Black Ties and Lullabiesby Jane Graves
Mass Market Paperback, 400 pages
Published June 28th 2011 by Forever
ISBN 0446568473
Courtesy of Publisher
A good girl can be bad for one night...Bernadette Hogan doesn't make mistakes. Not when it comes to caring for her mother, and not at her job protecting Texas's most eligible—and infuriating—bachelor. Maybe that's why she's overcome with guilt after one tiny indiscretion: a passionate fling with her boss that's left her confused, intrigued...and pregnant.but can a bad boy be good for a lifetime?To self-made millionaire Jeremy Bridges, women are like fine wine: if held for too long, they sour. But one wild night with Bernadette changed all that. She makes him laugh, she makes him think, and soon she's going to make him a father. For the first time, Jeremy wants to be a one-woman man. So how can he convince the fiercely independent Bernadette he's ready to change from partying playboy to dependable dad—and become the loving husband she deserves?
My Thoughts:
Jeremy Bridges is the bane of Bernadette Hogan’s existence. A wealthy playboy who doesn’t listen to a word she says and brings home a new floozy every night; and she’s suppose to protect him with her life! If she didn’t need her job so much to help take care of her mother, Bernie would have transferred to a different assignment long ago. Finally fed up though, not even her secret attraction can help her over look Jeremy putting both of their lives on the line without a care. When one night of danger and anger leads to a few minutes of passion Bernie hits the door running only to realize weeks later the consequences of her actions.
Jeremy Bridges is a man who must be in full control at all times. Rising from an abusive and neglected childhood he has built a multi-million dollar business from the ground up; now never wanting for anything, he expects only the best - women, booze, cars, houses. When a spontaneous sexual encounter with his body guard occurs, a woman he has never looked twice at, suddenly Jeremy’s neat and controlled life style is irreversibly shook up. Now he must convince the woman who has seen his worst side that he should have a part in his child’s, and her, life.
Will the biggest mistake of their lives turn into the best thing that’s even happened to them?
I was very skeptical coming into Black Ties and Lullabies, it sat on my shelf since before its publication date because it just didn’t seem like something I would be able to get into. I am so glad that I finally picked it up though because I was wrong, wrong, wrong. I ended up loving this story of a redeemable rake and a tough girl who in the end shows she is a woman inside and out.
Jeremy started out as a real womanizing prick, classic play boy who likes his toys and throws a fit when he doesn’t get his way. But as the story progresses we come to find out that he came from the worse kind of upbringing yet strived to get out of that hellhole and worked his way through school and is now an amazingly successful business man, and he never wants to go back to any aspect of his upbringing. When Bernie showed up in his life, he may not have realized it right away, but eventual he sees that she brought something into it that he was missing, and for her he strives to be a better man and a good father. Him coming to terms with that and trying to woo Bernie over was a sweet, humorous and sometimes heart wrenching journey. By the middle of this novel I was fully invested in these characters.
Bernie starts off as a pretty cold, tough-as-nails, just-one-of-the-guys type of lady. She doesn’t dress up, doesn’t wear make-up or worry about her hair or appearance and attitude in any way, she leads a pretty simple life. The totally opposite of Jeremy and not very relateable to me either, so I didn’t think I’d be able to connect to her at all. Sometimes those bad ass heroines are just too frosty for me to warm my heart to. But then we started dipping into her emotions; her secret attraction to Jeremy, her felling in-superior to his other conquests, his financial status and her lack of one, her freaking out about being a single mother and trying to balance that and a job and taking care of her own mother all at the same time and BAM, I thought wow, she is just like any other woman I know!
Black Ties and Lullabies was a tug-a-war between these two strong characters, there was a lot of growth for them and interesting side characters to help push the story along, but beneath it all it was a true love story. I think this would be good for contemporary romance fans looking for a nice and easy read to relax with.
Rating: 4 Wine Glasses - Very sweet love story that I adored!
Sexual Content: Great mix of hot and sweet containing several love scenes that will definitely leave a smile on your face!
I'm a big fan of Jane Graves. I've read this book as well as the two previous ones. What I like best about her is that her characters are very real and easy to connect with, not perfect, and also not necessarily gorgeous or rich (although in this book Jeremy is a millionaire, in the other books, one of the heros was a repo guy and the other had just bought a bar).
ReplyDeleteI like how you describe this book. I have never read a Graves book but your review makes me want to pick it up!
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