Daddy Warlock by Jacqueline Diamond, Harlequin American Romance #687

Tara Blayne has been a single mom for the past six years. Her son, Harry, the result of one night of passion that Tara barely remembers for more than just a dream. Obviously, it was more than a dream, though, or there would be no Harry.

Chance Powers has fought off the urge for the past seven years to find his "lady" as he calls her. His fighting quickly stopped when while watching the news he sees her and her son, and realizes that her son is his son. Harry is no ordinary child, he is a magician as is his father.

Down on her luck after losing her job due to lay offs, Chance spots his way into Tara's life, and Harry's. Offering her a job as his personal assistant, a place to live at his home included with that job, his goal is to train Harry and easing Tara into believing in magic before revealing to her who he is.

Chance's not so nice father is thrown into the mix as the protagonist. He has some magical powers, but not others that Chance (and Harry) posseses. And he wants use of those powers for business dealings. Something Chance has refused to do in his success as a businessman, use his abilities to profit.

Tara and Chance interact well with one another. There's enough tension between the two of them assisted by the storyline in general to make you turn the pages. I never felt that I identified with either character, however. They were written well, but I thought lacked some depth. This was true more of Tara than of Chance. It was implied that perhaps Tara had some magical abilities as well, though this was never really explored beyond with Chance.

Daddy Warlock was a sweet read. The ending wasn't overly predictable. I liked the characters, just wish I'd had a bit more knowledge about them. Perhaps an epilogue moving us a bit in the future to tell us how things were for everyone might have been nice. As a parent myself, I would be curious to how Harry reacted to suddenly having a father in his life after the newness of having a dad wore off.

©Susan Matthews and phantomroses.com