Murphy's Child

Munroe Brothers #1

by Judith Duncan

MORNING, NOON AND NIGHT...

Murphy Munroe was shocked to realize that he wanted to be with his tiny, precious son around the clock. Bedtime stories, midnight feedings ...Murphy couldn't bear to miss a single moment with his child--or its mother. That was the problem ....

Murphy desperately longed to take care of Jordan Kennedy and the baby. . .forever. But they couldn't make their relationship work before parenthood complicated things. How could they even think about marriage now? Then again ...how could they not?

Genres: Harlequin

256 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published July 1, 1999

About the author

Wikipedia entry:

Judith Duncan is a popular author of romance novels published primarily by Harlequin Enterprises between 1983 and 2002. During the period when Duncan was actively publishing, she lived and worked in Alberta, Canada. She based many of her books in this region. She has been heavily involved in local writers groups in a variety of roles. In particular, she has been active in the organisation and running courses designed to develop writing and publishing skills

Reviews

[Saly · Rating 4 out of 5]

Murphy's Child was such a different book but in a good way. Murphy is contemplating how the past few months have been the worst, with everything going wrong when walks in Jordan. Jordan who is Murphy's accountant and the woman who broke his heart. Murphy knew she was skittish but gently reeled her in and when he was ready to pop the question she ends their relationship abruptly, without an explanation and if it was upto her she would no longer have the accountant connection as well. When she walks in after so long, Murphy is angry but beneath that anger is hurt and when she tells him that she is pregnant things change. The book mainly takes place after the baby is born and let me tell you they don't have an easy time of it, the baby doesn't sleep and Jordan really needs help, so Murphy steps up. There are no terrible-two's here instead as soon as the baby is born there are problems and problems, he doesn't sleep and cool collected Jordan is a wreck, and helping out makes Murphy see a different side of Jordan and makes him realize that she hides her true self beneath that perfect facade but with motherhood and sleep issues reining supreme she no longer has the time for it.

Murphy is such an amazing hero, he looks after Jordan and the baby, knows when to give her space and when to re-assure her about her parenting skills, in a word he is perfect and he is so in love with her. Jordan, we see her through Murphy's eyes only since the entire book is told in Murphy's voice but we see the fear of a new mother getting things wrong and coupled with her past(which we find out later), you do understand her though you wish she'd just snatch this man right up. I liked how the book depicted early parenthood and what parents can go through(colicky baby), seeing Murphy handle Jordan like an injured animal was good too and yes he was human and got angry and frustrated and that too was shown. Very realistic, though I wish Jordan had come around sooner.
Rating 3.5

[Booklover · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good read,it was in a way fresh read cause it deals pregnancy usually in pregnancy stories they deal with first hoe to tell the father then his reaction and then 9 months but here they showed how Jorden informs Murphy after 4 months she is pregnant he is angry but they call a truce and they go to appointments together buy baby stuff paint the nursery n all and the main focus here is how they deal with what happens after 9 months when the child comes and how it brings about changes and how their relationship also changes

Liked Murphy-Jorden's banter about names,though they have so much issues but as a parents they are a unbreakable team and their only concern is the welfare of their son,loved the story and characters

Good read
Recommend it

[Laura · Rating 4 out of 5]

I read this book years ago and have just re-read it. I will stick with 4 stars but I did feel there was too much of Murphy's internal monologue and I feel we did need to have at least a chapter from Jordan's POV.

I never knew there was another book about Murphy's brother which I've also just read.

[Ellyn (Mrs. Darcy in my Dreams) · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am not sure what to think of this book. It is the first romance totally from H POV. It is an accidental pregnancy and ex-boyfriend doesn’t find out until she is 4 months along. This is where book starts. Narrative then jumps ahead to when baby is born. The pregnancy was give about a paragraph back story. So bizarre. Then 65% of book is how they deal with colicky baby. I had a first kid colic baby so it gave me major flashbacks! I wish the plot had been more interesting. It was more about the H trying to psycho analyze the h.

[BETH BUSS · Rating 4 out of 5]

several people have provided good reviews

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I've been re-reading a lot of old romance/chick-lits in cleaning off the shelves.

this was a wonderful palette cleanser after some dreadful old Diana Palmer's. They are passe.

This book has held up nicely over time. Pleasant read with some things to think about.

[Phylisha Stone · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good read. This story is about growing up in foster care, large extended families and an unexpected pregnancy.

[Erin Burns · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book kept popping up in the comments of blogs about "realism" in fiction. I was able to find it on OpenLibrary. https://openlibrary.org/books/OL99015...

Do yourself a favor though, if you do the Read Online thing, just don't try it on a phone.

Murphy is shocked and shaken when the woman he loves, the one who left him, comes up to him on a job-site announcing she is pregnant with his child. They do manage to reach détente for the duration of the pregnancy, and even do a little better after the birth.

This book was published in 1999, but honestly the writing made it seem a bit older. The book is told completely from Murphy's point of view so it is kind of an anomaly. Everything comes from his thoughts. Overall I kind of enjoyed this book. Neither Murphy nor Jordan were perfect or long suffering. They were just two frazzled new parents. The book dealt well with a colicky baby, the effects of sleeplessness, the hazards of nursing, and breast pumping. And there was a slow buildup of a relationship between the two main characters in between all that. But, as I said, they aren't perfect. Jordan is too closed off and Murphy gives up too easy. But in the end we have our very happy ending, and excepting a few spots that seem to be obligatory romance convention, it is pretty realistic. No one got married because they discovered they were pregnant, the baby wasn't perfect and neither were the parents, and neither was Murphy's family. A fairly solid three stars. Probably best for people who want to step out of fantasy for a bit.

Cross-posted http://erinsburnsbookshelf.blogspot.c...