Sheriff Noah Wheeler was on his way to a wedding reception when he stopped to help a stranded motorist, or so he believed. The stranded motorist turned out to be one very pregnant woman named Cassie Tremont. Before Noah knew what hit him, he'd delivered twin baby girls in the bed of his SUV.

Now Noah's entire world had shifted. He was in love with sweet little red-headed twin girls, one who's named after him and the other who'd been given the name "Hope," which he came up with. The mother wasn't too bad either, but she was just as gun shy about relationships with the opposite sex as he was.

Cassie was torn between wanting Noah and becoming just another member of "Noah's Lonely Hearts Support Group," a group made up of seventeen women. Before she even left the hospital, one of the seventeen stopped in to visit her and casually announced Cassie had been named number eighteen. She was told not to get her hopes up too high because Noah was commitment shy.

It was hard for Cassie to reconcile the women's view of Noah with what she learned while she stayed with him waiting for her car to be repaired. The more she got to know about him, the closer she felt to him and vise versa. However, whether anything would ever come of this relationship was anyone's guess!

Ms. Altom's BABIES AND BADGES is a very good Romance book. Parts of it are plain hilarious. One of the assistant deputies falls in love with Cassie's car and while conversing with it during an unasked spin around town, crashes. Noah's Lonely Hearts Support Group ladies don't bat an eyelash over spilling everything about what they know about Noah to a woman they don't even know. And as in any small town, there are no secrets as the gossip makes the rounds, and everyone decides that Cassie is going to be the next in a long list of dumped women in Noah's life.

It's sweet to read about Noah and the twins. He knows more about babies than Cassie, and sets about teaching her how to change diapers and tell whether a cry is due to hunger or full diapers. Cassie's attempt to turn Noah into a tofu eating health food nut is something to read about. I found myself cringing right along with Noah. Yuck!!

BABIES AND BADGES is well written. The details of small town life are accurate and realistic. Readers are easily drawn into the characters' lives and sometimes find themselves wishing that some of the seventeen would butt out and mind their own business. I thoroughly enjoyed reading Laura Marie Altom's BABIES AND BADGES and look forward to reading further books from her.

Reviewed By: RogueStorm
© July 2004