marriage of convenience

Make Believe Match

This was such an enjoyable marriage of convenience romance! 

It’s a one night stand turned more when Lexi discovers the man she had a wild night with turns out to be none other than the man trying to buy out her family’s ski resort. She’s convinced he seduced her on purpose, but things take a turn when he offers to marry her so she can inherit the resort and he can get payback to his former employer. 

It has everything I love about marriage of convenience – the forced proximity, the tension (which these two give in to often), the “wife” nickname. I loved both characters – Devlin is so charming and confident but in a non-toxic way, and Lexi is so spunky and determined to save her family’s resort. The two had such a fun relationship with so much chemistry, and I loved the way Devlin supported her to help make her dream come true.

It’s a Melanie Harlow book so of course it’s very spicy but also funny and full of heart. We get plenty of Buckley family time, and also the fun addition of Winnie from Ignite as Lexi’s friend. This has been my favorite of the series so far and I’m still looking forward to the rest of the Buckley’s stories!

Side note – I have seen some reviews calling it enemies to lovers and I don’t think that’s quite true. She doesn’t like him at the beginning but he always likes her so it’s one-sided at best.

8 Vegas Wedding Romance Recommendations

Marriage of Convenience gets a lot of well deserved hype, but I also love its drunken little sister, Oops!-we-got-married-in-Vegas. The regret, the hangover, the awkward aftermath, the eventual feelings and trying to figure out how to make the marriage work in the real world – I love it all. 

Here are some I’ve read and enjoyed!

Blind Pass – Teagan Hunter

Marrying Mr Wrong – Claire Kingsley 

The Pact – Max Monroe 

Shenanigans – Sarina Bowen  

The Clover Chapel – Devney Perry

The Devil Gets His Due – Elizabeth O’Roark

Put Me In Detention – Meghan Quinn

The Marriage Solution – Stephanie Rose

The Marriage Solution

The Marriage Solution released last week in Kindle Unlimited! Thank you the publisher for the arc in exchange for an honest review.

This is a marriage of convenience romance between two long time best friends who marry when the heroine is in need of healthcare after losing her job (yay America!). Julie has recently been diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, and her old friend Landon will do anything to make sure she’s safe and healthy and able to afford the treatment she needs.

When a quick trip down the aisle in Vegas ends with a spectacular kiss, the two friends start to realize maybe there have been feelings there all along. Add in a bit of forced proximity, and the two soon can’t fight those feelings anymore.

I enjoyed this! The characters are in their late 30s so due to their maturity there is not a lot of extra drama. It’s a sweet low angst story (with some spice of course). The two have to readjust their lives once they realize their feelings have shifted, and I enjoyed watching how it all played out.

It’s own-voices chronic illness rep and I appreciated the insight into what that is like. There’s a great supporting cast, good steam, and I love when the hero falls first.

Also there’s a “Get your hands off my wife!” moment 😏

Unfortunately Yours

Unfortunately Yours by Tessa Bailey is out today! Thank you Avon for the ARC in exchange for an honest review. 

I loved this enemies to lovers marriage of convenience romcom. I will admit I didn’t exactly love Secretly Yours so I was a little nervous, but this had all the humor and heart and dirty talking fans of Tessa Bailey would expect. We met both Natalie and August in Secretly Yours, but I think you’d be okay reading this one as a standalone. 

Natalie has returned home to Napa after losing her high powered career and fiance all with one bad business decision. She needs her trust fund in order to start a new company, but the terms of the trust say she must be married in order to inherit. August Cates is a former marine, new to the winemaking industry, but has sunk all his money into a vineyard that keeps producing terrible wine. The two strike an agreement, they’ll marry in order for her to receive her trust fund and him to make the connections needed in Napa to secure a business loan. 

August is one of my favorite Tessa heroes, just totally dumbstruck by his feelings and attraction for Natalie. He’s one part golden retriever, one part Marine veteran dedicating his life to fulfilling his fallen brother’s dream. He’s large and strong with a totally soft and gooey middle and I just love when the guy falls first.

Natalie was also a great character, everyone underestimates her and still thinks of her as the wild child teen she once was and I loved how she proved herself capable. 

Natalie and August constantly butt heads, leading to some truly excellent banter and the forced proximity leads to a lot of sexual tension (though, technically, this is sort of a slow burn).

I really had a great time reading this! This was exactly the book I want from the author. If you are a Tessa Bailey fan don’t hesitate to pick this one up despite your feelings about Secretly Yours.

The Fiancée Farce

The Fiancee Farce was my first book of June, and also my first by this author. And what a great way to kick off Pride month!

It’s a marriage of convenience romance between Gemma, an heiress and part time cover model who needs to be married in order to inherit her grandfather’s company, and Tansy, a quiet bookstore owner who told her family she had a girlfriend to get them off her back about her love life. When Gemma finds out Tansy has been pretending they’re dating, who better to rope into a marriage of convenience? 

I really enjoyed watching their relationship unfold. The two are opposites in many ways, but it was fun watching them learn more about each other and finding a middle ground. They both had excellent character development, especially Tansy I think. She’s a person who doesn’t like attention and keeps her head down, but when pushed she put herself out there to stand up for the woman she was falling for. 

There’s a truly excellent cast of supporting characters, some you will love and some you will love to hate, delicious spice, and a lot of laughs. The writing was engaging and easy going, and I definitely want to read more from this author. 

It was pretty predictable, though. I knew exactly how every piece of it was going to play out, but if you have read less marriage of convenience books than me this probably won’t be an issue! I found it quite enjoyable overall even if it followed the beaten path.

One and Only

One and Only is out today! Thank you to the author for the gifted copy! I bought the couple cover as well, because it’s just so gorgeous and I am forever a sucker for a forehead kiss. 

This is a slowwww burn marriage of convenience sports romance which are some of my favorite things! This is between Greer, whom we’ve met previously in her sibling’s books, and Beckett, a football playing single dad who will do anything for his daughter.  

The romance between the two is a slow burn in the best way, the tension is immaculate. I loved how opposite they are – Greer is bold and outgoing and has no problem sharing her feelings, while Beckett is taciturn and more reserved – and I loved how they complimented each other. I loved the moments where you could feel fake become real. I loved each of their relationships with Beckett’s daughter Olive, and I loved Greer’s relationship with her family. I even loved Beckett’s respectful co-parenting with Olive’s mom. 

I guess you could say I loved it all! It’s the kind of romance that reminds me why I love the genre. It’s heartfelt, a bit emotional at times (I cried, though to be fair I also cheered out loud at one point), full of humor and charm and I was so glad to be back in this world. 

Definitely check this one out in KU if you are looking for a new sports romance to steal your heart!

You Can Have Manhattan

You Can Have Manhattan is another book that’s been on my TBR from a long time and I’m so glad I finally read it. I thoroughly enjoyed this entertaining marriage of convenience romance!

Sydney and Scott are coerced into marrying by Scott’s father, who is also Sydney’s boss and mentor, in order to keep his company in family hands. The two are polar opposites – straightlaced Sydney is married to her career with no friends or family, while Scott is a former party animal playboy trust fund kid who has escaped his family’s legacy and moved to Wyoming to run a cattle ranch.

The two had a run in years before that resulted in Syndey kneeing Scott in the nuts, so neither are too keen on the marriage idea but both are willing to do anything for Scott’s dad. They fight, spar, and prank once forced into cohabitation, but the spark between them is impossible to resist and they eventually give in. 

It was a fast moving story with lots of banter and emotion. I loved the setting and side characters and honestly would enjoy stories for a few of them. The story flowed quickly but in a good way, I never felt bored or like anything was missing. 

While the third act conflict was a little dramatic for me, I still very much enjoyed the book overall and definitely recommend it if you’re looking for an entertaining enemies to lovers marriage of convenience romance!

In A Jam

Do you ever want to kick yourself for waiting so long to read a book? To be fair this only came out about three months ago but that’s three months I’ve lived without Daddy Bread Baker in my life which is tragic.

To say I loved this book is an understatement. It’s truly everything I love in a romance – small town, pining, marriage of convenience, a grumpy awkward & blushing single father hero, friends to lovers romance that had me laughing and swooning in equal parts.

Noah, Daddy Bread Baker for those in the know, is a serious dreamboat. He’s pined for his former neighbor/high school crush for years, so when she shows up back in town to claim an inheritance, he throws out a marriage proposal to help her out – despite the fact that he’s very grumpy she left him behind in the first place. 

He’s raising his niece all on his own and doesn’t really have time for a marriage, what with single handedly saving his family’s farm, helping out everyone in town, and perfecting his jam recipes but he just can’t help himself. His niece was an absolute hoot- I want to be Gennie when I grow up. Even though he’s grown up physically since high school,  he can’t help but blush and panic when Shay gets close, which of course makes him even grumpier.

Shay is a bit lost, her seemingly perfect life has come crashing down around her and she doesn’t know who she is or what she wants anymore. She was an interesting if not a bit frustrating at times character, but really this was all about Noah (and Gennie) for me. 

The sparks between Shay and Noah were immediate, and though it was a slow burn, when things got physical oh boy did dirty talking Noah have me blushing. I loved how these two balanced each other out.

This was my first read of 2023 and I can’t imagine a higher note to start off the year, I already know this is on my 2023 favorites list.