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paulabrandon's review
1.0
I don't think I've ever read a romance where the hero and heroine share so few scenes together.
If this were a soap opera about a spoiled, cowardly, immature, evil villain using underhanded methods to keep a woman away from her child, it could have been an entertaining sudsy drama where you hissed at the villain and cheered for the heroine. However, it's supposed to be a romance, and as such, it's an absolutely shocking, unbelievable misfire!
Heroine Samantha Elliott had an affair with AJ Harris four years prior when she was doing some handyman stuff for his evil rich father, James. Said evil rich father ordered Samantha to stay away from AJ, using her mother's mental illness as blackmail, by threatening to throw her into a mental institution. So Samantha broke off the relationship. When she found out she was pregnant, she decided to give the baby up for adoption, as she couldn't afford to keep a baby on top of all her mother's medical bills.
AJ happened to spy Sam from afar one day while she was talking with a lawyer, and he saw that Sam was pregnant, and figured out that the child must be his. Instead of, you know, TALKING TO SAM, AJ found the lawyer and used his father's money and influence (which he claims to hate), to find out that he is indeed the father and that Sam intends to put the child up for adoption. AJ once again uses family influence and money to adopt the child.
We also found out that the one time he did try to speak to Sam, he met her mother Tildy instead while Sam was out. Tildy was clearly mentally ill and delusional (she called AJ Prince Andrew), and said Sam was giving the baby up for adoption, and this was clearly enough to satisfy AJ, and he never bothers to contact Sam again. Man, I hated this "hero"! I really did! The Prince Andrew comparisons are probably apt. Yuck.
Cut to the present, and AJ is set to do up his house and sell it and move to Idaho, so that nobody can find out how he underhandedly adopted a child and make sure that his child can never know who his selfish, horrible mother is. Lo and behold, the company he hires to do up his house just happens to have Sam as an employee! AJ must do what he can to keep his secret safe and make sure Sam doesn't realise Will is her son.
Luckily for AJ, Sam isn't too bright, because although Will is the exact right age to be her son, and she finds out that HIS BIRTHDAY IS THE SAME DAY AS THE DAY SHE HAD HER BABY, she continues to believe that AJ had a wife that he was cheating on during his relationship with Sam, and that Will is the product of that marriage.
Sigh.
Despite this book apparently being a romance, Sam and AJ only have four brief conversations with each other, because AJ spends most of his time trying to avoid Sam less his secret gets out. One conversation has a ludicrous out-of-nowhere making out session. You see, apparently they did love one another three/four year ago.
Except, as mentioned many times, they never had conversations that lasted beyond a few minutes.
Except AJ would never say what he was feeling.
Except Sam never told AJ about her mentally ill mother.
Except AJ never told Sam about the fact his brother committed suicide.
Except they both apparently accepted the break-up with a shrug of the shoulders (if both sides are to be believed.)
But the sex was hot.
So, yeah, I guess that's love!
AJ finally decides he should stop being an entitled douche-canoe like his father, man up and tell Sa the truth.
At which point he avoids her for another two weeks.
When they accidentally bump into each other again, there's a conversation for all of three seconds before they're having sex. Huh? What? What the hell am I reading here? Of course, AJ still doesn't tell Sam the truth. No, she actually gets that from AJ's father, who has done a turnaround of his own and wants to make amends.
AJ's evil, evil, horrible father is actually more of a hero than the supposed hero of the story is.
There's another brief conversation when AJ finally admits to the truth - the longest conversation they've ever had, Sam muses! He refuses to apologise for his actions in adopting Will, but concedes he shouldn't have kept it a secret so long. You're a real stand-up guy, AJ! Gag. But that's okay, because Sam, although far more likable than AJ, is a brain-dead moron, and easily forgives him, because she's in love with him. I guess those SIX brief conversations they had throughout the course of the book were really stimulating for Sam, because AJ's appeal was totally lost on me!
On top of all this yuck, we have the tropetastic Knowing Nanny who is always baking wonderful food, who can get a stranger to divulge their entire life history with a compassionate look, and who can figure out what is going on faster than the protagonists can. The book also has to have the supporting characters comment on how in love Sam and AJ are, because the reader would never know it from the whole SIX, *BRIEF* conversations Sam and AJ actually have with each other. Sheesh. Son Will is cute, but speaks as if he's five, not as if he's about to turn three.
Also, because Sam - and Claire and Kristi (her co-owners) are doing up AJ's house, there's lots and lots and LOTS of chit-chat about the ins-and-outs of their interior design. On other occasions, the three of them will have pages long chit-chat about the work they're doing on houses for characters who aren't even in the story! What possible relevance does that have? Snore. I suppose it's just another way to make sure our hero and heroine never actually talk to each other.
I thought Christmas romances were supposed to be heartwarming? This just made me angry and exasperated, because I had no idea why these two were in love when they'd barely had a conversation long enough to learn the slightest thing about each other - by their own admissions! On top of that, the hero's entitled and devious actions to adopt his son and sneak him off to another state, just boggled my mind how anyone could find anything romantic about any of this trainwreck!
If this were a soap opera about a spoiled, cowardly, immature, evil villain using underhanded methods to keep a woman away from her child, it could have been an entertaining sudsy drama where you hissed at the villain and cheered for the heroine. However, it's supposed to be a romance, and as such, it's an absolutely shocking, unbelievable misfire!
Heroine Samantha Elliott had an affair with AJ Harris four years prior when she was doing some handyman stuff for his evil rich father, James. Said evil rich father ordered Samantha to stay away from AJ, using her mother's mental illness as blackmail, by threatening to throw her into a mental institution. So Samantha broke off the relationship. When she found out she was pregnant, she decided to give the baby up for adoption, as she couldn't afford to keep a baby on top of all her mother's medical bills.
AJ happened to spy Sam from afar one day while she was talking with a lawyer, and he saw that Sam was pregnant, and figured out that the child must be his. Instead of, you know, TALKING TO SAM, AJ found the lawyer and used his father's money and influence (which he claims to hate), to find out that he is indeed the father and that Sam intends to put the child up for adoption. AJ once again uses family influence and money to adopt the child.
We also found out that the one time he did try to speak to Sam, he met her mother Tildy instead while Sam was out. Tildy was clearly mentally ill and delusional (she called AJ Prince Andrew), and said Sam was giving the baby up for adoption, and this was clearly enough to satisfy AJ, and he never bothers to contact Sam again. Man, I hated this "hero"! I really did! The Prince Andrew comparisons are probably apt. Yuck.
Cut to the present, and AJ is set to do up his house and sell it and move to Idaho, so that nobody can find out how he underhandedly adopted a child and make sure that his child can never know who his selfish, horrible mother is. Lo and behold, the company he hires to do up his house just happens to have Sam as an employee! AJ must do what he can to keep his secret safe and make sure Sam doesn't realise Will is her son.
Luckily for AJ, Sam isn't too bright, because although Will is the exact right age to be her son, and she finds out that HIS BIRTHDAY IS THE SAME DAY AS THE DAY SHE HAD HER BABY, she continues to believe that AJ had a wife that he was cheating on during his relationship with Sam, and that Will is the product of that marriage.
Sigh.
Despite this book apparently being a romance, Sam and AJ only have four brief conversations with each other, because AJ spends most of his time trying to avoid Sam less his secret gets out. One conversation has a ludicrous out-of-nowhere making out session. You see, apparently they did love one another three/four year ago.
Except, as mentioned many times, they never had conversations that lasted beyond a few minutes.
Except AJ would never say what he was feeling.
Except Sam never told AJ about her mentally ill mother.
Except AJ never told Sam about the fact his brother committed suicide.
Except they both apparently accepted the break-up with a shrug of the shoulders (if both sides are to be believed.)
But the sex was hot.
So, yeah, I guess that's love!
AJ finally decides he should stop being an entitled douche-canoe like his father, man up and tell Sa the truth.
At which point he avoids her for another two weeks.
When they accidentally bump into each other again, there's a conversation for all of three seconds before they're having sex. Huh? What? What the hell am I reading here? Of course, AJ still doesn't tell Sam the truth. No, she actually gets that from AJ's father, who has done a turnaround of his own and wants to make amends.
AJ's evil, evil, horrible father is actually more of a hero than the supposed hero of the story is.
There's another brief conversation when AJ finally admits to the truth - the longest conversation they've ever had, Sam muses! He refuses to apologise for his actions in adopting Will, but concedes he shouldn't have kept it a secret so long. You're a real stand-up guy, AJ! Gag. But that's okay, because Sam, although far more likable than AJ, is a brain-dead moron, and easily forgives him, because she's in love with him. I guess those SIX brief conversations they had throughout the course of the book were really stimulating for Sam, because AJ's appeal was totally lost on me!
On top of all this yuck, we have the tropetastic Knowing Nanny who is always baking wonderful food, who can get a stranger to divulge their entire life history with a compassionate look, and who can figure out what is going on faster than the protagonists can. The book also has to have the supporting characters comment on how in love Sam and AJ are, because the reader would never know it from the whole SIX, *BRIEF* conversations Sam and AJ actually have with each other. Sheesh. Son Will is cute, but speaks as if he's five, not as if he's about to turn three.
Also, because Sam - and Claire and Kristi (her co-owners) are doing up AJ's house, there's lots and lots and LOTS of chit-chat about the ins-and-outs of their interior design. On other occasions, the three of them will have pages long chit-chat about the work they're doing on houses for characters who aren't even in the story! What possible relevance does that have? Snore. I suppose it's just another way to make sure our hero and heroine never actually talk to each other.
I thought Christmas romances were supposed to be heartwarming? This just made me angry and exasperated, because I had no idea why these two were in love when they'd barely had a conversation long enough to learn the slightest thing about each other - by their own admissions! On top of that, the hero's entitled and devious actions to adopt his son and sneak him off to another state, just boggled my mind how anyone could find anything romantic about any of this trainwreck!
scoutmomskf's review
4.0
Very good book, classic example of couple torn apart by interfering parent. I loved Sam -- not only had she given up her baby to give him a better life, she was taking care of her ill mother, too. I also enjoyed seeing her work at the non-traditional job of carpenter -- you don't see too many of those. AJ was really nervous having Sam around because of the whole adoption thing, not knowing the whole story about her giving him up. The sparks between the two of them were still strong, and you just knew that the whole story would come out. I also really liked Sam's partners, and really hope there will be stories for them, too.
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