Book Review: The Marriage Bargain by Jennifer Probst

 

The Marriage Bargain by Jennifer Probst*
Published: Feb 14th, 2012 by Entangled Publishing
Genre: Romance > Erotica > Contemporary
Rating: 5 out of 5
Source: Bought for my Amazon Kindle
Summary:
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’s 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… — taken from Goodreads.com

Most of the time when I’m in the mood for an erotica I go with BDSM but it’s always nice to stumble on one that isn’t BDSM but still gives you butterflies in your stomach.

The Marriage Bargain is exactly what it sounds like. Nick needs to be married to inherit his father’s corporation and Alexa needs someone to help her fund her project for the book store she works for/owns. Nick’s sister who happens to be Alexa’s best friend had this brilliant idea to set them up. Two birds, one stone. After a contract of rules, and an agreement to divorce after one year, they faked it til they made it.

Nick was a jerk. He doesn’t believe in marriage (he does however get one cool point for that), he doesn’t believe in feelings, he pretty much doesn’t believe in anything that opens you up to another person. But underneath his douchebaggery, he had a pretty good reason not to. I firmly believe in the fact that the way you were raised, the things you had drilled into your head, play a very big role in the life you lead as an adult. So while at times I wanted to slap Nick, I couldn’t because I knew how he felt.

Alexa however was the complete and total opposite. She has such a huge heart. She cares for everyone around her (even Nick when he hardly deserves it) and she has got this amazing love for animals. I loved Alexa! She was a fantastic character. Did I mention she also runs a book store? Just thought I’d throw that out there again. The only thing is that once upon a time, Alexa had been in love with Nick and now that they’re faking marriage, things are getting complicated.

The Marriage Bargain while it is an erotica novel is also so much more than that. It’s about second chances, falling in love and about figuring out who you are and what you really want. The transformation Nick goes though was touching. Seeing him start to unravel and admit things that he was too much of a douchebag to admit before was sweet. Seeing Alexa go domestic even though it was to butter Nick up was a nice change to what you usually see in erotic novels. And of course the steamy scenes were not only hawt but heartfelt. You can never have too many of those!

I absolutely loved this read. If you’re looking for a cute romantic read and erotic-ness doesn’t bother you, I would totally recommend this book. Another upside is that it’s only $2.99 in eBook format!