Guest Review: First Comes Marriage – Valerie Mann

Who agrees to an arranged marriage in the 21st century? Beth Malone can’t believe a date request with the 1Night Stand service morphed into an arranged marriage offer. But after a heartbreaking divorce and no knight in shining armor coming to sweep her off her feet, her desire to find that knight and have a family is looking more like a dream than a reality.

After filling out a 1Night Stand questionnaire worthy of the CIA, Christian Ramos is stunned when Madame Eve offers to arrange more than a date for one night: she suggests a wife! What the hell? After his best friend Jackson Castillo stops laughing, he advises him to consider the offer. Between the fortieth birthday looming on the horizon and his Latino upbringing, Chris is forced to take a hard look at his life. Reality check—time is running out for what he wants—a family and a woman to share his life.

First comes love, then comes marriage isn’t part of their matrimonial situation, but neither Beth nor Christian anticipated the immediate attraction and contentment that comes with saying, “I do.”

Series: 1NightStand
Release Date:  November 16, 2012
Publisher:  Decadent Publishing
Source:  Provided by Publisher
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Reviewer’s Thoughts:

Beth is headed from LA to Las Vegas for her blind date wedding set up by none other than Madame Eve from the 1 night stand dating service. After being burned in the past by her ex husband Beth went to Madame Eve to let her pick her a date because she feels she has rotten luck when it comes to picking her own,

Christian (Chris) has had his own share of bad luck when it comes to women, when Madame Eve bypasses her usual mode of operations and sets Chris and Beth up to get married straight away rather than the usual blind date followed by a relationship both Beth and Chris agree, even though they both have some reservations as to if they are crazy or doing the right thing.

After Chris’s brother Alex sets up a rather unusual wedding to go with the unusual couple Chris and Alex now husband and wife must get to know one another. The chemistry is right but can they let go of the pain of the past to let themselves fall in love with their new spouse?

First Comes Marriage is an unique twist on the 1NS formula with everyone’s favorite matchmaker Madame Eve.  Both Beth and Chris have several challenges to overcome if they are going to make this new relationship work.  Ms. Mann takes the idea behind Madame Eve and he 1 night stands that generally turn into more and starts it out with more. I enjoyed the twist and found the relationship between Chris and Beth to be no more unlikely than any of the other 1NS stories turning into long term relationships.  I think this could have easily been written into a full length novel rather than the novella that it was, but that just reflects my preference for a longer story.

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