They named it anything but love.
After a failed marriage to a domineering man, Erin refuses to be controlled by anything or anyone. That includes Seth, the father of her baby—a man who was supposed to be only a one-night-stand, a man who’s used to always getting his way.
There’s a reason that Seth Thomas, a successful defense attorney, is often referred to as the Bulldozer. If something needs to happen, he makes it happen. That includes being part of his baby’s life—even if he never expected to be a father, even if Erin doesn’t really trust him.
They’ll work out an arrangement in the best interest of their baby—and if they occasionally have sex, well, that’s just an added perk—but they both agree on one thing.
What they have will never be love.
This book was a long read for the genre, I didn’t feel like it was a slow burn but I did feel like potentially there was a bit of room to cut some length out. If it was just condensed down a tad I think I would’ve been happy. As it was I did still enjoy this story. I was interested to see how it would play out and I can definitely say that at the end of the day I was not disappointed with how it ended. Everyone loves a good HEA regardless of how it looks don’t they?
Erin and Seth have an interesting chemistry from the get-go. Throughout the whole book they swung wildly between passionate intimacy and standoffish awkwardness while interacting with each other. It was the epitome of hot and cold and if you think it sounds good and twisty but a little bit frustrating you would be right!
For me, it was Erin that was the most frustrating character in the book. That woman! At first I could deal with her issues. Deal with her reluctance to allow anyone close to her heart. But characters need to develop. Especially grown adult characters and I didn’t feel like Erin developed enough. I get that she had been hurt before, I get that she had her ‘strongholds’ but I felt like right till the end she was still emotionally stunted. This made her not as likeable as she could’ve been. I wanted to to be invested in her and for the most part I was. But sometimes she induced a few eye-rolls.
As for Seth, I loved how his character was written. You could tell that there was so much going on under his cool, calm, polished exterior. He was the ultimate in powerful alpha-male, good looks, amazing career and charisma to spare… He was damaged, yes, but that just added to his allure. Sometimes he had me lost with his reactions, but more and more as I progressed through the book him and I were completely on the same wavelength. At the end of the book I was well and truly a Seth fan.
This book has everything that anyone who is a contemporary romance fan loves, all while retaining a point of difference. You’ll spend your whole time while reading pleading with Erin and Seth to sort themselves out. The book does spend a reasonable chunk of time dedicated to Erin being pregnant/giving birth/raising a baby. I’ve had babies so this definitely wasn’t off-putting or boring for me, but I think even if you haven’t had children of your own you won’t dislike this aspect of the story. The author definitely knew her stuff when dealing with all things pro-creating related and managed to bring the right amount of humor and sensitivity to the mix. Oh and be prepared for smut. A decent helping of smut considering this book revolves around a pregnancy…
This was an interesting take on what happens when two people are thrown together to face one of the biggest responsibilities any of us can take on. There are tears, as well as vomiting, sex, arguments and random cravings. (not in that order) This story does have a decent conclusion, I was definitely happy to leave it where it ended. However I have seen that there are two follow-up books to Erin & Seth’s story. Both sequels are much shorter reads; Christening is the second in the series followed by the novella Incarnate. Those who just can’t leave the story where it lays at the ending of Nameless will jump right into these two books I’m sure. However for me, after reading the blurb of Christening, I think I’m going to stop now while I’m ahead. I’m happy where this story finished up, I don’t really feel the need to delve further into the twisty world of Erin and Seth and their relationship.
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