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The Costanzo Baby Secret
Dario Costanzo's wife…in name only…
He married her, bedded her and she gave him an heir—and that was all he wanted. Until Maeve suffered a devastating accident that meant she had no recollection of her husband or her little son.
Maeve's mind might not remember Dario, but her body certainly does—every time they touch it's electric! Is this fiercely handsome man really her husband?
To reawaken his lost wife Dario will start a slow seduction, to remind her just how good together they can be….
He married her, bedded her and she gave him an heir—and that was all he wanted. Until Maeve suffered a devastating accident that meant she had no recollection of her husband or her little son.
Maeve's mind might not remember Dario, but her body certainly does—every time they touch it's electric! Is this fiercely handsome man really her husband?
To reawaken his lost wife Dario will start a slow seduction, to remind her just how good together they can be….
192 pages, Paperback
First published July 1, 2009
About the author
Catherine Spencer
266 books59 followers In the past, Catherine Spencer has been an English teacher which was the springboard for her writing career. Heathcliff, Rochester, Romeo and Rhett were all responsible for her love of brooding heroes! Catherine has had the lucky honour of being a Romance Writers of America RITA finalist and has been a guest speaker at both international and local conferences and was the only Canadian chosen to appear on the television special, Harlequin goes Prime Time.
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Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews
July 18, 2020
Amnesia!
Near death with another man at the wheel!
An evil mother-in-law!
A reluctant husband!
A baby that is being kept secret from the heroine until her amnesia is cured!
I buckled in and prepared for a thrill ride.
Instead I got one of those amusement park boat tours where you pass by pretty scenarios (H/h eat dinner together, go to Tunisia for a second honeymoon, spend time on the yacht, have sex, dress nicely, etc. . ). Oh, there were a few short tunnels to go through to create "drama," but the angst never materialized into a thrill ride.
Those short tunnels were the hero's flashbacks in how he seduced the virgin heroine and dumped her the next day - only to marry her when he discovered she was pregnant. Another tunnel: his suspicions that the heroine was leaving him with the OM when they had the crash that injured the h and killed the OM. (OM had the plane ticket. Heroine did not. She also had all of the baby's gear with her. But OM was only giving her a ride - she and baby were moving in with the hero in Milan - not moving away.)
The only real time drama was the hero's mother berating the heroine every now and again and almost letting the cat out of the bag (she is the mother of a 7 month old child).
*sigh*
When all of this careful planning finally brings about the heroine's memories, the heroine *waits a day* to make peace with her mother-in-law and plans a dinner party for the family over the phone before she sees her baby. Who does that? And why did the evil mother-in-law suddenly respect the heroine? And why did the hero suddenly fall in love with her.
This gentle boat ride of a story didn't explain.
Still, it was a pleasant excursion - but I wouldn't ride it again.
Near death with another man at the wheel!
An evil mother-in-law!
A reluctant husband!
A baby that is being kept secret from the heroine until her amnesia is cured!
I buckled in and prepared for a thrill ride.
Instead I got one of those amusement park boat tours where you pass by pretty scenarios (H/h eat dinner together, go to Tunisia for a second honeymoon, spend time on the yacht, have sex, dress nicely, etc. . ). Oh, there were a few short tunnels to go through to create "drama," but the angst never materialized into a thrill ride.
Those short tunnels were the hero's flashbacks in how he seduced the virgin heroine and dumped her the next day - only to marry her when he discovered she was pregnant. Another tunnel: his suspicions that the heroine was leaving him with the OM when they had the crash that injured the h and killed the OM. (OM had the plane ticket. Heroine did not. She also had all of the baby's gear with her. But OM was only giving her a ride - she and baby were moving in with the hero in Milan - not moving away.)
The only real time drama was the hero's mother berating the heroine every now and again and almost letting the cat out of the bag (she is the mother of a 7 month old child).
*sigh*
When all of this careful planning finally brings about the heroine's memories, the heroine *waits a day* to make peace with her mother-in-law and plans a dinner party for the family over the phone before she sees her baby. Who does that? And why did the evil mother-in-law suddenly respect the heroine? And why did the hero suddenly fall in love with her.
This gentle boat ride of a story didn't explain.
Still, it was a pleasant excursion - but I wouldn't ride it again.
July 29, 2016
A sweet and sappy story that will have your teeth rotting from it. I was mostly annoyed by the story but I usually like amnesia stories, this one was just too nice for me. What can I say? I like to bitch until I find perfection..
March 1, 2015
i dunno why dario shud have thought the worst of his wife. if your wife has a male friend, does dat mean she's cheating on you!? maeve was not dat kinda woman, as is clearly reflected in dario's recollections of the past; how he met her and the why they eventually married. the plot itself had great potential but the narration failed me.
June 8, 2021
Dario Costanzo's wife...in name only...He married her, bedded her and she gave him an heir--and that was all he wanted. Until Maeve suffered a devastating accident that meant she had no recollection of her husband or her little son.
Maeve's mind might not remember Dario, but her body certainly does--every time they touch it's electric! Is this fiercely handsome man really her husband?
To reawaken his lost wife Dario will start a slow seduction, to remind her just how good together they can be
Maeve's mind might not remember Dario, but her body certainly does--every time they touch it's electric! Is this fiercely handsome man really her husband?
To reawaken his lost wife Dario will start a slow seduction, to remind her just how good together they can be
February 7, 2017
2.75 Not For Me Stars
I couldn't connect with the characters. The story was way too sappy. The h lost her memory in a car accident. The H believed that she was leaving him for another man. When she is released from hospital he decided to try to rebuild their relationship.
Sounds great right?! I just couldn't get into the book. I heard a hard time losing myself in the story and an even harder time liking or disliking the characters. I just didn't care what they did.
This one is not a keeper. It took too much work to get to the end.
I couldn't connect with the characters. The story was way too sappy. The h lost her memory in a car accident. The H believed that she was leaving him for another man. When she is released from hospital he decided to try to rebuild their relationship.
Sounds great right?! I just couldn't get into the book. I heard a hard time losing myself in the story and an even harder time liking or disliking the characters. I just didn't care what they did.
This one is not a keeper. It took too much work to get to the end.
February 20, 2021
A decent sweet read. There's no OTT drama which I'm expecting with this kind of plot. And I'm not really convinced about their feelings for each other. No chemistry at all.
March 22, 2014
Heroine left her husband and took their son with her. But after a car accident she suffers from amnesia and hero who thinks she was cheating on him is now prepared to take her back and resume their marriage. In reality heroine never wanted to abandon him but she was terrified of her evil mother in law. But Dario isn't sure he wants his wife to remember. He is afraid that truth will ruin their new found happiness.
Sweet, sexy romance. I loved both hero and heroine and how eventually our heroine faced and conquered her fears and insecurities. 3.5 stars!
Sweet, sexy romance. I loved both hero and heroine and how eventually our heroine faced and conquered her fears and insecurities. 3.5 stars!
November 24, 2012
I really enjoyed this sweet but sad romance. At start I didn't like Dario for lying by omission to his wife when she came out of the coma with no memory. Even after she'd been there weeks and becoming more and more unhappy. I can see why Dario struggled to balance the right time to confess every and to try keep his wife calm and help her recover. This has a lovely romance in it and a great HEA ending, 4stars for that but still didn't like all the lying in book.
October 22, 2010
It was a sweet story, and one of my favourite subjects, the heroine has an accident and when she recovers, she has amnesia. Her husband tries to rekindle their marriage before she recovers her memory. I liked the hero, he makes mistakes in the beginning of their relationship, and is an unapologetic playboy, but he learns to love his wife very much even though she doesn't know it till the end.
December 16, 2015
An amnesia story with a twist in the tale.
October 12, 2025
I didn't like it. Their connection was ok, but I wasn't a big fan of their backstory as the story unfolded. He wasn't celibate during 5 month seperation (pre start of book, before they were married).
They slept together the first night they met, he was surprised she was a virgin, was disconcerting to him and he wanted to part right after that. He took her on his Yacht next day because he invited her before found out she was a virgin, she got the hint he wanted nothing to do with her and left. He still thought about her and looked her up 5 months later (he was NOT celibate during that time) and found her pregnant, then they got married. I wasn't a fan of how much he thought about the pregnancy as a mistake. It very much felt like they wouldn't have ended up together if she wasn't pregnant situation.
I get that the doctor recommended that they not tell her that she had a baby son, but doesn't make sense to me at all that it didn't occur to them maybe she was was subconsciously not wanting to remember the last year of her life because she thought her baby died before she passed out. It felt like such a weird thing to do that I thought the MMC's mother was behind the doctor telling MMC to not reveal to FMC that they had a son (she wasn't).
MMC did grow to love FMC over the year they were married. He did defend her against his mother but he just before the fmc accident when they fought he accused her of cheating on him (his mother put that in his head) and he basically told her that he only married her because she was pregnant.
The ending was a bit rushed, there was only a couple pages of fmc reuniting with her son. The situation with the mmc's mother was wrapped up too nicely that it didn't seem believable with how mean she was . There was no epilogue to see if the mother in law actually continued to play nice with the fmc. P.
They slept together the first night they met, he was surprised she was a virgin, was disconcerting to him and he wanted to part right after that. He took her on his Yacht next day because he invited her before found out she was a virgin, she got the hint he wanted nothing to do with her and left. He still thought about her and looked her up 5 months later (he was NOT celibate during that time) and found her pregnant, then they got married. I wasn't a fan of how much he thought about the pregnancy as a mistake. It very much felt like they wouldn't have ended up together if she wasn't pregnant situation.
I get that the doctor recommended that they not tell her that she had a baby son, but doesn't make sense to me at all that it didn't occur to them maybe she was was subconsciously not wanting to remember the last year of her life because she thought her baby died before she passed out. It felt like such a weird thing to do that I thought the MMC's mother was behind the doctor telling MMC to not reveal to FMC that they had a son (she wasn't).
MMC did grow to love FMC over the year they were married. He did defend her against his mother but he just before the fmc accident when they fought he accused her of cheating on him (his mother put that in his head) and he basically told her that he only married her because she was pregnant.
The ending was a bit rushed, there was only a couple pages of fmc reuniting with her son. The situation with the mmc's mother was wrapped up too nicely that it didn't seem believable with how mean she was . There was no epilogue to see if the mother in law actually continued to play nice with the fmc. P.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 7, 2018
brilliant story!!!!!!
November 23, 2018
1.5 estrellas.
La historia no está mal, pero es flojito.
La historia no está mal, pero es flojito.
May 7, 2019
A bit boring with no conflict or any justice for the h from her MIL.
April 16, 2020
This Harlequin has a story and good characters tangled up in the steamy parts.
January 11, 2011
I felt that the hero was a user and only concerned about himself. I could not find much good in him.
Read
March 1, 2014Epic
July 30, 2019
Je n'ai pas aimé du tout. Le héros décide de tout pour l'héroïne, y compris du fait qu'elle ne doit pas voir leur enfant... Non, franchement, ce n'est pas passé.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
September 24, 2021
Ένοχες αναμνήσεις - Catherine Spencer, Special, 228
September 12, 2016
I read these when I need a quick romance fix, I have my favorite authors and this is one of them...
Displaying 1 - 21 of 21 reviews