REVIEW: Baby Daddy

Baby Daddy, by Kendall Ryan
Publish Date: February 27, 2018
Publisher: self-published
Format: e-ARC, provided by the author and Inkslinger PR
Genre: adult contemporary romance
To Buy: Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Rating: 4 STARS

(Synopsis) We met in a trapped elevator.

Emmett was on his way to work, sophisticated and handsome in his tailored suit and tie.

I was on my way to the sperm bank. Awkward, right?

At thirty-five, my life hadn’t taken the path I thought it would and I was tired of waiting—I wanted a baby. And I was ready to take matters into my own hands to make it happen.

After our ill-fated elevator encounter, Emmett insisted on taking me to dinner—he also insisted on something else—that I ditch my plan involving a turkey baster and let him do the job. He would be my baby daddy. He was a wealthy and powerful CEO with little interest in diapers or playdates. And since he didn’t want kids, I’d be on my own once his bun was in my oven, free to go my own way.

But once his baby was inside me, it was like a switch had been flipped, and I got a whole lot more than I ever bargained for.

*dreamy sigh*

Could Kendall Ryan make a more perfect man than Emmett Baxter? No. No, she could not. I mean, this guy is a sweet alpha male - a unicorn! He's rich, commanding, gorgeous, sexy humanitarian - he's willing to endure the pain and suffering of having tons of sex with a fascinating woman who desperately wants a baby. He's willing to give up all rights to the child and give her what she wants while getting what he wants - a hell of a good time. What a giving man. You know what they say about the best laid plans...

While I instantly fell in love with Emmett's charm, Jenna Porter was a character that I took a bit more time to warm up to. She's a business woman who has learned the hard way that men will disappoint you. Every. Time. She's 35 and wants a baby, so she's going to do it all by herself at the sperm bank. But, when the elevator malfunctions with her and Emmett in it, those plans are blown to pieces. Although she accepts his offer to put a bun in her oven, she acts very cold toward him for a very long time. She tries so hard to keep this situation strictly a business transaction, and in the face of Emmett's sweetness, that was frustrating.

Emmett's transformation over the course of the book was my favorite part. He starts out as this island of a man - one who doesn't really do close relationships, especially with women. He always treats them with respect, but he never, ever gets close. This brilliant man thinks he can make a woman pregnant and not get close to her. As he learns, that's completely impossible. And through his interactions with Jenna - both in bed and out of it - and the possibility of a future he never even thought of, he changes his priorities and his own dreams.

Jenna took a little longer to follow in his footsteps. And as a reader knowing that these two had an additional, professional connection that was bound to blow up in their faces, and not knowing precisely when that would happen, you knew that things weren't going to go smoothly for these two for awhile. And that was okay. Because watching them fall in love and prepare for a new baby while trying to remain "friends" was a ton of fun.

Baby Daddy was a fantastic read with a dreamy hero that you won't soon forget.