Title: The Pregnancy Test
Author: Erin McCarthy
Series: Sexy in NYC #1
Rating Out of 5: 5 (I will read this again and again and again)
My Bookshelves: Contemporary, Contemporary romance
Dates read: 12th – 13th October 2020
Pace: Medium
Format: Novel
Publisher: Brava
Year: 2005
5th sentence, 74th page: Where is he?
If life is a series of tests, Mandy Keeling just hit the mother lode.
Ordinarily, I’m a fan of pink – lovely color, does smashing things for the complexion. But not when it’s the bright, glaring stripe staring back at me on the pregnancy test. Then, pink is the color of major oops, of morning sickness, of boyfriends who seemed decent but now are part of some Jerk Witness Protection Program.
Still, I’ve got a few things going for me – bitter humor, a divine right to eat till I’m the size of Marlon Brando, and good friends who’ve managed to get me a job interview with one Damien Sharpton: in need of a personal assistant, and some say, a good, swift kick in the arse. If you want to make a lasting impression, by all means, toss your cookies in your future boss’s wastebasket, which is located directly between his excruciatingly sexy legs.
Apparently, Mr. Gorgeous-But-Unbearably-Anti-Social must like personal assistants who violate his trashcan, because I got the job. And if I can avoid him via text messaging for the next seven months of free health insurance, everything will be just fine. Except that he’s just asked – no, insisted – that I go with him on a business trip to the Caribbean. Gulp. Ordinarily, this would be cause for celebration. Ordinarily, I’d shave my legs, pack my bikini, revel in day-glo drinks and seething lust for Mr. Swarthy-And-Seductive. But there’s nothing ordinary about this situation… which means it could be absolutely extraordinary…
Oh. I absolutely loved this novel. It was cute, quaint and a really easy read. Everything about it was just simple, fun and incredibly flirty. Alright, there were a few moments of sexual intensity, but I mostly just found this to be really and seriously sweet. Which, honestly, is generally what I’m looking for in an Erin McCarthy novel. Or really, in most of the contemporary romances that I pick up.
I had the wonderful pleasure of reading this story when I was having a bit of a vulnerable and insecure moment… and it was the perfect antidote to such feelings. There was something that was just so pure and joyful about this story. Even if it does start with a woman getting knocked up and then abandoned. That’s not so pure and joyful… but somehow, every moment in between just… is.
One of the things I loved about this is that both Mandy and Damien carry different scars in their lives. They both have some issues that they so need to work through and they desperately have to figure out their own crap. But the ways in which they do so throughout this is a reminder that sometimes the healing that you need is done by the most unexpected people… and those that love you. I particularly like the scene in which Mandy reveals that she’s pregnant…
I most definitely adored Mandy’s friends in this story too. Which is good, considering two of them then get their own love stories following this… we all need great friends like this, and I won’t lie… it does make me feel a little lost and jealous to read about such amazing friends!
Earth and Skye 
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