AUTHOR: Allison Ashley GENRE: Romance PAGES: 320 RELEASED: 19 October 2022 SYNOPSIS: Would you rather play it safe in the friend zone, or risk it all with a modern marriage of convenience? Noah and Mia have always been best friends. Life is going great for Noah and he’s up for a promotion in a job he loves. But Mia’s life is on hold as she awaits a kidney transplant. She’s stuck in a dead-end job and, never wanting to be a burden, has sworn off all romance. So when the chance of a lifetime comes to go back to school and pursue her dream, it’s especially painful to pass up. She can’t quit her job or she’ll lose the medical insurance she so desperately needs. To support her, Noah suggests they get married – in name only – so she can study full-time and still keep the insurance. It’s a risk to both of them, with jobs, health and hearts on the line, and they’ll need to convince suspicious coworkers and nosy roommates that they’re the real deal. But if they can let go of all the baggage holding them back, they might realise that they would rather be together forever. This book was kindly sent to me by Harlequin Australia in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. Would you rather read a friends-to-lovers romance or a marriage of convenience romance? Well don’t stress, because you don’t have to choose when it comes to this one!
Mia and Noah have been best friends for as long as they can remember. Both have kind of had their lives on hold since one faithful week in college when Noah’s brother Nathan was killed and Mia was diagnosed with a rare kidney disease that landed her on the transplant list. Since then, Noah has stopped going on big rock climbing trips, and Mia has sworn off romance in order not to be a burden on anyone, and evening dropping her dreams of becoming a paediatric nutritionist. When she receives a scholarship to help her return to school, she finally has a chance of doing something she loves. The only downside is she’ll have to quit her job and lose the medical insurance it comes with. That’s until Noah suggests that they get married so she can still keep the insurance while also being able to pursue her dream. With a promotion coming up for Noah, Mia’s struggles at letting other people help her, and both of them harbouring feelings for one another since college, it’s a massive risk that could either be the best thing to ever happen to them, or ruin their relationship forever. Having never read any of Allison’s previous work, I had no idea what to expect from this book, but I was hooked on Mia and Noah’s story after barely the first chapter and could not get enough of these characters, their story and their relationship. I’m an absolute sucker for a fake relationship, marriage of convenience and friends to lovers story, so having all three elements combined was absolute gold. Allison’s writing style not only made the history between these characters to deep and real, but also made it feel like you as the reader has been friends with them for years as well. Both Noah and Mia have a lot of baggage to deal with throughout the book, and I really enjoyed how Allison slowly revealed the pieces of their histories surrounding Nathan’s death and Mia’s diagnosis – it was a natural revealing of information and worked so much better than had it been an info dump early on in the story. And although we didn’t get to see them a lot, I also loved the friendship dynamic with Claire and Graham, and I kind of wish we had gotten to see them all interacting a little more – especially just Claire and Graham on their own because they seem like they’re a fun duo. This was such a fabulous romance read and one where I didn’t want to say goodbye to the characters by the time we reached the final page. If you’re a sucker for a fun romance, especially when it involves two best friends who’ve loved each other for years, this is the book for you. |
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