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Memory Lapse
Do You Have a Secret Fantasy?
Drew Townsend does. And in his secret fantasy Laura Nolan returns. Three years ago, she ran away, leaving her engagement ring and a useless little note. Laura had told him to get on with his life, meet other women and forget her. And he had...except for the last part.
Then one day Laura does come back, but not to him. She comes back to find out what secrets lay buried in her past - a past she can't really remember.
Maybe once she remembers, she can get on with her life. And maybe, just maybe, that life can include Drew.
- GenresRomance
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1995
1 person is currently reading
18 people want to read
About the author
Kathleen O'Brien
147 books91 followersSince the day Harlequin bought her first novel, Kathleen has published more than 30 titles with them- everything from hot, sexy contemporaries to dark, brooding suspense. Read in more than 30 countries and 29 languages, she's a five-time finalist for the prestigious RWA RITA Award, a winner of the Maggie Award, and a three-time finalist for Romantic Times' Reviewer's Choice.
Kathleen comes from a family of writers, poets, and journalists- though she may be the one shameless romantic in the bunch. A true Cancer, she values home and family above everything and wouldn't dream of ditching a single friend, memory, gift, or love letter. Consequently, her office is a mess, full of books, colored cut glass, photo albums, Madame Alexander dolls, and a cockatiel who whistles the theme from "The X Files." She is addicted to Mozart and Elvis, Dancing With the Stars, Dorothy Dunnett novels, and sugar-free Popsicles.
Kathleen comes from a family of writers, poets, and journalists- though she may be the one shameless romantic in the bunch. A true Cancer, she values home and family above everything and wouldn't dream of ditching a single friend, memory, gift, or love letter. Consequently, her office is a mess, full of books, colored cut glass, photo albums, Madame Alexander dolls, and a cockatiel who whistles the theme from "The X Files." She is addicted to Mozart and Elvis, Dancing With the Stars, Dorothy Dunnett novels, and sugar-free Popsicles.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 25, 2022
Memory Lapse, Book 1 of the Secret Fantasies series, was about Drew Townsend and Laura Nolan.
This was a difficult review to write because I had to be careful with what I revealed...without giving away too much of the story. So this won't be quite like any of my others...but then again, this book was quite unlike any of the other stories I have been reading lately. I just hope I can do it justice without spoiling it for other readers. So...here goes:
A little background history on the heroin: Laura was adopted at a young age and had lived in the Winterwalk house in Albany, New York. Her birth parents had died in an accident, and the couple who had adopted her was quite wealthy. Her adoptive father had been a well-known sculptor who had left when she was ten years old. Her adoptive mother, who had been an emotional basket-case before the sculptor had disappeared, was worse afterward. Throughout Laura's youth, the woman had been emotionally abusive and manipulative where with Laura. Her mother died a month before the story began.
With nothing more than a confusing note and the return of her engagement ring, Laura had left their small town...and Drew, her fiance, behind. The two of them, along with Drew's sister, Stephanie, had grown up together. Though Stephanie had been five years older than Laura, they had been the best of friends. And while Drew had been nearly three years older than her, ten-year-old Laura had a budding crush on him...and as these things will wont to do, they fell in love. But Laura had many "hang-ups" that were difficult for them to wade through and, eventually, she could no longer put him through the agony that was her life so, as she put it, she "set him free" to find someone else to be happy with.
The story opened three years after Laura had moved away. It began with someone crying, waking Laura from a deep, trance-like sleep, only for her to realize she was the one doing the crying...and she was standing outside in the dark, snow-covered yard of her home, with her nightgown completely unbuttoned and blowing in the wind. Laura realized that, for the first time in three years, the sleepwalking from which she had suffered since the age of ten had returned, forcing her to realize she had no other choice but to return to her former home in order to find out the truth behind her sleep condition.
Drew, not having understood how Laura could have left him the way she did, had tried to move on with his life. He had taken her at her word and found "someone else"...in fact, he had found four other "someone else", with his current lover being the most recent, and, though he had been able to find a modicum of solace with each one, he could not, in all honesty, forget Laura. He was sitting in his office in the home he rented...Laura's former home, in fact, and the one she still owned, when he saw a taxi pull up outside...and to his shock, Laura stepped out.
Laura had returned to Albany to confront her past. In order to do that, she had determined the only person she could trust to help her do that was Drew, though she hadn't been certain he would be willing to aid her, especially after how she had left him. What she hadn't expected to find when she arrived was Drew's "secretary"...who was also apparently his current lover, and she made it quite apparent to Laura that she intended to stay that way. Though Laura was hurt, she was also determined to ask Drew for his help, regardless of the other woman. She updated him on her "hang-ups", and the sleepwalking, then asked him if he would be willing to keep an eye on her each night to monitor any unusual activity, and to follow her without interrupting to determine just what happened when such a thing occurred. Though Drew was reluctant, he finally agreed to assist her. Laura said she had two weeks of vacation, during which she hoped to exorcise the ghosts of the past so she could move on with her life, thus letting him know she didn't expect anything else from him that he wasn't willing to give.
There was a lot of drama and angst in this story and all of it stemmed from Laura's father's leaving. There wasn't much if any, humor and the chemistry and passion were at an all-time low. However, this was more along the lines of a novel of intrigue than it was about the romance. The author played on the friendship between the two main characters and slowly built up into a romantic relationship. The emotions that filled the pages of this story were darker than the usual love story, but it did have its lite moments, though not many. The angst wasn't in regards to the other woman, for she was more of a non-issue almost from the moment of Laura's return. Rather, the angst was instead wrapped up in the events of the past that controlled the actions of the present.
Both Drew and Laura's characters were well-developed and mature. Other than having to deal with Laura's issues, the couple rarely ever fought, though they both struggled with answering the question of whether or not they had a future together.
It's unusual for a romance novel to be so dark or to deal with emotional and/or mental health issues, but the author handled both quite well. I found it to be a very good story, worthy of a five-star rating. I will also be including it in my Keeper for the Shelves collection.
This was a difficult review to write because I had to be careful with what I revealed...without giving away too much of the story. So this won't be quite like any of my others...but then again, this book was quite unlike any of the other stories I have been reading lately. I just hope I can do it justice without spoiling it for other readers. So...here goes:
A little background history on the heroin: Laura was adopted at a young age and had lived in the Winterwalk house in Albany, New York. Her birth parents had died in an accident, and the couple who had adopted her was quite wealthy. Her adoptive father had been a well-known sculptor who had left when she was ten years old. Her adoptive mother, who had been an emotional basket-case before the sculptor had disappeared, was worse afterward. Throughout Laura's youth, the woman had been emotionally abusive and manipulative where with Laura. Her mother died a month before the story began.
With nothing more than a confusing note and the return of her engagement ring, Laura had left their small town...and Drew, her fiance, behind. The two of them, along with Drew's sister, Stephanie, had grown up together. Though Stephanie had been five years older than Laura, they had been the best of friends. And while Drew had been nearly three years older than her, ten-year-old Laura had a budding crush on him...and as these things will wont to do, they fell in love. But Laura had many "hang-ups" that were difficult for them to wade through and, eventually, she could no longer put him through the agony that was her life so, as she put it, she "set him free" to find someone else to be happy with.
The story opened three years after Laura had moved away. It began with someone crying, waking Laura from a deep, trance-like sleep, only for her to realize she was the one doing the crying...and she was standing outside in the dark, snow-covered yard of her home, with her nightgown completely unbuttoned and blowing in the wind. Laura realized that, for the first time in three years, the sleepwalking from which she had suffered since the age of ten had returned, forcing her to realize she had no other choice but to return to her former home in order to find out the truth behind her sleep condition.
Drew, not having understood how Laura could have left him the way she did, had tried to move on with his life. He had taken her at her word and found "someone else"...in fact, he had found four other "someone else", with his current lover being the most recent, and, though he had been able to find a modicum of solace with each one, he could not, in all honesty, forget Laura. He was sitting in his office in the home he rented...Laura's former home, in fact, and the one she still owned, when he saw a taxi pull up outside...and to his shock, Laura stepped out.
Laura had returned to Albany to confront her past. In order to do that, she had determined the only person she could trust to help her do that was Drew, though she hadn't been certain he would be willing to aid her, especially after how she had left him. What she hadn't expected to find when she arrived was Drew's "secretary"...who was also apparently his current lover, and she made it quite apparent to Laura that she intended to stay that way. Though Laura was hurt, she was also determined to ask Drew for his help, regardless of the other woman. She updated him on her "hang-ups", and the sleepwalking, then asked him if he would be willing to keep an eye on her each night to monitor any unusual activity, and to follow her without interrupting to determine just what happened when such a thing occurred. Though Drew was reluctant, he finally agreed to assist her. Laura said she had two weeks of vacation, during which she hoped to exorcise the ghosts of the past so she could move on with her life, thus letting him know she didn't expect anything else from him that he wasn't willing to give.
There was a lot of drama and angst in this story and all of it stemmed from Laura's father's leaving. There wasn't much if any, humor and the chemistry and passion were at an all-time low. However, this was more along the lines of a novel of intrigue than it was about the romance. The author played on the friendship between the two main characters and slowly built up into a romantic relationship. The emotions that filled the pages of this story were darker than the usual love story, but it did have its lite moments, though not many. The angst wasn't in regards to the other woman, for she was more of a non-issue almost from the moment of Laura's return. Rather, the angst was instead wrapped up in the events of the past that controlled the actions of the present.
Both Drew and Laura's characters were well-developed and mature. Other than having to deal with Laura's issues, the couple rarely ever fought, though they both struggled with answering the question of whether or not they had a future together.
It's unusual for a romance novel to be so dark or to deal with emotional and/or mental health issues, but the author handled both quite well. I found it to be a very good story, worthy of a five-star rating. I will also be including it in my Keeper for the Shelves collection.
Displaying 1 of 1 review