LynneC’s review of Yuletide Baby Surprise by Catherine Mann
Contemporary Romance published by Harlequin Desire 1 Oct 13
This book is a Christmas read that isn’t fill of snow and Santas. Instead, it is set in a hot place and most of the action takes place in a hotel.
The heroine, Princess Mari, is the heir to a small African state but is also a scientist who spends her time working in her chosen profession rather than doing princess things. It means that she is sometimes bothered by the press. It’s in order to avoid said press that she pretends to be staff at the hotel and delivers a service cart to a suite which incidentally is occupied by Rowan, her nemesis and rival.
Rowan’s a handsome doctor philanthropist and also a secret member of the Alpha Brotherhood, Interpol secret agents. When I started the book I didn’t realize I was reading another of those, but luckily Interpol and the abusive man who runs the set up don’t feature very much in this book. It would be great if they did and the whole thing turned out to be a sinister plot concocted by the ex-head of the military reform school, but since that would make the heroes of the series into deluded patsies, I doubt that will happen. Sigh. I won’t labour the point. I’ve discussed the impossibility of such an organization happening before. So since I was well into the book by the time I realised, I just went with it.
Anyway, Mari unwittingly delivers a baby with Rowan’s food. Not in the midwife sense, in the postman (postperson?) sense. He’s a noted pediatrician, so a good choice for foster-Dad. She’s a geek. Not a very convincing one and I never really got a clear mental image of her.
They’re thrown together over the Christmas season with a baby to care for and to discover its mother. I didn’t get much sense of the African country where they both are, only descriptions of the place, but very little direct contact. A little preaching about the babies who are abandoned and generally have a bad deal in life.
Mari and Rowan don’t make a very charismatic or interesting couple. They argue far too much, and I’m not really feeling the connection between them. At one point they dance. To “Ave Maria”? I had to read that a few times. Is there somewhere that a sacred prayer is used as an opener to a ball? Other than the Vatican, I mean? And which version of “Ave Maria”? Verdi, Gounod, Schubert? Or maybe the one people recite in church on Sundays? It didn’t seem appropriate for a romantic dance where the hero and heroine are lusting after each other. And that’s putting it mildly. Probably the Schubert, since it doesn’t actually have the Hail Mary prayer, but Schubert would be revolving at a speed of knots in his grave if he discovered this use for it. One thing the “Ave Maria” is not, is a make-out song.
I do like that it is Rowan who is competent with the baby and not Mari. And I love that Mari is mixed race without that being the point or the focus of the story. She just is. But I’m not sure about the princess bit . It seems more of a distraction than anything else, and a chance to complicate the plot. It provids a bit of the action when Mari and Rowan have to dodge the media and a few unlikely scenes at the end when her parents unexpectedly turn up. I do wonder how her father could just drop his kingly schedule and show up at her hotel.
Despite his interesting career and background, Rowan isn’t a particularly memorable hero. Most of the story is in Mari’s POV. The plot distractions, the reason for them both being at the hotel are also barely touched on, except when they’re needed for plot purposes. There is also not much Christmas in this book. It could have happened at any time of year.
If you are into the alpha brotherhood series and you can believe in Interpol secret agents, then this is a solid entry. However, if you’re looking for a traditional Christmas read, you might be disappointed. Apart from the moppet, of course.
Grade: C-
Summary:
Tis the season to be jolly? It isn’t for Dr. Rowan Boothe when a princess on the run from the photo-hungry press invades his hotel room. He and Mariama Mandara had their professional clashes in the past, and Rowan has no desire to become involved in her latest predicament—until they discover an abandoned baby. Now he needs Mari’s help and soon discovers she’s no pampered royal but a desirable woman. Yet how long can their Christmas escape really last?
Read an excerpt.
