Who are Andie Marlowe and Cleve Finch? Who is Imogen? What type of background to Andie and Imogen come from? What do they each do now? What happened in the last year and a half for Cleve? What have things been like for him? When Andie takes Cleve to pick up his new equipment for his business, what happens? When Andie gets sick and takes off, what does Lucy say and/or do? WHen Cleve returns from a business trip out of the country, what does he find on his desk? What phone calls does he make and where does that take him? This is a true second-chance story in many ways. A definite romance to sink your eyes into. Read and see what I mean.

3 out of 5 stars! Since the moment they met on her 18th Birthday, Andie (Miranda) has known Cleve was the man for her but people and circumstances in life has kept them apart. After six years, and about a year after his wife had passed, Andie and Cleve spend an intense night together that leaves Andie pregnant. Will Cleve be able to convince Andie that he has always loved her no matter what ... before it's too late.

This is one sweet romance that reels you in with its compelling characters and their silly blunders. I enjoyed getting to know Cleve and Andie. Also, while I'm happy that got together in the end, I really feel for their missed opportunities. In addition, I LOVED the setup of this novel's "mansion," the stories of Andie's sister with Sofia. I hope this is a series that continues with all of them!

I recommend it for those looking for a sweet contemporary romance.

Review By: From Me to You ... Video, Photography, & Book Reviews
-- read more of this review and a teaser on my blog: frommetoyouvideophoto.blogspot.com --

Liz Fielding is one of those romance writers whose “closed-bedroom-door” conceit I forgive. Not to belabor the point, but you know my opinion of the closed-bedroom-door romance and its many shortcomings. Fielding, on the other hand, writes the kind of truth-telling, gently-humoured characters I adore. Her prose is fine, elegant and smooth, deceptively simple and subtly rich. Even flawed, it’s easy for me to enjoy her romances, as I did Her Pregnancy Bombshell.

The bombshell in question opens the novel as heroine Miranda “Andie” Marlowe makes her way to the Mediterranean island of L’Isola dei Fiori and her sister’s dilapidated, recently-inherited Villa Rosa. As she tells the customs officer, ” ‘I’m running away.” An intriguing opening and one that drew me in. Andie is escaping a confrontation with her one-night-lover and boss, Cleve Finch, CEO of Goldfinch Air Services, for which Andie flies charters. Andie, we learn, is pregnant, the result of Cleve and her one night of shared passion three weeks ago. For the past year, culminating in that night, Cleve grieved the loss of his wife, Rachel. His devastation is evident in every gaunt line of his face, every pound lost from his formerly-stalwart frame, the absence of his smiles, the sadness in his eyes. Andie, with whom Cleve has shared an affectionate friendship since pre-Rachel, has loved with him since the day she walked into his life as an eighteen-year-old pilot.

Fielding’s opening is marvelous. It’s atmospheric in its descriptions of sun and sand, flora and fauna. Andie is likeable, ruefully funny, honest, and very much aware the man she loves, whose child she carries, is too grief-stricken to go beyond the comfort of a soft touch. Cleve doesn’t see her. Until he does. Because Cleve shows up at the villa to convince her to marry him. Fielding has a great talent of being able to write a hero who is honorable and yet, not stiff, smarmy, or old-fashioned. And, it turns out, Cleve and Andie’s relationship all those years ago, when they first met, pre-Rachel, was of two people falling in love. Why they didn’t stay together is revealed in the novel’s second half.

I’d like to start by talking about why I’ve always liked Fielding’s work. Quoting the following passage will illustrate:

He was saying all the right things, everything expected of a decent man, everything she’d known he’d say, and she wanted to believe him with all her heart. But her heart knew that being ‘okay’ with Cleve Finch was never going to be enough. Knowing that she would never light up his life …

‘Whatever happens I want you to know that I’ll be there with you every step of the way.’

‘Even in the delivery room?’ The words were out before her brain was engaged.

‘I planted the seed, Miranda. I’ll be there for the harvest.’

Fielding’s protagonists are decent, honorable, and true to themselves. Miranda doesn’t want to be the woman, family, and relationship who is just “okay” in Cleve’s life. It isn’t enough for him and it isn’t enough for her. At the same time, she acknowledges what she perceives are Cleve’s personal ideals. Whether it’s honour, or “doing the right thing,” Andie doesn’t want to be someone’s “situational ethic.” But she doesn’t take anything away from Cleve’s thoughtfulness and virtue. Fielding writes romance that may be summed up as “people behaving well.” But what I really like? Her characters, when she doesn’t slide into sentimentality, or angst, express an appealing sense of humour. There’s Clive’s commitment to Andie and their child and then there’s the witty garden metaphor to delight the reader. (Some day, I’d like to write a post on Fielding’s use of garden imagery and symbolism.)

Sadly, while the lovely prose remains throughout, the second half of the novel lapses into romance clichés. Why must the first wife turn out to be so flawed? The first marriage so unappealing? Why can’t a person love two people when one has died? Why must the female figures be split between good and bad girls? With apologies for the spoiler-ish critique, I wanted as much from the second half of Her Pregnancy Bombshell as the first promised. Fielding’s romance is worth reading, but it could’ve been more. With Miss Austen as my reading guide, I’d say that Her Pregnancy Bombshell is “almost pretty,” Northanger Abbey.

Liz Fielding’s Her Pregnancy Bombshell is published by Harlequin Books. It was released on June 6th, 2017, and may be procured from your preferred vendor. Miss Bates received an e-ARC from Harlequin Books, via Netgalley.

Like all Harlequin titles, feels like pulling on a comfy old pair of sweats - you wouldn't want to wear them outside of the house, but you love them anyways.

A short and enjoyable story that I enjoyed reading from start to finish. The story had characters that I liked and the storyline was one I liked reading all the way through.

I'm a big fan of Liz Fielding--she doesn't just set her stories in interesting places, she makes you feel like you're actually there. Of the books I've read by her, this by far is one of my favorite settings--the island, the villa/mansion with its gardens, private beach, and private hot spring. The history of the villa and its glamorous owner is bittersweet, and the setting is also beautiful because the run-down house is superimposed with the heroine’s childish memories of the place.

I really liked the pilot heroine in this book--she was strong, independent, capable, and while she was stubborn sometimes, she wasn't pigheaded.

I also loved the sisters (who have their own stories at Villa Rosa in the other books in this series). They each have different careers, and yet it's obvious they have strong family ties.

The hero wasn't my favorite--he wasn't weak, but he was perhaps a bit more emotional than other heroes I'm used to.

The dialogue is very witty and LOL funny at times. The middle of the book sagged a little for me, but the ending had a nice little surprise that I didn't see coming.

Overall, a very enjoyable book by one of my favorite authors.

This is a lovely story about a woman who has been in love forever with a man who married and lost his wife only twelve months ago.

Then Miranda and Cleve had a moment when comfort went a little too far and now Miranda has a little problem. She's pregnant and she knows Cleve isn't ready to move on from his grief.

These two have a long history. Before he met his wife, he and Miranda met at her father's aeroplane factory but she was just out of school and he was just starting up his flying business. But he promised her a job if she got her wings. When she turned up to ask Cleve to make good on his promise, she discovered he was freshly married to a fellow pilot. And then his wife died in a plane crash.

This is the first book in a quartet set at an Italian house called the Villa Rosa. It is inherited by Miranda's sister and it's the obvious place for Miranda to go and sort her life out, away from Cleve. Except Cleve follows her and stuff happens. As you would expect.

I really loved this story. It's sweet and a little melancholy but the ending is lovely.

The rest of the series will follow and I look forward to the contributions by the other writers in the series.

Liz Fielding excels at writing emotional, uplifting and magical contemporary romances that linger in the mind long after the last page is turned and this much-loved and multi award-winning author has once again outdone herself with her latest spellbinding tale, Her Pregnancy Bombshell.

Miranda Marlowe had fallen head over heels in love with her boss, Cleve Finch, when she had been a love-struck and innocent teenager who had been dazzled by his charisma, sophistication and dashing good looks. Despite the passing of time, Miranda has never managed to get over her teenage crush – even though Cleve had married another woman. Now a widower who had been devastated by his wife’s tragic death, Cleve is a man who is torn apart by grief and who is in desperate need of a shoulder to cry on and a hand to hold. Miranda has always been willing to do anything for Cleve and when he reached for her in his hour of need, she had been unable to say no to him. Miranda had thought that their night together was a one-off – until she realises that she is pregnant with Cleve’s baby…

Miranda needs time to think and to come up with a plan for the future. She knows that she must face Cleve someday, but before she tells him about the unexpected consequences of their night together, she must figure out what she is going to do next. With her sister having inherited Villa Rosa, a palazzo on the island of L’Isola dei Fiori, Miranda realises that this is the perfect place to seek refuge in. But Miranda hadn’t counted on Villa Rosa being in need of repair – or on Cleve turning up on her doorstep demanding answers!

Years ago, fate might have conspired to keep him and Miranda apart, but Cleve has never quite managed to forget about Miranda – nor has he ever stopped wishing that things had turned out differently between them. Having buried his wife, Cleve had been torn apart by grief and regret and he had never imagined letting anyone breach the walls which he had built around himself. His one night with Miranda had awakened feelings deep within him which he had thought long-buried, so he was flabbergasted when she had seemed to vanish off the face of the earth. Having tracked her down on the L’Isola del Fiore, Cleve was stunned when Miranda had told him that she was carrying his baby. Determined not to mess up this second chance at happiness, Cleve proposes a marriage of convenience, but little does he realise that there is nothing convenient about Miranda or his feelings for her!

Miranda wants to give their child the best possible in start in life, so she is well aware that accepting Cleve’s proposal is the only sensible option, but how can she possibly contemplate spending the rest of her life with a man who doesn’t reciprocate her feelings…or does he?

Will Miranda get the happy ending with Cleve she has always dreamed about? And is Cleve ready to let go of the past and embrace his second chance at happiness?

Liz Fielding dazzles her readers once again with an outstanding romantic read that will make her readers laugh and cry. A captivating tale that sparkles with searing emotion, heartwarming drama and poignant romance, Her Pregnancy Bombshell is an enchanting and enjoyable novel about first love, the ties that bind and healing from old wounds that I found myself unable to put down.

Miranda is a wonderful heroine who was strong, resourceful and believable and Cleve is a gorgeous leading man I couldn’t help but fall in love with. I thoroughly enjoyed getting swept away by their love story and I loved the other supporting characters that peopled this story – from Miranda’s siblings to her neighbours and the sweeping romance of the owner of Villa Rosa and King Ludano.

A gloriously romantic read from a writer who never fails to excel, Her Pregnancy Bombshell is a stunning and first class tale from one of the best writers in the business: Liz Fielding

When Miranda Marlowe offered comfort to her boss during an emotional moment the possible consequences were not on her mind, but when she finds herself pregnant things change and the outcome is nothing she might have expected.

A fun, sweet, secret baby romance with a few twists and turns thrown in to keep you guessing. Her Pregnancy Bombshell was a fast paced read that leaves you with that HEA feeling.

Liz Fielding is one of my favorite romance writers and she doesn't disappoint. The writing is great and there is humor which is one of my hot buttons, but my issue is a personal one in which I don't like my Heros or heroines to be obsessed with another love - in this case, to grieve for another. In fact, I absolutely hate when fictional romances insert other loves. The fact that hero chose someone else over heroine (no matter the reasons), destroyed it for me. This is why I didn't enjoy it so much. As for the ending, I have mixed feelings there too. It pains me to say this but this was not one of my favorites. Sorry Liz!.

A nice kick-off to the Summer at Villa Rosa series! The first sister whose story we dive into is Miranda Marlowe. The characters are interesting and the plot is diverse ... I would have liked to see a little more development of their relationship once they decided to give it a go together, but the build up of the past was done well.

Andie Marlow has been crushing on her boss since the day she turned 18 years old, but he's still heartbroken over his wife's death. After an especially hard situation arose and she offered him the only comfort she could think to give, she finds out she's pregnant and flees to her sister's Mediterranean getaway.

Cleve Finch doesn't know why Miranda is cutting off ties, but he's not going to let her go without an explanation! Once he finds out they are expecting a baby, he offers marriage. Can she bring herself to marry him when she knows she'll never have his heart? And as their wedding day draws near, will the secrets Cleve has been hiding come to the surface?

Liz Fielding writes some of the sweetest, most romantic stories I have read and Her Pregnancy Bombshell is no exception. It's filled with melancholy, sweetness, hope and love.
Miranda has been in love with Cleve forever and due to various circumstances their attraction never grew into anything more. On one special night, Cleve turns to Miranda for comfort and a baby surprise happens. Miranda runs away to the Villa Rosa to figure out what to do with Cleve hot on her heels.
I loved Cleve and Miranda. They both have so much love to give and just needed the right push to get past a lot of things in order for them to be together.
Cleve really held my heart in this story. He started out so broken, so sad and so melancholy but as the story progressed, with Miranda's help, he opens up, begins to hope and takes charge of his life while simultaneously persuading Miranda to be his. There's a slow reveal throughout the story of Cleve's past and what has brought him to the point he's at today. My heart ached for him and all he endured but at the same time, I cheered at the relentless way he pursued Miranda. There were times when I wanted him to hurry up and tell her how he felt but then I knew I was jumping the gun and had to let the story reveal itself as I read.
Miranda is confused about what is happening because she's pregnant with Cleve's baby but she's not sure if he would want her or the baby. At the same time, she's a strong individual and she stands up for what she believes in and what she thinks is the right thing to do. I'm so glad she fell for Cleve's persuasive powers and agreed to a wedding even if she was unsure of Cleve's true feelings. There are too many things unsaid that needed to be sorted out.
There's a big reveal at one point with Miranda's dad which had me gasping. Such a spanner in the works, that was. I didn't see that coming and when I found out, I felt like that was going to be the end of everything. Fortunately, Cleve is a strong and determined man and he's determined to have Miranda for his own and they were able to overcome the past.
This was a lovely story. The setting at the Villa Rosa and the history with Sofia, Posy's godmother was such an inspired touch and brought so much nostalgia and romance to the story. There are another 3 books in the series as each of Miranda's sisters find their love and happiness at Villa Rosa. I'm looking forward to those stories too.