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3.75 AVERAGE
3.75 AVERAGE
Nobody’s Baby but Mine
by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
DNF @ 25%
Whenever I’m reading a book which I’ve heard wonderful things about or which I’ve seen has an excellent average rating on Goodreads (which I find to be a little more honest/brutal than Amazon), and I find myself disliking it, one of the things I typically do is go over on to Goodreads and start reading those reviews to see what it is that I’m missing that everyone else seemed to love about it.
In this case, it seems to be that most of the readers who gave this book four- and five-star reviews are longtime readers of SEP’s books---and had read the two books that came before this one in the series. They discuss her humor and characterization---and their love of the “hero” of this book as a secondary character in the previous book(s).
But then, I clicked over to the one- and two-star reviews. And I found myself reading a lot of the same rants, thoughts, and frustrations that I found myself experiencing as I tried to get into this novel.
I made it to the 25% mark in the book---when she forces him to have sex for nonconsensual procreation the second time. And at that point, I put the book down, because I just couldn’t stand to read any further. Here was my status update on GR at that point:
“I still haven't read any further, but it's almost physically painful to think about picking this up to read again.”
When I dread picking up a book (and a romance novel at that) to continue reading it, I realize it’s time to cut my losses and “toss” it into the virtual DNF pile.
What didn’t I like about this book?
To begin with, I disliked both main characters. In the first 25% of the book, neither showed any redeeming qualities---or like they would be gaining any throughout the course of the book (which my reading of the negative reviews of the book seem to bear out).
The heroine: She’s supposed to be some kind of child-prodigy science genius, but she is a COMPLETE IDIOT about genetics, biology, and nature-vs-nurture. She had a crappy childhood because she was so smart. And now, barely into her thirties having just broken up with a boyfriend, she’s desperate to have a baby. (Don’t get me started on how much I hate this trope---it’s a personal thing.) So she decides that because she had a crappy childhood owing to how super smart she was, she’ll get someone she deems stupid to sire her child. Except, of course, she can’t go to a sperm bank, because the only sperm there are from medical students (and there’s no such thing as a non-genius medical student?????).
Look---I know this book was published in 1997, but still. Both the Internet and the library existed twenty years ago. As someone who was supposed to be a scientist, she could have applied a little bit of the scientific method and discovered that her prejudices about sperm banks and the genetics of reproduction on IQ and intelligence were completely WRONG.
Then, there’s nature vs. nurture. She had a crappy childhood. Boo-hoo. How about instead of committing fraud (and nearly sexual assault) against a stranger in order to try to get pregnant, she realize that she can use the experiences she had as a child and give her child a better life than that!
There are so many ways that SEP undermined what could have been an interesting and actually intelligent character by making her completely ignorant and nonsensical. (And then there’s her slut-shaming of the girl next door who sets her up with the hero . . . but I won’t get into that here, except to mention how confused I was by the book not only opening in that girl’s POV, but returning to it even after the hero/heroine met.)
And the “hero”---what an Alpha-Hole! Sexist. Ageist. Narcissistic. Demeaning to those around him. Only out for himself. He’s even a jerk to his own teammates. And then---then! When he finds out she’s pregnant he forces her to marry him, just so they can get divorced when the baby is born so the baby isn’t a bastard? What is this---1953? He thinks it will play better in the media if he divorces her when the child is born? Oh, wait---no, he’s a genius too (science degree, graduated with honors). So that means that in the world of this story, there’s no way he can actually make educated, common-sense decisions or behave in a way that would be normal to most intelligent, educated people.
I grew up in a family with a mom who has a Ph.D. in science education/microbiology and a dad with a master’s in biochemistry. My grandfather was a college chemistry professor. Most of my parents’ siblings and many of my cousins have advanced degrees in some scientific field or another. (What happened to me, right?) So I guess I have a much different view of how smart people who are geniuses in scientific fields can be than SEP showed in the first quarter of this book.
by Susan Elizabeth Phillips
DNF @ 25%
Whenever I’m reading a book which I’ve heard wonderful things about or which I’ve seen has an excellent average rating on Goodreads (which I find to be a little more honest/brutal than Amazon), and I find myself disliking it, one of the things I typically do is go over on to Goodreads and start reading those reviews to see what it is that I’m missing that everyone else seemed to love about it.
In this case, it seems to be that most of the readers who gave this book four- and five-star reviews are longtime readers of SEP’s books---and had read the two books that came before this one in the series. They discuss her humor and characterization---and their love of the “hero” of this book as a secondary character in the previous book(s).
But then, I clicked over to the one- and two-star reviews. And I found myself reading a lot of the same rants, thoughts, and frustrations that I found myself experiencing as I tried to get into this novel.
I made it to the 25% mark in the book---when she forces him to have sex for nonconsensual procreation the second time. And at that point, I put the book down, because I just couldn’t stand to read any further. Here was my status update on GR at that point:
“I still haven't read any further, but it's almost physically painful to think about picking this up to read again.”
When I dread picking up a book (and a romance novel at that) to continue reading it, I realize it’s time to cut my losses and “toss” it into the virtual DNF pile.
What didn’t I like about this book?
To begin with, I disliked both main characters. In the first 25% of the book, neither showed any redeeming qualities---or like they would be gaining any throughout the course of the book (which my reading of the negative reviews of the book seem to bear out).
The heroine: She’s supposed to be some kind of child-prodigy science genius, but she is a COMPLETE IDIOT about genetics, biology, and nature-vs-nurture. She had a crappy childhood because she was so smart. And now, barely into her thirties having just broken up with a boyfriend, she’s desperate to have a baby. (Don’t get me started on how much I hate this trope---it’s a personal thing.) So she decides that because she had a crappy childhood owing to how super smart she was, she’ll get someone she deems stupid to sire her child. Except, of course, she can’t go to a sperm bank, because the only sperm there are from medical students (and there’s no such thing as a non-genius medical student?????).
Look---I know this book was published in 1997, but still. Both the Internet and the library existed twenty years ago. As someone who was supposed to be a scientist, she could have applied a little bit of the scientific method and discovered that her prejudices about sperm banks and the genetics of reproduction on IQ and intelligence were completely WRONG.
Then, there’s nature vs. nurture. She had a crappy childhood. Boo-hoo. How about instead of committing fraud (and nearly sexual assault) against a stranger in order to try to get pregnant, she realize that she can use the experiences she had as a child and give her child a better life than that!
There are so many ways that SEP undermined what could have been an interesting and actually intelligent character by making her completely ignorant and nonsensical. (And then there’s her slut-shaming of the girl next door who sets her up with the hero . . . but I won’t get into that here, except to mention how confused I was by the book not only opening in that girl’s POV, but returning to it even after the hero/heroine met.)
And the “hero”---what an Alpha-Hole! Sexist. Ageist. Narcissistic. Demeaning to those around him. Only out for himself. He’s even a jerk to his own teammates. And then---then! When he finds out she’s pregnant he forces her to marry him, just so they can get divorced when the baby is born so the baby isn’t a bastard? What is this---1953? He thinks it will play better in the media if he divorces her when the child is born? Oh, wait---no, he’s a genius too (science degree, graduated with honors). So that means that in the world of this story, there’s no way he can actually make educated, common-sense decisions or behave in a way that would be normal to most intelligent, educated people.
I grew up in a family with a mom who has a Ph.D. in science education/microbiology and a dad with a master’s in biochemistry. My grandfather was a college chemistry professor. Most of my parents’ siblings and many of my cousins have advanced degrees in some scientific field or another. (What happened to me, right?) So I guess I have a much different view of how smart people who are geniuses in scientific fields can be than SEP showed in the first quarter of this book.
Um dos melhores livros de romance que li esse ano, dei risadas e chorei... fiquei com o coração apertado e quentinho.
Foi perfeito, maravilhoso!
Foi perfeito, maravilhoso!
This book is so toxic, I do not understand why it is so raved about. It romanticises verbal abuse in particularly in the mother and father's relationship where the mother was left a shell of a person because of constant scrutiny and derogatory comments from her husband and then I'm supposed to find it romantic when he antagonises her for changing???? like wtf. Also the main couple is just so messed up, both of them. The girl intentionally got pregnant without his consent and then he treats her like shit for the rest of the book. There was literally nothing charming about the male protagonist, he was a chauvinistic asshole (and not in the usual" ok this is a romance BOOK so I'm allowed to sort of enjoy this caveman, possessive and moronic behaviour which would make me sue them irl but kinda enjoy reading" this is like actual "the sole purpose of women is sex and as soon as she loses the beauty of youth she is worthless" kind of guy) who has faux-redemption arch but really nothing changes. I was so frustrated with this book that I can still recount it enough to get furious enough to write a "review" about it 1-2 years later (hence me not remembering any names). This book essentially encourages women in abusive relationships to "stick it out because he will change and realise your value and you'll live happily ever after" which is just so fckn messed up
funny
medium-paced
Plot or Character Driven:
Character
Strong character development:
No
Loveable characters:
Yes
Diverse cast of characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I know I shouldn't be too harsh in this review because I knew from the summary that the plot was ridiculous. But, I thought it was going to be a funny, entertaining ridiculous. Not cringeworthy absurdity. For a genius with a phd, Jane was an idiot for most of the story. The worst part was in the beginning when she try’s to seduce Cal in an attempt to trick him into knocking her up. She was simultaneously throwing herself at him and acting as though she was being raped. I really don't know a better way to describe it and it was uncomfortable to read. (And really, if the genders were switched and it was Cal, the guy, trying to trick Jane into having sex under false pretenses everyone would be up in arms, but because Jane is doing it and she’s female it’s okay?)
Once you push your way through the beginning, however, the story does improve. There were a couple of hilarious moments of Jane pulling pranks on Cal, but unfortunately the majority of Jane's actions were too idiotic and cringeworthy for me to like this.
Once you push your way through the beginning, however, the story does improve. There were a couple of hilarious moments of Jane pulling pranks on Cal, but unfortunately the majority of Jane's actions were too idiotic and cringeworthy for me to like this.
funny
Loveable characters:
No
Flaws of characters a main focus:
Yes
I really cannot remember another time when I laughed so hard reading a book. I am so happy that I was introduced to Susan Elizabeth Phillips!
"Crying her little nerdy heart out" lmao omg I love this already
Really good. I dont really like the pregnancy romance novels especially not when the heroine tricks someone into getting her pregnant.
This book is genuinely well written. I enjoyed that I got to read about two couples and I feel like that was a good touch. The beginning of the storyline for Jane and Cal is a bit unorthodox I'll give it that. One of the things I didn't enjoy about this book was Cal's Man baby behaviour and a few of the embarrassing scenes. I cringed a lot from secondhand embarrassment. Overall a good read.
adventurous
emotional
funny
hopeful
lighthearted
reflective
medium-paced
I enjoyed seeing the repeat characters in this book, or rather learning the backstory of characters I know from the later books. I liked Jim and Lynn's story. The main story was just too unbelieveable. First, that a smart, professional 34 yr old would concoct such a plan and go through with it -- no. Then, that she would agree to be such a bitch to her husband's family -- again, no. I just could not buy it. This is definitely not one of SEP's best. Luckily, there are lots of others.