Maybe Baby [Mass Market Paperback]

Elaine Fox (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: July 31, 2001

Not Looking For Mr. RightDr. Delaney Poole thinks Harp Cove, Maine, will be the perfect place to settle down and raise her infant daughter -- though she can't say why. Something wonderful happened in this charming, two-spotlight coastal town on a previous summer night, when a sexy stranger stole his way briefly into her heart and then moved on. But now single-mom Delaney has to invent a husband in order to deflect smalltown gossip -- buying masculine clothing that no one will ever wear, framing pictures she's cut from magazine. Her foolproof plan has one small glitch, however: her one-time mystery man is Delaney's new landlord!

Jack Shepard never dreamed he'd see Delaney again -- and he doesn't believe for one minute her cockamamie story about a husband! While he's exploring the leaks in Delaney's bathroom -- and in her alleged "marriage" -- he's trying desperately to get her to admit that they share something special. But when the truth does come out, can Jack and Delaney deal with the passionate consequence?

Editorial Reviews

From Publishers Weekly

One seemingly innocent lie swiftly snowballs to preposterous proportions in this farcical contemporary romance. Harp Cove, Maine, is "The Way Life Should Be" quaint, friendly and filled with good-humored gossips. While visiting the picturesque little town, Dr. Delaney Poole has a one-night stand with renowned ladies' man Jack Shepard and is stunned to learn soon after that she is pregnant. A year later, Delaney returns to Harp Cove with her infant daughter to assume the position of town doctor, only to find that Jack is her landlord. For some unknown reason, Delaney had intended to pass herself off as a divorc‚e, but when she sees Jack and the sultry teenybopper he's with, she invents a husband who lives in another region. To convince Jack that she does have a husband named Jim or is it Joe? Delaney has to slice a couple of months off of Emily's age, redo her tax form and stuff her closet with men's clothes. Delaney is a terrible liar, however, and Jack sees through her charade. The only thing that perplexes him, and the reader, is why Delaney feels the need to lie in the first place. Fox (Compulsion), a veteran author of historical romances, has made the mistake of letting silly shenanigans and screwball behavior overshadow the romance here, and this debut contemporary is unlikely to earn her a broader readership.

Copyright 2001 Cahners Business Information, Inc.

Review

"Elaine Fox enters the contemporary ranks with razzle, dazzle, and a flair for fun!" -- Kasey Michaels

"With characters you take into your heart, Elaine Fox writes romance in a fresh and vibrant voice." -- Nora Roberts

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
• Publisher: Avon (July 31, 2001)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0380817837
• ISBN-13: 978-0380817832
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 4.2 x 1.1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 6.4 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (12 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #968,187 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A humerous story, July 31, 2001

By 

Harriet Klausner - See all my reviews
(#1 Hall OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 1000 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Maybe Baby (Mass Market Paperback)

With one year to go in her residency, Dr. Delaney Poole visits Harp Cove, Maine for the first time because she wants to practice medicine there. The town with its winter population of five thousand seems perfect to Delaney. So she prays that the National Health Service agrees to allow her to pay off her medical debt to them by assigning her there for three years following completion of her residency. Perhaps it is her elation over the town, but Delaney shares an intimacy with Sailboat Jack.

One year later, Delaney and her infant Emily return so that the former can set up her medical practice. However, she is stunned when Jack Shepard of Sailboat Jack fame enters her office due to an accident he just suffered. She is shocked to learn he is not from Cape Cod, but a local who happens to be her landlord as well as her babys father. Unable to cope, Delaney begins a series of fabrications that soon prove the adage oh what a web we weave when we first deceive especially when love further obfuscates the situation.

Any novel that can include a reference to the Silver Surfer has to be admired even if MAYBE BABY requires reader acceptance on why Delaney escalates her house of lies. Once taking that leap, readers will find the humorous story line quite genial even with its serious undertone that rural America needs doctors. The lead couple is an alluring duo in spite of the mendacious Delaneys growing fears of discovery. Elaine Fox furnishes the audience a lively contemporary romance.

Harriet Klausner

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars BAD, February 12, 2009

By 

Denise (North Carolina) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Maybe Baby (Mass Market Paperback)

This book had a fun sweet beginning. Delaney and Jack had great chemistry. I thought this was going to be a great fun screwball romance, but it fell flat. Delaney turned out to be a sniveling, self absorbed, liar. The author never adequately conveyed a strong enough reason to continue to lie to the entire town. The ending was anticlimatic and I wished Jack hooked up with Kim took custody of Emily and left.

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

2.0 out of 5 stars More frustrating than funny, October 16, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Maybe Baby (Mass Market Paperback)

Firstly, the cover has nothing really to do with the book (not the author's fault), but if you're looking for a hunky labourer type, this is not the book for you.

Next: someone else mentioned making the leap of disbelief, but that was just too much for me. The characters, especially the hero, did things I didn't understand and junped to too many conclusions. I didn't understand why the hero was so desperate to prove the heroine was lying about being married, yet *didn't* ask himself why she was doing it. Probably because he would have come up with the answer pretty quickly. The heroine was too passive for me to really care about what happened to her.

Unfortunately for me as a reader, I didn't find a "vibrant new voice" with this book.