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Aug 24

Who’s Your Daddy? by Lauren Gallagher

Book Blurb :

Everyone’s bringing baggage to this baby shower.

After her divorce, Carmen James is still trying to get back on her feet when fate pulls the rug out from under her. She’s pregnant—and she’s not sure who’s the father. Just one more thing for her impossible-to-please family to worry about. On the bright side, there are only two candidates: her best friend, Donovan, and Isaac. His boyfriend.

A little too much wine and the desire to comfort lead Donovan and Isaac to a night they both hope Carmen doesn’t regret. When she drops the bomb, though, Donovan’s plate, already crowded with a teenage son and a disapproving father, gets fuller. And Isaac, who’s still coming to terms with his bisexuality, wonders how he’ll handle fatherhood at forty.

Above all, both men worry that whatever the answer to the ultimate question—which of them got her pregnant—it will forever alter their longstanding friendship with Carmen. While they’re waiting for that answer, though, continuing their casual sexual relationship with her feels natural. But when emotions get involved, the cracks in their logic begin to drive Isaac, Don and Carmen apart just when they need each other the most.

 

Tash M

 

Review:

One night of drinking has led to unexpected consequences. Sound like one of those category romances, right? Well, this book is far from it. Carmen James is celebrating the settlement of her divorce from Paul and partying with her best friend Donovan and his boyfriend Isaac when they drink too much and end up together in bed.  Now the repercussions of that night have come apparent she pregnant and she does not know which of the two guys is the father.

That’s just the tip of the iceberg in Who’s Your Daddy, as we soon discover, as all the characters have emotional baggage and some of it has been with them for years. Carmen is broke and trying to rebuild her life. Her mother was furious when Carmen told her parents that she was getting a divorce, even though she dislikes Paul!  The story opens with Carmen living with her sister in order to save money and pay her attorney’s fees. When she discovers she’s pregnant, she worries because she knows right down to the date when she conceived (with whom is the big question) and has to break the news to the two men she had a drunken tumble with. Together, they are forced to talk about the night that Carmen has been trying not to think about in the weeks since.

Donovan is a firefighter with a son from a teenage relationship when he was all of seventeen himself. It was only a few years after his son Ryan was born that Donovan discovered he was bisexual and has been in same-sex relationships ever since. Now he’s in a happy, committed relationship with Isaac and they have been living together for a while.  Isaac is a marriage counsellor and family therapist and approaching 40 at the start of novel and is having a midlife crisis. He’s trying to come to terms with the idea that he’s not gay but bisexual.  So when Carmen calls at his work he is worried. Their night coupling was an important one for him as he finally got to discover that he was indeed bisexual and experienced this epiphany with a woman he has liked and admired for a number of years.

I’ve outlined only the main issues for the three although there are lots of intersecting storylines happening at the same time which makes their forming relationship difficult. Donovan’s sixteen year old son Ryan is at a crossroads in his life and headed down a path of drinking, sex and drugs and it’s getting to a point of raising alarms with Donovan whose relationship with his son at the best of times is strained. In addition, the situation of Carmen’s pregnancy mirrors the teenager affair Donovan had which resulted in Ryan and Donovan doesn’t know how to break to the news to Ryan.  Then there are the parents—Donovan’s dad was not happy the last time but supported them and Carmen’s parents have views and ideals at odds with their daughter and make their feelings known loud and clear.

The reaction of Carmen’s parents and Donovan’s dad exemplify what we’d expect of human nature in this novel; it’s a typical reaction because Carmen resolutely won’t take a DNA test and the three want to raise the baby together. The only shining light in this novel is Isaac’s stepmother and dad who are the only characters who wholly accept the three main characters from the start.

The author could have gone a number of ways to tell the story, but I love the approach she chose. She told it from the three main characters’ point of view. Each chapter is written from the point of view of one of the three main characters and it is done seamlessly and cleverly so it is not jumbled up narratives and hard to follow. It makes this story a standout.  The book paints a vivid landscape of their journey and it’s a journey that many couples go through coping with an accidental pregnancy and is one issue that can’t just go away.

This is clearly going to be one of the best ménage books released this year and is highly likely one of the best of all times and I’m glad I had a chance to review this book as it is a very emotional, immersive read. It has its hilarious moments too, like Carmen’s sister’s reaction when she finds out that Carmen had sex with Donovan and Isaac and is pregnant as a result. Another favourite scene was the one where Isaac has a session with a client about swingers. I rate this a high Five couples and you do not want to miss this book. I echo the sentiment of another reviewer who said, “Buy it, read it, tweet about it, write reviews at Amazon, B&N, and Goodreads, because this book deserves any and all recognition it gets!”

Pubisher : Samhain Publishing

Source : Publicist Provided for Review

Released : August 7th 2012

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