Review: Loved it!
Rating: 5 out of 5
Date: 12 10, 2012
The plot of Shameless almost exactly mirrors another very popular book I just finished - The Proposition by Katie Ashley. A woman desperately wants a baby because her biological call is tick, tick, ticking like a time bomb. She doesn't want or do relationships and after several failed invitro attempts, she decides to try baby making the old fashioned way. She just needs to find a willing victim...errr sperm donor.If you liked The Proposition then you will love Shameless namely because the story is great and as an added bonus it's a complete story in one book (no having to wait for book 2). I really loved the back story between Sammy Jo and Johnny and how it influenced and shaped the adults they had become. Also the sub-plot with the at risk youth will break your heart.It's hate at first sight for Samantha Rossi when John Everest backs her into a corner, forcing her to accept his invitation to go on a date when he chooses her at a big charity gala even though she's only there covering the event for the newspaper where she works. But this isn't the first time Sam and John have crossed paths....John Everest is an extremely successful businessman, gives back to the community and runs a program for at risk youth at one of the gym's he owns...but that wasn't always the case.  Although John escaped his past and made a name for himself, he's never been able to forget the night 20 years ago that changed his life forever. A night when rash actions as a teenager cost so many lives to be lost and for one fleeting moment brought Sammy Jo into his life. He's been letting that night define and determine his destiny ever since.When John discovers Sam's plan to have a baby sans a "participating father" he reluctantly agrees to be her donor for reasons of his own. But he only agrees if they conceive the old fashioned way. No sterile room, plastic cup or porno magazine required for him to make a deposit.With her prospects slim, Sam agrees to John's stipulations still clueless about the past they share. You just know that's gonna blow up in someone's face at the exact wrong moment. What would Sam do if/when she found out who John really was? I for one was highly anticipating that moment.Although Sam and John both agree to enter this partnership with a no strings attached attitude, it doesn`t take long before deeper feelings develop under such intimate circumstances. Trying to keep things impersonal isn't working out too well and it definitely starts causing a riff within their relationship.I loved Shameless. The love and depth of the story really pulled me in. Sam and John were both strong characters and the secondary characters including one particular youth from the rec center whose home life is particularly sad will break your heart.