Title: The Marriage Bargain
Series: Marriage to a Billionaire bk 1
Author: Jennifer Probst
Genre: Contemporary
A marriage in name only…
To save her family home, impulsive bookstore owner, Alexa Maria McKenzie, casts a love spell. But she never planned on conjuring up her best friend’s older brother—the powerful man who once shattered her heart.
Billionaire Nicholas Ryan doesn’t believe in marriage, but in order to inherit his father’s corporation, he needs a wife and needs one fast. When he discovers his sister’s childhood friend is in dire financial straits, he offers Alexa a bold proposition.
A marriage in name only with certain rules: Avoid entanglement. Keep things all business. Do not fall in love. The arrangement is only for a year so the rules shouldn’t be that hard to follow, right?
Except fate has a way of upsetting the best-laid plans…
My two loves in reading are Historical and Contemporary Romance. One of my FAVORITE plot lines in historical romance is the “marriage of convenience”. So when I saw this book was a Contemporary Romance with a “marriage of convenience” plot I jumped right on it. I think this is hard to pull of in the year of 2012 – Probst did an ok job with this plot line. I did have moments of eye rolling – i.e., Alexa – “I need $150,000 to pay off my parents house, so I’m going to marry my best friends brother, but not tell him why I need the money”. Nick – “I’m going to marry Alexa, even though I’ve sworn off marriage, but if I don’t marry someone I won’t get my father’s company.”
This is what I liked in the book – the sexual tension between the characters, and Alexa. She was a strong female character, but not bitchy strong. What I didn’t really like was Nick – I had some issues with Nick. I guess I don’t do well with commitment phobes and guys who put their careers first. Also some misunderstanding happen between them that could have been prevented if Nick would of just asked one question.
Overall this is a good summer read – kind of brainless and forgettable, but good sex scenes and chemistry between the couple. I just wish my favorite plot line was handled differently. 🙁 Not sure what all of the hype is on Amazon about this book? It’s a best seller and looks like it has some high star reviews. It’s not badly priced – so IMO it was worth the $3 bucks.
Grade: B-
