Her Sister's Secret Son

Nine years ago Laurel Hale set Jared Carlisle's heart on fire. The memorable night they spent together, before and after her laughing rejection to seeing him again, burned itself into his heart forever. So when he sees the beautiful, redheaded woman again in a courtroom, he instantly recognizes her. That is, until Rachel introduces herself as Laurel's twin. Laurel died four years ago.Rachel has always lived in her sister's shadow, wishing someone would look at her with the heat they address to her flamboyant twin. Even after her twin's accidental death, Rachel continues her shadowy existence by raising her sister's child -- a child dropped on her since his birth: "Dylan's childish memories of his mother were vague, colored by her long, frequent absences." All Rachel wants for her son and herself is a place to put down roots, something even more unlikely with Dylan's biological father in the picture. Rachel loves Dylan as if is her biological son, and her fierce protectiveness of their relationship only increases when she realizes the father isn't who she expected.All Jared wants to know and love his son, to make up for the eight years he missed. He also wants Rachel, but keeps that desire repressed for fear she'll run away. The more he's around Rachel, the more he appreciates the difference in the twins. Laurel had been temperamental and self-centered. Rachel is the calm after the storm. But with custody issues between them, and then a marriage based on the child, its almost impossible to find their ways past the pain to love.Lisette Belisle has a poet's mastery of words, liberally sprinkling such evocative descriptions through the novel. A favorite, on the first page, reads: "The fans kept the air moving, stirring up dust, cobwebs and old memories -- memories Jared Carlisle preferred buried." This moment, during a court scene, captures the very essence of the novel and the hero. Indeed, Belisle's word play becomes mesmerizing, spinning a web of well-crafted words that transport the reader into the heart of Maine and the memory of loss.Unfortunately, the plot itself could have used some tweaking. The center of the novel, the fulcrum on which major decisions, frustrations and outrage rests, falls flat. Apple pie becomes a surprising pivot point for disaster and potentially powerful image for such a disastrous outcome, but rather than the proper explosion, we only get a whimper and a heroine who chooses to run rather than fight it out. For a red head that's trying to step out of her sister's shadow, this would have been the perfect point for Rachel to throw a colossal fit. Sadly, this is the deciding point between good and great, preventing HER SISTER'S SECRET SON from achieving its full potential. Nonetheless, it is still a well-developed, emotionally intense novel that beautifully explores emotion and motive, earning it a distinction of recommended.