A struggling single mom must share a home with the former bad boy who doesn’t know he’s the father of her child.

When Elena Meeker moves to Abbott Farm for the summer, she hopes the fresh air, sunshine, and small-town kindness will help her bullied eight-year-old daughter get happy again. She’s almost desperate enough to tell her high school boyfriend, Stone Smith, that he’s the father of her child.

Then Stone moves into the other side of the bunkhouse, where she and her daughter are living. Turns out Elena’s summer job of helping Pop Abbott start a farm-stay program will require coordinating with Stone, who’s slated to run the organic farm. If they want to help their struggling daughter, they must deal with the feelings that still spark between them… and the differences that tore them apart.

Title:  A Secret Summer Child
Series:  Home to Orchard Springs #3
Author:  Lee Tobin McClain
Published:  July 23, 2025
My Rating:  4.5 stars

A Secret Summer Child is the third title in the Home to Orchard Springs series, this time bringing us a romance that equally broke my heart and enraged me at the actions of so many people within this community surrounding the Abbott farm… even years later.  Stone Smith left his foster home under a cloud, accused of a crime he did not commit.  He’s made a good career for himself, and with his knowledge and expertise in his field, Stone is returning home with a two-fold plan.  To help revitalize his foster father’s farm alongside his foster siblings, and to somehow work his way back into the good graces of the community that turned on him years ago.  It’s going to be an uphill battle.  Yet there is more awaiting Stone back home, a woman he loved with all his heart, who, as a young girl, did not stand for him and tell their truth years ago… a woman with a secret that will once again turn his world upside down.

Elena Meeker has moved to Abbott Farm, along with her eight-year-old daughter, Maddie, to work on her portion of the new renovations at the farm.  She’ll soon be face-to-face with the man she never stopped loving, with a secret that must be told, if she can find the courage.  As Elena and Stone navigate their shared past, the community proves that it has a long memory and cannot willingly believe that Stone wasn’t guilty back then or has changed into an upstanding man in the present… they set out to prove Stone’s innocence, and it will be an uphill battle to find that truth.

A Secret Summer Child by Lee Tobin McClain is a well-written, emotional romance that had me so angry and so hopeful for this couple at the same time.  And, I have to admit, that I was more than a bit disappointed in Pop.  Yeah, I was.  The truth will always eventually come out, and when it does, on both sides, the emotional impact is intense.

I read this title through my Kindle Unlimited subscription.

This title is available at Amazon (affiliate link)