Mira Lyn Kelly
Publisher: Harlequin KISS
Publication Date: Dec 1, 2012
Genre: Contemporary Romance
Source: NetgalleyHer first thought: “Who are you?”
It’s the morning after her cousin’s bachelorette party in Vegas and Megan Scott wakes up with the mother of all hangovers. Even worse, she’s in a stranger’s penthouse having woken up with something else as well—a funny, arrogant, sexy…husband!
Up until now, finding even a boyfriend had seemed impossible—been there, got the broken heart, sworn off men for good. Then a few martinis with Carter…no, Connor Reed and she’s gone from first meet to marriage in one night!
Megan wants a lawyer. But Connor’s shocking bombshell?
“I don’t want a divorce.”
I swore to myself after my last HQN fiasco, that I’d never pick one off Netgalley again. And then I saw that HQN is coming out with this new line, and then I read the synopsis of this book, and my self control crumbled to dust. Have you ever seen the movie What Happens in Vegas with Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher? Waking Up Married is a little like that. Except in the book, there’s no lottery, and no judge mandating they stay married in order to keep the money. And Megan and Connor don’t hate each other. So, really, the only similarity is that both of the couples got married on a whim in Vegas. For some reason that particular plot point calls to me, because I enjoyed both the movie and the book.
Waking Up Married is a great example of a relationship in reverse. Or more specific, a successful plot where the relationship begins with marriage, followed by dating, then the HEA. While I had to stretch my imagination a bit to accommodate Megan’s willingness to go along with this, I could ultimately see how she’d be blinded by Connor’s good looks and fancy words. Seriously, the man can negotiate a sandwich from a homeless man. In the end Megan agrees to a three month trial, and moves out of her Colorado apartment and into his large, California home. Once there, Connor uses every tool in his arsenal to convince Megan to stay for good. And boy howdy, does he bring out the big guns.
Burned by an ever revolving door of step-fathers as a child, Megan is wary of all relationships. Despite the business like arrangement of their marriage, Megan is terrified that Connor will decide this won’t work just as she’s getting comfortable and attached. Like all of the men in her life have done. While Connor uses romance and friendship to win her over, Megan tries to scare him away by letting him get to know the “real her.” It’s actually quite hilarious what she comes up with: smelly face masks, spending all day in her pj’s, cooking him horrible meals… sounds familiar, I hope? Or am I the only one that spends all day in their pj’s?
I’ve never read anything by this author before, but I will definitely be checking her out in the future. The writing was clever and witty, and I really enjoyed Kelly’s voice. I laughed at Connor and Megan’s conversations, I melted at Connor’s wooing, and my heart weeped when Megan fell in love, and Connor rejected her feelings. After all that romance and seduction, his ability to switch all that off and return to the cold businessman was truly awful. This book is definitely a character driven story, and Connor’s progression from a man running away from love as fast as he could, to realizing he can’t live without it, or Megan, was wonderful to read. Megan may have been blinded by him in the beginning of the book, but she found her back bone real quick when she figured out that a relationship with him, without love, was completely unacceptable. I respected her for standing up for herself, for finding that inner strength that enabled her to leave when it probably would have been easier to stay.
I really, really enjoyed Waking Up Married. It’s a quick read, and definitely worth the few hours it takes to finish it. Highly recommend!
My Rating: A
That’s a new author to me. And this sounds really amazing. Adding it now… Wonderful review.
Hey Jenea! I always love seeing your name pop up in the comments. My little girl has the same name, just spelled Janae. We haven’t met any other Janae’s yet (or Jenea’s) and we love the name!
ANYWAY. I’m exited you’re adding the book, it was super cute! Hope you enjoy it!
Sounds like such a cute read! But I have a feeling I would be super frustrated by the guy! Plus, I love the cover! It’s super adorable!
Lovely review, Cait!
Hiya stranger! The hero was pretty frustrating. He wanted her to stay in the marriage because he wanted a family and children, but didn’t want the love part of the relationship. So he went to all this effort to keep her, and then switched it all off when he realized that Megan fell in love with him. It was so sad! I think my heart might have broken just as much as Megan’s. SOB.
Hey! Don’t call me stranger! I apologize for not being around much, but college got in the way!
. I’m going to have to check this book! Lately most of the books I’ve read have sucked! -_-
Awww. Poor Megan
I need something fun to read!
Oh, please. There’s no need to apologize. It’s been a few years, but I remember how busy college life is with all the studying and social events. No worries!
And this one is pretty fun. Hopefully, if you give it a try, it’ll get you out of your funk!
This might sound very depressing, but I have no social life whatsoever since I came to college!
I have classes from 8 am to 3 pm. Then, it’s go to work. When I get back home I have to cook (since I can’t stand eating campus food), clean up. Weekends aren’t any better either with the butt-load of homework I get ! I lead a very boring life!
1. I want that bedding.
2. What isn’t “real” about smelly face masks, pj’s all day and horrible cooking?
3. I’d kick Connor’s ass so hard before I made him grovel. I hope he groveled.
4. I want that bedding.
That bedding does look fun, huh? All colorful and comfy. It’s a pretty simple cover, but it’s definitely one of the better ones from HQN that I’ve ever seen.
Connor did grovel. He groveled goooood.
I just downloaded this from NetGalley (because of your review) and I’m so excited to read it! Great review!
Hi Jen! I hope you like it. I know that’s the purpose of doing book reviews, but I always get nervous when someone downloads or buys a book based one a glowing review. Everyone has different tastes, ya’ know? Anyway, I hope you like it and I’ll definitely be looking for your review!
I saw a whole butt load of Harlequin books when I was preparing a Friday Forecast I remember this one and thought it looked kind of cute and I am so glad to hear that it was witty and fun. I totally need a light read. I have had a couple of nasty reads this week and that sucks!
Then get this one! It should be a good one to cleanse your palette. Harlequin always seems to have a whole ton of books on Netgalley. I love it. What were your nasty reads? I must have missed them on the blog AND GR. Heading over to check it out right now….
Reading this post reminded me of the song Last Name by Carrie Underwood, except with a happier ending. But yeah, it definitely sounds a bit like What Happens in Vegas. I like these kind of stories though, so I’m glad this was a winner!
I confess, I had to go look up the song. *blushes* Not the biggest country music fan, although I think Carrie Underwood is freakin’ gorgeous. I have a girl crush on her hair!
I love these types of stories too, and I’m really glad the book had a happy ending! Can’t live without those. lol
This sounds so cute and yes immediately thought of the movie,glad you enjoyed it and hope to read it eventually..LOL