A Marriage to Fight for

by Raina Lynn

A Marriage To Fight For by Raina Lynn released on Jun 24, 1997 is available now for purchase.

• Format: Mass Market Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0373078048
• ISBN13: 9780373078042
• Release Date: July 1997
• Publisher: Harlequin Books
• Length: 251 Pages
• Weight: 0.29 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.8" x 4.2" x 6.6"

Customer Reviews

really good

I wish I could give fractional stars...This is a four and a half, if not a four and three quarters. This book is among the best in the genre.

What a surprise!

Raina Lynn's debut novel was just released in the UK this month although I see from the copyright date that it must have come out in the USA in 1997/8. I bought it, purely on a whim, yesterday during my lunch hour without even opening the book or doing more than glancing at the blurb on the back. Not my usual style as I like to read about books and look carefully at reader reviews most of the time. Wow! Wow! Wow!I could not put this book down and feel quite overwhelmed by it. This is category romance (so often unfairly derided) at its very best.Briefly, the story concerns the relationships in a family where personalities are strong, tempers sometimes short, emotions deep but love is steadfast. The daily hurdles of life are truly brought out for this family to overcome. Maggie was a product of the foster care system who met the boy next door, Garrett Hughes, when she was 16. They fell deeply in love, married when Garrett graduated from the police academy and had a much loved son, Rick. However, Garrett was a fully committed cop who transferred to the DEA and got involved in an undercover case which dragged on for years. It signaled the end of their marriage. Maggie could not take being married to a cop who had previously suffered several injuries on the job and, like many who have been hurt in their formative years, she pushed him away before he could "leave" her, eg by being killed on the job. Rick, like all kids in this sort of situation, was caught in the middle and deeply hurt and confused.After the undercover job ended, Garrett decided to get his family back and so flew out to San Francisco to begin an attempt at reconciliation. However, fate intervened and the first of the hurdles this family faces arises in the form of a tragic Lockerbie type incident. Badly hurt, Garrett suffers from multiple injuries and winds up in a coma, nearly dead following three resucitations after coronaries on the table and in ICU. Maggie, a physiotherapist and health professional herself, takes up a bedside vigil. Whilst in the coma, Garrett nonetheless is able to hear what is happening around him and even seems to read Maggie's thoughts as she pours out her love, grief and frustrations to the ex-husband she thinks is unconscious. The opening few chapters in this book are really excellent in portraying the surroundings of an ICU and in describing Garrett's near death experiences in a fully believeable way.Unfortunately, the first hurdle is now in place - Garrett has fractured his spine and will be a paraplegic. A long period of rehab and readjustment is started. Ms Lynn describes very accurately not just the physical rehab required but also gives us an intimate and honest portrayal of the grief, shock, mourning, disbelief, anger, feelings of inadequacy and the highs and lows of a man and his family coming to terms with a life turned completely upside down. Excellent, simply excellent how she lets us into the private thoughts and the angry interaction between thes