The Good Daughter

by Jane Porter

Overview

Love was given to all, except herself . . .

Kit Brennan has always been the most grounded of her sisters. A Catholic school English teacher for seventeen years and a constant giver, her decisions have been sound—just not very satisfying. Her fortieth birthday is right around the corner, causing Kit to consider some wilder notions, like skipping right past the love and marriage to raising a child all by herself . . .

A girls’ weekend away is just the reprieve Kit needs from school, Mr. Wrongs, and life-changing decisions. It’s there that she meets a man who’s dangerous; a man who challenges who she thought she was, or rather should be. Kit wants to indulge herself this once, but with one of her students in crisis and the weight of her family’s burdens weighing heavy on her heart, Kit isn’t sure if now is the time to let her own desires take flight . . .

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780425253427
Publisher:	Penguin Publishing Group
Publication date:	02/05/2013
Series:	A Brennan Sisters Novel Series
Pages:	384
Sales rank:	144,633
Product dimensions:	5.40(w) x 8.20(h) x 1.10(d)
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Jane Porter is the award-winning author of The Good Woman, She’s Gone Country, Easy on the Eyes, Flirting with Forty (basis for the Lifetime movie), and several other novels. There are more than 5 million copies of her books in print. 

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Praise for the novels of Jane Porter

“Jane Porter has written her way into this reader’s heart.”—Susan Wiggs

“Porter writes with genuine warmth and quiet grace about the everyday problems all women face.”—Chicago Tribune

“She understands the passion of grown-up love... smart, satisfying.”—Robyn Carr

“[Porter’s] musings on balancing work, life and love ring true.”—Entertainment Weekly

Editorial Reviews

Praise for the novels of Jane Porter

“Jane Porter has written her way into this reader’s heart.”—Susan Wiggs

“Porter writes with genuine warmth and quiet grace about the everyday problems all women face.”—Chicago Tribune

“She understands the passion of grown-up love... smart, satisfying.”—Robyn Carr

“[Porter’s] musings on balancing work, life and love ring true.”—Entertainment Weekly  

 

From the Publisher

The second in Porter's Brennan Sisters trilogy focuses on Kit: single, almost 40 and wondering when it will be her turn to have it all. In the large Brennan clan of San Francisco firefighters, police officers and nurses, Kit, an English teacher at a Catholic school, is the designated good girl. She is the peacemaker, the caretaker and the occasional doormat. Having just ended a long relationship that didn't include marriage, children or passion, Kit is thinking about adopting a child. This news sits poorly with her conservative friends and family, who want her to do it the old-fashioned way. She would too, but the men out there! First, there is Michael Dempsey, handsome and clean-cut, but their first date is disastrous. He is controlling and crude and then lets drop he's actually married. Then there is Jude Knight, a mystery man she met while at her family's Capitola beach house. He has the look of a romance-novel hero (long hair, taut muscles, cheekbones that betray his Native American heritage) but the tattoos and motorcycle of a bad boy, and Kit could never bring him home to her family. A week after their date, Michael Dempsey appears in Kit's class; he has reconciled with his wife, and his stepdaughter Delilah is now enrolled at the school. Although Kit imagines Delilah's life is strained (on their date, Michael confessed to hating his mouthy stepdaughter), she has no idea the extent of the abuse; but Jude Knight does: He's Delilah's next-door neighbor, and he gets a nightly earful of the fights, screams and punches. When Delilah gets in trouble at school, she calls Jude, and he and Kit reconnect. Will Delilah get away from her abusive stepfather? Will Jude win Kit over? Is naming the romantic hero Knight going a bit too far? Our heroine's dangerous romance with the "wrong man" is engaging enough, though Porter's examination of domestic abuse is too lightly handled.

Kirkus Reviews

Porter's second Brennan sisters novel (after The Good Woman) introduces Kit as she focuses on what she wants out of life now that she is no longer with the noncommittal Richard. After waiting to begin a family with Richard, Kit realizes that she is ready and willing to do it on her own without a man or marriage for that matter. This is completely contrary to the way her Irish-Catholic family has raised her and to the way she has always tried to be the "good daughter." Kit knows she needs take more action for the life she wants. Jude, the tattooed, motorcycle driving, long-haired rebel, only seems to challenge Kit's notions and beliefs even more. VERDICT Porter again succeeds with a charming, enthralling, and emotional read that will not disappoint her fans or other readers who enjoy smart women's fiction.—Anne M. Miskewitch, Chicago P.L.

Library Journal