Romance Recs

Marriage of Convenience

• Jordan & Devonnie • Season 3 • Episode 6

Share episode

This week's episode is full of tension, forced proximity, and secret pining. Jordan and Devonnie have their top 5 marriage of convenience romance recommendations for you, plus bonus recs if you still haven't had enough! 

Marriage of convenience in romance is when two characters (usually two who can't stand each other) agree to get married for a previously agreed upon amount of time to fulfill some kind of requirement. These can range from keeping citizenship, meeting a stipulation to receive an inheritance, or improving their public image. The agreements create forced proximity and a whole lot of sexual tension! And who doesn't love a good "My Wife" moment?!

Send us a text

Support the show

https://substack.com/@romancerecspodcast

https://www.instagram.com/romancerecspod/
https://www.threads.net/@romancerecspod


Devonnie:

Welcome to Romance Recs We are romance obsessed bestie sharing book Recs, broken down by genres and tropes so you can be sure you're getting exactly what you want out of your next read. Hi guys. Dev here.

Jordan:

Hey, and what are you reading, dev?

Devonnie:

Fuck. It's I've never done this a day in my life. Okay. I am actually I every single time, like one day I'm actually so excited about what I'm reading. Okay. I am reading a Darkness So Sweet by Emma Ham. This is one of those books I just randomly stumbled across. I don't know how I got here. I downloaded it at 1230 at night and I'm listening to it and also reading the Kindle copy. First of all, on Good Reads, it has 7,000 ratings over a thousand actual reviews, and it's an Amazon Top 100 bestseller. I think that kind of swayed me a little bit, not the Good Reads part, but the Amazon Top 100 Bestseller. I'm like, let me see what this is about. I'm very excited. I really do wanna talk about it and I might, because it kind of falls into the episode we're doing today.

Jordan:

Awesome. And hello? Hello? It's Jordan, it's me. I am currently listening to the Boyfriend Goal by Lauren Blakely, and it's so much fun and I am about to start reading Fallen Gods by Rachel Van Dyken for reasons.

Devonnie:

Right. I too am about to start reading that soon. InteRecsting. So inteRecsting.

Jordan:

And welcome. We're here to talk about I'd say a pretty popular trope.

Devonnie:

Yes, one of my favorites.

Jordan:

Yeah. It's

Devonnie:

okay. We're

Jordan:

the trope where you force their heads together and just say, kiss

Devonnie:

yeah. Kiss kiss. Yeah. We are talking about the marriage of convenience trope. Now, not to be confused with arranged marriage because they are, they're very slight differences. The end goal is typically the same. They probably don't like each other, and they have to get married.

Jordan:

Or they

Devonnie:

think that's a a, or they taught, yeah, it's a common denominator. What makes marriage of convenience a little, I guess, better is that there's an end goal. There's a reason why these people have to be married. They both need something from the other person, you know? It's mutually beneficial,

Jordan:

It's convenient.

Devonnie:

It's very convenient. It's oh my gosh, a marriage. Wonderful. How convenient. I actually needed one of those right now.

Jordan:

I feel like usually it's either to fulfill the needs of a will from a loved one to get an inheritance or they need it to up their public image for their job. Or there is some kind of. Extenuating circumstances that they're like, okay, I need this. And there's usually an end date. They set let's be married for a year.

Devonnie:

Yes.

Jordan:

year. Just be married to me for one year. Let's play the part. Let's do this.

Devonnie:

And then we'll go our separate ways. So they think because they never go their separate ways. Babe, you know what authors write that? Write me a marriage of convenience where the time is up and they separate, but then obviously they find each other again. But I want a significant amount of time, like at least a year passes and then they find their way back. Lemme see

Jordan:

they've been yearning that whole

Devonnie:

Yes, that whole

Jordan:

missing, sleeping next to them, missing, Ugh.

Devonnie:

Bring back the yearning we could get out of that. Authors take note. Okay. I actually wanna dive right in because I am foaming at the mouth to talk about this marriage of convenience book.

Jordan:

I have a quote first though, so I'm gonna have to

Devonnie:

Do you? Oh, yeah. Okay. Okay.

Jordan:

I'm gonna have to push pause on you. I am so sorry. I am excited.

Devonnie:

I don't even have a

Jordan:

too listener. Wow. Okay, so it's all up to me then. I'm really carrying this on my shoulders. You guys. So Hold on. It's okay. You don't have to have a quote. You're coming with the most recs today, so that's okay. My quote is from one of my favorite books. It's from Leather and Lark by Bryn Weaver, which is The Marriage of Convenience. And one of my favorite parts about these books, right, is when they start to realize that they like care about their spouse. I don't just want to hear her laugh. I need to hear it. Every time I gain a little ground, I want more. I want to break out of the shade and back into her light without even realizing it. I've become addicted to it to her. Lachlan

Devonnie:

Yeah. Oh, the Lockland.

Jordan:

Love the man that you are. Oh.

Devonnie:

Oh my gosh. Absolutely. I actually do think I wanna quote, so,

Jordan:

Oh, okay. I'll allow it.

Devonnie:

okay.

Jordan:

a while since we've recorded a regular episode, everybody, it'd say at least

Devonnie:

Yeah. Yeah. Right.

Jordan:

us.

Devonnie:

I don't know. There's, I just read the list of quotes that I highlighted from this book,. Okay, so one, one of the books I'm gonna talk about today is Bourbon and Proof by Victoria Wilder, and it's the third book in a series you should have known. It's the third book in the Bourbon Boys series. This series has plenty of quotable things, but this specific book is, or quote is from that book. So it's 90% in, I can't describe the environment'cause I think that it would give too much away, but it's high stakes. And Ace, who is our main character, is talking to his wife. And this is what he tells her'cause he's trying to tell her a secret message. And so this is what he says, where you think all men should be, I say, pushing past the roughness in my throat so she can hear me clearly. Her eyes dart around my face, more tears streaking her flesh cheeks where you prefer me. And each word is isolated by a. Period. I'm sorry, I'm have flashbacks of this scene. But that's what he's telling her so that she can drop to her knees

Jordan:

Oh,

Devonnie:

because that is where she does think all men should be, and that is where she prefers him to be. And he needs her to drop to her knees. I'm not, I don't wanna give it away, but I thought that was so cute because it's the way, I guess the audiobook, you have to listen to it.'cause the way he says it, he, it's like a high stake situation, but he's like trying to tell her without giving himself away that I need you to just do this. Get on your knees quick. So, yeah. That was cute. We love Daddy Ace.

Jordan:

Thanks. Now give us the rec that you were dying to talk about. Is it that book?

Devonnie:

Yes, it is. This book? Yes. I'm starting with Bourbon and Proof. Again, the series is The Bourbon Boys by Victoria Wilder. This is the third book in the series. It follows Ace Fox. Atticus is his name, but he goes by Ace, so Ace Fox and Hadley Finch. We meet these two characters in the very first book, like. Within the first chapter. Originally when the first book opens, I thought Ace was gonna be the MMC of that book and he wasn't. So it was really fun. And you actually get to see him and Hadley interact in that first book. And then I was kind of thrown off because I was like, what's going on here? Isn't he my MMC? And then you find out he's not. Ace and Hadley have known each other since they were teenagers. Hadley is Ace's Middle brother's best. He's the oldest brother, and then there's Lincoln, and then there's Grant. Lincoln and Hadley are BFFs. And they're BFFs because Lincoln's ex-wife. Hadley's friend. And so, you know how you become like a trio? It's like a Yeah, I know. Do the mental gymnastics. Anyway, Lincoln and Hadley BFFs, they grew up together. Hadley has her like own room in the main house. The Bourbon boys have their own distillery. They're like the most popular bourbon brand in the world. Sorry, exclusive. They're greats and greats started it. And then they, these three boys now run this line with their grandfather who's also pRecsent currently. This book. My God, I don't even know how to describe how good this book was. Of all the other two books I gave four stars. This one I gave five stars'cause it was so damn good. Hadley and Ace enter a marriage of convenience thing because

Jordan:

Why

Devonnie:

the grandfather

Jordan:

is it like

Devonnie:

we do no, we get to know why. I will tell you why.

Jordan:

not a, it's not a big reveal.

Devonnie:

No. It's not. Because you could see it come in when this thing happens. So the grandfather, they noticed that their grandfather, who they call Grizz, is like Macon. His name is Griswold. And they, they don't call him grandpa, they call him Grizz. He is a character. I love everything about Grace. Like when I tell you I'm obsessed with that man. He has a romance book club. Or just with Judy? Yeah, Grizz and it's all ladies and then Grizz

Jordan:

Get it. Get it.

Devonnie:

that. He loves that. But Grizz is like one of my, he drives around town in a golf cart that he souped up.

Jordan:

Of course he does. That

Devonnie:

he's 60 something. 70, 80. Yeah. Anyway, so Grizz is acting weird in this book. He's like making moves and making plans. He's talking about retirement and whatever. And the boys are on edge and they're like, what the hell? He calls the grandsons in and he's I'll be splitting my company equally amongst my married grand, my married grandsons. Guess who's not married? Ace. Guess who is like the CEO of Fox Brands. And the, and Bourbon ace. He's the one doing everything. So the fact that Griz kind of purposely shoves him out of this, he's what? Don't do this. Like begging Griz. Griz is no, figure it out. I guess

Jordan:

Classic meddling grandparents, like trying to make sure that they prioritize something other than work and forcing.

Devonnie:

Work. And that's exactly it is because Ace does nothing but work like the he is Fox

Jordan:

think about the poor woman that like that. It could have been

Devonnie:

Right. I know, but it's not. It's Hadley. So Hadley finds out about this because Ace storms out while she's coming to go hang out with her best friend. Ace storms out and she's what the hell? Who pissed in his Cheerios? Now Hadley is an instigator. She's also been in love with that man since the very first time. She laid eyes on him, but she knows who he is and he seems to keep her at distant. Like when I tell you do, you get no sense that he likes her. In this book, until you're in his head. In his POV, he like is so annoyed by her all the fucking time. He tells her, get out, get away from me. Like all this thing. But in his POV, oh, a man who yearns, right? But he's already put her in a box Anyway, she tries to figure out what's going on. They tell her, oh Griz made up this rule that he's not giving, splitting the company with Ace because Ace isn't married. So she's oh, this is great. I'll marry him. Hadley says that, she says I'll marry him. She follows him into the barn.'cause he went to go cool off with his horse

Jordan:

Ooh,

Devonnie:

marry me. She proposes. She's I heard the situation marry me. And then he's what? No, like he, he rejects her. He rejects her twice, by the way, until he finally buckled in. But that's why they have to get married because it's a stipulation for him to get this company and his family, Hadley included, knows what Fox Bourbon means to him, and also that he's the one who's running it. So to be cut out of it is so annoying. But Griz knew what he was doing. And so now Hadley and ACE have to get married. Hadley's benefit is that he can keep her safe because there is a lot going on that I actually can't talk about.'cause I feel like that might be spoilers. But Hadley's dad is not a good man. He gets tied up in some stuff that puts Hadley at risk, like severely financially as well as just physically, more physically than anything. And Ace feels like the only way he can keep her safe is by marrying her and keeping her clothes, keeping her on at their distillery, like all that. So that's their the benefit. This is so hot. If you can, if you read this book, yes. Great. If you can listen to the audio book, I tend out of 10, recommend that experience. The voice actors in this, his voice. Good God. Hadley Victoria Connolly. I love her work. I love her so much, but after experiencing the first two audio books and the voice actors who played Hadley in those books,'cause Hadley's in the whole series. I prefer the voice they use for her in those books than the voice. Vitor Victoria Connolly uses in the third book. I got over it real quick. They work, it's fine. But the, you have to listen to these books. It is Superior Victoria. I don't know what you put in this Ms. Wilder, but please, I need more. And apparently there's more to come. So thank you. That's my long-winded, my

Jordan:

And I love it. I've been getting details of this series as Dev reads it, and it I am so excited to start it.

Devonnie:

It took me outta my slump for sure. It's definitely something that pulled me outta my book Slump.

Jordan:

Yeah. Okay. So I won't go as deep into mine because I know I've mentioned it before, but I would be remiss without talking about leather and lark. It is, like I said in the intro, one of my favorites. It was the quote that I read from Lachlan and Lark. I just love it. I love when. It sounds like yours was like this too. I love when it starts, like their banter back and forth is just snarky and they like can't stand each other and they get on each other's nerves constantly. Okay. I eat it up. I love that kind of tension when they just show their inteRecst in each other by just relentlessly making fun of each other. So Lachlan's brother is married to, I don't know if they're married at this point, but I'm pretty sure they're he's with lark's, for lack of a better word, sister. And so they're around each other a lot, and something happens, a significant thing happens where they do not get along. He thinks that she, oh, and la. Is a famous singer and songwriter, which feels like a total subplot that we don't see a lot of in the book, but it's there. And he thinks she's just this pampered princess. He is a contracted killer on a alive. And so he really would like to get out of that, but he becomes indebted to his boss. And his brothers don't really realize how deep into this he is, but he kind of really wants to claw his way out of this underworld. He does not wanna be a part of this, right? He, his boss is psycho. And because of things that happen, Lark and Lark's, family has connections, right? Her family has its own stuff going on, and, she offers him a deal that she could use, like her connections and the things she knows to secure his freedom out of this. Because she has her own reasons from her family and stuff needing to be married. And so she says, I can help you, but you have to marry me they cannot stand each other even when they get married, and I love it so much. And. Lark is just so unhinged. Lark is so unhinged, and no one knows in her life that she herself is a serial unli. She just calls herself a serial deleter is what? And she really enjoys crafting. And there are so many unhinged sweet moments. But to me, the heart of this is Lachlan seeing all of her, and no one in her life has ever seen. All of her, even the people that she's closest to, she has. She just, she, I don't know. It hits me so hard, like I might even cry talking about this, like when I say I connect did most to dev is burning her house down like, Jordan, don't cry. This is too much for this episode.

Devonnie:

No, it's my damn fridge. It was beep beeping to tell me, Hey, close me anyway.

Jordan:

perfect. When I say I don't think I've found another fictional character that I most relate to, like on an emotional and personality level as much as I do to Lark, which is wild.'cause this is about like a serial unli.

Devonnie:

Cereal. Right.

Jordan:

Who puts thumbs in jars with glitter and I just, I love it because she's just full of energy and like it, it masks so many layers and she's being honest, but she's not completely herself until someone sees that and is almost like theoretically shakes her and is just like. I see you. What are you doing? You're being a little crazy right now, but I'm here for it and I

Devonnie:

Lean into it.

Jordan:

yeah. And he

Devonnie:

He encourages her.

Jordan:

Yeah. He encourages her. He sees all of her and he can't help but feel for her. And then the way that he looks out for her and he keeps finding bodies or parts of bodies and it's just, I just love it so much and I need everyone to read it. Yeah. Leather and lark. It's unhinged and so, so sweet.

Devonnie:

I know I do. I do love that series. That series Let, I think, I honestly think the first book is my favorite, but the second book is my second favorite. Third book is my third favorite. So the order that they came out is how I love them.

Jordan:

See, this is my favorite. Leather and Lark was definitely my favorite. And I have to read'em again to see. I just, they're all so good. Brynn Weaver does such a wonderful job and tourist season is amazing too. I just, she so far has done no wrong. And I will say what I like too is like at the end he like. PRecsents her with like divorce papers and she's just fuck off. What are you doing? Do not ever do that to me again. So when I say he tries to do his like best to do what he thinks is right for her, she's just screw

Devonnie:

What are you doing? We're not getting divorced.

Jordan:

So the banter just stays true through the whole thing, and that's what I appreciate,

Devonnie:

Yeah, you love the banter. Oh, that, okay. Love Arranged by Lauren Asher. This is the third book in this series, which is the Lakefront BillionaiRecs. Lauren Asher has a bunch of interconnected standalone series, and this is the third book in that, in this second series of hers. In that world,

Jordan:

There's Dreamland, billionaiRecs. That's the one I read, and then this is the different

Devonnie:

And then there's, this is yeah, the spinoff, basically this one follows Lily and Lorenzo. Lily is the sister of the people in the first book and.

Jordan:

That's like my, sorry, Lachlan and Lark and Lily and

Devonnie:

yes. Yeah, the elves. So Lillian and Lorenzo, you get, you gotta peek at both of them actually in the first book. And then you see them in the second book'cause they're characters, but this is their story. Essentially they both get on a dating app. Could you imagine? They both get on a dating app and then they match with each other. They don't know who each person is because they're using different names. They're not being very forthcoming with information. But then one day she like keeps asking to meet up. She wants to meet this person, and he agrees and they figure out it's the other person.

Jordan:

Love that.

Devonnie:

They figure, and this is early in the book, right? They figure out it's the other person and are shocked. Still kind of come together. They, I think they dance or something like that, have an interaction and then separate. And then it's like pretty much Lorenzo ghosts her on the app. He, she was messaging and then he wasn't Recsponding, and then eventually she logs out of the app. She's you know what? Whatever. And they avoid each other for a year. There's no communication between they, they run into each other, but there's no communication. Well, Lorenzo is aiming to be mayor of Wisteria. And he needs his ratings to go up. Essentially, everyone hates him. They Recsent him for leaving the town and then trying to come back to the small town to be the mayor. His family died pretty horrifically when he was younger, and so there's like just a lot going on around him and how he's choosing to spend his money. He made a he's attached to the mob in a certain way, and so they think that he still is. When he comes back to the town and they don't want that drama in their little

Jordan:

so some legitimate concerns it sounds like,

Devonnie:

Legit concerns about him. Yeah. And he's an asshole. He does not do himself any favors because he's not kind. He is mean and he hates everybody. Okay then, and he's, oh, he also has OCD. That was so tough to read because he struggles with his OCD and it's something he thinks he got from his dad who also had it, but it is hard for him for certain things. Right? Then there's Lily, who's literally a fucking glitter bomb. And someone with OCD, and then you have a chaotic cat running around. All right? She's loud and colorful. She goes through a breakup with someone who's very popular, I think the son of one of the mayors. The son of the mayor, one of the sons of the mayor, and it's a a breakup that is like horrific. He's an asshole. He treats her really badly, and then I think basically dumps her because she's too much, she wears too many bright collars, she's too loud, and stuff like that. After that breakup and then experiencing everything with Lorenzo, she literally all black, no more colors, no more rainbows. She's wearing monotone outfits. She's not being herself. Some executive or whoever moves into the town, they're trying to buy up all the businesses, turn it into I don't know, whatever people do when they come and gentrify beautiful small towns and Lily's business that she shaRecs with her mom. She's a florist and they have a flower shop. It's at risk of being bought up. Well, they decide, I'm not even gonna explain how they even get in the same room to have this type of a conversation, but basically the idea. Lorenzo pRecsents is that he will marry her and she can help his ratings increase. She needs to help him win this election'cause she's a town's princess and then he will save her business. Right? The banter in this, the banter, the yearning. Oh, but also the heartbreak because there are a lot of heavy materials. Lily. Her dad passed away quite a few years ago, but he was a big part of their family out their town, their community, everyone knew by him. So there's a lot of her still being in the middle of that grief, even though it's been a while. And then also, and it's very pa Yeah. You know, everyone knew him. Everyone knows her family and then Lorenzo dealing with. Own parents dying. His connection to the mob and his uncle and the life he walked away from, and then also being hated in this small town that he actually really loves. He loves it here because this is the place that his parents chose to settle down in, away from the, their previous life. And so he has a lot of love for the people, but it's just the banter is really good when they become the, my wife of it all, you know, and that'll get me the, where's my wife? Yes, wife. It's like catnip. It's like catnip. So we see two people who really honestly need each other. Lily needs to break out of her shell. She needs to come back to who she was, all that color and chaos that she still has tucked away. And she shows a little bit to Lorenzo and he needs that. He needs to be shaken up a little bit. He does everything. Doesn't have to be perfect. And while he is struggling with something that is pretty serious, he doesn't have to like. Put himself in a box and keep himself there just so he doesn't get close to people and show them this side of him.'cause that is what he's worried about. He doesn't want people to know about it. Yeah, I really loved it. I loved that entire series, but I think that was my favorite book of the series. So yeah, love Arranged by Lauren Asher. I'm actually sad that is done, but apparently we're getting another series, so can't wait for that.

Jordan:

Nice. Alright, my second rec is gonna be gloves off number four, book four in the Vancouver Storm series by Stephanie Archer. Okay, I listened to this one. If you have a chance to listen to gloves off, please do. It is JF Harding and Stella Hunter. Love them both. I think Stella Hunter is one of my top three female narrators. And Harding is just always solid It was so good. So this one follows Alexi Volkov. He is the grumpiest enforcer in the NHL. And Georgia. So they can't stand each other. It's a very grumpy sunshine. She loves her heels. She likes to be put together. She is girly. She's got it all. She looks like she comes from money, which she does, but it's not what everything's about. She the only way to get her inheritance is to get married. His contract is up and without the promise of that, he could lose his citizenship, his Canadian citizenship, and his mom is relying on him so they don't have to go back to Russia. That is was the big driving force behind him becoming pro and moving to Canada to give his mom a better life. They came from nothing in Russia and like I think there was some political stuff that they were trying to get away from and so this is a really big deal for him. And that's also why he's always been such like, seen as such a jerk and like tough and grumpy because all he's ever done is he's focused on his career. He's focused on this because this is the, his livelihood, this is him saving his mother. And so, but no one really knows that because he doesn't, that's a private

Devonnie:

Share it. Yeah.

Jordan:

Right. But.

Devonnie:

But.

Jordan:

Lo and behold they find this out about each other, but he seemingly can't stand her. He doesn't Recspect her, right? He thinks she just like throws money away and can't like, take her seriously. But they're banter there. This is like as close to enemies, to lovers in a contemporary situation as you can get, right? I'd say rivals. She wears these like designer high heels. All the time. And he, whenever he sees them, is just like glaring at them. He hate apparently hates them. Like he's just what the heck? That's so impractical. But you know, in his POV, he's God dammit, they're so hot. I fucking hate them. Do you know what I mean?

Devonnie:

Yes, yearning, sipping, if you will.

Jordan:

yeah. She's he just always glaRecs at my heels. He insists he's not attracted to her, like he's only marrying her for citizenship and so they get married. She has to move in with him. So this is one of my favorite super micro tropes, is when the guy thinks that she has a boyfriend or like when she refers to someone with a male name and they're like, the fuck is this? And everyone's oh, have you met yet? He's so great. She loves him, but it's her like a pet. So she has these bunnies that she's named Stefan and Damon. And he is not familiar

Devonnie:

I love her for

Jordan:

And she's SEF and Damon. I love it. And he hears him, her talking in her room and he's she's on the phone with someone. What the fuck? Right? And they supposedly don't, they hate each other still, but he like hears this and she's who is this? I think at one point, like they do like pranks on each other too. Or get mad at each other. He like tosses all of her heels at one point in the garbage. Like it gets intense. It this.

Devonnie:

I would scream.

Jordan:

But at the same time, he like cooks for her and he's like angry at her about like her car and stuff because her car is. Falling apart. There's this, like all this stuff that, like he's, he seemingly hates her, but then he like ly takes care of her. You know what I mean? Reluctantly, he sends her flowers and, but she, like his mom is a florist and so all of the flowers he sends her has meaning, but she doesn't know it. And so it as they progRecss, they reflect his feelings towards her. And then when, after she meets his mom, which is the cutest thing ever this little Russian woman and and then she sees this book of flower meetings when she goes to the shop and then she learns what? They met it.

Devonnie:

I love that. That's so cute.

Jordan:

And eventually he calls her his wife and it's just, yeah. Listen to it.

Devonnie:

Oh yeah.

Jordan:

fun. The banter was amazing and you know, it's a lot of assumptions about stereotypes from both sides. So it's the breaking down of that.

Devonnie:

Yeah. And you said, was this a series? This is

Jordan:

Yes. This is number four. They're interconnected, standalones. So if you wanna jump on this to see if you like Stephanie Archer or the series, you can, But. I'm excited for number five to come out too. That's a player's sister and coach comes out

Devonnie:

course. They always gotta throw the coach in there. They everyone wants the Yeah, everyone wants to throw a coach as the last book. I'm so confused.

Jordan:

is it last? Because he is like the Phantom in the

Devonnie:

Yeah. In the background, you get to see. And so is, damn. There was someone else, but I can't remember the name of the author right now, but yeah, a lot of people are doing the co. The one I'm reading, B cbra, I'm pretty sure that one of her books is with the coach as well

Jordan:

Okay. Okay. Okay. We'll get you more hockey romance in January. So if you're a hockey romance fan, January is gonna be your month with us. Stay

Devonnie:

We love that. Okay, my, I think this might be my last re, I have some honorable mentions, but this is the last one. I'll dive deep into it. This is gonna be Wild Side by Elsie Silver. This is a part of her Rose Hill series. This is book four. The other three books phenomenal as well. Or is it book four or book three? No. Yeah. Book. This is book three. There are four books in this series. This book follows Tabitha and Reese d Reese Dupree. So I can never remember the FMCs last name, but always I remember the Mmcs last name. Anyway, so Tabby and Reese, they are brought together in some really heartbreaking circumstances. Tabitha's nephew, Milo, I think he's about five years old. She gets guardianship of him because her sister unfortunately passes away. Due to a drug overdose. At the beginning of this book, everyone, and even in the previous series when Tabitha has brought up, everyone talks about her sister as being like, you know, the black sheep always with the wrong crowd doing drugs and stuff. Well, her sister moves to Emerald Lake, which is where Reese was living to kind of start fRecsh, get a new start. She unfortunately ends up with a man who brings her right back. While she's going through this, she's creating this image of her sister being and her, they're twins. She's creating this image of her sister being like this horrible person. Tabby never wants to help her. Her parents never wanna help her. Her parents and sister love her so much. They offer her so much support, but that's the image she's projecting to Reese, who's. Apartment. She's renting like the house next to him or their neighbors or something. And so Reese is man, your family sucks. Yeah. You're working so hard, like you're trying to take care of your son. That's the image he gets of ta of Tabby through her sister's eyes. He also becomes kind of like a stand-in caretaker. For Milo, because when she's running out onto town, when she's gonna do, she needs someone to watch Milo. At the beginning it was, because I have a job interview, I have to go to work. They called me and I don't have a sitter, you know? So she was using Reese for that because Reese is a professional wRecstler. He has a lot of downtime. So when he was home. And he's really

Jordan:

Outta nowhere.

Devonnie:

I know,

Jordan:

I'm so

Devonnie:

and it's, I know, and it's very much so wwe e whatever they now, I don't know, when I was watching wRecstling, it was like WWE FI know it's WWE e now they call it something. Anyway, I'm talking about masked man, tights, storyline. This is what Reese does for a living. People, okay? He has a lot of downtime, but he doesn't have to work.

Jordan:

so sorry.

Devonnie:

Well, anyway, he has, his life is separate because he wears a mask. No one knows who he is. He loves that. Right? Oh, so anyway, sister dies and now in her will or in something legally, she appoints both Reese.

Jordan:

Oh, Jesus.

Devonnie:

And Tabby? Oh no, I don't even think she does. She appoint that either way. Guardianship over Milo gets split between the two of them. Reese has pretty much raised Milo for three years. He loves that boy, like that's his son. Tabby, of course, thought there was something going on with him and her sister, but there wasn't, he was literally just a friend to her because he thought she had no one because of what she was saying about her family, which was not the case. In order to keep them together, Reese pretty much moves to Rose Hill from Emerald Lake to like basically stay with Tabby to give Milo a good like life and also for legal reasons. With the guardianship, it's kind of better if they're married, so they enter marriage of convenience where he gets to do his thing, he gets to go to work, and then he'll come home and be there as a family. He'll spend time at In the Rose Hill, but also he'll still have his Emerald Lake apartment or you know, live there. And they just wanna provide Milo with stability because he loves Reese Milo also loves Reese. So pulling Milo away from Reese is not something that Tabby actually wants to do. You know, she can see how much her nephew loves him. Their banter's crazy'cause they don't really get along. They don't like each other. Again, Reese doesn't think she's a good sister. He's he's basically there to keep an eye like you're a trouble person and I wanna make sure Milo is in good hands. That's how he sees her for the majority of this book, until he's realizing, wait a minute, she's just running her Recstaurant. She has dinner with her friends. She's a nice person. And so he starts to realize that the image he had of her is completely wrong, and that was, that's not who she is. And then she, I can't remember how, but randomly finds out that he's a wRecstler. Oh. It is actually the best way.

Jordan:

Is she a fan?

Devonnie:

No, she's not a fan. She's not a fan. But there's book one follows a couple. It's a, so this entire series is about single dads. It's like the single dad series and Reese is kind of lumped into that. But Book one follows. An actual single dad. He has a daughter named Chorus, and by this book, she's a teenager now. She's obsessed with wRecstling. More importantly, she's obsessed with Reese's character in wRecstling. She thinks he's so dreamy. She's she's got like teenage. She's oh my gosh, she's so dreamy. Blah, blah, blah. And then something happens where she's forcing Tabitha to watch wRecstling with her and Tabitha's wait a minute. I know them legs. I know those arms. What what's going on? And he would come back a little injured. So she thought he was like a boxer or something. That's what she thought

Jordan:

lighting up

Devonnie:

didn't wanna share it. Yeah. Yeah. And then she's oh. And she like springs it on him. Basically go through his stuff, I think finds his mask and is like putting it on and taunting him. It is so cute. It is so hot, so spicy. Okay, let me tell you. They enter this marriage of convenience and it's fun to see them like learn to one, not only how to be married to each other, but also how to be parents to a kid that's not their kid, you know, and go through, you know, stuff with Milo. So it's really nice you get to see the characters from the first two books and also kind of meet the characters from the next book. And it's just a really fun time. It was a great read. I love everything that Elsie Silver does. These. Interconnected, standalone she has of and Emerald Lake. Apparently you were gonna get a series from Emerald Lake Next, which I'm really excited about. This series, or no, it's her previous series. The Chestnut Hill series is being turned into a TV show on Netflix. So there's a lot to dive into, but I really loved Wild Side.

Jordan:

That's awesome.

Devonnie:

Yeah, for

Jordan:

I have a couple special nods. So, electric Idol by Katie. Robert is Marriage of Convenience. This is a psyche and Aeros retelling. Basically Aeros is the son of Aphrodite, and in this world, Aphrodite, like he is her hitman basically. He is her cleaner, so if she has an enemy in the city, she sends Eros to go take care of it. She puts a hit on Psyche and Eros has to go take care of it, but something is keeping him from it. And the only way he can think of to protect her is to marry her, and it unravels from there. And so. It's a lot of action. It's some action, it's a lot of deception. It's really hot, scorching hot sex as Katie does. So if you haven't started that series you definitely, the dark Olympus series definitely should. That's only book two, so it's early on. And of course special mention from Blood and Ash, Jennifer l Armand, trout. Is that a spoiler? If you haven't read it? A little bit. Now that I'm thinking about it.

Devonnie:

Is it.

Jordan:

does turn into a marriage of convenience. Yes. Now that I'm

Devonnie:

So minor spoiler.

Jordan:

maybe spiders, spoiler, So, from Blood and Ash is a marriage of convenience and that's what I'll say.

Devonnie:

That actually might be some, a reason someone will pick that up.'cause me, I didn't know that. And you know, I have no inteRecst in reading this series. You've just spiked my inteRecst.

Jordan:

It is political and this is for political reasons.

Devonnie:

yeah.

Jordan:

So like it's marriage of convenience, so that a whole group of people won't want to kill her or it'll protect her and I can't even say why, because it would be huge spoilers. But yeah, it's very political, so yeah.

Devonnie:

I have, so a quick few rapid fire ones as well. Ones I've mentioned before, like terms and conditions, again by Lauren Asher, hopeless by Elsie Silver. There's also King of Envy by Anna Huang. There's that, oh my God, that, that one. But also, oh, sorry, I said King of Envy, but I also mean King of Wrath. King of Wrath. The reason, yeah. Wrath is the first book in this series. The King of Sins or something. It's a sins. Series follows the seven Deadly Sins. King of Wrath is the first one, king of Envy, I think is the fourth book, and it's not your typical marriage of convenience. I put that in there because she's technically marrying her best friend for convenience or like marrying a friend of hers, but. And they're not in love. They both know they're not in love. This is strictly for convenient needs, but he has someone, he considers his best friend who ends up being her love inteRecst. So while it's a marriage of convenience for two characters who are not end game, it's in the book. Yeah. They're not the ones who are conveniently trying to

Jordan:

I like that

Devonnie:

Yeah, me too. So if you're inteRecsted in something that's a little twist on. Marriage of convenience, I would definitely recommend that Ride With Me by Simone Tani. It follows an F1 Racer. This is book two in this specific series. Follows F1 Racer Thomas Maxwell Brown and Billionaire Baker. Aris, Stella, Baldwin Stella's go number one. She gets left at the altar, then wakes up, does a drunken rant on social media. She's way too popular to be doing drunken rant. Oh God, her entire career is like tanking. No one wants to work with her. It's just very ugly. She goes to her best friend's or her cousin's bachelorette party ends up getting drunk and marrying someone in Vegas as you do. Her and Thomas immediately though, they both go into let's figure this out because we're married and we can both, we need this. Essentially there's a reason. Yeah, there are those.

Jordan:

that's like the one from Chelsea Kdo. Chelsea Kdo is like they ly get married, but then make it into a marriage of a convenience type

Devonnie:

Yeah, exactly. Yeah. And and right away. And I kind of love that. I love when they're quick about it. When they're like, no, we have to there is some of that obviously'cause I'm sure it is shocking when you wake up married to someone that you didn't expect. But I love that they go. Right. I've never experienced it,

Jordan:

Maybe one

Devonnie:

wait, I love that thing. They go right. Oh God, no. Could you imagine? That's my story. I end up in a marriage of convenience. What would conveniently require me to be married?

Jordan:

money.

Devonnie:

Money. You're right. I could conveniently be married for, oh my

Jordan:

I'm like, Deb, we talk about this all the

Devonnie:

Yeah, you're right. You're right. You're right. Money. You're right. And I what am I saving him from?

Jordan:

Loneliness.

Devonnie:

I guess hopefully that's

Jordan:

You're like, I don't want him by me though.

Devonnie:

Oh, right. But also authors, again, if you're listening, a marriage of convenience with a single mom. Yeah. Get writing on that. I'd love to read that.

Jordan:

Yeah.

Devonnie:

I'd love to read

Jordan:

You're paying for childcare. Okay.

Devonnie:

Oh my god, I love that. So yeah, those are my quick rapid fire recs. I'm sure there are a couple more, but, and again, so many of them I've already mentioned on the pod before. We'll try to throw up these recs in a little post on the Instagram if you're looking for exactly what we're talking about. And also follow our Substack, because you're probably gonna get a list of our extra marriage of convenience recs there as well.

Jordan:

Yes, definitely. Check out the substack. We have so much good bonus. Information, content. If you're local, you get local events. If you aren't local, you get extra content. We do at least one. Now it's on episode really that you get, so you get bonus Recs bonus deep dives behind the scenes. So make sure to check that out. Romance Recs, pod and Substack. Make sure to check us out everywhere else at Romance Recs Pod and make sure please subscribe follow, comment, all those things help us so much.

Devonnie:

Yes, we wanna grow and we need that engagement peep. So don't forget to do that. And we also really love book rec. So what do you rec something to us guys? Let let us know what you're reading, that we absolutely have to read or you will never forgive us. Let us know.

Jordan:

Did we miss like your favorite marriage of convenience and you're like, what the fuck? Why aren't they talking about this? Please let us know. We're open to that. Also, we have some really cool interviews coming up, so make sure to keep an eye on that. But until then, happy reading everybody. We'll talk to you later.

Devonnie:

Yeah. Bye.