December 2007
ISBN 978-0373714599
Contemporary series romance
Mass market paperback
Reviewed by Ratmammy
In Roz Denny Fox's latest superromance, Detective Julian Cavenaugh is told that there may be a kidnapped child living with a family down the street. Julian's father has been a mail carrier for decades, and has been diligent in paying attention to the "missing children" cards that he hands out with the mail. In the past, he had erroneously pointed out a family who he thought had kidnapped a child, and because of his error he ruined the life of an innocent man, as well as nearly cost him his career with the post office. Now, Julian's father feels he's not wrong this time, and is insisting that his detective son help him out.
Julian's father feigns a medical problem so Julian can do the mail route for a few days. He sees the suspected kidnapper, who appears to be the father of the young girl suspected to be missing. In order to get more information, Julian flies to Alaska where the missing girl's mother had been living at the time of the kidnapping. Garnet is eager to have Julian help her out, and while it could be another false lead, she feels that this could be her opportunity to find her missing daughter. Julian does some snooping, and learns a lot about the missing child case. He wonders who dropped the ball, because there had been several recent leads, including someone at the school claiming that Garnet's ex-husband had tried to contact Garnet, but this statement was never followed up by the authorities.
Julian has a blurry photo of little Sophie that he took of the girl before he left for Alaska, but what he really wants is to bring Garnet back to his home town in Georgia, so she can personally identify the man and the little girl. In the meantime, Julian is falling for Garnet, and the feelings are mutual. Garnet puts her faith in Julian, wanting to believe, KNOWING that this girl is her missing daughter Sophie. And Julian is nervous because he is afraid he's going to break Garnet's heart if the girl isn't her missing daughter.
In LOOKING FOR SOPHIE, Roz Denny Fox has created yet again likable characters in Julian Cavenaugh and Garnet Patton, but what helps this story along are the supporting characters, including Julian's parents and Sophie's new family, as well as Sophie herself. The reader will come to know all the supporting characters and their relationship to either Julian or Garnet, giving the story a much more credible feel to it, because the characters feel real. Fox explains in her prologue that a typical missing child case does not always have a happy ending, and emphasizes that this book is a romance, which by definition does have a happy ending. With that said, she's taken the liberty to write this romance with her readers in mind, but to also remind us that a missing child's case is rarely easily solved.
The reader will be drawn into the missing child case, especially after getting to know little Sophie, a girl who is caught in the middle of a custody battle, a girl whose two parents love her and do not wish her harm. However, the reader will still note that Garnet's situation is not one out of a romance novel, that what happened to her and her daughter comes from the headlines of today's papers. Garnet's anguish and guilt over her kidnapped daughter taunts her, and she puts all her faith in Julian. She has just met the man, someone who as helping her only because his family was lucky to be living in the same neighborhood as the missing child, and that his father thought he recognized a resemblance.
Readers will enjoy the mystery of the kidnapper, and the steps it took to figure out whether Garnet's ex-husband was indeed the same man that was now living with her daughter. It's a combination romance/ police procedural, which was a nice change of pace. LOOKING FOR SOPHIE is recommended.
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