COMPLICATING (Preston’s Mill #3) by Noelle Adams and Samantha Chase-a review

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ABOUT THE BOOK: Release Date July 17, 2017

Forget all those other accidental pregnancy romances you might have read.

Daisy and Carter don’t have a one-night stand…because it’s thirty minutes in a back room at a wedding reception. And Carter isn’t a bad boy baby-daddy…except for the motorcycle, tattoos, and attitude. Daisy doesn’t have the typical issues with her pregnancy…if you don’t count the morning sickness, food cravings, and occasional horniness. And Carter doesn’t hang around all the time, wanting both her and the baby…until he falls in love.

But they definitely don’t become a happy family…right away.

Daisy has always been a good girl. She’s never done anything wild or spontaneous until she has a little too much to drink at a wedding and has a fling with a sexy stranger. She thought they were careful, but accidents happen. And now she’s going to have the baby of a man she barely knows.

Carter is her opposite in every way and completely the wrong man for her. They can still work out a reasonable arrangement regarding the baby. But the more time she spends with him, the less reasonable she feels. And he’s acting all possessive and protective, so it gets harder and harder to convince herself that he’s just the father of her baby.

She wants him to be so much more.

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REVIEW: COMPLICATING is the third installment in Noelle Adams /Samantha Chase’s contemporary, adult PRESTON’S MILL romance series focusing on the town and people of Preston’s Mills. This is Daisy, Preston’s Mills librarian, and Norfolk mechanic Carter Hayes’s story line. COMPLICATING can be read as a stand alone without any difficulty. Any important information from the previous story lines is revealed where necessary.

Told from dual third person perspectives (Daisy and Carter) COMPLICATING follows the building relationship between Preston’s Mill uptight, shy librarian Daisy, and motorcycle riding, tattooed mechanic Carter Hayes. While attending Chris and Heather’s wedding Daisy was challenged by her best friend Chloe to hit on three men throughout the evening, and in doing so Daisy came face to face with the man who would become an integral part of her future. A quickie in the closet with Carter Hayes leads to an unplanned pregnancy, and Daisy is all but willing to go it alone without the help of the child’s father. Carter maybe a little rough looking for the small town of Preston’s Mill but he is a man who is determined to be a part of his child’s life. What ensues is the back and forth, emotional roller coaster as Carter tries to support the mother of his child while said mother does everything to push Carter out of their lives with her fierce need to be totally independent.

COMPLICATING is a story about two people unprepared for the future that is about to change their lives. The heroine’s immature attitude and lack of compassion as it pertained to the father of her child made for many difficult moments throughout the story. For most of the story line Daisy was unwilling to compromise or let go of her preconceived notions and ideas . As hard as Carter tried to be a part of Daisy and his unborn child’s life, he couldn’t quite live up to Daisy or the town’s perception of the perfect father image. And of course, to complicate matters, Carter panics on more than one occasion as the reality of the situation hits too close to home.

The relationship between Daisy and Carter begins as a dare that quickly morphs into a lifelong connection with the impending birth of their son or daughter, and because of the forced situation the emotional ties that would have otherwise developed in a loving relationship were few and far between. Months will pass before any semblance of love or togetherness is permanently offered due to the heroine’s inability to accept what Carter was willing to offer, and even then, the profession of love felt forced and underwhelming. The limited number of $ex scenes are mostly implied.

COMPLICATING was a difficult read for me as I struggled to accept the heroine’s attitude and immature behavior. Carter, as the expectant father, was willing to stand up and do everything he could for the mother of his child but Daisy’s need to be independent of the man with whom she would fall in love, was disconcerting and uncomfortable especially at a time when some men are unwilling to accept responsibility for an unplanned child. This was not a case of rampant feminism but of a woman  unwilling to look at the bigger picture. Although COMPLICATING is a story of fiction, the heroine’s attitude was unacceptable (for me) under the circumstance, as Carter never gave any indication that he would be an unwilling or unacceptable father, and yet he was quickly judged unsuitable by the people of Preston’s Mill-small town mentality not one of my favorite tropes. As with everything in life, opinions are subjective, and other readers may see a different side to the story line heroine.

Oh, and the cover is completely wrong. Carter is said to be well-built, with unruly dark hair, covered in tattoos; and Daisy is a woman with long red hair. Not quite the image portrayed on the story-book cover.

Copy supplied for review.

Reviewed by Sandy