This is the first book by Jane Graves that I have read. For the first forty pages, I was not at all impressed. However, the novel did pick up and I eventually found myself unable to put it down. Still, that beginning section certainly gave me pause when deciding whether or not I enjoyed the book.

The premise is that the heroine, Bernadette, is the hero’s body guard (for a tiny, tiny amount of time), and after he risks his life to sleep with a silicone-infused bimbo, he and Bernadette have anger sex.

This results in a pregnancy, and Bernadette has to bring Jeremy up to scratch to be a father. Up until this point, he has no interest in anybody but himself and sleeping around with “hot” women. We also deal a lot with Bernadette’s mother, who is suffering from Alzheimer’s, and her cousin, who’s annoying.

Upon being introduced to Bernadette “Bernie” Hogan, I loved her. This heroine is my favorite kind of heroine: totally kick ass. Sadly for Bernadette, she has the misfortune of being attracted to a jerk – a huge jerk. In fact, Jeremy Bridges was introduced to us at such as high level of jerkdom that I was no less than disgusted with his character. Naturally, this was the point where I feared he would be the typical “jerk hero.”

Jeremy, much to our collective relief, does not turn out to be a jerk hero. But really, I couldn’t help but feel like this clashed with the initial man we were introduced to. It seemed to me that Bernie waved her magical pregnancy and sauciness wand and suddenly, he is no longer a self-serving manwhore. Just like that.

Overall, the characters built an interesting world that I enjoyed reading about. It was a three dimensional setting with three dimensional people. Except, perhaps, Jeremy. Truly, the beginning ruined him for me for the entire book, because I kept doubting that a jerk could stop being a jerk just because he knocks somebody up.

I give this a cautious recommendation, provided you are prepared to be furious with the hero for a solid forty pages. I enjoyed the rest of the book so much that the terrible start could almost be overlooked. It was good enough that I would try reading another Jane Graves book if I came across it.