Father Fever, Father Formula, and Father Found by Muriel Jensen, Harlequin American Romance #850, 858, 866, Who's the Daddy? II (November 2000, January 2001, March 2001), Rating: C

Triplets grow suspicious of an unknown man who inherits their aunt Sadie's house upon her death, particularly when he doesn't even make it to the reading of the will. Determined to find out if he had somehow taken advantage of their aunt, the three identical sisters attend a masquerade ball for the Dancer's Beach Historical Society. The location of the ball? Their late aunt's house, of course. By the end of the night, Alexis and Augusta are convinced the two men they talked with had done nothing wrong. Athena, however, was not convinced but admitted it didn't seem likely. David Hartford, Trevyn, McGinty and Bram Bishop seemed to have done nothing unsavory. Seven+ months later one of the triplets is on the news, being pulled out of a river with no memory and obviously pregnant. Ex-CIA operatives David, Trevyn and Bishop try to figure it out if the woman in the picture is their girl from the masquerade ball.

In Father Fever we meet the first of the triplets, Athena Ames, who also happens to be the oldest by minutes. A successful, tight laced attorney in Washington D.C. she doesn't know the meaning of the word relax until she meets David Hartford. David, mistakenly believes the woman on the news is his Regency girl from the costume party. Under the influence of antihistamines and champagne, the night is a bit of a blur to him, but waking up with a portion of the woman's slip in his hand seems to be evidence enough to him they did more than talk. He and Athena meet up at the hospital, both intent on helping - though David isn't sure how he can help when he doesn't even know her name. She does not bother to correct the assumption they're twins and when he discovers David was her Musketeer at the party she keeps that to herself. She believes David would stop helping her look if he no longer believes the baby is his. Athena narrows it down to Augusta, based on Alexis' being in Europe for her art career. Unable to get a hold of either of them, though, she's not entirely sure. Amidst the search for Augusta, David gains custody of his two half-brothers (Brandon 12 and Brady 10) thanks to Athena's legal savvy. David eventually figures out that Athena was his Regency girl and while hurt by her lie - or lack of proper information giving - comes around to understanding the wy she thought. Just about settled into a loving life, Alexis shows up shaking things up again. She's obviously not pregnant so Athena is left to explain there are three not two. Alexis agrees to stay with the house, the boys, and their mutt of a dog while David and Athena fly out east. David has a agent interested in a book he's written, based on his CIA days and Athena needs to close down her office to make the permanent move to Dancer's Beach. Unexpectedly, Trevyn comes home in the middle of the night, surprising everyone and setting up the next book.

In Father Formula Trevyn believes Augusta is his flapper girl and it is quite sometime and a slip of the tongue that makes him realize it was Alexis and not Augusta, leaving them free to no longer fight their attraction to one another. While David and Athena have been gone, Trevyn has helped Alexis with the boys. She, in turn, is painting a mural for the photography studio in town he's opening. The story of Olivia comes into play again as Alexis sets out to paint a mural depicting the 4 sisters and 3 brothers of the legend. Alexis came to Dancer's Beach after seeing the news reel of her missing sister, surprised to find Athena and David married. She lives in Rome and is miffed that she has "lost her art". The stress of the situation - Trevyn, the boys, hoping to find her sister - all seem to give her the creative outlet she needed and she's excited at the prospect of creating the mural. In the meantime, she also got Trevyn his first photography sitting when they met up with Peg and Charle McKeon who want a family session done. She encourages Trevyn to contact his father who hasn't been around since college when his mother died. His father happens to be a pleasant and likeable man, who buys his son quite a gift while visiting. He's anxious to come back, the prospect of grandchild encouraging him to bring his Harley across the US trip to a close. Trevyn and Alexis have their personal demons to battle before they can love one another. Trevyn believes his CIA days, and the loss of someone he loved, make him too dark of a person to love. Alexis always felt like she was the triplet their mother could have liked if the other two weren't around. We learn that David's book has been picked up and a second one to boot.

In Father Found we meet the third of the triplets and the ex-CIA agents, Augusta and Bram. Augusta works as a school teacher normally. Bram works as a private detective. It is a case he was working on that led him to take Augusta from the hospital, lead her to believe they were married. He did not want the man who had run her off the bridge into the river to find her and finish the job. Over the course of the book she regains memories, a few of which threaten her relationship with Bram. They got together after the masquerade ball, Bram finding her based on the limited information she divulged to him at the ball dressed as a Southern belle. This offering was a bit more suspenseful than the other two, because while you knew Bram was withholding information from her (nervously) you don't know what. Is he really her husband? Is it really his baby? Is he, for that matter, really Bram? Why does he believe she might have complications in her labor and delivery? All is satisfactorily resolved, and we get a baby girl, Sadie, out of the deal. And we even get an unexpected visitor that's quite surprising, but nice to see.

All were cute stories, Athena's deception in Father Fever was easier to stomach than in the first Who's the Daddy? series. It wasn't so blatant. The same with Augusta and Bram's in Father Found. It was nice to see Peg and Charlie McKeon again. I liked all of the characters in these books. I felt compassion for David's half-brothers and was glad to know they had a chance now to have a good life. I rate all three books a C.

©Susan Falk and phantomroses.com