365 books in 365 days Challenge ... Book #346

Her Sister's Baby - Alison Fraser
Mills & Boon Modern
Harlequin Mills & Boon, 2000
ISBN: 9780263820393
Reissue - Mills & Boon Modern Backlist, 2011
eISBN: 9781408939529









My rating

From the back cover:

"When Dray Carlisle turned up unexpectedly, Cass knew there must be trouble afoot. She hadn't seen Dray for three years, after their brief but intensely passionate affair had ended. 
However, Cass wasn't prepared for Dray's news: her younger sister, from whom she'd become estranged, had died in childbirth. Cass couldn't turn her back on her newborn niece...and that meant Dray - and the irresistible sexual attraction between them - would also be part of her life once more...."


This is on the backlist reissued ebooks you can find on the M&B UK website - I have also seen them on Amazon UK, Waterstones, and WHSmith.

The heroine Cass is surprised to find the her Dray waiting for her when she arrives home one night. But her surprise turns to grief when he informs her that her sister recently died during childbirth. Cass had barely seen her sister in the last three years after their relationship became strained following her sister's marriage to Dray's brother. Having to deal with the grief over her sister's death and seeing Dray again reminds Cass of the brief but doomed relationship she and Dray had, as well as the pain and humiliation she felt when it ended. She tries to stay away from Dray and his family as much as she can, but when her grief stricken brother-in-law asks her to take baby Ellie away with her, thinking that he is not the father, Cass is forced into spending more time with Dray. Cass is confused by Dray's scorn towards her, but it's clear that the desire is still between them but Cass knows that there isn't a future for them.

I really enjoyed this book, it pulled me in right from the start. Don't be mislead by the title and blurb, it is a lot more than what it is made out to be. The past story between the hero and heroine is nicely portrayed, although the segues into flashback scenes felt a little clunky, but once there I really got a grip of all the past betrayal between them. There is plenty of chemistry between them, and what was particularly interesting about this book is that they didn't consummate too early, this helped to build the tension throughout the whole book. The writing is descriptive and has a nice pace, I would have liked a bit more POV from the hero though. I did like that in this book we had a Doctor heroine - this rarely appears outside of the Medical line, and it was a nice refreshing change to have a Modern/Presents heroine with a professional and important career.
My only complaint is that I couldn't understand the motivation behind the heroine's sister's actions, they were destructive and malicious and it isn't really explained why - this made the story feel a little incomplete.

Nevertheless a very enjoyable book.

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