While Corrie Maitland is planning her upcoming wedding to her boyfriend (John) her kind parents (Anne and David) tell her that they are not her real biological parents. So Corrie decides to find her biological mother, whose name, she is told, is Zelah Cunningham. (Zelah abandoned Corrie after she was born. Zelah was the sister of Anne's best friend and Anne and David have raised Corrie as their own ever since, but Anne and David never legally adopted Corrie in case Zelah ever came back for Corrie, which she never did). Zelah's last known address was in Ireland. Corrie leaves England on her own and sets off for County Wicklow, Ireland, leaving poor John behind, telling him that this is something she must do.

Once Corrie reaches Ireland she has some bad (lecherous) encounters with some of the local lads who think she's easy because of her platinum blonde hair. Hero Damon Courtney ends up rescuing her from a few of these encounters. He also thinks she's easy and can't keep away from the men. Her car ends up being stolen (because she foolishly left the keys in the car, with all of her belongings, money, clothes, etc.) when she went off with one of these men. Damon reluctantly invites Corrie to stay at his home until she can return to England (he offered to fly her back home) and Corrie agrees since she's having no luck finding her biological mother. Corrie doesn't want to accept his offer since she finds him insulting and rude but she has no other choice. Damon's home is surprisingly run-down and looks decayed. Corrie is told it is being restored. The next day she meets Damon's father, Charles, who is also living there. Charles seems stunned and surprised when he first sees Corrie. Charles offers Corrie a job as a secretary to help him out with a book he is writing about the house's history (Damon and Charles have inherited the house). Corrie eventually finds out from Damon that Charles was married to her biological mother Zelah (who Corrie bears a striking resemblance to), and that Zelah was Damon's step-mother. Zelah has left Charles and has been gone for many months and may never come back. Damon apparently hates Zelah and thinks of her as a tramp. He says Zelah likes men and even came on to him (Damon) while married to his father. And he thinks Corrie is just like Zelah. Tensions escalate when Damon thinks Corrie is interested in his father romantically.

I didn't really care for the heroine Corrie. Maybe I'm being picky but she just rubbed me the wrong way. She seemed all nice and sweet, but I found it strange that in the space of a day, in a country she has never been in before, she decides to stay at this run-down house in Ireland and become Charles's secretary (who she just met, and before she even knew Charles was Zelah's husband) when she originally set out for Ireland to just look for her biological mother and go home. She already had an office job in England (which she suddenly gives up and makes Anne at home tell her boss that she isn't coming back to work.) And I found some of Corrie's actions uncaring, especially to her boyfriend John and Anne, who was worried for her when she went off to Ireland. I think Corrie should have talked to Anne more and assured her that she still cared for her (after all, Anne and David raised Corrie and looked after her and cared for her since she was a child) but Corrie was too hellbent to find her "real" mother Zelah (who obviously could care less about her) and made Anne feel like a discarded shoe. At the end of the book Corrie tells her boyfriend John, who comes looking for her in Ireland, to tell Anne that she's staying for good in Ireland. Was it so hard for Corrie to call Anne and tell her herself?

Damon was bossy and rude but his boorish actions went over my head since I didn't even care anymore. But at least he livened the book up a bit. He thinks Corrie is making a play for his father. He's jealous. He calls her a slut. This book had a lot of arguing. And Corrie never did hear from or meet her biological mother Zelah!

A disappointing read by Margaret Mayo. I usually enjoy her books. ( )