Title: Waking Up
Married
Author: Mira Lyn
Kelly
Publisher: Harlequin
KISS
Publication Date: December
1, 2012
Genre: Romance
Reviewed by: Books4Tomorrow
Source: Kindle
Freebie
My rating: 4/5
SUMMARY
Her first thought: "Who are you?"
It's the morning
after her cousin's bachelorette party in Vegas and Megan Scott wakes up with
the mother of all hangovers. Even worse, she's in a stranger's penthouse having
woken up with something else as well - a funny, arrogant, sexy...husband!
Up until now,
finding even a boyfriend had seemed impossible - been there, got the broken
heart, sworn off men for good. Then a few martinis with Carter...no, Connor
Reed and she's gone from first meet to marriage in one night!
Megan wants a
lawyer. But Connor's shocking bombshell?
"I don't want
a divorce."
REVIEW
If
you’ve been following my reviews, you’re probably thinking why, for the love of
all that is good and holy, did I pick a romance from Harlequin Romance when I’m
always carrying on about how much I dislike romance in books. Please allow me
to be clearer on the type of romance I hate in books: the insta love and love
triangles. Those are the two elements in romance I can’t stand. And even though
I’m not a true blue romantic at heart, I do – believe it or not – have a
romantic bone or two in my body. There was actually a time in my life, many,
many moons ago, when I devoured one paperback romance after the other...and
loved it! I’m not talking steamy romance, just swoony, googly-eyed cotton candy
fluff.
With
that in mind, here are my thoughts on this lovely gem from Harlequin. Firstly,
it does have a few raunchy scenes, but it was done tastefully and nothing too
explicit. It doesn’t come anywhere near erotica (which I DON’T read). The
actual hook for me, and the reason for picking up this book, was the gorgeous
cover (of course!), but mostly it was the title that got me curious. I just had
to know how the heck it was possible for two people to wake up married, with
one of them not even recalling they got married in the wee hours of the
morning. In all honesty, it sounded like it was going to be a fun, lighthearted
read, which it was, but with a more serious undertone than I expected. This is
really a novel about character growth and two damaged individuals being thrown
together having to learn to let go of the past and learn to trust and love
(yes, Tina Turner, love’s got everything to do with it).
I loved
both the main characters. Maybe I liked Connor a little bit more than Megan,
but that can most likely be attributed to the fact that most of the story is
told from Connor’s point of view. Nonetheless, Megan also makes the reader
privy to her thoughts and feelings, and we get a deeper understanding as to why
she’s willing to tackle parenting as a single mother. I’d probably have felt
the same if my mother got married seven times and I got a new stepdad every
couple of years. Megan’s character is a little Mary Sue-ish, but not overtly
so. She’s described as a brainiac beauty, confident, modest, independent to an
extreme, kind, smart, and funny.
She was a self-proclaimed recovering romantic. A woman who believed in
love but had discovered through a lifetime of experience the heights of that
particular romantic elevation to be beyond her reach. And she’d accepted it,
wasn’t interested in the futility of an unattainable pursuit.
Connor
was the real surprise, though. Probably because I imagined Colin Firth in this
role (I don’t know why, it just felt like a role Mr Firth would portray
perfectly). Connor is motivated, dependable, level-headed, goal-driven and unafraid
of confrontation or hard work. Who wouldn’t want to fall in love with a man who
has his priorities straight? But oh, wait, Connor doesn’t want love and he
doesn’t want to be in love. Due to his traumatized childhood, he has endured
several failed relationships and thus has become a jilted man. Sad, but true.
Both Megan and Connor not wanting the commitments and strings that goes with
loving someone, how will they ever make this quickie Vegas marriage work? That
was the question that kept me reading right through to the end.
And once Connor had teased that trust from the tight hold of her
fist...handing it over had been incredible. A heady, addictive thing. A release
she’d never allowed herself to truly experience before.
And she felt...free.
Safe.
As if maybe fairy tales came in varieties she hadn’t known existed. And
this one was hers.
What I
appreciated most from this author is that she didn’t expect me as the reader to
fall in love with her characters based on how good looking they are. Yes,
Connor has a solid build, and Megan is sexy as heck with her deep blue eyes,
but all of this were just a mere mention in the background to give the reader
an idea of what the author envisions as her characters’ physical attributes.
The bigger focus was heavily placed on what these two were made of, and that on
its own brought a certain depth to the story.
Waking Up Married, as you can imagine,
has its fair share of sidesplitting moments. Traditionally, people get to know
each other more than half a day in advance before taking the proverbial plunge.
Of course, Megan and Connor isn’t your traditional couple and so they had to
learn to live with each others’ quirks AFTER they got married. Yep, lots of
laughter ensued. I loved peeling back the layers on both these multifaceted
characters to get a glimpse of what makes them tick.
All in
all, this was a terrific read. The only thing I can complain about is that
every other sentence started with “Only,...”. I started counting it after
awhile, but lost count near the end. It was something I picked up on, but it
didn’t dampen my enjoyment of Connor’s pursuit in convincing Megan why this is
a marriage worth staying in. I also enjoyed Ms Kelly’s way with words and how
she turned it into a story sheer in emotion. I’d recommend Waking Up Married to anyone whose heart beats faster at the mention
of the words “sweet romance”. I’m looking forward to reading more books by this
author.
READ more REVIEWS
Waking Up Married by Mira Lyn Kelly
has 1 287 reviews on Goodreads. Read it here.
PURCHASE LINKS
(At the time of posting, this book was free on both Amazon.com and Barnes & Noble)
Amazon (FREE)
Barnes & Noble (FREE)
ABOUT the AUTHOR
USA Today bestselling author Mira Lyn Kelly
grew up in the Chicago area and earned her degree in Fine Arts from Loyola
University. She met the love of her life while studying abroad in Rome, Italy,
only to discover he’d been living right around the corner from her for the
previous two years. Having spent her twenties working and playing in the Windy
City, she’s now settled with her husband in rural Minnesota where their four
beautiful children provide an excess of action, adventure, and entertainment.
With writing as her passion and inspiration striking at the darnedest times, Mira can always be found with a notebook at the ready. (More than once she’s been caught by the neighbors, covered in grass clippings, scribbling away atop the compost container!)
When she isn’t reading, writing, or running to keep up with the kids, she loves watching movies, blabbing with the girls, and cooking with her husband and friends.
With writing as her passion and inspiration striking at the darnedest times, Mira can always be found with a notebook at the ready. (More than once she’s been caught by the neighbors, covered in grass clippings, scribbling away atop the compost container!)
When she isn’t reading, writing, or running to keep up with the kids, she loves watching movies, blabbing with the girls, and cooking with her husband and friends.
AUTHOR LINKS
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