Silhouette Special Edition, £3.10, ISBN 0-373-24713-3
Contemporary Romance, 2006
It’s either She’s Having a Baby or she’s put on a lot of weight, no?
This one is part of a series called The Cameo, in which an apparently magical locket helps our heroines find their true loves. This one is the story of MacKenzie Ryan, an assistant producer who finds herself single and pregnant after the end of her most recent relationship. This one is published in 2005 (2006 in the UK), a time when condoms have yet to be invented in romance novel land – that or any heroine who mentions even the word is tarred as a harlot slut and is run out of town by a mob of enraged readers – so don’t look at the poor heroine that way. Romance heroines, after all, are not exactly a visionary breed. However, true love is waiting in the wings for MacKenzie in the form of her new neighbor, Dr Quade Preston. He’s a scientist who vows never to love again after the passing of his wife, so that makes him perfect for MacKenzie who has vowed never to fall in love again. Someone send out the wedding invitation cards already.
She’s Having a Baby is a simple story of two people falling in love despite their best attempts to fight the inevitable, and I must say that Ms Ferrarella has given me a most enjoyable story here. The characters are sensible, smart, and despite often behaving in predictable ways as befit their admittedly stereotypical roles, generate enough chemistry to convince me that they are in for the long haul. These two talk, love, bond, and don’t do anything stupid to annoy me. In fact, Quade is so adorable when he’s desperately and dramatically in love in the last few pages. I love a man who sweats so beautifully like he does in those pages.
I admit that I had no idea what to expect when I picked this book up at the hospital bookstore. I bought this one because I was charmed by the domestic scene on the cover. How wonderful, therefore, that the story actually proves to be a delightful kind of serendipity.
