Undeniably Yours by Shannon Stacey

Can a one-night stand turn into happily ever after?

 

Bar owner Kevin Kowalski is used to women throwing their phone numbers at him. Even if lately he’s been more interested in finding Mrs. Right than Miss Right Now. Enter Beth Hansen.

 

Kevin and Beth may have started out all wrong, with an impromptu passionate encounter at a wedding, followed by a walk of shame. Yet Kevin knows there’s more to their relationship than a one-night stand. Especially when Beth turns up pregnant.

 

Kevin may be ready for the “next step,” but Beth doesn’t want a relationship with a former playboy, however irresistible he might be. And it’s going to take a lot to convince her to go on a second date with the father of her child….

Title: Undeniably Your | Series: The Kowalski Family #2 | Author: Shannon Stacey | Publisher: Harlequin | Genre: Contemporary Romance | Source: Purchased | Rating: 3.5

This is one of those random 1-click—probably, late night—buys. I had heard people raving about this series for a few years now and finally decided to try one out. Why I started with book two, I’ll never know but I didn’t feel as though I missed out on anything from having not read the first book.  Although eventually I would like to catch up with this series.

 

So, Kevin and Beth first met at the bar he owns. Because of an altercation between Kevin and Beth’s boss, Beth ends up losing her job. They end up meeting again at his brother’s wedding where they end up spending the night together. A misunderstanding the morning after has her never wanting to lay eyes on Kevin again, but fate has another plan and Beth discovers that she’s pregnant. Now Kevin needs to convince the mother of his unborn child to give him another chance.

 

I liked Kevin. Rather than flaking when Beth showed up pregnant, he wanted to do the right thing and provide for Beth and his child. Even though Beth fought him with everything she had, he continued to try. He also reevaluated what he wanted out of his life. Kevin was the one who hooked me on this book.

 

I had a hard time liking Beth. Don’t get me wrong, she had her likable moments when I thought that she was trusting and growing closer to Kevin, but mostly she just annoyed me. It seemed like her mission throughout the book was to push Kevin away because…wait for it, her parents smothered her too much growing up. I mean, seriously?!?!?  Yeah, it was about as annoying as nails down a chalkboard. She wanted Kevin to be a part of his child’s life but she was constantly warring with herself because she should have left town. And no matter what Kevin did for her, she fought him with every fiber of her being.

 

It also kind of annoyed me that in the middle of the book, she used Kevin to itch a scratch then went back to fighting with him about everything. And I was over the moon happy when Kevin finally got tired of her crap and finally gave her an ultimatum.

 

So, here’s the thing about Beth and Kevin. Even though I didn’t really like Beth, Kevin was so crazy about her and their child-to-be I wanted her to get her crap together so they could get their HEA. He had been hurt in the past because of his ex-wife and the way their marriage ended, so I really wanted this one to work out for him.

 

While there was a sexual attraction—and a ton of sexual tension—between Beth and Kevin, the romance suffered because Beth was constantly putting up walls and pushing Kevin away.

 

There was a second romance going on in the book as well between Paulie, Kevin’s assistant manager, and Sam. I really liked the relationship between Paulie and Sam. They had a past, she ran away on their wedding day and then disappeared, so it was nice to see them get back together. Their story had so much more depth than the other did and I would have loved to have seen this one developed into a full-length novel.

 

Overall, I liked parts of this book: Kevin and his family, Paulie and Sam’s reunion. It made for a nice read on a rainy afternoon, but I wasn’t overly fond of Beth and at times I wanted to put the book down and walk away because of her. If her conflict would have been something a bit more substantial, her standoffish attitude may have worked but the way it was, it came off as childish and annoying.

 

What I liked about this book was the author’s sense of family—she did an amazing job connecting the readers to the Kowalski family and it’s why I will be checking out the rest of this series when I have some time.