Review: Sweet and Hot All Rolled Into One
Rating: 4 out of 5
Date: 03 27, 2013
The Baby Bargain has a little bit of everything. Second chance love story? Check. Secret baby plotline? Most definitely. Hot alpha ex-marine turned security expert that wants the love of a good woman but fears he has nothing to offer her? You bet. Suspense revolving around the theft of a famous show dog? Ummmmm, well, yes.Megan and Adam had a relationship in college but Adam, bound for life in the Marines, broke it off after graduation because he wanted no part of a long term commitment and family life. Megan was heartbroken but picked herself up and moved on. A couple of years later Adam's home and dealing with the sudden death of his parents. Megan's still in love with him and decides to help him through his difficult time. And by helping I mean they hook up one last time. Adam makes it very clear to Megan that it's indeed the last time. He's never coming back to Raven's Cove, he wants nothing to do with a relationship and he never wants to have kids. I'll repeat...he most emphatically never wants to spawn any offspring! He makes this more than apparent to Megan and hits the ground running.Three years later, Megan's a veterinarian with a secret and Adam's come back on business and to sell his parents home. She's surprised when he walks into her office with an injured dog. There's an obvious attraction and bond between the two but HE'S STILL NOT STAYING and has nothing to offer her. When Megan's finds herself in the middle of a professional and legal scandal involving the aforementioned show dog, she figures it's time to finally come clean with Adam and reveal her big secret. Brace yourselves...Adam's a daddy.I'm not normally a huge fan of the secret baby stories. I can find very few justifiable reasons to keep that information a secret, but I understand why Megan made the decision she did. He couldn't have made his thoughts any clearer on the topic of kids, and Megan has her own history of living her life with a father who wanted nothing to do with her. When Adam finds out, the first thing he does is to blame Megan for getting pregnant. How could she do that? Why didn't she remind him to wear a condom? How could she be so thoughtless? His second reaction is to accuse her of trying to trap him into a life he does not want. He goes on to blame her for not contacting him, even though he's left no forwarding address, e-mail or cell number. Needless to say I had a few issues with Adam's logic. I could almost understand the not contacting him issue, but he blew any sympathy he had from me with that condom/relationship trapping rant.Adam's desire to close himself off from close personal relationships is eventually explained and handled well. I can't really blame the guy after everything he's been through. Does it excuse him from being that big of a jerk? Not so much, but at least it was explained. I loved the relationship he develops with his two year old son, but it took him a little longer to come around and trust Megan again and admit he does want to make a family with her. The few love scenes were hot and felt exactly right for this story.The suspense element of this book didn't work for me. First off, it wasn't actually suspenseful and felt a little like filler. Maybe I would've taken the situation a little more seriously had it not revolved around revenge via the custody case of a money making show dog, but that's just me.3.5 StarsARC provided from the publisher via Net Galley in exchange for an honest review