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The Love-Child
NANNY WANTED
Prominent author, Pearce Tyrone, seeks nanny to care for adorable baby girl. Must be experienced and discreet. Must also be utterly trustworthy and have no connections with the press….
Unfortunately Cathy Fielding didn't comply with any of the required criteria—but she wasn't going to let a little thing like that stop her!
An enthusiastic reporter, Cathy was determined to uncover, once and for all, whether baby Poppy was really Pearce Tyrone's love-child. But what Cathy didn't reckon on was her growing and unprofessional interest in the man himself….
Prominent author, Pearce Tyrone, seeks nanny to care for adorable baby girl. Must be experienced and discreet. Must also be utterly trustworthy and have no connections with the press….
Unfortunately Cathy Fielding didn't comply with any of the required criteria—but she wasn't going to let a little thing like that stop her!
An enthusiastic reporter, Cathy was determined to uncover, once and for all, whether baby Poppy was really Pearce Tyrone's love-child. But what Cathy didn't reckon on was her growing and unprofessional interest in the man himself….
186 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 1998
About the author
Kathryn Ross
171 books46 followers Kathryn Ross is a professional beauty therapist, but writing is her first love. At thirteen she was editor of her school magazine and wrote a play for a competition, and won. Ten years later she was accepted by Mills & Boon, who were the only publishers she ever approached with her work. Kathryn lives in Lancashire, is married and has inherited two delightful stepsons. She has written over twenty novels now and is still as much in love with writing as ever and never plans to stop.
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Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews
January 23, 2019
Re The Love-Child - Kathryn Ross does the second book of the Nanny Wanted series and deluges us in a Typhoon of Tackiness.
If you have a problem with characters who are outright liars, I don't recommend this one. Everyone is pretty sleazy and tho the drama is highly entertaining, even Liberace would cover his gold sequined piano in shame over these people's behavior.
The h is a 27yr old newspaper journalist on vacation in the South of France when the story starts. She gets a call from her editor telling her that there is a famous writer who may or may not be the father of a famous actress's illegitimate child in residence right down the road.
Apparently the actress had a bad car accident in Paris and is currently in a coma, the baby was seen to be moved to the H's house and the editor tells the h that she has to get a story from the famous author or she will be fired.
The h is furious, but as there is a French airline strike on and nobody can get in or out of the country, the h reluctantly agrees to try. She goes to the H's house and is mistaken for the new nanny. The h deliberately plays along with the ruse, hoping to get some kind of story before she is discovered and thrown out.
The baby, Poppy, is a cute little plot moppet and takes to the h right away - the H is relieved since Poppy had been crying for hours prior to the h's arrival. The h gets Poppy settled and then goes to confront the H.
He is really demanding and snotty, with a list of the duties the h will have and all the while you get the feeling that he knows exactly who the h is and it is NOT the nanny. Of course the h gave her real name and so our deception on both sides begins.
The h is feeling the nigglings of attraction for the H and her treacherous body syndrome manages to overcome her ethics and her good sense. She takes pictures of Poppy and the house and then manages to insert a lot of questions about the H, Poppy's mother and Poppy's parentage.
The two of them continue to dance around each other as they have to help Poppy with teething and baby things. Then the H starts putting the lurve club attempts on the h - including kissing her in front of the besieging paparazzi to dispel the rumors that the H and the actress are a thing.
The h had managed to intercept the phone call from the real nanny agency saying the nanny had been delayed earlier, so she figures she has a week to get her story and get out. The H puts more pressure on the h for some passion moments the next day and the h uses the guise of not wanting to break up a real relationship to get more information from the H.
We also learn that this h has an ex boyfriend whom she fell in love with, until she found out he was cheating on her. So the h now is supposedly wary of men, but she falls into lust with the H fast enough to make me doubt that.
The whole thing comes to a big explosion when the H takes the h, his OW agent and her new boyfriend out for a day on his yacht. The OW agent's new boyfriend also happens to be the h's ex and he was sent by the h's editor to get pictures of the H, Poppy and whatever else he can dig up.
The h and the ex have a very tense exchange and the ex is all things slimy and gross. Then the ex starts complaining of sea sickness and he and the OW agent take off back to the dock. The H does a fairly crude seduction of the unicorn grooming h and then we all head back to the H's house.
The h realizes she has to confess all now and is gearing herself up. She believes she is in love, but she also knows the H hates liars. Before he was widowed many years ago, one of the things the H loved about his first wife was her honesty and he points that out at a few pertinent moments.
After we all get back to the H's house, the H lets the bomb drop that he knows who the h is and he knew an hour after she arrived. He kept her on because Poppy liked her and he wanted to get a leg over, it had been awhile for him and his lurve club needed an excursion and the h is blonde Barbie kinda hot.
The h leaves after a big fight and we learn that Poppy is the H's niece and the actress is his half sister - later it is revealed that the actress is the H's father's illegitimate child and Poppy's father is a famous politician. The h is broken hearted and decides not to write about the H or use any of the pictures she took.
She goes home to be berated by her editor and then she finds out she is preggers. Suddenly the H starts trying to arrange meetings with the h after several weeks go by and she hasn't written anything about him.
After a few futile attempts to force the h to meet him, the H corners her on the street and she tells him off and then lies and tells him she is back with her ex. The H corners her again at a party, with the help of the h's editor and his actress sister, and the H reveals that he knows she isn't with her ex because the ex is now with his OW agent.
They go back to his house and the H tries it on again. This time he claims he loves her and wants to marry her. The h is happy that the H loves her now and tells him about the baby and we leave the two of them ready to lurve it up for the big HEA.
This one was just tacky, tho the cat and mouse between the H and h was well done. I wasn't buying the love between them, but for a standard by the book tropy HP outing, it was an okay but with a very abrupt and dubious HEA.
An interesting side note to this book, (and to The Valentine Affair! that is later in this February 1998 HP month,) is that I do believe that these two books are the last HP's that use the undercover h reporter lying to get a story trope.
It was used fairly frequently in the early days of HPlandia and having a reporter h was a frequent job description whenever an HP author wanted to portray a more 'modern career girl' type of h. Reporter h's were huge with Charlotte Lamb, Patricia Wilson and Roberta Leigh had a few too.
But I think that the death of Princess Diana and the ensuing furor surrounding that back in August of 1997 may have soured readers on the 'sneaking around to get a story' reporter/journalistic tropes. I also suspect these two books were already written for the line and that was the only reason they got published.
Now future HP writers will have reporter h's in future books, but they are always doing 'sanctioned' interviews and get drawn into the H's realm by other mechanisms not involving them lying about their identity. There are even stories were the H kicks the h out of his life, because he mistakenly believes that the h is a reporter when she is not.
Other HQN lines, usually the suspense romances, will also have journalistic h's - but they will be fighting corruption or exposing murder and great pains are taken to emphasize that these h's are crusaders for justice and social causes.
In any event it will be almost seven years before we get another reporter h in HPlandia and her career is merely the tool that Helen Bianchin will use to get the H and h together, the h in The Spaniard's Baby Bargain could have been a gardener for all the effect her career had on the story.
So we leave behind the undercover reporter h lying to get a story trope with this month's HP selection - or at least it will be many, many years before we see it again. Such is the power of the Real World on the sometimes precarious shores of the ever changing HPlandia and you never know where the Real World current will suddenly pop up.
If you have a problem with characters who are outright liars, I don't recommend this one. Everyone is pretty sleazy and tho the drama is highly entertaining, even Liberace would cover his gold sequined piano in shame over these people's behavior.
The h is a 27yr old newspaper journalist on vacation in the South of France when the story starts. She gets a call from her editor telling her that there is a famous writer who may or may not be the father of a famous actress's illegitimate child in residence right down the road.
Apparently the actress had a bad car accident in Paris and is currently in a coma, the baby was seen to be moved to the H's house and the editor tells the h that she has to get a story from the famous author or she will be fired.
The h is furious, but as there is a French airline strike on and nobody can get in or out of the country, the h reluctantly agrees to try. She goes to the H's house and is mistaken for the new nanny. The h deliberately plays along with the ruse, hoping to get some kind of story before she is discovered and thrown out.
The baby, Poppy, is a cute little plot moppet and takes to the h right away - the H is relieved since Poppy had been crying for hours prior to the h's arrival. The h gets Poppy settled and then goes to confront the H.
He is really demanding and snotty, with a list of the duties the h will have and all the while you get the feeling that he knows exactly who the h is and it is NOT the nanny. Of course the h gave her real name and so our deception on both sides begins.
The h is feeling the nigglings of attraction for the H and her treacherous body syndrome manages to overcome her ethics and her good sense. She takes pictures of Poppy and the house and then manages to insert a lot of questions about the H, Poppy's mother and Poppy's parentage.
The two of them continue to dance around each other as they have to help Poppy with teething and baby things. Then the H starts putting the lurve club attempts on the h - including kissing her in front of the besieging paparazzi to dispel the rumors that the H and the actress are a thing.
The h had managed to intercept the phone call from the real nanny agency saying the nanny had been delayed earlier, so she figures she has a week to get her story and get out. The H puts more pressure on the h for some passion moments the next day and the h uses the guise of not wanting to break up a real relationship to get more information from the H.
We also learn that this h has an ex boyfriend whom she fell in love with, until she found out he was cheating on her. So the h now is supposedly wary of men, but she falls into lust with the H fast enough to make me doubt that.
The whole thing comes to a big explosion when the H takes the h, his OW agent and her new boyfriend out for a day on his yacht. The OW agent's new boyfriend also happens to be the h's ex and he was sent by the h's editor to get pictures of the H, Poppy and whatever else he can dig up.
The h and the ex have a very tense exchange and the ex is all things slimy and gross. Then the ex starts complaining of sea sickness and he and the OW agent take off back to the dock. The H does a fairly crude seduction of the unicorn grooming h and then we all head back to the H's house.
The h realizes she has to confess all now and is gearing herself up. She believes she is in love, but she also knows the H hates liars. Before he was widowed many years ago, one of the things the H loved about his first wife was her honesty and he points that out at a few pertinent moments.
After we all get back to the H's house, the H lets the bomb drop that he knows who the h is and he knew an hour after she arrived. He kept her on because Poppy liked her and he wanted to get a leg over, it had been awhile for him and his lurve club needed an excursion and the h is blonde Barbie kinda hot.
The h leaves after a big fight and we learn that Poppy is the H's niece and the actress is his half sister - later it is revealed that the actress is the H's father's illegitimate child and Poppy's father is a famous politician. The h is broken hearted and decides not to write about the H or use any of the pictures she took.
She goes home to be berated by her editor and then she finds out she is preggers. Suddenly the H starts trying to arrange meetings with the h after several weeks go by and she hasn't written anything about him.
After a few futile attempts to force the h to meet him, the H corners her on the street and she tells him off and then lies and tells him she is back with her ex. The H corners her again at a party, with the help of the h's editor and his actress sister, and the H reveals that he knows she isn't with her ex because the ex is now with his OW agent.
They go back to his house and the H tries it on again. This time he claims he loves her and wants to marry her. The h is happy that the H loves her now and tells him about the baby and we leave the two of them ready to lurve it up for the big HEA.
This one was just tacky, tho the cat and mouse between the H and h was well done. I wasn't buying the love between them, but for a standard by the book tropy HP outing, it was an okay but with a very abrupt and dubious HEA.
An interesting side note to this book, (and to The Valentine Affair! that is later in this February 1998 HP month,) is that I do believe that these two books are the last HP's that use the undercover h reporter lying to get a story trope.
It was used fairly frequently in the early days of HPlandia and having a reporter h was a frequent job description whenever an HP author wanted to portray a more 'modern career girl' type of h. Reporter h's were huge with Charlotte Lamb, Patricia Wilson and Roberta Leigh had a few too.
But I think that the death of Princess Diana and the ensuing furor surrounding that back in August of 1997 may have soured readers on the 'sneaking around to get a story' reporter/journalistic tropes. I also suspect these two books were already written for the line and that was the only reason they got published.
Now future HP writers will have reporter h's in future books, but they are always doing 'sanctioned' interviews and get drawn into the H's realm by other mechanisms not involving them lying about their identity. There are even stories were the H kicks the h out of his life, because he mistakenly believes that the h is a reporter when she is not.
Other HQN lines, usually the suspense romances, will also have journalistic h's - but they will be fighting corruption or exposing murder and great pains are taken to emphasize that these h's are crusaders for justice and social causes.
In any event it will be almost seven years before we get another reporter h in HPlandia and her career is merely the tool that Helen Bianchin will use to get the H and h together, the h in The Spaniard's Baby Bargain could have been a gardener for all the effect her career had on the story.
So we leave behind the undercover reporter h lying to get a story trope with this month's HP selection - or at least it will be many, many years before we see it again. Such is the power of the Real World on the sometimes precarious shores of the ever changing HPlandia and you never know where the Real World current will suddenly pop up.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
July 22, 2019
Lots of lies but not enough angst for me,thus 2,5 stars.
May 13, 2018
2 Stars
I wavered between 1 and 2 Stars because the book was a teeny bit interesting and I kinda felt sorry for the characters. I opted for the 2 because the baby, Poppy, was cute.
It took a bit of work to finish the book. The story was as stale as day old toast and just as difficult to swallow.
Cathy is a journalist who has to be the most incompetent one on the planet. How do you go undercover using your own name?!
Pearce seemed like a playboy but turned out to be ok, I guess. He wasn’t very interesting. Yeah, there were questions about whether he was Poppy’s father, but other than that, he was “meh”.
The story was unseasoned chicken. It was bland. I did not believe that these two were sexually attracted to each other. The one sex scene on the hatch was so vague that I had to re-read it before I realized what it was.
I need to create a shelf named “I demand a refund!” Cause I really do. This one wasn’t worth the $3.99 plus tax!
I wavered between 1 and 2 Stars because the book was a teeny bit interesting and I kinda felt sorry for the characters. I opted for the 2 because the baby, Poppy, was cute.
It took a bit of work to finish the book. The story was as stale as day old toast and just as difficult to swallow.
Cathy is a journalist who has to be the most incompetent one on the planet. How do you go undercover using your own name?!
Pearce seemed like a playboy but turned out to be ok, I guess. He wasn’t very interesting. Yeah, there were questions about whether he was Poppy’s father, but other than that, he was “meh”.
The story was unseasoned chicken. It was bland. I did not believe that these two were sexually attracted to each other. The one sex scene on the hatch was so vague that I had to re-read it before I realized what it was.
I need to create a shelf named “I demand a refund!” Cause I really do. This one wasn’t worth the $3.99 plus tax!
Did Not Finish
August 4, 2026nevermind.
December 24, 2014
I really liked the book until the end. It really disappointed me. The characters were enjoyable and as well as the story.
Read
September 20, 2017"'Hush, my darling, I love you...everything will be fine'" (186). Oh good. It turns out that's all that was needed for everything to be fine (just fine)
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Displaying 1 - 6 of 6 reviews