TEST
For Their Baby engaged my attention throughout the book, but at the end I really doubted that the couple would be together for the long term. And Kitty and David missed one of the most important steps in their relationship, the joy of falling in love.
Working as a barmaid, Kitty Hemmings handles difficult, inebriated patrons with ease most of the time but her world has just come crashing down on her. Her mother informed her that she and Jim Oliphant, her longtime boyfriend and the reason that Kitty left home, plan to marry. So when a sleazy customer makes a comment about wanting a drink with lots and lots of cherries, and then suggests that she probably still has one, Kitty responds with a few cutting verbal remarks. After he charges her, a man intervenes, allowing her to escape. She runs to safety on the small beach, only to cut her shin on a piece of broken glass. Her savior, David Gerard, comes to her aid again and invites her to his cottage so they can clean up the cut and determine if sutures are needed.
David is having his own bad day. Today is the wedding day of the woman he loved. He thought he was okay with it and had even planned to attend the wedding, but at the last minute he is surprised at his feelings of loss causing him to run away with a trip to the Bahamas. Tomorrow he is leaving, but figures nothing is wrong with finding a little solace with another lost soul. When Kitty propositions him, he doesn’t say no. The next morning upon wakening, his first thought is to change his travel arrangements but Kitty has disappeared and supposedly sent a friend to console him.
Eight weeks later, Kitty’s enters David’s life again, with the news that she is pregnant and he is the father. As an attorney, David has learned not to take anything at face value, so he asks Kitty to submit to a type of early DNA testing. Kitty agrees, and as they wait for the test results, she finds work as a weekend bartender in a somewhat seedy part of town and a retail position. When David shows up at her place of business, she realizes that he must have gotten the test results early. And while she feels vindicated, she surprisingly isn’t eager to say, “I told you so.” Still, David asking her to marry him is a shock. Luckily her common sense hasn’t been affected by the change in her hormones, and she turns him down. However, he persuades her to move in with him. Is there a chance for two individuals that at first glance seem least likely to be a match to discover that they have more in common than just pending parenthood?
The characters’ emotional response to their situation is very realistic from shock, disbelief, bewilderment, to determination to provide the best for their child with the exception of David offering marriage to a stranger. Still, I never got over the feeling that this couple never would have gotten together except for the pending birth of their child. While I understand that not all couples are attracted to individuals similar in appearance or background, most are in my experience, so my ability to suspend belief was challenged immediately with the dissimilarity between David’s blonde, blue eyed conventional looks, and Kitty’s green hair and piercing. Even so, explanation of Kitty’s appearance being a shield against the world made me brush off that initial superficial judgment. But after David, upon seeing Kitty for the first time since the Bahamas, calls her by the wrong name, my doubts about them being soul mates re-surfaces.
The book continues to address the concerns of the characters over their relationship and pending parenthood. Interspersed with David and Kitty forging a bond, they must also put closure and bridge past relationships. Ultimately this book is about two lost souls finding their way but little magic about them falling in love. While I hesitate to say it, maybe there is just too much realism. One such example is the emotions the heroine feels when another character announces her pregnancy. I closed the book wishing that there had been a little more humor or joy sprinkled throughout the story. Even the lost puppy story arc is not completely happy.
If you feel that the characters’ trials and tribulations make the happily ever after even sweeter, then you will find plenty to enjoy here. However, if you enjoy some lightness along with earnestness, then this book might not work as well for you.
Grade: C
Book Type: Series Romance
Sensuality: Warm
Review Date: 05/11/11
Publication Date: 2011/10
Related Reviews
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.