Monday, August 17, 2015

ARC REVIEW: Unexpectedly His (Smart Cupid #2) by Maggie Kelley

Title: Unexpectedly His
Series: Smart Cupid #2
Author: Maggie Kelley
Publisher: Entangled Lovestruck
Published: August 18th 2015
Format: eARC | Pages: 158
Genres: Adult, Contemporary, Romance
Source: Publisher
★★★✩ (3.5/5) Stars!

Maggie Kelley | Twitter | Facebook | Goodreads

A match made in Manhattan...

By-the-book Marianne McBride wants to prove she's more than a computer geek in a pair of horn-rimmed glasses. But how did she end up hiding in a cake, waiting to sing "Happy Birthday" to Nick Wright, a sexy and arrogant serial-dater? Not exactly part of her plan. Especially when she finds herself kissing the birthday boy, and then running like hell...

Nick falls for no woman. No strings, no commitments, and no relationships. Not even with the sweetly curvaceous bombshell from his birthday. But then he's hit by a bombshell of his own. He needs to find the perfect faux fiancée, or kiss his key to the executive washroom goodbye. Fortunately, his matchmaker sister has the perfect girl in mind.

Now Nick and Marianne have to pretend they're in love for six weeks. No dating. No sex. 
And definitely no acting on the wickedly-hot chemistry that could ruin everything...



I received a copy of this book, from the publisher, in exchange for an honest review. In no way did this sway either my review or my rating.

Unexpectedly His started off in such a fun way and that grin that it gave me stuck around for nearly the entire book. And while I didn't fall completely head over heels in love with it, I did happen to like it very, very much.

I read the first book in this series a few months back and while I had lukewarm feelings toward it at best I knew deep down that it was never an issue with the writing itself, I had liked Maggie Kelley's writing style for sure. My problem was that I started shipping the wrong two people and I couldn't shake that desire to see a different guy with the main character. But one thing that jumped out at me while reading Breaking the Bachelor was the adorable and shy Marianne and the lingering looks she would give her best friend's brother Nick. New woman every weekend Nick. I couldn't help but giggle at the possibilities of these two ending up together.  It was even more fun than I had hoped it would be.

Even though this trope is getting pretty overused lately, guy needs a fake fiance to get a promotion and the ruse inevitably becomes reality because they fall in love and live happily ever after. I really liked the way it played out here. I think because Nick and Marianne were so vastly different, I mean, she's pretty uptight and straight laced, very conservative and an air of innocence. It just presented so many funny and steamy possible moments.

I enjoyed watching how both Nick and Marianne influenced each other and the incredible bond and chemistry that they formed. When things started heating up between them...*fans self* wow. However I feel like Marianne changed way too fast and too easily broke through her nerves and anxiety. I kind of expected her to be more shy or nervous when things would heat up with Nick and I definitely didn't expect her to be as bold as she was. I mean, good for her for finding her inner vixen and letting it shine. Still, it was just too easy.

One thing I really loved was the occasional meddling from Nick's sister Jane, the matchmaker extraordinaire herself. She had me cracking up whenever she would sneakily play cupid and then be like "don't be mad..." I really hope there will be more mischief from her in the next book(s) in this series.

It was a lot of fun reading Nick and Marianne's story. It was full of sweet and steamy moments laced with lots of humor. Definitely a step up from the first book and I'm looking forward to seeing what comes next in this series!

Thanks to Entangled Publishing for the opportunity to read and review this book!




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