The Temporary Bride

Great story, fun characters.

Another in a long line of "Holland Springs" Delights!
Book is a stand alone, but it is even better if you have read all the previous books of "Holland Springs". Characters well developed. Quick read. The 2 books I have read so far in the "Brides of..." portion of the multi series sequence of books have very quick endings, so be prepared. If you are one of those readers that MAY skip to the last few pages first DO NOT. In my opinion it would ruin the whole book.
I highly recommend this book, as well as any of Ms. Valentin's books. She is one of my favorites.

Haven desperately needs a husband, but not for the usual reasons. Her family's inn hinges on her getting married, thanks to her incredibly old-fashioned grandparents, leaving her scrambling to find someone she can stand to be around and who won't fight her on it when they can eventually get a divorce. But she'll only get one out of two of those things, since it seems the only person she can trust to keep up the deal is the enemy from her childhood, Heath. Heath isn't exactly desperate to get married, but he is desperate to get his mother off his back. As the only one in his family unmarried, he's under too much pressure to settle down. So when Haven proposes — a strictly business arrangement — marriage, he takes her up on it.

As with the previous one in the series, this book is a novella, so my review will be short as well. Can't give away the whole story now, can I? I did enjoy the first book in the series, but I think I identified more with Haven this time. It's not like I can really relate to someone who's filthy rich, somewhat royal, and very much my opposite, but in this book, the characters were more my speed. I might not have crazy family trying to marry me off, but I can completely understand wanting to hang onto the family legacy and please even the most hard-headed of grandparents. The whole enemies-when-they-were-kids angle was also a lot of fun.

I think it also helped that these two had some history, even if it wasn't exactly mature or positive. They certainly had some preconceived notions walking in, but they weren't strangers and at least knew some things about each other. The rather quick progression of a relationship in few more than a hundred pages was actually pretty believable, since they simply had to get past their own past together in order to move forward. In many ways, they were each the embodiment of what the other had been lacking, so their coming together absolutely made sense. Plus, it was a lot of fun witnessing their sharp banter as they navigated a rather stressful situation.

So far, the series is just the kind of entertainment that I expect from Marquita Valentine, with characters you love almost immediately and a well-written journey to their happily ever afters. If you're looking for a short, sweet, quintessential romance, grab the lot of them and get to reading!

***FicCentral received this book from Wordsmith Publicity for free in exchange for an honest review.