What do you think?
Rate this book
Who Do You Love?
Two Hearts by Maggie Shayne Good fortune smiled on lawman Jack McCain when he wooed and wed beautiful heiress Grace Phelps. But both had secrets yet to be revealed, secrets that could change their marriage-for better or for worse. A Little Bit Dangerous by Marilyn Pappano When undercover agent Chance Reynard walked away from Mary Katherine Monroe, he left her with nothing but a broken heart. But when they reunited, neither one was prepared for the feelings that still existed-or for the truth lurking beneath the surface.
- GenresRomanceAnthologies
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published September 22, 2000
3 people are currently reading
168 people want to read
About the author
Maggie Shayne
289 books2,561 followersI live in the teeny, tiny town of Taylor, NY, (Alliteration Alert!) though my mailing address is Cincinnatus, my telephone exchange is Truxton and I pay taxes and vote in Cuyler. All of these are at least in the same rural county in the southern hills of New York State; Cortland County. There are more cattle than people here. The nearest “big” cities are Syracuse and Binghamton and they are an hour away, in different directions, and not really all that big by most standards, though they both seem humongous to me. I look out my window to see rolling, green, thickly forested hills, wildflower laden meadows and wide open blue, blue skies. My road is barely paved. The nearest neighboring place is a 700 acre dairy farm.
My house is a big, century old farmhouse. I moved in here after my divorce in 2006. Just a little over a year later, the house, which I had named, SERENITY, burned. It was 99% gutted, and I lost my two dogs, Sally, an 11-year-old great Dane, and Wrinkles, my 14-year-old, blind bulldog. This was the culmination of my Dark Night of the soul, which had seemed to hit me all at once in 2006-2007. My mother died that year, after a 14 month battle with pancreatic cancer. She was only 60. The youngest of my five daughters had left home that same year, and while that’s not a tragedy at all, it felt like one to me. Then came the divorce. And finally there was the fire--it seemed my darkest night wasn’t quite finished with me after all. I had lost almost everything before that point, and as I poked through the wet ashes and soot the next day, I realized that I had now been stripped all the way to the bone.
No better time to start over. (And no, I didn’t come to that realization that day--there were a few days of wallowing in pity first, particularly the day after the fire, when I hit a deer and smashed up my car, which I was practically living in!)
That’s when I started to laugh. Just sat on the side of the road as the deer bounded, uninjured and carefree, out of sight, and laughed. It was just too ridiculous at that point, to do anything else!
And from there, I picked myself up, and brushed myself off, and said, okay, there’s only one way to go from here. Forward. And that’s what I did. There I was at the age of harrurmphemmph, living in my one, mostly undamaged remaining room, with a dorm-sized mini-fridge, a futon, a TV, my cat (nine lives!) and a laptop. And not much else. (Though thank goodness the room that survived the fire, was a room that had its own attached bathroom!)
Since then I have rebuilt my beloved home, which really has become my haven, my “Serenity.” I share it now with my fiancé, Lance, and we have accumulated quite the little family together. “Little” being a relative term. We have a pair of English Mastiffs, Dozer and Daisy, who weigh 203 pounds and 208 pounds respectively, and a little pudgy English Bulldog named Niblet, who is bigger than both of them, inside her mind. We also have the aforementioned cat, Glorificus (“Glory” for short,) who adores her canine pups and keeps them firmly in line. And we've acquired a pair of stray cats as well, a mother and son, Luna (Lulu for short) and Butters aka Buddy. Lulu showed up pregnant during a lunar eclipse, had a litter, and vanished again. We found homes for all the kittens except one. Butters. We got him fixed and kept him. A few months later, Lulu returned, again expecting. This litter was born on the "Monster Moon." Again, all the kittens were spayed and neutered and placed in homes, and this time we got Lulu to the vet in time to spay her before the cycle could repeat.
Glory is not amused.
She has a story of her own, my old Glory cat, having been with me before the Dark Times descended, she went through it all with me, moved with me, survived the fire, and remains with me still. She's tolerating the newcomers. Barely.
My partner is an artist, a mechanic, a welder and an inventor, and the rumors are true, he is much younger than I
My house is a big, century old farmhouse. I moved in here after my divorce in 2006. Just a little over a year later, the house, which I had named, SERENITY, burned. It was 99% gutted, and I lost my two dogs, Sally, an 11-year-old great Dane, and Wrinkles, my 14-year-old, blind bulldog. This was the culmination of my Dark Night of the soul, which had seemed to hit me all at once in 2006-2007. My mother died that year, after a 14 month battle with pancreatic cancer. She was only 60. The youngest of my five daughters had left home that same year, and while that’s not a tragedy at all, it felt like one to me. Then came the divorce. And finally there was the fire--it seemed my darkest night wasn’t quite finished with me after all. I had lost almost everything before that point, and as I poked through the wet ashes and soot the next day, I realized that I had now been stripped all the way to the bone.
No better time to start over. (And no, I didn’t come to that realization that day--there were a few days of wallowing in pity first, particularly the day after the fire, when I hit a deer and smashed up my car, which I was practically living in!)
That’s when I started to laugh. Just sat on the side of the road as the deer bounded, uninjured and carefree, out of sight, and laughed. It was just too ridiculous at that point, to do anything else!
And from there, I picked myself up, and brushed myself off, and said, okay, there’s only one way to go from here. Forward. And that’s what I did. There I was at the age of harrurmphemmph, living in my one, mostly undamaged remaining room, with a dorm-sized mini-fridge, a futon, a TV, my cat (nine lives!) and a laptop. And not much else. (Though thank goodness the room that survived the fire, was a room that had its own attached bathroom!)
Since then I have rebuilt my beloved home, which really has become my haven, my “Serenity.” I share it now with my fiancé, Lance, and we have accumulated quite the little family together. “Little” being a relative term. We have a pair of English Mastiffs, Dozer and Daisy, who weigh 203 pounds and 208 pounds respectively, and a little pudgy English Bulldog named Niblet, who is bigger than both of them, inside her mind. We also have the aforementioned cat, Glorificus (“Glory” for short,) who adores her canine pups and keeps them firmly in line. And we've acquired a pair of stray cats as well, a mother and son, Luna (Lulu for short) and Butters aka Buddy. Lulu showed up pregnant during a lunar eclipse, had a litter, and vanished again. We found homes for all the kittens except one. Butters. We got him fixed and kept him. A few months later, Lulu returned, again expecting. This litter was born on the "Monster Moon." Again, all the kittens were spayed and neutered and placed in homes, and this time we got Lulu to the vet in time to spay her before the cycle could repeat.
Glory is not amused.
She has a story of her own, my old Glory cat, having been with me before the Dark Times descended, she went through it all with me, moved with me, survived the fire, and remains with me still. She's tolerating the newcomers. Barely.
My partner is an artist, a mechanic, a welder and an inventor, and the rumors are true, he is much younger than I
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
December 8, 2018
Two stars for this particular commentary on the H's lovemaking skills:
"We make love, Jack, and I'm not even sure there's enough feeling involved to call it that. You've been doling it out with an eye-dropper, and so damn gently I barely know I've been touched when we finish. That's not sex. I don't know what the hell it is, but it's not sex."
DAMN. OH NO SHE DIDN'T. The worst part about it is she isn't being mean, she's being honest and matter-of-fact.
Otherwise, a fairly mediocre novella, but OUCH. Doling it out with an eye-dropper?
"We make love, Jack, and I'm not even sure there's enough feeling involved to call it that. You've been doling it out with an eye-dropper, and so damn gently I barely know I've been touched when we finish. That's not sex. I don't know what the hell it is, but it's not sex."
DAMN. OH NO SHE DIDN'T. The worst part about it is she isn't being mean, she's being honest and matter-of-fact.
Otherwise, a fairly mediocre novella, but OUCH. Doling it out with an eye-dropper?
Read
August 17, 2019Read "A Little Bit Dangerous" by Marilyn Pappano; "Two Hearts" by Maggie Shayne
October 24, 2008
I only read Maggie Shayne’s “Two Hearts” from this two author anthology. It had a great premise. A couple falls in love- and each kept their true identity secret and after a month, get married. And for two weeks after their vows they are miserable. They are each trying to keep their “true self” a secret because they don’t think that the other will love them if they find out the truth. The truth, that she’s a millionaire socialite who is hiding that she’s a basketball playing, kickboxing champion hard-ass. And that he’s an “expert security consultant,” but really just a cop. So, how did they meet up? Well, he saved her father’s life of course! While this is all pretty predictable. It is a cute, sweet, short story. But sometimes you just want to hit the hero and heroine upside their head for being so dumb!
January 26, 2023
I actually did not finish this book. I came very close (pg. 228) but I did not want to continue the self torture. However, I did read "Two Hearts" by Maggie Shayne and have rated according to that story.
January 9, 2015
I really enjoyed the suspense of these two novellas by two different authors. They had me on the edge with waiting for the outcome. I love a book with secrets and twists and it had both.
January 3, 2015
One story drags out and then bam epligoue where the other has a nice build up and ending. Good stories
Read
December 31, 2017Two couples forced to face the truth...or risk losing each other forever...
"Two Hearts" by Maggie Shayne
Good fortune smiled on lawman Jack McCain when he wooed and wed beautiful heiress Grace Phelps. But both had secrets yet to be revealed, secrets that could change their marriage - for better or for worse.
"A Little Bit Dangerous" by Marilyn Pappano
When undercover agent Chance Reynard walked away from Mary Katherine Monroe, he left her with nothing but a broken heart. But when they reunited, neither one was prepared for the feelings that still existed - or for the truth lurking beneath the surface.
"Two Hearts" by Maggie Shayne
Good fortune smiled on lawman Jack McCain when he wooed and wed beautiful heiress Grace Phelps. But both had secrets yet to be revealed, secrets that could change their marriage - for better or for worse.
"A Little Bit Dangerous" by Marilyn Pappano
When undercover agent Chance Reynard walked away from Mary Katherine Monroe, he left her with nothing but a broken heart. But when they reunited, neither one was prepared for the feelings that still existed - or for the truth lurking beneath the surface.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews