kevin through med school. It was she, who put her own dreams of motherhood on the back burner, while he worked residency into all hours of the night.
In the end, it was Jackie who lost everything once Kevin graduated and accepted residency. Even more ironic, Kevin's fiancee is the daughter of the doctor whom he now partners with.
When she regains control of her emotions she once again starts out looking for a nurse who might tell her of Libby's condition, but is soon stopped again with a second phone call. This time the caller is Kevin who wants to satisfy his concious.
After hanging up coldly, and returning to work, Jackie finds herself outside of Libby's room with the fresh made bed. It then comes to her, Libby has passed on during the night.
This is more overwhelming than Jackie can accept and she soon falls into a puddle of tears.
A few days later after she has regained some her senses, she is visited by Libby's lawyer. It seems, Libby has willed a piece of land to Jackie in the mountains.
The legal papers say the land can not be sold, however Jackie does not have to live there if she chooses not to.
After all the tragedy in her life, Jackie decides to take refuge in the mountains. So she leaves her job at Dove Haven Rest Home and heads for the mountains.
And th story gets good
Once arriving, Jackie finds herself in front of a grand mansion, she already knows the land has been split between 2 families, Libby's land, and the Coltan's land. She knows there are two houses too, so she is pretty smart in assuming the grand mansion is not her home.
She continues following a windy trail until she comes to a shack of a cabin. We are talking no heat except firewood. No phone, except her cell and it wont get out. Some electric but mostly generator. Some water, providing the pipes dont freeze.
And acres and acres of trees surrounding her.
Jackie is actually kind of looking forward to the peace until she meets the other owner, Sam Coltan. She really starts enjoying the mountains then!
Turns out the trees are Christmas trees. The land is a Christmas tree farm, and the trees need special care year round but especially in the winter with the ice storms.
The Coltan family as it turns out are down to 1 heir, Sam, his son, and his mother. However, the Coltan's have always been bitter about how Libby came into legally owning her share of the tree farm. Seems a love spurned Coltan grandfather left his half of the farm to Libby and was then later killed in the war.
The Coltan's believe the farm was stolen from them, and should be returned.
Jackie has other ideas and turns her ideas into plans of action.
If Sam doesnt want to help her, then fine, he can not cut any trees on her half of the property--which are now the mature trees to be cut. What a profit loss that would be.
While Jackie and Sam are literally battling it out one war at a time, forward a step back a few steps, Jackie finds and later grows attached to the sweetest child.
A small boy approx 5 or so, the child will not speak, wears raggedy clothes but it is obvious he can hear and is ok other than being mute.
Jackie soon finds out the boy belongs to Sam, who is so busy with his Christmas Tree farm, he has little time for a clingy son and often the boy is left with neighbors.
It takes Jackie along time to find out why the child is mute, but it doesnt take her long to find out most of the town and Sam's mother want the boy admitted to a group home.
Jackie now has 2 battles on her hand, the first for the farm, the second for the child.
Being a woman and this being a Siloutte Book, Jackie can do it all!!
My Thoughts
I loved reading this book and found it took about 5-6 days for me to finish it.
I found the characters very well written and often found myself siding with Jackie or chuckling over Sam as he tries to rid Jackie off the Coltan land.
More than once I found tears in my eyes as the mute child made his appearance as well, because it was obvious the child needed a good loving.
Details
Patricia Hagan is a Best Selling New York Times Author and divides her time between Boca Raton and Norway.
ISBN# -0-373-24277-8
Recommended:
Yes
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rngpie
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