Nobody’s Baby But Mine by Susan Elizabeth Phillips (Avon, 1997)
Cal “The Bomber” Bonner’s greatest fear is getting old, and to battle it he only dates younger women (read—under 30).
STATS:
Chicago Stars legendary quarterback.
Deceptively simple, country drawl.
Likes: women who are young , “nice,” and beautiful, scotch, a challenge
Dislikes: hookers, being lied to, being used/tricked for sex by a woman who desperately wants a baby, fathers who abandon their children, losing.
Ruthless when angry.
THE LOOK:
“Crisp brown hair whose tendency to curl hadn’t quite been tamed by a no nonsense cut. A man who made his own rules and answered to no one. Hard muscle and sinewy strength. A physical animal. Brutal cheekbones and a ruthless jaw. No softness there. Not even a speck of the gentler emotions. This man was a conquerer, designed by nature to make war.”
LEADING LADY:
Tells people she’s 28. Is really 34.
Pretends to be a stripper/hooker. She’s not.
“Genius physics professor Dr. Jane [“Rosebud”] Darlington desperately wants a baby.” Because of the way she was teased as a child, however, she doesn’t want to make one with someone half as intelligent as her. She wants someone stupid, and she thinks Cal fits the bill.
Hilarious:
“Let’s see the goods.”
“The goods?”
“Your body. Your bag of tricks. How long you been a hooker, anyway?”
“It’s—Uh…Actually, you’re my first client.”
“Your first client”
“Please don’t let that alarm you. I’ve been very well trained….You’re probably from the old school, Mr. Bonner, that still believes women in any profession can only get their training in one way, but that’s not true any longer. I, for example, am not promiscuous.”
His glass stalled in midair. “You’re a hooker.”
Heart-wrenching:
“His breath caught in his throat at the sight of her standing against the sun in a faded calico housedress….She had never been so beautiful to him as she was at that moment, standing without any cosmetics in his grandmother’s garden and looking every one of her thirty-four years.”
BOTTOM LINE:
This was my first SEP and loved it so much I ran out and bought her back list. Cal is far from perfect. He yells, he curses, he’s as sensitive as an ox sometimes, but when he’s determined to prove he loves Jane—woo-eee. He parks his car in front of his grandmother’s house, blocks the road, and refuses to let anyone leave until Jane finally talks to him. He takes on his entire family and the quarterback set to replace him. And he kidnaps Jane to break into the local hardware store and have her pick out wallpaper. Now, that’s love.
QUESTION OF THE DAY:
Gosh, it’s hard to pick. Stereotypes about dumb jocks? Being able to forgive trickery and lies? How about being attracted to what we fear most, something SEP touched on in her author’s note. A friend of mine was recently challenged to write about what she feared and when she did it renewed her creativity.
What do you fear most and would you want to write about it?
in
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March 6th, 2008 at 10:27 am
This was my first SEP novel, too! I remember staying up all night to read it, and feeling guilty pleasure…it was my first romance, too, and oh, it was fun!
I tried to fictionalize a very personal, difficult family experience, got about 50 pages in, and found it too hard to revisit those emotions. They were too fresh, I think, and the characters ended up being replicas of the real people in my life instead. I’d thought it would be cathartic…Maybe it will be at another time in my life. As to things I fear, say, like, flying, yes, I think writing about a character with a similar fear would actually be fun. It would force you to look at that fear in a different way, with different twists, and hopefully with distance and humor.
Great post!
March 6th, 2008 at 10:37 am
Gosh this is a tough one. I have vertiago real bad. Its not so much the fear of heights, as the fear of falling. I get very dizzy and light headed, which makes it dangerous for me, and anyone near me in situations that bring it on. When I drive over bridges, I have to look straight ahead, I can’t look down. When I fly, I have to have a isle seat. If I’m near a window, the shade is down. I also have attacks of vertigo, when I’m under great stress, and I’m standing on the ground! I can’t walk or stand. My greatest fear, I’ll have an attack, (it feels like an attack) when I with my grandkids.
How would I write about it? I really don’t know. It would be a challenge.
March 6th, 2008 at 11:13 am
Misa–You’ll revisit those characters someday when it will be productive. It’s being able to see it from a different angle that’ll allow you do so (maybe because it won’t have power over you anymore). I agree, fear makes us human, but being able to take off the blinders and explore life from the fear and maybe change our perspective is what keeps us growing.
Lee–I think creating a character who has to overcome or live with vertigo might be a good experience. You know all about it, so you could write it in a compelling away. And if anything, you’d see how you’ve compensated for your fear and keep going despite it. I think that’s the beauty of writing what you fear–by doing it, you see how you’ve overcome it, because even writing about it does that to some extent!
March 6th, 2008 at 12:35 pm
I am deadly afraid of water — can’t swim worth beans. This ties into my fear of bridges, not the bridges themselves, but that they will collapse and then I’ll be in the water I can’t swim in. Wow! Phobias are truly illogical, aren’t they? LOL I would love to write of someone afraid of the water forced to swim to save a child or something, but don’t think I could handle the stress quite yet.
March 6th, 2008 at 6:13 pm
Jill–I can’t swim either and I’ve tried to learn so many times. When I hold an inner tube and try to kick, I literally go backwards. And I freak if my face goes in the water. But I don’t really have a water or bridge phobia, which surprises me.
March 6th, 2008 at 10:21 pm
Seriously, you gals don’t know how to swim? Wow. I never knew that about you, V. You and Jill don’t know what you’re missing!
March 9th, 2008 at 11:56 am
Interesting about the vertigo, Lee. It’d be interesting to read about a character who has that. BTW, I’ve heard SEP speak and also chatted w/her at one of her booksignings. SUCH a nice woman and a witty speaker as well. It doesn’t surprise me that her books are fun, too.
April 6th, 2008 at 12:21 pm
There are a lot of people here. I’ll join you guys. Believe it or not, many people fail in commenting stuff. I’m just trying to say a simple thing – before commenting something, think twice!