Two in Winter by Vanessa North
Contemporary Romance
July 2, 2012
Novella
Liquid Silver Books

Reviewed by Mandi

This novella (51 pages)  didn’t work for me for a couple of reasons. First of all, I feel like we only skim the outer layer of who these characters are. Getty owns a small clothing line where she takes care of the business operations, and her friend Anna is the designer. She is in her mid thirties and ready to move on with having a family. She  comes across as cold, and it was hard for me to warm up to her throughout the book. She is very determined to have a child on her own, with only the help of donor sperm and a doctor. She meets Eric at a bar, and later he ends up being the doctor that injects sperm into her – much to both of their surprise. I felt that scene to be very odd – Eric walks in and sees a woman he just made out with on a dance floor days before now spread out in stirrups ready to have a possible life changing injection, but they don’t really analyze their feelings of awkwardness.

Later, when Eric pursues her (and he kind of comes off as desperate throughout the book, trying to woo her) he actually gets angry that Getty wants anonymous donor sperm and not his. Well – YEAH.

"You want a baby. You don’t want my baby," he finished for her, pushing himself away from her. His balls drew hard and tight against him in protest and he scowled at her.

"Dammit, Eric, I hardly know you."

"I know. But it’s not like you know the anonymous donor either.”

That’s fucking different,” she shouted, standing now, clapping a hand over her mouth as though she couldn’t believe what she’d just said.

“How?”

“Because…” Her hands tangled in her hair, that glorious blonde messy hair he had thought he was finally going to get to see spread out over a pillow while he made her gasp his name. That fantasy seeped away, rain to dry earth, as she continued. “Because I do know you. Hardly, but I still know you. And if I get pregnant…and you’re the father…”

“You don’t want me to have that kind of power in your life.” He’d guessed as much, but the way she nodded still stung. “I see.”

Eric is a reproductive endocrinologist.  He works with women every day who have trouble conceiving and other pregnancy issues. How in the world can he be this dense and not realize having a baby through donor sperm is completely different than picking a man you know (barely know) and having his baby.

Their romance is an odd one, as Getty keeps pushing him away, and Eric keeps pursuing. I never felt true chemistry or love between them.  And I found the end to be extremely abrupt. I expected something to come of the baby storyline and that doesn’t happen. There is also a scene or two where the author confuses Eric and his friend Skip and puts the wrong name in the sentence which was confusing at times. This one just didn’t work for me.

Rating: D

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