Baby Of Shame (Harlequin Presents) [Mass Market Paperback]

Julia James (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 1, 2006 | Series: Harlequin Presents (Book 2518)

They'd had one night of delicious pleasure but it had been destroyed. Now Greek tycoon Alexis Petrakis has discovered that their shame-filled night created something beautiful...a baby that he will do anything to reclaim...

--This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Mass Market Paperback: 192 pages
• Publisher: Harlequin (February 1, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0373125186
• ISBN-13: 978-0373125180
• Product Dimensions: 6.6 x 4 x 0.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 0.6 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,550,148 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

26 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars It's my own darn fault, February 27, 2006

By 

SusieQ (New York) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Baby Of Shame (Harlequin Presents) (Mass Market Paperback)

PLOT: 20-something young woman, who's possibly about to lose custody of her son to Social Services, gets knocked over by car & is badly injured. Flashback to her one-night stand with a handsome Greek tycoon who could have saved her father's company (if she'd only talked to him, instead of just sleeping with him, when she had the opportunity). Handsome tycoon is contacted by Social Services to claim his son (much to his shock), thereby setting up predictable "I-hate-you-but-I-still-want-you" conflict between the hero and heroine on a beautiful Greek island.

It's my fault these books make money. I buy a book with a title like "BABY OF SHAME", and expect a half-way decent light read... well, I have no one to blame but myself. Except, possibly, I could blame the Harlequin imprint. After all, I don't know what happened to Julia James. Prior to this, Julia James wrote a couple of good, quite readable stories for Harlequin - then she began to produce some really bad stuff, like this one. (But that title should have been my warning light.)

I really don't know why Ms. James' editor let this one get published. It reads like a first draft, and the story is SO flimsy, and really, cringe-worthy. Please, don't bother!! Save your money!!

4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A ROMANCE JUNKIE, May 4, 2010

By 

Esa Soy "Mady" (New York City) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Baby of Shame (Greek Tycoons) (Kindle Edition)

This story is about Alexis the alpha rich Greek billionaire who has some childhood issues. Rihanna is the beauty with a very ill father and a sinking company. She after trying to secure a meeting with Alexis has to buy a dress and a ticket for the charity he's attending the night before he's scheduled to return to Greece. She rearranges the place cards and sits next to him at the function. He can't take his eyes off her, she can't stop looking at him because he's gorgeous, and she was expecting some old dude. Anyway, at the end of the dinner she asks him if she could have a word in private with him, and he thinks she is coming on to him. So he takes her to his room and sparks are flying all over the place but that morning when she's going to tell him about the bank issue and the company, he gets all upset and tells her that he doesn't do business like that and has her escorted from the building. Five years later she's a mom, ill, broke on British welfare and social services about to take her kid away because they mistake her medication for drugs. In her struggle to get away, she gets hit by a drunk driver and this is how she and her kid end up back with Alexis. I don't want to tell you the whole story, but it's pretty good and I read it in one day. She was no door mat, and I loved that. He treated her like crap and yelled at her, but she gave it right back!! loved it. I recommend this book highly.

3 of 3 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars I liked that they had to work for each other, September 10, 2010

By 

Vanessa "dreamer" (United States) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

This review is from: Baby of Shame (Ulverscroft Large Print Series) (Hardcover)

Rhianna felt that having a meeting with Greek tycoon, Alexis Petrakis, was her father's last hope of saving his company. The only way she could have a meeting with him was to spend some money that she really couldn't spare and attend a charity event. Once she meets Alexis she can't take her eyes off of him. He makes her melt and she appears to have lost all ability to think. Alexis takes her to his room and they proceed from there. The next morning she finally brings up her reasons for seeking him out and he is not impressed. He has her escorted from the hotel via security and doesn't lay eyes on her until five years later when a social worker contacts him and informs him he has a child. The social worker tells Alexis that Rhianna is a drug addict and has been in involved in a hit and run.

Alexis wants his son but he has to take the schemer Rhianna along with him, at least until Nicky no longer needs his mother. He takes both of them to his island so that she can heal from her accident and so he can get to know his child. Rhianna was NEVER going to tell Alexis about Nicky and he isn't too happy with her. Alexis believes that Rhianna is a drug addict - it was flu powder, that she is violent, and that she wants to get money out of him. He says some pretty harsh things to her, but Rhianna holds her own with Alexis. He believes he is so right that he even berates the nurse whom he had hired to care for Rhianna.

They are both fighting each other and it seems that he has to eat some of his words because he believed the worst about her. He even believes that she would be willing to sell her child to him so he decides to put her to that test. Once Alexis admits he was wrong in some of his beliefs about Rhianna he decides they need to make an effort to get along for Nicky's sake. She reluctantly agrees but she still doesn't want him to touch her. Eventually he says they should get married and she believes it is another one of his tests.

Both of these characters have a LOT of baggage from their childhoods and I really liked that fact that Rhianna didn't melt for Alexis every time he touched her. In fact, she would scream at him not to touch her! Rhianna was not a doormat and Alexis was definitely a strong Hero. These two were made for each other once they got past all the hurt and hard feelings. They didn't just jump into bed to solve their problems it took time to solve their issues. They had to work through a lot of heartache and emotions to get to that healing place to love each other. They needed to believe that neither one of them were like the awful people they had in their pasts that caused them to color their experience with each other in the same shade. Alexis does grovel for what he did to Rhianna and for all he thought and believed of her.