"A loving family just gets bigger."

Dr. Sam Lockwood's life changed in one horrible moment. His wife and parents were killed in a car accident, leaving Sam to raise his two daughters all alone. But Sam and his girls aren't really alone. After using a private detective, Sam finds his birth mother and is determined to get to know her. Because Sam knows that fate is not always kind and he doesn't want his girls to be left without any family.

Molly Calvert is a respectable school teacher in the small town of Bardill's Ridge. Once wild and reckless, Molly settled down with much love and guidance from her adopted parents, Eliza and Patrick Calvert. Family means everything to her and she would do anything to protect them.

Sam Lockwood and his two girls, Tasmin and Nina, arrive at the bed-and-breakfast his maternal mother owns vowing to get a feel for the Calvert family before he makes his big announcement. He doesn't want to shout out to the whole world that he is Eliza Calvert's son. This way if his little family isn't welcome, they can head back home with the girls less the wiser, for they don't need anymore heartbreak than they have already had.

Eliza Calvert is stunned and delighted that her son has found her all these years. She wants everyone to be one big happy family. Expect that Sam and Molly are not feeling that brother/sister bond. Neither wants to hurt Eliza and fight their attraction to each other as much as possible. But sometimes the harder you fight, the closer you become and that is just what happens to Sam and Molly.

As a small town, close knit family the Calvert clan is always an enjoyable family to read about. Getting to catch up with past characters while you follow the progress of the current couple always makes the Calvert Cousins series an exceptional read. Love, laughter and family makes THE PRODIGAL COUSIN another favorite of mine from Ms. Adams.

Reviewed by Beatrice Sigman
Posted April 24, 2004

Come on down to the Smoky Mountains of Tennessee. Here you'll meet the Calverts, a family that's been living and loving in Bardill's Ridge for over a hundred years. A few Calverts have left, but somehow they always seem to come home...

Summary

Sam Lockwood is a single father who wants his children to know about family. For that reason he begins to search for the mother who gave him up at birth. He finds her, and is surprised to learn that she now has another child—one she chose through adoption.

Her daughter is Molly Calvert. Once known as the wild Calvert, Molly has settled down to become a respected teacher at the little elementary school in Bardill's Ridge.

Years ago, she put her family through too much, and she's not prepared to hurt them ever again. Which is why she has to ignore the feelings she's beginning to have for Sam—her mother's long-lost son.