Format Read: ebook from author
Genre: contemporary romance
Number of Pages: 112
Release Date: February 14, 2012
Publisher: Entangled Publishing
Formats Available: ebook
Purchasing Info: Goodreads, Publisher’s Website, Amazon , Barnes & Noble, Author’s Website
Book Blurb:
Kindergarten teacher Johanna hates Valentine’s Day. She hates romance, hates commercialism, and definitely hates her school’s annual charity date auction. She never expects her pre-auction night of drinking to land a sexy Brit in her bed. Or for that Brit to show up at the auction, bid thousands just to talk to her again, and get down on one knee in front of everyone and ask her to marry him.Viscount Damon Haymes has never met anyone like Johanna. She’s neurotic, fascinating, and fun. She also doesn’t care about his title and doesn’t want his money, which makes Johanna perfect to fulfill a surprise clause in his father’s will: marry within three months and remain married for a year, or lose his fortune. A relationship is out of the question, but when passions ignite and the two fall in love, their marriage of convenience becomes anything but.
My Thoughts:
This was originally posted at Book Lovers Inc.
I’ll admit it; I was expecting this one to be short, sweet and sexy. And it was all of the above.
The “marriage of convenience” trope isn’t one that you often see in contemporary romance, so I was kind of intrigued. I wondered how the author was going to make the whole thing work in 21st century. I didn’t think it would be believable. And it nearly wasn’t.
The first scene is hilarious. It’s one of those classic “morning after the night before” things. Johanna tosses Damon out on his rich and titled ass. Which she has no clue is either rich or titled. Because when they met the night before, they were both way too drunk for introductions, if they even bothered. What they both remember is the really hot sex.
Damon wants to see Johanna again. He’s interested in any woman who isn’t interested in his title and fortune. Johanna just wants to forget the whole embarrassing incident ever happened. Damon is reluctantly willing to honor her wishes.
Fate intervenes, of course. The school where Johanna teaches is holding a charity auction that evening. It’s Valentine’s Day. It’s one of those auctions for an evening with a lovely lady event, where the ladies in question are the teachers. Of course, Damon comes to the auction and he purchases an evening of Johanna’s time.
This is typical romance fare.
What’s not typical happens in Damon’s office during the day. A lawyer informs Damon that his recently deceased father left one of those lovely little codicils in his will forcing Damon to marry within three months and stay married for at least a year, otherwise he’d lose his entire fortune.
Instead of deciding to marry a society chit, someone of his own class, some rich witch he’s known forever and already rejected, Damon sees Johanna at that charity auction and decides to offer her a marriage of convenience. He gets to keep his fortune, and she gets a whole lot of charity money for her school.
Johanna thinks she’ll protect her heart, and at the end of the year, she’ll walk away. The school will be set for years with Damon’s money. She can’t believe Damon could possibly want her. He certainly can’t love her. She’s just a school teacher, and he’s practically a prince.
Damon may be rich, but he really needs to learn a lesson about running his own business. He’s a smart guy, but not when it comes to reading over documents and making sure that he’s the one taking care of his responsibilities, and not trusting people who shouldn’t be trusted. He gets his happy ending almost by accident.
I enjoyed On One Condition a lot. It was a fun, albeit slightly implausible, light romance to read late at night.
I enjoyed it enough to give it 3 and a half stars.
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Lovely review Marlene, thank you. I have read a marriage of convenience in contemporary romance recently, and enjoyed it. By Robin Kaye, and I think Yours for the Taking is the title. A fun series, review is on my blog from last July.
I was able to get into the marriage of convenience part. I could see it being done out of love, Or even out of a need to preserve the family. There was something at the end, and it’s a terrible spoiler if I tell, that made things less believable. It put a contrivance on top of a contrivance.
I will have to go find your review of Yours for the Taking. It does sound like fun!