The CEO'S Baby Surprise by Helen Lacey

Reviewed by Nas

THE CEO’S BABY SURPRISE by Helen Lacey is Harlequin Special Edition release for April 2015.

Unable to ignore the sizzling chemistry, Mary-Jayne Preston gave in to passion and had a fling with the CEO of the hotel group where she was looking after a boutique for her friend. She walked away the next morning before Daniel Anderson even woke up.

Yet Daniel doesn’t think one night was enough and he pursued her. But she thwarted all his effort. She knew widower Daniel had closed off his heart to love and commitment. Wanting it all, she was not ready to be Daniel’s short-term fling. 

Then she found out that one night had consequences and she was pregnant. Would she tell Daniel? And what would Daniel do? Would he commit to her for his twin sons she’s carrying or for the love he had in his heart for MJ? Would MJ accept Daniel’s proposal of marriage knowing he was doing the honorable thing only?

THE CEO’S BABY SURPRISE is a story that will stay with a reader long time after she closes the book. It has that momentous impact by all the emotion depicted in this romance. Another shimmering and mesmerizing romance full of breathtaking emotions from author Helen Lacey.

Highly recommended for all readers of romance. 

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Reviewed by Maria

Mary Jayne Preston is quite a firecracker.  Even when extremely  pregnant and in the worst predicament in which a woman can find herself, she has a cracking sense of humour that makes her a joy to read.  The man who’s gotten her into this situation had better watch out!

Daniel Anderson suffered beyond anything anyone could imagine when he lost his wife and unborn child in an accident.  But now that he has the feisty Mary Jayne in the family way, and a family is literally what she’s carrying, he has a second chance to have the love and the family of which he’d always dreamed.  But Mary Jayne isn’t going to step into another woman’s shoes so easily.

She’s strong and gutsy and ready to take on the world as a single mom.  And although Daniel’s a successful businessman and would make a great husband, she’s not sure if she can buckle down and settle for the white picket fence and the perfect family.  She’s a free spirit indeed.

I enjoyed revisiting Crystal Point and catching up with what my favourite characters are doing.  But be warned!  This is not what you might call a predictable story.

So what’s it to be?  Read and enjoy!  This family story is lots of fun.

5*
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Reviewed by Janie

"The CEO's Baby Surprise" by Helen Lacey is a quick, easy and lovely read. We have Mary-Jayne Preston, M.J., who is one of the good girls. She is watching her friends boutique in a hotel and meets Daniel. Daniel Anderson is the CEO of the hotel and sweeps M.J off her feet. 

After a very HOT one night together M.J. leaves but Daniel wants more time together with her intimately, and she is looking for more than being the girl he comes to just for sex. Daniel who is a widower whose wife and unborn child died wants the fun, but not the commitment. That is until he finds out their one night has consequences and M.J. is pregnant.

You'll love this story. It makes you root for this couple and hope that things turn out well in the end. Much more to the book than what I've given you but it is definitely worth the read.
5*

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Reviewed by Desere


The saying never say never comes true in this wonderful read from Helen Lacey. Mary-Jane Preston never does one night stands until she comes face to face with an out of control attraction that completely overpowers her. The attractions comes in the form of Daniel Anderson, he's devastatingly handsome , suave and everything a girl could want,except for the last four years he has made sure to never let his guard down, letting it slip will just bring tragedy to his life again.

So when Mary-Jane informs him that their one night stand has resulted in her being pregnant with twins , he 's all for marriage to make sure their twins are protected but falling in love with her is the one thing he refuses to do. But Mary-Jane doesn't just want his ring and his protection she wants his heart and fight to get it is what she will do.

This is one of those books that will stay with romance readers for a long time after the last page has been read. I adored the character of Mary-Jane, even with everything the world of an unexpected pregnancy brings she still holds her head high, and even still sees the humor in life. Spunky, fun and just so very likable, that I doubt any reader will be able to find fault with her.

Daniel was the one that my heart broke for, the heartache and loss he faced in the past really is something no one ever has to go through. He is a truly broken man and of course in desperate need of some serious tender loving care. But as we all know not every broken person wants to let anyone in so the author letting Mary-Jane be this really awesome in your face try and make me go away kin of character was really neat.

It's a stunning story of romance, new hope and all set within the perfect bubble of beautiful writing. I highly recommend this read for all lovers of romance journeys with powerful emotion and a message of there is always being a new tomorrow.

5/5 star review
" One night and nine months leads to the road to of happiness " 

A Lot Like Love by Helen Lacey

 

Reviewed by Desere

A really fantastic little read about secrets being exposed and new relationships being formed in the mist of tragedy. I really liked the emotion, it was in depth and raw at times but also sweet and slow building.

The relationship between father and daughter is what made this read for me, it was so touching and really spoke to my heart.

I recommend this read for anyone that loves a romance read with real in depth emotion, budding romance and a great message of nothing is ever as it seems !

5/5 star review

" This feel a lot like love, or is it?"

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Reviewed by Shirley Buchanan
 

With Jessica Dennison's death, an entire family was affected in different ways. Sophie, her two year old daughter was now motherless. Mark, her husband, was now a widower with a secret and the sole parent of his child. Catherine, her twin, was tormented by a secret and banished forever from the family by her brother-in-law because of the accident. Now ten years later, circumstances have changed. Sophie needs the help of her aunt to live. Mark must swallow his anger and resentment to request it. He would do anything for his child, even this. But would a possible cure for Sophie's illness be all they would find together? Could a long ago attraction lead to something Mark and Catherine could call forever?

Would he act on his attraction or would his secret be in the way?

Would she act on her attraction or would her torment and secret be too much to overcome?

Would this treatment be the cure they have been praying for or was it another dead end?

When I start to read a Helen Lacey book, I know I will find a sweet, sensual romance with an intricate plot and well developed characters. This story did not disappoint. Building gradually throughout the book toward a climatic end, I rode a roller coaster of emotions as this family tried to meld together. Excellent story. Well written.

I would recommend this book to all romance readers.

4/5 stars Could love overcome all their problems?

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Reviewed by Maria

Helen Lacey is a talented author who excels in writing deeply emotional and compelling love stories with a love of family values at the very core.  Catherine hasn’t seen her brother-in-law Mark since the death of his wife, her sister, ten years before.  But now, Mark needs her help.  A donor is needed to give his young daughter a life saving transplant.  As the girl’s mother’s sister, Catherine is the closest female relative and the likeliest match.  Can this pair overcome the shadows of their past – the hurt and the pain – not to mention the misunderstandings – and give Mark’s daughter what she so desperately needs?  What the child actually needs will have readers sitting up in amazement.  This gripping story held my attention until the very end.  Highly recommended for readers of emotional love stories and mature romance.   Catherine is a delightful character with whom readers will identify – she gives the hero, Mark, a run for his money.  That was one of the things I loved about the story.  I always enjoy an interesting heroine who gives the hero what he truly needs – which is usually a few life lessons.

Readers who have read Helen Lacey’s Harlequin Special Editions stories will enjoy this.

Date With Destiny by Helen Lacey

Reviewed by Nas

DATE WITH DESTINY is a Harlequin Special Edition release for August 2013 by author Helen Lacey.

Grace Preston is a top-shot financier in New York city. She left small town Crystal Point behind when she left for New York. She had also left small town cop Cameron Jakowski behind as well. Now she was back.

She didn’t really came back to stay though. She was just here to regroup and go back to her job after her life threatening accident.

But would Cameron let her go now that she was here? What would happen when Cam finds out about her accident? Would Grace ignore the feelings brewing between them? Can she walk away from Cameron and all she feels for him the second time?

DATE WITH DESTINY has a unique mixture of emotional and sensual tension. It will enthrall readers. The tight plotting and storytelling will captivate them. Author Helen Lacey delivered an emotionally compelling story that would keep readers engrossed from the very first page.

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Reviewed by Nancy Crocker




Date with Destiny (Harlequin Special Edition) by Helen Lacey

Grace Preston thought she was holding it together after an accident which took the life of a colleague. But when she falls apart in front of a client she is ordered by her boss and therapist to take a much needed break and return to her family and friends in Crystal Point. She agrees to take care of Dunn Inn for Evie while she is on her Honeymoon. But Grace has never felt like she fit in with her family. A brilliant mind as a child she was sent away for gifted children. Where life was not easy for a young girl who excelled even at her gifted school.

Cameron Jakowski is a police officer for Crystal Point and he has been in love with Grace since she was 16. Now that she is back for a while he wants to try to make it permanent. He has always wanted a family and children and he has wanted those things with Grace. 

When the author describes what Grace went through during the accident, I felt as though I was in the car also. I think Helen Lacey also did a really good job of explaining why Grace was like she was, not only after suffering from PTSD. But her having a brilliant mind, it also explained why she was so awkward around others.

I was so very happy that these two got there HEA, but it was not an easy road to travel. It took almost 20 years. I Also loved that close friends and family members did not even realize that these two had been involved. While the story was not quite the emotional roller coaster as the last book in the series, this is still a great story. 

5/5 stars

I received an ARC of this book from the Author in exchange for an honest review.

Books in the series:
Made for Marriage
Marriage Under The Mistletoe
His-And-Hers Family
Date With Destiny

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Reviewed by Desere

We have all been there, a life changing event pushes us to push harder in order to hide our feelings of despair, hurt and anger. We either drown ourselves in work or for some they go for alcohol or drugs, some even hit the gym as a form of punishment anything to keep your mind from thinking and you feeling that you should not be the one to find happiness, you deserve hurt and you will take it all.

We all also know that this is not the way to handle it , finding an outlet for the stress and worry yes is always a good thing but pushing past the problem by pushing yourself too hard will only result in a breakdown and sometimes on such a huge scale that we might not be able to get back up and face life.

In the new Helen Lacey read this is the case for Grace, holding it together as best she can by pushing fourteen hour days in New York after a accident killed a collogue. But she hits rock bottom when she breaks and in front of a client of all people. She is order by her boss to take a break and return back home to Crystal Point and a life she left behind years ago.

She hits even more of a low when she  walks straight into her past in the form of local cop Cameron. Cameron has loved Grace from the first moment he saw her and this time he is not going to back down till he gets her into his life on a permanent basis no matter the cost, for love is worth fighting for. 

Both the main characters of Grace and Cameron were written by the author with such strong and intense emotions but the author that it truly felt as if I was connected to them both in some manner, like I wanted to be apart of their lives just to be able to feel and touch the strong and very vivid emotions they both encounter.

The dialogue and backdrop settings were as in all other books from the fabulous author, strongly described in vivid details, powerful and so emotionally moving it brought me to  tears and I simply found myself yet again bawling my eyes out as this author always manages to make me do. 

The story behind Grace's trauma was one that yes has been told before but the author did such a remarkable job at it all that I felt sure she had done her research before taking on this project which to me as reader is very important as it proves she wants to tell the story with a level of truth in order for the reader to still be able to find the story realistic and as true to real life as can be.

I highly recommend this read for all Helen Lacey fans that as I have fallen in love with Crystal Point and the characters that show us the road to happiness. A sweet, sensual and emotional read.

4.5  star review 
" The past conjures up a destiny so sweet your heart will melt" 

I received an ARC of this book from the Author in exchange for an honest review.

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Review by TashNz

Sometimes I feel that I cant find the words to do a story justice and I'm like that with Helen Lacey's gorgeous story Date with Destiny so I'm going to describe how it makes me feel and the picture it evokes in my mind.  The feeling you get when you're all snuggled up in the middle of winter in front of a roaring fire.  The wind and rain may howl outside but you're oblivious to everything because you've got your nose in a darn good book.  That's the feeling I feel when I read Date with Destiny.

I first have to acknowledge Crystal Point, a beautiful little town in the heart of Australia somewhere.  Helen has written some beautiful and emotional stories about its town folk.  To help you understand a bit more about Crystal Point read this entry by Helen over at my fave blog LoveCats Down Under and here. 

Grace flys home to Crystal Point from America where she's been all her adult years working herself to the bone.  She's home for her sisters wedding, or so everyone thinks.  Within the couple of pages she runs into Cameron, town policeman and her first love.  And so begins an emotional and fully capturing story of Grace and Cameron and their second chance at love.

Grace is hiding the real reason she's home from her family.  She's been involved in a car accident and had a breakdown as a result of it.  She's pretty much been ordered home by her boss and her therapist. Rest and relaxation is on the menu but things don't pan out like that really.  She looks after her sister's B&B while she's on her honeymoon and is soon caught up in the lives of the townsfolk and and kids Emily and Dylan who need help with their maths.

Cameron has never forgotten Grace and now that she's home he launches right in to try and convince her what she's missing.  Poor guy takes one step forward and two back when dealing with Grace and slowly he begins to unravel why she's really home and what's really gone on in her life that led her to America and why she wont stay in Crystal Point.

Date with Destiny is a magnificent love story with two characters that are so believable it's like I'm standing next to them.  Cameron wants nothing but the best for Grace.  Grace is an amazing person written with such originality.  The descriptive words of Helen Lacey's writing and the way the story was weaved had me oblivious to the world as I read it.  

I love meeting the towns people of Crystal Point and I hope to meet more in the future :)

Reviewed by Maria

Helen Lacey's  Crystal Point Series in Harlequin Special Editions is a series of well written novels, set in a small town in rural Australia,  with a romantic central story surrounded by community, family, kids and pets.  The series is almost a saga now, with various members of the Crystal Point community  taking the centre stage each time a new story appears.

As much as I enjoy the series, I frankly admit that this story got off to a slow start for me. Grace Preston's visit home to attend her sister's wedding actually has a much deeper purpose.  The author doesn't reveal the purpose too soon, but when she did, the story started to make beautiful sense.  From then on, I was riveted.  The ice maiden, prickly character of Grace suddenly became more attractive.  Suddenly, you could see what has made her that way.  

As a child, Grace had been sent away to study.  With her high IQ and ability to attain excellent grades, it was obvious to all from an early age that her destiny was somewhere other than a small town community, much to the disappointment of Cameron, the young man who loved her.  Grace left him to pursue a high powered career in the bright lights of New York City.  But when Grace, now considerably older, returns to the heart of the community she left long ago, she realizes that what she really needs just might be right here. 

Cameron is what you might call a beta hero.  Sympathetic, kind and caring, he isn't too proud to tell the haughty Grace how he feels about her, but he has a self respect that is obvious. He's a community minded individual who really cares about people.  Will Grace understand how special and wonderful he is before it's too late?

A story about finding out who you really are - and how it's not late to change your mind even if it is nearly two decades later. 


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Reviewed by Shirley

 Life is like a tapestry woven on a giant loom. On the one side, there is an intricate picture slowly appearing from the interlocking threads. On the other side, there are thread ends: sometimes loose, sometimes knotted and sometimes just tangled. The interconnecting lives of Grace and Cameron through their families, their jobs and their choices was one such tapestry. Could they unravel some of these threads, the loose, the knotted, or the tangled and change the emerging picture or were the bindings on the threads too hard to break?

Twenty years ago, Grace Preston made a heart wrenching decision and left for New York to carve a successful career in finance to repay her family for all the sacrifices they had made for her schooling, placing the budding love she felt for Cameron in a locked box in her mind. Treating him with a polite, but cool demeanor when she visited, she has been able to keep the memories contained. Now, at her boss's and her therapist's insistence, she has been ordered to go home to heal from recent tragic events. But being around Cameron on a consistent basis has made her begin to question the choices she made in the past. A kiss...a simple kiss...and the lock has popped off that box in her mind, and memories are now surging forth, but will he want her now with the baggage she carries? Should she try to heal and return to her life in New York or should she stay and rework the picture emerging of her life?

A member of the police force in Crystal Point, Cameron Jakowski strives to improve his small seaside town. He upholds the law, supports the community activities, and helps those less fortunate. Only one thing would make his life more perfect: Grace...his first love, his only love. He has managed during all her visits home to conceal with playful banter and subdued friendship how he felt about the choice she made so long ago, but a kiss...a simple kiss...has unlocked the tight control he held over his passion for her. Can he influence her to choose him this time, or will he lose her forever?

An outstanding book of love surviving the test of time. Well written characters traversed a well formed plot to bring the rekindling romance, difficult choices, and ultimate decision to life on the pages. Helen Lacey has brought another compelling book to print in this fourth installment of the Crystal Point series. Although Grace and Cameron waited twenty years for their happily ever after, it cemented the saying. "True love always wins".

I would highly recommend this book to all romance readers. Engrossing, emotional and thought provoking, it was a real page turner.

I received a copy from the author for an honest review.

5/5 stars  "True love may sometimes sleep, but it never dies."