This book was a breath of fresh air after my book hangover! Trista is so unapologetically herself. She is my new idol!
Also where can i get a mountain man that idolizes me and practically kisses the ground i walk on??
We love a grumpy man who is a big softy on the inside! Who can help but to say yes to every stray animal his girl brings home!!
This book was an easy read and a 5/5!

4⭐️, 2🌶️

Thank you Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for the ARC! 📖

Small town romance, grumpy-sunshine, “she’s mine” possessive MMC, found family. I loved the characters in this book and can’t wait to read more from the mountain men!

This book was a fun read. I love the pregnancy trope in books and was so happy to find another one to read. The Romanesque in this book was so sweet!🥹

Amy Daws’ Nine Month Contract is a delightful blend of humor, emotion, and spice that kept me thoroughly entertained from start to finish. The story introduces us to Trista, a quirky, independent woman with dreams of owning an animal sanctuary, and Wyatt, a grumpy yet endearing mountain man longing to become a father. Their unconventional arrangement evolves into a heartfelt romance that had me both laughing out loud and tearing up with joy.

The inclusion of Wyatt’s spirited niece, Everly, as a third point of view adds depth and charm to the narrative. Her matchmaking antics and determination to find the perfect surrogate for her uncle bring an extra layer of warmth to the story. The dynamic between the characters is enriched by a cast of lovable side characters, each contributing to the small-town, family-centric atmosphere that makes this book so special, especially the ANIMALS!

Daws masterfully balances humor and emotion, crafting scenes that are both laugh-out-loud funny and deeply touching. The witty banter and hilarious situations had me giggling throughout, while the genuine connections and personal growth experienced by the characters tugged at my heartstrings. The spicy moments are tastefully woven into the narrative, adding an extra layer of intensity to Trista and Wyatt’s evolving relationship.

As someone who doesn’t typically gravitate toward the pregnancy trope, I was pleasantly surprised by how much I enjoyed this story. The author’s fresh perspective and engaging writing style made it a standout read for me. Nine Month Contract is the first installment in the Mountain Men Matchmaker series, and I am eagerly anticipating the next books to delve deeper into the lives of the Fletcher brothers.

In summary, Nine Month Contract is a heartwarming and hilarious romance that I highly recommend. It’s a perfect blend of laughter, love, and spice that will leave you with a smile on your face!

Nine Month Contract (hard cover out 3/18/25) had me CRACKING up from start to finish! Broody mountain man Wyatt is ready to start a family of his own, but he is having an extremely hard time choosing a surrogate. His niece Everly decides to take things into her own hands by posting an advertisement to find the perfect woman to be his baby mama. Trista is a strong independent woman who is trying to become a surrogate to fund her dream of opening an animal sanctuary. Perfect match, right? Actually yes! The two connect thanks to Everly and they draw up an elaborate plan complete with a contract to work together to have a baby and then go their separate ways.

Amy does a fantastic job of telling their back stories, building some intense heat between them, and developing their characters. The supporting characters are also very funny and add to the story (especially Wyatt’s three brothers) nicely. Wyatt may be grumpy on the outside, but he is ooey gooey sweet on the inside, and spends most of the book anticipating Trista’s needs, and worshiping the ground she walks on. I knew how the story would end, of course, but I was just over the moon about it when it all came to a happy conclusion!

I laughed out loud several times, especially over the ridiculous animal names Trista came up with for her rescues (I think I snorted over Manwich)!!

Nine Month Contract is the first in a series and I CANNOT wait to read Wyatt’s brother Calder’s book in June!!
-Small-town
-Grumpy-Sunshine
-Found Family
-Age Gap
-Curvy FMC
-Pregnancy Tropes
The Fletcher men gave me major Blue Moon Pierce family vibes (Lucy Score)!
Genre: Rom-Com
Spice: Whew! The spice was spicin’!
Rating: 5 stars

Thank you for the ARC copy, @htpbooks and @amydawsauthor

So good! A feel good romance book.. not what I expected at all in the best ways. I wish I could reread for the first time!

I really expected to love this but unfortunately it was a miss for me. It felt like it was just trying to accomplish too many things and it fell flat. It was just overly busy in a not fun way.

Wyatt wants to be a dad and has been working with an agency to find a surrogate. His mountain man appearance seems to impede his progress in the agency finding him a surrogate. Trista wants to become a surrogate but her plus size and never being a mother has the agency turning her down. Everly, Wyatt’s niece finds a disappointed Trista outside the agency and decides to match her with Wyatt. Trista works at an animal shelter and wants to earn enough money to start her own shelter. She is also being evicted from her apartment, so she needs a place to stay and Wyatt is offering a room above his barn for her. I loved Wyatt’s family life; two brothers living in cabins on his mountain, Everly who charms everyone in the family, and Wyatt’s mom who finds Trista a beautiful woman. Wyatt only wants his one goat, Millie, in the barn but it does not take long before Trista brings home animals that have no room at the shelter where she works. This is a great book about family, communication and making changes when necessary with a lot of love woven throughout the story.

I wanted to like this unconventional love story way but I bounced off of it pretty hard. I found Wyatt too controlling and quick to anger to be a likeable MMC. Trista' situation when the book started was too precarious for her to be making such important life decisions. The relationship Everly had with her uncles made me cringe. The two stars are for all cure rescue animals.

This was cute , simple and not that much going on, but cute. it does need some work and maybe some chapters need to be looked at. The characters do need a little more development and some work to make them a little more likable.

Thank you NetGalley and Canary Street Press for the ARC!

There were authorial decisions which need to be applauded in a book like 'Nine Month Contract'. There was a huge risk that a romantic storyline with a surrogate could have dovetailed into the fetishizing and demeaning narrative on "owning women". Daws approached this story with candor and transparency with her opening note and help to ease some of my initial concerns with the plot. I appreciated the detailed outline of the hypocrisy in commercializing women's reproductive capabilities and the desperation which can push someone to loan out their body for money. Another strong element from Daws was that Wyatt was not a broken man who needed fixing. This was not a story about a woman's innate maternal instincts coaching a man into his maturity journey. Wyatt knew what he wanted. He acknowledged that he was damaged, but even as his fears with Trista were being actualized, he never asked her to fix him or even expect it. This is me was HUGE for a romance book. Thank you for showcasing that Trista's emotional journey as an individual was just as important as how Trista and Wyatt's relationship. However, I do wish we could have seen how Trista's development impacts her relationship with her sister and Avery. The ending has a bit of a tightly starched bow with Trista's full adoption into the Fletcher family. I would have enjoyed seeing some more individuality from Trista after she accepted herself and was brave enough to say what she wanted, regardless of rejection.

Please note that my star rating system is specific to my needs and opinions. Two stars signifies that I enjoyed elements of the book and was happy to have read it, but am not likely to reread it. This does not mean that I think it was a bad book.

Wyatt main character of the story really wants to be a dad he’s living on a mountain with his pet goat, he decides that he wants to get a surrogate to give him a baby so he goes through 13 interviews and 13 being a lucky number really false head over heels incident attraction to this woman named Trista. Trista is a unique character. She is super funny and lovable has a few problems in the head, but I think cause she’s crazy. She also thinks that Wyatt is very cute. I love seeing the banter between these two characters and love that it was a good story. I think the story was long, but it was very good. It kept me interested through the whole story and how she got pregnant instantly with him through a ranch sauce cup I’ve laughed at that part. I thought it was funny. This is a cinnamon roll hero trope instant attraction. It’s a comedy surrogate romcom story. I never actually thought I would like romcom as much as I like this one it kept me entertained and interested throughout the whole story.. Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for this book.

Thank you to NetGalley and Harlequin Trade Publishing for providing me with an egalley of this book to read and give my review. The opinions expressed here are my own
This is my first Amy Daws book. I love an author who can do representation well. The blurb of this book reminded me of Amy Award so I was excited to dive in and see what Daws could bring me.
This is my first surrogate pregnancy trop book. I don't have any triggers so I figured I'd be good with reading this. And I was. Though I will say I was surprised at how the author chose to present the insemination part. There are so many things that go into surrogacy. I haven't done a ton of research but I feel like this part could have been addressed better. It seemed a bit unreal to me how it all came about.
I was also excited to read an age gap book. I love this trope because it truly happens so much more in real life than most thing. The author did a fair job with this. I wanted a bit more of the tension this trope normally brings. The differences in life circumstances, the differences in emotional maturity. I didn't get it as much as I would have liked though it was there enough to show the gap.
As for the characters, they were fun. Trista was definitely sunshine to Wyatt's grumpy. Though he definitely softens a bit throughout the book. Trista came across to me as a bit all over the place. Definitely a girl who wasn't sure where her life was going with no plans to actually stick a family in the mix. Wyatt, on the other hand, is settled in what he wants. I loved Wyatt's relationships with his family. I'm a huge lover of books where family is close and they take care of each other.
I didn't read the connected series to this one but did see there are some characters brought over from that. I was surprised by the points of view from Everyly and actually thought the book could do without them. They didn't add much for me.
Overall, this was fun, though the execution was not as tight as I would have liked. Also, I think the story was stretched out much longer than it should have been and I do wish we had seen the birth of the child the story centered around. I would pick up more books by this author.

There were so many parts of this book really were laugh out loud funny. I didn’t realize I would be into reading a surrogacy romcom, but I was ready for a palate cleanser between heavier fantasy books and definitely got it.

Trista and Wyatt are hilarious. There is no miscommunication trope, though it takes time for the main characters to open up to each other, which is understandable given their pasts.

I thought it was a good, light read, and definitely worth the time. I’m relatively certain I did cry at one point, but nothing crazy. Parts of it were a little strange, but I think that it was Trista. Like, I could see how her character felt and it made sense for her brain to process things differently… does that make sense? She was such a funny and unique character, though I definitely want her to seek some therapy 😂

If you’re looking for:
🐄 A romcom
🐴 Grumpy x Sunshine
🐐 Possessive MMC
🐓 Cinnamon Roll MMC
🐰 Breeding Kink?

4/5
His brother puts a Craig’s list add up for him about wanting a surrogate. And she was trying to become one but the agency wouldn’t take her and that’s where she meets his niece who then takes it upon her self to set the two up together.
This was a good read. I loved the slow burn and the banter between the brothers. And all the crazy animals she just kept adding.

Nine Month Contract by Amy Daws is such a fun and addictive read. It’s about a billionaire who just wants a baby—no love, no drama—and the quirky, independent woman who signs up for the job. But, of course, feelings get in the way, and things don’t go as planned. The characters have amazing chemistry, and the banter is hilarious, but there are also some really sweet and emotional moments. It’s the perfect mix of funny, romantic, and a little bit messy in the best way. If you love a good opposites-attract story with tons of heart, this one’s definitely worth picking up!

I enjoyed this book so much! It was funny, spicy, emotional...
Mountain man Wyatt is ready to be a dad looking for a surrogate.
Trista had a traumatic childhood and doesn't want kids, she just wants to open an animal rescue. By being a surrogate, she can earn the money to open her rescue. I think the author did a great job developing her character throughout the book.
I loved reading about the Fletcher brothers and can't wait for the next book.
Tropes:
Grumpy mountain man
Curvy MFC
Surrogacy
Found Family

Nine Month Contract by Amy Daws follows Wyatt, a 38 year old mountain man looking to become a single dad, and Trista, a 28 year old animal lover who needs money to start her rescue sanctuary. This book had some stuff actively working against it for me, but I was pleasantly surprised by how much I liked it.

To start with what I enjoyed, the family dynamics are #1. The Fletcher family was so wholesome and I loved how much they supported each other! Especially at the end the family was just so sweet. 🩷 I think the last half of the book had a lot of really great character development, and I wish it started sooner in the story so I could have more of it. There is minimal drama in the relationship between Trista and Wyatt, which I always appreciate. No third act breakup or drawn out nonsense here! Also the pregnancy stuff was so relatable I couldn’t help but laugh. I know a lot of people were disappointed by the “cow” mindset in the book, but I also felt like a farm animal while pregnant and postpartum so I got it 😂 I didn’t see it as a plus sized thing, just a pregnancy/pumping thing. This quote “From what I can tell, maternity clothes are the devil, and plus-sized maternity clothes are the devil’s bowel movements” sold me because SO TRUE.

As for what I didn’t love, I struggled with the DIY aspect of the surrogacy and some of the descriptions around it. I know in the US especially people are paid for surrogacy, which is totally understandable. But the agencies are there to help protect all parties involved, and Trista and Wyatt felt very dismissive of those agencies. However, this book is the first surrogate romance I’ve ever heard of, so it was definitely a new trope. That helps me suspend my disbelief a bit. Wyatt’s possessiveness got a bit old towards the middle, but his sweetness made up for it in the end.

Overall I was pleasantly surprised by how sweet this book was. It was a fresh idea, and though I don’t think I’ll ever search out this trope, kudos to the author for going for it. Despite the rocky stuff at the beginning, I did end up enjoying this book!

Big thank you to Harlequin Trade Publishing and NetGalley for the advance copy!

Thank you NetGalley for the ARC!

So I'll open with I don't love a pregnancy trope, so I'll set those feelings aside for the review because that's just preference.

The book was recommended by Meghan Quinn, and the writing felt very similar to her books. It was quirky and funny with good banter. Both MCs go through some serious character development. The FMC is body size positive, but with normal insecurities, so that was refreshing. I was worried the surrogate plot would be creepy and give me the ick, but honestly it was fine and made sense for the story.

Overall, I found it to be a fun romcom and I'm looking forward to reading the rest of the series with the other brothers.

Cute story. The change in heart happened rather quickly and close to the end. I would have liked it to be more gradual. I did enjoy the story and the characters.
There was an interesting third POV I didn’t expect.

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️🌶️🌶️🌶️