Project: Runaway Bride

Project: Passion #2

by Heidi Betts

USA TODAY bestselling author Heidi Betts continues her Project: Passion series with a runaway bride's big baby secret!

Handbag designer Juliet Zaccaro should be walking down the aisle, so why is she running out of the church instead? Because she just found out she's pregnant, and not by her cruel, distant fiance! Now it's up to private investigator Reid McCormack to bring her home. But once he finds her, he'll make sure she doesn't go back to her fiance--especially since the baby she's carrying might just be Reid's! Even as Juliet denies their explosive chemistry, can Reid convince her that there's more between them than a baby bump?

Genres: Romance, Harlequin, Contemporary Romance, Category Romance

192 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published November 1, 2013

About the author

USA Today bestselling author Heidi Betts is the daughter of an Arabian sheik and a Las Vegas showgirl, as well as the heiress to the Chocolate is Better Than Sex Candy Company fortune. Because of this, she eats chocolate in all its many delicious forms for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and in-between snacks . . . without ever gaining an ounce on her perfect five-foot-nine, size zero figure.

Each and every one of her breathtaking, award-winning novels has been adapted to film and gone on to become a phenomenal box office smash, featuring such mega-stars as Hugh Jackman and Sandra Bullock, Tom Cruise and Julia Roberts, and Harrison Ford and Charlize Theron.

Heidi readily admits that she is only able to write such passionate love stories because of her real-life happily-ever-after romance with superstar actor Dwayne Johnson, who makes every day a fairy tale. When she’s not writing or making hot, toe-curling love with her “Rock” of a husband, Heidi can often be found riding naked on horseback (a la Lady Godiva) along the beaches of Malibu or hobnobbing with the rich and famous on Martha’s Vineyard.

If you’d like to experience your own perfect, idyllic life just like Heidi Betts, be sure to take the little purple pill. (Not the red one. Never the red one.)

Read more about Heidi's current and upcoming releases at her website: www.HeidiBetts.com

Chat with Heidi at her "WIPs and Chains" blog: www.HeidiBetts.com/WIPsandChains

And visit Heidi on Twitter (@HeidiBetts), Facebook (/FansofHeidiBetts), & Pinterest (/TheHeidiBetts)

Reviews

[Susan · Rating 4 out of 5]

Good book. Juliet has always been the "good" girl of the family. So even though she has her doubts, she's all dressed in her wedding finery ready to marry her fiance, rather than cause trouble by previously ending the engagement. Until she takes a pregnancy test and discovers she's pregnant - and the baby isn't her fiance's. So she runs, hoping to have a little time to decide what to do. Reid is the PI sent by her sisters to find her and bring her home, not knowing that Reid and Juliet have been having a hot and heavy affair. It doesn't take him long to track her down. What he doesn't expect is to find out about his impending fatherhood!

I really liked Reid. He has some trust issues thanks to a previous relationship, but he is a good guy at heart. He first met Juliet during Lily's book (Project: Runaway Heiress) where he felt an immediate attraction to her. He knew of her engagement so he tried very hard to keep their meetings on a professional level, until the day he saw signs of physical abuse. I loved his protectiveness that day as he escorted her home to be sure she was safe. That was also the beginning of their secret get togethers, first as friends but then escalating into lovers. It was easy to see that Reid was falling hard for Juliet, but was resisting because of not wanting to risk his heart again. Finding out she was pregnant brought out that protectiveness again, but he has some trouble convincing Juliet of their need to be together when he won't admit that his heart is involved. I loved the ending and seeing him lay it all out for her.

I liked Juliet overall, but had trouble with some of her actions. I couldn't understand why she stayed engaged to Paul after the abuse started. I was glad when she broke it off to be with Reid, but totally stunned by her idiocy in breaking it off with Reid and going back to Paul. I don't care how much trouble it will cause the families she shouldn't have done it! I was glad to see her run when she did. I liked the flashbacks of her history with Reid, but I really wanted to smack her. To break things off with Reid because it wouldn't "look right" for her to be with him right after breaking things off with Paul was stupid and selfish. I completely understood how that would make Reid angry. Especially since Juliet knew she didn't love Paul during the time she and Reid were together, and that she was falling for Reid. By the time Reid found her after the non-wedding she had accepted her feelings for him. His marriage proposal just reminds her that she doesn't want another marriage without love. I did like the way that she was going to make sure he was fully a part of the baby's life. I also liked the way she started to take control of her life by telling her family the truth. She finally became someone I could admire by the end of the book. Now I'm really looking forward to Zoe's story.

[Saly · Rating 2 out of 5]

Honestly, on any normal day I would have given the book 3 stars but I have lost my patience with stupid heroines. She breaks it off with her stuffy abusive fiancee, has a thing with the hero, then breaks it off to fulfill her family's desires by agreeing to marry that toad again. Of course on her wedding day she realises she is pregnant and runs again. Honestly, I had no patience with her.

[Andrea Lujano · Rating 3 out of 5]

Protagonistas: Juliet & Reed

Profesiones: Diseñadora de Bolsos & Empresario/Detective

Pais: USA

[Paula Legate · Rating 3 out of 5]

Juliet pulled me right into the story. She was about to walk down the aisle, and get married. She took a pregnancy after she already had on her wedding dress. The stick turned blue. Her fiancé, and she had called off the wedding for a few months. Her fiancé had become abusive. After Juliet broke it off, she had a hot and steamy affair with Reid. Everyone was pressuring her to go through with the wedding. A lot of time and effort goes into any wedding. She thought she was doing the right thing when she told Reid goodbye, and made plans to go through with the wedding to her fiancé. When the stick turned blue, she knew it was Reid's baby that she was carrying. She had no choice but to run. Her sisters, hired Reid who was a private investigator to find Juliet. The plot itself was good.

There was a lot of inner dialogue throughout the story. Some inner dialogue is good throughout most books. In this story however, it was like we read every thought that they were thinking about. I have to admit, I struggled to keep reading the book in some places throughout the story, with more inner dialogue, and a plot that was moving at a snail's pace.

Going from the past, to the present was like a watching a tennis match. I understand letting the reader know about important events that took place in the past to make the story better. I just thought it was annoying that the story went from past, to present, and back to the past.

[HÜLYA · Rating 3 out of 5]

Heidi Betts yıldızımın bir türlü barışamadığı yazarlardan..Rachel Gibson ile şeytanın bacağını kırdıktan sonra sıra bu yazarda dedim ama yine de çok çok sevemedim bu hikayeyi.Yine de fena değildi hakkını verelim doğrusu..
Başka bir erkekten hamile kalan nişanlı bir genç kız bunu evlendiği gün öğrenince ne olur?...Merak ediyorsanız tevsiye ederim....

[Vanessa · Rating 3 out of 5]

The order of flashbacks and the different focuses, perceptions and poor communication of this couple at times made the flow of the story choppy.

[Marielis Villasana · Rating 4 out of 5]

Lectura entretenida

Ideal para pasar una tarde de relajación y de lectura, fácil, entretenida y romántica para salir de un bloqueo lector

[Yazmin · Rating 4 out of 5]

In Project: Runaway Bride by Heidi Betts, Juliet Zaccarro is about to walk down the aisle, but as she is getting ready for her wedding, her suspicions that she is not trying to get over a bug but that she is in fact pregnant cannot be put away any longer. She has been on denial and had not wanted to take a test that would change all her plans, but she needs to know if she is pregnant before she gets married. Only once the test results are positive she has a decision to make, walk down the aisle and be the good girl doing what her parents and other people expect from her, or run away and make a new plan for her and her baby, especially since the baby’s father is not the man she is about to marry.

Reid McCormack doesn’t know what to do about the Zaccaro sisters anymore. Ever since Lily Zaccaro (from Project Runaway Heiress) hired him to investigate about someone stealing her designs and going undercover herself, which lead to her sister Juliet hiring him to find Lily and making things beyond complicated since he could not tell her where Lily was or what she was doing. Since then he has not been able to get rid of them.

Now he is sulking in his office on a Saturday, as Juliet is about to marry another man, trying to forget about her and to keep himself from going after her and stopping he wedding. But then Lily and her sister Zoe show up in his office, when they should be at Juliet’s wedding, asking him to find Juliet since she ran away from her own wedding and nobody knows where she is.

Well Reid has his own reasons for going to look for Juliet and wanting to make sure that she is okay after that, but none that any of Juliet’s family knows about. For Juliet and Reid had an affair, one he thought could lead to the happiness of a family and a white picket fence that he turned his back on a while back, only to have her break things off with him to return to her fiancé right before he was about to ask her for forever.

But things are not as clear cut as either of them thought, Reid has a past that he had not told anyone about, his reason for not wanting serious relationships before Juliet came into his life. To make matters worst, Juliet’s actions about not being seen in public with him and always going incognito to his place just made things more complicated. Like either he was not good enough for her or that he was only an affair she was not planning on taking to the next level. So when he finds out that he is going to be a father he will not be kept away from his child no matter what she says.

Juliet has not been upfront with her family about many things, she always tried to be the good girl and did what everyone wanted and expected from her. Which left her keeping her own wants and needs hidden, the same way she hid her relationship with Reid. But now they have a baby on the way, and they both need to decide on how to move from there. Something that will not be easy until they learn and open up about their true feelings and what they really want deep inside.

I loved Runaway Bride, Juliet and Reid were hot to read about. I really liked how it all began with Reid looking after Juliet even before their affair started, and the way he reacts to something that she has not told or admitted to anyone, and is trying to hide, but he knows that is happening just from looking at her is just so sweet and hot. I wasn’t very happy that many of the hot scenes that happened in the past between them were in flashbacks since it would throw me out of time sequence every other time, but no matter what the story was great. I honestly can’t wait to read Zoe’s story and find out what she seems to be hiding behind the party girl and how she will find her own HEA.

If you want a hot and fun read, don’t miss Project: Runaway Bride by Heidi Betts.

[Marsha · Rating 2 out of 5]

If you’re having doubts with your impending marriage, you go to a counselor. If the bastard hitting you doesn’t think there’s a need, you go to the police. You don’t run from the altar and straight into the arms of a guy you were having an affair with, do you? Oh wait. We’re in a romance novel, where common sense and proper behavior aren’t exactly on the menu.

Juliet Zaccaro is just this kind of romantic ditz, who lets her runaway gonads dictate falling into the bed of an investigator she once hired him to locate her missing sister—who wasn’t missing so much as refusing to be found. The backstory of the Zaccaro sisters winds its way through this frustrating tale of on-again, off-again romance as Juliet decides to break up with her abusive fiancé when she finds herself in love with Reid McCormack and then allows herself to be swept back into Paul’s arms.

It’s a horrid mess that makes for an equally sloppy romance. Running away from the altar, she’s found by Reid who pushes himself into her hideaway in spite of her continued protests. He wanders through her home, parks himself on the couch, fixes her a meal, whirls her into a dance and then into bed…all the while ignoring her persistent, yet weakening, demands that he leave.

Isn’t that sweet? Isn’t that so tender you want to cry? Doesn’t it make Reid seem not much better than her jerk fiancé? Oh, no. Reid is supposed to be a better man because he cooks, makes love like a pro and is madly in love with Juliet. So his riding roughshod over her feelings and refusing to accept “no” as an answer and his promises (threats?) to track her down even if she runs again are supposed to be seen as the marks of true love.

The chest-thumping alpha male act never gets old with the ladies, it seems. But this female is rather sick of this particular behavior. When the man refuses to listen to you or allow you your personal space, it’s time to slam the door on him and get a restraining order not a marriage license.

[Bonnie · Rating 5 out of 5]

I enjoyed reading Project: Runaway Bride. I did not read the first book in Project: Passion series. Juliet Zaccaro is a handbag designer in a large company, with her two other sisters. Juliet is engaged to a man who likes being in charge. He has bruised Juliet. But Juliet stays in the engagement because she wants to please their parents. Juliet meets Reid McCormack who owns a detective company. Juliet goes to Reid to find one of her missing sisters. Reid sees the bruises on Juliet. She tells him about them. They end up having an affair before the wedding. Wedding day Juliet runs away. That day she finds out she is pregnant and knows that Reid is the father. Reid finds her. A lot goes on. They talk about their past and end up getting married. Reid gets together with his eleven year old son from his first marriage that didn't work out. His son doesn't know about him. A good read

[Donna · Rating 4 out of 5]

We first met Juliet Zaccaro in Project: Runaway Heiress. This is important because I don’t think I would have liked her as much in this book if I hadn’t. I understood her motivations much better for having read the first book. Juliet appears to be a strong put together woman. But part of that is trying to be what she thinks everyone else needs her to be. The delight in this sweet sexy story is watching Juliet figure out what she wanted for herself and find the strength to settle for nothing less.

[Lesley · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I loved the story and Reid and Juliet's romance, but had a lot of issues with Reid's past and the fact he didn't step up. I thought the ending to that was a little too neatly wrapped up - more of an afterthought. I also thought the issue of Juliet's abuse by Paul was written off too easily as well. I couldn't believe her sister knew what he had done and then let her go see him alone! However, like Reid's subplot, this turned out to be a non-event also.

[Linda Carroll-Bradd · Rating 4 out of 5]

I jumped into the middle of this Project Passion trilogy but didn't feel lost because enough details were given about the first book. Emotions run high for a woman faced with a tough choice on her wedding day. Love the hero's determination and willingness to state his needs. Satisfying read.

[Virgínia Mareco · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was an interesting novel. I liked the strong personality of Reid McCormack. I read the book in Portuguese under the title: «Noiva em fuga».

Foi uma novela interessante. Gostei da personalidade forte de Reid McCormack. Li o livro em português, sob o título: « Noiva em fuga».

[Zorra Literaria · Rating 3 out of 5]

No sé si es porque estoy leyendo muchas historias cortas para alcanzar el reto o es que el libro realmente me aburrió porque estuvo soso. Pero bueno, tres estrellas para él, porque hay libros de HR que me han encantado.

[Harlequin Books]

Miniseries: Project: Passion

[Toni · Rating 3 out of 5]

A nice twist on the runaway bride story.

[Arlene · Rating 4 out of 5]

Loved this book. Now I need to read the other sisters' stories.