A lighthearted and funny grumpy x sunshine romcom with a pregnancy trope (not a spoiler). It had laugh-out-loud moments, great animal humor, and a hilarious FMC (“You’re a cow” was too funny). I loved the strong friendship-based dynamic and tension between the leads. The FMC’s journey with found family really resonated with me. Perfect for fans of Baby Mama!

This book gave me all the feelings, I enjoyed the plus-size FMC. By the end of the book, I was so connected to every animal and person in this book, I was crying with them. I loved this book so much! I can't wait to read more in this universe!!
Thank you, NetGalley, Harlequin Trade Publishing, Canary Street Press, and Amy Daws, for the chance to read this book for an honest review.

The Nine-Month Contract

I took a week to write this review because I didn't want to be swept up by my negative feelings. Unfortunately, even after much reflection, I did not enjoy this book.

I suppose the best way to review this book is to list what I found unlikeable.

1. Wyatt
I want to say that I don't believe that everyone has to be in the perfect position in their life to have children. But I disliked Wyatt's reasons for having children and his entire behavior around the endeavor. These reasons boil down to his dad dying (fine), his niece going off to college (terrible), and wanting to have sole custody and never share his kid (horrific). I just felt that I could see this child's terrible life with their maladjusted father isolated from everyone, staying on the mountain unless he decided to take them down.

Even though his niece is 18, Wyatt and his brothers display a possessiveness that I am supposed to find endearing. Understandably, she felt she had to go to Ireland to have some breathing room.

All women, except those related to Wyatt and the female main character, are untrustworthy. He pats himself on the back for living promiscuously at one point. But if he senses attraction from a woman; she is too eager and shady.

The surrogacy agency lets him go for rejecting not one or two but twelve candidates. The surrogates are of two kinds: 1. single and thus untrustworthy or 2. married and therefore he can't have complete control of them. ("It never sat right with me thinking of my child hanging out, in utero with another family. Another man."). So, no one will be good enough if they have even signed up for the agency.

He is immediately disappointed that he can't sleep with Trista. And, because he is a classic misogynist he says she's not like other women.

My main problem is his unreasonable and violent jealousy. No one likes being cheated on and the addition of his brothers in this messy situation can't help. But it frankly makes him scary, how angry he gets when anyone talks to Trista: her boss, her friend, his brothers.

"I don't like boundaries. Boundaries feel like secrets."- This is such a scary mentality that I felt pity for everyone tied up with this extremely unwell and dysfunctional man.

"Either this man is into dubious consent or he's horny all the time."

2. Trista

She is in a terrible financial situation and desperate for affection. That puts the writing on the wall and can only foster unfortunate dependence on this man.

He has the solution to all her problems. She needs money, he'll pay her to be his surrogate. She's being kicked out of her apartment, he has one next door she can use. She needs a barn because she owns a pig, he has a mostly empty barn. She has no loving relations, his family loves and accepts her. It would be a perfect on-paper situation if he wasn't a jealous weirdo.

She seems to be suffering from body dysmorphia. We are also supposed to see that as separate from her constantly referring to herself as an inseminated cow. I understand that this is meant to show that she is distancing herself from the baby and from seeing herself as its mother. It felt so poorly thought out to have both these things together and unexamined. At one point Wyatt even begins to repeat that she is a cow. It is unbelievable She also then attributes her lack of love life to people leaving her because she's fat.

She finally stands up for herself by pointing out that he is unreasonable, jealous, and smothering, and they immediately hook up. This frustrated me so much.

3. The Surrogacy

There is no attempt to do this in any sort of professional manner. Wyatt has no egg donor, so she is also donating an egg. Trista's circumstances make it so there is too much urgency to think any decision through. For some reason, they decide to begin immediately using an aspirin syringe and have her inseminate herself in this bed. Why besides showing that they never intended to erect any boundaries?

"Stay in the barn. Like an animal, like a concubine, like a whore."

"Remind you that I am giving up a baby from my body for money at the end of all this because of how much I struggle."

"And you are weaponizing my greatest weaknesses against me by offering me this apartment. "


4. The Brothers

Wyatt has three brothers one who lives in town and two who also have homes on the mountain. We are constantly told that he loves his brothers. But internally he has a lot of mistrust and anger towards them that he doesn't seem to consider this abnormal.

This is because they all fell for the same woman and lied to each other about sleeping with her. They initially make a bet to try sleeping with this woman who like Trista lived in the apartment above the bar. They make her a sexual conquest but are mad that she is playing them. "May the best man win." I have the least pity for this kind of bet amongst men. She lies about being pregnant for Wyatt and ultimately is found out to be lying about the paternity and is still married. It messes everyone up. No one gets therapy.

This leads Wyatt to scare his brothers away from Trista due to his trust issues. They are too afraid to speak to her and can't visit her because he scares them. This scares me.

The brothers decide to go to a sex club together. Whatever the plan was there it is so weird to suggest that I can't look past it.

Minor Quibbles

-Nothing is funny
"The foreskin of newborn babies being comfortable" is such a weird and demented line.

-It is so written at a particular time and to a trend that it felt outdated already e.g. "my dad is done rizzing my stepmother."

-His mother playing "the dead husband card until I'm also dead and cold in the ground" is messed up.


This book was so opposite to my tastes that I went back to check if I hadn't read the description properly. I feel like there should be some warning about the extreme jealousy, possessiveness, and misogyny. But I suppose those are hardly marketable traits.

"You're not my dad, Wyatt. You're not even my daddy"- 56%
If I had to suffer that line so do you.

Thank you to NetGalley and the publisher for providing me with this ARC. This review contains my honest thoughts and opinions.

3.5/5 Stars ⭐️

I want to thank Net Galley & Harper Collins for an e-arc in exchange for an honest review.

To start I really loved where this book took place, the setting the mountain men. I loved seeing how much Everly loves her uncles and wants to see them happy while playing matchmaker. Trista reluctantly makes a deal with Wyatt to carry his baby, and in exchange, she gets a place to live. It was interesting to see the author's take on being a surrogate; I feel like not many romance novels I've read have ever touched on that, so it was a really interesting perspective.

I loved Trista, but this girl needs some more confidence; I felt like her character was very contradictory with being confident with how she looks and then reverting back to being insecure. I just really really reallyyyyyy wish her character was more confident and didn't compare herself to a cow every few chapters. It's one thing to make characters plus size and curvy but another thing to compare to farm animals. It was the one thing that knocked down my rating a bit.

I liked Trista and Wyatt's romance, and I think I am starting to like the pregnancy trope. I'm excited for the next book in this series. The covers are STUNNING, and the boss/nanny romance is going to be so good, I am frothing at the mouth for the next book, and I cannot wait to see where this series is going to go

Not for me. I am not a fan of the overuse of pop culture in books, especially when it comes to slang terms that are typically out of date by the time the book is even published. I did not care for either main character in this book. Wyatt was just strange. I can't understand someone placing such a high priority on family all while actively distrusting them around a woman he barely knows. Trista's only likable trait in my opinion was her relationship with her rescues. Her constantly comparing the baby in her stomach a goat turd also really turned me off to her, and the book in general. Everyone in this book was just weird.

Wyatt’s meddling brother posted a want ad for a baby momma to carry his baby who’s only interested in being an incubator, must be fluent in grunting of broody baby daddy.
I’m not usually one for the surrogacy/pregnancy trope but here we are and I absolutely loved it. Something about Wyatt and Trista just made it make sense and the way they ripped up the contract at the end, amazing.
I had a soft spot for Trista, our curvy FMC, who is an animal lover who felt misunderstood and unloved by everyone besides the animals she rescued. She felt undeserving of love or the classic family picture but Wyatt sneaks up on her and worms his way into her heart. I felt for her as an animal lover myself and understood her broken view on family. She has a difficult relationship with her body that turns into admiration after carrying Stevie that I think really helps rewrite narrative of female body evolution. Our bodies really are freaking amazing what we can do.
I also adored the found family aspect of this Mountain Matchmaker novel and look forward to next ones of the series. ❤️🏔️

Lastly, thank you NetGalley and Harleyquin publishing for this opportunity to read this ARC. I was not paid to write this review and this review is fully my own opinions.

https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/7346804816

Having the opportunity to dive into an early copy of Nine Month Contract by Amy Daws. (Thanks Netgalley/Harlequin) This upcoming Harlequin book explores surrogacy with a mountain man through the lens of a fiercely independent FMC. I found the story captivating, the intimate themes to be 🌶🌶🌶, and lots of needed family love. [[I too come from a family that was not very big on the emotional or physical love. Do you know how hard it is for me to depend on anyone but myself?]] This book was a quick read and the story was just downright adorable. I love that Trista brought all these animals and expanded Wyatt's life. I surely felt a connection to Trista. When she called herself a cow it didn't mean she was calling herself fat. I felt it reflected the surrogacy situation in a way that made sense to her. She works at a vet office. She put her body up for breeding, like a cow. I cried so hard for Trista at the end. She got her forever home and it hit me with all the feels. Acceptance of yourself is hard. Acceptance from another family is just as empowering. I will most likely be reading what else these Mountain Men brothers have going on in future reads! Thanks Amy Daws!

I was intrigued by the idea of a surrogate and a leading man as the driver of the of the relationship. I still really liked the idea and felt it could have been adorable. We meet two very unlikely people, Trista an animal lover seeking to earn some extra money to open her own rescue shelter and Wyatt a grumpy mountain man seeking the right woman to help him achieve his family dreams of becoming a dad. These two are brought together with a little family help and embark on an agreement to provide a baby in return for some life support. One rule these two agree on though, don't fall in love, this is just a contract. What ensues is crazy life on a farm with rescue animals, grumpy brothers, extra loving family, and a change in heart between a grumpy mountain man and a sweet spunky woman. There were just a few things for me that were a turn off. The spice for me, was a bit too much so if you love a good spicy read this may be a perfect read for you. The other part that was bit tough for me was Trista constantly calling herself "A Cow", for anyone with body image issues that was difficult to read, and she did it throughout the entire book.


Thank you Amy, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and NetGalley for my eBook. It was not expected for me to leave any positive reviews. These opinions are 100% my own.

Thank you Net Galley for an ARC of this story in exchange for my honest opinions ✨️

Nine Month Contract is seriously a one day read! I could NOT put this book down!

~ Grumpy meets Sunshine
~ Big Mountain Men
~ Hilarious and loving family

Oh and you can't forget the spice ❤️‍🔥🌶🌶🌶

Trisha has big dreams of opening her own pet rescue one day and meets Wyatt for the opertunity of a lifetime to make her dreams a reality. The job? Being his surrogate to make his dreams of becoming a single dad come true..

At first it seemed a little weird going into this trope but honestly I couldn't be more invested of what was going down.


The character development and pacing of this book was perfection. Wyatt's family was so welcoming I felt like I was there on the mountain with everyone. I could not stop laughing, aww-ing and crying. I seriously need follow ups for Luke and Calder now!

100% recommend and can't wait to purchase a physical copy for 💯

This is a soft DNF for me! While I really enjoyed the premise and the characters were compelling, I found the ultra-modern language to be disruptive and cheesy, and it made it impossible for me to continue reading. I’ve never read “rizz” in a book and it just took me out of the story completely.

I’ve been a fan of Amy Daws for a while, and this book is right up her alley. What starts as a forced proximity quickly turns friends to lovers. I really enjoyed the premise, the plot, and the the FMC Trista. Trista had me laughing and she was so relateable. The spice was the perfect amount of heat! I had a few issues with the MMC Wyatt, mostly his extreme protective and possessive nature. Overall, I couldn’t put Nine Month Contract down.

Nine Month Contract is a delightful rom-com that had me absolutely melting over grumpy mountain man Wyatt and wishing Trista, a true ray of sunshine, was one of my closest friends.

The unique and unconventional take on the single dad trope immediately pulled me in, but it was the combination of other beloved tropes and the spice 🌶🌶🌶🌶 that kept me engaged until the very end. I especially loved that the third-act breakup was "soft" and short-lived—just enough conflict before they realized how madly in love they were! Also, can we give Amy Daws a standing ovation for the inclusive representation of a curvy FMC?

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, it was just a perfect, cozy read and can’t wait to read more about the Fletcher brothers!

A huge thank you to NetGalley, Amy Daws, Harlequin Trade Publishing, and Canary Street Press for access to this ARC!

If Hallmark movies were slightly unhinged, had steamier scenes, and featured a plaid-wearing, grumpy-but-soft-on-the-inside mountain man, this would be it.

Our heroine? She’s got a plan. Our hero? He’s got…lumberjack energy and a contract that says they’re going to be playing house for the foreseeable future. And of course things get complicated (read: deliciously messy).

Final verdict: If you love romance tropes thrown into a blender and served up with banter, heart, and just enough chaos, this one’s for you. Pack your bags—we’re moving to a fictional small town, and we’re never coming back.

In the Nine Month Contract, we are introduced to an unconventional love story between an intended father and his surrogate. While I initially was intrigued to read more about this storyline, I have to admit that it fell a little flat for me. The intended father seemed overly possessive and explosively angry in an unbecoming way and the surrogate spent a significant portion of the story fighting off his advances until it appears she simply relented. The language that the surrogate used to refer to herself throughout as just being a 'cow' and to be 'bred' just made me uncomfortable at times.

Love this! This was my first book by this author but i was hooked! Read it in one night and am certainly going to be feeling the lack of sleep tomorrow! I loved the characters. I laughed, i teared up, and i got butterflies :) Recommend!

Really loved this book. I devoured this book in less than 24 hours. Such a fun/sweet/funny read. I didn’t know how I would feel about the pregnancy/surrogacy trope but it was done well and I just loved the characters. I just adored Wyatt. Oh and there’s lots of pets! Definitely recommend

Prospective single father looking into surrogacy & a fierce curvy woman looking to use financial gain from being a surrogate to fund her dreams. What could possibly go wrong? Or what could possibly go so right?
She loves animals, he lives on a mountain, so what better place to bring all her furry friends that are in need of help. Wyatt’s family is an absolute riot and it makes this read a fun time.

Dnf’ed at 20%. Not for me.

Thank you to NetGalley for the advanced copy in exchange for my honest review.

This was a spicy read with a found family element. However I feel like the storyline was a bit lacking. I wish it had been explored more in depth. Trista and Wyatt had lots of chemistry but when it came to Trista and Wyatt's back story and reasons for their relationship issues it was brushed over quickly. It wasn't very comedic, it was more on the romantic side of the rom-com.

Such a fun read! I've never read a rom com with a surrogacy plotline before, so it was an interesting premise from the start. I know that this isn't how surrogacy actually works and I suspended my disbelief, but I see how some others who left negative reviews weren't able to do so and didn't like this portrayal of surrogacy. No matter what, it's a fun grumpy sunshine novel and I loved the family that Trista found on the mountain, along with all of the animals she gave a home to.