365 books in 365 days Challenge ... book #35

The Rich Man's Love-Child - Maggie Cox
Mills and Boon Modern

Single title-
Harlequin Mills and Boon, 2008
ISBN: 9780263864137

Reprint-
Claiming His Secret Love-Child By Request
Harlequin Mills and Boon, 2011
ISBN: 9780263884326

My rating




From the back cover:

"A passionate affair, a devastating betrayal – Caitlin Burns is the last person reclusive millionaire Flynn MacCormac wants to see again. But now she’s back, with an earth-shattering revelation. She was pregnant when she left him...
Flynn knows Caitlin has no idea of the demons that helped drive her away. But he can’t forgive her for keeping his young daughter from him. He’s not about to let Caitlin leave a second time, so demands she live with him in his imposing ancestral home! They’ll raise their child there – and Flynn will enjoy Caitlin’s body once more. He might not trust her, but he knows they share a passion nothing can destroy..."

I read this book in the By Request omnibus (details above), which I borrowed from the library. This is the third book in the omnibus, I found I had previously read the other two! On the back of reading two exceptionally good books I didn't enjoy this book as much.

The book begins with the female character Caitlin returning to her home town with her young daughter for her fathers funeral. She has been living in London for the last 5 years, raising her daughter as a single mother. Caitlin is nervous about her return as she also plans to tell her daughter's father about her existence. The father is the son of the town's aristocratic family, Flynn. They had a relationship five years ago however they faced opposition from their families. Caitlin's father disapproved of it as he was bitter against Flynn's wealth and Flynn's mother was deeply disapproving of Caitlin as she was deemed as not suitable due to her working class background. Upset by this Caitlin had fled to London never telling Flynn where she went and why.
Flynn was devastated when Caitlin left him, and has spent the last 5 years living as a recluse, he had past hurts from his ex-wife's betrayal. When they meet again Flynn demands that Caitlin tells him why she left him, and when he finds out about his daughter he is angry that she has been kept from him.

Usually I enjoy secret love child stories, however I found the story to be quite slow and at times a little boring. I struggled to warm to the characters as, in my opinion, they were not developed enough. I also found that the reasons for Caitlin fleeing to London were not substantial enough to justify her actions.
I did like the setting and the description of the small Irish town, also the inclusion of various bits of Celtic history/mythology I found very interesting.
The ending of the book, however, was really good.

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