Tracy’s review of Black Ties and Lullabies by Jane Graves
A good girl can be bad for one night… Bernadette Hogan doesn’t make mistakes. Not when it comes to caring for her mother, and not at her job protecting Texas’s most eligible–and infuriating–bachelor. Maybe that’s why she’s overcome with guilt after one tiny indiscretion: a passionate fling with her boss that’s left her confused, intrigued…and pregnant, but can a bad boy be good for a lifetime?
To self-made millionaire Jeremy Bridges, women are like fine wine: if held for too long, they sour. But one wild night with Bernadette changed all that. She makes him laugh, she makes him think, and soon she’s going to make him a father. For the first time, Jeremy wants to be a one-woman man. So how can he convince the fiercely independent Bernadette he’s ready to change from partying playboy to dependable dad–and become the loving husband she deserves?
Bernie is Jeremy’s bodyguard. She dresses in an understated way in order to divert attention from herself and to blend into a crowd and since she’s no raving beauty her mode of dress doesn’t exactly flatter her. She finds herself split in her thoughts about Jeremy. On one hand she finds him attractive and on the other she is disgusted with his playboy attitude and his constant picking up of blond bimbos (as she thinks of them.) Jeremy likes having Bernie as his bodyguard and verbally spars with her on a regular basis. He really doesn’t notice her at all except to think that she’s just Bernie – nothing special in the looks department.
After a robbery attempt Bernie and Jeremy end up in the safe room in his house waiting for the all clear from the police. Bernie had tried to warn Jeremy that the woman he was taking home seemed suspicious and not necessarily just after Jeremy’s body but NOOOO, Jeremy ignores her and they end up being shot at. Bernie, who is normally the calm, cool and collected one finally pops. She is madder than she’s ever been and not only quits her job but starts telling Jeremy exactly what she thinks of him. They end up having good ole anger fueled sex and lo and behold…Bernie ends up pregnant.
Bernie has to confront Jeremy about the pregnancy which she doesn’t want to do. She goes to great pains to try to get him to sign legal documents giving up his rights to the child, but Jeremy surprises her and refuses to sign. She is shocked – especially when Jeremy starts to show that he does care about something other than business and sex. Bernie gets to see a whole new side of Jeremy and what she sees she likes but his controlling nature and over protectiveness just might send her over the edge.
Black Ties and Lullabies gives us the tried and true premise of the one night stand getting pregnant and the baby parents having to deal with not only the impending birth but the fact that they are now joined in some way…forever. This story, however, gave us a different little twist in that Bernie is just not your typical woman. She is ex-military and is lethal. She’s never been a girly girl, much to her mother’s dismay, and she just never even thought about pregnancy. Maybe in her dreams she thought of husband and family but never really thought it could happen as she just wasn’t the type. I liked that we got to see this tough but sensitive woman learning how to deal with all of the ins and outs of pregnancy and what happens after the baby’s born.
Jeremy was kind of an ass. We find that a lot of his assedness and controlling attitude was due to his upbringing by an alcoholic father but he contributed quite a lot to it himself…at the beginning of the book. I very much enjoyed seeing Jeremy come to terms with the fact that he was going to be a father. He was scared. Thinking that he could screw things up with his own kid really made him try to be a better person and growth is something I always enjoy seeing in my characters. I also liked the humor that Bernie and Jeremy’s characters had. The sarcasm as well as laugh out loud funny parts were a bonus.
While the story isn’t fast paced it did have a consistency to it that I loved. I didn’t think there was really a slow part to it, it just kept being a good book.
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
You can read more from Tracy at Tracy’s Place
This book is available from Forever Publishing. You can buy it here or here in e-format.
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