Modern Marriages of Convenience
It's all platonic to them (until it super isn't)
I have come to really love and appreciate marriage of convenience stories, largely because of the intense forced proximity even if there’s no reason to be outwardly lovey dovey like in a fake dating/fake engagement story. I am nothing if not on brand. But I also appreciate stories that look at marriage not just as the logical end point to romance, but also as a legal contract, which it is! I think we sometimes overly romanticize marriage which puts a lot of pressure on people to stay in something that isn’t working, or to forgo it because they disagree with the institution as a requirement, but all it is, at the end of the day, is a contract. Usually a result of falling in love, but not always. So a nuanced take on marriage is always fun for me, like these three modern takes on the trope!
The Co-Op by Tarah DeWitt. This has come up before, but I am such a sucker for home improvement stories. Perhaps it’s my millennial grief at never being able to buy a home manifesting, perhaps it’s my lifetime love of crafting and DIY, but regardless, if you have a home renovation romance, put it on my shelf! This book, the first Tarah DeWitt I read, is no exception.
After an ill-fated summer romance as teens, LaRynn Lavigne and Deacon Leeds haven’t seen each other in years. But when their grandmothers leave them the Santa Cruz apartment building after they pass, they’re thrust (eyy) back together with a shared purpose and a LOT of baggage. The problem is that the co-op needs a LOT of work to put it back together enough to sell it and move on with their lives, SEPARATELY. LaRynn has a trust she can use, but can only access it if she’s married (classic). Deacon has the construction know-how, but no cash. So they get married and cohabitate in their dilapidated inheritance, both working hard to fight against a seemingly endless list of renovations, not to mention the growing respect that makes their ever-present chemistry even more dangerous.
Renovating your way through grief and back to the person you were meant to be with but weren't ready for the first time around? Yes please!!
Rating: 4.5/5
How hot? 🔥🔥🔥🔥
In A Jam by Kate Canterbary. Shay Zucconi had a plan. It was a good one, a stable one, and one that fell apart when her dirtbag fiance left her while she was preparing to walk down the aisle. After wallowing (fair) she gets notice that her step grandmother, who she lived with briefly as a teen, has left her the tulip farm in Friendship, Rhode Island, but it’s not without strings. Shay has to live in Friendship for one year to keep the farm, but she also must get married within that year. Problematic, considering the aforementioned dirtbag fiance!
But she moves to Friendship anyways, even if only to have a year away from the life she no longer recognizes before losing the one place that ever really felt like home. And in moving back, she reunites with childhood friend Noah Barden, who has loved her since high school but never said a word. Now that she’s back, he’s considering making a move, but things are more complicated now that they’re adults. For one thing, he’s raising his niece on his own farm that requires a lot of energy (and he’s worried he’s doing a bad job at both). For another, Shay’s only here for a year. They get married so Shay at least has options once her year is up, but it turns out that perhaps there’s an option she didn’t consider when she returned to town. Like staying. Like letting go of the idealized life that wasn’t working for her, and working for the one that just might be exactly what she needs.
As with all Kate Canterbary stories, the hero is deliciously dirty, the heroine is a mess who manages to wrap him around her finger without trying very hard, and the B and C plots are just as worth investing in as the central romance. I would say my one critique of this book is that it’s too long. It could be probably ¾ as long and it would be better for it. But it’s still an excellent read worth returning to over and over.
Rating: 4.5/5
How hot? 🔥🔥🔥🔥
A True Cowboy Christmas by Caitlin Crews. This book made me feel all kind of ways, because on the one hand, I wanted to hate this premise. And there are problematic elements, but they’re also dealt with on the page and are as much a part of the story as the non-problematic ones, and how can I criticize a woman who goes into an arrangement like this with her eyes open, even if what’s being asked of her is lowkey insulting at first? I should back up.
Abby Douglas has loved Gray Everett, a slightly older neighbor, her entire life. She loved him as a child when he was a teen, loved him when she was a teen and he was a young adult, loved him when he got married to a woman who gave him his daughter and then died in a tragic car accident on her way to one of the men she was cheating on him with, loved him when he stayed behind to try and rescue the ranch his awful alcoholic father seemed determined to run into the ground. So after his father’s funeral when Gray finally takes notice of Abby from the neighboring ranch and decides he needs a new life partner, she’s flabbergasted and flattered in the same breath.
Gray has borne a lot of responsibility but is starting to crack under the pressure of all the plates he’s spinning. He’s a single dad to a daughter who hates her late mother (complicated), he’s singularly attempting to ensure the future of his family’s ranch now that his awful father is gone and his two brothers are too selfish to stay and help, and, hell, he misses the touch of a woman. So when Abby Douglas, his pretty neighbor he knew in theory but not practice, is kind to him after his father’s funeral, he sets his sights on her. He proposes a partnership, because his daughter needs a female role model, his farm needs a woman who’s willing to stay and do the hard work (unlike his flighty first wife who resented feeling trapped in this remote Colorado town), and someone to warm his bed at night. He doesn’t misrepresent this to Abby, that this will be an old fashioned marriage based on respect but no emotion, and Abby has to decide if that’s enough for her, especially with this man she’s loved from afar for so long.
They get married, and things are working well enough (Gray’s in denial because of course he is, Abby is struggling to pretend like she’s a platonic fan of her hot new husband), but then Christmas season rolls into town, and Gray’s baggage over the holiday causes a schism in the family. Can Abby convince this cooped up cowboy to accept love and cheer into his life again before he alienates everyone, himself included?
Like I said, I didn’t want to like this book. Despite getting where he’s coming from and appreciating that he was up front with Abby about what this marriage would look like (at first), he’s a classic domineering cowboy in a lot of ways, and tries to play the “I’m the man/you’re moving into MY house” card a few too many times. Abby, to her credit, pushes back, and by the end it’s clear they’re equal partners, but some of the gender roles inherent in the set up and initial execution of their marriage of convenience made me very uncomfortable. I imagine this was the point. This book made me feel all kinds of ways, though, and is worth the read, as are all of Caitlin Crews’ Colorado cowboy books I’ve read so far.
Rating: 4.25/5
How hot? 🔥🔥🔥
Next week, I’ll be recommending neighbors to lovers books!
What should I be reading next? Let me know in the comments!
I love marriage of convenience plots, especially when it *isn't* because of the terms of someone's will. Like, that's an acceptable mechanism, but I really love to see different ways of foisting the marriage on someone.