The Baby Plan (ARC) Review

Hello! I'm back at it with my first Advanced Reader Copy (ARC) review of 2024. I received this book as an eARC from the publisher via NetGalley in exchange for my honest review.

Warning: The following review may contain spoilers for The Baby Plan by Emma Bennet, formerly released as Her Sister's Baby.

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Short Summary:

Please note this is a completely revised edition of Her Sister’s Baby.

Sometimes life doesn’t go exactly to plan . . .

London accountant Sophie unexpectedly becomes the stand-in mum for her estranged sister’s eight-month-old baby, Alana. She didn’t even know she had a niece! She’s wildly out of her depth. Then her life is turned upside down all over again by the appearance of a Thor lookalike on her doorstep. Apparently, six-foot surfer Samson is Alana’s father. And he also just discovered the existence of this adorable baby. Sophie is not prepared to hand over her niece to an equally clueless stranger, so they come up with a plan: Sophie and Alana will move into Samson’s spare bedroom in Brighton until they work out what to do.

As they settle into changing nappies and nighttime feeds, Sophie finds it hard to ignore the way her heart somersaults whenever Samson looks at her. But he already has a girlfriend, who’s made it very clear that Sophie and Alana are in the way. The more Samson and Sophie bond with little Alana, they can’t ignore the obvious attraction between them. But can they put their feelings aside and stick to the plan?

My Review:

I was initially drawn to this book because of the title. I'm a sucker for romcoms with single parents/secret babies and lots of potential for fun and drama. Since letting go of my teenage angst, I've learned to enjoy a Happy Ever After. When I want to escape into a romance, I need that HEA.

After finishing this book, I was mildly underwhelmed. The HEA was cute, but I didn't feel like I cared much for the characters. The twists in the plot were similarly disappointing and just fell flat. I could predict what would happen most of the time. Sophie came off as really judgmental. She herself acknowledges it several times and she does improve over the course of the book. It felt a little odd for the characters to end up together so quickly after judging each other so harshly at first.

The formatting of the ebook I received was awful and difficult to read. It lacked paragraph breaks and each page was a wall of text. It definitely detracted from my enjoyment of the book. It was incredibly hard to focus on the plot because I kept losing my place and having to reread the same page. I thought I didn't love the author's writing style, but I would give it another try if the formatting was fixed.

That being said, I probably wouldn't reread this, but I would recommend it if you're just looking for a short and fun read to bulk up your reading stats. 3 stars.

About the Author:

If you'd like to read more about the author Emma, you can find her at her website here or her Goodreads here.