Italian Baby Shock

Scandalous Heirs #1

by Jackie Ashenden

An electric night she can’t remember… An alluring billionaire claiming her child. Discover this all-new secret baby romance from Jackie Ashenden! He wanted to end the Donati legacy! Until his heir… An accident erased Lark Edwards’s memory of the night in Rome that left her pregnant. Returning to Italy for work, Lark meets captivating tycoon Cesare Donati for the first time—but he seems intimately familiar with her… Scarred by his childhood, Cesare has vowed never to have a family. Except discovering his baby daughter awakens something he long thought dead. And unlike Lark’s memories, their scorching attraction returns with a vengeance! Soon Cesare must decide… Can he abandon all his rules? From Harlequin  Escape to exotic locations where passion knows no bounds. Read all the Scandalous Heirs  Book 1: Italian Baby ShockBook 2: The Twins That Bind

Genres: Romance

195 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 24, 2024

About the author

Jackie has been writing fiction since she was eleven years old. Mild mannered fantasy/SF/pseudo-literary writer by day, obsessive romance writer by night, she used to balance her writing with the more serious job of librarianship until a chance meeting with another romance writer prompted her to throw off the shackles of her day job and devote herself to the true love of her heart – writing romance. She particularly likes to write dark, emotional stories with alpha heroes who've just got the world to their liking only to have it blown wide apart by their kick-ass heroines.

She lives in Auckland, New Zealand with her husband, the inimitable Dr Jax, two kids, two cats and some guppies (possibly dead guppies by the time you read this). When she's not torturing alpha males and their stroppy heroines, she can be found drinking chocolate martinis, reading anything she can lay her hands on, posting random crap on her blog, or being forced to go mountain biking with her husband.

Reviews

[Aou]

Don’t like when H wasn’t celibate, even if it was just an ONS!

[Vee]

3 stars

Tropes : ONS, secret baby, accidental pregnancy, amnesia, rich H, poor h, grumpy x sunshine
Ending : HEA (pregnant h)
Triggers : attempted murder, toxic childhood, mention of abuse
Spice : 🌶️ 🌶️ 🌶️ /5
Angst : 🔥 🔥 🔥 /5
OM/OW drama : none
Celibate while separated : no (H slept with some women)
Intimacy details : H was h’s only lover, vanilla sex, protected sex
Standalone / Series : part of an interconnected series

Hero : Cesare Donati (30s)
Heroine : Lark Edward’s (20s)

The only thing I didn’t like about this book was H wasn’t celibate while they were separated but the h was.

[Carmelita Clardy]

A nice read

This was a good book. The h met the H almost 2 years ago, they spent the night together and she became pregnant. She was hit by a car and lost her memories of that night. 2 years later they meet again and she doesn’t remember him but he recognizes her and when he sees her daughter he knows he is the father. A good plot, sometimes it becomes tedious and boring but overall good. They both had difficult childhoods but they overcame their fears to find their HEA. Good epilogue.

[Zenobia Cofer]

Plot: MCs had previously met and engaged with each other via a one night stand that produced a new heir to an Italian dynasty. The female MC has no recollection of the events leading up to her pregnancy, nor that the new client for the antiques dealer that she works for is in fact the father of her child. Both female and male MCs have had highly unusual, and traumatic childhoods, with the male MC staving off love in general, until he meets up/reunites with the female MC.

Thoughts: Despite the title, believability of the greater storyline, and my complex feelings of romance novels in general, I did enjoy this work. The writing was engaging and well written. There was a decent amount of spice for those who enjoy such things over logic.
I dropped the overall rating down to 2 stars based on the last three chapters. The "happily ever after" formula seemed forced and illogical.

[Dawn Livingston]

I liked it, it wasn't great but worth reading to pass the time under a cozy blanket while the wind blows outside and rattle your windows. Decent main characters, and in fact extra points for a cool hero and heroine who want to both put their child first and that is to keep the parents together. But the guy is kind of dim to not realize he was in love sooner and that his child will not grow up like he did because he and the heroine are not the same selfish, violent, manipulative people.

Read it once. Years later, when bored, might be worth reading again.

[Flo Hill]

A change in attitude for forever love

Loved this story of a man so tormented by his childhood with his toxic parents that he was unable to love anyone. That is until Cesare met Lark. That was the beginning of his change in attitude but it still took a while for him to realise that what he was feeling was love for Lark and their daughter, Maya.

[Amanda]

3.5⭐️. Ok so, she has a one night stand, gets hit by a car, loses the last 24 hours of memory, then realizes she’s pregnant a few months later. So 2 years later, runs into a guy while working and he’s all “What are you doing here? I told you NEVER again”. But then he sees a pic of her baby and knows, that is HIS BABY. And for a hot minute he considers taking the baby away from her, because he’s a millionaire idiot.

Anyway, it’s a bonkers premise and I love a secret amnesia baby.

[Susan Underbrink]

Quick read

I got this book on Kindle Unlimited. I am voluntarily reviewing this book. Interesting characters. A unique story, maybe not realistic but a fun pool side read. 3.5 stars

[Lacey Dearie]

Good things about this: happy ever after ending. Lots of steamy moments.

Not so good: over analysed the childhood traumas - that distracted from the romance. Cesare wasn’t likeable. He kept calling Lark “little bird” which is creepy and weird. It all moved a little too slowly for me.

[Harlequin Books]

Miniseries
Scandalous Heirs (Book #1)

[Harlequin Books]

Miniseries
Scandalous Heirs (Book #1)

[T'Odes]

🤡

[Kendall]

Worst Book I Ever Read

[Mitha]

3.5stars.

Too much inner monologue!

[JmsBndGrl]

Good read

[JC Sevart]

boring! quick question: does Cesare think he's selfish? and follow-up: is he?