The Spaniard's Surprise Love-Child

Spanish Secret Heirs #1

by Kim Lawrence

“The child…she is mine.”

A revelation under the Spanish sun!

Softhearted Gwen had always dreamed of the day tycoon Rio would discover their child. Yet the reality is astounding! Because when the brooding Spaniard sweeps back into her life, he demands their daughter—and her!

Rio will not walk away from his daughter. Even if he has to defy his number one rule, honed after years of bitter experience, and let Gwen into his billion-dollar world. Yet a place in his bed is all Rio can offer—no matter how much Gwen tempts him to offer more…

Genres: Romance, Harlequin Presents, Harlequin, Second Chance

224 pages, Kindle Edition

Published April 1, 2020

About the author

Though lacking much authentic Welsh blood, Kim Lawrence comes from English-Irish stock. She was born and brought up in North Wales. She returned there when she married, and her sons were both born on Anglesey, an island off the coast. Though not isolated, Anglesey is a little off the beaten track, but lively Dublin, which Kim loves, is only a short ferry ride away. Today they live on the farm her husband was brought up on. Welsh is the first language of many people in this area and Kim's husband and sons are all bilingual she is having a lot of fun, not to mention a few headaches, trying to learn the language! She is a keen gardener and cook and enjoys running often on the beach, as living on an island the sea is never very far away. She is usually accompanied by her Jack Russell, Sprout don't ask, it's long story!

With small children, the unsocial hours of nursing didn't look attractive so encouraged by a husband who thinks she can do anything she sets her mind to, Kim tried her hand at writing. Always a keen Mills & Boon reader, it seemed natural for her to write a romance novel. In 1995, she published her first novels and now she can't imagine doing anything else.

Reviews

[Ivy H · Rating 2 out of 5]

The blurb was interesting but the author's execution of this second chance/secret baby romance, was just average.


The MC's, Gwen and Rio, were involved 3 years ago and broke up after the heroine found a copy of a positive DNA result, assumed the H was the daddy and left him when he refused to explain and got mad at her for poking around in his personal business.


When they meet again, 3 years later, he still refuses to explain why his *son* ( the DNA test result baby ), isn't a significant factor, but is insistent that his daughter ( the heroine's secret baby ) must be a part of his life.


The heroine doesn't seem to question this discrepancy. It's something I'd question. It turns out that the he's not the father of the DNA test baby. His identical twin is the culprit. I surmise that his twin, Roman, might get his own novel, to sort out that secret baby storyline.


I'm not sure if I'll be interested in reading that, since the baby's mother had been married to another man while she'd been banging Roman. But, aside from that issue, the storytelling itself is bogged down by too much bland, sequential exposition of irrelevant information:


📍I didn't see the need for the great detailed section, in the first chapter, about the heroine's students, colleagues, the prize giving ceremony, the girl who won the prize, the discussion about teaching strategy etc. This section could've been edited, because it was just boring filler.


📍Similarly, the MC's spend the first 5 chapters, talking about what they're going to do, vis a vis the co-parenting issue. Then, later on when they're at the H's vacation house and his twin punches him on the jaw, the author goes into mind numbingly boring detail about the treatment of his injury.


The H didn't even offer marriage, at first. He offered to buy her a house next to his London townhouse, so his daughter could be near to him. He's also willing to continue sleeping with her, but is afraid to commit:


‘By open, do you mean—?’ She found she couldn’t even finish the sentence.


‘As it is I really don’t want to sleep with another woman, but I don’t want to make any unrealistic promises to you that I might not be able to keep. I respect you too much for that.’

His matter-of-fact confession of possible future infidelity sent a cold chill through her body, but Rio seemed oblivious to her reaction...


But what really made me finally lose patience with this H, is the great misunderstanding that he never attempted to clear up properly. The MC's are at his mother's party, when a drunken female friend of his, accosts him in the library and unzips her dress.


Instead of getting help from a female servant or one of the woman's friends, he feels sorry for her and lies down on the couch with her, when she starts to cry. Apparently the lady's suffering from depression since her husband died from some terminal illness.


When the heroine walks in this scene, he just expects her to trust him ! Afterwards when he follows her to propose and apologize, he doesn't even explain properly. He just gives her some namby pamby summary that skates over the important details. And she is happy with that.


It's extremely, *eyerollingly* infuriating and makes me want to cuss, but I'm trying hard to be nice for this Lenten season...





In real life, a woman would need a helluva lot more explanation than that. She accepted his half assed explanation too easily. I'd be putting my husband through intense interrogative scrutiny, examining his eye movements, facial and body language, looking for extra clues to decipher honesty 😂.


I also don't understand why the author wastes time with irrelevant detail in earlier chapters, but can't be bothered to write a nice, romantic epilogue.


Finally, I didn't sense the emotional connection between the MC's. Kim Lawrence needs to work on building that special chemistry between her MC's. There's too much telling and inadequate showing. Furthermore, the MC's internal monologues weren't always interesting.


I don't know how else to explain it, but romance novel lovers know what I'm talking about: it's that's special, warm feeling we get when our emotions are fully engaged in a story. It's when we become so fully invested in the storytelling, that our emotions run the full gamut as the plot unfolds.


That didn't happen while I was reading this book. Plus the sex scenes were underwhelming.


Safety: No cheating, the H wasn't celibate during their 3 year separation but the heroine was celibate.

[Aou · Rating 2 out of 5]

Actually it was story I liked but writing was not. I didn't believed his love and there were some unanswered questions. My rose-colored glasses should be dirty. 🙈

[lily · Rating 4 out of 5]

3.5 stars
I absolutely loved Gwen and her cute daughter Ellie BUT.... I hated Rio's Reluctance and his cold behavior, sometimes he was a big jerk and so unfeeling But the poor girl loves him so much and he is so Hot 😫 so I am happy for them.

[Frankie · Rating 1 out of 5]

The romance was unfortunately lackluster for me. It was the first book in a long time that I DNF.

[Somia · Rating 2 out of 5]

So mills and boon is where I go when I want one of those reads that is filled with drama, OTT heroes, where you sit back with popcorn and are entertained - sadly this one didn't work for me, so damn underwhelmed.

Rio hasn't seen Gwen since things ended, although she's been in his thoughts more than a little over the last two years or so. What he doesn't expect is to see her in England and working at a school at that. But what's the biggest shock is the little toddler she has - Ellie, a child that resembles him.

The heat and chemistry between Gwen and Rio didn't sizzle off the page - no fan was needed.

It would have been nice if Ellie had been in more scenes, more directly.

The side plot with Rio's brother felt underdeveloped and unfinished -the confession/confrontation should have been shown on page.

99p on amazon.

[RomLibrary]

The child…she is mine.”

A revelation under the Spanish sun!

Softhearted Gwen had always dreamed of the day tycoon Rio would discover their child. Yet the reality is astounding! Because when the brooding Spaniard sweeps back into her life, he demands their daughter—and her!

Rio will not walk away from his daughter. Even if he has to defy his number one rule, honed after years of bitter experience, and let Gwen into his billion-dollar world. Yet a place in his bed is all Rio can offer—no matter how much Gwen tempts him to offer more…

[Mattie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I really liked the heroine and I liked that the hero wasn't a jerk when he found out about his daughter, he didn't threaten to take custody and all that. He had a very mature approach that he wanted to co-parent and he recognized that heroine was a good mother. However good he was in most aspects I liked the heroine so much that I felt she deserved for the hero to have been celibate during the separation. Also near the end of book he (before he realized he loved her) told heroine he wanted to be with her but couldn't commit to only sleeping with her, I'm absolutely not a fan of a hero saying that to heroine especially since he has a baby with her. P.

Hero has a lot of good qualities but he does seem to lack some integrity. He didn't tell his brother he had a son out there for 3 years. He saw nothing wrong with sleeping with different women at same time (not a menage situation just overlapping). I mean how morally bankrupt is he to contemplate sleeping with other women while sleeping with his daughters mother, no thought to how that would hurt her and thus affecting their daughter. He feels that since he's up front about it that it makes it ok.

[Kelly Seibold · Rating 5 out of 5]

I loved this surprise pregnancy story. After hooking up over a weekend, he turned into a jerk. She ends up pregnant. She runs back into the businessman almost three years later, but now she has a little girl, and she's not in the same business she was due to the circumstances. There is no mistaking the baby is his.

Gwen's parents are just ugh. I don't know what to say about them other than that! And Rio's childhood is less than ideal also. So between the two, communication is spotty at times because they react differently in the same situations.

It has a HEA, and I can't read to read the brother's story.

[Martha · Rating 4 out of 5]

Gwen has an affair with tycoon Rio Barclades and end up pregnant. She doesn't tell him about the child and ends up going home, but her parents want her to terminate the pregnancy. She reinvents her life from being a high flying take the world by storm woman unto a teacher in a private school for young children. He discovers her when he takes his mother's stead to hand out awards. I enjoyed this book. The two personalities did not grow up with the best of examples for happy marriages or parents. Would recommend, I will probably reread in a few years.

[Nikki · Rating 1 out of 5]

Eh, anyone else think that the hero and heroine should have just made a go of it as coparents? I don't think they liked each other much and didn't have much in common and both had terrible parental marriages as examples. So you really don't care if they end up together. What was with the last minute random girl? Skip it.

[More Books Than Time · Rating 3 out of 5]

Parts were 4 star, much was 2 star, thus a weak 3 star rating because I liked it mostly.

The h should have pushed on H when he demanded to “co parent” her daughter and asked why he wants this child when 3 years earlier he didn’t even know the name of his son. She tried to be nonjudgmental in a situation where she should be judgmental as heck.

Too much narrative made it bland.

[Harlequin Books]

Categories
Romance, Contemporary Romance
Miniseries
Passion in Paradise (Book #11)

[Harlequin Books]

Categories
Romance, Contemporary Romance
Miniseries
Passion in Paradise (Book #11)

[Catherine · Rating 5 out of 5]

Interesting story

I enjoyed this story. It was told a little quickly and there were numerous opportunities for expansion but overall it was a satisfactory quick read. Recommended

[anisa fitri zakirah · Rating 2 out of 5]

I've seen a better love story.

[Debra · Rating 3 out of 5]

The Spaniard's Surprise Love-Child

He had a short affair with her. And when she found out that she was pregnant with his child She didn't let him know. It was a coincidence that he was standing in his mothers place when he sees her again. When he finds out that he is a father he will do whatever it takes to get the child. But his past has a way of biting him when secrets are brought to light. Will they have a chance of becoming more than parents and making it lasting?

[Carol Soares · Rating 1 out of 5]

A bad and very confuse writting.