| Something to Talk About by Laurie Paige |
| (Silh. Sp. Ed. #1396, $4.50, PG) ISBN 0-373-24396-0 |
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Jess Fargo is about on his last legs - and, to make matters worse, one of those legs was crippled in the line of duty. Now he’s an ex-cop with a newly returned son, courtesy of his former wife who is getting married again. She didn’t want Jess to see his boy before but now she can’t wait to get rid of the kid. Everything in Jess’ life has changed and he’s not happy about it. He has gone on a trip with his son, Jeremy, to get to know him better, but Jess is now exhausted. He’s heard about a small garage apartment he could rent from a widow in Wind River, Wyoming, and he’s ready to stop for a while.
The widow is a bit more than Jess expected. Kate is compassionate and beautiful and interested in both him and his son. She’s had a tough past herself and has faced the fact that she is now going to have to live her life without a husband or child. Rather abruptly, we find out Jess had an ulterior motive for his stay. Kate is related by marriage to his dead sister and he wants to find out whether his sister’s death was an accident or something else. Kate takes on more than Jess and Jeremy this summer as well. She agrees to house a small girl who is in foster care. No one else will take the child since her father has escaped jail and threatened to kill the child and himself. Watching the abandoned children in the story growing up and learning to trust others makes a lovely story all on its own. Something to Talk About is a really solid three heart story. It’s solidly plotted, the characters develop an interest in each other for the right reasons and have plausible reasons to avoid that interest. Kate’s affection for children who aren’t her own make her a decent, compassionate character. She realizes her love for children can create a family, even if she isn’t sure her love for Jess will ever be returned. Jess’ investigation of his sister’s death and his rescue of the forlorn little girl shows him he isn’t as washed up as he thought. He discovers that his love for his son, though it was thwarted for years, is returned. Eventually Jess begins to think about a future for himself that isn’t what he’d planned for a few months before. There’s nothing wrong with this story. There just isn’t that much to talk about, either. While I like Jess and Kate, I’m not consumed with interest in them either. You know they aren’t going to hurt each other too much. Despite their battered pasts, you feel sure that the future isn’t going to deal them another crushing blow. Other than Jess’ investigation, there are no surprises here. I wish the characters in the story well, but they didn’t leave me desperate to read the continuation of this series.
--Irene Williams
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