re. the baby, I am on record as not being a big fan of babies in Romance, but it really worked for me here. I might even have shed a tear or two at certain strategically positioned moments in the text. Although I think it’s a measure of the trust I have in Kleypas as an author that I let her get away with things I might not otherwise. But I feel that she tries her to give her characters a certain dignity that comes from healing deep emotional wounds, not merely suffering for the sake of the cathartic HEA, so it more often than not works for me. Plus, I really, really like her contemporary voice, and feel she has finally come into her own as a writer, so that persuaded me to buy into the fantasy even more easily in STS than in some of her historicals. I don’t know why, but I feel more emotional resonance with her contemps.

Sometimes I think I'm the only one who didn't love your first two contemporary romances.I liked Liberty and Hardy, but I became so attached to them that certain things like Hardy's uneven characterization and Liberty's choice in men left me dissatisfied.

You aren’t alone. The villanization of Hardy at the end of Sugar Daddy left a rather sour taste in my mouth, and I was not won over by his redemption (if that’s what it was supposed to be) in BED.

I’ve been on the fence about whether or not I would read STS. I’m not a huge fan of secret babies, or of plots that use substitute parenting as a way of bringing the hero and heroine together; add to that the not very flattering (IMO) bits of Jack seen in the earlier books, and this book just wasn’t worth the hard cover price. After reading your review, I’m interested enough to see if a copy will be available at the library.

It was interesting to me that Dane theoretically gives Ella more freedom, yet she felt more restricted with him, while Jack gives her less space, and yet she feels freer with him. And I liked that Luke was a real character and not just a prop to heighten the cuteness or feminize Ella. You can really see her love for him grow, and that was very touching, IMO. I also liked that Tara wasn’t demonized and that some of her insights into Ella’s character were valid (that Ella is controlling in her own way).

One of the themes I really liked in this book — and I wish it were dealt with more in contemp Romance — is that of control/care. At what point does a person’s caring become control, and how much control is necessary for those one cares for. SMS was always testing that line, which is one of the things that kept me engaged, despite some of the more cliched elements.