Review: Black Ties and Lullabies by Jane Graves.

Rowena’s review of Black Ties and Lullabies by Jane Graves.

Hero: Jeremy Bridges
Heroine: Bernadette “Bernie” Hogan

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?

I’m all about the contemporary romance. I love them and I haven’t read too many Jane Graves books but man do I need to change that because I adored this book. One of my all time favorite heroes is Ben Lewis from Heart of Fire by Linda Howard. I love him because he didn’t take himself too seriously, he could hold his own in a bar fight and he could tangle with the bulkiest of them but he was flirty spice and a total playboy. I adore him and Jeremy Bridges reminded me of the kind of hero Ben Lewis was so of course, I loved the hell out of him.

Bernie is a bodyguard and her boss is Jeremy Bridges, an ultra rich playboy who has too much money at his disposal. He goes through girls like water and Bernie is pretty disgusted with his lifestyle. He’s a playboy who dates only bimbos and never puts himself out there for a real relationship with a real woman. She, on the other hand, is too serious for her own good and could do with a night on the town to let loose every once and a while. Jeremy doesn’t take anything seriously and Bernie takes everything seriously and one night, the fireworks explode between them which in turn leaves Bernie pregnant.

Watching as these two fought their attraction to each other and then fought each other at every turn made for a great contemporary romance. Graves did a wonderful job of making me laugh, making me care for all of the characters in this book and making my eyebrows rise at the steamy romance between Jeremy and Bernie. I loved that Bernie helped Jeremy realize that letting people in for more than a day wasn’t going to kill him and I loved that she helped him realize that he couldn’t throw money at everyone and expect them to bend to his will. With Jeremy, I was glad that he was able to show Bernie that she could let her guard down and count on someone other than herself and the world wouldn’t end. Graves did a great job of showing the reader that both of these characters had something to learn from each other and it made for a more engaging story that I really enjoyed.

Jeremy was a fantastic hero, one that I want for myself. He made me laugh, he made sigh and he really made me want to track him down and have my merry way with him. His character didn’t feel fake to me and I appreciated Graves efforts in making him normal and real. I wanted to get to know him more with each page and more than anything, I wanted him to get his happy ending.

Same with Bernie. She could have easily been one of those heroines that was too uptight to be any fun but she wasn’t. She was the right amount of serious and the right amount of fun to make an interesting character and I really enjoyed getting to know her. I enjoyed seeing the many people she had in her life and the many people who loved her, seeing her open up to Jeremy was a great part of reading this story.

The story itself was enjoyable. Seeing just how different both Jeremy and Bernie were and watching them realize how much they liked each other was fun. I’d definitely recommend this book to fans of Jane Graves work but also to fans of contemporary romance, this is a definite keeper for me.

Grade: 4.5 out of 5.

This book is available from Grand Central Publishing. You can buy it here or here in e-format.

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