Arranged Marriages

With a dash of culture shock

This is kind of a twofer collection- books where the characters enter into arranged marriages (or, in the case of the contemporary in the round-up, are OPEN to being arranged married) and as a result, have a level of culture shock. But usually the person joining the new culture/community brings with them their own brand of culture shock for the alleged dominant culture character. It’s a very specific kind of vibe that I extremely love, but has to be done expertly to work. And I think these three books absolutely nail it.

The Bride by Julie Garwood. I don’t know if I’ve ever laughed so much while reading a historical romance. What an immediate, utter delight, which was a relief considering this book came out in the early 90s and that can be EXTREMELY hit or miss. This was a hit. A 5 star hit, outta the park, truly so lovely to revisit, which I do often.

The set up: Alec Kincaid is a big deal chieftain from Scotland, alleged to have murdered his first wife, who has been commanded by the King of England to marry a British girl. So he and his friend, a slightly less big deal chieftain, are sent to an English noble’s house to have their pick of said noble’s daughters before they head home. Politics, you understand. And though the noble in question tries to hide his favorite of his four daughters (Jamie), it doesn’t work, and of course Alec picks her for his new bride. Luckily, she’s one tough cookie, even though he assumes she, like all English lasses, is a soft, sweet, docile creature. But pretty much as soon as they get married, she wallops him with how wrong he is.

This tiny English firebrand with a loud mouth and a singular sense of justice absolutely destroys the peace this cold and forbidding laird thought he preferred, starts three wars within her first week at her new home, and even manages to help solve a murder by the end! I honestly don’t want to tell you too much about this book except to say that it’s wonderful, it makes me laugh just thinking back to Jamie’s antics and Alec’s completely doomed attempts to hold her at arm’s length.

How hot? 🔥🔥🔥

The Chief by Monica McCarty. The first of that Robert the Bruce series I was obsessed with for two months last year! In this one, the guy in charge of Robert’s secret army (Tor MacLeod) also needs a wife before he goes hardcore into training the new recruits, and he’s originally offered one girl, but that girl’s sister, Christina, knows she wants to be a nun, so she does some shenanigans to ensure her sister can escape to a convent. But in the meantime, she understands she’s a bit of a sacrificial lamb in order to provide cover, so she allows her father to talk her into ruining herself into marriage to ensure the swapsie sticks. Unfortunately, that involves sneaking into his room at night, and her father doesn’t exactly come to her “rescue” very quickly. So…. stuff happens.

With no real choice, and definitely no love lost for his new semi arranged wife, Tor brings Christina home to his heavily guarded island and lowkey abandons her. But she’s no pushover (until she kinda is, more on that in a bit) and demands to be taken seriously as a wife, and while her new Scottish home is a little frightening, she’s determined to stick it out.

This is a book I enjoyed, and think about often, but I am a little disappointed that Christina had SUCH a strong start, masterminding her sister’s escape, bravely entering into a marriage with an older man who’s known for being dangerous and stoic… only to kind of become fairly passive and foolish by the end. Not entirely, she still has a level of bravery, but there’s a level of silliness I don’t quite believe considering where we started with her.

In any case, you really gotta read this series in order, and it’s not a bad read at all, but the heroines definitely get more consistent as the series continues. More early book Christina, which I prefer.

How hot? 🔥🔥🔥

The Bride Test by Helen Hoang. I’ll be honest; this was one of the first romance books I read back in 2022 when I was first dipping my toes into the genre, and it was my least favorite by FAR of this near-perfect trilogy by the now elusive Helen Hoang (come back 😫😫😫). Ever since, I kept seeing it brought up as a transcendent example of romance writing, and when I realized it would be a perfect contemporary fit for this roundup, I thought… I should reread it.

Reader: I LOVED this book upon my second read. Was I in a bad mood when I read it for the first time? Was I simply so obsessed with Anna and Quan from the third book that it effectively erased the previous book? Who knows. I was WRONG. This book is great.

Khai is a successful, rich, seemingly misanthropic autistic man, and his mother, despairing of him ever finding a wife and giving her grandchildren, goes to Vietnam to shop for one on his behalf. The girls she’s officially meeting are all too opportunistic, though, so she’s relieved to discover Mỹ, a young cleaning woman, who finally appears to be what she’s been looking for all along. She convinces Mỹ to fly to America and live with her son for the summer, attend some family weddings, to convince him they’d be a good fit, and Mỹ (later, Esmerelda/Esme, agrees).

She agrees, because she’s a young single mother living in poverty with her daughter, mother, and grandmother, and has always dreamed of America and a better life for her family. But even before meeting the unusual (and unusually handsome) Khai, she knows it’ll be an uphill battle, both because her hopeful future mother in law admits Khai is completely uninterested in dating, and because of her own worries of not being enough for the fancy, wealthy Americans she’s sure she’ll meet.

Khai, for his part, isn’t specifically uninterested in dating, but after the death of his cousin and best friend as a teenager and being accused of grieving incorrectly (because he’s autistic but his large family mostly didn’t know what that meant), he’s been convinced he’s broken and unable to love. So he’s built a life where he doesn’t get attached or allow others to attach themselves to him, because he doesn’t want anyone else to hurt (you know, because he’s obviously a guy who doesn’t care/can’t love when he purposefully isolates himself for their happiness. Oh, Khai).

But even his stone heart is no match for the vibrant Esme. And Esme is more than just a woman in a kinda arranged engagement in a brand new country trying to convince her taciturn fiancé to marry her- she’s also a smart, ambitious woman in her own right finally given the opportunity to explore her education and, maybe, find her long-lost birth father.

I think what I loved so much about this book is the fact that the character journeys outside of the romance were so complex and beautifully woven together, and by supporting and not judging each other’s individual journeys, they fell deeper and deeper in love. These characters were messy, complex, frustrating (because they’re so mired in their own perspectives and haven’t been given the space and grace to consider alternatives) (this is probably what bumped me on the book originally), and wonderful. Also, Quan is such a massive part of this book, and he’s not only The book boyfriend of all time, but he’s also The book big brother too.

Great book. Great stakes, Helen Hoang please come back!!!

How hot? 🔥🔥🔥

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Next week, I won’t be recommending anything… my friend Annie will be, who’ll have you covered on the romantasy front I am not currently qualified to share about!

What should I be reading next? Let me know in the comments!

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Available now: my debut marriage of convenience romance Rehabbing the Billionaire! Buy your copy on Amazon, or snag it on Kindle Unlimited! Then, rate it on Goodreads to help more people discover it!