Practice Makes Perfect: Serenity House (Harlequin Superromance No. 1066)

I have found that there isn't a Shay book yet that hasn't been a wonderful read, each a cut above of what is being offered in the Superromance line from Harlequin. The premise of this story is very well developed with a delivery fast paced, sure to keep the reader from putting it down to get back to their real life. However, the reader is going to have to like pushy male protagnonists. I felt at times our heroine was the only one expected to reach a growth in character. Ms Shay could have tempered this story giving her hero some unique inner conflict for which our heroine could help him resolve. A bit too one sided at times. Yet, Ms Shay was able to temper the hero's pushiness with rich, emotional compassion as his heroine found her way toward her heart's desire.I look forward to the next two books in this series, with hope all the women first introduced in this story of the trilogy.will have a chance at finding their own special knight-in-shinning-armour. Of course if anyone can create that special female protagonist who can slay a few dragons of her own to win her prince, Ms Shay has the unique talent to make it happen.

At seventeen, Paige Kendrick lost her parents and gave her baby up for adoption in the same day. Paige never saw the child, never asked its sex or health; instead, she raised her sister and went on to become a doctor. Now she works as a pediatrician charging high prices to those who can afford her skills; at once distancing herself from girls like the one she once was even as cares for children like the one she lost. No other doctor has the skills or the compassion of Dr Paige Kendrick, and Ian is determined to sign her onto his program. He also quickly realizes he needs her in his life as much as he needs her skills for the inner-city girls. Unfortunately, Paige builds strong walls around her emotion and her past, refusing to share her heart or her history. But Ian is equally resolute to understand and love this elusive woman. Author Kathryn Shay has a gift for boldly presenting challenging life situations that offer no easy solutions. This series, Serenity House, brings women together who once shared life in a group home for girls. PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT one again exhibits Shay's deep compassion for her flawed, yet marvelously portrayed characters. Loss has taught Paige a bitter lesson only love can cure. Conversely, Ian understands adoption from an entirely different perspective. But his take-charge personality proves equally attractive and abrasive, presenting him with his own challenges in building a relationship with Paige. The result is a sympathetic, heart-warming tale that presents families, adoptions, and love with beauty and sparkle. Paige's younger sister likewise is an interesting and unorthodox character, lending the story a marvelous subplot. Very highly recommended.

In 1987 in the newly opened Serenity House for Troubled Girls in Hyde Point, New York, pregnant Paige Kendrick and her sister Jade learn their parents died in a motorcycle accident. Paige immediately goes into labor giving birth to a healthy girl. Paige rejects the baby, refusing to even see or touch the newborn.Fifteen years later Obstetrician Dr. Ian Chandler asks Paige, a pediatrician, to join his new center for unwed mothers and children without any money. At first she refuses as she hates any reminder of where she comes from, but he manipulates Paige into finally joining. As they work close together, they fall in love, but she feels betrayed when he fills out the right to know (RTK) application to locate the infant she gave up years ago.Readers who take pleasure in an interesting contemporary romance starring a scarred lead protagonist will want to read Kathryn Shay's latest novel, PRACTICE MAKES PERFECT. The story line focuses on the concept that the child becomes the adult as Paige takes plenty of teenage baggage with her into her present life even though she overcomes much to become a doctor. Though her reaction to Ian's kind gesture of the RTK application that he never forwarded seems overkill some fans will see even that as a defense mechanism of a hurting soul worth reading about.Harriet Klausner