Nancy Minnis Damato crafts a tale of young Taylor that is highlighted throughout with successes and failures. For one so young to be so innovative and resourceful is a great thing but all too soon something or someone interferes. The friends she makes along the way by her innate caring are wonderful parts of the book. All too often there's a sense of impending doom that follows each success, each love in her life. Her anger at her mother for lies she believed in causes a rift that seems impossible to bridge as is so often the case with teens and their parents. Her life seems to come full circle when she finds herself falling in love with a married man, Count Dominic Bartolamucci.

There are many high points to the book with characters like Mandy, Hieros, Tim Shaugnessey, and Baxter who adore Taylor and her children without conditions. The low points with Taylor and her mother, the count, evil antics of Lily her daughter and finding the Machiavellian source of many of her woes are, at times, heart breaking. There's an overall sense of sadness to the book as if we're walking in Taylor's shoes with her. At times that makes the reading as stressful as the life she's living or as joyful as her successes.

Overall rating:
Sensuality rating: Very sensual

Reviewer: Dee Dailey
September 10, 2009