nine month contract – Professor Romance

Overall Grade: A-/B+

Tropes: small town; surrogate/baby daddy; mountain man MMC; found family; age gap; grumpy/sunshine; breeding kink; curvy FMC

If you’ve ever met Amy Daws, her self-effacing, almost humble, humorous vibe is her charm. You can’t help but like Amy Daws on meeting her, and I’ve only done so at a book signing, not the best place to get to know someone. Yet, after reading Nine Month Contract, her newest book after a bit of a break, you can’t help but feel that charm threaded through her pages. Daws’s voice is likable and connective. As you read Nine Month Contract, she draws you in with the same humor she exudes in person, but she wallops you emotionally with the sentimentality of her characters.

I found myself charmed by Nine Month Contract because her characters, Wyatt and Trista, are consumable. That’s a strange word to use for her characters, but Daws has drawn them so that you can’t help but want to know them. Trista is the heart of this book. She’s alone in the world, having never had a family to love her unconditionally. She loves animals who’ve lost their home because she recognizes herself in them. Daws has crafted her foil in Wyatt, a grumpy, gruff mountain man, ready to become a single dad and live out his days building sustainable houses and raising a child. Where Trista is sunny, Wyatt is the opposite, and it creates a pool of deliciousness that you’d love to bathe in. From their meeting, it’s clear that Daws has written rom-com gold. The sharp banter, the inciting chemistry, and the push and pull of their ethical dilemma draw you into the book. The silliness of their situation, coupled with Wyatt’s need to protect and care for Trista from almost a caveman-like place, adds more layers of romance heaven to this story.

Add to all of this Wyatt’s supportive, but emotionally complicated family. The Fletchers do not have easy relationships per se, but they love each other. Daws uses them to bind Trista and Wyatt’s story together. One of my favorite tropes is the found family especially when a main character lacks that for themselves. The emotional tether of Trista finding a family to love her without any measure is my favorite part of this book, and Amy Daws, who can write humor and banter well, writes Trista’s journey to finding a family to love her unconditionally calls to your emotions. In using the point of view of Wyatt’s niece, Everly, Daws underscores that task even more.

As I said before, I was charmed by Amy Daws’s Nine Month Contract. I had loved Last on the List, book 5 of her Wait with Me series and the launcher for this new series, but a protective Wyatt falling in love with a beautiful, but lonely Trista was exactly what I needed to be reminded that 1) Amy Daws is a heck of a romance author and 2) her rom-coms are pure heaven.

In love and romance,

Professor A

new release

✍🏻 I haven’t been charmed by a book in a bit. Amy Daws’s Nine Month Contract made me laugh and sigh and tear up, hitting me in my feels. If you love a found family trope (one of my favs), you will ADORE this story. ✍🏻

April 11, 2024 professorromance

Title: NINE MONTH CONTRACT

Author: Amy Daws
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Release Date: April 11^th, 2024

Cover Designer: Cat at TRC Designs

Cover Photographer: Wander Aguiar Photography

Cover Model: Jack Atherton

We live by different rules on the mountain…

🐐 🪓🐐 🪓🐐
Read Now: https://geni.us/NineMonthContract

Listen Here: https://adbl.co/4aKCYFj

Add to your TBR: https://bit.ly/NMCGoodreads

From Amazon #1 bestselling author Amy Daws, comes an all-new small town, spicy romance sure to hit you in the gut with laughs, feels, and mountain man grunts.

Help Wanted: Grumpy Mountain Man seeks baby momma. Job is an incubator position only. Surrogate must be impervious to grunting in the form of communication and nosey brotherly neighbors. Rustic mountain range housing available upon request.

I wanted to pummel my irritating brothers when they posted their own version of a wanted ad to help me with my life.

But I can’t fault the results once the right woman lands on my lap.

Becoming a single father is not a decision I made lightly. In fact, it’s the biggest decision of my entire life.

Which is why when I interview Trista, I know she’s perfect.

She’s wild, she’s opinionated, she wears cowboy boots. Even my pet goat loves her…

She’s the exact type of person I was holding out for.

And to my great horror, I realize on our first night of attempting this baby making dance…when the lights are low, the cheap wine is flowing, and the home insemination supplies are laid out on the kitchen counter…

I want to do a lot more than just make her my surrogate.

I want to make her mine.

Excerpt:

“Who is the pen for?” I ask, staring up at the giant mountain man.

“Your pig.”

My eyes widen. “You expect my Reginald to sleep in the barn?”

“Where else would he sleep?”

“In his sleeping quarters upstairs next to me, obviously.”

“Come again?” Wyatt is loud in the quietness of the peaceful barn.

“Reggie is a rescue, Wyatt! He came from a horrible situation where the owners neglected him. He had hoof rot and couldn’t freaking walk. I had to give him daily doses of antibiotics and hand-feed him, or they were going to put him down!”

“Jesus Christ,” Wyatt murmurs under his breath, looking away in obvious agitation.

“Sir Reginald sleeps on a nice little crib mattress I bought second-hand. He even has a special blanket and likes to sleep in most mornings.”

Wyatt’s head snaps to the open wooden stairs leading to the apartment. “How are you going to get him up the stairs every day? Those legs don’t look long enough to climb stairs.”

“I’ll carry him.” I shrug.

The mountain man’s eyebrows shoot to the moon as he points an accusing finger at Reggie. “He’s got to weigh at least fifty pounds.”

“Sixty-five, actually, but my vet friend just put us on a low-calorie feed even though I think Reggie is beautiful just the way he is.”

“For fuck’s sake,” Wyatt growls and jams a hand through the top of his hair. “You aren’t going to be able to carry him up those stairs when you’re pregnant, Trista.”

“Well, I’m not pregnant yet.” I scoff, my chin cocking up to meet his as he looms over me with his giant mountain-man stature.

He pauses for a second as his eyes rove over my face. His voice is deep and husky when he replies, “Yet.”

Goose bumps erupt over my flesh as one of the tiniest words in the English language just had a massive impact on my not-so-tiny body. I realize I’m a surrogate so we’re not doing this pregnancy thing the old-fashioned way, but it’s been a while since I’ve been laid, and with that one little word, my traitorous mind wandered to a reality where we did it the old-fashioned way. And I liked that thought.

I swallow slowly, desperate to get control of myself. I glance down at our chests, which are nearly brushing each other. When did we get so close? His scent of pine trees, woodchips, and hay is intoxicating.

Wyatt’s eyes flick down to my lips as I wonder what the hell are we actually arguing about? I want to be pregnant. And I suppose he’s right…I shouldn’t be lifting sixty-plus pounds once I have a baby growing inside me. I guess Reginald’s sleeping quarters never came up in all our lawyer negotiating.

And why is he looking at me like that? And why does my body feel the way it feels right now? I’m hot and agitated having him so close to me and telling me what to do. I like it, and I loathe it.

The voices of men outside force us to pull away from each other just as they walk into the barn with armloads of my stuff.

“Trista, these are my brothers Calder and Luke.” Wyatt’s voice is strained as he avoids eye contact with me. Oh, he’s mad mad.

The two giant men in flannel stop talking and gape at me for a moment. The heavily tattooed one with devilish eyes tips his chin up and says, “What’s up, MB?”

Wyatt glowers at his brother. “Calder…”

The slightly smaller one (although none of them are small, honestly…I’m in a barn full of flannelled giants) with floppy blond hair laughs boyishly, clearly enjoying the tension between his two brothers.

“What’s MB mean?” I ask curiously.

“Don’t ask,” another voice echoes from behind them.

Calder and Luke spread apart to reveal what I can only assume to be another brother.

“This is my eldest brother, Max,” Wyatt explains with a wave of his hand. “He doesn’t live up here on the mountain with us though.”My brows lift knowingly. “Didn’t want to join in on the Seven Brides for Seven Brothers remake up here?”

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Number 1 Amazon Bestselling author Amy Daws writes spicy love stories that take place in America, as well as across the pond. She’s most known for her footy-playing Harris Brothers and writing in a tire shop waiting room. When Amy is not writing, she’s likely making charcuterie boards from her home in South Dakota where she lives with her daughter and husband.

Follow Amy on all social media channels, including Tik Tok under @amydawsauthor

For more of Amy’s work, visit: http://www.amydawsauthor.com

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Cover Reveal

✍🏻 Amy Daws is back with a new book! I’m so excited for Nine Month Contract and its gruff mountain man MMC! I’m obsessed with the illustrated cover. ✍🏻

March 11, 2024 professorromance

Title: NINE MONTH CONTRACT

Author: Amy Daws
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Release Date: April 11^th, 2024

Cover Designer: Cat at TRC Designs

Cover Photographer: Wander Aguiar Photography

Cover Model: Jack Atherton

We live by different rules on the mountain…

🐐 🪓🐐 🪓🐐
Preorder: https://geni.us/NineMonthContract

Add to your TBR: https://bit.ly/NMCGoodreads

From Amazon #1 bestselling author Amy Daws, comes an all-new small town, spicy romance sure to hit you in the gut with laughs, feels, and mountain man grunts.

Help Wanted: Grumpy Mountain Man seeks baby momma. Job is an incubator position only. Surrogate must be impervious to grunting in the form of communication and nosey brotherly neighbors. Rustic mountain range housing available upon request.

Nine Month Contract by Amy Daws releases April 11th

🐐 🪓🐐 🪓🐐

Add to your TBR: https://bit.ly/NMCGoodreads

EXCERPT:

If this potential surrogate isn’t at least marginally impressed by the splendors of this dive bar, then she’s not fit to carry my baby, just like all the others I’ve met.

“Are you Trista?” I ask, my voice gruff.

“Yes,” the curvy woman chirps, her head snapping up like she’s been caught texting in class.

When our eyes connect, a rush of adrenaline surges through me—through my gut, specifically. I swallow the lump in my throat and reach my hand out to her. “Wyatt.”

Her hand is currently tucked deep inside her bag, so she offers me her opposite hand, making for a very awkward handshake. She rustles around with something that sounds like a wrapper in her bag and winces.

When we disconnect, her round eyes venture unabashedly down my body, her lips parting as she takes in my frame. The bag drops off her shoulder, and I hear a strange yip come from her before she begins coughing violently and whacking her chest.

“Excuse me,” she says, her voice gruff from the cough attack as she points at her throat and repositions the bag back on her shoulder. “I sucked some spit into the back of my throat, and it went down the wrong pipe.”

My brows furrow as I gesture to my table over by the stone fireplace. “Can I get you a drink?”

“A drink would be great,” she replies desperately, and I watch as she storms past me to the spot, carefully tucking her bag alongside the chair like she’s carrying a million dollars in cash.

I hesitantly take the seat across from her and gesture to Judy, who comes over in a hurry, likely sensing the awkwardness.

“I’ll have what he’s having,” she says, pointing at my beer with a wink. “Not knocked up yet, right?”

“Coming right up.” Judy shoots me a curious look and takes off for the bar. That’ll get the rumors flying.

“I heard you’ve interviewed a lot of candidates,” Trista offers, drumming her long fingers softly on the beat-up wood table.

“Yeah, I’m afraid so,” I reply with a huff. “And they always seem to feel like…”

“Like you’re picking out a livestock animal?” she offers with her brows arched.

My eyes widen at how she basically read my mind. “Bingo.”

BINGE THE SERIES

If you want to see where these brothers first appeared, check out Last on the List or binge the full Wait With Me Series while you wait for release day! Nine Month Contract is a spin off of Last on the List featuring the main character’s brothers!

Binge the Series | Check out the Alternate Paperback Covers | Dive right into Last on the List!

GIVEAWAY

For a chance to win a signed copy of Nine Month Contract, check out my cover reveal posts on Facebook and Instagram: www.facebook.com/amydawsauthor

ABOUT THE AUTHOR