The Bridesmaid's Best Man - Barbara Hannay

Who could ever imagine leaving the comforts of upscale London for the hot and remote outback of Coolabah Waters, Australia?  Such a daring and rather startling move would be unthinkable to most people.  Yet that's just what Sophie Felsham does when she discovers she pregnant with outback cattleman Mark Winchester's baby. 

One night flings are not Sophie's normal thing, but somehow that's just what happened on the night of her best friend's wedding, for which she was bridesmaid and Mark was best man.  Right away she could see that Mark was so very different from the scoundrel who'd just broke her heart by dumping her for an heiress, and who then has the audacity of showing up with the 'other' woman as wedding guests.  Partly to ease her humiliation at being the object of pity, Sophie offers Mark more than just her flirtations.  And now she's discovered that her impulsive decision has come with consequences.  A human 'bean' is growing in her womb - the other half to a man who she barely knows.

Being the daughter of a family of musical geniuses - all who have incredible talents in the opera - Sophie has always felt her inadequacies keenly.  She had neither the talent, nor the passion, for what her family cherishes most.  And feeling like the blacksheep won't be remedied by breaking the news of her unplanned pregnancy to her parents.  Partly to get to know her baby's father better, and partly to forgo have to discuss the matter with her parents, Sophie takes a flight to the outback.  But she's hardly prepared for the culture, unusual terrain, and hard work of the remote area.  Still, she finds that the more she gets to know Mark, the more she's willing to trade in her city heels for elastic-sided work boots.

But does Mark feel the same way about having Sophie join him?  Will she still have to return to London, have the baby as a single parent, with Mark receiving scant visitation rights?  Just as these questions are being weighed and sorted through, tragedy strikes in the isolated outback.  Can the tenacious threads that the 'almost' strangers cling to, hold up to the battles ahead?

I whizzed through this book, though it isn't any shorter than the other Romances.  It's just written so fluently that it was a breeze for me to read.  I enjoy the theme of a couple working through their problems in a partnership, and this book is a classic example of that theme.  Mark is a hero with such sweetness mixed with sturdy strength and sex appeal that I found Sophie's 'one-night mistake' to be a realistic one.  Though the H and h come from such different walks of life, it was fun reading how they try to compensate for it.

As with a lot of books, the last part of this story is the best.  And I have to say that I was surprised at how the Barbara ended it.  It's nice sometimes not knowing what to expect. 

On my opinionated rating scale of 1* - 5*, I give The Bridesmaid's Best Man a 4*.

 WARNING: THE FOLLOWING IS A SPOILER!!!!!!:

If you have a difficult time reading about miscarriages, this may not be the book for you.  I say this because a few blogs, shared by my friends, have warned me that not everyone wishes to read this kind of dramatic theme.  It's takes up only a brief section, and the story still ends on positive note, but I wanted to give a fair warning in case someone reads the book after my review and then gets sore at me for not having mentioned it.  That said, it's a book worth reading!

"Kindness is the language which the deaf can hear and the blind can see."

- Mark Twain