Review: Kinda of decent semi-romance until near the end... spoiler warning
Rating: 3 out of 5
Date: 05 13, 2012
I saw in the description that this is book 3 of a series, but this is the only one I have read and IMO, even books in a series should be able to stand alone.  I also don't know where the "Baby Kisses" come in, but if this synopsis sounds like a dime store novel or a Lifetime Movie, that's because that's how it read.  I enjoyed it, in spite of that, until nearly the end, which is why I could rate it no higher than three stars.This is a sort of unusual romance about a wheelchair-bound man and young girl who becomes his assistant and falls in love with him.  Miles is a very famous writer, has temporarily relocated to Colorado to write his next action novel and needs an assistant to handle his correspondence.  Tooty had a baby at 16 and now has a 4-year old son.  The son's father, a traveling rodeo rider, basically told her to get lost when she told him she was pregnant.  Tooty inherits a nonworking small ranch with a very old house, when a distant relative dies.  In order to help Tooty, Miles suggests that he move in as her tenant and that he repair her home in exchange for her salary.  Although he's in a wheelchair due to an accident, Miles is very independent, does not require any assistance and he is not impotent.  He is very attracted to young Tooty.In spite of this story scraping on one of my pet peeves, which is stupid names for characters (Tooty - were her parents tooting on something when they named her?) I enjoyed most of the story.  There is absolutely no indication that Tooty is just a nickname.  I especially loved when Tooty told off Monica, Miles' nasty, snooty, (ex?) flame in the limo in NYC.  At this point, I thought Tooty was a heroine I could applaud.Near the end of the story, although he has fallen for Tooty, Miles realizes that he must return to his life in New York.  He also believes that at 38 he is too old for a 20 year old and that Tooty needs someone who isn't disabled.  Because he cares so much for Tooty and her son, Miles secretly sets up trust funds for Tooty and her child and pays off her son's father to leave her and her child alone.  Instead of politely declining Miles' generous offer, Tooty becomes angry when he tells her and storms out--when Miles tries to follow her, he falls from his wheelchair.  Tooty begins kissing him and they have unprotected sex.  Because he tells her that they can't be together she doesn't tell him when she of course gets pregnant (you would think that she learned about unprotected sex after the first baby).  When talking to a mutual acquaintance three years later, Miles finds out about Tooty's youngest child and does the math.  He then immediately goes to see Tooty and his secret child.Why I hated this plot line -- for Tooty to treat Miles so shamefully after he had been nothing but kind and honorable to her and her child was disgusting.  Miles made it possible for Tooty to raise her child without interference or a custody battle by his no-good father, made it possible for Tooty to not have to worry about money or sending her child to college, took Tooty and her child to New York City for a week, fixed her house, etc.  She then hides the fact that she had his child from him, and when he comes to talk to her about being a part of his child's life, she blackmails him into marrying her, telling him that she will use the money he gave her to fight him, unless he agrees to her terms.  My thought - "What a ____!"  You can fill in the blank.Although Miles did love her, he was right, she was too young for him and not just because of the chronological age difference, but because she showed a total lack of maturity by her actions.  She acted like a little girl stomping her feet, "Well, if you don't want to marry me, I'll show you -- you'll never know that you have a child!"  I hate when so-called heroines treat the bad guys better than the good ones, and treat good men like sperm donors in order to hide children from their fathers.  The utter selfishness of this act, which deprived Miles of experiencing the first two years of his child's life and her child of his father, made me dislike Tooty.  No one would condone a father hiding a child from his or her mother for over two years, would they?Lastly, the part about her poems being published was ridiculous, they were so awful.  Of course, with all the garbage that's published, maybe it's not so ridiculous...Anyway, that's my take on it.