E.L James' Fifty Shades Trilogy had reopened its gateway to the reading world to me. After being used to reading every night before I sleep for straight 3 long weeks, I felt hanging whenever I go to bed without reading first. A couple of days had passed, I found a remedy for myself. Since Fifty Shades is an adult romance, I tried looking for one which, in my simple hope, would surpass the story of Christian Grey and Anastasia Steele. Later on, I found myself drifted and hooked with Aidan Fitzgerald and Emma Harrison's love affair in Katie Ashley's The Proposition which was also followed by her The Proposal.
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| ". . .any relationship, especially a new one, is always stressful." --- Emma Harrison |
Book 1
With her thirtieth
birthday looming, Emma Harrison finds her biological clock clanging and
the elusive knight in shining armor yet to appear. She’s running out of
options, especially after her gay best friend backs out from being her
sperm donor. Of course, there’s always a sperm bank, but Emma fears a
donor mix-up might impregnate her with the spawn of Satan.Resident company womanizer, Aidan Fitzgerald, is used to always getting what he wants, especially in the bedroom. When Emma spurns his advances at the company Christmas party, he's determined to have her no matter what it takes. After Aidan learns of Emma's predicament, he is quick to offer a proposition that will benefit them both. He will father Emma's child, but she must conceive it with him naturally. Not one for hook-ups or casual sex, Emma is reluctant to take him up on his offer, but his charm, coupled with her intense desire for motherhood, wins out.
Soon their baby-making
sessions become more than just physical. Aidan can't seem to walk away
from her while Emma begins to wonder if Aidan could be the one. But can
Aidan leave his past behind to become the man Emma needs him to be?
"I beleieve sex is something sacred and specially meant to be done between people who are really deeply committed to each other and who are in love."- Emma Harrison
". . .appearances can be deceiving. Sometimes the ones that bloom fastest fade quickly." - Patrick F.
"Dear Lord, for what we are about to receive, make us thankful." - Aidan Fitzgerald
"People can change." - Aidan Fitzgerald
"You are the one who makes you sexy, not a body." - Aidan Fitzgerald
Book 2
In the weeks following Aidan’s betrayal, Emma has tried her best to
move on. Ignoring his countless texts, voice mails, and flowers, she
isn’t sure she wants to be won back by him. But Aidan isn’t going down
without a fight—especially not until Emma lets him reveal the secret of
his past that caused him to be so commitment phobic.
But fate intervenes when premature labor forces Emma on strict bed
rest for two weeks. Aidan steps forward with a shocking proposal. To
prove his love and commitment for her and their unborn son, he will take
a leave of absence from work to care for her around the clock. Vowing
to guard her heart, Emma reluctantly agrees.
While she is touched by Aidan’s attentiveness and tender loving care,
Emma is thrown for a loop by the amorous attentions of ER doctor,
Alpesh “Pesh” Nadeen. Pesh is everything Emma could ever
want—successful, stable, and ready to settle down and be a husband and
father. Pesh wants nothing more than to win Emma’s heart, but she is not
sure she’s able to give it.
Her heart may still belong to the very man who broke it—the one who is so desperately trying to win her back.
Remarkable Lines from "The Proposition"
. . .and mind you, they also got their cheesy line ^^
Emma: I knew you were hungry.
Aidan: Hungry for your company.
"My hatred for you does fuel a lot of my emotions." - Emma
"You never can admit what you should." - Emma
"I've said it in a million times in a million different ways that I'M SORRY." - Aidan
"I had a life before you, and I'm going to have one after you." - Emma
"You're here now. That's all that matter." - Emma
. . . the SINCEREST part of Aidan (while kneeling) ^^
"Fine, call me a Drama Queen. Call me any fucking name in the book! just get all the anger and hate out of your system, so you can work on forgiving me tonight. I said it on cards, in text messages and voicemails, and even in that fruity book of poetry I sent you. But I'm going to say it to your face in case it's the only chance I have.
. . .I'm sorry, Emma. I am so sorry for breaking your heart. I' m sorry for being an utter prick and being afraid of my feelings for you. Most of all, I'm sorry for screwing up the perfect life we had by pushing you away and cheating on you.
. . .Yeah, that's right. I'm one of the countless assholes who breaks women's hearts. I couldn't tell Emma (you) I love her, and I almost screw another woman trying to push her away. But from the depths of my heart and soul, I'M SO, SO SORRY."
"Emma can use and abuse me to her heart's content.. As long as she's happy and healthy, I'll do anything she pleases.'' - Aidan F.
"I know what it is like to lose the love of your life." - Dr. Pesh
"People do move on." - Emma
"I want to do anything and everything I can to make you happy." - Aidan
". . . he's inherited the most amazing DNA from his mother. She's the strongest person I've ever known." - Aidan
". . .every man has his own fantasies." - Aidan
"I wish I knew what to say or do to make her feel better. I hate to see her cry, and it kills me to see her scared like she has been.'' - Aidan
. . .this I believe is the cutest answer to a child about pregnancy^^
Georgie: I was wondering how did Noah get in your belly.
Aidan: It's like this. When a man and woman love each other very much, the love grows inside the woman and makes a baby.
"I am a full grown man. I'm fully capable of taking care of myself and my feelings." - Dr. Pesh
". . .full moon really brings out the craziness in people." - Dr. Pesh
"You can learn that there's a first time for everything." - Emma
"What would you rather have? Words that can be spoken lightly and then taken back so easily, or would you rather have actions?" - Dr. Pesh
"I will swear to you that my heart will always belong to you." - Emma
" . . .it was stupid for me to try to tempt fate." - Emma
"You are an exquisite version of perfection." - Aidan
"You can't make a promise like that. You can't be sure of what you'll do tomorrow or five years down the road." - Emma
. . .his simple yet cute proposal
"Emma Katherine Harrison, angel of mercy and forgiveness, love of my life and mother of my son, will you make me the happiest man in the world and say you'll marry me?" - Aidan
. . .my favorite above all
". . .no marriage is perfect. There's going to be good times and bad times and heartache and joy. . .It is love that goes through the hardest trials and survives that is worth having." - Grammy
"Time flies so fast when you're happy and in love." - Grammy
As I enjoy reading the story, I found it hasn't been done with originality. It's story has a little resemblance of E.L James'.
e.g
- that just like Anastasia Steele, Emma is a strong-willed woman who is willing to risk everything for what she stands for,
-that she has a smart mouth,
-and that she works for a very rich bachelor with whom she fell in love with.
-Aidan, on the other hand also seemed like Christian Grey who is AGAIN a multibillionaire bachelor
-who happens to be a family-oriented man
-and had been to a lot of girls but haven't gotten a serious relationship
-who did a lot of things of winning back his girl
-PLUS, a scene in a hospital was also observed in the story
-and one of the main character also happened to be a music lover
. . .probably the author herself tried to pattern her story from E.L James'. However, despite of its tiny touch of similarities, the story has this touch of its own UNIQUENESS.
Emma's eagerness of becoming a mother, or shall I say her eagerness to have a child wherein she even reached the point of asking her "gay" best friend to donate sperms for her pregnancy triggered and made the story a whole lot interesting. Her desperate of not marrying diminished with the thought of bearing a child. The question there is "To whom will she have a baby with if she does not have a boyfriend?" So the last resort was her gay best friend. But then the best friend wouldn't manage having "it" with her so she was left with no choice.
Now here come's Aidan, her boss, a happy-go-lucky and the guy next door, offered himself to donate the sperms assuring himself that they'll do "it" in his own preferred way. Everything at first went smoothly and thus, I was always blown away every time a got a grip of my book.
On the later part of the story, Aidan needed a lot growing up to do. I see it as a real challenge for him to cope with what he had done to Emma. Emma, oblivious with what had happened diverted her feelings to Dr. Pesh, a tall, young, handsome, caring, thoughtful Indian widower. It was crystal clear in the story that the doctor's presence really made Aidan think of what's the best thing for him to be done.
Though the story did not surpass Christian and Anastasia Steele, I never regretted sparing my time reading the books for it fattens not only my brain but my heart and values, as well.
As a whole, even though I strongly believe that it's being anchored to E.L James' it's still a splendid one. Katie Ashley's story doesn't just contain the "insta-love" story which is usually observed in some other books, her characters however, underwent a process. Hence, making it an undeniably a realistic one. It's a story wherein changes was evident as what people confront in our real world scenarios. It is full of emotions which made smile, laugh, cheer, and even got angry. But the most important above all, I found myself learning things about life from this book. It's indeed a story of pregnancy, lover, parenthood which all result to FAMILY. Katie herself had reminded me that all THINGS will really fall into their RIGHT PLACES in PERFECT TIME.^^
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