Beth has always lived in her outgoing sister’s shadow, plagued by her own insecurity about her body. It’s time for her to step out from the sidelines and experience what life has to offer—then she’s laid off from her teaching job, and has to rely on her sister to get her a job at Danvers International. Nick Merimon is gorgeous, wealthy, and a well-known playboy—just the sort of man Beth has always avoided. But even she can’t deny the sparks that are flying between them. He could be just the man to show her what she’s been missing all these years. And after they share one heart-stopping night together, she is surprised when it leads to a relationship. But as their connection grows, and the realities of their romance begin to show, Beth will have to overcome both her own insecurities and her doubts about Nick’s intentions if she’s ever going to find lasting happiness…

Beth finds out she’s pregnant after sleeping with Nick Merimon for months. She’s determined to raise the baby herself as she knows that Nick will be no help and will probably run when she tells him about the pregnancy. Beth sees Nick as a player even though he’s practically living with Beth. Nick is shocked about the pregnancy but is actually really excited. He wants to marry Beth and find a house together and she isn’t going for that at all. Nick needs to make her see and believe that he wants to be with her for the long haul and that takes a lot of work.

Beth was overweight when she was younger has eating issues because of her parents who were incredibly critical of her weight. She lost 100 pounds by skipping meals and eating very minimally. When she finds out she’s pregnant she doesn’t really think bout the weight gain until she finds out A) that she’s pregnant with twins and B) her pants don’t close any longer. She then takes it upon herself to make an effort to stay at the same weight – she lies about what and when she’s eaten, she hides food and skips meals constantly. When there’s a problem with the babies she soon gets a reality check but will it be enough to break her out of her self-induced food prison?

I think the overall story in this book was good. Having read a little bit about Beth and Nick in the previous book I was prepared for the pregnancy and was actually quite happy for the both of them. Nick, though he seemed like a player to Beth, was a really great guy and proved it time and time again. My issues with this book lie entirely with Beth. She was selfish, bitchy, sneaky, rude at times and I just didn’t like her. She was accusing Nick of being a player but she was the one who was on a dating site and going out on dates behind Nick’s back. I just wanted to smack her for most of the book. Now I understand that there are many women, and men for that matter, with eating disorders so that part of the story didn’t bother me so much, except when it pertained to her health and the health of her babies – then, again, I wanted to smack her.

I think if the story had been stronger that I may have given this one a higher rating because the story would have made up for Beth’s lack, but unfortunately while story was good, it wasn’t great. I do want to read what happens next in the series as I’m anxious to see what happens with Ella and Declan’s characters.

Rating: 3 out of 5

The Series:

Suzy Denton seems to have it all together. She loves her job as an event’s planner for Danvers International, and she loves her high school sweetheart and fiance Jeff. Fast forward a month and it’s all gone to hell in a hand-basket. She finds out Jeff’s dentist has been doing more than drilling his teeth, and Danvers is in the process of merging with Mericom creating the largest communications company in the US and also bringing Gray Merimon, the CEO of Mericom into her life.

Gray pursues her from almost their first meeting. Even though he looks like sex on a stick, Suzy is afraid of being hurt again, and she thinks Gray is just another stuffed shirt looking for a relationship. When he calls her bluff, Suzy agrees to one night of sex, hoping that he will be terrible in bed and she can finally get him out of her system.

When circumstances throw them together for more than one night, can Gray convince Suzy that two complete opposites can be a perfect fit?

Gray has had feelings for Suzy for a while but Suzy isn’t interested – at least that’s what she tells him. She’s secretly got the hots for him as well. When he moves to Myrtle Beach (where she lives) he’s determined to get her permanently. The most that Suzy agrees to is a date. When they’re on the date, however, they come to the conclusion that they should just sleep together and get the itch out of their systems. Of course Gray is just humoring Suzy as he has no plans to let her go. Unfortunately before they can go far an unfortunate accident has Suzy laid up with a broken ankle and lots of scrapes, bumps and bruises. Gray sets her up in the house he buys for them and Suzy finally admits she loves Gray. They are on their way to their HEA when a woman from Gray’s past stirs up trouble and has Suzy doubting in their “meant to be.”

In this story we don’t have romance so much as Suzy seeing what a wonderful person due to his actions and the care he takes of Suzy while she’s laid up. He really is very sweet and even I was impressed with his devotion. Suzy is reluctant to admit her feelings at first because of her previous boyfriend who cheated on her but even she sees that she held herself back from that relationship. She eventually finds that she wants to give Gray everything.

Then there was Reva. Reva was a girl who Gray went on a couple of dates with and then slept with while he was trying to tell himself that he really didn’t want Suzy. This was BEFORE they started dating but Reva has been stalking him for months. After Suzy finds out about it she decides that they are going to get rid of Reva together. When they see her though she says that the baby bump she’s sporting it Gray’s. He’s floored and Suzy leaves him in Charleston to deal with Reva as she thinks he needs to think things over. Now, I’m not saying that this was a bad idea but I thought that Gray needed to show more attention at that point to Suzy than to Reva. Yes, he should have shown concern for her – especially if she actually was having his child but the way he treated Suzy after that pissed me off so badly I had a hard time with it. After the tenderness and devotion he’s shown Suzy before, the fact that he actually blew her off later in the story (his claims that it was too late at night was complete BS to me) put him in the major doghouse. The eventual explanation from different characters was just not enough for me at that point.

The story was cute and a decent read but unfortunately had a hero I couldn’t love and that brought the rating way down.

Rating: 3 out of 5

The Series: