Winnie Porter just couldn’t forget the child she’d given up for adoption all those years ago…or the wonderful family that had taken him in. Now it was finally time to see her son one last time.

Still reeling from his wife’s untimely death, the last thing Aidan Black needed to deal with was the unwed mother who brought his beloved Robbie into the world. Especially when she was all grown up into a beautiful, vivacious young woman who’d immediately drawn his boy into her spell—not to mention Aidan himself. Would Winnie’s secret shatter Aidan’s family—or make it whole again?

After reading Karen Templeton‘s Guys and Daughters series, I fell in love with her writing. She does an amazing job of writing real characters that face real issues. A Mother’s Wish is another hit.

Although Winnie gave her son up for adoption when she was 18, she never forgot him or stopped loving him. Now, 9 years later, after her grandmother’s death, Winnie finds herself in desperate need of seeing him. Making sure he’s ok, well loved and well cared for. She has no intention of speaking to him or alerting him to her presence, but she just has to know.

But things have a way of going in the direction we least expect, and Winnie is shocked to realize she’s actually staying in a cabin owned by her son’s adoptive parents. She’s even more shocked when she realizes Aidan, her son’s adoptive father, is now a widow. One she’s in danger of losing her heart to, despite his churlish behavior.

Winnie was definitely a strong woman. Though she’d faced adversity more often than not in her life, she still managed to retain her sense of humor and an optimistic attitude. She tried to find the good in every situation and dealt with her emotions straight on. She also said what she thought and didn’t allow herself to wallow in self-pity.

Watching her get to know her son was heartbreaking. She and Aidan agreed to keep it a secret until the time was right to tell him, and watching her try to hold herself back – while not really being able to – really tugged at my emotions.

Too often kids aren’t portrayed in a believable way in novels – especially when it comes to emotional issues. I think KT managed to write Robbie beautifully, however. His actions and reactions – from dealing with the death of his mother to falling in love with Winnie to finding out she was his birth mother – were exactly as I imagine those of a 9-year-old would be. His sadness and angst over losing his mother to cancer and his fear and worry for his father were real and believable. His anger over finding out Winnie and Aidan had kept a secret from him was also every believable and so much better than an easy acceptance would have been.

Aidan was also a wonderfully drawn character. Moody and brooding, his natural compassion and sympathy really rounded him out and made him into a three dimensional man. I wanted to be angry for him, for turning his back on his son and allowing things to slide so far out of control, but his absolute bafflement over how to fix things – and his genuine want and caring – saved him for me. At times I wanted to smack him upside the head and scream WAKE UP STUPID.

(…) Then suddenly he turned to Winnie and said, “D’you ride?”
“What?”
“Do you ride? Horses,” he added irritably, like she was hopelessly slow. And if he hadn’t looked so frustrated – although about what, she couldn’t begin to imagine – and if she hadn’t become used to his brusqueness, she might have taken offense. But it would’ve been like taking offense at a frightened dog’s growl.
“It’s been awhile, but yeah -“
“Western?”
“What else?”
“Good. I’ve got horses boarding at a ranch near here, they need to be ridden. We’ll take the boys with us so Flo and Tess won’t have to worry about them. Day after tomorrow,” he added as an afterthought, the stomped out of the kitchen through a sea of discarded plastic bags.

But generally Winnie came along and did it before I had a chance to get good and mad at him.

She found him on the deck, glowering at the beginnings of the sunset.
“Back where I come from,” she said, making him turn around, “it’s the custom to ask a woman if she’d like to do something. Like go riding, for instance. So.” She crossed her arms. “Care to try this again?”
Aidan looked back out toward the setting sun. “I’m thinking about going horseback riding on Saturday. Wouldya be interested in goin’ along?”
“I’d love to,” she said, then turned smartly on her heel and walked away.

Their banter and sexual tension came across well, but it was really the emotional connection the three of them shared that really made this novel. I really liked the secondary characters that made up the small town of Tierra Rosa and I’m glad to see the next book in the series, Reining in the Rancher, is about characters we met during the course of this story.

There were definitely flaws, the major one being the rather cheesy epilogue, but I was able to look past them.

Karen Templeton is an absolute must read. A Mother’s Wish is a powerful tale of love and longing – and the things a woman will do for the love of her child. Excellent book, highly recommend.

4 out of 5

This book is available from Silhouette Special Edition. You can buy it here or here in e-format.