His Outback Nanny
Author: Annie Seaton Series: Prickle Creek #3
Also in this series: His Outback Temptation
Publisher: Entangled: Bliss
Release date: January 15th 2018
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Pages: 220
Format: eBook
Source: Entangled
I voluntarily read and reviewed an advanced copy of this book. All thoughts and opinions are my own.
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Star rating:Heat rating:
Jemima Smythe is over the world of fashion. But when her dream of teaching falls through, Jemmy is determined to show her hometown she’s ready to put down roots. Three beautiful and boisterous kids in need of a nanny offer her an opportunity to prove just that. But their smoking-hot dad, Ned, offers her another—become his wife, as a matter of convenience only.
Ned McCormack is at his wits’ end. A single father to three kids, he quit the city and moved home to the Australian Outback in order to spend more quality time with his family. Unfortunately, the farm needs a lot of work. Just when he’s ready to give up, help comes unexpectedly in the form of a supermodel mistaken as his wife-to-be.
Not a bad arrangement, if only they can stick to the rules of their strictly-business marriage—no kissing and absolutely no falling in love allowed.
The Faerie Queen’s review
I’m going to need to keep an eye on Annie Seaton, because I really enjoyed His Outback Nanny. I mean, I couldn’t stop. Having read a few nanny-turned-lover stories recently, it seems I have developed a taste for them. And I already know I love a good fake relationship story!
His Outback Nanny very much had traditional gender roles at its heart. Ned was The Farmer, strong and hunky, the physical labourer and strategiser. Meanwhile, Jemima took the role of housekeeper, cook, and gardener, plus doing the most work to take care of Ned’s children, though he came in to lavish love on them. (Basically, he wanted to do all of the fun stuff while she handled the messy stuff.) And for their personalities, this division of labour did make sense. I can appreciate that not everyone wants the same kinds of things out of life, and despite knowing that, if I ever have kids, I will want childcare to be more of a shared responsibility, all women have the right to choose, and Jemima genuinely loved taking care of the children.
I would say my only criticism with the book was that there was a weird hiccup in the development of the romance. There was a scene towards the start that involved unintentional kissing when the kiss really could have been avoided, and neither character backed away or addressed it afterwards. It was a cute scene, but it didn’t go anywhere. And then there wasn’t really enough build up for me to the stronger feelings. Plus, why oh why did it have to be fade-to-black? I was really enjoying their chemistry!
Overall, this was a tamer romance with not too much drama. It was sweet and easy to read, perfect for anyone needing something gentle and happy.
I would recommend this book to…
…fans of the nanny and fake relationship tropes, or anyone looking for a cleaner adult contemporary romance.
About Annie Seaton
Annie Seaton lives near the beach on the mid-north coast of New South Wales. She is fulfilling her lifelong dream of writing and has been delighted to discover that readers love reading her stories as much as she loves writing them. Her career and studies spanned the education sector for most of her working life until she took up a full-time writing career. She is now published internationally in e-books across the romance genre, and in 2014 was voted Australian Author of the Year by romance readers in the AusRomToday.com Readers' Choice Awards. In 2015 she was voted Best Established Author.Her first traditionally published print book, Kakadu Sunset, was shortlisted from Romantic Book of the Year in 2016. Each winter, Annie and her husband leave the beach to roam the remote areas of Australia for story ideas and research.
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