The Great Baby Caper

by Eugenia Riley

A fun story about family members and growth. This description may be from another edition of this product.

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 0505524619
• Release Date: January 2001
• Publisher: Love Spell
• Length: 395 Pages
• Weight: 0.45 lbs.
• Dimensions: 6.5" x 1.0" x 4.0"

Customer Reviews

A sexy, zany tale

The Great Baby Caper is filled with comedy based in exaggeration, sometimes to the point of the bizarre, as in the case of the initial premise: Courtney Kelly is among the top candidates in line to become president and CEO of the company, Bootle Baby Bower. And she is appalled to hear that her boss, M. Billingham Bootle, is making the final decision about his successor based on all of the distinguished candidates going on an insane scavenger hunt at the company's annual meeting in New Orleans. Her assignment? To scout out the most eligible bachelor in the French Quarter and marry him within 12 hours! Courtney decides this is carrying eccentricity way too far. But it turns out to be even worse than that. What she doesn't know is this is all a convoluted plot of her boss to engineer Courtney's marriage to his grandson.Mark Billingham is willing to participate in an elaborate entertainment for his grandfather's annual company meeting. It all sounds outlandish, but outlandish is his grandfather's middle name, and the game seems harmless enough. Not only that, it will give him a chance, at long last, to meet and spend time with beautiful, dynamic Courtney Kelly, a woman whom he's been infatuated with from afar for over a year after seeing her in a company video.From this point on, the droll plot takes flight, progressing from Courtney's initial encounter with Mark, to her fight with Bootle and Mark when she discovers her boss's deception, her make-up with Mark and successive night of passion leading to an unplanned pregnancy, her ultimate marriage of convenience to Mark, and their gradually coming to terms with meshing together their high-powered careers--and high-powered personalities. Endless humorous imbroglios occur in the midst of these events, including a series of visits by the kids of Courtney's many siblings during sequential cruises by their parents.If you enjoy frenetic comedy with lots of zany subcharacters and crazy complications thrown in one after the other like a juggler tossing a collection of plates, balls and bats in the air as he twirls a beach ball on his nose and a ring around his extended ankle, you will love this story. There is something going on every second, in the classic tradition of screwball comedy. The heroine is very strong, the hero sexy and tender, and their efforts to come together as a couple are moving as well as funny. A very entertaining read.

amusing contemporary romance

To say that Bootle's Baby Bower CEO M. Billingham Bootle is a bit of an eccentric is probably an understatement. However, this year at the company's annual meeting in New Orleans, he outdoes even his most famous and wildest capers. He announces his retirement and names the four potential candidates to replace him. Wally Gilchrist, Al Gideon, Gil Getz, and Courtney Kelly will compete for the job by going against one another in a scavenger hunt. Kelly's assignment is to find and marry the most eligible bachelor in town. Though thinking EEOC and a lawsuit, Kelly reluctantly joins the game and soon humiliatingly searches Bourbon Street. She finally meets Mark Wiggleshaft, who turns out to be her boss' nephew Mark Billingham. After sharing a night of passion, Courtney is left pregnant. Mark persuades her into marrying him, but she insists on a marriage in name only. Now all Mark has to do is convince Kelly that he is not his grandfather's puppet and actually wants her and their baby. Once the reader accepts the bizarre CEO job prerequisite, which is not easy to do, the fan will enjoy this amusing contemporary romance. The lead couple is an amiable duo struggling with their feelings and even more with the interference of that likable lunatic, M. Billingham Bootle. Eugenia Riley has written a humorous tale that keeps the audience laughing throughout most of the story line.Harriet Klausner