Claiming His Pregnant Wife

Sara Nakayama / Kim Lawrence – Harlequin – 2011 – 1 volume

And because A Most Suitable Wife, the last Harlequin book I read, was such a nice story, I decided to try one that was more blatant about emotional exploitation. With a title like this, there is a certain amount of drama that is guaranteed. 120 pages worth, in fact.

On page one, we meet Erin, an American tourist lost in Italy. Two or so pages later, we meet Francesco, an Italian man on horseback whose help Erin turns down for fear of being taken advantage of. Things happen, and a few days later, Francesco (who is, of course, a rich Italian banker) and Erin are married. Erin comments on the whirlwind nature of their marriage, but she loves him, so it’s cool, right? Not so much. On one of their first big outings, Erin suspects Francesco of cheating on her, then suddenly realizes that she knows nothing about her new husband. So she leaves him. As the title suggests, she’s also pregnant. Oh, how will things work out from here?

Unlike A Most Suitable Wife, I disliked both Erin and Francesco this time around, and I also had trouble getting into and “relating” to their relationship, since my brain rejects five-day courtships on principle. And… the art was a little more spare and slightly less distinctive than the one I just read, “A Most Suitable Wife.”

But yeah, I still like a big heap of drama every now and again. And… yeah, other than to say “I liked it, but not as much as some,” I really have nothing to say about this. I have a hard time critiquing Harlequin books. They’re short, there’s not much to them, and that’s how it’s supposed to be. Like the plot summary? Odds are that the book will be exactly what you’re expecting.