Customer Reviews

Nobody's Baby But Mine (BCED) only HB edtion

5 star:		(104)
4 star:		(36)
3 star:		(11)
2 star:		(8)
1 star:		(12)

 

 

I've read a lot of romance novels and lusted after a fair number of heros, but Cal Bonner is the only one I wanted to lift whole from the book and take home for my very own. He's incredible - a star quarterback with a killer body, tremendous wit, an impressive intellect and great values. Sure, he can get a little grumpy and stubborn, but usually in a sexy, kind of adorable way. Thank goodness Susan Elizabeth Phillips created Jane Darlington, a woman worthy of Cal. Jane is an egghead physicist intent upon finding a physicially perfect but intellectually challenged sperm doner. She mistakenly assumes that Cal is going to fill the bill, but boy is she wrong. The ensuing struggle between these two is hilarious, touching and very sexy. SEP always writes great books, but this is one of her very best. Even if you're not a big romance reader, I promise that you're going to love this book!

This is the first book that I have read by Susan Elizabeth Phillips, and I liked it alot. Although the plot was far-fetched and a little ridiculous (but, hey!, this is a romance novel!), the characters were well developed and the writing style light and witty.

The heroine of "Nobody's Baby But Mine" is Dr. Jane Darlington, a lonely physics nerd who has just passed her 34th birthday, and--boy!--is her biological clock ticking! Deciding to have a baby and believing that her own miserable childhood was due to her genius level IQ, she wants a healthy and relatively dumb father for her child. Her reasoning is that the baby then would end up with a more normal IQ due to "tendency toward the mean"--(this being probably the most ridiculous part of the book, but necessary for the plot to move forward.) Jane picks out Cal Bonner, hunky football quarterback of the Chicago Stars, after seeing him on TV responding to an interviewer in his "good ol' boy" Southern drawl (hmmmm, obviously a moron.) But Cal is far from the dumb jock that he appears to be, as Jane finds out when he discovers her scheme.

Cal was a pretty great character--gorgeous, sexy, smart, and honorable, but also commitment-phobic and so insecure about his impending middle-age (in a young man's profession) that he never dates any woman over 23 years old. Jane is a pretty good heroine despite her intellectual arrogance and rather unscrupulous initial behavior--an intelligent, witty and lonely woman who is looking for someone to love. The secondary characters are well done as well--particularly Cal's parents and Kevin, the young, cocky second-string quarterback who wants Cal's job.

The plot is improbable but moves along pretty well, and some of the scenes are *very* funny indeed. I particularly liked the initial seduction scene with an inept Jane posing as an call girl and doing calisthenics to "The Flight of the Bumblebee" when a suspicious Cal asks her to dance for him. That (and the rest of that scene) are worth the price of the book.

In summary, this is a sexy, humorous romance with a really dreamy/hunky hero and an unusual plotline.
Recommended!

Never have laugh so hard about Lucky Charms! This is the first book I've read of SEP, and I'm so glad I picked it up. I couldn't put it down, had to finish in one night! Cal and Jane are such sweethearts, and I especially loved the secondary characters in this books, Annie, the shotgun toting grandma, Ethan, the handsome as sin minister brother, and Kevin Trucker, the arrogant yet insecure quarterback, I was ecstatic to hear he's getting his own book soon, he quickly became a favorite for me. The only reason I didn't give this book 5 stars was because I didn't particularly like Cal in the first 100 pages or so, he seems too cold and unforgiving, but I am so glad I stuck with the book, it really got much better and I was left wanting more at the end. Read this book, you won't be diappointed!

It really pains me to be the lone ranger here and give a SEP book such a mediocre rating, but it pained me more to finish the book. The plot seemed overly contrived with a desperate physicist setting out to get "knocked-up" by a dumb jock so that her baby would be "normal." I thought the author used a lot of stereotypes about athletes and southerners even as she condemed her heroine for doing so. For example, Cal, the quarterback was from my home state of N.C. Maybe, I'm being overly sensitive, but to prove that Cal really was smart and not a dumb hick, the author had him graduating from Michigan. SEP, ever heard of Duke or the Univ. of North Carolina?, two of the most prestigious colleges in the country. Although I found a lot of humor in this book and loved the characters of Annie and Lynn, (the secondary plot of Cal's parents was very touching) I couldn't get past how stupid Jane, the genius physicist, and Cal, were. For two smarties, they acted really dumb. I suppose this must have been an attempt at irony but it didn't work. And for someone who was so desperate to have a baby, I think there would have been more mention of her pregnancy along the way. The actual labor and delivery was too unbelievable as well. Don't doctors wash their hands before delivering a baby? And Cal chooses that moment to announce he wants to go to medical school. Yes, I know I'd be thrilled to give birth and have my husband announce plans to be away. Thanks, hon. For me to enjoy a book, I have to respect the hero or heroine or they must redeem themselves. Although, SEP tried, I never felt anything but contempt for both the main characters. Yes, I know we must suspend our imaginations when reading romance, but when one is reading a contemporary, it helps if the plot is at least a little believable. Maybe I am a bit jaded because SEP's previous book, HEAVEN, TEXAS just blew me away. Although the characters were just as mismatched, the story was much believeable and the characters endearing.

Jane Darlington is a 34 year old genius. She really isn't a very sociable person. She is a very nice person, but always believed that people thought she was weird because she was so smart. Her next door neighbors daughter Jodie comes over to borrow some coffee. She realizes that Jane has been crying and starts trying to find out what is wrong with her besides being a weirdo. Jane confides in the young girl. The young woman for her own selfish reasons tells Jane that she can help her with her problem. Jane's problem was she wanted a child of her own, but didn't want the child's father to have any intelligence whatsoever. She felt is the father was stupid, her child wouldn't be talked about and critized the way she was. Jane sees Cal Bonner and football player and she thought he was stupid because of the way he talked to the interviewer. She said he would be perfect aloud and the young woman said she could set it up. Jane was going to be Cal Bonner's birthday present. They even tied a pink bow around her neck. Jane couldn't believe what she had to do, but I don't think she counted on Cal finding out her little secret.

Cal Bonner was nobody's dummy. Yes, he was a football player, but he happened to be one with a degree in Biology. Cal came from a family where the men seemed to get caught up with having to marry a woman because she was pregnant. When he first met Jane, he knew she was no ordinary hooker. He didn't believe she was a hooker at all. He overheard Jodie talking about how she set up his birthday gift. Cal made Jodie tell him who Jane was and everything. He was so mad he could have hurt Jane. He confronted her and made her marry him and that's when the fun starts.

I don't want to go on because I know I will give it all away. You will love this book. The characters were good and you could actually visiualize alot of the scenes in the book. This is my second book by Ms. Phillips, the first one was First Lady. I am now trying to find all of her books. She is a good writer and I enjoy her stories. They aren't as heavy with issues as some others I've read recently. I'm glad my friends told me about her.

I just love this romance! This is my favorite book by Susan Elizabeth Phillips. I've probably reread it at least six times! This book has everything I want to read in a romance novel plus more.

Beginning with incredibly interesting characters like Cal Bonner, the quintessential football hero we've all dreamed of, not only an amazing athlete, and beautiful, but with a great flaw, the fact that he can't face growing old. Don't we all love those guys that are forever the Peter Pan's? He's in his thirties and should retire, but he's the ultimate competitor, both on and off the field.

Then there's Jane. Again, I just love this character for her perfection and flaws. On one hand, she is reported to be a brilliant, but lonely nuclear scientist, working feverishly on "The Theory of Everything", who desires a baby so badly that she tricks Cal into believing she's a groupie of the football team and sleeps with him twice to get pregnant. The twist is, she wants a normal child with a normal IQ, and she thinks Cal is a moron because he plays football, hence, an average IQ. That's not her only mistake, as we discover; Cal is not stupid. Then she thinks he won't care that she's gotten pregnant, but she finds out that she's picked the wrong football player in more ways than one. The baby is his, too, and he takes Jane to his southern home to wait out the pregnancy and the press when they discover the most eligible Chicago Stars football player has married a professor.

There are so many great scenes where Susan exploits Cal's need for competition with his reluctant bride. Jane is always one up on Cal, though, and it's his brawn vs. her brains. Like the time "Miss Big Brain" locks him out of the house and he enjoys the challenge of climbing over the roof to break in, or when he sees her drivers licence and learns her real age, or when she messes with his Lucky Charms cereal and he calls her a "cereal killer" and the bar fight between Cal and Kevin, just to name a few.

The anticipation of when Cal will actually see his wife naked leaves you turning the pages. There's page after page of newlywed discovery under the most humorous circumstances. I love the banter between the characters, especially the way Cal tries to talk tough to her and she is wise to his firecracker temper as all bluff.

The secondary characters are a roar, too, from Kevin, who thankfully we see again in my second favorite book, "This Heart of Mine", who is the young perfect quarterback replacement. He follows Cal to Salvation, North Carolina, and seeks Cal's professional help, but he falls for the beautiful Jane Bonner and is adopted by the rest of the female family. There is Amber Lynn, Cal's mother, and we learn of her courage as she raised Cal from a mere child herself, with Cal's father, Jim, who became a doctor and took care of a young family. I especially will never forget the character of Annie, Cal's rifle toting maternal grandmother who lives on Heartache Mountain, and has the reasoning of the wisest of men with the plainest of speech. All she wants to do is be left alone with her Harry Connick Jr. music (great taste in music!) and country garden.

I love how this tale takes the reader from the motel room to the classroom to the country with simple pleasures like resting in the sun while your baby grows inside you as the most important thing in life. The wholesome theme of family love is clear on so many levels that this story is truly refreshing in a world where people sometimes treat new life like an inconvenience.

Ms. Phillips never fails to disappoint with her intelligent, witty, endearing characters, and seemingly implausible situations. Her plot twists are constantly fresh and surprising, and in many situations I found myself roaring with laughter so many times I lost count. Ain't nobody who does it better than Susan!

I supremely recommend this book, and like the fan that I am, eagerly await her next. So if you're like me, this book won't make it to your keeper shelf, it will remain in your nightstand!

Hard to believe I would like this book. I wanted a diversion and found this book as free book from a book club and said, why not, try it. On vacation with the kids I decided to read it (the first romance I ever read) and loved it. It was fun, pure escape. It's a better read than I thought and I will buy her other books. There's nothing wrong with some pure fun reading.

Cal Bonner - football jock; Jane Darlington - scientist and brilliant geek. Jane is looking for an average, if not a little on the stupid side, man to father her future child. She doesn't want her child to grow up as a "smart" freak the way she did as well as a social outcast. This is the basis of the funniest story you will ever read. Through a sequence of events, Jane meets Cal (clueless to her plan) and begins her journey to motherhood. However, her best laid plans come apart and the laughs begin. There is plenty of Bonner family turmoil to deal with and the characters are extremely well-developed as each of their stories is told. A secondary storyline/plot of the elder Bonners lends more drama and laughs to a wonderfully-told, down-home family fun time tale. Annie Glide (grandmother to Cal, Gabe and Ethan) is my favorite character. She is a straight shooter and a no-nonsense woman with a heart of gold and insight to everyone's secrets! I definitely would recommend this book to anyone who can appreciate the love and warmth of a good family story.

Brainy physics professor Jane Darlington figures the only way to give her offspring a chance is to choose a daddy who's dumb as a post. Enter jock Cal Bonner, quarterback for the Chicago Stars. Jane secures an invite to Cal's party as the "entertainment," and hopefully will come away with a party favor of her own. Her disturbingly geeky rendition of an erotic dance has him scratching his head, but does not preclude the two from hooking up.

The only problem with Jane's logic is that despite his chosen profession, Cal is no dumb jock. When he discovers that he is about to become a daddy, he insists that they marry to make the baby legitimate, and Jane begrudgingly joins him at his home in North Carolina to wait out the baby's arrival so they can part ways. The two are like oil and water, and the shenanigans they engage in to one up each other are hysterical, particularly her role as a "cereal killer" to his beloved Lucky Charms. What neither strong willed combatant counts on is falling for the other.

The third in Phillips Chicago Stars/Bonner Brothers series of novels is one of her best, mixing comedy, drama, and romance to tell an engaging and heart tugging story. The series includes (in order of publication): It Had to be You; Heaven, Texas; Nobody's Baby But Mine; Dream a Little Dream; This Heart of Mine; Match Me if You Can.

After reading the second book, Dream A Little Dream, (read backwards on accident) I felt like I knew this family well. Nobody's Baby but Mine is the first book in this wonderful series about the Bonner family.

On Jane Darlington's 34th birthday, she realizes that one thing is missing from her life, a baby. Although she desperately wants a baby, she doesn't want a husband. After some research she finds the perfect "sperm donor", Cal Bonner, the aging quarterback for the Chicago Chiefs. The reason Cal is picked is because he is presumed to be "a dumb hillbilly". After being set up as Cal's 36th "birthday present", Jane finds herself pregnant. She is thrilled. Unfortunately, (or fortunately??) Cal finds out about it. Being no dummy, he doesn't want his child to be raised without a father so he forces Jane to marry him (planning a convient divorce after the baby is born).

After the quickie marriage, Jane and Cal leave for North Carolina to spend 3 months. There they fight a lot and finally fall in love, although without a lot of snags.

When I first started this book I didn't like Jane and Cal. Dowdy Jane seemed too straight laced and boring and Cal seemed like a jerk. Throughout the book I began to love the couple as I did Rachel and Gabe in Dream A Little Dream. With the second book, this book also had a secondary story that was wonderful. Cal's parents Lynn and Jim are having problems and finally realize that, although they were forced into marriage at a very young age, they have a true love for eachother. I hope that Kevin is in a book sometime in the future. I really liked the guy.

If you're a fan of Susan Elizabeth Phillips (or if you're not become one!) this book is a must read.