PREGNANCY PROPOSAL

Author: Tessa Radley ISBN: 9780373769148 12/2008 CONTEMPORARY Publisher: SILHOUETTE

His late brother's fiancée was pregnant with a Saxon heir. Yet Amy Wright thought she could just leave town? Not even the black sheep of the mighty Saxons would allow that. So Heath Saxon propositioned Amy: avoid illegitimacy for her baby by marrying him. Convincing her wasn't easy—until he showed her what a night as his wife would be like. But Amy has a very big secret about the Saxon baby. About just who the father really is.…

RRAH's THOUGHTS AND PONDERINGS:

Enjoy seeing far-away locations and learning about unusual professions? PREGNANCY PROPOSAL, set on a winery in Hawkes Bay on the coast of New Zealand just might be the escapist romance you’re looking for. Interesting, with characters who seem like ordinary people in fairly common circumstances, it pulls the reader into the heroine’s dilemma and poses the question: just how far would a woman go in order to protect the memory of a lover as well as the future of her unborn child? Pretty far, it seems, in Tessa Radley’s passionate tale.

Amy and Heath have a history together that colors every exchange they have, even years later. She remembers when he was nicknamed the Black Saxon, a label that came from his constant scrapes, bad-boy image and endless blackened eyes from the fistfights he dove into. She remembers, too, the way he makes her heart thud. When they are thrown together there is no denying the attraction between them. After learning about Amy’s condition, Heath propositions her—a proposal that pulls Amy further into an emotional tangle she can hardly straighten out in her own mind, let alone in the eyes of those surrounding her.

While the characters drive Lamborghinis and discuss wine-making the way the rest of us drive SUVs and talk gardening, they are still realistic and recognizable enough that readers can identify with them. I enjoyed this story, and felt pulled into Amy’s decision-making process. I knew what I would do in her place—but wondered just how she would work it all out. Nicely done!

Kay James