Married in the Nick of Nine by Alretha Thomas

Title: Married in the Nick of Nine

Series: N/A

Author: Alretha Thomas

Genre: Contemporary Romance

Blurb: Cassandra Whitmore is facing yet another Valentine’s Day alone. Her love life is as dry as the Sharpie pen she uses to mark an even more dreadful day on her calendar—her upcoming 30th birthday. Driven by the maddening ticking of her biological clock, Cassandra is determined to meet, fall in love with, and marry “The One” within nine months. When Cassandra accompanies her cousin to a night club, her Type-A quest to meet a man is quickly rewarded by a stranger’s velvety, baritone voice asking if he might occupy the seat next to her. He’s Nicolas Harte, whose good looks leave Cassandra speechless, but not for long. After mustering enough courage to strike up a conversation, she learns Nicolas is everything she wants in a man—smart, successful, and available. There’s only one catch: He’s “GU” (geographically undesirable). Nonetheless, Cassandra falls in love with Nicolas and makes the uncharacteristic decision to move from Los Angeles to New York to be with him. But Cassandra gets a rude awakening when she discovers there’s something rotten in the Big Apple.

***THIS REVIEW CONTAINS SPOILERS. IF YOU DON’T MIND THOSE KEEP READING. IF YOU DO, THE GRADE ON THIS BOOK WAS C+***

Thoughts: I completely loved the concept of this book. I have seen so many incredibly intelligent women that get this “my biological clock is ticking” panic/crazy when 30 is approaching. I love the idea of a long distance relationship too.

Cass and Nick meet at a bar and are instantly attracted to each other. Cass is there with her cousin and Nick is there with a friend while in LA for a job interview. When Cass’s cousin gets into an altercation, Nick helps her. Even though they just met, Nick follows the girls home to make sure they get home safe. At church the next day, Nick shows up at Cass’s church and they end up spending the day together. Nick is determined not to let Cass go and they decide to give the relationship a chance. Nick doesn’t get the job he originally interviewed for and ends up coming back soon after for a couple other job interviews. When those jobs don’t pan out, Cass makes a trip to New York. After sex, Nick sends Cass to get a drink for them and there is a gift waiting for her in the refrigerator (a very smelly refrigerator mind you). Nick takes Cass to meet his parents and the experience is bizarre. His mother is jittery and his father is disgusted. Something is off, but nobody talks about it. When Nick hasn’t found a job to bring him to LA in 16 months, Cass moved to New York to be with him. It doesn’t take long before people start calling the house and hanging up and a strange car appears to be following Cass. When Nick proposes, everything seems perfect, but everything changes when Cass mentions setting a date. Nick becomes frustrated and takes off leaving Cass in the middle of a park.

Shortly after Cass figures out the cause of the strange events – mysterious calls, car following her, Nick’s parent’s odd behavior and Nick’s odd behavior about setting a date. Nick is married and his wife is mentally ill. She also has 2 kids that Nick treats as his even though they aren’t biologically his. Cass freaks out and makes Nick leave. She spends the next 3 week living in his house without him trying to figure out what to do. She agrees to hear Nick out and he describes a life and relationship that she never would have expected. Cass gives Nick another chance and, with her support, moves forward with the divorce. Everything blows up when his wife disappears with the kids. Nick and Cass have to come together to search for them, but will their relationship be able to sustain what they find ?

The good news is that the story almost constantly has something going on. It keeps you on the edge of your seat wondering what in the world is going to happen next. I honestly don’t know that I would have hung around the way Cass did. There were several moments where I was pissed at Nick and like what the heck, but then Cass would turn around and act like a spoiled child. There are several what the heck moments, but also several heart melting moments.

It was obvious that Nick was hiding something when he shut down every time the conversation of marriage came up with Cass. I am disgusted that he didn’t tell her he was married until she moved across the country (quit her job, left her family). He even denied it when she asked the first time. I am pretty sure the only reason he asked her to marry him when he did was to have sex. Speaking of sex….I do not like the idea of a woman using sex as a weapon. After Cass had sex with Nick and moved in with him, she decided that she didn’t want to have sex with him again they were married. This scene occurred after a fight and she ended up giving in (before they were married) at a later date.

The most interesting character for me was Cass’s cousin, Cyn. She was wild. She said what was on her mind even when it was outrageous. I really don’t understand her relationship with David (her husband), but I want to know more about her story.

Grade: C+