Baby Out of the Blue

This book was read as an Advance Reading Copy (ARC) provided for free by the publisher.

Book: Baby Out of the Blue

Author: Rebecca Winters

Rating:  M (for Mature Audiences – nothing that you would find in your run of the mill romance novel)

Bookshelves: 2012, baby, death, Greece, Harlequin, infertility, romance

Begun: December 21, 2012

Finished: December 22, 2012

Media Type: eBook (read on Kindle app on Nexus 7)

Setting: Greece

Characters: Fran Myers, Kellie Petralia, Leandros Petralia, Nik Angelis

Synopsis: Fran and her closest friend Kellie are traveling through Greece when a freak thunderstorm, complete with tornados, hits their region and they are forced to take refuge in a roadside hotel instead of traveling through to their destination (a hotel owned by Kellie’s Greek husband Leandros Petralia). The next morning as word travels through the breakfasting guest about the tornados, Fran finds a baby just lying in the shrubs next to the patio. She’s rushed to hospital and it’s discovered that she is the only surviving member of the Angelis family who were staying at the hotel that Fran and Kelly were supposed to have travelled to … twelve miles up the road. Swept up in the tornados, Demi was put down at the feet of a woman who needed some love and affection but will she be able to help the baby out when her very handsome uncle, Nik Angelis, comes to bring her home from the hospital?

Review: The plot beats you over the head with the knowledge that Fran didn’t have a child with her ex-husband and Kellie is allergic to Leandros’ sperm (which is literally spelled out for you in vivid detail – too much information – simply telling the reader that she had an allergy would have been enough but Winters goes into detail about the rash etc – TMI!!). Its like: I get it. These women are not exactly happy in their current relationship situations BUT they are so passive about it. I hope that Kellie’s book gives the woman some backbone because I came to despise her as the book went on! She gives a new meaning to the word “weak!” I think that Fran was pretty indesive and easily swayed too. One minute she doesn’t want to stay on as Demi’s nanny (or whatever) and the next she doesn’t want to leave. The girl needs a brain and needs to learn how to use it! And, truthfully, I’m usually not a fan of Rebecca Winters but this novel wasn’t half bad (much better than other novels by her that I’ve read).

In my opinion, this book gets:

2 out of 5 stars

Nutcracker Prince

Nutcracker Prince by Rebecca Winters


My rating: 2 of 5 stars
Oh Rebecca Winters. *sigh* you lost me as a fan a couple of books before. Her novels are so formulaic that I tend to pick them up, read the back and go "oh, this is just like (insert the name of any of her books here). I doubt that I will find myself returning to read anything new of hers in the future unless my library is seriously lacking in new reading material!

Meg was just a seventeen year old girl the first time she went to Russia and was hauled into KGB custody because she gave a Russian national a pair of her sunglasses not knowing that it was considered a crime. That's where she met Konstantine, a KGB agent who took personal interest in the girl.

It wasn't until she returned to Russia six years later as a twenty-three year old that she saw him again. Meg lost her heart to the dark haired stranger. But it wasn't until she returned stateside that she realized she was carrying his child.

Now a single mother, Meg is flummoxed when Kon pops back into her and her daughter's life stating that he is going to marry Meg and start a good old fashioned American family with dogs and a white picket fence.

Meg hardly believes that Kon, the man who rose so fast in the rankings of the KGB, would have defected from his beloved motherland of Russia and turned traitor against the government. Even when her Senator calls Meg personally to insure her of Kon's genuine "American-ness," she still fells that he's only here to take their daughter and flee back to Russia.

Rebecca Winters doesn't do a very good job of instilling any emotion into her writing. The characters are very flat and come off as condescending at points. When Kon finally gets Meg to marry him for their daughter's sake, he still remains emotionally distant even when Meg takes the time to try to get him to open up to her. And then he runs away ... three weeks pass and he just appears back at the house (Meg has been beside herself all this time with longing and love for the man that she could hardly stand until he took off) with his long lost mother who doesn't speak a word of English but instantly loves her granddaughter.

Really, Rebecca Winters, you need to take some time to build the emotion, build the characters, hell ... build the plot. Until then ... I'm giving up on you.

View all my reviews >>