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Accidentally Pregnant, Conveniently Wed
Aisling might be his top headhunter, but with her prim, frumpy exterior Gianluca Palladio has never noticed her.
Then, at a party in Italy, Gianluca catches a glimpse of the real Aisling―a wild wanton, whom he takes to his bed.
One night will never be enough. Gianluca demands another, and suddenly he and Aisling are bound together forever…by a baby!
Then, at a party in Italy, Gianluca catches a glimpse of the real Aisling―a wild wanton, whom he takes to his bed.
One night will never be enough. Gianluca demands another, and suddenly he and Aisling are bound together forever…by a baby!
192 pages, Mass Market Paperback
Published March 25, 2008
54 people are currently reading
123 people want to read
About the author
Sharon Kendrick
1,225 books454 followersI was told off as a child for making up stories—little did I know that one day I’d earn my living by writing them!
To the horror of my parents, I left school at sixteen and held a bewildering variety of jobs: I was a London DJ (in the now-trendy Primrose Hill), a decorator and a singer. After that I became a cook, a photographer and, eventually, a nurse. I waitressed in the south of France, drove an ambulance in Australia, saw lots of beautiful sights but could never settle down. Everywhere I went I felt like a square peg—until one day I started writing again and then everything just fell into place. I felt like Cinderella must have when the glass slipper fit!
Today, I have the best job in the world, writing passionate romances for Harlequin. I like writing stories which are sexy and fast-paced, yet packed full of emotion—stories that readers will identify with, laugh and cry along with.
My interests are many and varied—chocolate and music, fresh flowers and bubble baths, films, cooking and trying to keep my home from looking burglarized! Simple pleasures—you can’t beat them!
I live in Winchester, one of the most stunning cities in the world, but don’t take my word for it—come see for yourself! I regularly visit London and Paris. Oh, and I love hearing from my readers all over the world…so I think it’s over to you!
To the horror of my parents, I left school at sixteen and held a bewildering variety of jobs: I was a London DJ (in the now-trendy Primrose Hill), a decorator and a singer. After that I became a cook, a photographer and, eventually, a nurse. I waitressed in the south of France, drove an ambulance in Australia, saw lots of beautiful sights but could never settle down. Everywhere I went I felt like a square peg—until one day I started writing again and then everything just fell into place. I felt like Cinderella must have when the glass slipper fit!
Today, I have the best job in the world, writing passionate romances for Harlequin. I like writing stories which are sexy and fast-paced, yet packed full of emotion—stories that readers will identify with, laugh and cry along with.
My interests are many and varied—chocolate and music, fresh flowers and bubble baths, films, cooking and trying to keep my home from looking burglarized! Simple pleasures—you can’t beat them!
I live in Winchester, one of the most stunning cities in the world, but don’t take my word for it—come see for yourself! I regularly visit London and Paris. Oh, and I love hearing from my readers all over the world…so I think it’s over to you!
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Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews
February 13, 2010
I have read romances in which heroes do all kinds of awful things to the heroine without turning a hair, but there is one thing I simply can't take in a romance: a hero who is, for more than a brief time, basically indifferent to her. In this book, we have the infamous "let's have one night of sex and get it out of our system scenario" and the really annoying thing is that it apparently works -- he proceeds to completely forget about her and is not particularly pleased to hear from her -- you guessed it -- eight months later. Then of course they get married and fight and misunderstand each other til the last few pages.
Other annoyance: major headhopping, to the point that I had to reread sentences to figure out who the heck was thinking what.
Other annoyance: major headhopping, to the point that I had to reread sentences to figure out who the heck was thinking what.
March 15, 2015
Oh, if only I could give it zero stars. I despised this book - most especially Gianluca Palladio.
He is arrogant, actually irritated that he has to seduce the completely non-feminine, but challenging employee. He's angry that she won't just fall into bed with him like any other "normal" woman. He grumbles and growls when he has to get a condom, as though it’s SUCH a big inconvenience… He makes fun of her for her detail-oriented and controlled personality and her lack of femininity and sophistication (even while they're having sex) and it kills me that she shrugs it off! I mean, he gets mad at her for wearing tights instead of stockings!!! WTF? Until the last few pages of the book (the epilogue) I was convinced that Gianluca actually hated the heroine. Other than the sex, he liked nothing about her. And of course during the resolution – everything that was wrong about their relationship ended up being HER fault.
Oh and he’s such a chauvinistic alpha male, and not the good kind either. She’s pregnant and she’s about ready to give birth and her friend has been pressuring her to contact Gianluca, so he’ll know. And the whole time I’m thinking, don’t be so stupid, you like your life, right? Don’t bring the overbearing, Italian, alpha male back into it! Well she does and predictably she has to give up her entire life in London to move to Italy (because HIS son will not grow up in a city, not speaking Italian, etc.). And she takes all of these as being reasonable arguments I guess. And of course he threatens her with a custody case if she doesn’t, so what choice does she have.
Some quotes which reveal the character of our “Hero”
“Don’t you know how terrifying it is when a woman describes herself as independent, cara?”
“Yet with this vitality came an odd and debilitating weakness – a feeling that she had him in her power – and Gianluca sought to wrest it back again, for now woman ever had supremacy over him.”
He is arrogant, actually irritated that he has to seduce the completely non-feminine, but challenging employee. He's angry that she won't just fall into bed with him like any other "normal" woman. He grumbles and growls when he has to get a condom, as though it’s SUCH a big inconvenience… He makes fun of her for her detail-oriented and controlled personality and her lack of femininity and sophistication (even while they're having sex) and it kills me that she shrugs it off! I mean, he gets mad at her for wearing tights instead of stockings!!! WTF? Until the last few pages of the book (the epilogue) I was convinced that Gianluca actually hated the heroine. Other than the sex, he liked nothing about her. And of course during the resolution – everything that was wrong about their relationship ended up being HER fault.
Oh and he’s such a chauvinistic alpha male, and not the good kind either. She’s pregnant and she’s about ready to give birth and her friend has been pressuring her to contact Gianluca, so he’ll know. And the whole time I’m thinking, don’t be so stupid, you like your life, right? Don’t bring the overbearing, Italian, alpha male back into it! Well she does and predictably she has to give up her entire life in London to move to Italy (because HIS son will not grow up in a city, not speaking Italian, etc.). And she takes all of these as being reasonable arguments I guess. And of course he threatens her with a custody case if she doesn’t, so what choice does she have.
Some quotes which reveal the character of our “Hero”
“Don’t you know how terrifying it is when a woman describes herself as independent, cara?”
“Yet with this vitality came an odd and debilitating weakness – a feeling that she had him in her power – and Gianluca sought to wrest it back again, for now woman ever had supremacy over him.”
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 19, 2012
I normally like books like this but this one frustrated me beyond belief. The hero was a complete asshole that just used the heroine throughout the whole novel. It seemed so tacky and abusive. I certainly wouldn't read it again.
April 20, 2017
Leído el 28/08/2010
Accidentally pregnant, conveniently wed
Se dieron cuenta de que estarían unidos para siempre… por un bebé.
Quizá fuera una magnífica empleada, pero con aquellos recatados trajes que llevaba, Gianluca Palladio nunca se había parado a mirar a Aisling.
Una fiesta le permitió vislumbrar la mujer que se escondía bajo el aspecto serio y eficiente de Aisling: una mujer apasionada con la que acabó acostándose.
Pero una noche no era suficiente. Gianluca necesitaba al menos otra para terminar lo que habían empezado…
Accidentally pregnant, conveniently wed
Se dieron cuenta de que estarían unidos para siempre… por un bebé.
Quizá fuera una magnífica empleada, pero con aquellos recatados trajes que llevaba, Gianluca Palladio nunca se había parado a mirar a Aisling.
Una fiesta le permitió vislumbrar la mujer que se escondía bajo el aspecto serio y eficiente de Aisling: una mujer apasionada con la que acabó acostándose.
Pero una noche no era suficiente. Gianluca necesitaba al menos otra para terminar lo que habían empezado…
June 24, 2023
Whole book revolves around sex, emotions told not shown.
February 6, 2018
Honestly I'm only giving it two stars because of the heroine Aisling. I really liked her - she was strong and insecure all at once, able to hide it all behind her no-nonsense, professional ice-queen facade. She reminded me of a couple of my own characters and I was looking forward to see how another writer would write a romance with her type of character.
I'll admit, when I picked it up, from the blurb, I thought it as going to be one of those make-over trope books and was pleased to see it wasn't.
What I wasn't pleased by was the "Hero"!
Ha!
He doesn't even deserve the name. He's a spoiled playboy who pouted over not being fawned over by a woman he didn't even want to be attracted to, a woman he was indifferent to a good portion of the book. All he seemed to want to do was use her for sex at his convenience; part of me, I really was expecting a large reason he even bedded her was to knock her down a peg or two.
I mean hell, it seemed he resented that he was attracted to her and I spent the entire book thinking he hated her especially with how he made fun of her, even during sex, and the "HEA" did not feel genuine in the least.
Her love I felt.
His...no.
All I got from him was a bruised ego because she wasn't behaving like every other woman who he beds, that she actually took him to his word on their one night agreement and wasn't calling and begging him for more. And his reaction because she had the gall to worry about not just her livelihood but the livelihood of those who worked at her very small company if things went badly!
He's supposed to be the head of his own company, so this is something he should have recognized and respected. But because it's a woman who had this concern he views her as 'heartless'? For me it shows she had more heart to be worried about those that depend on her rather than letting her libido lead her, like he was doing - he was showing himself to be the spoiled rich playboy he was.
And his accusations of sleeping around and trying to trap him with the baby? Nothing in her character even gave a hint that was how she would behave! And the fact her business partner, who is I guess supposed to be her friend, seemed to think the same thing?
Nothing in her character gave a hint she would do that - she was a complete and total professional, she didn't dress up to get attention, she didn't try to take him to bed the first couple times they met - hell she was reluctant in the first place and was just a two-time booty call for him. Her entire focus was building her company, not going out and seducing rich men hoping to get knocked up!
Where from her collected 'ice-queen' behavior would one get the impression she's deliberately try to trap a man with a baby? Especially when she was so reluctant to even tell him about the baby in the first place and wouldn't have is the business partner hadn't badgered her into it!
Faced with that, I'd have told them both to f*ck off, taken my baby, and left.
Small Rant: Something that ticks me off with some writers who base the woman in England is the fact that they don't seem to do research in parental rights there. The mother is default custodian and if she doesn't put his name on the BC he has no rights; even if his name is on it, most times he still has no rights. Yeah he can take her to court, but with his very public playboy lifestyle and if she gets him on tape or has witnesses with his threats against her and her company, then what judge will give him sole custody? He'd be lucky to get visitations and be slapped with child support payments. It takes a lot for a woman to lose custody of her child in England; there's been cases where a woman has killed one of her children and still retained custodial rights of the other children rather than the courts giving them over to the father.
I'll admit, when I picked it up, from the blurb, I thought it as going to be one of those make-over trope books and was pleased to see it wasn't.
What I wasn't pleased by was the "Hero"!
Ha!
He doesn't even deserve the name. He's a spoiled playboy who pouted over not being fawned over by a woman he didn't even want to be attracted to, a woman he was indifferent to a good portion of the book. All he seemed to want to do was use her for sex at his convenience; part of me, I really was expecting a large reason he even bedded her was to knock her down a peg or two.
I mean hell, it seemed he resented that he was attracted to her and I spent the entire book thinking he hated her especially with how he made fun of her, even during sex, and the "HEA" did not feel genuine in the least.
Her love I felt.
His...no.
All I got from him was a bruised ego because she wasn't behaving like every other woman who he beds, that she actually took him to his word on their one night agreement and wasn't calling and begging him for more. And his reaction because she had the gall to worry about not just her livelihood but the livelihood of those who worked at her very small company if things went badly!
He's supposed to be the head of his own company, so this is something he should have recognized and respected. But because it's a woman who had this concern he views her as 'heartless'? For me it shows she had more heart to be worried about those that depend on her rather than letting her libido lead her, like he was doing - he was showing himself to be the spoiled rich playboy he was.
And his accusations of sleeping around and trying to trap him with the baby? Nothing in her character even gave a hint that was how she would behave! And the fact her business partner, who is I guess supposed to be her friend, seemed to think the same thing?
Nothing in her character gave a hint she would do that - she was a complete and total professional, she didn't dress up to get attention, she didn't try to take him to bed the first couple times they met - hell she was reluctant in the first place and was just a two-time booty call for him. Her entire focus was building her company, not going out and seducing rich men hoping to get knocked up!
Where from her collected 'ice-queen' behavior would one get the impression she's deliberately try to trap a man with a baby? Especially when she was so reluctant to even tell him about the baby in the first place and wouldn't have is the business partner hadn't badgered her into it!
Faced with that, I'd have told them both to f*ck off, taken my baby, and left.
Small Rant: Something that ticks me off with some writers who base the woman in England is the fact that they don't seem to do research in parental rights there. The mother is default custodian and if she doesn't put his name on the BC he has no rights; even if his name is on it, most times he still has no rights. Yeah he can take her to court, but with his very public playboy lifestyle and if she gets him on tape or has witnesses with his threats against her and her company, then what judge will give him sole custody? He'd be lucky to get visitations and be slapped with child support payments. It takes a lot for a woman to lose custody of her child in England; there's been cases where a woman has killed one of her children and still retained custodial rights of the other children rather than the courts giving them over to the father.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
December 7, 2008
I admit I skimmed it more than read it, but it was fairly compelling. I felt that the hero fed into the heroines insecurities instead of helping her to feel peace. That's why I didn't rate it higher and it isn't a keeper.
November 12, 2020
Alright. That was very bland. Love how the author blames the heroine for being cautious, and guilty for wanting to work(cause you know, don't know if this marriage is forever or not). But it seemed that the couple wasn't very compatible. Kinda wished they had just been coparents. Skip.
June 28, 2020
I got this book with a bundle and want to write an individual review here. Aisling worked for Gianluca as his headhunter for his business. She knew that there were lines that should never be crossed and sleeping with your employer is the biggest no-no. But he was persistent and wore her down. After a bit there was a limitation to the affair. But when all is said and done mother nature steps in and changes both of their minds. Will this be a love match or just a marriage for the sake of the child?
December 5, 2022
In het Nederlands is de titel Vuurwerk in Rome.
January 25, 2024
Tudo ruim. Não leia.
April 7, 2020
Aisling is a top head hunter, employed by Gianluca Palladio to find him some of the best employees available.
He can't resist making the prim and uptight head hunter lose her cool around him and makes it his mission to loosen her up. Perhaps too much because she ends up pregnant.
With him peeking beneath her prim exterior he can't let her go, especially with her now carrying his baby.
He can't resist making the prim and uptight head hunter lose her cool around him and makes it his mission to loosen her up. Perhaps too much because she ends up pregnant.
With him peeking beneath her prim exterior he can't let her go, especially with her now carrying his baby.
June 11, 2008
This was an ok book. It took about an hour to read. These are good for quick stress relievers. If you want to read, but don't want your mind to have stress to hard-harlequins are the way to go.
For a Harlequin, this was decently written.
For a Harlequin, this was decently written.
June 28, 2015
Boring
Great storyline...slow pickup..male character ill weak...boring..female same weak and somewhat boring. Kept building up but fizzled. Love strong characters with clear backgrounds.
Great storyline...slow pickup..male character ill weak...boring..female same weak and somewhat boring. Kept building up but fizzled. Love strong characters with clear backgrounds.
June 3, 2015
M&B reasonably good story
September 29, 2015
Mates
Great story with good strong characters.shows how working and having family possible.like how main character rose from a terrible background to be a. Strong woman.
Great story with good strong characters.shows how working and having family possible.like how main character rose from a terrible background to be a. Strong woman.
June 22, 2022
Very good
February 19, 2012
Another accidentally pregnant by the boss HP
Displaying 1 - 19 of 19 reviews