TEST
Parts of Trish Wylie’s Mother-To-Be were almost good, and parts were almost bad. In the end this book averages out to the most average of reading experiences.
Years ago Eamonn Murphy left his home in a small Irish village order to pursue independence and success. He left behind his father, the family horse stud, and young Colleen McKenna, who had spent many of her fifteen years trailing after Eamonn with stars in her eyes. Now Eamonn has returned to his family’s horses soon after his father’s death to work out the finances and prepare to sell his share of the stud. What he finds is a very pregnant Colleen attempting to hold together a business that is teetering over into ruin.
With fences falling down and weeds choking the pastures, Colleen is overworked and defensive, still smarting from the abandonment of her lover. Eamonn, filled with guilt over his strained relationship with his father and a new sense of protectiveness for Colleen, decides to spend more time at Inisfree Stud working things out. He wants to sell his share of the stud to Colleen, who owns the rest of Inisfree, but cannot do so until she is in a position to buy it.
The first three quarters of the book move very slowly. Eamonn insists on doing what he can to renovate the stud and take care of Colleen. Colleen resents his attitude and remains defensive in order to protect her heart. They both fight their mutual attraction as it slowly comes out just what happened to Inisfree Stud in the months leading up to Eamonn’s father’s death.
The birth of Colleen’s child speeds up the story and brings with it the best and worst aspects of the book. The scene during which Eamonn first holds the baby is very sweet and speaks to the best parts of Eamonn’s character: He is a genuinely nice guy who wants to do the right thing even if he is hampered by more than his fair share of cluelessness. However, the birth is also an excuse for Colleen to ramp up all of her anger and defensiveness in a series of misunderstandings that destroyed all my positive feelings for the book. Towards the end of the story, Eamonn thinks to himself, “She was so quick to doubt him, in such a hurry to think the worst of him. What was he doing, chasing after a woman so damned stubborn that she wouldn’t take the time to talk to him and set things straight?” It is a good question, and one that was never answered to my satisfaction.
The majority of Mother-To-Be was too slow to garner much of an emotional response from me. The quirks and kindnesses of the hero were a draw, but the abrasiveness of Colleen went beyond what I could handle, even from a woman in her situation. By the end of the book I honestly did not care one way or the other if Colleen and Eamonn managed to get over their many hang-ups.
Grade: C-
Book Type: Series Romance
Sensuality: Kisses
Review Date: 24/04/07
Publication Date: 2007/04
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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.