Having her boss's baby

I guess there are spoilers below, but I'm not sure how anything in this story could be spoiled in any way, shape, or form.

My top 7 beefs with this book:

1. The male protagonist of the story is a video game designer named Brady Finn, who is dark-haired, attractive and can get any woman he wants (so he says). This may be my own stereotypes creeping in here, but this doesn't seem realistic. I'd believe a slightly nerdy but good-looking guy being the CEO of a video game company, but this character just seems like he's been transplanted from a Fortune 500 company and put into this scenario. Maybe it wouldn't seem like that if we were shown more about his character, rather than told. (See #4)

2. It doesn't occur to Brady Finn that Aine, our heroine, can't just stay an extra few weeks in the U.S. without calling home and telling her family where she is and what she's doing. She says something like, “That's how family works” or something, and he says, “I wouldn't know.” Really, Brady Finn? A bright guy like you doesn't understand how family works because you “don't have” a family?

3. The writing of this particular Irish vernacular and speech pattern really bugs me. It's just not necessary. I get why a writer might want to write Aine's voice in that way (i.e. it might show that she's from a small village in Ireland, which might read as SUPER Irish), but it just comes off as awkward and inauthentic. It's like that time when I had a friend who made a habit of imitating my mom's Filipino accent so inaccurately and so offensively. She really thought she was pulling it off and being funny, but what she was really doing was disrespecting my mom and my culture, and pissing me off.

4. Aine loves Brady? Really? Why? He's been nothing but a mediocre dude at best, and a real big dick at worst. We have been shown nothing that makes this guy even slightly lovable, and there is no chemistry between these two at all. We get a lot of backstory and a lot of the interior life (I guess) of these characters, but we don't see much of any interaction between them. We're told things a lot, and not shown – that's a basic creative writing 101 no-no. You can't just tell us there's tension/heat/chemistry between these two – you have to show us. It's also unacceptable to have the characters tell each other that they have heat/tension/chemistry without the receipts. Watching and experiencing the development of a relationship is what makes the whole thing enjoyable.

5. PLAN B, YOU GUYS. The answer to the whole premise of this book is so easy. It's not even like they have to decide between continuing a pregnancy or having an abortion. They just need to go get Plan B. There's no reason to “not worry until there's something to worry about.” Surely, one of these two characters can get their hands on some Plan B. There's just no fucking reason to play the wait-and-see game when a white dude with money and easy access to services is involved. COME ON.

6. The last half of the book is so non-descript, I'm too tired to write about it. Of course, Brady Finn flies to Ireland, finds out Aine is pregnant, and demands that she marry him. He says all these things like, “I had a right to know about the baby,” and I made notes that said things like, “No, Brady Finn, you actually don't have a right to know about the pregnancy because, a-you're a huge dick, and b-you could have solved this whole thing by going to the store post-coitus and GETTING PLAN B, you asshole.” She resists him with the force of a kitten, and then marries him. The end.

7. Now, I know what you're saying. Maybe Aine was just okay with being single mom, and I can buy that. She certainly said something like, “Would it be so bad to be pregnant and have this baby?” I would actually have adored that scenario and decision. I would have loved for her to say, “Brady Finn, that asshole. He can go to hell. I've always wanted a child, and this is my chance. I'm having this baby!” That's not what happened here though. It seems that she continued the pregnancy mainly to keep a link between her and Brady Finn, as a symbol of the love she could never express to him (a love that grew for no reason at all, as far as I'm concerned). What's so frustrating to me is that Aine is written with no agency or decision-making abilities at all. Sure, she talks back and “has a temper,” but she isn't written with any complexity that makes any sense.

I could write more – I'm that frustrated with this book – but I don't want my review/rant to be longer than the actual book itself. This is the third Harlequin Desire book I've read, and all three have irritated me to an equal degree. These plots are meant for a longer format – let them be longer books! I'm willing to bet that the storytelling would be better.

If you liked this book, and you somehow managed to read through this entire review, that's cool. Different strokes for different folks. This one was not my bag at all.