Nobody's Baby But Mine

- Susan Elizabeth Phillips -

Ugh. The many reasons why I did not like and did not finish....

This is the second book in a row of SEP's that I have wanted to throw against a wall with all of my might after only a couple of chapters. In this book, unlike Heaven, Texas, I can still see potential in both the story and the two lead characters so I am not giving up yet, but I have to get this out so here we go - a list of all the things pissing me off about this story so far:

- second book in a row where awkward/socially inept woman in posing as or mistaken for a stripper/hooker by misogynistic group of football players. a) under what circumstances actually happen and b) in the case of Jane, who is supposed to be super duper smart, she seriously cannot come up with a better cover story?

- Jane's plan to get Cal to knock her up. I have a hard time believing in Jane's supposed super intelligence based on this plan so far because:
1. really? She can't come up with any other way to have a child than to trap some unsuspecting guy and steal his sperm.
2. there has been no mention so far that Jane's parents are of anything other than average intelligence so presumably her "huge" intellect was a genetic fluke. On what evidence then, does she base her "can't use sperm bank potentially from med student and therefore too smart sperm" theory on.
3. Really? All sperm bank, willingly donated spunk, is from med student. All of it? She couldn't at least check and see if there were any "dumber" donors.
4. Her split second decision that Cal is dumb enough to qualify for sperm donorship in the first place. Based on a two second interview clip where he speaks with a Southern accent and is therefore clearly dumb? Based on the fact that he is an athlete and therefore can't also be smart? Come ON. There are so many holes to be poked, it's not even funny. It just makes Jane look like a snobby, judgemental moron.

- Jane's moral conflict -she KNOWS what she is doing is wrong. She herself equates it to stealing, and yet she blunders on through with it cause she wants a baby and can't come up with ANY other way to have one? It's just CREEPY. Which brings me to:

- The sex scenes. Two of them so far, both revolving around Jane's desire to conceive and Cal's inexplicable attraction to her, despite her acting like an illogical and untruthful twit. To Jane's mind, apparently if she enjoys herself while on her quest to get knocked up, THAT'S what will make the whole thing tawdry and gross (not the fact that she is lying to some guy about their use of protection and trying to get herself pregnant without his consent) so she tries NOT to enjoy herself, to focus on how humiliated she feels (for putting herself in this situation? for being so dishonest with another human being? For maybe enjoying sex with a "dumb" person? Who knows.) so the scenes end up coming across as some bizarro form of rape, where she is uncomfortable and desperate for it to end and he is just too overcome with lust to think about her strange reactions. It was deeply, deeply uncomfortable to read.

Only saving grace so far is that at least the deception of what Jane wanted from Cal hasn't gone on too long. He has just found out, one month into her pregnancy, and is confronting her as opposed to secretly plotting against her (a la that Susan Mallery book) or them falling in love only for him to find out about the deception later, but even so. How on EARTH does a real relationship with any kind of trust develop from her? Let alone the sperm stealing, Jane better have some major grovelling coming up for her baseless assumption of Cal's utter idiocy. It's so condescending and ick.