I'd never heard of Liz Fielding, and don't, in general, buy contemporary Harlequin Romance novels. However, browsing for free books for my Kindle, I saw this one and thought it sounded interesting.
'The Bride's Baby' is a fairly short novel, in the typical light 'Mills and Boon' style. Tom is a strong, attractive but angry male lead, and Sylvie is an intelligent, somewhat feisty heroine. The story opens when Sylvie, her heart beating fast, attempts to justify her enormous invoice for planning a wedding... which was cancelled at the last moment when the bride cried off.
I found the start of the book a bit slow-going and somewhat annoying, with rather too much introspection. The two main characters clash repeatedly, trying hard to resist the chemistry that is sparking between them... while becoming increasingly annoyed with each other. But while the writing is good, even plausible, I found the rapid viewpoint changes disconcerting, and the thoughts interspersed with speech and action to be rather unnecessary.
However the story begins to get more interesting when a celebrity magazine asks Sylvia to plan her own 'fantasy' wedding in aid of charity. And, naturally, there are a great many misunderstandings before the inevitable conclusion. There were also one or two unlikely coincidences, but I was involved enough in the storyline that they didn't worry me at the time; moreover, and I was surprised to find that some of the revelations near the end of the book to be quite moving.
I won't be rushing to buy other novels by this author... but if I see some in a charity shop, I will certainly consider them. On the whole I enjoyed this one rather more than I expected to; it was certainly worth persevering, and by the time I was half-way through it was very difficult to put down.
Review copyright Sue's Book Reviews, 26th February 2011
'The Bride's Baby' is a fairly short novel, in the typical light 'Mills and Boon' style. Tom is a strong, attractive but angry male lead, and Sylvie is an intelligent, somewhat feisty heroine. The story opens when Sylvie, her heart beating fast, attempts to justify her enormous invoice for planning a wedding... which was cancelled at the last moment when the bride cried off.
I found the start of the book a bit slow-going and somewhat annoying, with rather too much introspection. The two main characters clash repeatedly, trying hard to resist the chemistry that is sparking between them... while becoming increasingly annoyed with each other. But while the writing is good, even plausible, I found the rapid viewpoint changes disconcerting, and the thoughts interspersed with speech and action to be rather unnecessary.
However the story begins to get more interesting when a celebrity magazine asks Sylvia to plan her own 'fantasy' wedding in aid of charity. And, naturally, there are a great many misunderstandings before the inevitable conclusion. There were also one or two unlikely coincidences, but I was involved enough in the storyline that they didn't worry me at the time; moreover, and I was surprised to find that some of the revelations near the end of the book to be quite moving.
I won't be rushing to buy other novels by this author... but if I see some in a charity shop, I will certainly consider them. On the whole I enjoyed this one rather more than I expected to; it was certainly worth persevering, and by the time I was half-way through it was very difficult to put down.
Review copyright Sue's Book Reviews, 26th February 2011
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