Pregnant By The Cowboy CEO by Catherine Mann

Jewelry designer Amie McNaire would do anything for her dying grandmother, including promise to travel with the outsider chosen to run her family’s business empire. Simple. All she has to do is keep her hands to herself and find a way to let the sexy new CEO know she’s pregnant with his child.

 

Preston Armstrong has secrets of his own. But spending a week with Amie has this tight-lipped cowboy longing to open up, even if his past threatens their future – as a couple, and a family.

Title: Pregnant by the Cowboy CEO | Series: Diamonds in the Rough #3 | Author: Catherine Mann | Publisher: Harlequin Desire | Category: Passion | Release Date: July 2015 | Genre: Contemporary Romance | Source: MLM Media Relations | Rating: 3.5

Okay, so I’m a bit on the fence about this one. I mean, I liked it—it was a nice, quick little read—but it had the potential to be great if a bit more conflict would have been added and some issues addressed.  I guess I just wanted a little bit more from the characters and the plot.

 

So, here’s what’s going on. Amie McNair, jewelry designer, decided to throw caution to the wind and have a quickie in the coat closet with the sexy guy that caught her eye at her cousin’s engagement party. Needless to say, she’s shocked when she discovers that the man she just shagged happens to be the new CEO of Diamonds in the Rough, the jewelry company that Amie’s family owns. She’s more shocked to discover that she’s pregnant with his child.

 

When Amie learns that her dying grandmother’s test is to see how well Amie and Preston can get along during the unveiling tour for her new jewelry line, she decides to use this time to discover who Preston is before telling him about the baby. 

 

While there’s no denying that Preston is attracted to Amie, his past is bubbling up and he’s not sure if he’s willing to take the risk of loving again. And to make matters more complicated, Amie’s questioning the way he’s running the company.

 

Amie’s dealing with a ton of issues. Her grandmother has terminal brain cancer and doesn’t have long to live. A new CEO has shook things up at the company she’s poured everything into and to make matters worse she’s pregnant by him. Plus, she’s also dealing with issues from her childhood and teen years where her mother entered her into beauty pageants. So she’s afraid that people only see her beauty instead of her brains.

 

I really liked Amie in the previous book. She had this easy breezy bohemian artistic spirit. Although I was a bit sad that we really didn’t get to see that Amie in this book. Occasionally parts of her boho spirit shined through but since she was concealing the secret of her pregnancy and going from event to event showcasing her new jewelry line, I felt as though she was putting on a front through most of the book.

 

Oh, Preston, you had so much potential to cause some interesting conflict and tension in the story but you revealed way too much way too early and came out feeling a bit flat.

 

Preston is forty-six, fifteen years older than Amie, and I liked that he was an older hero. I’ve not read a lot of romances where the hero is in his mid-forties and it was a refreshing approach. So, he’s loved, married, divorced, struggled with being a somewhat absent father, struggled with raising an out of control daughter, then suffered the loss of his daughter and her prematurely born son.

 

Preston’s been through the wringer and he’s been content to focus on work until Amie came into his life. Having lost those he loved, he fears he’s going to suffer again, so he kind of pulls back, which is understandable.

 

Amie and Preston had amazing chemistry. They really lit the pages on fire but they both had a few issues that needed to be worked out and I felt like her issues were kind of glossed over rather than being addressed even though they popped up throughout the book and had even been present in the previous book. His issue was addresses somewhat better but it was kind of like a ‘bam it’s done’ type of thing.

 

What kind of bothered me about this was the lack of conflict. Sometimes I wonder if authors have lost the meaning of the ‘C’ in Goal Motivation Conflict. While some books are cute little fluffy reads—and it totally works for those books—, I was expecting more conflict, especially when the author decided to introduce Preston’s ex-wife near the end.

 

Overall, I liked Pregnant by the Cowboy CEO but I was hoping for more.  As this is the final book in the Diamonds in the Rough trilogy, I thought that it tied up this series nicely and allowed readers a glimpse of what’s going on in the lives of the entire McNair clan.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR:

USA Today bestseller Catherine Mann has books in print in more than 20 countries with Desire, Romantic Suspense, HQN and other Harlequin lines. A six-time RITA finalist, she has won both the RITA and the Bookseller's Best Awards. Catherine resides in Florida with her aviator husband, their four children and a menagerie of pets.

Social Networking Links:

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Writing Space Tour:

Whether upstairs or downstairs, I sit in the same corner of the house with double French doors overlooking the water and a barrier island. Sometimes I meander out onto the porch to write as well (if the mosquitoes aren’t biting too badly! LOL!) I find the peace of the ocean/sound/gulf very soothing.

Diamonds in the Rough Series

One Good Cowboy #1

Pursued By TheRich Rancher #2

Pregnant By The Cowboy CEO #3