Nicely done story of a rape victim who asks a friend to help her have a child through AI. He has loved her for 10 years but she doesn't know. As he sticks by her through her pregnancy and the first few months after the baby is born she begins to overcome her fears from the attack. Well written with believable emotion from both the hero and heroine. He was a very nice kind man who had promised years ago to always be her friend and he never let her push him away. The pace was good and the plot made sense. Nicely done. ( )

First Comes Baby is a sweet, tender love story about two best friends who decide to have a baby together, but not in the usual way. Laurel was brutally raped about five years earlier and is not sure that she ever wants to have a physical relationship with any man again, but she longs for a child and decides that she would like to have one via IVF. Enter her best friend Caleb who willingly volunteers for the job of fathering her baby. Of course, babies always change things and their case is no exception. In addition to realizing how deep their feeling truly run for each other, both characters begin to make life changes, but Laurel especially. The romance and the baby are the main focus, but the story also explores Laurel's rebuilding of old friendships that she had allowed to stagnate during the time following the attack, as well as her continuing emotional recovery.

I really liked both Caleb and Laurel. Laurel was a sweet heroine who had been through a lot, and while I might not have made the same choices she did, I usually felt like I could understand where she was coming from. Caleb was a wonderful beta hero who was a very kind and sensitive man. I loved the idealistic humanitarian in him and how he had basically devoted his life to helping needy people in third-world countries to become more self-sufficient. What I appreciated most about him though was his unwavering commitment to Laurel and their friendship no matter what. A man who takes his promises as seriously as Caleb did is a real keeper in my book. I found First Comes Baby to be a light, easy read that managed to evoke a lot of heart-felt emotions in spite of it's simplicity. Even though I have read books with stronger writing, it was still a pleasurable read. This was my first book by Janice Kay Johnson, but it left me with such a cozy, content feeling, I would definitely be open to reading more of her works in the future.

This book is part of the Harlequin theme series 9 Months Later. ( )

fluff, typical superromance ( )