After a re-read last night, I have NO idea why I kept this book. I can only assume that I must have matured since the last read. A lot.
"A Package Deal" by Ariel Berk was published in 1989 -- back when Silhouette Desire were some of the racier offerings out there. At least, some of the racier offerings my teenage self had the access and gumption to obtain!
Our hero, Douglas Baldwin, is our typical T.D.H. (Tall, Dark & Handsome). He's rich, successful and lives in a high-rise overlooking Central Park. He's also the single father of a VERY spoiled and hyperactive 4 year-old son whose mother abandoned them after deciding being a mother wasn't "fun".
First off -- seriously? Do I love being a mom? Absolutely!! Do I have fun with my daughter? Totally!! Would I trade her for anything? NEVER!!! Did I ever -- even for one minute -- imagine that the lifetime commitment parenting entails would be "fun"? HELL NO!! Who in their right mind would decide to have a kid because they think it would be "fun"?!?!?
The heroine is a broke grad student, Heather Lewis, who takes babysitting jobs to get extra spending money even though she hates kids.
Totally.
Hates.
Kids.
From the first page to the second-to-last page, Heather goes on and on and on about hating children. Then she goes on some more about hating kids.
Not that I blame her for the opinion. At age 14, her mother died and she found herself the mother to her 6 younger siblings. Which would be enough to put ME off kids, too. I only had 2 siblings to babysit occasionally and even THAT was tough!! But there's a difference between deciding not to be a parent and deciding that you hate anyone under 20.
I found myself rolling my eyes at how often Heather agonized over how much she loved Doug -- after sleeping with him once -- and how perfect things would be if he didn't have a son! She tells him it's over because she doesn't like kids. He calls her repeatedly, asking her to reconsider (harassment much?) The kid gets the chicken pox, so she helps out -- only for Doug's sake. Then they sleep together again. Then she tells him it's over (again) because she doesn't like kids (again).
First off, if you don't like kids - and I don't care HOW hot the booty is - you do NOT start sleeping with someone who has kids!!
OK, maybe you sleep with them, but you make certain you don't show up anywhere around the kid. And you don't spend time thinking, "I could stay with this person forever if they didn't have that kid!" 'Cause, honey, that kid AIN'T going NOWHERE!! (Pardon the grammar, but writing "that kid isn't going anywhere" just doesn't have the same impact.)
Second, if someone I was dating kept telling me he hated kids, you can DAMN SURE guarantee I'm not going to keep throwing them together in the hope that he'll suddenly realize he doesn't like kids with one exception. If it were me, he'd never meet my daughter. And I wouldn't be running after him, practically begging him to stick around while desperately hoping he's going to change his mind.
And I can't help but wonder (considering when it was written) if the famous Alec Baldwin was the inspiration for our hero. After all, it's written circa Working Girl and Beetlejuice. (Some hero he turned out to be... Well... At least his last name isn't "Gibson".)
Long story simplified into 10 words or less: this one's on the way out of my collection.
And this, in a nutshell, is why I don't read romance--the sheer wrongheadedness of it all. She's in Manhattan, for heaven's sake! There are other jobs than babysitting if you hate kids that much. And he's not much better--a man who can most likely date any single woman of his social strata is going to pursue a college student who hates his kid? Um, no. Or if yes, he's not for me. Maybe that's really why the wife left -- he likes to chase babysitters.
ReplyDeleteSo, if I feel this strongly about romance novels, why on earth am I here? I know and trust Deenie. She's going to find a romance novel I can't pick apart. Love ya bunches, gal!