Series: Cowboy SEALs (Book 4)
A BABY FOR CHRISTMAS?
Tiffany Lawson promised herself that she would never,
ever give her heart to a man again. Now she's a pregnant former rodeo queen and
ex-debutante struggling to support her mother and grandmother. She's already
picked out the perfect adoptive parents, but cowboy Navy SEAL Rowdy Jones isn't
letting anyone take his child.
Rowdy loves the rush that comes from being a Navy SEAL,
but finding out he's about to become a dad? That trumps everything. While he
and Tiffany shared only one night, Rowdy's determined to do right by her and
their baby. His next mission -- to win Tiffany and keep his son -- might be his
toughest yet…
Tiffany and Rowdy "met" when both were more
than a little intoxicated. Rowdy was home on leave and looking for some action.
Tiffany was attempting to forget the mess that her life was, with a father who
had just gone to prison and a husband who filed for divorce because of it. The
sparks between them were immediate and intense. They didn't expect to see each
other again, as Tiffany went back to her life and Rowdy left on another
deployment. When he returned, Rowdy was shocked to find out that Tiffany was
pregnant and planned to give the baby up for adoption.
Rowdy is an honorable guy, and he heads home to make
things right with Tiffany. He comes on very strong, insisting that the best
thing to do is marry and raise the baby themselves. He doesn't take into
account that he and Tiffany don't know each other, that she has her own life to
live, and that he is gone more than he is home. Tiffany is shocked to see Rowdy
after such a long time, and pretty skeptical of his reasons for not getting in
touch. She has enough on her plate, supporting her mother and grandmother, and
a baby is more than she thinks she can handle. She has put a lot of thought
into her options and isn't happy to have Rowdy trying to interfere.
Both Rowdy and Tiffany irritated me through a good share
of the book. Rowdy is pushy and doesn't seem to pay much attention to the
reasons Tiffany wants to give the baby up at first. Then he thinks about the
changes it could mean to his life, and suddenly he starts waffling back and
forth over what he wants to do. Unfortunately, it seems more about the effects
on him than what is best for the baby. My problem with Tiffany was her lack of
confidence in her ability to handle raising a baby. She also let her pride get
in the way. Even when Rowdy made it clear that he would provide support, even
if she didn't want to marry him, she looked at that as a cop-out. The redeeming
factor was that neither one wanted to give up the baby, they were just letting
their fears dictate their actions.
I did enjoy the development of their relationship. It was
fun to see Rowdy insert himself into Tiffany's life, making himself indispensable
to her mother and grandmother. He was also sweet and protective of her. I liked
seeing him take her shopping, then care for her when she had problems. Tiffany
is wary of letting herself fall for Rowdy. She's been let down before and doesn't want to risk it again. But
being around Rowdy scrambles her brains and her insides, and he is starting to
convince her that maybe they can make it work. There are still some challenges
that come up, such as when he gets called for a mission and doesn't bother to
let her know he has to leave town for a while. And when Rowdy loses a friend on
that mission, he starts to wonder if Tiffany was right all along. I did like how
they made up their minds at the end. The epilogue was good.
The secondary characters were interesting. I liked
Rowdy's family. They weren't shy about giving him advice, but they also gave
their support no matter what his decision was. Both his dad and his brother
made some very good points. Tiffany's mom and grandmother were both pretty odd.
Both of them latch on to the idea of Tiffany and Rowdy getting married and nothing will convince them otherwise.
Tiffany's mom, Gigi, seems to be in a world of her own most of the time,
ignoring their changed circumstances. Grandmother Pearl had her own quirks
and was pretty talented at finding ways to keep Rowdy close to Tiffany. I also
liked Rowdy's SEAL friends and ached for
their loss.
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