In the second instalment in the One Year to Wed quartet, a PR exec’s unforgettable night with a tempting stranger has binding consequences…
UNWILLING BRIDE, UNEXPECTED BABY!
Returning to her family’s outback homestead, Eve feels like a fish out of water. She’s only in town to contest the ridiculous terms of her inheritance.
Get married? As if!
Finding a distraction in the arms of gorgeous stranger Nate is one thing. Discovering he’s the lawyer enforcing her father’s will is another…
And the biggest bombshell of all is that their one night had consequences!
| Title: | Reluctant Bride’s Baby Bombshell |
| Author: | Rachael Stewart |
| Series: | One Year to Wed (Book 2) |
| Pages: | 219 |
| Category / Genre(s): | Harlequin / Mills & Boon True Love |
| Trope(s): | Forced / Close Proximity One Night Stand Surprise Pregnancy |
| Point of View: | First Person, Present Tense, Dual Viewpoint (H & h) |
| Location: | Australia |
| HEA: | ✔️ |
| Release Date: | 11th April, 2024 |
 |  |  |  |
A delight from start to finish
Whenever I pick up a Rachael Stewart story I already know I’m going to get an entertaining, emotionally rich and highly romantic story that’s sure to satisfy. Which means I can just sit back, relax and get absorbed in the story.
This is book two in a quartet about 4 sisters whose lives are turned upside down when their father dies revealing a clause in his will that they will only inherit if each are married within a year. The first book (Secretly Married to a Prince by Ally Blake) is youngest sister Tilly’s story. While Tilly is mentioned in this story and appears at the end, there’s no overlap in terms of the individual romances. So you don’t need to have read the first book, or the following two stories (Cinderella and the Tycoon Next Door by Kandy Shepherd and Claiming His Billion-Dollar Bride by Michelle Douglas) to read and love this story and its happily ever after.
Eve arrives in the small town of Marni in the Australian Outback on the way back to her childhood home. And she’s mad! She knows who she is, what she wants and being back in Australia and being forced to get married is really not it. Her life is now in London and being home only brings difficult emotions to the surface. So when she has a connection with a stranger in the hotel bar, she goes for it.
The fact that we know what neither Eve nor Nate do – who the other is – is just a delight. Waiting to see how Eve reacts was thrilling and she didn’t disappoint. Nate and Eve had a connection at the bar and then the chemistry just continued as they bickered and argued. My favourite! But they also couldn’t help but confide in the other, listen to the other and help the other. As much as I like sexual chemistry, it’s the emotional connection that I really enjoy and watching our couple build that bond was wonderful to behold.
“…I already know I’m going to get an entertaining, emotionally rich and highly romantic story…”
As we progress throughout the book, Eve starts to change and grow. Both she and Nate have had problems with their parents but Eve’s also incorporate grief and guilt. She was quite stubborn but I was with her 100% and understood her feelings. As always with Rachael Stewart’s writing, she manages to bring out enough emotion to touch my heart, but still keep it at a level where I’m not a weeping, sobbing mess. But I liked Eve immensely and enjoyed watching her change and grow even more.
Nate is the perfect partner for Eve. As I said, he’s got his own issues that have kept him away from his home town, but he’s still the light to her dark and always ready to tease a smile from her and make her laugh. And, of course, he’s drives a motorcycle, has arm tattoos but wears a suit. All things on my book boyfriend bingo card. But he really is a sweetheart and I loved him and willed him to not give up on Eve.
The first time our characters are together it’s mostly behind closed doors but we do get a little bit more towards the end. I was happy either way as Eve and Nate have such a good connection. But I have to admit to being really concerned towards the end that things might not work out the way I wanted them to. I mean, of course they would, but I was worried for a hot minute! So when the happily ever after comes it’s extra sweet and doubly satisfying.
As I said before, this book stands completely alone but I’ll definitely be picking up the next in the series featuring older sister, Rose, and hopefully the man she hates from the next farm over! But as for Eve and Nate – I was absorbed in their story from page one and it gave me everything I want from a Mills & Boon novel and then some. Definitely 5 stars.
*I received this book in exchange for my honest review.*
Rachael Stewart adores conjuring up stories for the readers of Harlequin Mills & Boon and Deep Desires Press, with tales varying from the heartwarmingly romantic to the wildly erotic.
She’s been writing since she could put pen to paper as the stacks of scrawled on A4 sheets in her loft will attest to, and the lovingly bound short stories that her father would run off at work and proudly share out with his colleagues. Thinking it was a pipe dream to be published one day, she pursued a sensible career in business but she was really play-acting, achieving the appropriate degree and spending many years in the corporate world where she never truly belonged. Always happiest when she was sat at her laptop in the quiet hours tapping out a story or two. And so here she is, a published author, her full-time pleasure, a dream come true.
A Welsh lass at heart, she now lives in Yorkshire with her husband and three children, and if she’s not glued to her laptop, she’s wrapped up in them or enjoying the great outdoors seeking out inspiration.
 |  |  |  |  |  |  |
One Year to Wed Series:
No Comments