Ever Since Eve

The Keeping Secrets #1

by Pamela Browning

Blacklisted by the mill owners in Wrayville, North Carolina, Eve Triopolous had exhausted all conventional options. What Derek and Kelly Lang offered was not precisely a job but more of a service they needed rendered. The money appealed to Eve in her desperation, but more compelling was the desperation she saw in the faces of the Langs.

Eve didn't give herself time to think; there really wasn't a choice to make. So she signed the papers that would bind her to the Langs for at least nine months - the time it would take for her to carry their child to term.

Genres: Romance, Contemporary Romance, Contemporary, Friends To Lovers, Harlequin, M F Romance, Chick Lit

252 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1986

About the author

Pseudonym: Melanie Rowe

Pamela Browning is the award-winning author of books for adults and children. She has been published by Silhouette, Harlequin, Mills & Boon, and Berkley as well as by various international publishers, including Mondadori in Italy and Cora Verlag in Germany. Her books are sold in 90 countries and have been translated into 21 languages.

Many of Pamela Browning's books have been listed on bestseller lists, and they consistently win high ratings from reviewers. Her book The Mommy Wish won a 2005 Reviewer's Choice Award from Romantic Times magazine, and she has won the Georgia Romance Writers' Maggie as well as many first-place awards for her adult and juvenile novels in the annual National Federation of Press Women contest.

Reviews

[Melody Cox · Rating 3 out of 5]

Eve Triopolous is unemployed with an ailing father to support and makes the decision to become a surrogate mother for an infertile couple. Derek and Kelly Lang are the happy parents-to-be until Kelly is in a tragic accident that leaves Derek a widower.

Derek does not handle his grief well and orders Eve to abort the baby, but she refuses to destroy this child that is not her blood. She will raise the child herself. Derek seems to be quite unreasonable, insensitive, irresponsible, and immature for the wealthy business man he is. That was disappointing for me and it caused me to think less of Derek which the HEA didn't change.

Yes, the HEA was nice but...all that Eve went through alone was really selfish on Derek's part. He certainly was not the man he could have been, the man I thought he would be. It also took me a while to get into the story.

[Sarah · Rating 3 out of 5]

I loved the [bittersweet] plot of this book. Eve will do just about anything to help support her father, even becoming a surrogate mother after a tough economy and bad luck leave her without other job options. Her impression of Derek and Kelly as a loving, deserving, maybe even perfect couple doesn't hold up for long, but then tragedy leaves her the unborn child without a clear mother. So proud of Eve for resisting Derek's grief-filled suggestions, and love how they come together for both the baby and each other at the end.

However, the writing style of the book just was not my thing. It skipped randomly between several different points of view and I just felt like the reader was "told" things instead of living in the story.

I received this book for free from eBook Discovery. This is my honest review.

[Rogetwhi · Rating 3 out of 5]

2.5 stars!!!

[GHBC · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just the right type of book I was looking for.... really great read.

[ANGELIA · Rating 4 out of 5]

This was a good story, and it gives you some idea of what a surrogate mother goes through, and how she can bond with the baby even if it isn't biologically hers.

I liked both the H and h (Derek and Eve), and this whole story (which was certainly different from the average), but I couldn't help feeling sad about Kelly (ironically, she can be called the OW).

There were a few moments where you may feel like shaking Derek and rattling some teeth, but you have to take his state of mind at the time into consideration.

I also liked Eve's father, Al and Kelly's Aunt May, an elderly woman a bit on the eccentric side, with a love of soap operas. (I wish I knew what happened to the rock star in that daytime drama, who needed a kidney transplant and if his estranged sister decided to donate hers? Oh, well...)

There was a token OM (Doug), but he and Eve were never more than friends. The main focus is on Eve and Derek, and the bond that brings them together in a way neither expected.

Worth reading!

[Zoe · Rating 5 out of 5]

I was given this book free from eBook Discovery. I voluntarily review this book. This is my honest review.

This book was so well written, it was beautiful and you could imagine it really happening, it was an emotional rollercoaster too.
I read this book in 2 hits because I fell asleep trying to get to the end! Eve was such a beautiful person both inside and out. She was going to be a surrogate for a perfect couple that couldn't have children, she would get $20,000 for doing it which she needed because she couldn't find a job and would use the money to help look after her father and find a house to rent because they were on notice to leave their home, her college fees and the rest to help pay his medical bills.
It all seemed so easy and made sense, she would be helping them and herself too. The baby would be theirs because they weren't even using her eggs to make the baby. Kelly couldn't have children after having an emergency hysterectomy after a miscarriage, Derek would fertilize it and she would just carry it and had it over at the end. She was just the host it wouldn't be anything to do with her and she would just hand it over and get the money, she wouldn't feel any connection because it wasn't hers was it?
She loved Kelly like a sister with having to spend so much time with her, they had insisted she move in with them so they could help with the Drs appointments, scans and be on hand to watch their baby grow. It all seemed so simple on paper.
She hasn't told her father he wouldn't understand because he was Italian and had strong values, even though she was doing it for the money to help him, so moving away would help because he wouldn't notice she was pregnant, that would save her having to tell him until she'd thought of a way.
This book was brilliant the way it was full of emotion. I cried in places and felt like shaking Eve and Derek in places too.
He was an uptight business man that had lost all sense of fun with him being the head of his families company for so long since his father had retired early and handed it over to him when he was still young enough to enjoy himself and have fun. Eve tried to teach him how to live again, parts were funny too you could see Eve was becoming attached to both Kelly and Derek.
This book had so many shocks to it that you couldn't see coming, parts really upset me wondering where it was going but then others were so wonderfully written you could see it unfold especially with so much emotion in every character. You felt for Eve because she was very naive after being brought up in a small town with just her father after her mother had died, she'd gone to college but after being let go from her first job she couldn't find another one, there just weren't any. When she did go to an interview she was told she was over qualified she couldn't understand how that was fair if she was willing to do the job. She'd never really had a boyfriend she loved and at 28 years old this baby would probably be her only one.
This book is part of a series but it is a stand alone book with a beautiful ending. I'm going to get the rest of the series though because I loved this book so much, if they do carry on with the characters popping up I'll write that in the review of the next books.
I'd definitely recommend it to anyone that likes a great read, it's a beautiful love story and more, down to earth and easy to read.

[JoAnne · Rating 2 out of 5]

I got this book for free on amazon. Eve needs money. She and her father Al are about to be evicted from their home. It was a home that they were given to live in while he worked at the local mill. But they mill has closed and it's being sold for retail space. She has a PR degree but recently lost her job. There are no jobs anywhere. She sees an ad for a surrogate. She meets the couple and they love her. She gets pregnant on the first try. Eve is afraid to tell her dad. The couple, Kelly and Derek, want Eve to move in with them. They realize that she has been skipping meals. Everything is going very well until Kelly dies in a car accident. Derek is grief stricken, so is Eve because Kelly became her best friend. Derek wants Eve to have an abortion. He tries to pay her off. She is only six weeks pregnant. She tells him no. She stumbles into a job and a place to live for her and Al.
Three months later, Derek happens by the restaurant that Eve works at. He is appalled at how she is living. Stupid rich guy! What happens next?

This book was ok. I needed an "E" title for a challenge.

[Margaret Watkins · Rating 4 out of 5]

I received this book for free from eBook Discovery. I voluntarily post this review. This is my honest review. I also originally purchased this book about three years ago.

Ever Since Eve is a sweet romance dealing with the difficult issue of surrogacy. Eve thinks it's all going to be plain sailing. Have the embryo implanted, and hand the baby over when it's time to deliver. It just does not work out that way! The baby that Eve thinks she can walk away from becomes the most important person in her life, and she finds that she will do anything to protect it. When Derek realises that Eve has gone against his wishes and is willing to do what it takes to keep the pregnancy, he has to rethink his position. With time, Derek realises that Eve is more than a surrogate for his child and he finds himself loosening up in a way that is unfamiliar to him.

I found this book light Sunday afternoon reading, and it leaves a smile on your face and a glow in your heart.

[Lesley · Rating 4 out of 5]

A different twist on a pregnancy story, there were a few typos but it flowed quite well and was an easy read. Unlike some other reviewers, I did understand why Derek, in his guilt and grief, initially rejected the baby. Dropped a star because I didn't feel any angst or emotion and I thought I should have. This is an honest review of this novel which I received for free from eBook Discovery. I was not compensated for my review, and I was not required to write a positive review. The opinion expressed here is my own.

[Kety · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is very nice even if the characters go through difficult times. The story is about a couple who decide to have a child using a surrogate mother, but unfortunately a sudden death creates havoc. However in the end love triumphs.
The characters are well defined and alive thanks to their problems in how they deal with situations.

[Sarah ~Book Addict~ · Rating 4 out of 5]

A mix of sweetness, tragedy, emotion. I really liked this book. Derek and Kelly and Eve pulled me in and kept me engaged. I felt deeply for Derek and Eve and what they each went through in their grief.
~ I received this book for free from eBook Discovery. I voluntarily review this book. This is my honest review.~

[A · Rating 1 out of 5]

The h met H and his wife when she signed up to be their surrogate. Even as h gets pregnant, H loses his wife. Then by the end of the delivery, the h and H are falling in love. There are these huge emotional dramas that play out within such a short timespan, it feels too much.

[Tricia · Rating 4 out of 5]

I think people were way to hard on this book. I enjoyed reading this book! I would recommend it to friends.

[Rhonda · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very emotional read. I couldn't decide what I wanted to characters to do. Goodness this book will put you thru the wringer!

[Lori Georgeff · Rating 5 out of 5]

Lovely

I really enjoyed this book. it's more than the traditional love story. I do believe that people will enjoy reading this book and look forward to the next one.

[Dee Renee Chesnut · Rating 3 out of 5]

This has been in my Nook library since I downloaded a free offer from Barnes and Noble in 2014.
It is a predictable romance.

[Sandi Browne · Rating 3 out of 5]

Slow start to story but ended up a sweet romance.