To be released 1 December

Pre-order:  Amazon

Review

3 stars

This is a quick and easy read, a marriage-of-convenience story.

Britta works at a bar which is the hangout for the local ice hockey team, of which her half-brother is a player. She’s close to all the boys, but gets the shock of her life when her brother begs her to marry one of his teammates to help him get a green card before he’s deported.

Sumner is a beast of a player, but he’s quiet and kind of shy. Britta has noticed him looking at her, and knows that he has a bit of a crush on her, but she has no intention of ever getting married, even if it’s fake. Until a quiet moment with the reserved man has her feeling something for him, and she agrees to a 12 month marriage to help him out.

For Sumner, marrying Britta is a dream come true, though it’s not the way he would have wanted it. He is madly in love with her, and plans to use their moments of forced proximity to win her heart.

It’s a fun set-up, but the story feels a bit rushed. Yes, it’s a novella, but we don’t get much build up and only see small snippets of time with Britta and Sumner together. And the ‘romance’ really feels more like obsession. Sumner is obsessed with Britta, which made his declarations and the whole love story a bit OTT for me. It’s sexy, and there are some sweet moments as Sumner helps Britta overcome her aversion to love and relationships, but I didn’t feel it as much as I was hoping.

The story ends in a good place though, and I was happy to see these two get their HEA.

3 stars.