Claiming Haley

Babies and Brides #1

by Sophia Sinclair

I’m a pregnant wedding planner who has less than two weeks to throw together a real wedding for my fake relationship.

Panting over the hot landscape guy at work was just a harmless diversion until the day he offered his pickup truck to transport a whole lot of leftover wedding liquor to my place. It was only polite to thank him with a few drinks afterward, right?

I did not plan for what happened next: an accidental pregnancy and a baby daddy who is nothing like I thought. Landscaping was just Jack’s summer job, and he’s about to start medical school. He proposes a fake marriage to solve a few very real complications, and I throw together a crazy-fast wedding while we pretend to be madly in love.

The only problem is, I’m not pretending.

This accidental pregnancy/fake relationship romance has a strong heroine, a dreamy doctor-to-be, a couple of bridezillas, the world’s most difficult Mother of the Bride, a manure-smeared femme fatale with a gunnysack full of baby pigs, and quite possibly the swooniest scene ever set in a pickup truck. This is the first book in the Babies and Brides series, a spin-off of the Small-Town Secrets.

Genres: Contemporary

257 pages, Kindle Edition

Published September 16, 2021

About the author

Sophia is a small-town Midwestern girl to the core whose books build on each other like the written version of the world's longest romantic movie. She spends her free time performing unnecessarily complicated culinary feats in her kitchen and dreaming up home improvement projects for her husband to do in their fixer-upper Victorian. Her greatest accomplishment so far has been either raising two wonderful children who love to read or designing and digging a goldfish pond by herself. Probably the goldfish pond; it's really cool.

Reviews

[Lady Readalot · Rating 4 out of 5]

Claiming Haley is a sweet small town romance in the Babies & Brides series by Sophia Sinclair.

This is a quick paced romance where major life events fall like a row of dominoes, before our MC’s can catch their breath.

Our MC’s Hayley & Jack meet through work. This likeable couple have palpable chemistry. When a night of passion results in a surprise pregnancy, our couple have some major decisions to make - can they grow a future together?

I enjoyed this up beat story focusing on the positives of Jack & Haley’s situation. They traverse the muddy waters of lust, surprise pregnancy, faking a relationship, marriage and childbirth to find their own perfect outcome 💜.

This story would appeal to the reader looking for a fun, sexy read. I usually like lots of angst with my romance, however finding myself in vacation mode- I was pleasantly delighted by this charming tale which left me smiling.

If you’re after a small town romance with interesting support characters then why not give Claiming Hayley a try. 🤞 we will see some more spin off stories from this world coming soon.

A sweet upbeat romance 4/5 stars ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Note: This story, though more upbeat, does mention emotional abuse, depression, anxiety, death of parent, unplanned pregnancy-reader discretion advised.

*ARC provided for an honest review *

[Janice Salotti · Rating 4 out of 5]

Fun tale

This was a fun book, well written with characters who were real and easy to like. I appreciated Sophia's spare prose. She didn't see need to give descriptions of everything allowing the story to flow.
The graphics at the beginning of each chapter were cleverly done. Kudos to the person who chose them.
I'm looking forward to the next book in the Babies and Brides series. I'll also look into Sophia's other books.

[Marsha Ward · Rating 2 out of 5]

Was this book billed as a sweet romance, or was that what the readers who reviewed it thought? This book graphically described sex acts, so it cannot be a sweet romance. There also were many instances of the author confusing the name of her male character from Jack to Jake, and one instance of her calling a side character by a different name. I won't read this author again.

[elivie · Rating 1 out of 5]

it was so bad… i want to give you a zero. but since that’s not possible…i give you a 1.

no seriously this book would’ve been 2 chapters long if either character had any semblance of communication skills.

[Coco.V]

🎁 FREE on Amazon today (11/20/2021)! 🎁

[Charlene Rakstis · Rating 5 out of 5]

Claiming Haley

Another good story about believable and likable characters. I have enjoyed reading this story and I look forward to reading more.

[Lady S · Rating 3 out of 5]

I would have given this an extra star had the miscommunication part of their story not dragged out.

[Juliana Padilha · Rating 2 out of 5]

2 stars because I think it was well written, but the story is a tragedy. No one in this city has heard about the morning after pill? Never learned how to communicate or have an honest conversation? Jesus!

[zen_s · Rating 2 out of 5]

[1.25 star] hmm... i finished the book though i don't really connect with the execution. chapters length is not very consistent, some seems long, whereas some are short. additionally, the flow of the story somehow doesn't feel very smooth to me.

[Jocelynereadsromance · Rating 4 out of 5]

This is a sweet small town romance that slowly builds through out the novel. Sophia Sinclair's writing is casual and accessible, the story is told in first person present from both the hero and heroine's point of views, which is very nice because as the reader we are aware of each characters inner feeling through out the story. This novel is fast paced, amusing and sensual all wrapped up in a fake dating package that spurns from an accidental pregnancy. Sophia Sinclair weaves together sexual tension, frustration and charm as she builds this slow burn romance.

After Jack and Haley spend a sensual night together, fueled by free alcohol, Haley finds herself pregnant and unsure if she should tell Jack. Their night together ends in a bit of a disaster after Haley insults Jack for his job as a landscaper, so she has been avoiding him but knows she wants to learn if he would make a good co-parent if he chooses to be in the baby's life. Jack and Haley soon find themselves in a fake relationship and moving in together, both of them are extremely attracted to the other but they both also think that the other doesn't want a serious relationship.

From this moment on, Haley and Jack slowly dance around each other as their feelings grow deeper for the other. It is really sweet to watch Jack do little things for Haley, he is definitely a cinnamon roll of a hero as he drops subtle hints to his actual feelings for her. Haley has some past anxiety and depression she has worked through and is keeping a handle on it in the present, I think because of this Haley is a bit more unaware of the small gestures Jack is making, so she assumes that he is not interested in developing a deeper relationship. There is definitely a build up of frustration for the reader, if these two would just talk to each other it would solve a lot of there problems. Sophia Sinclair balances this frustration with sweetly steamy scenes that show the couple that their bodies know they are perfect for each other.

Overall, this is a really delightful small town, accidental pregnancy, fake dating romance that is low on the angst, and brings a delightful hint of steam (for how long it takes our couple to tell their true feelings). I would definitely recommend if you love all these tropes and I am definitely looking forward to the next in this series.