TEST
Jennifer Greene is usually an author that a reader can pick up for a good comfort read. This is not the case with Baby In His In-Box. It was not a comfortable book to read, but darn, was it good.
I liked the heroine. Molly is honest, efficient, confident, and courageous. I liked the hero. Flynn is a live for the moment, funny, jump in with both feet kind of guy.
Molly is the new accountant for Flynn’s computer firm. After having worked together for a couple of months, they are thinking about following through with their mutual attraction, when Flynn is surprised with the arrival of his one year old son by a woman he had a fling with a year ago who doesn’t want to be a mother anymore. Now, baby stories can be difficult, because the baby can either be totally ignored (what are nannies or grandparents for, after all?) or can take over the story. In this case, the baby is done perfectly. Dylan is an adorable tyke who is always into mischief like most one year olds. In this story, his presence is a work of art. With a phrase interjected here and there, I got the impression that he was busy moving around without too much of the book focusing on him.
The arrival of Dylan causes Molly to reconsider a relationship with Flynn, as he is proof that Flynn is a man who is not responsible. As Flynn gradually becomes a capable father and decides to fight to keep Dylan, Molly sees in him a man who may have been irresponsible in the past, but who now is the kind of man who jumps into responsibility with both feet, and with joy. This is where Molly impressed me. Flynn is not the marrying kind of guy, for a pretty good reason (having nothing to do with the baby), and even though she knew she could get hurt, she put her heart out on her sleeve, and went for it. This “heart on the sleeve” thing can be difficult as well, but Greene does a wonderful job of making sure Molly doesn’t become some sort of weak-willed grasping masochist. Instead, she is a confident woman who risks the hurt for the opportunity. Flynn is also opening himself up for heartache by allowing himself to love both Molly and Dylan.There were plenty of opportunities for them to hurt each other, and not knowing whether they would or not left me on edge. The fact that I didn’t mind is one more example of how well this book was written, being as much a fan of comfort reads as I am.
The sexual tension is. . .well, although there is no real intimacy until near the end, it was definitely worth the wait. This author certainly knows how to write a love scene, and how to work up to it.
There is a lot of humor in this book as well, not all related to the baby. There is a lot of banter between Molly and Flynn, all of it wonderful.
The one problem that I had with this book is that Molly and Flynn were less well-rounded than they could have been. They don’t have any friends (except a few coworkers), and any family reference is ambiguous except for the few pages involving Flynn’s family. It was almost as if they were dropped to Earth as fully educated employed adults.
Jennifer Greene’s last few releases were a tiny bit disappointing. With this book, I can say that she’s back, and it was worth the wait.
Grade: B
Book Type: Series Romance
Sensuality: Hot
Review Date: 15/03/98
Publication Date: 1998/02
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Recent Comments …
Yep
This sounds delightful! I’m grabbing it, thanks
excellent book: interesting, funny dialogs, deep understanding of each character, interesting secondary characters, and also sexy.
I don’t think anyone expects you to post UK prices – it’s just a shame that such a great sale…
I’m sorry about that. We don’t have any way to post British prices as an American based site.
I have several of her books on my TBR and after reading this am moving them up the pile.