Nobody’s Baby But Mine (Chicago Stars #3)

This book was so much FUN. I mean, that\’s probably the best way to describe it. I was smiling or laughing most of the time, and that\’s because it was outrageous. No, it wasn\’t that believable, and what the heroine did – tricked a man into impregnating her – well, that\’s something I could normally never forgive. But I did. The story was light enough that I couldn\’t hate the heroine. She and the hero\’s banter was so funny, I was often shaking my head, laughing, and trying not to wake my husband up. This was the funniest book I\’ve read by SEP, and it was not what I was expecting at all. I love Kiss an Angel so much, it\’s actually what got me started on SEP\’s novels. And while that one was more serious, this one was definitely more on the light and humorous side with plenty of conflict to keep me invested. And the perfect characters to go with. Jane is a scientist and is freakishly smart. She thirty-four and desperately wants to have a child. But there\’s a problem: she\’s single with no prospects in sight. And she doesn\’t want to go to a sperm bank because she\’s convinced all donors are medical students and she needs a man with a low IQ to balance out her genius genes. She had a hard, lonely childhood being so smart and she didn\’t want that for her child. So certain circumstances arise and she pretends she\’s a hooker for a certain \”dumb\” football player, and, well, she sabotages the condom. I didn\’t think I would be able to forgive her, but the thing is, Jane and Cal were hilarious together! They start out as enemies after he finds out what she did, but then they realize they have a lot in common. And I loved their banter and yelling at each other. Fighting makes me smile. What I didn\’t like was the small added pov of Cal\’s parents and their relationship. Psst, I don\’t care about that, and I noticed SEP does this sometimes, and I always skip those added in POVs. Whoops. Anyways, Cal really isn\’t all that dumb. He might say, \”ain\’t,\” and have an accent, but he\’s far from stupid. Let\’s just say Jane was pretty pissed when she found out. Nobody\’s Baby But Mine was a great, light, humourous, tension-filled, and a whole bunch of other good adjectives romance that had me smiling all the way through. SEP fan? Check it out.

This is a cute funny story of a genius, Jane, wanting a baby at the age of 34. To succeed, she becomes a birthday gift to a football player, Cal. Cal doesn’t realise that Jane wants him only as a sperm donor only because she believes him to be below in intelligence. As a child growing up with a disinterested father and having a tough time growing up being a genius, she does not want her child to have that type of life. When Cal finds out that he has been duped, he forces Jane to marry him as he does not want his child to become a bastard and also be deprived of not knowing his child. This book has funny moments with wonderful depth to the characters. I enjoyed this book and could not put it down once I started it. High marks for pure enjoyment.

NOTICE: *I “started” getting into reading this book early afternoon Sunday. The next thing I knew, the birds were chirping Monday morning and I had read thru the night. Did I love it? ABSOLUTELY. Not what I expected. SENSUALITY RATING: YES Profanity; YES sexual encounters – “His arousal”, “straddled his thigh”. Such a completely great story that the sex did not detract from the plot and was tasteful (if not I would have quickly flipped through those pages as I prefer sexual encounters to be practically null in any book that I read). GENRE: Modern day Romance; Sports romance SETTING: Chicago; Salvation, North Carolina CENTRAL FEMALE CHARACTER: JANE DARLINGTON; physicist; extremely intelligent; geek CENTRAL MALE CHARACTER: CAL BONNER – professional football player; middle-age; short temper SYNOPSIS: They couldn’t be any different in life. All she wanted was a baby and nothing more. She cared only that the sperm come from someone……“dumb”. He was a professional football player reaching the end of his career but not realistic about going there. His nemesis just wanted him out to the way. WHAT I LIKED: Annie Glide, smarter than people realize. WHAT I DID NOT LIKE: Never mentioned throughout the book how and when she “slowly” shed her geek appearance. OVERALL RATING: (5) stars because unexpected events from beginning to end and all the way around. Very well written. Pulls the reader into the story. Loved ALL the major characters which is unusual for any book. First time reading this author\’s work and look forward to more.

Unfortunately, not only did I not like it, I felt betrayed by all the people who gave it gushing fabulous reviews. The book was well over 500 pages long, on my kindle, and at least 300 pages were devoted to the same argument, between the two leads, written over and over and over again. On (or near) page 400 the male lead saw the light. At the same time the female lead had shut down and was through with him. Sound familiar? If you think this plot sounds familiar, that\’s because it is the formula for creating dramatic tension used in 90 percent of all Romance novels – only in this book it is taken way past annoying. This relationship went into the stratosphere of dysfunctional; their poor child will be in therapy all of its life whether it is smart or stupid (that argument was beyond dumb; ask Einstein\’s parents). For me, the modicum of snappy and clever dialog was ruined by the excess of low self-esteem, anger, implausibility of actions and circumstances, and dominance. Sorry, not for me.

I was excited to begin this book because of the offbeat premise, but both protags are so incredibly obnoxious it’s impossible to bond with either one. Cal is a brute and Jane is simply unethical. I read about 40% before giving up in disgust.

Galaxyaudiobook Member Benefit

- Able to comment

- List watched audiobooks

- List favorite audiobooks

- Bookmark will only available for Galaxyaudiobook member