The Baby Contract

I really enjoyed Tierney and Brendan’s story in The Baby Contract by Nan Reinhardt, book four in her Four Irish Brothers Winery series. Firefighter and paramedic Tierney is a free spirit, but as she’s approached thirty-four she is ready to become a mother; hearing the ticking of her biological. Using a sperm bank, although expensive, is her best option since she’s not involved with anyone. Then she shares her dream with Brendan Flaherty, her brother’s best friend and now her pal/sounding board. Brendan is a government analyst and world traveler and returned home to help out at his family’s winery and his brother’s new community theater; as well as finally writing that novel running through his head. When Tierney tells him her plan, he turns the table offering to be her baby daddy; he wants her to marry him. They could create a marriage contract to protect themselves and each other. Marriage of convenience and siblings’ best friend are my favorite tropes, so I was definitely excited about this story. Brendan already has a wonderful support network of his brothers and their wives are already friends with Tierney. There shouldn’t be any problems keeping things compatible and sizzling for Brendan and Tierney; after all, it just might lead them to falling in love and starting a family. Ms Reinhardt wrote a wonderful and emotional story that is definitely not to be missed. She provided a tale rich with chemistry, amusing banter, and charming secondary characters helping to give Tierney and Brendan a chance for love, family and a future together. I highly recommend The Baby Contract to other readers. This is the first book in this series that I’ve read and now I have to go back and read the others. I voluntarily reviewed a complimentary copy of this book.

Author Nan Reinhardt has given us yet another wonderful read that kept me flipping the pages of the book from the front until it ended and I wished i simply had more. This was one of those books that I loved from the start. A best friends, to lovers to souls mates...it has all the feel goods one could want in a great read. Firefighter Tierney Ashton is strong yet feminine who is the last of her friends to be single and she feels the clock ticking. Brendan Flaherty is her best friend and was her brothers best friend as well before he died in the war. Brendan has returned home to his grandfather's cabin in River’s Edge, Indiana which happens to be part of the winery land. I enjoyed being about to fall in love with this couple as they moved their life and not only that, I was reminded of why I love love to take a trio to River's Edge and visit the Flaherty's Winery. This family has so much going for them and so much love to share. The Four Irish Brother's Winery series is one of the most enjoyable reads. I Review as a thank you to the author for gifting us her words.

Strong Heroine Becomes Wishy-Washy Something about this book just didn't ring true for me. Yes, I know it's fiction. But I still think characters should remain true to themselves (even if they have a growth arc). That didn't happen in this story. The hero and heroine are best friends before the idea of the “baby contract” comes in. (By the way, I would have loved to see the hammering out of that contract; we were just told about it later.) The heroine is a very self-assured early 30s woman who has triumphed in her career in a male-dominated field (as a firefighter). What she hasn't been able to accomplish includes a long-term romantic relationship with a man and even basic care of herself. She is very career driven. Yet, her biological clock is ticking, and she desperately wants to be a mother. She's been researching sperm banks as her preferred alternative. When she tells her best male friend, who happens to be her deceased brother’s best friend, he goes ballistic for some reason that I still don't understand and instead offers himself as her baby's father so long as they marry and attempt a true relationship. One thing that seemed strange to me about this book is the way her friends and family reacted to the sperm donor possibility. They all thought it was so wrong and for the same reasons. They each questioned if she was currently in a relationship and could go that route instead. Given what they would have known of her track record, it seems like that would be a worse choice. Honestly, if any of these people wanted to have issues with her being a parent, they should have focused on her seeming inability to even care for herself, as we first meet her when she crashes and falls asleep on the floor after a hard night of firefighting and she has nothing to eat in the house when she wakes up (which we find out later is normal for her). Her father's reaction to each step of the process seemed far too melodramatic for a man of his age. But where I thought she did not remain true to herself was in her interactions with the hero. She comes across as such a strong lady, and they are good friends at the start of this. But as soon as they fall into this other kind of relationship, she becomes wishy-washy and emotional. It just didn't seem true to what she was before. And she seemed to keep circling the same arguments and issues; it got repetitive. I was looking forward to the story from its description, but it ended up disappointing me. I received a free copy of this book, but that did not affect my review.