365 books in 365 days Challenge ... book #157

Pregnancy of Convenience - Sandra Field
Mills and Boon Modern
Reprinted in 'Pregnant Proposals' Mills and Boon By Request
Harlequin Mills and Boon, 2007
ISBN: 9780263855272


My rating




From the back cover:

"Joanna Deiter knew Cal Freeman wanted a passionate affair. Was this her chance to secretly conceive her much-wanted baby?
Unable to go through with her outrageous plan, Joanna confessed to Cal. Shockingly, Cal went one step further, suggesting a convenient marriage! But Joanna wanted a baby, not a husband..."


This is the third and final book in the By Request omnibus, as above. It's another enjoyable book.

The hero Cal is driving in a snowstorm when he comes accross the heroine Joanna unconscious after crashing her car. When he learns her name he realises that he actually knows of her by mutual acquaintance and knows all about her sordid past. Joanna has had to deal with scorn from people believing that she cheated on her late husband, caused his death and aborted his baby, when none of this is true. But Joanna is now free from the nightmare of her marriage and is getting on with her life. She's upset that Cal believes the lies about her as she felt that they had a connection. Cal can't stop thinking about Joanna after they part and soon learns the truth about her and knows he has to apologise and that there is a chance she may not forgive him. He visits her where they spend time together and asks Joanna to go on vacation with him and his daughter. Joanna agrees and realises that if she and Cal take their relationship further then she has a chance of having the baby she so desperately wants. However she can't deceive Cal and ends up telling him. Cal actually likes the idea, he wants to get married and provide and mother for his daughter and a wife and family for himself. He proposes marriage but Joanna, having had one disastrous marriage, only wants to marry for love.

I quite liked this book. It has a really exciting and interesting start, the characters have a nice interaction and there is enough information left out to keep you reading. I do thinks the book lost it's way after a while, the pace became rather slow and a bit boring. I liked the plot though. My main issue with this book is that it;s style and structure is almost identical to the previous Sandra Field book I read; The heroine had a traumatic past marriage, husband died in freak accident, hero and heroine hate each other at first, hero takes heroine on holiday where they get together, etc. It's a little off putting.

Nevertheless, this is a quick and enjoyable book.

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