Last Chance Proposal by Barbara DeLeo
Blurb:
A wife he needs. The woman he desires.
Cy Hathaway needs a wife, fast, to win custody of his son, Jonty. He returns home to discover the childhood sweetheart he once left behind has become a vibrant, beautiful woman. Even though wanting to sweep her off her feet wasn’t part of the plan…
For Ellie, Cy’s sudden reappearance awakens a flood of memories—and resentments for the way he’d abandoned her all those years ago. But she has a life now, a career. She can’t simply drop everything and get hitched, even if the sight of him still makes her heart race.
But after Ellie meets his little boy, she can’t refuse. Certain she has a grip on her old feelings for Cy, she agrees to marry her first love until he gains custody. But when did helping out a friend become something with the capacity to hijack her heart?
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Review:
Ultimately I enjoyed Last Chance Proposal, though at times the main characters drove me crazy. I understand where Cy is coming from–his son is autistic, he’s involved in a custody battle with his in-laws–he absolutely needs to keep his priorities straight, and priority number one needs to be Jonty. However, he spent much of the novel being grossly unfair to Ellie. He gave off mixed signals left and right, totally reversing things he had done the day before once he removed himself from temptation and had time to think things over again.
Frustrating. I’m not sure I would have stuck with him. Though she did a fair bit of waffling herself–she had definite reasons for insisting she’d never have children, but it really felt like she could have faced reality on that point sooner. She eventually got there, though, and with less mental drama than Cy.
All’s well that ends well, however, and there is a satisfyingly good ending here. Before you get to that point, the relationship between autistic Jonty and Ellie’s nephew Louis is one of my favorite parts of the book. Louis has got to be one of the sweetest preteens on the planet, and the way Jonty opens up to him really makes the novel.
This was my first book by Ms. DeLeo, but it won’t be my last. This was a sweet, feel-good romance with a slight holiday feel (the “moment of truth” event is on New Year’s).
I received an ARC in exchange for an honest review.
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