Expecting His Royal Baby

The Royal House of Niroli #5

by Susan Stephens

Prince boss, virgin secretary...unexpected heir!

The prince with a provocative past has returned to claim Niroli's crown...

Nico Fierezza has never relied on his royal name. But now the king has summoned him. Niroli is ready to welcome its new ruler!

Carrie Evans has been in love with Nico, her boss, for years. But he ruthlessly discarded her after one night of loving and now she's pregnant! Carrie will do anything to protect her baby's future.

Does anything include marrying Nico?

Genres: Romance, Harlequin, Harlequin Presents, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Royalty, Harlequin Romance

192 pages, Paperback

First published November 1, 2007

About the author

USA TODAY best-selling author Susan Stephens' books have captivated readers worldwide with over 11 million copies sold. Her work crosses cultures and continents, having been translated into 26 languages and reaching readers in 109 countries. This year marks a milestone as Susan's 100th book is slated for publication.

NEW SERIES!

ACOSTAS RAW Ranchers, rodeo and passion

1. BEAU
2. COLT
3. BLAKE
4. CHRISTMAS WITH ANGEL


BLOOD AND THUNDER

1. ALEXEI
2. DANTE
3. DIEGO
4. CESAR
5. CONNOR .

- BOX SET books. 1-4

6. ELIJAH Coming soon

Reviews

[Kiki · Rating 1 out of 5]

I don't know WTF this book was about.
There was ZERO romance.
He never apologised for leaving her after one night of sex or explained why he did it.
Yet apparently he always loved her.
If it wasn't for her certifiable stalking in an overseas country, they'd NEVER have met again.
He would have forgotten abt her and married the OW and would have found new mistresses.
I don't see the love happening. He NEVER thought abt her until she showed up and even after that there was NO other emotion apart from lust which he fulfilled WHILE courting the OW.
Don't buy his declaration of love or HEA!
She should be arrested for stalking!

[Treece · Rating 3 out of 5]

Not bad. A decent Cinderella story with a wicked OW, a dare-devil prince and a 'fairy' god-mother who is royalty.

The heroine is on a mission: To tell Nico he is about to be a father.

Carrie Evans. A nice sensible name. For a not very pragmatic girl. Unemployed. Homeless. Pregnant. Penniless. Surrounded by uncaring relations. Yet she wants to paint professionally and raise a baby on her own. Wow. And not ask Nico for a dime. Yet why spend funds she needs to travel all the way to his country to tell him the news and not ask for a penny? Sans lawyer. Really? Is that believable? For once, I want to see a HP heroine who does something smart like that. I think the hero would respect her or at the very least, regard her as an equal in intelligence.

What is puzzling is how often she is distracted from her mission, despite proclamations of undying devotion to the unborn child. Also, she loves Nico. A man who is a dare-devil and ruthless business man. What is it about him? Why does she love him so very much? Aside from noticing her, and getting together at the cliched office party, he is a total jerk. For that matter, why does he admire a woman he thinks of as 'a mouse'?

There are some interesting twists and turns once Carrie arrives in Niroli and when she leaves. I got a few surprises here and there, fairy tale of course.

As for Prince Nico-

Aside from doing dumb things, making insensitive comments, shagging the heroine rotten, and not believing the baby is his, well, Nico is not as bad as some HP heroes I've read. He does have some saving points and towards the end, he grew on me. Though I don't get what Carrie sees in him besides his love and loyalty to family. Perhaps that is enough when one is expecting. Ah well.

[Debbie DiFiore · Rating 2 out of 5]

What an annoying heroine. She ruined the book for me. She had no pride. I would have left after the first time he rejected me, or maybe the second time when he used you up against a wall then said find your way out. WTF?? I just don't get this whole book. It was frustrating and stupid. I just didn't care if they ever got together. And the scene at the Banquet when she stumbled in wearing a too tight dress, ran out and then came back in the right dress? I was embarrassed for her. I just didn't like the story. Another guy who thought he was sterile and his thoughts about the heroine were just awful. But guess what? He loved her all along. lol It was simply awful. Throw in a vulgar princess ow, a calculating Queen and Cinderella type heroine with no couth, and what you got here is a mess. I finished it but my goodness it was hard. And then she got mad because he wanted her to take a DNA test? Hell for a moment I thought the baby wasn't his because of the way she acted. All in all I am going to say I should have passed on this one but no. I had to read it. I need some Maalox.

[Ladyacct · Rating 2 out of 5]

A woman couldn't be much more of a door mat than this heroine. While she did stick up for her child to an extent, the way the hero treated the heroine while typical for an HP was pretty sad. The ongoing story line is kind of weak, and getting weaker with each book actually.

[Shatarupa Dhar · Rating 4 out of 5]

A book that goes straight to the heart of the story is a book I love. Nico Fierezza, the daredevil Prince of Niroli, is requested by his grandfather to take the throne, his elder brothers having declined the privilege. Believing himself to be infertile due to a childhood illness, he starts to think of the best way to decline, since there will be no future generation.

Carrie Evans (nothing like the Homeland Carrie, I love that name) works as a secretary in Nico's architecture firm; no, worked as a secretary. She left after she felt that Nico would never look at her the same way she did after their one evening of hot sex. After her aunt's death, she is evicted by her greedy relatives. An aunt who never loved her, but with whom she lived after her parents' death when she was very young. Homeless, jobless, and pregnant, with Nico's child; she has no option but to turn up at Nico's office for a recommendation for a good job, so that she can support herself, her kid, and also tell Nico about the baby. She doesn't have anyone else to turn to. She loves painting, and wants to turn her hobby into a profession someday, if possible. She fell in love with Nico, a classic case of love at first sight, though he only thinks of it as a one night stand.

Once she reaches Niroli, since Nico is there, some events lead her straight to Princess Laura's - Nico's mother - good graces. And from there, this book is a joyride, of emotions; jealousies, heartbreaks, hope, and happiness. Princess Laura is such a sweetheart, Carrie always has her support. There is an other woman, Princess Anastasia, but her role is fleeting and easily forgotten. After reading the rules required to be adhered to, to ascend the throne of Niroli in the first book (The Future King's Pregnant Mistress by Penny Jordan) of the series, and in this one, I couldn't help but laugh all over again! Such peculiar and ridiculous rules!?!

The climax was mind-blowing, and this I am saying for the first time ever, for a Mills and Boon. It kept me on edge. Of course, followed by the sweetest of endings. But, no epilogue.

[Bibi · Rating 1 out of 5]

LMAO... Seriously, I would have been so pissed off had I actually bought this book with my money but luckily, it was a free read and it had me rolling on the floor laughing...This book was so terrible and even as I write this, I can't help but be in stitches. Mehn... the h was one seriously deranged psycho stalker.

Here's the deal. She worked for the H for 2 years, lusted after him from afar and then drops them panties the one and only time the H deigns to notice her. They have sex in the boardroom and the next day she loiters after closing hours hoping to see the H, only for him to completely disregard her. She then quits, finds out she's preggers, goes off to Niroli to tell the H, stalks him around the palace, runs around the fields like a lunatic, continues to drop them panties and on and on... it was baaaaad....

[Lisa Kay · Rating 3 out of 5]

3½★ So Nico, the asshat, CAN father a baby. I could have told him that!

[Maura · Rating 2 out of 5]

Nico Fierrezza is next in line to be king of Niroli and is called back to his home country to speak with the king...and maybe to be wooed towards taking the throne by a woman of the king’s choosing. Following him to Niroli, completely unbeknownst to Nico, is his former secretary, Carrie Evans, who he had no strings attached sex with (without telling her that) and left up-the-duff. So she’s off to tell him face-to-face about their baby issue. It’s only after she arrives and has the trouble of sneaking into the royal palace and all that entails that she wonders if she shouldn’t have sent a solicitor letter. But she finally finds Nico who is surprised to see her, but happy to take advantage of their mutual lust. Then she tells him she has his bun in her oven and he’s furious that she’s lying (evidently he was told he’d be infertile after a childhood illness). Instead of considering her job done now he knows and doesn’t believe and just leaving, she decides to stick around until he acknowledges his kid. But she has to watch him wooing it up with the OW and fight off his lustful advances while she waits for this miraculous event to happen. After a doctor’s appointment and a little test of his fertility, Nico finally accepts that the baby MIGHT be his. He tells Carrie this so she can fall happily into his arms, agree to join him in emotionless matrimony, and still give him the sexy times he craves with her. He’s surprised that she doesn’t...and even more so when she hies off back to London. At this point he realizes he loves her and needs her in his life so he goes off after her. He’ll have to work pretty hard to earn back her trust (but not her love for reasons described below).

So this isn’t awful awful, but it pushes the bounds of believability, reaching levels of cheesiness at some points. For example, when the heroine’s hotel is on fire and she rushes forth with empathy for the hotel owner and takes over scrubbing the kitchen floor for the poor woman (the hero’s mother as it turns out). And he finds her in this Cinderella position. Later when she has a wardrobe mistake, facilitated by the jealous OW, Carrie comes back in a new dress and re-enters the ballroom, just like Cinderella again, with all males stopping in their tracks and lusting after her. It read a bit like a fanfiction where the heroine is very Mary Sue and they go through multiple angsty events. The only positive in this story I think is that our heroine, Carrie, actually does grow a bit of a backbone before the end of the story.

Oy vey. This heroine had problems...with a capital P. First of all, she seems to love people who treat her like shit. First there’s her aunt who resented her didn’t like her at all, but heroine quits her job (for reasons) and stays home without pay to care for her aunt...even paid for aunt’s treatments. Then the aunt dies and heroine still wasn’t loved, but the heroine ponders how she loved and will miss her aunt. Then there’s the hero who ignores the heroine for two years while she pines desperately from afar until suddenly he decides she’s sex-worthy. Then he dumps her ass most cruelly...and does it again when she shows up to tell him she’s pregnant. But she still loves him most ardently. Why, I can’t imagine, but she claims does. I’m sure this is to show us that Carrie is so pure that she can love even the cruelest of people, but all it shows me is that she has no self-respect. Meanwhile, I’m pretty sure she has no idea what “love” actually is. She seems to think it’s admiration or lust something, but you can’t really be “in love” with someone you don’t know (like the hero). And while she claims to know him inside and out, she’s rather surprised and put out when he does things that are already a part of his nature. It’s kind of disgusting how she gushes mentally about how much she loves him while simultaneously recalling how he chucked her aside. And she’s so delusional she’s able to spin all his negative qualities (like being a womanizer) into absolutely positive traits, almost as if she’s excusing the hero’s behavior towards her. And yet, in the end, she’s all about changing him, like those traits she loved so much don’t work now that she’s won his love and affection and about to be bearing his royal offspring.

And let’s face it, calling the hero a hero is just not accurate. He’s described as emotionless and unfeeling...which is pretty spot on. He can casually use and guiltlessly discard a woman who has worked with him for two years and been nothing but loyal. Then, after the night in question, she resigns and for 3 months, he doesn’t give her another thought. He doesn’t look for her or worry about her, he just says, “we missed you.” But according to the end of the book, he’d loved her all along and just hadn’t known it. Yeah. Sure. I seriously doubt it works that way - I can believe loving someone and not admitting it, but having no idea? He also mistakes lust of love. How else to explain his sitting at the ballroom and looking at a now beautiful Carrie and thinking “I have to be inside her,” instead of “I really want to get to know her.” The fact that he wanted sex with her even though he thought she was lying isn’t proof of love. I’m not sure we actually ever get any proof of his love for her - even his actions at the horse race don’t prove much since he still managed to win.

[NA · Rating 1 out of 5]

ACKKKK. Why do I always hope the next book in a horrible series is always better than the book before it :/ Lower than a 0.5 star rating. The heroine is annoying and a stage 5 clinger.

[Sarah Elizabeth · Rating 3 out of 5]

So - I am not saying you should read this one - it is … not good. No. But it tries really, really hard. So earnestly, princess-fantasy fulfillingly, hard. About halfway through I found myself looking at it with the sort of bemused affection you have for a duck or a very old dog … you know it’s going to poop on something but you forgive it because it just can’t help itself, bless its heart. This was despite the purple prose, the characters that were not really more than caricatures, the internal monologues long enough to get truly lost in, the sometimes incomprehensible conversations, the constant emotional flip-flopping, and the lines such as “She would never stop loving him …because she loved Nico for what he could be, and not for what he was”.

*blink *

What?

Anyway, the truth of it is that if I was the writing type this is so completely the book I would have written at age 14 after that year I spent binge-reading my grandmother’s Harlequin Presents that it gets 3-stars from Past Me.

[Cassie · Rating 1 out of 5]

This is quite possibly the worst book I’ve read. Ever. In the history of the world. Does this even count as a book? It’s more of a wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am, oh look we’re getting married kind of story. Maybe it’s a fairytale for little boys where we can tell them they can be huge dicks and still have the girl begging for more? This is definitely a story I’ll have to tell my kiddos. 🤨🙄

[Debra · Rating 3 out of 5]

Expecting His Royal Baby

I have read this story before. Carrie worked for Nick in London. But after one night stand she no longer has a job. But is left with a lasting memory. She has a mission to let him know. When she finds out that he has gone back to his country and that he is a prince things tend to get a bit drawn out. His does not believe that he is the father. Also he is now courting a princess with thoughts of marriage. The angst and drama has her thinking about going back to London and raising her child on her own. What happens next is the rest of the story.

[Anne Sutcliffe · Rating 1 out of 5]

Was this written by someone who has the writing skills of an 8year old?
What absolute drivel and trash.
Terrible writing and characters.
The only redeeming feature of this book is that you could use it to keep a fire lit!

[Dark Rose · Rating 1 out of 5]

baaaaaaaaaaad

[TrishN29 · Rating 1 out of 5]

Irritating & annoying female and an implausible storyline...she snuck into the royal palace! Ugh!!

[Jen · Rating 1 out of 5]

it soooo bad

This was not what I thought it would be. The FMC is a delusional pathetic stalker. I can’t even get into the story so I dnf.

[Dominus~ · Rating 5 out of 5]

I like this one and how the problem was escalated. I just had problems with such thing feeling like they are too unreal. Anyway, the ending was unsatisfying but I could live with it though I think there could be a much more better ending anymore.

[Fanny · Rating 2 out of 5]

2.5 en realidad.

[Sara Natalia · Rating 2 out of 5]

Siendo sincera deja mucho que desear y no pude con esos protagonistas, ninguno me convenció mucho.

[TSN ☮ · Rating 2 out of 5]

1.5 stars.
So far the books in this series have been unbelievable bad. :)