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Bellagio #2

Underfoot

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Bellagio, Inc. public relations genius Trina Roberts had been a bad, bad girl when she'd gone to bed with a recently jilted groom and wound up pregnant. She knew Walker Gordon wasn't looking for forever—at least not with her. So when he took a job overseas, she sort of neglected to tell him about the baby on the way.

Well, now he's back . . . and he's just figured out the truth.

Walker had been reeling from a very public breakup when Trina had offered solace he couldn't deny. He'd never expected the result would make him somebody's daddy! Trina claimed not to need anything from him, but he was determined that his child have a father; he just didn't know if it should be him. Because a father's shoes . . . well, those he wasn't sure he could fill.

377 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published February 28, 2006

7 people are currently reading
415 people want to read

About the author

Leanne Banks

520 books289 followers
Leanne Banks was born on 14 May 1959 in Roanoke, Virginia, USA. She holds a Bachelors degree in Psychology, which she claims she can only use on fictional characters. When her first book was published in 1991, she used the money from her advance to take her family to Disney World.

Leanne is known for telling a story with strong emotion, characters with whom everyone can relate, a kick of hot sensuality, and a feel-good ending that lingers. She believes in creating stories for her readers that will allow them to escape into a place filled fun, emotion and sensuality. She believes that she has the best readers in the world because they understand that love is the greatest miracle of all.

Leanne is the recipient of Romantic Times Magazine's career-achievement awards in Series Sensuality and Love and Laughter, and her books have been recognized by the Award of Excellence Contest, the Romance Writers of America RITA Award contest and the National Readers' Choice Awards. She is grateful for awards and reviews and was particularly moved by a letter from a reader remarking that Leanne's book got her through a chemotherapy session. The reader's letter inspired a favorite turn of phrase: Never underestimate the power of a romance novel.

Leanne lives in her native Virginia with her husband, two teenage children and a Pomeranian. She also has a little condo in South Carolina where she writes in the off-season. She loves music, chocolate, quotes, and new adventures.

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5 stars
311 (26%)
4 stars
452 (38%)
3 stars
330 (28%)
2 stars
54 (4%)
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12 (1%)
Displaying 1 - 30 of 71 reviews
Profile Image for Shawna.
3,803 reviews4,734 followers
November 20, 2009
3 ½ stars – Contemporary Romance

Walker Gordon gets dumped by his rich, perfect, plastic heiress fiancée and has a wild, passionate, but drunken one night stand with business associate Trina Roberts, who harbors strong, secret feelings for him. Then he takes off for Paris oblivious to the fact that Trina is pregnant with his child.

Fast forward 15 months later, and Walker is back and working on the Bellagio, Inc. designer shoe account with Trina once again and is surprised to find that she has a 6-month-old daughter named Maddie. But wait a minute! She has carrot red hair, which runs in his family, and suddenly he’s doing the math and realizes that he’s the father. Seems that the vasectomy that Walker had to avoid having children and passing on the bad father family curse didn’t take after all. He tells Trina he wants to help support Maddie financially, but that he can’t do the whole marriage and father thing. But, he will help set Trina up on dates to find Mr. Right and Mr. Father of the Year. What??

Walker can’t get the hot night he shared with Trina out of his head (ahem...both of them) and when she goes on a couple of dates, he begins to realize that he has feelings for her other than just lust. But Trina won’t settle and only wants him if he can be a real father to Maddie. What’s a guy with lots of fear and a bad father complex to do? When Trina’s ex-con ex-husband, who turns out to be not so ex after all, shows up to stir up trouble, Walker’s dormant protective instincts for Trina and Maddie kick in with a vengeance. But is it too late for them to become a family?

It’s a pretty cute, albeit predictable, read, but the ending was too abrupt. After Walker’s adamant stance on not being a father for most of the book, I would have liked things a bit more fleshed out and an epilogue to see how things turned out. I would have rated it 4 stars, but I dropped my rating for the too quick, way too convenient ending. 3 ½ stars.
Profile Image for Jacob Proffitt.
3,314 reviews2,158 followers
August 13, 2018
This is second in a series, though Banks takes pains to keep this one understandable if you haven't read the first. I'd still recommend reading in order as the characters from the first book are present enough that knowing their backgrounds is a definite enhancement.

Plus, the first book is way, way better. I liked both protagonists nearly as much as those from the first book. And they belong together as much. But this book suffers a monster case of negative motivation* and that screws up so much of the story that it was hard for me to engage.

It doesn't help, of course, that the motivation is stupid as well as negative. I mean, Walker believes that the men in his family just suck at families. Like it's some predestined, genetic heritage that they'll leave devastated women and children behind because that's the family history he knows about. He doesn't apply that same logic to them being shiftless rednecks unwilling to do an honest day's labor. He's perfectly fine with breaking that mold. But no, the family thing, that's just magical destiny and can't be broken.

So it's completely stupid and it grated on me and since that was central to his entire dealings with women it was impossible to edit that in my head and have anything left to build on. And what really sucks about it is that it put a barrier between him and Trina that prevented real intimacy. And frankly, I was a bit pissed at Trina for allowing as much intimacy as she did without him disavowing in even small ways his previous statements about children and family.

So I had a hard time with the relationship. And that pushed me out of the story enough that I had a hard time taking it seriously as anything but a dopey romance. I liked both leads. I really did. But this problem was often present and that made it hard. It's like if your friend had a really loud barky dog that insisted on biting you every time you came over. You like being with the friend, but it's kind of hard to look forward to visiting...

Anyway, I kept going because it was a lazy Sunday and I was in a comfy room with few distractions and nothing better to do. That makes this a two-star read for me, I think.

A note about Steamy: There are a lot of pieces of explicit sex scenes. It adds up to the middle of my steam tolerance, but the count gets mushy because of the diverse and scattered way they were presented (mostly as memories of the first time that got Trina in trouble with both reviewing things that happened in different ways).

* Negative Motivations: I kind of hate that the term "negative motivation" isn't widespread, yet. Since it isn't, I'm going to save off this little jag to append to my reviews that feature the term. Jennifer Crusie blogged about it a bit back and it changed how I understand story. The problem with the term is that if you've never heard it before, you'd assume it meant motivations that are harmful or immoral. Not so. What it refers to is motivations not to do something. The thing is that many of us are motivated to not do things for a lot of different, perfectly valid and reasonable, reasons. The problem is that in a story motivations to not do things are a huge drag on the plot—particularly considering the fact that most negative motivations are overcome by the character simply deciding they don't care any more (or, rather, that they do care and are now motivated to do the thing). So not only do you have a counter to action but you also have a situation where to overcome it, all a character has to do is change their mind. Which means eventually, the reader is rooting for the character to get over him/herself already and do the thing we want them to do. Conflict drives story. Conflict between a reader and a main character drives readers away from story.
Profile Image for Janet.
3,343 reviews24 followers
September 24, 2018
This is really cute. Nice contemporary romance that starts with a baby first. Walker Gordon makes a good hero, even if he doesn't seem like it at first.
Profile Image for MaggieReadsRom.
956 reviews117 followers
July 8, 2010
This book starts where book 1 ended: Walker Gordon being dumped at the altar. Walker was about to marry Brooke Tarantino; great-niece of the owners of Bellagio and Bellagio designed her wedding shoes. At the last minute Brooke decides to do the runaway bride-act and literally left the groom standing at the altar.

Trina Roberts, who works in the PR department at Bellagio's, has had a crush on Walker but he was off-limits because he was engaged.
After an alcohol-induced one-night-stand between them on the night of the cancelled wedding, Walker goes to Europe to recover from the embarrassment and Trina finds out she's pregnant. She knows Walker never wanted to be a father so she keeps it from him.

Then Walker returns to secure the Bellagio-account for his advertising company and finds out he has a daughter. He accepts his financial responsibilities but he also offers Trina to help find a man for her who will also be a good dad to their daughter. He has more trouble executing this offer than he anticipated and they find out Walker is more daddy material than he would have thought.

I loved Trina in this book! She is a heroine who knows she can't change her situation so she makes the best of it. She was witty and independent. I loved the scenes with her and Maddie, her daughter.
Walker is caring, responsible and a goal getter. He was practically invisible in book 1 but really stepped up to the plate in his own.
The chemistry between them is tangible throughout the entire book and I loved the way they grew toward each other. They went from a one-night-stand to two people who genuinely cared for each other.

The people surrounding Walker and Trina were lovely secondary characters. They complemented both them and the storyline perfectly.
I loved Walker's uncle Harry and his brother BJ and the little storyline concerning BJ and his girlfriend. Trina's mother was a bit of an annoying character at first but she quickly redeems herself by doing something very unexpected and nice.
And I got to "see" how Jenny and Marc from book 1 were doing which was a nice extra treat.


I liked book 1 in this trilogy but I loved this one. Both the storyline and the characters suited my taste and spoke more to me than the previous book.
It was funny and fast-paced but still it followed a believable pace considering the storyline. I had laugh-out-loud moments, but there were also some scenes that had me teary-eyed. The end was great. It had the emotions I seek in romance novels so I was fully satisfied after turning the last page.

I love Leanne Banks' writing style. It's fluent and easy-to-read. She creates characters you can't but like and empathize with, characters that have their flaws like we all have. It was a very nice read and I'm diving right into the third and last book of this trilogy. In this book the heroine of that one is introduced as a secondary character and I like her already.

If you like contemporary stories with a hint of chick-lit, Leanne Banks is the author to have on your bookshelves. I know that when I need a light, fun and recognizable read, I can grab one of her books anytime.
Profile Image for Annette Dahl "Old Vicarious Reader".
686 reviews25 followers
July 29, 2015
Good Read. Single unwed mom story with a fun twist. We first saw Walker Gordon in book 1. We didn’t see much of him, but enough to feel sorry for him. The story picks up where Walker left off in the previous book. We saw some of Trina as well, although she didn’t have much characterization in book 1. I felt like I knew them well enough so more character development wasn’t necessary.

The story didn't line up with the heroes character. I just couldn't image it. That’s my only complaint about this story. Otherwise, it was a quick and entertaining read!
Profile Image for Shelly.
485 reviews
July 27, 2015
At first I really didn't like any of the characters. They were all selfish and annoying. As the book progressed though, I found myself liking them more. I liked how Walker and Trina took their relationship slow after their initial "hook-up." I did think the part with her ex-husband at the end was kind of pointless.
Profile Image for Jen Rothmeyer.
112 reviews12 followers
February 28, 2009
I was not impressed with this book. As a former single parent, I only wish that it was so easy to get back together with your former fling. In addition, it seemed like all that drew these two back together was their sex life. Sadly, there is more to life than sex.
Profile Image for Cristina.
864 reviews12 followers
July 15, 2020
Il mio essere donna: Trina!

Forte nella sua mente ma fragile per quanto riguarda i propri sentimenti, orgogliosa e affabile, generosa e moooolto ma molto altro, ecco chi è Trina, una donna che ha fatto degli errori nella sua vita, che si è data da fare nel proprio lavoro e che ha cercato di avere un attimo di folle passione con l'oggetto dei propri desideri, Walter il belloccio del libro precedente piantato in asso sull'altare da Brooke Tarantino e che non mi sapeva di nulla...ma mi sbagliavo.Questo secondo libro l'ho trovato molto ma molto più piacevole del primo anche se potrebbe non essere vero per molte ma per me è stato tale. Il personaggio di Trina e la sua vicenda sentimentale mi ha totalmente conquistata ed affascinata. La controparte maschile è stata una sorpresa, dopo l'accenno precedente mi aspettavo tutt'altro esemplare di uomo ma è stato ancor piu'...interessante...
Il racconto riprende dal momento del "essere piantati in asso nel momento meno opportuno" del libro precedente, in un bar con un uomo afflitto dai giornalisti in compagnia del proprio alcolico preferito e una ragazza nel fiore del proprio charme in attesa del suo martini conciliatore del riposo. Si riconoscono a vicenda, lui Walter e lei Trina e per terminare la giornata si ubriacano allegramente per poi decidere di passare a casa sua, per aiutarlo a tirarsi fuori dai paparazzi assatanati. Errore, una sola notte, da un bacio nasce cosa e il gioco è fatto. Il tempo passa, nove mesi, quindici mesi e poi si ritrovano sempre li, alla Bellagio Shoes ma tante cose sono cambiate, Trina è cambiata ma Walter non capisce il perché. Ci penserà la linguaccia di Dora, la nuova assistente di Trina e l'angioletto Maddie a fargli capire cosa è successo in quei mesi di lontananza e a dare un nuovo senso alla sua vita.
Un racconto toccante, con il giusto tocco di verve e di passione, con una protagonista femminile intrigante e con la ricomparsa e il proseguimenti dei vecchi personaggi precedenti e le loro vite come Jenny e Marc e il loro matrimonio ma questo è il momento di Trina e io me lo sono goduto appieno desiderando presto leggere l'ultimo racconto di questa trilogia!!
Profile Image for Limecello.
2,527 reviews47 followers
April 18, 2020
I'm actually wavering between four and 5 stars.
Also I labeled it a library read because ... I got it from the library for the kindle version but I do own the book in print.
(I actually thought it was published prior to 2006 but ... I guess not? Heh. All those student years were a blur >.>)

ANYWAY.

Trina and Walker are so perfect for each other. She has a slight inferiority ... not COMPLEX but thing because she doesn't think she can compare to Brooke, Walker's ex. WHICH IS TOTALLY UNDERSTANDABLE.
[Not that she's not good enough; but it'd be like ... in the height of reality tv princesses imagine the guy was ... with Paris Hilton or Kim K. Something like that.]

Trina otherwise though is so kickass. But also realistic - natural - she's awesome at her job but so very human.
Walker for his part is so steady. And I liked how he was uncertain about having a family/being a dad and everything. His nervousness with Maddie. His hesitance.

They've always meshed but Walker had been Brooke, then their one night, then he was in France.

Anyway - the secondary characters are good too I know I read the first and third books in this trilogy too, but this one has always been my favorite and the one I've re-read most.

B+

.... maybe A-
Profile Image for Desi.
2,667 reviews86 followers
May 4, 2017
Leído el 08/09/2011

Me gustó más que el primero

Argumento:
Trina Roberts, relaciones públicas de una importante empresa de zapatos, había cometido una locura al acostarse con un hombre al que acababa de dejar su novia, y, como resultado de aquella noche de salvaje pasión, se había quedado embarazada. Sabía que Walker Gordon no buscaba una relación permanente… al menos no con ella. Por eso cuando él aceptó un trabajo en el extranjero, Trina optó por no hablarle del embarazo.
Y ahora había vuelto… y había descubierto la verdad.
Tras sufrir una ruptura sentimental, Walker había aceptado el consuelo de Trina. Jamás habría imaginado que el resultado de todo aquello lo convertiría en padre. Trina aseguraba que no necesitaba nada de él, pero Walker tenía intención de darle un padre a su hijo; lo que no sabía era si debía ser él…
Profile Image for Doris.
Author 33 books8 followers
October 6, 2021
A charming story. I enjoyed the premise. My only wish was that a wee bit less time was spent on sex (yes, I know this is a romance) and just a wee bit more on Walker relating to Maddie. There was a lot riding on it and I think there were a few missed opportunities to explore a few of the moments they had together (swing, rocker; that's all I'm saying) to deepen the story even more. I'm game to read more by Ms. Banks.
Profile Image for Janis.
228 reviews6 followers
June 28, 2017
another sweet romantic book by Leanne. I enjoyed reading Trina and walkers story. and Maddie too. highly recommend.
Profile Image for Shelley-Ann.
105 reviews
July 15, 2019
Good read! Quick, light and entertaining! Enjoyed the characters. Will be checking out more of this authors books.
Profile Image for Anne.
678 reviews1 follower
April 3, 2020
Predictable but entertaining
Profile Image for Kari Hughes.
161 reviews7 followers
May 7, 2020
Didn't want to put this book down, also it got me out of my book slump. Highly recommended this book.
87 reviews1 follower
March 15, 2021
Fun reading!!

I loved the chemistry between Walker and Trina. There’s was a great love match. The secondary characters were well written. Can’t wait to read rest of the series!
Profile Image for Wednesday.
230 reviews
November 22, 2024
A very enjoyable easy read with great lead characters and sizzling romance. There is nothing not to like in this book.
Profile Image for Judyth.
1,734 reviews41 followers
September 24, 2014
~4/5

[Read more at my blog, Geeky Reading!]

I’ve had this book on my shelf for a while, but never got around to reading it. I was expecting it to be cute, but not particularly amazing. So I was surprised to find how much I enjoyed it.

I liked Trina. She’s smart, and determined, but also a little frazzled, a new mother but devoted and a good one. I liked Walker, too. He’s a little afraid and in denial, but he’s a good guy, with a good heart, and he really cares about his family. When he finally realized how he felt about Trina and their daughter, he finally smarted up.

I really like Trina and Walker together. They had really good chemistry, both as friends, as well as, as a couple. They denied it for a while, but it was obviously there. And I liked that they started as friends, because it let them really get to know each other, and really fall in love.

The storyline was really cute. The minor characters were nice, too, and made me want to read both the first and the next book in the series. The writing was really good, and I actually had a hard time putting this book down. I just wanted to keep reading. I was really surprised, but this was a really good book. I’m definitely going to be picking up something else by Banks when I get the chance.
Profile Image for Wyrdness.
500 reviews38 followers
July 20, 2015
Almost a completely textbook perfect version of a "Secret Baby" and "Reluctant Father" Harlequin novel. I think it threw in just about ever cliche out there except for the alpha-jerk Billionaire [exotic sounding place] Tycoon. Maybe the lack of the jerk tycoon is why I liked it more than many other formulaic Harlequin novels, or maybe it was because my brain decided to randomly rewrite Trina's mother as the one from the Castle tv show so everything she said sounded less critical and mean and more teasingly insightful.

It still wasn't worth the £5.49 it's going for in the Kindle UK store though (the "Footloose" trilogy bundle being unavailable), so I am glad I didn't have to buy this in the end.

Cute, funny in places, but completely predictable for the most part and some things just kind of "go away" without ever being properly resolved. I give it a low, rather grudging 3 stars (probably dropping to 2.5 stars on a re-read without an impromptu visit from Castle's mother).
Profile Image for Sarah.
320 reviews31 followers
February 17, 2011
This book is my favorite Leann Banks book and one that I’ve read a few times already. It’s the second in a series about the Bellagio shoe corporation. The main character, Trina, ends up with an unexpected surprise when she hooks up with a former fiance of one of the Bellagio family members. Although I liked the other stories in this series, this one was the most heartwarming and funny of the three. Banks’s books tend to showcase single women as being able to take on the challenges they are faced with in a very positive way. Although it’s a romance novel, I didn’t feel that the love interest took away from the main character’s independence. I think this is one of the reasons I like Banks’s writing so much. Not all of her books are like this, but the ones I’ve enjoyed the most tend to have very independent and smart women. A good beach read or when you need a little pick-me-up.
Profile Image for Noco.
26 reviews4 followers
June 27, 2013
Avevo adorato il precedente della serie e mi sembrava impossibile che questo potesse piacermi altrettanto. Oltretutto la trama e, soprattutto le prime pagine del libro non mi facevano certo ben sperare. Eppure...
dopo averlo iniziato, l'ho divorato. Uno sviluppo profondamente coinvolgente, per una trama che sulla carta mi attirava davvero poco: poche autrici riescono a convincermi con presupposti tanto lontani dai miei gusti.
Ho apprezzato sopratutto la filosofia che impernia tutta la storia e da il titolo al libro: La felicità, quella vera, va costruita e conquistata a piccoli passi, senza fretta nè forzature! Un consiglio che ho fatto mio!
Di bene in meglio, chissà quando potrò leggere il terzo della serie!!
Profile Image for Roberta.
1,411 reviews129 followers
April 10, 2013
La serie Bellagio di Leanne Banks è ambientata in una multinazionale della scarpa da donna, la Bellagio Inc., appunto. Nel primo romanzo, Feet First (Cuore e cioccolato) Jenny Prillman, assistente di uno stilista della Bellagio, si ritrova a prendere il posto del suo responsabile e a disegnare le scarpe per il matrimonio (e l'ereditiera) dell'anno, Brooke Tarantino (nipote dei fondatori della Bellagio). In questo ruolo si ritrova a lavorare a stretto contatto con il suo capo, Mark Waterson. Un po' troppo serio, ma terribilmente affascinante.

http://robertabookshelf.blogspot.it/2...
Profile Image for ❥ Azzurra.
400 reviews59 followers
January 10, 2013
Molto carino anche questo libro della Banks, ma comunque non ai livelli di Cuore e cioccolato.
Jenny è Jenny e Trina non riesce ad arrivare alla sua dolcezza...anche se ha un buon aiutante in Maddie. ^_^
Ci sono però buone probabilità che riesca a recuperare con il prossimo libro della serie che ha per protagonista Amelia...new entry di La felicità a piccoli passi. Amelia, infatti, mi sembra molto più simile (caratterialmente e anche fisicamente) a Jenny di quanto non sia Trina...e forse, se ben gestita, la cosa può volgersi a suo vantaggio.
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