Marriage for One by Ella Maise

Three out of Five Stars

One sentence summary: In an effort to keep her dream of owning an NYC coffee shop alive, Rose agrees to enter a marriage contract with grumpy lawyer Jack; but is their story destined to emulate the Titanic? 

First thought: After Chapter One, I was comparing this book to one of my all time favorites: The Wall of Winnipeg and Me. While it in no where lived up to one of my all time favorites in the Marriage of Convenience tropes, it wasn't a bad read. 

Why I read it: The cover and the trope! 

POV: First Person, Past Tense, Alternating M|F

Setting: New York City

Tropes: Marriage of Convenience, Grumpy Hero  

Our Heroine: Rose. I liked her. She's ambitious and takes care of herself. I enjoyed her attraction to such a grumpy hero and found her attraction to his frown and scowl really believable. She was by far my favorite part of the story. 

Our Hero: Jack. Normally I love a brooding hero, but Jack just wasn't doing it for me. I think he was a bit too controlling and a little sneaky. Maybe because he wasn't upfront with me, the reader. I also felt like his chapters weren't as polished as Rose's. 

Overall thoughts:  So at first, I was really into this book, but as the story progressed, Jack just wasn't the hero for me. I was also super surprised when I got to Jack's first chapter. For the most part it think a lot of good marriage of convenience tension building when we're only reading from one POV. 

This is certainly a slow-burn and I'm a huge fan of those. The author did an awesome job creating romantic tension between the characters. There were some adorable scenes and I'm a huge fan of when our heroine can bring out some more sensitive moments in our grumpy hero.

The sexy scenes: This book is a slow burn, but with incredibly descriptive kissing scenes. Those weren't really my style... I think the build up was also a little spoiled by my mistrust of our hero. I'm not 100% sure why so many people want Jack to be their new book boyfriend- but to each their own!  

The best part of the book: The renovations to Around the Corner. So sweet!  

My least favorite part: There were some editing and writing moments that didn't give with me. I questions some verb tense, which pulled me from the story. Further, one of my biggest pet peeves as a reader in using the same word over and over. I noticed that a lot in this story. 

TLDR: This was a good read, but I really wasn't a fan of the hero.  

How I read it: For free with my KU subscription

Links: Marriage for One on GoodReads & Marriage for One on Amazon

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