What to do when faced with a former lover you haven’t seen in over a year? Let alone when that lover remains the love of your life and more important, when you haven’t told him there was a child born of your relationship? Tori Carrington’s Just Eight Months Old answers these questions when two former lovers and partners must work together again.

Fifteen months ago Hannah McGee watched as her lover, Chad Hogan, walked out of her life, when he bought her a car instead of the ring she had hoped for. What neither knew at the time was that Hannah was pregnant, and now that they are thrown together to recover two criminals who have jumped bail, Hannah wonders just what will happen when Chad sees Bonny, their eight-month-old daughter, whom she never told him about.

Although Hannah agonizes over Chad’s reaction, she never actually tells him they have a daughter, instead, she simply lets him see Bonny when it’s time to pick up the baby and lets him figure it out on his own. Chad, who has already lost a wife and son, is shocked by the sight of the baby he instinctively knows is his. Soon enough he has bonded with Bonny, much to Hannah’s dismay, because she figures he will inevitably walk away again. When the case turns deadly, Chad is torn between protecting Hannah and Bonny (who is taken along because Hannah doesn’t have anyone to leave her with, although sure enough, Hannah at one point leaves her with someone she barely knows) and letting Hannah do her job as a bounty hunter.

Chad Hogan is the third hero in a month’s worth of reviewing who has lost a wife and/or child. He goes through a couple of changes of character; alternately being the alluring man who takes Hannah’s breath away only to walk out of her life again the moment she gives into the love she feels for him. And then the final, expected change as the book comes to an end. At least he is not the only one; another character goes through the same good guy-bad guy-good guy transformation in the book.

As for Hannah – she knows Chad will be shocked to find out he has a daughter, but she never bothers to soften the blow. She sees a connection between Chad and the FBI yet never pursues it. She realizes there is something odd when someone appears in the middle of the case, but even with some clues, she never takes it to the logical conclusion. She is wary of Chad, but is ready to fall into his arms the moment she claps eyes on him. She has quit her job and her new business is ready to open, but apparently the lure from the bail bond payment is enough to justify placing Bonny right in the middle of all the danger. How she will make a living as an investigator remains to be seen, considering that with less than 40 pages to go, Hannah “realized that she had never really known Chad. Not really.”

I really wanted to like this book. I wanted to read something that would help me see why the “secret baby” plot is so darn popular, but I didn’t find that here. What I found was a hero and heroine who spend most of the book exchanging tortured glances and furtive touches, and nearly falling into each other’s arms every other page, it seems. With or without poor Bonny, this is not a book I can recommend.