It’s hard to know what to say about a book like this one. Inane title aside, it’s not particularly a bad book. Nor is it particularly a good book. The characters were sympathetic enough, for the most part, and the writing smooth. If the characters lacked dimension, and the plot lacked a certain focus, how much can you really expect from a book that doesn’t quite make the 250 page mark? A bit more than Diagnosis: Expecting Boss’s Baby provides, I guess.

Natalie Winford has worked her way past a misspent youth, an embarrassing family, and a bad marriage to get a job she loves – even if she had to lie just the teensiest bit to get it. She works as a secretary to fertility specialist Dr. Patrick Barr, the director of a prestigious clinic called Doctors Circle, and she’s very good at her job. Unfortunately, as the book opens, she’s done a little more than work with the good doctor, and presto-chango, their one-night encounter – including condom – results in an inconvenient little pregnancy. Unable to face the twin spectres of abortion or adoption, she opts for a third path: have the baby and… just hope the boss doesn’t notice? She can’t tell him, you see, because then he might marry her out of obligation, so she pushes him away at all opportunities, and refuses to show any interest in him whatsoever – and then mourns the fact that he doesn’t make a move on her, cold shoulder and all. Obviously, he just doesn’t care. Or does he?

Patrick Barr has a problem. He’s got the hots for his no-nonsense secretary, and wants more than one night. He respects her decision, of course, because he’s the overly-noble, self-sacrificing type of hero. He even holds his peace when Natalie’s ex comes traipsing back into town, implicitly claiming paternity of Natalie’s little secret. Patrick is so noble that, being a one-time diving champ, he throws himself into his pool to save his conveniently drowning sister, thereby conveniently spraining his ankle quite badly, and, naturally, conveniently necessitating that Natalie move in with him for a few days to take care of him. Makes sense to me.

As you can see, there’s a certain sort of logic that dictates this plot, and it doesn’t bear much resemblance to reality. This convenient logic drives the book in a way that pure character couldn’t. Why? Well, there’s just not enough character development to accomplish that, I’m afraid. Now, you could argue that it’s hard to pack much character development into such a short book, but it’s much harder when you’re using too much of that precious space setting up and introducing all the characters (and their problems) for the following books in the series. The result is that you have paper-thin characterizations. He’s a poor little rich boy with a loving (deceased) mother, and an emotionally absent (deceased) father, and she’s a kid from the wrong side of the tracks with parents she’s (still) ashamed of, and a misspent youth of the boring variety, with no interesting stories to tell as a result. Pair that with an overly convenient plot that defies what normally passes for logic, and you get a book that it’s hard to care about much one way or the other.

This book could be much worse, certainly. The characters, after all, are usually sympathetic, even when making decisions such as “I won’t tell the father of my child that the baby is his, even though it means a life of poverty for my child, because if he knew, he’d just marry me.” The secondary characters, in fact, are often much more interesting than Natalie and Patrick, and perhaps their books will be more successful. The writing style is fluid, even when the plot wanders off-track to introduce us to some other future hero and heroine, and all their problems.

All in all, this could be a brief distraction, if not a satisfying one. But it’s not a book I can actually recommend. Maybe next time.