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Made in Texas: Families of the Lone Star State #4
Found: One Baby
It's no surprise to see a package on Thad Garner's porch. Women are always leaving tempting offerings for the sexy E.R. doctor--and his reputation with the ladies is what makes Michelle Anderson keep her distance. But when Michelle hears a baby's cry, she realizes this is no ordinary delivery....
Thad opens his front door to find his gorgeous neighbor cradling an infant in her arms. Michelle is obviously instantly smitten with the mysterious baby. It seems as if the coolly professional attorney is also a natural mom.
When Thad finds out the baby is a relation, he sets out to adopt little William immediately...and who better to help than Michelle? But how does Thad tell her he wants her not just as a lawyer--but as a wife and mother?
Thad opens his front door to find his gorgeous neighbor cradling an infant in her arms. Michelle is obviously instantly smitten with the mysterious baby. It seems as if the coolly professional attorney is also a natural mom.
When Thad finds out the baby is a relation, he sets out to adopt little William immediately...and who better to help than Michelle? But how does Thad tell her he wants her not just as a lawyer--but as a wife and mother?
224 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published April 1, 2009
17 people are currently reading
91 people want to read
About the author
Cathy Gillen Thacker
381 books105 followersDear Readers,
The love stories in my family have always been fodder for romance novels.
My maternal grandmother and grandfather simultaneously ran a business together and raised four daughters, long before it was an accepted thing to do. Grandpa O’Dell ran the gas station and the barber shop; Grandma O’Dell managed the grocery and cooked for customers. They were true partners and madly in love and parted, tragically, way too soon when he succumbed to cancer when he was in his early fifties. Grandma grieved deeply but eventually picked herself up, started a new career as a cafeteria chef, and eventually found deep romantic love and happiness again, in the form of a second marriage.
Read more here...
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
March 16, 2018
"I have to say," Thad praised as they dug into the expertly prepared chicken and mushrooms in a wine sauce, "all those cooking lessons you took as a kid paid off."
Michelle grinned and handed him the basket of crusty French rolls. "You're not bad in the kitchen yourself."
She looked pretty in the candlelight. Content, just hanging out with them. Thad wanted to make love to her all over again. "I'll be better once I graduate from the junior-cookbook level," he promised.
Michelle chuckled and held up a hand. "You don't have to be good at everything, Thad."
"I want to be - for you."
Well, I thought I was going to hate this book but it actually turned out to be pretty sweet. That's not to say GOOD, but it wasn't BAD like I had originally thought.
This book employs the absolutely ridiculous Harlequin trope of "baby found on doorstep." And like most Harlequin novels featuring babies, it was more about the baby and how the hero and heroine fall in love with the baby, not really on the hero and heroine's relationship and falling in love with each other.
The book also suffers from the pain that comes from Lawyer Romance and Doctor Romance. I don't find either of these professions to be sexy, and what's even worse is that when lawyers or doctors are featured in novels, we always have some legal drama or some medical drama. Since there are BOTH a lawyer and a doctor in this book, be prepared for pages and pages of text about legalities and court AND pages and pages of text about nursing a fevered infant back to health. UGH. Not only is this not romantic but it's something I don't like reading about, anyway.
Thad's biological nephew is left on his doorstep. He falls in love with the baby and so does the lonely lawyer who lives across the street, Michelle. They try to joint-adopt the baby.
SO: DOWNSIDES:
Features a baby. - Focuses on how amazing babies are and how crazy in love both the hero and heroine are with the baby instead of how crazy they are about each other. What would your reaction be to finding a baby on the doorstep?
a.) Excite you. Immediately you want to keep it. You will fall in love with whoever is around and also wants to raise it. Inspires joy-joy feelings in you. Fall in love with baby instantly and want to be its mommy or daddy.
b.) Get this fucking baby away from me. I have no interest in babies.
c.) Call the police.
Yeah, this book is definitely geared towards people who answer "A."
Lawyer Romance - Ugh, tons of court, judge, hearings, DCFS, blah blah blah.
Doctor Romance - Fevers, medicine, child healthcare, blah blah blah blah blah.
It's ridiculous how fast these two "fall in love" and even more ridiculous that it's "all because of baby." A baby isn't a magical amulet that causes whatever two people care about it the most to fall wildly in love with each other. Harlequin always acts like this. It's bizarre.
UPSIDES:
The book was surprisingly sweet. I didn't want to be won over, but I was won over.
Part of this has to do with Thad. He's a good man. I don't have any attraction to doctors, but I did enjoy Thad's personality. He's calm. Relatively easygoing, respectful, caring. Not too full of himself. He counters Michelle's more uptight and anxious personality. He wasn't the best hero I've ever read about, but he was relatively enjoyable. He's reassuring, stable, a real pillar for Michelle to lean on.
Michelle wasn't bad herself. She wasn't my favorite heroine, but I liked her. She was respectful of Thad. I liked how she handled the whole thing. It takes a strong woman to deal with it as well as she did in this book. I had to admire and respect that. She doesn't fly off the handle, make accusations, cry, or get in a huge fight with Thad. I think she did exceptionally well.
Everything she knew about Thad thus far said he was an honorable man. She needed to trust that he was.
That's good. Also, when she wants more from Thad than what he's giving her, she bravely just comes out and says it and suggests a more intimate arrangement. That took guts. I liked that she saw what she wanted and went out to get it.
These were two relatively well-behaved MCs. That was refreshing.
HOW'S THE SEX, CARMEN?
Well, it's flowery. Sometimes I can't really tell what is going on.
But I have to give props to Thacker. I've read a few of her books now and I have to say, she doesn't usually fuck-up the sex. *slow clap* I mean, really, "not fucking up" doesn't sound like high praise - and I can't say Thacker's sex descriptions turn me on - but it's relatively special to have a non-laughable, non-gross sex-writer in romance. Usually I'm either laughing or disgusted.
Even though this isn't a book I'd read for sexual pleasure, Thad was actually good in bed. I liked how slow he was in bed, he really takes his time and he's considerate. He always gets her off before having PinV sex and he takes the time to have foreplay and he's thoughtful and refuses to be rushed. That's good. I was happy for Michelle. I felt like she was lucky to land this guy. So, good job! Not sexually arousing writing IMO, but I wasn't unhappy with what was going on.
TL;DR I am resistant to baby-focused-romance. I am resistant to doctor romance. I am resistant to lawyer romance. Which makes my lowkey enjoyment of this novel rather surprising. But it was sweet, and goodhearted, and I actually liked both of the leads. Sure, the baby-baby-baby got on my nerves, along with the legal and medical drama aspects. But there was an underlying cuteness that was good. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who didn't like baby-focused-romance. But in that sub-sub-genre, it was probably one of the best.
ROMANCE CATEGORIES:
Contemporary Romance
Non-Virgin Heroine
Lawyer Romance
Doctor Romance
He's a Doctor, She's a Lawyer
Michelle grinned and handed him the basket of crusty French rolls. "You're not bad in the kitchen yourself."
She looked pretty in the candlelight. Content, just hanging out with them. Thad wanted to make love to her all over again. "I'll be better once I graduate from the junior-cookbook level," he promised.
Michelle chuckled and held up a hand. "You don't have to be good at everything, Thad."
"I want to be - for you."
Well, I thought I was going to hate this book but it actually turned out to be pretty sweet. That's not to say GOOD, but it wasn't BAD like I had originally thought.
This book employs the absolutely ridiculous Harlequin trope of "baby found on doorstep." And like most Harlequin novels featuring babies, it was more about the baby and how the hero and heroine fall in love with the baby, not really on the hero and heroine's relationship and falling in love with each other.
The book also suffers from the pain that comes from Lawyer Romance and Doctor Romance. I don't find either of these professions to be sexy, and what's even worse is that when lawyers or doctors are featured in novels, we always have some legal drama or some medical drama. Since there are BOTH a lawyer and a doctor in this book, be prepared for pages and pages of text about legalities and court AND pages and pages of text about nursing a fevered infant back to health. UGH. Not only is this not romantic but it's something I don't like reading about, anyway.
Thad's biological nephew is left on his doorstep. He falls in love with the baby and so does the lonely lawyer who lives across the street, Michelle. They try to joint-adopt the baby.
SO: DOWNSIDES:
Features a baby. - Focuses on how amazing babies are and how crazy in love both the hero and heroine are with the baby instead of how crazy they are about each other. What would your reaction be to finding a baby on the doorstep?
a.) Excite you. Immediately you want to keep it. You will fall in love with whoever is around and also wants to raise it. Inspires joy-joy feelings in you. Fall in love with baby instantly and want to be its mommy or daddy.
b.) Get this fucking baby away from me. I have no interest in babies.
c.) Call the police.
Yeah, this book is definitely geared towards people who answer "A."
Lawyer Romance - Ugh, tons of court, judge, hearings, DCFS, blah blah blah.
Doctor Romance - Fevers, medicine, child healthcare, blah blah blah blah blah.
It's ridiculous how fast these two "fall in love" and even more ridiculous that it's "all because of baby." A baby isn't a magical amulet that causes whatever two people care about it the most to fall wildly in love with each other. Harlequin always acts like this. It's bizarre.
UPSIDES:
The book was surprisingly sweet. I didn't want to be won over, but I was won over.
Part of this has to do with Thad. He's a good man. I don't have any attraction to doctors, but I did enjoy Thad's personality. He's calm. Relatively easygoing, respectful, caring. Not too full of himself. He counters Michelle's more uptight and anxious personality. He wasn't the best hero I've ever read about, but he was relatively enjoyable. He's reassuring, stable, a real pillar for Michelle to lean on.
Michelle wasn't bad herself. She wasn't my favorite heroine, but I liked her. She was respectful of Thad. I liked how she handled the whole thing. It takes a strong woman to deal with it as well as she did in this book. I had to admire and respect that. She doesn't fly off the handle, make accusations, cry, or get in a huge fight with Thad. I think she did exceptionally well.
Everything she knew about Thad thus far said he was an honorable man. She needed to trust that he was.
That's good. Also, when she wants more from Thad than what he's giving her, she bravely just comes out and says it and suggests a more intimate arrangement. That took guts. I liked that she saw what she wanted and went out to get it.
These were two relatively well-behaved MCs. That was refreshing.
HOW'S THE SEX, CARMEN?
Well, it's flowery. Sometimes I can't really tell what is going on.
But I have to give props to Thacker. I've read a few of her books now and I have to say, she doesn't usually fuck-up the sex. *slow clap* I mean, really, "not fucking up" doesn't sound like high praise - and I can't say Thacker's sex descriptions turn me on - but it's relatively special to have a non-laughable, non-gross sex-writer in romance. Usually I'm either laughing or disgusted.
Even though this isn't a book I'd read for sexual pleasure, Thad was actually good in bed. I liked how slow he was in bed, he really takes his time and he's considerate. He always gets her off before having PinV sex and he takes the time to have foreplay and he's thoughtful and refuses to be rushed. That's good. I was happy for Michelle. I felt like she was lucky to land this guy. So, good job! Not sexually arousing writing IMO, but I wasn't unhappy with what was going on.
TL;DR I am resistant to baby-focused-romance. I am resistant to doctor romance. I am resistant to lawyer romance. Which makes my lowkey enjoyment of this novel rather surprising. But it was sweet, and goodhearted, and I actually liked both of the leads. Sure, the baby-baby-baby got on my nerves, along with the legal and medical drama aspects. But there was an underlying cuteness that was good. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone who didn't like baby-focused-romance. But in that sub-sub-genre, it was probably one of the best.
ROMANCE CATEGORIES:
Contemporary Romance
Non-Virgin Heroine
Lawyer Romance
Doctor Romance
He's a Doctor, She's a Lawyer
June 21, 2012
Good book. This was a fun baby on the doorstep story. Michelle found the baby on Thad's porch, and is immediately taken with him. She is also attracted to Thad, but has no intention of getting involved with someone who so obviously can't commit to a relationship. Thad wants to settle down and have a family, but can't see spending a lot of time on a woman if it is obvious pretty quickly that she's not the right one. From the moment Michelle appears on his porch, he is attracted to her. When she also bonds with the baby, they decide to work together to take care of him, then try for a joint adoption. Michelle is cautious about getting emotionally involved since she'd had a bad experience before. Thad really likes their relationship and where it seems to be going, but tends to rush things with Michelle. I loved seeing Thad take to the baby and how determined he was to be a great father. I also loved seeing Michelle's love for the baby, and how he made her life so much better. I thought their co-parenting plan was really cool and the way they made it work. It had a great happy ending and I loved the epilogue.
July 28, 2017
hooked from cover to cover. Cathy Gillien is a fantastic writer! love love love this book so much for its romance,. family,. commitment and the adoring couple
September 28, 2021
I liked it. Read it twice this year.
March 10, 2011
This is a great short read that many romance junkies will enjoy! :D I completely devoured this book in a matter of two days and do not regret picking it up.
April 13, 2013
Couldn't really get into it...
March 15, 2011
I always like this author's books. It's a quick read.
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews