Contract with Consequences

By: Miranda Lee

Narrated by: Simone Phillips

Length: 5 hrs and 40 mins

Publisher's summary

He can give her everything she's ever wanted...Last year Scarlet King was a blushing bride-to-be, but now she's alone and more than anything longs for a baby. This time she's determined to prove she doesn't need a man! Successful, spine-tinglingly gorgeous John Mitchell has desired Scarlet for years, so seizes the chance to claim her. But his proposal comes with a devilish price: if she wants a baby, they'll do it the old-fashioned way! John reminds Scarlet of the pleasures she's been missing, but when the affair is over will Scarlet gain her wish but lose her heart?

©2012 Miranda Lee (P)2013 Recorded Books

Scarlet wants a baby~HE wants to give it to her...

PLOT: Scarlet wants a baby and family friend John wants to give it to her.

Scarlet feels her life is empty and decides to go the sperm donor route until family friend John decides he could give her a baby. The route to the baby is good and John and Scarlet give us the couple we enjoy trying to make it as a couple and parents. I give this 4 stars

Unlikable characters

The core of the story is actually a pretty sweet trope. Woman feels her biological clock ticking and will go to great lengths to become a mother.

Unfortunately, that is where the appeal of this story ends. Scarlett is eminently unlikable. She is nasty, unyielding, snotty, self absorbed and just an absolute bitch. It becomes quickly clear to the listener, if not the author, WHY she wasn’t able to maintain a relationship. She’s mean. And frankly irritating. The voice the narrator uses literally made me cringe in dislike. She’s the kind of person that if you worked with her, you would purposely find reasons to eat lunch at your desk so you could avoid running into her in the employee lounge.

Piggy backing on that, it just makes zero sense that John falls in love with her. Maybe if the author had given John a “softer” side that showed he secretly longed for a wife and family. But nothing in his internal dialogue indicates any such thing. Even his offer to impregnate her comes from 1) his desire for sex with her and 2) his admitted “male ego” that wants to prove his virility. It’s kind of horrifying that these two are planning on bringing a new human into the world.

The author also continuously harps on the most insulting gender stereotypes. Real men don’t cook or clean. Real women are hopelessly needy.

Honestly, I wouldn’t bother listening to this. It was a waste of time.