Customer Reviews

Baby Of Shame (Harlequin Presents)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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!!

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.

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.

Burned-out heroine has been taking care of her illegitimate young son & emotionally-unavailable father who recently died after a long illness the past 5 years. She gets hospitalized after a car accident & is further traumatized with her son being taken away from her by a suspicious social worker who thinks she's a drug addict. She feels even worse when her son's wealthy father tries to take full-custody of their son after he finds out about his existence from the social worker. Both Hero & heroine have major trust issues stemming from their own upbringing as well as miscommunication from their 1 passionate night together 5 years ago.

I loved this James' book. It had a wonderful romance & sizzling chemistry & love scenes. It pulled my emotions dramatically. I found myself in tears a few times. The misunderstanding & miscommunication between Hero & heroine was so great that I wondered how they could ever come to even like or trust each other again. James weaved the story well. It was interesting to see the character development throughout this short book. I sympathized with both as their childhood experiences explained how they interpreted events that happened & why they responded the way they did to each other. I really liked how Hero groveled for heroine's forgiveness. It was believable & touching.

Highly recommended.

Don't be put off by the title of this book. It does not do the story justice.
It's really a good romance. Alpha- male and girl meet and have one night of great love. Next morning mis-understandings seperate them. Fast forward...she's destitute and has had his child. Social services threaten to take the child accusing her of being a drug addict ( which she is not, just an overdose of flu medication). She runs out in the rain with the child and gets hit by a car. Social services calls him as the father of the child while she is unconscious. He loves his son on sight but despises her and is furious she did not tell him about his child. He takes care of her but only for the sake of his son. She can't understand why he hates her so much and he doesn't believe anything she says.
He whisks them away to his own private island for her to recouperate and him to get to know his son.

This story and writing style reminds me of Julie McNaught.
It's almost like a McNaught short story.
Boy & girl meet. fall in love, are seperated, get back together and find out they really loved each other all along.

It's on my keeper shelf.

This book was so intense it seemed real. No kidding, there were certain scenes where i felt my throat constrict. This appears to be Julia James' signature style. She knows exactly how to make her characters overflow with strong emotion. Rihanna and Alexis are perfect examples. They are like two fated bulls in a ring. Their hate for one another is as fierce as their love. An excellent read! I only regret that it had to end so quickly.

Sure the story line at the beginning is a little over the top, but with a title like Baby of Shame what is one to expect? The reason this book is worth reading is that the characters react with feeling and dialog in ways that ring true. It is refreshing to have a female lead NOT melt at the hero's every touch - except the first time - like a spineless wonder; especially with the way he treats her on their second encounter. It is a fast and easy read that kept me interested in what would happen next and how misunderstandings would get cleared up. Mutual love of their son and the eventual discovery of one another's true character lead to a true and binding love.

Yesterday, I decided to unpack 4 totes that I have had for years and maybe reread some. It's funny how I have this book from February 2006. Everything in the story is still the same even the first page that tells you about the other books introduced that month...I don't understand why Harlequin republished it without saying it has been published before? It makes me feel cheated! I mean honestly who is going remember a story from 5 years ago. I say be careful before you buy a Harlequin because you might have already read it!

I am in the minority, but this book was horrible. I cried, but not in a good way at all. I felt horrible for the heroine of the story after being repeatedly hurt emotionally as "tests". It was horrible. I couldn't feel happy in the end either after his treatment. I read quite a few romances and this was the first one I felt necessary to write a review- skip it for something uplifting.

This book is the type that you will either love or hate. Either you will "get" what the writer is doing or you'll think it's overkill. I got the story and loved it for what it was--it fed me every lying romantic fantasy that I wanted conveyed as the story unfolded. The heroine gave as good as she got and satisfied my every moment of angst on her behalf. The alpha male hero, grovelled and explained and made up for his devilish behavior to perfection. I ate the whole thing up and was satisfied to have gotten more in the epilogue. The writer was able to get one area that allot of HP writers do not do well: the transition from the initial conflict between the two when the hero is behaving like a jerk, to the change in the hero when he realizes the error of his ways then onward toward reconciliation. She also gave both characters a lethal dose of common sense to help them along the path of forgiveness and love. Kudos to her for that. This book is pure Harlequin in its niche and perfectly fits what i expect from romances of this type.Baby of Shame