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Release Day Review and Giveaway! SECRET BABY SCANDAL by Joanne Rock (Bayou Billionaires #4)

 Two Fabulous Prizes…Enter Below!
SECRET BABY SCANDAL
Bayou Billionaires #4
Joanne Rock
Releasing May 1st (Digital)
Releasing May 10th (Print)
Harlequin Desire
His proposition: pretend they’re a couple to end a scandal. But she has secrets of her own…

Tatiana Doucet has dealt with sexy, arrogant athletes most of her life. But Jean-Pierre Reynaud is a whole different animal—in bed and on the field. Unbeknownst to him, their one amazing night produced a son. Now her family’s biggest football rival is back, offering a seductive wager she can’t refuse.
Jean-Pierre despises the media. When rumors fly, he knows a fake relationship is the perfect diversion for the tabloids—and Tatiana’s unbridled passion is the
perfect diversion for Jean-Pierre. But when she drops a baby bombshell, the scandal will rock them both!

 
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Excerpt-Banner

Son?

Jean-Pierre had taken hits from the toughest, strongest, meanest players in the NFL. Afterward, as he lay in the grass with his ears ringing and his vision blurred, he would struggle to snap out of the slow-motion fog that felt kind of like being underwater.

That was exactly how he felt walking into Tatiana’s apartment, her words slowly permeating his consciousness along with the cry of an infant. Dazed, confused and trying to stand up straight despite the floor shifting under his feet, Jean-Pierre stood in her foyer and waited for her to return from wherever she’d disappeared.

“Mr. Reynaud?” An older woman in a simple gray dress stepped into the living area to his right. “Miss Doucet asked if you wouldn’t mind joining her in the family room. It’s just past the staircase on the left.” She pointed the way and then went about her business, picking up a few things in the living room.

A bright blue blanket. A baby bottle.

Seeing that bottle was like the second hit when you were already down.

At the same time, it was enough to make the mental fog evaporate and get his feet moving.

Fast.

He needed answers now. Hell, he needed answers months ago. Tatiana had done a whole lot more than throw his career into a tailspin tonight with her unguarded remark to a member of the press. She’d been hiding the biggest possible secret that was going to bind their lives together forever.

“Tatiana?” Her name was a sharp bark on his lips as he entered the spacious suite overlooking Central Park.

Framed playbills lined the walls along with photos of Tatiana and her family. Tatiana with her father at her graduation from Columbia. The Doucets outside of a downtown skyscraper with the brass name plaque of her prestigious law firm. Every picture was a reminder of the life he might have had with her if her family hadn’t turned her against him.

A blaze crackled in a fireplace on the far side of the living area. And beside it, in that warm glow of flickering light, he spotted her on the dark leather love seat, cradling a tiny bundle of blankets to her breast. Tatiana’s dark brown curls shielded her body as much as the blanket, the firelight making the skin of one shoulder glow where she’d unfastened her dress to feed the baby.

Her baby.

His…son.

Something shifted inside Jean-Pierre, his whole world tipping on its axis as everything changed irreversibly.

Review-Banner

My favorite of the series! I’d been looking forward to Jean-Pierre’s story all series long–as the brother who left Louisiana to play football in New York (since NFL teams only need one starting quarterback each, and his brother Henri already played for the team one brother owned and another one coached) we saw him the least out of the four in the other books, and I was definitely anticipating getting to know him better.

Fortunately, he did not disappoint 🙂

Jean-Pierre and Tatiana grew up together–until high school, when his grandfather fired her father from his football team and Tatiana’s family moved to New York. She was forbidden to see Jean-Pierre again, and didn’t…until their paths crossed years later in a courtroom, where Tatiana defended a woman who accused one of Jean-Pierre’s good friends of a despicable act.

He had to testify. She won her case. Things got…heated later on. And then Jean-Pierre walked out the next morning, saying it was a mistake he’d never make again. (Jean-Pierre, Jean-Pierre, Jean-Pierre. What were you thinking? Sigh.)

Ten months later, Tatiana’s back in his life again…and she’s not alone. Well, you’ve probably read the blurb. I’m sure you’re aware. Jean-Pierre’s all about taking responsibility, but Tatiana wants a real relationship with him or just joint custody–she’s not willing to settle for anything in between. Jean-Pierre, though, is sure that his career is the only relationship he can truly commit to right now. What will they do?

Though they could have been a *little* better on the communication front, really Jean-Pierre and Tatiana made a great couple all the way through. There was a definite element of “if only” to their story–if only they hadn’t been separated as high school sweethearts, if only their families hadn’t been feuding for years…but that made everything sweeter when they did finally come back together. I cheered for her desire to stick up for herself and for her son, and really liked the way everything was resolved in the end.

There’s apparently a whole lot of Texas Reynaud cousins…so, a new spin-off series, I hope? 🙂

Rating: 4 stars / B+

I received a complimentary copy in exchange for an honest review.

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Four-time RITA nominee Joanne Rock has never met a romance sub-genre she didn’t like. The author of over seventy novels enjoys writing contemporary romance and medieval historicals alike, recently exploring Young Adult romance under a pseudonym. An optimist by nature and perpetual seeker of silver linings, Joanne finds romance–in all its forms– fits her life outlook perfectly. When she’s not writing, Joanne enjoys travel, especially to see her favorite sports teams play with her former sports editor husband and three athletic-minded sons.

 

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