BOOK REVIEW: The Marriage Bargain by Stephanie Dees

I was provided a complimentary copy of this book by Just Read. I was not compensated for this review and all thoughts and opinions expressed are my own. I was not required to write a positive review.

The Marriage Bargain by Stephanie Dees
Series: Family Blessings #4
Published by Harlequin Enterprises, Limited on January 15, 2019
Genres: Christian, Clean & Wholesome, Contemporary, Fiction, Romance
Pages: 224
Source: Just Read
Amazon|Barnes&Noble|Goodreads

Falling for her convenient groom Family Blessings lead to new beginnings

Jules Sheehan will do anything to keep custody of the two orphaned girls in her care--including a marriage of convenience with their uncle. Cam Quinn crosses the globe as a travel writer, but he's ready to settle down. Now tough, tender Jules is offering the home he's secretly longed for. Can this marriage in name only become a family of the heart?

Ah, Red Hill Springs.  How we have grown together. You have kept me entertained, occasionally irritated me, and always enamored me.  The Sheehan family has expanded by more than double with falling in love and getting married and foster adopting a passel of Minions of twenty.  Each resident has a story to tell from Joe and Claire who both know what it’s like to not have family and to find family.  From Jordan (Claire’s twin sister) and Ash (the local doctor) and finding their own kind of love over the needs of a special little guy.  Don’t forget Wynn, and her baby bump, that drew her and her high school crush/love Lathan back together again.  This family is finding love and getting married and adding children faster than they can blink.  And then there is Jules, the baby of the family.  She’s goal-oriented just like her sister Wynn, but with completely different sights.  She’s an amazing baker and owns her own bakery right next door to Mama’s cafe in the heart of town.  But guess what?  She finds herself the guardian of her besties two young children when their parents pass away in a car accident.  Kids.  All the kids.  Everywhere!

We already have the kids and we don’t have to wait long to find the love interest either.  The long lost uncle to these two girls is right on the doorstep as soon as he hears about his sister’s passing.  There’s a lot of history here that I won’t bog down in (let’s just say he and Joe have similar backstories) but he wants to be there, he wants to do the right thing, and he’s hurt that he never had the chance to reconnect with his sister.  He could be the saving grace Jules needs to keep the girls with her.  Their only chance at a real life.  And for her that can only mean one thing.  She’s gotta marry Cam.  She’s not seen him since she was a child.  She’s not heard from him since she was a child.  Most of the locals have completely forgotten he exists.  And she’s gonna talk him in marrying her for the sake of the girls they both want to protect.  For a girl who never takes a step without fifteen lists and a backup plan for her backup plan(s) she jumps on this bandwagon without checking the depth of the water.  Even the most centered, grounded, ambitious person sometimes just has to leap.  And she leaped hard, and fell hard.  Fell right into drowning in taking on too much when Ma leaves her the cafe, and the girls, and her *husband*, and and and.  But leaping takes her to the edge of what could be great.  If she can get past her lists and plans and ground rules.

I loved Jules while I also wanted to Gibbs’ smack her.  She is the epitome of what every marriage of convenience becomes.  She’s a smart girl and she knows what will happen, especially when she’s *marrying* someone she finds quite a hottie to begin with.  I mean, I respect that she was trying to find herself falling in insta-love but it was already too late.  She was in insta-love the moment she let her guard down and looked into his eyes.  It just took her a little longer to realize it than it did him.  Things go exactly like you expect it too and a single gal suddenly finds herself a legitimate family of four.  Four couples, eightybadillion children, and a whole lotta insta-love.  That’s what I take away from the Family Blessings series.  I feel like this town is not done talking, not done falling in love, and not done expanding with so many children they will need to build another school.  I loved meeting these people and my heart hurts a little at this goodbye (though that could also be my super lame last review because well. . .I don’t want to say goodbye!).  I have to love this series though, insta-love and all, as it introduced me to the author.  I enjoy her writing style and am absolutely on board to read everything she chooses to write!

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Posted By: Fizzy Pop · In: book review, Family Blessings, Stephanie Dees