Guest Review: The Bridesmaid's Baby.

 So today I welcome Car to my blog for the final trashy romance read. To get the whole story, click here and here. Car has a lovely blog over at Carrose Creations - I recommend you check it out. But first, read her review of

A double dare that turned into a double, double dare #challengeissued - saw a cute little package arriving on my doorstep. A small romance book to be read. Complete with chocolates. Anything that arrives with chocolate HAS to be good right?
Not really. 

Friday night, I went to bed and started reading the small 241 page book.
Now can I just state for the record, I may have held a few pre-conceived notions about Mills and Boon. I've never ever been compelled to read a M&B book before & its not as though I don't love a good romance - hello Danielle Steele - I may or may not own the entire collection. Looking at the M&B web page I am seeing a lot of "sexy" on the front covers - so really is it ANY wonder that I entered this challenge with high expectations of a good looking couple having a good old romp down by the creek?
YEAH!

My chosen book was anything but that vision in my mind. Sure the romping was insinuated and the first few pages held great promise… 

"With the urgency of a wild bee discovering the world's most tempting honey, Will pulled her closer and took the kiss deeper."
Ok. So. Now I know where the Bee in the Birds and the Bees originated from. 

Leaving aside the lack of shall we call it 'sexy romance - insinuated not applied' is the point I get all scornful about the storyline. For all intents and purposes the subject matter of the book was probably NOT the best suited for me (if you know me and have been reading my personal blog for awhile, it should make sense - so excuse me while I go off on this little rant…) 

"Getting noticed by the gorgeous best man is every bridesmaids dream. Discovering she's pregnant thrills her - but is Will going to stay to meet his baby?" 

I know blurbs are supposed to pull you in - make you want to read the book, and I know choosing a book that mentions pregnancy and baby is surely a sign that there will be a 'surprise' pregnancy involved. BUT.
The Bridesmaid & Best Man are actually old friends from high school, with a simmering mutual attraction that neither will admit. I felt like screaming JUST TALK ALREADY!!! Contrary to what you would like to believe will happen in the book, they do NOT go home after the wedding and well you know. No. No. No.
Now that storyline I could have accepted. 

No. This story has the audacity to include a miscarriage PLUS a failed IVF attempt on page 15. I should have stopped there. IVF is NOT a subject to be treated lightly and while I can see why the author felt the need to add it, it just didn't sit right with me. A few minutes later, surprise surprise a surrogacy pregnancy appears on page 21. Twins even. Oh Yay.

Putting aside my own personal feelings on the subject; I have read books before that have unplanned pregnancies & babies. I have read a book written entirely about IVF from a male perspective. So I can deal. This one I just couldn't accept. Romanticising IVF is just plain wrong in my opinion. Having ONE failed (a la natural cycle) and being absolutely crushed because it didn't happen. OH COME ON.

Then there was the subject of age. Maybe I could have accepted the storyline a little better, had the character been in her late 30's - biological clock ticking yada, yada. Funnily enough her age wasn't really mentioned, the prologue however started after they finished University so I'm thinking they would have been 22 perhaps? The main story started with the Male lead returning to his hometown after 10 years and a brief mention "A woman in her thirties with a loudly ticking biological clock" which in my estimation puts the characters in their VERY early 30's? I understand the desire women get for wanting babies, I understand all too well the feelings of failed cycles - but in my opinion a 200 page book that we all know is going to end happily is likely NOT the best setting to bring in such sensitive topics.
All in all I was extremely disappointed. I had wanted to read a good wholesome romance book to prove Kylie wrong, but sadly it has not shown me the goods.

Book Review: The Sheikh's Love-Child

From Goodreads: With butterflies fluttering in her stomach, Lucy Banks has arrived in the desert kingdom of Biryal--with a secret Seeing Sheikh Khaled--the man who once loved and left her--in his sumptuous royal palace, Lucy is blown away by his barbaric magnificence: he's king of the desert and his eyes are blacker and harder than before. He's not the man she once knew. She wants to run away from his overwhelming masculinity, but they're inextricably bound forever...for he is the father of her son.

Thoughts: So it was with much trepidation I approached this book - and I'd love to say I was proven wrong. That all the things I had thought about this genre of books was unfair, that I had misjudged. However, I can't. It was everything I feared - stereotypical, clichéd, trite, bland. Worse than all of that, it worries me that in the wrong hands, this book could be dangerous.
The main character Lucy was pathetic. Presumably a smart woman who is a successful physiotherapist, but is completely unable to foresee the consequences of telling the single, childless prince of a fictional Arab island that he has a son. Really? Never even considered what would happen if he wanted access? She then proceeds to allow him to bully and threaten her into giving access. 

I think you'll find I have far more resources than you to see I am granted custody. 

Add to that, she then allowed him to order her around like his possession, demanding she return to his home with the child, assuming it would happen. But that's all OK because she loves him and really it's best for the child!
As for Khaled, the prince - major god complex. Supreme being and ruler who not only expects but insists everyone bends to his rule, his desire. Just as well they do, would hate to imagine the tantrum if they didn't! Any time Lucy dares contradict him, challenge him, she is labeled willful and difficult. Apparently it's totally acceptable to tell the world's media that you are marrying someone before you even ask her. It's also ok to react as if this is not incredibly rude, disrespectful and wrong...am I missing something here??
Look, I don't mind a light read, a bit of romance, but there is so much better stuff our there - Marian Keyes for a start. Stuff that does not portray women as being somehow lost without a man and unable to discern the difference between a man who respects and loves her and one who just wants to control and own her. This is not romance, this is simply wrong.
It does worry me that other women are the ones writing these characters. That they think a woman who fell pregnant to a man during a two month relationship, a man who then left with no explanation, no way to contact him, raised the child alone for 3 years and was then totally dominated by the said man so easily, gave into his demands with barely a fight, is a woman that female readers will identify with. These authors seem unable to provide their peers with women who demand to be treated with respect, who cannot see their way past a hot body and smoldering eyes. And while calling it dangerous may seem a bit melodramatic, I do believe that in 2013 it is completely unnecessary and insulting.

As some of you would realise, this book was read as part of a challenge. Discussions on Facebook about which book I would read, led to me challenging one of my friends to read Contracted: Corporate Wife. In her voting comment, (scroll to the bottom of the comments to read Kirsty's) she described how she thought the plot would go. I figured she could read it to find out. As these things go, I then roped in another two girls to read the last two books. While it all started out as a bit of fun, I now really want them to read the books to find out if my assumptions made in review hold for all three or if it's just the crappy one I got stuck with. I cannot and will not read another so I am now relying on Kirsty, Miss Dove and Miss Car to do my research for me! Their prize - champagne...and me to drink it with! And as Kirsty at least knows from experience, I don't drink crappy champagne!

Cheers, girls!