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Yours, Mine & Ours
Smarting from his recent divorce, newly single attorney Mike Conroy wanted only one thing—to be the best dad ever. And if that meant he needed to lead a life of celibacy, he could handle that.
Until he met his new next-door neighbor, that is.
Flame-haired Amanda Scott was as passionate as the color of her hair—and as determined as Mike to be a fantastic parent to her daughter. Not only was the rugged Mike her polar opposite, but she'd also sworn off the opposite sex for keeps. But sometimes love can be as close as right next door….
Until he met his new next-door neighbor, that is.
Flame-haired Amanda Scott was as passionate as the color of her hair—and as determined as Mike to be a fantastic parent to her daughter. Not only was the rugged Mike her polar opposite, but she'd also sworn off the opposite sex for keeps. But sometimes love can be as close as right next door….
224 pages, Mass Market Paperback
First published January 1, 2011
2 people are currently reading
60 people want to read
About the author
Jennifer Greene
277 books165 followersWinner of over 15 national awards, including the RWA Hall of Fame and the RWA Nora Roberts Lifetime Achievement Award, Jennifer Greene weaves real issues, warm characters common-life humor, and page-turning romance and suspense into her stories.
Jennifer sold her first book in 1980, and since then has sold over 85 books in the contemporary romance genre. She won her first professional writing award from RWA, a “Silver Medallion” in 1984, followed by over 20 nominations and awards —including achieving RWA’s HALL OF FAME status, and the most coveted Nora Roberts LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD.
Jennifer has regularly been on a variety of bestseller lists, and has written for Harlequin, Avon, Berkley and Dell. Her books have sold all over the world in over 20 languages. She also accumulated a number of pseudonyms—most recognizably JENNIFER GREENE, but also JEANNE GRANT and JESSICA MASSEY.
She was born in Michigan, started writing stories in 7th grade, and graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in English and Psychology. The University honored her with their “Lantern Night Award”, a tradition developed to honor fifty outstanding women graduates each year. Exploring issues and concerns for women today is what first motivated her to write, and she has long been an enthusiastic and active supporter of women’s fiction, which she believes is an unbeatable way to reach out and support other women.
Jennifer lives in Michigan, just a short distance from Lake Michigan, with her husband Lar.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
(1)romance
aka Jeanne Grant
Jennifer sold her first book in 1980, and since then has sold over 85 books in the contemporary romance genre. She won her first professional writing award from RWA, a “Silver Medallion” in 1984, followed by over 20 nominations and awards —including achieving RWA’s HALL OF FAME status, and the most coveted Nora Roberts LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD.
Jennifer has regularly been on a variety of bestseller lists, and has written for Harlequin, Avon, Berkley and Dell. Her books have sold all over the world in over 20 languages. She also accumulated a number of pseudonyms—most recognizably JENNIFER GREENE, but also JEANNE GRANT and JESSICA MASSEY.
She was born in Michigan, started writing stories in 7th grade, and graduated from Michigan State University with a degree in English and Psychology. The University honored her with their “Lantern Night Award”, a tradition developed to honor fifty outstanding women graduates each year. Exploring issues and concerns for women today is what first motivated her to write, and she has long been an enthusiastic and active supporter of women’s fiction, which she believes is an unbeatable way to reach out and support other women.
Jennifer lives in Michigan, just a short distance from Lake Michigan, with her husband Lar.
Librarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
(1)romance
aka Jeanne Grant
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Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews
November 24, 2011
Single dad, Mike Conroy of four year old Teddy and single mom Amanda Scott of four year old Molly may look like complete opposites, but are about to get the shock of their life.
Both just are coming off from a divorce and have decided to move to the suburbs for a better environment for their kids.
Mike is dealing with Teddy believing his mom abandoned him and his ex's new soon to be husband that she cheated on him with. He's taking the approach of spending time with Teddy doing guy stuff like worm farms and pond building.
Amanda is dealing with learning how to become independent. Coming from a wealthy family that handed everything to her, she now finds herself needing to learn to lean on no one. Adding to that is her ex who is trying to get full half custody for Molly to get out of paying so much child support, not so he can spend more time with his daughter.
Both have sworn off sex.
But as they continuously run into the other, dogs chase each other, and find themselves alone together the heat picks up and not only do they find release with the other, but someone who knows what they are going through.
Trying to maintain the friends only route doesn't work and although it takes them a few mishaps, they finally find away to mix their families together.
I enjoyed the different spin of a divorce leaving Mike and Amanda single and not a death. There wasn't any guilty feelings to overcome like there are when a death was involved. The dedication to their children was beautiful and their two different parenting styles.
Both just are coming off from a divorce and have decided to move to the suburbs for a better environment for their kids.
Mike is dealing with Teddy believing his mom abandoned him and his ex's new soon to be husband that she cheated on him with. He's taking the approach of spending time with Teddy doing guy stuff like worm farms and pond building.
Amanda is dealing with learning how to become independent. Coming from a wealthy family that handed everything to her, she now finds herself needing to learn to lean on no one. Adding to that is her ex who is trying to get full half custody for Molly to get out of paying so much child support, not so he can spend more time with his daughter.
Both have sworn off sex.
But as they continuously run into the other, dogs chase each other, and find themselves alone together the heat picks up and not only do they find release with the other, but someone who knows what they are going through.
Trying to maintain the friends only route doesn't work and although it takes them a few mishaps, they finally find away to mix their families together.
I enjoyed the different spin of a divorce leaving Mike and Amanda single and not a death. There wasn't any guilty feelings to overcome like there are when a death was involved. The dedication to their children was beautiful and their two different parenting styles.
July 17, 2012
I enjoyed this story quite a bit, it was sweet. Both the h/H had just moved to the suburbs, both are city people coming off divorce and trying to give a better life to their respective four year olds. The hero's son thinks that he is the reason his mom left and the hero is trying hard not to criticize his ex who said the hero was too rough around the edges and left him for some germ freak nerd. He is sworn off sex, his son needs him. It is the same for the heroine, she wants to make sure her daughter doesn't grow up helpless like her. The heroine was pampered like hell by her parents and though good in her career in advertising, she sucked at the practical things and found out her prince charming was a cheating douche. The book has a crazy mix of pets, a girly daughter, spoiling grandparents and ex issues.
It was fun trying to see the heroine learn things and the hero not trying to hurt her by telling her she was doing things wrong. I also loved the romance though both tried to put a stop to it, both of them had too much going on plus the heroine's ex was trying to play tough and get custody but these two couldn't help falling in love. My one problem was that the book didn't have an epilogue. I found the h/H sweet characters, great parents and people.
It was fun trying to see the heroine learn things and the hero not trying to hurt her by telling her she was doing things wrong. I also loved the romance though both tried to put a stop to it, both of them had too much going on plus the heroine's ex was trying to play tough and get custody but these two couldn't help falling in love. My one problem was that the book didn't have an epilogue. I found the h/H sweet characters, great parents and people.
April 25, 2022
This wasn’t what I was in the mood for…it was sweet, very low angst, humorous, and a little closer to reality(for a romance that is). However, I found it was an easy read and I did like the interactions between the characters. I wanted to see how it turned out. The following is a quick overview, this is one of those stories where there isn’t any great spoiler so to speak.
Hero, Mike:
A hunky divorced ex- lawyer who leaves the big city of Chicago for the suburbs. He and his 4 year old son are going to get back to nature and begin a worm farm. They complete the family unit with a basset hound and tomcat. Oh, and he has vowed to be celibate so he is 100 percent there for his son.
Heroine, Amanda:
A beautiful red headed divorced mom who worked in advertising and leaves for the suburbs with her 4 year old mini me in tow, along with a fancy small poodle and white cat. She has lived a very privileged life. Basically, a modern day fairy tale. She was groomed to be a “princess”. She married her “prince”. They had their own princess and then life threw a curve ball or 2 or 3. Now these curve balls happened to be in the shape of 36-24-36 and they came in blonde, brunette, etc and could be found rolling around with the “prince” . Needless to say our “princess” was not amused. She has sworn off men and figures the suburbs will be low on available testosterone.
Plot moppet 1-Teddy son of hero. He is all boy. He likes mud, worms, trucks, and frogs. He loves his dad and feels rejected by his mom. He says what is on his mind and asks questions all the time.
Plot moppet 2- Molly daughter of heroine. She is all girl. She is all dolls, frills, and fripperies. Boys are dirty. She feels rejected by her dad. She too says what’s on her mind.
The exes in the story have moved on and although they cause issues for the hero and heroine individually as a result of the divorce, they make only 1 physical appearance in the book as it is related to the children. They do not cause issues(only the fallout from the divorce) for the romance developing between 0ur 2 main characters.
The ex wife ditched her hunky husband for small, sneezy man who is very particular about things. I conjured up Niles Crane from Fraser, but actually Niles may be sexier.
Basically, this causes some esteem issues in the H. His wife pretty much tells him he is “too” much of a man in the bedroom and she is looking for something a little less intense and more clean.
The ex husband on the other hand is all man. He just likes to share his manliness with others. He actually thinks his wife should be ok with this because she is still getting what she needs from the marriage and doesn’t hurt them for him to have fun on the side. Oh, and since she had a child she isn’t as fun anymore.
The h and H have instant chemistry, that they are going to try and ignore. Instead they will be “friends”. The h is trying hard to leave her princess moniker behind. She wants to be her own woman and solve her own problems. She also wants to raise her daughter to be more independent and not fall into the whole “needs to be rescued by a man” syndrome.
The h and H get to see each other at their worse. The book actually does a nice job of developing a relationship between them. They have minor hiccups along the way but nothing to make the angst meter needle move. Although the h was a “princess”, she is pretty down to earth and likable. She doesn’t come off as spoiled, high maintenance. She really doesn’t see her better attributes, and the H is there to show her how she is not as helpless as she thinks she is. In the meantime, she lets the H know that his manliness in and outside the bedroom is a turn on for her. They come together a couple of times before the end of the story and they actually don’t wait until the last 2 pages to say I love you. The plot moppets are heavily featured along with the 2 felines and 2 dogs. The story starts at the beginning of summer and ends in August, with our main characters making future plans. Although no talk of future kids, I am pretty sure they will end up with a couple more done the road. There is humor along the way, and it has elements of reality and like a Brady Bunch episode, everything ends with love and laughter. In the immortal words of Marcia Brady, the story was far out!
This automatically got a star for the pets alone…I love Bassett hounds(even though I am a cat mom). The author was from Michigan, so some of the Midwest definitely seeps through.
November 2, 2022
Falling for the guy next door
Mike Conroy is a handsome, ripped, recently divorced, 30-something attorney, who has recently moved to the suburbs from the big city. He is determined to put all his focus on his 4-year-old son, and he has taken a vow of celibacy as a means of avoiding romantic distractions. Which has not been a huge challenge so far, because he is feeling rather emotionally and sexually insecure, because his gorgeous ex dumped him for a skinny wimp who suffers from allergies.
Amanda Scott, a beautiful, recently divorced, 30-something woman with a 4-year-old daughter, has also relocated from the city to the suburbs, and is the proud owner of the house next door to Mike’s. Similar to Mike, Amanda has also taken a vow of celibacy, her only focus, besides caring for her daughter, on fixing up her house. Amanda was raised by indulgent, wealthy parents and married a high-earning businessman. As a result, she has previously existed as a carefree socialite, who never had to hold down a job. But Amanda has resolved that all that is going to change. She is going to turn her life around and stop being dependent. As a first step toward this ambitious goal, she decides that any necessary painting, repair work, or landscaping on her new home will be done entirely by herself. She will not allow her parents to pay for contractors, a maid service, or even a plumber to help her, nor will she hire such people herself. And, most of all, she absolutely refuses to allow her gorgeous neighbor to rescue her from the endless mistakes she inevitably makes due to her lack of any skill whatsoever at home maintenance.
The problem is, every time Amanda has a desperate domestic crisis, Mike cannot stand to leave her in the lurch. No matter how much she yells at him to go away, he never abandons her until he is sure she hasn't sustained a concussion from a fall, or that her whole house isn't flooded from an overflowing toilet, or any of a number of messes that she, her daughter, her cat or her dog make aren't fully cleaned up. Not only that, Amanda and Mike’s mutual celibacy vows are a bust as well. The two of them are irresistible to each other and, in spite of themselves, they keep falling into each others arms and sharing explosive kisses whenever their kids are safely tucked in bed or spending the night elsewhere with their other parent or their grandparents.
This novel is from 2011, but it reads as if it were written in the early '90s. Mike is a cliché rendition of “can’t talk about emotions,” Mr. Fix-It, traditional manliness, and he is raising his son to be the same type of male. The child’s toys consist of little cars and trucks, and all of their father/son pursuits are sloppy, smelly activities. In her turn, Amanda is just as much of a stereotype of femininity. She is supremely competent as a mother and homemaker, she consistently dresses in flattering clothing that shows off her perfect figure, and she is raising an über-feminine daughter, who has a canopy bed, owns endless piles of dolls, and wears fingernail polish, frilly clothing, and ribbons in her hair. It is obvious that the author, in the name of humor, is trying to present this couple as polar opposites in their gender roles. Unfortunately, she has gone to such an extreme, that the two of them often come off as one-dimensional.
Another aspect of this novel that I found irritating is that, again in the name of humor, the author has created 4-year-old characters with the linguistic abilities of cleverly loquacious 10-year-olds.
Also in the name of comedy, the author consistently employs the lowest form of humor, pratfalls and lots of cringe-worthy disarray, that is a time-consuming hassle to clean up.
On the plus side: Both Amanda and Mike are decent, good-hearted people, neither is promiscuous or cheaters, there is no foul language, and the sex scenes are both tasteful and infrequent enough to avoid becoming boringly redundant.
I rate this book as follows:
Heroine: 3 stars
Hero: 3 stars
Children: 2 stars
Romance Plot: 3 stars
Slapstick Comedy: 2 stars
Overall: 3 stars
Mike Conroy is a handsome, ripped, recently divorced, 30-something attorney, who has recently moved to the suburbs from the big city. He is determined to put all his focus on his 4-year-old son, and he has taken a vow of celibacy as a means of avoiding romantic distractions. Which has not been a huge challenge so far, because he is feeling rather emotionally and sexually insecure, because his gorgeous ex dumped him for a skinny wimp who suffers from allergies.
Amanda Scott, a beautiful, recently divorced, 30-something woman with a 4-year-old daughter, has also relocated from the city to the suburbs, and is the proud owner of the house next door to Mike’s. Similar to Mike, Amanda has also taken a vow of celibacy, her only focus, besides caring for her daughter, on fixing up her house. Amanda was raised by indulgent, wealthy parents and married a high-earning businessman. As a result, she has previously existed as a carefree socialite, who never had to hold down a job. But Amanda has resolved that all that is going to change. She is going to turn her life around and stop being dependent. As a first step toward this ambitious goal, she decides that any necessary painting, repair work, or landscaping on her new home will be done entirely by herself. She will not allow her parents to pay for contractors, a maid service, or even a plumber to help her, nor will she hire such people herself. And, most of all, she absolutely refuses to allow her gorgeous neighbor to rescue her from the endless mistakes she inevitably makes due to her lack of any skill whatsoever at home maintenance.
The problem is, every time Amanda has a desperate domestic crisis, Mike cannot stand to leave her in the lurch. No matter how much she yells at him to go away, he never abandons her until he is sure she hasn't sustained a concussion from a fall, or that her whole house isn't flooded from an overflowing toilet, or any of a number of messes that she, her daughter, her cat or her dog make aren't fully cleaned up. Not only that, Amanda and Mike’s mutual celibacy vows are a bust as well. The two of them are irresistible to each other and, in spite of themselves, they keep falling into each others arms and sharing explosive kisses whenever their kids are safely tucked in bed or spending the night elsewhere with their other parent or their grandparents.
This novel is from 2011, but it reads as if it were written in the early '90s. Mike is a cliché rendition of “can’t talk about emotions,” Mr. Fix-It, traditional manliness, and he is raising his son to be the same type of male. The child’s toys consist of little cars and trucks, and all of their father/son pursuits are sloppy, smelly activities. In her turn, Amanda is just as much of a stereotype of femininity. She is supremely competent as a mother and homemaker, she consistently dresses in flattering clothing that shows off her perfect figure, and she is raising an über-feminine daughter, who has a canopy bed, owns endless piles of dolls, and wears fingernail polish, frilly clothing, and ribbons in her hair. It is obvious that the author, in the name of humor, is trying to present this couple as polar opposites in their gender roles. Unfortunately, she has gone to such an extreme, that the two of them often come off as one-dimensional.
Another aspect of this novel that I found irritating is that, again in the name of humor, the author has created 4-year-old characters with the linguistic abilities of cleverly loquacious 10-year-olds.
Also in the name of comedy, the author consistently employs the lowest form of humor, pratfalls and lots of cringe-worthy disarray, that is a time-consuming hassle to clean up.
On the plus side: Both Amanda and Mike are decent, good-hearted people, neither is promiscuous or cheaters, there is no foul language, and the sex scenes are both tasteful and infrequent enough to avoid becoming boringly redundant.
I rate this book as follows:
Heroine: 3 stars
Hero: 3 stars
Children: 2 stars
Romance Plot: 3 stars
Slapstick Comedy: 2 stars
Overall: 3 stars
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April 20, 2021Very funny. Wonderful book. Awesome.
Read
December 24, 2014"I found this book to be hilarious but heart warming." From a review posted by an eHarlequin.com member. To read more go here.
August 24, 2011
I'd give it 3.5 rating
July 17, 2012
Cute and cozy read
August 29, 2014
Cute little romance book, I thought it was funny in a lot of parts, nice quick read:)
Displaying 1 - 9 of 9 reviews