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Where Secrets Are Safe #14
Falling for the Brother
A brother’s secrets, a brother’s love
Head of security Harper Davidson is shocked when her ex’s grandmother becomes the newest resident at The Lemonade Stand shelter. The suspected abuser? The woman’s own grandson, Harper’s ex-husband. None of this makes any sense. And yet she knows his brother, Mason Thomas, would not make these accusations lightly. For her daughter’s sake, Harper agrees to help Mason uncover the truth.
Clouding the investigation is the attraction that still lingers between her and Mason—a temptation Harper won’t give in to again. Harper’s loyalty and emotions are divided once more. And when past secrets come to light, she’s not sure who to trust…
Head of security Harper Davidson is shocked when her ex’s grandmother becomes the newest resident at The Lemonade Stand shelter. The suspected abuser? The woman’s own grandson, Harper’s ex-husband. None of this makes any sense. And yet she knows his brother, Mason Thomas, would not make these accusations lightly. For her daughter’s sake, Harper agrees to help Mason uncover the truth.
Clouding the investigation is the attraction that still lingers between her and Mason—a temptation Harper won’t give in to again. Harper’s loyalty and emotions are divided once more. And when past secrets come to light, she’s not sure who to trust…
- GenresRomanceContemporary
384 pages, Kindle Edition
First published March 1, 2018
2 people are currently reading
51 people want to read
About the author
Tara Taylor Quinn
369 books1,461 followersTara Taylor Quinn began her love affair with Harlequin when she was fourteen years old and picked up a free promotional copy of a Harlequin Romance in a hometown grocery store. The relationship was solidified the year she was suspended from her high school typing class for hiding a Harlequin Romance behind the keys of her electric typewriter. Unaware that her instructor loomed close by, Ms. Quinn read blissfully on with one finger resting on the automatic repeating period key. She finished the book in the principal’s office. Forced to leave her romances in her locker after that, Ms. Quinn’s typing skills improved - a fact for which she is eternally grateful.
With over 80 original novels, published in more than twenty languages, Tara Taylor Quinn is a USA Today bestselling author with more than seven million copies sold. She is a winner of the 2008 National Reader's Choice Award, four time finalist for the RWA Rita Award, a finalist for the Reviewer’s Choice Award, the Bookseller’s Best Award, the Holt Medallion and appears regularly on the Waldenbooks bestsellers list. Ms. Quinn writes for Harlequin and MIRA Books. Reviewer, Cindy Penn, wordweaving.com says, “Amazing character development is the hallmark of author Tara Taylor Quinn’s work. Indeed, Taylor’s profound observations of human nature and intimate understanding of values and priorities lends extraordinary psychological depth to all her work.”
Tara Taylor Quinn was born and raised in Ohio. Though she wrote her first story at the age of seven, her professional writing career began ten years later when she was hired as a stringer with the Dayton Daily News in Dayton, Ohio. She attended Wright State University and graduated from Harding College in Arkansas with a degree in English and Journalism. She published several magazine articles before turning to writing as a full-time occupation.
Ms. Quinn is a Past President of the Romance Writers of America and served for eight years on the Board of Directors of that association. She has a wide range of experience as a public speaker and workshop presenter for writers groups around the country.
When she’s not home with her owners, Jerry Lee and Taylor Marie, or fulfilling speaking engagements, Tara loves to travel with her husband, stopping wherever the spirit takes them. They’ve been spotted in casinos and quaint little small town antique shops all across the country..
With over 80 original novels, published in more than twenty languages, Tara Taylor Quinn is a USA Today bestselling author with more than seven million copies sold. She is a winner of the 2008 National Reader's Choice Award, four time finalist for the RWA Rita Award, a finalist for the Reviewer’s Choice Award, the Bookseller’s Best Award, the Holt Medallion and appears regularly on the Waldenbooks bestsellers list. Ms. Quinn writes for Harlequin and MIRA Books. Reviewer, Cindy Penn, wordweaving.com says, “Amazing character development is the hallmark of author Tara Taylor Quinn’s work. Indeed, Taylor’s profound observations of human nature and intimate understanding of values and priorities lends extraordinary psychological depth to all her work.”
Tara Taylor Quinn was born and raised in Ohio. Though she wrote her first story at the age of seven, her professional writing career began ten years later when she was hired as a stringer with the Dayton Daily News in Dayton, Ohio. She attended Wright State University and graduated from Harding College in Arkansas with a degree in English and Journalism. She published several magazine articles before turning to writing as a full-time occupation.
Ms. Quinn is a Past President of the Romance Writers of America and served for eight years on the Board of Directors of that association. She has a wide range of experience as a public speaker and workshop presenter for writers groups around the country.
When she’s not home with her owners, Jerry Lee and Taylor Marie, or fulfilling speaking engagements, Tara loves to travel with her husband, stopping wherever the spirit takes them. They’ve been spotted in casinos and quaint little small town antique shops all across the country..
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Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews
April 17, 2018
An exciting addition to the Where Secrets Are Safe series! With her signature style of writing, Tara Taylor Quinn always enchants her reader with an in depth characterization that has us quickly hooked into the story line. This book is no different. The first chapter reveals the clincher of what the book is about and throughout various ups and downs, we follow along trying to figure out if he's truly guilty or not. The romance wasn't the key aspect of this book, but the mystery kept me hooked. I enjoyed it!
Head of security at The Lemonade Stand, Harper Davidson never expected someone she knew to come through the doors as their newest victim, much less that the accused would be her ex-husband! When Harper gets the info that her ex's grandmother was admitted overnight and that his brother has listed her ex as the person that injured her, she can't believe it. She's never known that side of Bruce ... but she also knows that Mason is a stand-up guy and would never accuse him if he didn't truly think it was true. She's not sure what to think!
Mason Thomas will do anything to protect his grandmother, even if it's his own brother who is hurting her! He hasn't seen Harper in several years, but he knows she will help him get to the bottom of keeping his grandmother safe while he investigates to find out what truly happened. Along the way, the feelings they have both kept hidden over the years come back to the surface and make for an interesting situation!
Head of security at The Lemonade Stand, Harper Davidson never expected someone she knew to come through the doors as their newest victim, much less that the accused would be her ex-husband! When Harper gets the info that her ex's grandmother was admitted overnight and that his brother has listed her ex as the person that injured her, she can't believe it. She's never known that side of Bruce ... but she also knows that Mason is a stand-up guy and would never accuse him if he didn't truly think it was true. She's not sure what to think!
Mason Thomas will do anything to protect his grandmother, even if it's his own brother who is hurting her! He hasn't seen Harper in several years, but he knows she will help him get to the bottom of keeping his grandmother safe while he investigates to find out what truly happened. Along the way, the feelings they have both kept hidden over the years come back to the surface and make for an interesting situation!
March 23, 2018
I really wanted to love this one...I've really liked other books in the series...but it just didn't work for me. Both Harper and Mason's motivations were a bit problematic throughout, and their internal struggles seemed over the top much of the time. (Example, one of so many: she's torn over the loyalty she still feels for her ex, lectures his brother on how "long term relationships" work, yet she left and divorced Bruce before they'd been married even a year...at least that particular example gets pointed out to her--so many other examples don't) And don't even get me started on the resolution of the "who's abusing grandma?" plot and its eventual outcome...abrupt (and convenient, for the latter) doesn't even begin to describe it. The ending for Mason, Harper, and Brie (Harper's daughter) was absolutely adorable and beyond sweet, but it's a toss-up if a lovely ending makes up for all of the complete wait, whaaaaaat????? that came before it.
Keeping my fingers crossed for the next one...
Rating: 2 1/2 stars / C-
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.
Keeping my fingers crossed for the next one...
Rating: 2 1/2 stars / C-
I voluntarily reviewed an Advance Reader Copy of this book.
December 7, 2018
This is the second book in a row by this author that I have DNFed. I thought the last one was bad... This one was a train wreck from the get go.
First off, we have Harper who is constantly giving excuses to justify why she is better than her ex-husband when she did the exact same damn thing that he did (cheat). Not only that, but it was with her ex-husband's BROTHER, and less than a week before she was supposed to get married. THEN, to make matters worse, she bails on the marriage in less than a year without even bothering to try to work things out, and since then harps on and on about how long-term relationships are supposed to work. Say what now? She's just a piece of work.
Then we have Mason, the brother. On what fucking planet would he have been given permission to investigate a family member (or in this case, three)? Even considering they didn't work for the same law enforcement agency, it would NEVER be allowed. Full stop. I gave up on this book when Mason started ruminating about making sure to keep things above board to avoid anything that would derail the investigation. Not. Gonna. Happen. Not in the US. Not on the planet Earth. Not EVER. It wouldn't matter which way the investigation turned (whether he found out Bruce did it or someone else) it would have been thrown out because of bias.
As for the supporting characters, Miriam was a hot mess of a character, and I don't even have words about how idiotic Bruce was written. And the kid (the name eludes me at the moment, but whatever)? She was written like she was a pre-teen in the 8-10 range, not a 4-year old.
And the name of the center, The Lemonade Stand? Puh-lease. I just can't even.
But it wasn't just all moronic characterization and motivation. There was the actual story itself. I DNFed this book at Chapter 18, about 200 pages in... How can you have a straight up Harlequin romance novel and have maybe 10 pages TOTAL of those 200 romance-y stuff? The remaining 190 pages were all incoherent ramblings of teenage-level angst. It was bad.
First off, we have Harper who is constantly giving excuses to justify why she is better than her ex-husband when she did the exact same damn thing that he did (cheat). Not only that, but it was with her ex-husband's BROTHER, and less than a week before she was supposed to get married. THEN, to make matters worse, she bails on the marriage in less than a year without even bothering to try to work things out, and since then harps on and on about how long-term relationships are supposed to work. Say what now? She's just a piece of work.
Then we have Mason, the brother. On what fucking planet would he have been given permission to investigate a family member (or in this case, three)? Even considering they didn't work for the same law enforcement agency, it would NEVER be allowed. Full stop. I gave up on this book when Mason started ruminating about making sure to keep things above board to avoid anything that would derail the investigation. Not. Gonna. Happen. Not in the US. Not on the planet Earth. Not EVER. It wouldn't matter which way the investigation turned (whether he found out Bruce did it or someone else) it would have been thrown out because of bias.
As for the supporting characters, Miriam was a hot mess of a character, and I don't even have words about how idiotic Bruce was written. And the kid (the name eludes me at the moment, but whatever)? She was written like she was a pre-teen in the 8-10 range, not a 4-year old.
And the name of the center, The Lemonade Stand? Puh-lease. I just can't even.
But it wasn't just all moronic characterization and motivation. There was the actual story itself. I DNFed this book at Chapter 18, about 200 pages in... How can you have a straight up Harlequin romance novel and have maybe 10 pages TOTAL of those 200 romance-y stuff? The remaining 190 pages were all incoherent ramblings of teenage-level angst. It was bad.
May 21, 2018
3.5 Stars
alling for the Brother is the fourteenth installment in Tara Taylor Quinn’s Where Secrets Are Safe series. Like the other stories in the series, this one balances suspense, generally tied to the abuse theme, with romance. The mystery works well in this one since the reader shares Harper’s uncertainties. However, I would like to have seen an expanded conclusion. The end comes very abruptly, and it is more tell than show. I found the romance less successful, but I don’t like love triangles that involve siblings. A reader who finds such tangled relationships more appealing will likely enjoy the romance more than I did. The most interesting part of the story for me was the mix of good and bad in the villain and the theme of family love that forgives and endures.
Harlequin is phasing out the Superromance line within the next few months, but Quinn has one more book in this long-running series before the imprint becomes history. A Defender’s Heart will be released June 5. Later in the summer Quinn will introduce a new series under the Harlequin Special Edition imprint.
See full review at The Romance Dish:
http://www.theromancedish.com/2018/03...
alling for the Brother is the fourteenth installment in Tara Taylor Quinn’s Where Secrets Are Safe series. Like the other stories in the series, this one balances suspense, generally tied to the abuse theme, with romance. The mystery works well in this one since the reader shares Harper’s uncertainties. However, I would like to have seen an expanded conclusion. The end comes very abruptly, and it is more tell than show. I found the romance less successful, but I don’t like love triangles that involve siblings. A reader who finds such tangled relationships more appealing will likely enjoy the romance more than I did. The most interesting part of the story for me was the mix of good and bad in the villain and the theme of family love that forgives and endures.
Harlequin is phasing out the Superromance line within the next few months, but Quinn has one more book in this long-running series before the imprint becomes history. A Defender’s Heart will be released June 5. Later in the summer Quinn will introduce a new series under the Harlequin Special Edition imprint.
See full review at The Romance Dish:
http://www.theromancedish.com/2018/03...
March 9, 2018
Harper is head of security to The Lemonade Stand shelter for battered women and imagine her surprise when her ex's grandmother comes in. Then she's ends up finding out that her ex is the abuser and his brother Mason is working on the case to seeing what was really going on before things get bigger.
I thought that this was a pretty good drama filled contemporary romance with a mystery in it. I loved seeing the connection between Harper and Mason and it was pretty obvious that attraction they once had hasn't really gone away. I loved seeing them working together and seeing things progress as they try to figure out what was going on and who really was hurting the grandmother. I thought that this book was pretty sweet and I really enjoyed it.
I thought that this was a pretty good drama filled contemporary romance with a mystery in it. I loved seeing the connection between Harper and Mason and it was pretty obvious that attraction they once had hasn't really gone away. I loved seeing them working together and seeing things progress as they try to figure out what was going on and who really was hurting the grandmother. I thought that this book was pretty sweet and I really enjoyed it.
October 25, 2018
Read through it in once sitting, so it has "compelling" going for it. Things were a little more complicated in certain ways than they needed to be (why was Miriam the brothers' grandmother instead of their mother? What the hell kinda organization is "the lemonade stand?"). In other ways, it was oversimplified (there's a whole interesting arc just wasted in the offhand description of Bruce's secret family (?????)). Author has trouble writing how children actually speak.
On the other hand, the pacing was good, the characters' psychology was impressively believable, and I ended up pleasantly surprised in general.
On the other hand, the pacing was good, the characters' psychology was impressively believable, and I ended up pleasantly surprised in general.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
March 17, 2018
Falling for the Brother is the 14th book in the Lemonade Stand series by Tara Taylor Quinn. This series is always so heartfelt and enduring it breaks my heart while putting it back together again. This story between Harper and Mason was no different.
The things that stand in the way of these two beautiful souls being together just keep stacking up. The family dynamics is crazy. Yet the attraction and pull they continue to feel for one another makes everything else pointless.
The things that stand in the way of these two beautiful souls being together just keep stacking up. The family dynamics is crazy. Yet the attraction and pull they continue to feel for one another makes everything else pointless.
February 5, 2020
This high-tension romance with a women's fiction feel is about psychological abuse and how it affects the victims and their family. I really liked the care the author took in weaving the signs of this often unseen form of abuse into a page-turning plot.
February 16, 2018
A sweet heartwarming read. This is the first I've read in the series and I'm looking forward to reading the other 13!
March 5, 2018
Thirteenth in the long-standing Where Secrets are Safe series and one of the best, precisely because it reflects so many family complications. Who has abused the grandmother of Harper Davidson's ex-husband and great-grandmother to her 4-year-old daughter? If it's her ex-, can Harper trust him not to abuse their daughter? Then there's Mason, the brother she had sex with after learning that her fiance was cheating on her. Was it only one cheat or more than one? Yes, she ended up divorcing him, but who among the two brothers is the biological father of her child? She never had a DNA test done earlier when the question was raised, but now Mason insists on knowing. And what's Harper going to do if it isn't her ex-husband?
Miriam refuses to say who broke her arm. Is it that elderly neighbor Mason encounters? Or is something else going on there? And what about Miriam's long-time woman friend, who is certain that Bruce is the abuser. How Harper comes to terms with all these issues is what made this story impossible to put down. Will she ever be able to get past what Bruce did to her? One of the best in this series.
Miriam refuses to say who broke her arm. Is it that elderly neighbor Mason encounters? Or is something else going on there? And what about Miriam's long-time woman friend, who is certain that Bruce is the abuser. How Harper comes to terms with all these issues is what made this story impossible to put down. Will she ever be able to get past what Bruce did to her? One of the best in this series.
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March 1, 2018Miniseries: Where Secrets are Safe
Displaying 1 - 11 of 11 reviews