Title: Marriage of Inconvenience
Series: Dreamspun Desires 16
Author: M.J. O’Shea
Genre: Contemporary
Length: Novel (214pgs)
ISBN: 978-1-63477-528-1
Publisher: Dreamspinner Press (15th August 2016)
Heat Level: Low – Moderate
Heart Rating: ♥♥♥♥♥ 4 – 4 ½ Hearts
Reviewer: Pixie
Blurb: Lights, camera, lies.
Kerry Pickering has a problem. As a publicist for Hollywood bad boy Jericho Knox, it’s Kerry’s job to keep Jericho in the news. So far, Jericho’s partying and public escapades have made it easy. But Jericho has a secret, and when that secret is revealed in the most spectacularly disastrous way, it’s up to Kerry to spin it.
The team decides the best course of action is to make the public fall in love—with Jericho’s secret committed relationship. The one that doesn’t exist. Yet.
The team wants someone they can trust. Someone in the inner circle. That someone is Kerry. But what will happen when Kerry realizes that for him, the romance is no longer pretend? Can Jericho love him back, or is he just playing a role?
Purchase Link: https://www.dreamspinnerpress.com/books/marriage-of-inconvenience-by-mj-oshea-7397-b
Review: Jericho is sick and tired of pretending to be straight, he wants the freedom to date who he wants but his agent and publicist have him living the playboy lifestyle parading around with beautiful women. But one moment of weakness is about to jeopardise the role that could catapult him to the big time. Kerry works as a publicist and when one of his firm’s big clients is photographed in a compromising position Kerry is given the choice be a ‘team player’ and play Jericho’s fiancé or watch as ranks are closed and Kerry is frozen out.
This is a great romance where two people are thrown together to save both of their careers. Jericho is filled with bitter resentment over having to hide in the closet, having the doors blown off gives him some relief but then he’s stuck with a fame hungry publicist to save his new series role. Kerry is caught in a situation he hates, stuck with a celebrity who makes his feelings for him plain and thrust into the spotlight that he comes to loathe, and caught by the short instances where Jericho makes him feel special.
I enjoyed this story and grew to like both characters, I really liked Kerry right off the bat, he’s a down to earth guy who just wants to progress up the ladder at his job. He has a bit of a crush on Jericho but Jericho’s treatment of him has Kerry torn. Jericho takes a while to warm up to, he behaves like a spoiled brat at times and you really want to smack some sense into him at times, but when he turns on the charm and behaves like a grown adult he just creeps in and slithers into your heart.
Jericho and Kerry are both great characters and you do root for them to get it together and admit their feelings, their relationship has its ups and downs, and you have got to love a guy like Kerry who can fall in love with a guy whose moods seemed mercurial. Jericho and Kerry are hot together, they click when both men let their walls down and although we only see one instance of on page sex their burgeoning love shines through with how they act towards each other.
I recommend this to those who love some tension in their romances, who love characters who overcome voices of the past, who accept love freely offered and a sweet happy ending.