This was a pretty speedy, easy-going read which fit inbetween the gaps of receiving eagerly awaited new releases. It was refreshing to read a romance where both characters were over the age of 35 and acted it. I enjoyed the strong personality of the heroine throughout the story, and how she carried herself and her beliefs so unapologetically. Although I always prefer to have a couple together at the end of a story, I could have seen how this particular woman would have been able to do things for herself, her personality came out so well. She certainly didn't seem a Cinderella waiting to be rescued.
Thank you to the publisher for an ARC in exchange for an honest review..

"I’m a walking contradiction.
School principal who liberally drops the F bomb.
Fiercely independent yet willing to auction myself off for charity.
Serial monogamist who’s down for a no-strings one-night stand.
Except now I’ve gone from one-working-ovary to co-parent in the time it took a stick to turn blue."

This was an adorable read that was unique take on meeting Prince Charming. The main characters, Erin and Ian, are wonderful and the backstory of both of them were interesting. I also enjoyed that they were closer to middle age, unlike most romantic novels where the main characters are in their 20s. A quick, refreshing read that keeps you hooked until the last page.

Thanks to #NetGalley for the ARC of #KnockedUpCinderella
Pub Date: 12 Nov 2018

Ughhhh this book was just so dang CUTE but also funny, sexy, and snarky!!

I immediately loved both Ian and Erin as our main characters as well as their story. I also liked that they were in their early 40’s as opposed to the usual mid-20’s/early 30’s characters in rom-coms.

I had absolutely no problem reading this in just one day and I just think it’s a great fluffy, contemporary romance!! The ending practically made my heart explode with happiness!!!

A completely fun read, complete with your 40 year old workaholic, never will commit hot male and his 40 year old PhD private school Principal who drops F bombs like rain drops and has sworn off men and relationships. The two meet at a Halloween fundraiser for the school she works for. Irritated by her costume, yes she's dressed as Cinderella hides behind a tree outside the ballroom to reach up under her dress to give herself a good scratching not realizing she isn't alone and watched by the all dressed up in no costume Ian Donovan. He's only there to make a sizable donation and leave. He's certainly not there for the auction, which our poor Principal Erin has begrudgingly agreed to take part in. The two have a brief chat and then it's auction time, Ian decides to watch seeing the men who are bidding on her with his disapproval decides to place that winning bid and one date it is. The date which he had no intention of going on, the date she could care less about. The two end up spending the night together, he has rules, so does she. He breaks his first by falling asleep and spending the night. When she boots him out the door in the morning, he's befuddled and disturbed. That's never happened to him before. Plus he actually likes her. Now that the shoe is on the other foot, he doesn't like it. It bothers him for several months, so much that he can't get back into the one and done routine. He's in business with his two best friends he grew up with, one now married with a baby which has thrown a wrench in the works, now the days of bar crawling and trawling are over. Three months goes by and Ian gets a text from Erin to meet for coffee. He thinks it's code for another roll in the rack and she clarifies just coffee. She had gone in for a check up and discovers she's pregnant. After trying for years, her one night stand and the last person who'd make the top of the baby daddy list, he's little swimmers won the game. She tells him out of courtesy, she makes it clear she expects nothing and can do this on her own. Because that's always been her plan. Ian decides to test the water, but proves to be exactly what he says he is. He's a runner. The months go by quickly, things happen with school and also in his business, he's traveling overseas a lot. Coming close to delivery and does he make it to the class as he said he would? Good question. Where's Ian reminded me of where's Waldo. I liked Erin and Ian not as well, yet there was something a little charming about his immature 40 yr old self. There are plenty of supporting characters to meet and you get to know a few.
The plot was good, I loved reading about a 40 year old woman who had her act together and was a professional woman. Big thumbs up on that. That in itself is the best part of the story. It does however drag in places, it's a slow read. I like something that flows a little quicker but that's just me.
It's a cute read, Erin wins the crown for this beauty.

arc from NetGalley and Entangled for an honest review

Erin Sharpe is a school principal forced to dress up as Cinderella and auction herself off for charity. Ian Donovan is a businessman afraid of relationships who only shows up at the gala auction to support his former school. He never bids for any women...until a chance encounter in the lobby, a hilarious meet cute, changes his mind and he buys Erin for $40,000. Just dinner, no strings attached that turns into a one night stand. But a few weeks later a big complication occurs when Erin discovers she's pregnant.
I was looking for a good light hearted romance novel and the title of this book caught my eye. From the first line I was hooked. Ian catches her scratching her butt and adjusting her nylons and is still attracted to her. The main character's imperfections make the story and the romance more believable. If you're looking for humor and romance this is the book for you.
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Really fun story about a well-educated elementary school principal who just may have found the one in a playboy venture capitalist. Read this one in two days; couldn’t put it down!

Dr Erin Sharpe is 40, a Ph.D and a school principal. She's also the queen of the bad relationships, so when she finally asserts her independence and says she's going to live a lifestyle that lets her enjoy her sexuality and forget about every finding Mr. Right and having a family, she means it.
What's that saying about the best laid plans?
As soon as Erin decides she's a free spirit, she finds out she's...pregnant from a one night stand ( well, actually 3 times the same night, but with the same guy!)
Ian Donovan is rich, single, an unencumbered emotionally and he plans to stay that way, But when he finds out Erin is pregnant with his child, those single guy forever thoughts start to fade a little.
Can these two committment-phobes find their own HEA despite not wanting one?
I loved this book.
The pacing was great, the conversation witty and timely, the conflict real. The only issue ( and it's a small one!) I had was that the last scene felt rushed and a little anachronistic to me.
I also loved that the H/H weren't twenty-somethings trying to figure their lives out but 40-somethings!!! Love that.
brava to Ms. Hammerle on a well constructed and just plain good book!
Thanks, Netgalley and Entangled Publishing for a sneak peek for an honest opinion.

This is a well plotted out romance. The pace was nice. I wanted to love it more than I did. My issue with this book is simply that hero and I did not connect. I maintained this glimmer of hope that the heroine would kick him to the curb as I felt he did so much that was unforgivable.

The writing was well done and I do feel that many readers will enjoy this. I would have rated this four stars were it not for my internal struggle with Ian.

I was so pleasantly surprised by this book. I did not go into it with especially high expectations and the first couple of pages seemed to confirm that I really need to curb my impulses when acquiring new books. However after I got through those pages, I read a few more, and a few more after that and suddenly I realized that I needed to get comfortable because I was not going to be moving until I had finished the entire book or fell asleep trying.

I loved that this was a book about two characters that were in their forties. At times they did seem younger but I still appreciated seeing characters that were more established in their careers and their lives yet still had room to grow. There is a great mixture of humor and emotion as Erin and Ian navigate a surprise pregnancy and get to know each other.

I received a copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

Well, this was a sweet slow building romance about having the courage to take a chance on love. Even if you are a committed bachelor for life or someone who is deathly scared of getting her heart broken.

I rather liked that the characters are both older than the norm. It's actually refreshing reading about mature adults. Erin is a strong, independent heroine who isn't all that convinced about Ian, who might be good looking but still have to do some serious work to get her affection.

It's also nice how low on both drama and "steam" it was. Instead, it focused on the process of two people who slowly realized that they were falling in love. Nice.

A cute story with fun and unique characters who grow up throughout the novel which leads to a satisfying and romantic ending.

I really like this book other then the name having nothing to do with the story. I really loved Erin, she was a very refreshing character.

I absolutely loved this book! It is the story of Ian and Erin and their road from a one night stand to parenthood. I loved the Erin character who was so strong and not interested in compromising her needs to have a relationship. The author did a very good job with enough background story to make how the characters acted very believable. Highly recommend!

From the moment I heard about the concept of this novel, I knew I wanted to read it. I liked the idea of older characters (~40 year olds) being romantic leads and I liked the idea that the heroine, Erin, had the agency to not “need” her baby daddy, rich man-child, Ian, and that her strength could be a source of attraction to him.

My issues are with the characterization of the protagonists in this novel. I found it incredibly difficult to believe that they were in their 40s. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVED Erin, but Ian and his friends, Scott and Tommy, were a little on the immature side. And it was strange, because it didn’t fit in with how seriously they took their business. I feel like this would have been a stronger novel if the main characters were a decade and a half younger. Another thing that struck me is that Ian’s voice didn’t jive well with his character. For example, he says:

“Tommy was my first RIDE-OR-DIE to take t he parenting plunge.”

I mean, is it just me? Would a grown 40y.o. man describe his best friend as a ride-or-die. He also used the phrase BFF to describe his friends in another part of the novel.

OR

“She touched her lips to mine, and, I’m ashamed to say, I melted.”

That’s the beginning of his first ever hook-up with Erin and it just didn’t seem realistic to me, based on his characterization as being a serial hooker upper because even if he felt more for the heroine than he did with his usual encounters, that’s a very touchy-feely way for someone like him to describe that emotion.

Half-way through reading this, I had to check out this new-to-me author and it made sense to discover that she usually writes YAF and that this is her first adult romance because of the inconsistencies between especially the male characters and their voices. The story is good but there’s something a little off about the execution, but on balance, it’s still worth checking out. I’d recommend this if you’re not necessarily all about alpha male, chest-thumping, grunting sort of heroes. The premise of this novel is actually kind of original and my issues with character voices notwithstanding, I’d say definitely read this if you like strong, independent heroines who don’t take no prisoners and heroes whose good looks don’t buy them a pass and who know they have to work for the heroine’s affections.

I received an advanced copy from the publishers through NetGalley in exchange for an honest review. (And being a heavy duty book purchaser myself, I’d never leave a BS review because I got it for free).

This book was so sweet!!!
I liked the premise of the book right away because I love books with mc pregnant and I loved the fact that the characters are older and their dynamics. The funny moments and the drama moments was great. I could read this book several times without being bored.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in return for an honest review.

I know I might be in the minority here but I honestly expected to enjoy this book more than I did. The storyline was good and the characters were okay but the story moved at such a slow pace. The story seemed to drag a lot. If the pace was just a little bit faster, this book would have been much better for me. There were funny moments, steamy moments and a little drama between Erin and Ian. Erin has struggled for years with her now ex Dirk to get pregnant but who thought a night with Ian would give her what she wanted. Too bad that Ian is not the relationship type of man, or is he? Ian's mom left him at a young age so will he be able to walk away from this child? This story wasn't a fantastic read for me but it was an okay read with a sweet ending.

What happens when Ian Donovan, a bad boy, globe-trotting, venture capitalist millionaire coughs up $40,000 for a dinner date with an elementary school principal just to rescue her from a date with a pretentious creep? Well, they decide to have a one-night stand (because sometimes a gal just wants to step out of her control pantyhose and grab life by the baubles). Unfortunately something went wrong with one of the condoms and now our feisty, foul-mouthed heroine Dr Erin Sharpe is going to have a baby.

I have been in a book slump recently, starting and dropping so many books, dishing out 1 star DNF reviews like they are smarties, giving the kiss of death three star reviews to favourite authors, I hesitated to pick this up fearing the premise was too hackneyed - boy was I wrong. Julie Hammerle has injected new humour and fizz into the 'accidentally pregnant by the billionaire' trope. Maybe the characters being somewhat older than the usual 20-somethings made a difference? All I know is that I laughed out loud at so many of the scenes - right from the start where Erin denies liking long walks on the beach and reading poetry to her lovers in the moonlight, instead telling the truth that she loves crappy tv. Also Ian and Erin's jobs felt real, he spends so much time jetting to and from Tokyo I could feel his jet lag leeching through my Kindle, he worked long hours and was at his client's beck and call.

The only other book I have read by Julie Hammerle was a YA/NA teen crush - so very different to this book - but having sampled Ms Hammerle's adult humour I am definitely going to look for more. Also, Entangled August? Not come across that before, is it featuring older characters? Will have to look out for more.

I received a free copy of this book from the publisher via Netgalley in return for an honest review.

Knocked-Up Cinderella is an easy to love romantic comedy. I was laughing from the first chapter until the end, while crying a few tears in between.

Who knew Prince Charming was a lurker? After catching Cinderella scratching her derriere, (the dress was itchy!) he bids on her and wins a date to save her to agony of having to dine with another stuffy man. Erin aka Cinderella, is a principal at a private school, and loves crappy TV. Dinner leads to some dancing which leads to some more dancing between the sheets and the next day Erin thanks Ian aka Prince Charming for the good “dancing” and kicks him out of her bed. Ian isn’t used to being kicked out like that, especially since he is the one with the no strings, no commitment speech ready to go.
Weeks later Erin comes back to let Ian know that their rendezvous left a present behind, ready to come out in 9 months. Ian being a committed bachelor for life panics at the 1st ultra-sound. Will prince charming be ready to be a committed father by the time the baby comes, or will he still be a workaholic bachelor? Will Cinderella take a chance on a less than charming prince, and let herself need someone else, for once in her life?
ARC generously provided via Netgalley, in exchange for the above honest review.