An Overnight Billionaire…
When Carson Frost inherits a confectionary that rakes in billions but is too cash-strapped to last another sixty days, he agrees to take a loan from his late father’s rival. There are two catches: Carson has to sign over a permanent stake in the company and marry the man’s daughter.
Concocts a Fake Bride…
Two weeks before the wedding, he gets cold feet and claims he’s in love with someone else. The investor says he’ll still hand over the cash if Carson takes a stroll down the aisle—with the woman who owns his heart. Since he isn’t even dating anyone, Carson panics. Where is he going to find a bride willing to jilt him at the altar on such short notice?
And Whips Up a Little Love.
Ella Hope is an actress happy for any paying gig, but jilting a hottie in public isn’t what she had in mind. Still, she needs rent, and he’s in a bind. How hard can it be? While playing at matrimony, suddenly their intimacy isn’t so fake. Ella can’t help but fantasize that Carson is her groom and they will live happily ever after. But once his company is safe, will he want her anymore?
Title: Misadventures of a Backup Bride
Author: Shayla Black
Series: Misadventures
Pages: 280
Genre(s): Contemporary, US
Hot Buttons: /
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Oh, I really, really wanted to love this book. It’s just my cup of tea - a cute premise forcing our couple together - who realise just at the right moment that this fake relationship has turned into the real thing. It’s a tried and tested story trope but it’s one that I can happily read again and again.
The story started off well. I’m not familiar with Shayla Black’s previous work but in this book I found her writing to be refreshing, fun and its flow made for an easy and light read. Both Carson and Ella were interesting characters - I liked both of them, believed in their chemistry and enjoyed reading about their lives.
But…I just couldn’t believe in the pair’s love. I can suspend reality with the best of them - witches, superheroes and even some ridiculous coincidences - I’m game for it! In this case Ella met Carson once for 10 minutes, met him again, went for a quick dinner, fell into bed with him, spent a weekend in bed with him and she’s suddenly declaring her love for him and trying to figure out how to rearrange her whole life to be with him. And Carson is exactly the same. I mean pardon me what now? Calm down, folks!
Because of this ridiculously premature declaration, it really put the story on a different path for me. I felt it turned quite juvenile at that point and took the shine off the sex scenes. Yes, there was sex. Yes, it was sexy - but it lost the newness and excitement of a new, somewhat forbidden relationship, as soon as they both said ‘I love you’. If Carson and Ella had just pretended to be engaged and then realised at the end that they had fallen in love with each other, it might have been more obvious, but it would have made for, in my opinion, a more believable and well-rounded story.
Everything came together in the end - quite conveniently in some cases - but I did feel that if the characters were already in love by page 10 (slight exaggeration), any happily ever after would be just a little bit dubious.
It’s such a shame because I had such high hopes for this story. Hopefully this was just a weird quirk of mine and others will love the story. If you’re reading through the Misadventures series, this is still worth a shot as the writing was good and the storyline was cute and fun. Only 3 stars from me but I still want folk to try it and hopefully love it as much as I wanted to.
------------------------
Buy this book now:
Buy this book now:
* I received this book from the publisher in exchange for an honest review. *
Misadventures Series:
Misadventures is a romantic series of spicy standalone novels, each written or co-written by some of the best names in romance. The stories are scandalous, refreshing, and, of course, incredibly sexy. They’re the perfect bedside read, a ‘quick blush’ for the reader who loves a page-turning romance.
0 comments:
Post a Comment