Waking up Married by Mira Lyn Kelly

Waking up Married (2012) (Harlequin KISS)
Mira Lyn Kelly
Grade: B-
Genre: contemporary romance
Sex scenes: hot
Source: NetGalley

Megan Scott has only ever had a chain of bad boyfriends and she’s reached the point where she’s put her foot down and decided to take charge of her life. She’s a smart, independent and beautiful woman and is excellent at her job as a freelance software engineer. If she wants a baby, scientific advancement has meant that she doesn’t need a man to help her fulfil her goal. Unfortunately, her cousin has let Megan’s new life decision slip to her other two bridesmaids as they convene in Las Vegas for the wedding, and Jodie and Tina aren’t letting Megan live it down. They’re convinced that she’s got a guy out there waiting for her, and conveniently with a ‘GOT SPERM’ T-shirt ready for her, they’ve decided that it’s time for Megan to have her shot at proving why the mantra ‘what happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas’ exists.

If only it were that easy. Megan wakes up the next morning with a killer hangover to find herself in bed with a stranger. Married to said stranger, in fact. As if the situation wasn’t humiliating enough, she can’t even remember his name. She’s got a few blurry memories of endless rounds of martinis, conversations with lots of laughing and travelling about the town, but when it comes to the important points, Megan can’t remember what should have been the most important day of her life.

Carter … no, Connor Reed is a patient man and is adamant that he’s found the perfect woman in Megan. While Megan can’t remember most of the night before, Connor has no such troubles and is charmed and won over by the glimpses of his new wife. She’s sharp, sexy, knows her own mind and is capable of holding an intelligent and scintillating conversation with him. When he shocks Megan with the news that he doesn’t want a divorce, he gets her to agree to a three month trial period of married life before she makes her final decision. When Megan finds herself saying yes, the only question is whether their marriage will last.

Sammy reviewed Waking up Married highly on her blog and I had to read it. We’ve known each other for a long time and she’s not a habitual romance reader like me, so when she gave five stars to Waking up Married, I had to get my hands on it. I literally read this in less than twenty-four hours. The characters, dialogue and storyline were surprisingly addictive and I found myself flipping through the chapters (as much as you can flip when reading on an electronic device) as if my life depended on it.

Mira Lyn Kelly has got a fantastic writing style and her dialogue flows beautifully. The story is peppered with brilliant laugh-out-loud scenes and lines and the following has got to be my favourite:

Connor shook his head. “If you’re looking for a guy to close the deal, I’d steer clear of the slots,” he offered, totally deadpan. “Nothing says compensation issues like a man clinging too closely to a twelve-inch rod of metal.”

There’s no doubt that Megan and Connor are really, really good for each other. It’s just a shame that Megan can’t remember how good. That said, her reluctance to commit is only natural and probably quite healthy; despite her protests, I’m surprised that it didn’t actually take more on Connor’s part to get her to agree to their trial. However, considering her history of failed relationships, this potential future with Connor (without the hassle of a long courtship, engagement and marriage) looks like a dream in comparison. Carter … no, Connor (!) (love that she can’t remember his name!) is a persuasive guy and with the full power of his persuasive attentions, any woman would be powerless to resist.

We see small glimpses of Megan at her work, but more would have been fantastic. I love to see women in technology and wish there were more. Abigail from The Witness was a fantastic example and I wish Ms Kelly had added that little bit more depth. That said, we got miles more of Megan than Connor. I gathered that he’s a businessman and Reed Industries is a big deal, but the lack of detail was irksome and seemed to say that so long as our hero was rich, what he actually did didn’t matter. The billionaire hero is all the range in erotica and while the book was neither erotica and Connor was not (yet, as far as I could tell) a billionaire, I do wish Ms Kelly had gone down the path of these books in actually making the hero’s job an integral part of the story.

Connor was an amazing guy a lot of the time, but there were times when I wanted to slap him. He’s the kind of hero who isn’t looking love and so doesn’t recognise it when it comes knocking. He wants Megan because he’s assured that they would have a mutually beneficial relationship without the hassle of love messing everything up. Such heroes would normally get on my nerves from the start, but he’s so convinced that they’re right for each other that I found myself being won over. When it got down to it, he really deserved so much more heartbreak than he got. If there was one single thing that would have made Waking up Married better, it would have been Connor on his knees, grovelling.

Overall, a sweet read. Perfect if you’re looking for something light and fluffy to put you in a good mood, plus it’s funny to boot. Megan and Connor are the type of characters you find yourself investing in without realising it and that just adds to the fun.

Image courtesy of NetGalley.