The Pregnant Bride

The Pregnant Bride - Catherine Spencer Jilted bride is consoled by hero whom she just met at her honeymoon hotel & has 1-night-stand with him. He leaves her the next day without a note & she was told by hotel receptionist that his wife called him home. He tracks her down 2 months later at her doorstep to see if she's recovered from being jilted & to explain that the reason he left her after their 1 night was due to an emergency with his young daughter. Hero says goodbye when heroine shows that she's ok from her wedding deal & doesn't seem like he desires to pursue a romantic r/s with heroine at all. Heroine doesn't tell him about her pregnancy b/c she's unsure about him. When she does decide to do so, he responds like a jerk but comes back the next day to apologize & proposes marriage for the sake of getting full custody of his daughter & for their unborn child, a matter that heroine will become a challenge during their marriage.

Spencer writes well & made this a fairly quick read. Her characters are believable & realistic. I didn't like the hero much b/c he was manipulative & controlling. He was sweet to heroine when she was needy & had problems that didn't include him but acted like a jerk at other times, esp when she told him she was pregnant with his baby. He was obsessed with gaining full custody of his daughter & manipulated situations to make his ex-wife & her current husband sound like unfit parents. Heroine had her flaws too but she showed strength & good judgment by standing up for what she thought was right, when she realizes how hero was manipulating the custody situation. Although hero did apologize for his actions in the end, their HEA is dependent on hero showing continued change re: his controlling & manipulative ways.

Recommended for realistically-flawed relationship but not for a strong Happily-Ever-After (HEA).