TBR Day. The Baby Contract / Lynn Erickson. 1996


Please indulge me while I give you a little back story to this month's TBR choice. If you follow me on Twitter you may have seen me post a picture of this basket of books on Sunday.
This collection of books as a history. Several years ago Friend T. gifted Friend L. with 50 romance books to celebrate Friend L.'s 50th birthday. A few years later Friend L. added 5 more books to the pile and re-gifted it to Friend T. for Friend T.'s 55th birthday. We were reminiscing about that back in February and I laughingly reminded them that I would be turning 60 later in the spring. And so I was delighted (although not really surprised) to find this basket of books on my front porch this past Sunday, the day after my birthday. My physical TBR doubled in size! (We won't talk about the size of my electronic TBR.) Interestingly most of the books are from the 1990s and early 2000s; I've previously read very few of them.

With TBR Day around the corner, I figured I needed to choose something from the basket to read and I picked one that would be quick to read. So hence this 1996 Harlequin Superromance was my pick. Baby tropes are not my favorite, but I'll give props to this book for being an unusual entry in the category.

Author Lynn Erickson is a pseudonym for the writing team of Carla Peltonen and Molly Swanton. It appears they wrote as a team from about 1980 until 2004. I found no website. Here's the blurb:


Late one night, Bettie Gay Bryson finds herself sitting in a police station in Tucson, Arizona. Her cowardly ex-boyfriend held up a store and took off, leaving her there to face the law. Leaving her with only the clothes on her back - and the baby growing inside her.

Greg Tyrrell, hard-driving investigator for the county attorney, offers her a deal. No prosecution, plus her living expenses paid - if she'll act as bait in his plan to snare the ruthless head of a baby-selling ring. What choice does she have? B.G. agrees.

This decision marks the beginning of her new life, especially when she starts to fall in love with Greg Tyrrell - the man who leads B.G. and her baby into danger...and out of it. 


There's something strange about reading a 20-year old contemporary. It's really not that old, but enough has changed in that time span that parts of it just felt off. For example, Greg has a "cellular" phone, not a "cell" phone. Absolutely correct usage in 1996, but not so much today.

Anyhow, in a nutshell, this was an interesting story of a young woman left absolutely destitute by her no-good boyfriend. B.G. agrees to help the local prosecutors engage in a sting operation to bring down an attorney who is illegally selling infants to desperate, wealthy adoptive parents. Despite some poor choices, B.G. is determined to learn to make better ones, and exert some control over her life. Greg is focused on passing the bar and becoming a wealthy attorney so he can leave his blue collar roots behind. As B.G. works with Greg she struggles with her attraction to him against the remnants of affection she feels for her previous boyfriend. Greg also struggles against his own feelings of attraction which he feels are inappropriate. He behaves like a condescending jerk at times, so I wasn't so fond of him. I did like B.G. quite a lot though.

All in all this was a mildly entertaining book. Not exceptional, but no regrets about reading it. Just what I needed to be able to have something ready for today.

Happy birthday to meeeeeeeee :)

Comments

  1. SonomaLassJune 21, 2017 at 2:46 PM

    Wow, bait for a baby-selling ring? That's an unusual twist.
    Was this a Secret Baby? Did the loser boyfriend find out? Those daytime drama-style plot twists are the best in older books.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. PhylJune 21, 2017 at 4:34 PM

      Isn't it? But no, baby wasn't a secret. Loser boyfriend dumps her when she's 4 months along. BUT, he comes back and figures out what B.G. is doing and decides to try and cut out the middle man and get all the money for himself. Awesome, no?

      Delete
  2. S.June 21, 2017 at 2:56 PM

    Phyl, delayed happy birthday! I hope you had a good time doing things you like!

    As for the book, yes, it does seem dated.. how our perception changes when we get used to different things....

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. PhylJune 21, 2017 at 4:35 PM

      Thank you! It was very fun. And yes, our current reality certainly colors how we see things. Makes it interesting, though.

      Delete
  3. DorineJune 21, 2017 at 9:58 PM

    What a fun way to get a pile of books. That's like treasure. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. PhylJune 21, 2017 at 10:02 PM

      It was! And I already have plans to pay it forward :)

      Delete
  4. WendyJune 25, 2017 at 2:40 PM

    Yeah, reading the "old" contemporary can be a trip. My best example is Soldier's Heart by Kathleen Korbel. The hero had a "car phone." LOL

    This happens a lot when I revisit older suspense novels too. No cell phone to make that urgent phone call or look up something - the hero/heroine had to find the nearest payphone and hope the bad guy wasn't breathing down their neck(s)! Oh, and trips to the library! Lots of scouring over microfilm!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. PhylJuly 1, 2017 at 7:58 PM

      Microfilm! And while my library still has a ton of it, our reader no longer works, lol!

      Delete

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