What do you think?
Rate this book
An Heir Made in the Marriage Bed
One night back in her husband's bed... The inability to have a child left Joanna and Matt Novak's passionate marriage in tatters. But when Joanna asks her tycoon husband for a divorce, Matt makes it clear he expects them to remain married...in the most intimate of ways! As tempers flare, the raging desire between them explodes - just once more, Matt and Joanna give into the thrill of each other's touch. In the shattering aftermath of their explosive encounter, they agree to part ways...until Joanna discovers one tiny consequence to their night together - she's carrying Matt's baby!
189 pages, Paperback
Published August 1, 2017
85 people are currently reading
98 people want to read
About the author
Anne Mather
800 books360 followersAnne Mather is the pseudonym used by Mildred Grieveson, a popular British author of over 160 romance novels. She also signed novels as Caroline Fleming and Cardine Fleming.
Mildred Grieveson began to write down stories in her childhood years. The first novel that she actually finished, Caroline (1965), was also her first book to be published. Her novel, Leopard in the Snow (1974), was developed into a 1978 film.
Mildred Grieveson began to write down stories in her childhood years. The first novel that she actually finished, Caroline (1965), was also her first book to be published. Her novel, Leopard in the Snow (1974), was developed into a 1978 film.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews
October 9, 2017
Hated. This. So. Much.
Writing is flat, banal and tell, not show. There is absolutely no passion between the H and the h. How she gets pregnant is a mystery to me.
On top of all that the heroine is the worst of the worst. Her father is a corporate criminal that is bailed out by the hero, but all you hear is “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy.” SHe’s an idiot. Her motherland her husband try and tell her the real deal but she won't believe. The fact that the sale of her father’s business left her without any funds isn’t even a tipoff that her husband could be right. Not only is she a sucky heroine, she’s a rotten business person. It takes her FIL to convince her. Thrilling.
She gets pregnant, doesn’t tell the hero because a woman answered his phone when she called. All this after the couple has tried and failed to get pregnant for years. Secret baby stories don’t bother me that much when the ex is an alpha jackass who wants no ties with his ex-mistress, but when it’s a husband that has suffered through infertility too? Nope.
A total fail. The only interesting character was the evil mother of the H.
Writing is flat, banal and tell, not show. There is absolutely no passion between the H and the h. How she gets pregnant is a mystery to me.
On top of all that the heroine is the worst of the worst. Her father is a corporate criminal that is bailed out by the hero, but all you hear is “Daddy, Daddy, Daddy.” SHe’s an idiot. Her motherland her husband try and tell her the real deal but she won't believe. The fact that the sale of her father’s business left her without any funds isn’t even a tipoff that her husband could be right. Not only is she a sucky heroine, she’s a rotten business person. It takes her FIL to convince her. Thrilling.
She gets pregnant, doesn’t tell the hero because a woman answered his phone when she called. All this after the couple has tried and failed to get pregnant for years. Secret baby stories don’t bother me that much when the ex is an alpha jackass who wants no ties with his ex-mistress, but when it’s a husband that has suffered through infertility too? Nope.
A total fail. The only interesting character was the evil mother of the H.
January 10, 2018
Not my favorite
Was boring. The heroine was tstl and took her Fathers word over her husband. The H was just weird. And why did he have to say he took a woman to bed after the divorce? It played no part in the story. The h never found out so it was completely unnecessary. He also said he didn't consummate the affair but it was just too weird. The whole story. Again with the back and forth and push and pull and the MIL from he!! It was just a boring tedious story. Do not recommend at all. Just yuk.
Was boring. The heroine was tstl and took her Fathers word over her husband. The H was just weird. And why did he have to say he took a woman to bed after the divorce? It played no part in the story. The h never found out so it was completely unnecessary. He also said he didn't consummate the affair but it was just too weird. The whole story. Again with the back and forth and push and pull and the MIL from he!! It was just a boring tedious story. Do not recommend at all. Just yuk.
February 23, 2023
Here is one of the most recent books from this author, and it definitely was a disappointment for me.
You have the usual annoying and bitchy heroine as usual in AM, without the BM and the kink.
The heroine is a cold unfeeling bitch that wants to divorce her husband because she thinks he wanted to ruin her father’s business, after which her father died.
She never listened to the hero’s explanations and to be true, he never really told her what was her father’s real issue.
The man was a gambler, he hated the hero and was jealous of the heroine.
The fact that she doesn’t believe her husband after four years of marriage is very bad.
The hero loves her and wants her back but she only wants a divorce and a goodbye f**k.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, she seduces him and then leaves him.
Of course she gets pregnant afterwards and tries to get in touch with him but a woman answers his house and she thinks he has a new lover so, just to spite him, she decides not to tell him she’s pregnant.
Thank god his sister sees her so he goes to her and asks her to spend at least the remaining time of her pregnancy with him. And eventually they reconcile. When she finds proofs that he didn’t want to ruin her father but he wanted to help him and that her father deceived her and everyone because he had an affair with the hero’s mother when they were younger.
This was the only lil kink of the book.
So, there’s not much to say here.
The heroine is awful. Cold and unfeeling, she leaves the hero and never tries to find out the truth about her father. We don’t exactly know why she should believe he wanted to ruin his father in law, but the fact is that she doesn’t believe the hero at all.
The way she treats him is abominable.
She doesn’t care that he still loves her, and he does love her, and she uses him for sex dumping him afterwards like he was nothing.
And she goes on with divorce.
He is really in a bad place after his divorce.
I don’t know how many times he was rejected and I really think he deserved a better woman. I don’t think she ever loved him, because she left him without much fuss.
And the fact that she even wanted to deny him the right to know she had a child with him.
Unbelievable.
One of the worst heroine ever.
Oh, and the hero was celibate because he was also a decent person, his mother tried to match him with several woman when he was separated but hey, he was married to the bitch so decided to stay faithful.
I don’t know where this book wanted to go but imo it went nowhere.
You have the usual annoying and bitchy heroine as usual in AM, without the BM and the kink.
The heroine is a cold unfeeling bitch that wants to divorce her husband because she thinks he wanted to ruin her father’s business, after which her father died.
She never listened to the hero’s explanations and to be true, he never really told her what was her father’s real issue.
The man was a gambler, he hated the hero and was jealous of the heroine.
The fact that she doesn’t believe her husband after four years of marriage is very bad.
The hero loves her and wants her back but she only wants a divorce and a goodbye f**k.
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, she seduces him and then leaves him.
Of course she gets pregnant afterwards and tries to get in touch with him but a woman answers his house and she thinks he has a new lover so, just to spite him, she decides not to tell him she’s pregnant.
Thank god his sister sees her so he goes to her and asks her to spend at least the remaining time of her pregnancy with him. And eventually they reconcile. When she finds proofs that he didn’t want to ruin her father but he wanted to help him and that her father deceived her and everyone because he had an affair with the hero’s mother when they were younger.
This was the only lil kink of the book.
So, there’s not much to say here.
The heroine is awful. Cold and unfeeling, she leaves the hero and never tries to find out the truth about her father. We don’t exactly know why she should believe he wanted to ruin his father in law, but the fact is that she doesn’t believe the hero at all.
The way she treats him is abominable.
She doesn’t care that he still loves her, and he does love her, and she uses him for sex dumping him afterwards like he was nothing.
And she goes on with divorce.
He is really in a bad place after his divorce.
I don’t know how many times he was rejected and I really think he deserved a better woman. I don’t think she ever loved him, because she left him without much fuss.
And the fact that she even wanted to deny him the right to know she had a child with him.
Unbelievable.
One of the worst heroine ever.
Oh, and the hero was celibate because he was also a decent person, his mother tried to match him with several woman when he was separated but hey, he was married to the bitch so decided to stay faithful.
I don’t know where this book wanted to go but imo it went nowhere.
July 29, 2019
2 ⭐⭐ - Meh!
================
Herdeiro do Desejo - Harlequin JESSICA 292 - Paperback Portuguese Edition
================
Herdeiro do Desejo - Harlequin JESSICA 292 - Paperback Portuguese Edition
Read
July 6, 2017I won't rate this it was so boring I DNF@20% plus hero was a retired tycoon or sth plus sick. Not my idea of a Presents hero loll
September 5, 2022
Second chance romance.
Read
July 19, 2017RTC
July 8, 2017
I'm going to be a bit kinder then the other reviewers. This was a plot that has been used many times couple are married she can't get pregnant they've been split for awhile he was ill. His mother was keeping communication between the two them to herself she doesn't like her daughter in law. They get together have one night together and bingo pregnant. Lots of surprises thrown in that keep you reading.
September 2, 2017
I enjoyed this book! Its a good thing I didn't follow the reviews. I adore seconds chances between estranged or divorced couples. I do agree however the MIL should have gotten a 'royal' kick in the arse.
February 20, 2020
Didn't realise that I had already read this one. Thought it seemed a familiar plot. Gave it 4 stars last time but downgrading it to 3 this time. She should've waved that letter in front of the mother-in-laws face......... bitch woman. I wouldn't want that woman anywhere near my baby. I really felt sorry for Matt, he didn't want the separation nor the Divorce but let her have her way. Her late father was a sleaze. She should've known there was something wrong when there was a huge mortgage on the house and no money. PLEASE authors throw us poor readers a bone................ yes you said the baby was going to be a boy but................NAMES please. One more thing that really wasn't a nice part of the story, for me, Sex on the beach.........she was very heavily pregnant ..................yuck, it put really strange images in my head. Not a well written scene at all.
September 24, 2017
As others stated, this was just plain awful! I hate bad reviews but if an author puts things like this in print, then you can't blame people who express their disgust & disappointment.
Both H & h have absolutely zilch chemistry and I couldn't stand either one. Their dialogue & "love", nope. Didn't buy it for one second.
SPOILER ahead........
For anyone who is interested, during their divorce, h has no OM, however, H apparently tried to have sex with OW and didn't go all the way. It's not very clear how far he went.....
Both H & h have absolutely zilch chemistry and I couldn't stand either one. Their dialogue & "love", nope. Didn't buy it for one second.
SPOILER ahead........
For anyone who is interested, during their divorce, h has no OM, however, H apparently tried to have sex with OW and didn't go all the way. It's not very clear how far he went.....
August 31, 2017
Anne Mather is an author whom I've been reading since many years.
With all due respect, this was one book where all my sympathies lay with the poor beleaguered Hero Matt. He was too good to be true. At every turn he faced the heroine's rebuff, disbelief, confronting attitude, juvenile behaviour, cowardice.... Oooh.....I could just go on about the heroine.....couldn't relate to the heroine at all.
With all due respect, this was one book where all my sympathies lay with the poor beleaguered Hero Matt. He was too good to be true. At every turn he faced the heroine's rebuff, disbelief, confronting attitude, juvenile behaviour, cowardice.... Oooh.....I could just go on about the heroine.....couldn't relate to the heroine at all.
July 20, 2017
DNF. Awful. Dragged on. Stiff characters. No chemistry. Heroine was dumb and indecisive. Naïve too. Cliché monster of a mother-in-law better suited for the historical themed romances. Overall not worth even a glance. Skimmed to the end and yeah, still boring.
July 7, 2017
Boring.
July 15, 2017
The hero and heroine leads in this emotional romance have to contend with the hero's mother who really needs to stop her interference but this makes this read all the more interesting, loved it.
September 13, 2024
I hated this one.
The heroine was awful, she didn't believe her husband at all and wouldn't even listen to him or his explanations. Instead she chose her to believe her father, even almost 2 years after his death she was believing him over the hero. Only believed her father in law after finding a letter her father's laptop. She didn't tell hero she was pregnant and I doubt she ever would have.
The hero didn't put all that much effort into saving his marriage, not that I can entirely blame him when she was so awful. He even almost slept with another woman going as far as getting into bed with her, wasn't stated how far he went just didn't consumate. I assume he at very least kissed her and at most had oral sex with the other woman.
As for hero and heroine's connection, I did not at all feel they were meant for each other and that nobody else would do for them. It did not feel like they were madly in love with each other. She went weeks without thinking about him and did not even doubt her father's word over hero's. Hero gave up on his marriage pretty fast once she asked for divorce, in 5 months he almost slept with another woman and was considering getting married again in future.
They only got back together because of the baby. If she wasn't pregnant he wouldn't have went to her and she never would have contacted him and both were perfectly fine with it and thought they were over each other.
The twist that heroine's father and hero's mother were college sweethearts, made me question the timing and paternity of hero. The letter that heroine discovered was dated 40 years before and hero was about 39 (was 38 when she got pregnant and was about 9 months pregnant when she found letter), so who's to say if heroine's father is actually his father too. I know that he's not because it's a harlequin presents, but I do not like that close a timeline. P.
The heroine was awful, she didn't believe her husband at all and wouldn't even listen to him or his explanations. Instead she chose her to believe her father, even almost 2 years after his death she was believing him over the hero. Only believed her father in law after finding a letter her father's laptop. She didn't tell hero she was pregnant and I doubt she ever would have.
The hero didn't put all that much effort into saving his marriage, not that I can entirely blame him when she was so awful. He even almost slept with another woman going as far as getting into bed with her, wasn't stated how far he went just didn't consumate. I assume he at very least kissed her and at most had oral sex with the other woman.
As for hero and heroine's connection, I did not at all feel they were meant for each other and that nobody else would do for them. It did not feel like they were madly in love with each other. She went weeks without thinking about him and did not even doubt her father's word over hero's. Hero gave up on his marriage pretty fast once she asked for divorce, in 5 months he almost slept with another woman and was considering getting married again in future.
They only got back together because of the baby. If she wasn't pregnant he wouldn't have went to her and she never would have contacted him and both were perfectly fine with it and thought they were over each other.
The twist that heroine's father and hero's mother were college sweethearts, made me question the timing and paternity of hero. The letter that heroine discovered was dated 40 years before and hero was about 39 (was 38 when she got pregnant and was about 9 months pregnant when she found letter), so who's to say if heroine's father is actually his father too. I know that he's not because it's a harlequin presents, but I do not like that close a timeline. P.
March 15, 2018
Joanna was put into a position of having to choose between her dad that she loved, or her husband who she also loved. The story’s her dad had told her she believed, and it tore her marriage apart. Her husband was a good man and kept waiting for her to find out the truth. The ended up getting divorced. Before they split for good they slept together one more time resulting in Joanna getting pregnant. Matt didn’t find out she was pregnant till close to the end of the pregnancy. He convinced her to move to the island with him. I was hoping the two would mend fences right away but Matt kept pulling away because he was hurt. It took her having the baby for the two to admit they still loved on another. I read till the end, but I just didn’t feel an emotional connection to either the hero or heroine. Joanna had the worst mother in law ever, and I did feel sorry for her, that she had to put up with that. I wouldn’t have been able to keep my mouth shut. This was neither a good or bad book. Just a book.
November 10, 2018
Heroine is a capital A**hole. Believes her father's (conman) lies about the hero after he does his best to protect her and her father. She then she doesn't tell him she's pregnant after they tried to have a baby for years!! he finds out from his sister after 6 MONTHS!!!! and she didn't tell him because a lady picked up his phone who pretty much told her she didn't even have the guys cellphone #. hellooooooo???!! what about the woman on the other line said she was his mistress? also she said the lady on the other line must be a hooker? TF?! she thinks so badly of the hero after he told her multiple times he loved her. Then when she found out he'd been sick the writer tried to make it sound like the heroine cared but it read the opposite to me.
OML - Don't bother with this book
OML - Don't bother with this book
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
August 24, 2017
A great read! It must be awkward when your pregnant with your ex's baby? The chemistry is there but past secrets are still in the way. Will they be able to salvage their relationship?
November 18, 2018
Povera stupida ingenua Joanna
October 12, 2019
Joanna and Matt Novak end up divorcing. But, just beforehand, they end up creating a baby. One that they struggled throughout their marriage to conceive.
Overall, just a bit lackluster.
Overall, just a bit lackluster.
March 17, 2022
Really! Cannot fathom how this grandmother was allowed to start that fight over the head of a baby just a few hours old.
June 10, 2021
One night back in her husband's bed...
The inability to have a child left Joanna and Matt Novak's passionate marriage in tatters. But when Joanna asks her tycoon husband for a divorce, Matt makes it clear he expects them to remain married...in the most intimate of ways!
As tempers flare, the raging desire between them explodes--just once more, Matt and Joanna give in to the thrill of each other's touch.
In the shattering aftermath of their explosive encounter, they agree to part ways...until Joanna discovers one tiny consequence of their night together--she's carrying Matt's baby!
The inability to have a child left Joanna and Matt Novak's passionate marriage in tatters. But when Joanna asks her tycoon husband for a divorce, Matt makes it clear he expects them to remain married...in the most intimate of ways!
As tempers flare, the raging desire between them explodes--just once more, Matt and Joanna give in to the thrill of each other's touch.
In the shattering aftermath of their explosive encounter, they agree to part ways...until Joanna discovers one tiny consequence of their night together--she's carrying Matt's baby!
March 22, 2020
Joanna and Matt were a terrible couple who went out of their way to hurt one another and didn't have a long enough grovel scene (that actually hashed out their issues) to make their recommitment satisfying, or in any way believable. They didn't even have the sexual chemistry to make their cruelty a bit palatable.
Matt's sister Sophie was the only interesting character and she was barely in the book.
Matt's sister Sophie was the only interesting character and she was barely in the book.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
January 14, 2021
An Heir Made in the Marriage Bed
When their marriage hits hard times they split up. Now Joanna has connected with Matt to ask for a divorce. His mother having never approved of the marriage was the wall between them. Now that the divorce is over she finds herself pregnant. But are they truly over? Or is their love still as strong as it ever was?
When their marriage hits hard times they split up. Now Joanna has connected with Matt to ask for a divorce. His mother having never approved of the marriage was the wall between them. Now that the divorce is over she finds herself pregnant. But are they truly over? Or is their love still as strong as it ever was?
May 20, 2020
A bit disappointed with the story, I thought when I started to read the novel it was going to be a really good read but then the characters became quite irritating in their inability to work through their problems. For me not one of her best.
April 12, 2019
Awesome ending.
Displaying 1 - 27 of 27 reviews