Nameless by Claire Kent

Nameless is the story of Erin and Seth.  Erin has known Seth by sight for 15-odd years.  He came to live in her town as a teenager and was pretty wild.  Since then, he’s made a success of himself in his legal career. He’s back in town for the funeral of his only relative.  Erin ends up getting drunk with Seth, and they have a one night stand.  Although they take precautions Erin finds herself pregnant and goes to tell Seth, who takes the news surprisingly well.  Erin is very wary of Seth as she has been burnt in the past; her ex-husband Marcus was a strong and decisive person and was very controlling of her, and she is scared of the same thing happening again.  She is willing to let Seth be part of the baby’s life if he wishes, but she intends that it will be on her terms, as she never wants to feel so powerless again.  Erin and Seth’s relationship becomes a bit confused - isn’t a romantic one, but it’s more than a friendship and both of them are holding back to prevent themselves from getting hurt, plus they have the added dynamic of a child, meaning that they don’t want to do anything which could damage their relationship long-term, as if Seth is to have a relationship with his child it will be easier if he and Erin can be on good terms.

I thought this was a pretty entertaining read.  Erin does her best to deal with a nightmarish situation, as does Seth.  They both have faults; she is too keen to project her ex’s faults onto Seth, and is quite blind towards his feelings on a number of occasions, and he is very reticent and does something that I’d find hard to forgive, but they also have their virtues – Erin is very forgiving of him and Seth, aside from his one big mistake, is there when Erin needs him.  They have lots of humour between them and make a really nice couple.  It would have been nice to have seen something from Seth’s point of view, he’s not very open and although you get Erin’s take on what she thinks might be going on, quite often she misses things or is wrong, so it would have been good to be privy to some of Seth’s thoughts and feelings.

The main downside for me with this book is that it felt too long. It’s understandable that the timeframe of the book is longer, as if I was in Erin’s position I wouldn’t be in a rush to jump into a relationship, she had a lot on her plate, and both her and her child’s future lay in the balance. Plus being a mum to a new baby takes a lot of your time! However, the book felt like some things could have been cut.  There were a number of sex scenes but they were a bit samey, and there were some interactions between Erin and Seth which were similar and I felt could be done without.

One thing I think the author portrayed well is the less glamorous side to motherhood, the upheaval and changed focus to your life, the fatigue is something that takes a while to get used to, your laundry piles up and you end up wearing clothes that are comfortable above anything else, romance is the last thing on your schedule for a while!

This author also writes under the name Noelle Adams, and I’ve read a few of those, but this is the first one I’ve read by her under the name Claire Kent.  I understand there are follow ups to Nameless, ‘Christening’ and ‘Incarnate’ showing later parts of Seth and Erin’s relationship which I will try and read sometime. I wish we could have half star ratings for books like these, it's better than a 3 star but less than a 4 star read for me!