Most Helpful Customer Reviews
2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Comfort read..., March 17, 2008
This review is from: The Marine's Baby (Harlequin Superromance, No. 1478 / 9 Months Later / Bundles of Joy) (Mass Market Paperback)
There is an unwritten rule in romance fiction that you keep throwing roadblocks at your hero/heroine to increase the conflict, forcing them to grow toward love and that is nowhere more evident than in this new offering from the talented military romance writer Rogenna Brewer.
A young Navy SEAL's widow has learned her husband, Luke Calhoun, has left her a final gift at a local sperm bank. In her grief she decides to cherish his memory by becoming pregnant. Reasonable enough, but not when you consider her husband told her little of his family, especially that he has an older brother in the Marines who has same name. Unfortunately, she learns too late and it seems the sperm bank has made a monumental mistake. In her confusion as to what is the correct thing to do, she is left to explain to the Marine Luke he had fathered a child. A major dilemma for him as he had planned to have his sperm destroyed coupled with his intense grudge toward this half sibling. The ensuing story involves not only the couple as they struggle with their impending parenthood but also their own future together or apart and what that will mean to the people who love them.
The reader has to suspend some disbelief with the business of the names: there are three Luke Calhouns one has to keep straight throughout the book. When the books centers on the main characters the story is powerful and intense but as it wanders to the in-laws and their issues, with the exception of another brother Bruce, the story slows down and pulls the reader away from the budding relationship. There are some very emotional moments when a young man in the Marine's unit is killed on a mission that will make even the hardened reader tear up.
And the only criticism I would address is the issue of her lack funds at her husband's death so important to the plot. From a military aspect, the story's conflict of pushing a widow out of housing within 90 days of her husband's death seems unrealistic. Also it seems unrealistic that she wouldn't have had at least a portion of his death benefits within at least those 90 days, negating the issue of money, of course that would have weakened the plot.
The tight time period of the plot is well suited to category romance, but this reader wishes this could have been done as a single title where the issue of suing the sperm lab for the mix-up would have added to the angst of the couple, and would have allowed more space to explore more deeply the father/son relationship as well as brother/brother relationship that was a cornerstone to the hero's conflict. This is a good read for what it is, category romance, but these emotional themes seem better suited to single title. Ms Brewer is up to the challenge; lets hope her next offering is from a single title publisher who sees her potential.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
2 of 3 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
strong military romance, March 6, 2008
Caitlin Calhoun mourns the death of her Navy SEAL husband Luke Calhoun, Jr. who died in the line of duty. 89 days 9 hours and 9 minutes since the two uniforms knocked on her door with the news she dreaded, Caitlin receives a letter from CryoBank of San Diego asking what to do with his semen specimen. She decides she wants his offspring so she goes to the cryo facility to get impregnated.
However, Caitlin is unaware that her late spouse had an older half-brother with the same name; neither did the sperm bank. She learns later that she has been impregnated by the sperm of Luke Calhoun; just not her Luke Calhoun. Feeling she owes her half-brother-in-law the truth, Caitlin meets and explains to Luke "Lucky" Calhoun about the mix-up. The marine knows what he wants, which are Caitlin and their baby, but she is wary having lost one military officer she loved to the war on terrorism.
Caitlin makes this contemporary romance works as she goes from grief to euphoria to shock to love to guilt in a believable manner. Luke the marine is a caring person who understands much of what his beloved is dealing with as he learns from her that his half-brother was also a good person. Readers will appreciate this strong military romance as Rogenna Brewer brews up a deep lead couple struggling with forming a relationship as the ghost of her late spouse, his brother, lingers in their minds.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
3.0 out of 5 stars
More research needed~overall good not great, October 14, 2011
I wish this author would have done a little more research before writing this book. I picked out several mistakes just in the first couple of chapters. Marines are different than any other branch and their vernacular and customs are unique. Proper research would have made this story more believable to people who are familiar with this branch of service...*Marines NEVER EVER call each other "Sarge". They would say Sergeant, Staff Sergeant etc. *A Master Sergeant would be called either Mstr. Sgt OR TOP, NEVER "Sarge" and especially not by subordinates. *Marines never call each other by first name, only last name or rank and last name. *Marines are NEVER called "soldier". They are either Marines or Former Marines, NEVER soldiers. Soldiers serve in the army. I found this lack of detail distracting because it showed a lack of preparedness by the author. The conflict seemed a bit unbelievable and too coincidental. The widow of a war veteran would not be destitute, as the SGLI benefits for life insurance would have been paid almost immediately, and for an officer they would have been at least $500,000. Where was that money when she needed to relocate? I felt the sperm bank mix-up and repercussions to be unrealistic. There really were NO consequences for the total mix-up! Why not? There was no point in bringing the sperm bank back into the story at the point the author chose to do so. It added nothing to the story since they never re-visited it after Lucky and Cait went together. The heroine came off shallow and selfish for most of the story. All she ever thinks about is holding on to the memory of a dead husband she hardly knew. She cares nothing about consequences...grow up! She used another man's sperm and then blames him for her problems when he has been nothing but generous and understanding. I really did not like her very much. I also never understood why she was not working when she had a Pharmacists license! If she was really that hard up, she could have gotten a six-figure job any time and helped her husband pay the debt they were drowning in...again, unbelievable and selfish. The savior of this story is the hero. Although I doubt an adult, mature man would continue to hold a grudge against a half-brother for the actions of the mother for 30+ years, (eye roll) he is strong, solid and steady when relied upon by the woman who really does not deserve him. He personifies an honorable man, and the lingering effects of his time in combat come across as real and hear-felt. This character was well-done as an adult, but his grudge seems a bit unbelievable in the face of the death of his brother. Overall, the book was good, but not great. Not enough tension and chemistry between the hero and heroine and so much un-tapped potential.
Help other customers find the most helpful reviews
Was this review helpful to you? Yes
No
|
