The Bridesmaid’s Baby Bump

 Have you ever had a lovely, smart, loyal friend who never seems to have a lot of luck with men? She's always the bridesmaid, never the bride - or if she is the bride, it doesn't end well?
 

Party planner Eliza Dunne is that girl. She’s the heroine of my next book from Harlequin Romance, TheBridesmaid’s Baby Bump (July 2016).

My inspiration for Eliza was beautiful actress Alexis Bledel

 The great thing about being an author is I was able to create for her the perfect man in gorgeous billionaire Jake Marlowe. Don’t you wish it was that easy in real life!

Both Jake and Eliza have appeared in the preceding two books in the Sydney Brides trilogy: Gift-Wrapped in Her Wedding Dress (November 2015) and Crown Prince’s Chosen Bride (March 2016). As I wrote those books, I was getting to know Eliza and Jake and looking forward to writing their love story.

Their fictional friends in the first two books are invested in getting Eliza and Jake together. But both Eliza and Jake are complex characters with secrets and hidden hurts. Although there is a little matchmaking going on—they’re best man and bridesmaid at two weddings—they have issues to sort out all on their own on the way to their happy-ever-after ending.

I have a soft spot for matchmakers—my husband and I were introduced by a mutual friend. I’ve also had success as a matchmaker myself. What about you? Have you ever been helped by a matchmaking friend or done some matchmaking yourself? Please make a comment—I’d love to read your thoughts!

If you’d like to be in the draw for a paperback copy of TheBridesmaid’s Baby Bump, include your email address and I’ll send the winner of the draw a copy as soon as I get one from my publisher! 

The three Party Queens books are published by Harlequin Romance in North America as the Sydney Brides mini-series. (Mills & Boon Cherish in the UK; Mills & Boon Forever Romance in Australia and New Zealand.)

The Bridesmaid’s Baby Bump will be released on July 1, 2016 and is available for pre-order now.

Kandy Shepherd is an award-winning author of contemporary romance and women’s fiction. She lives on a small farm in the Blue Mountains near Sydney, Australia, with her family and a menagerie of four-legged friends.

Visit Kandy at her website

www.kandyshepherd.com

Connect with Kandy on Facebook, Twitter and Pinterest

When is a Secret Baby Story Not a Secret Baby Story? Annie West

When it's not a secret, of course!

 Welcome to the world of Princess Marisa of Bengaria whose unexpected pregnancy to an almost-stranger has to be one of the worst-kept secrets in the world. After a one-night stand that left her hurt and embittered, she learns of her unplanned pregnancy at the very same time as does Damaso Pires, the man who walked out on her just a month before. There's no private time for digesting the news and how it's going to affect her. And Damaso is determined to be part of his child's life, even if it means sharing his world with Marisa, a woman who unsettled him so much he had to walk away from her once rather than deal with the complications she created in his neatly organised life. What does a tycoon do when he wants something? He takes immediate action to get it, in this case, demanding marriage to the woman carrying his child. And just to put the pressure on even more, the paparazzi discovers the news and broadcasts it to the world. Soon Marisa's royal relatives try to step in and force her to hush up the scandal. What's a woman to do?

 

I loved writing this book to find out exactly that: what will Marisa do and how will Damaso react?

 

I'd originally thought this might be a secret baby story, when I pictured this volatile pair having a brief but passionate affair at a luxury jungle hideaway for the ultra wealthy. But it didn't turn out like that as Marisa and Damao took control and proceeded to live out their dramatic story in front of the world's press, even while keeping their most precious secrets hidden not just from the press but from each other.

 

So instead of being a secret baby book this one is an oh-so-public pregnancy and scandal story. It's about two people who've learned never to trust and as a result carry the immense weight of emotional burdens both in public and in private. I loved watching them find their happy ever after.

 

When opposites attract!

 

The sexy North American cover

Damaso Pires should have known better than to get involved with Marisa—the scandalous princess of Bengaria! Yet soon he sees her true beauty and flawless virtue, which touches a place in him he thought ruthlessly destroyed by his childhood on the streets of Brazil.

But their brief affair becomes permanent when Marisa reveals she’s pregnant.

Damaso knows the sting of illegitimacy and, having fought tooth and nail to claw his way up to the dizzying heights of international success and financial infamy, he won’t let his child slip from his grasp. There’s only one way to claim his heir, and that’s marriage!

To snaffle a copy of DAMASO CLAIMS HIS HEIR try your favourite bookstore. Here are a couple of links to Amazon, Barnes and Noble, the Book Depository and Harlequin. To read more detail Behind the Book, or to find out about Annie's other stories, visit her website.

Do you have any stories to share on the best/worst way to share the news of a pregnancy? What would be your worst nightmare or your idea of the perfect way to break such news?

Annie will give away a signed copy of DAMASO CLAIMS HIS HEIR to one person who leaves a comment.