Review: An Inconvenient Love by Alexia Adams

I am a total sucker for a "business arrangement" type love story.  You know, the ones where the hero and heroine decide to marry for business/money/child reason and not for love, but then it always turns in to love. I LOVE those! I don't know why exactly.  I guess I like the whole "we're married, and now I love you and can't tell you because we didn't marry for love" thing.


The blurb:

Neither wanted love in their marriage. But you don’t always get what you want.

Sophia Stevens is tired of struggling to pay the rent and help her brother through college. After seven years on her own, she is no farther ahead than the day she walked out on her old life and started again. So when super-sexy Italian property developer Luca Castellioni proposes a marriage of convenience, she’s intrigued. Financial security and life in a beautiful Italian villa in exchange for attending a few business functions and typing some letters seems very convenient. Until she breaks the most definite term of their arrangement: she falls in love with her husband.

Luca Castellioni lives for his job restoring beautiful buildings to their former glory. When his business expansion plans are hampered by the need for an English-speaking secretary and a wife, he does what any efficient businessman would do and combines his requirements. But when his fascination with his wife distracts him from business, he wishes there was more marriage and not so much convenience in their agreement. Too bad his wife has reconstructed her own life, without him.

When their respective lives pull them in opposite directions, they must decide: will they continue to put their businesses first, or allow love to overcome the obstacles between them?

An Inconvenient Love is a fantastic marriage of convenience romance.  To me, this story had the perfect amount of steam, a good back story and not a lot of angst.  The characters are well developed and the story was well paced.  I felt like this book told a story, and it wasn't over shadowed with cramming in the alloted steamy scenes that so many authors feel they need to add to sell the book.  Sophia is very likeable and a strong independent woman.  I liked that while she did marry for money, she never played the damsel in distress role.  Luca was Italian (HELLO), romantic, and not an overly dominant alpha male.  His character was a nice balance to Sophia's and they complimented each other so well.  The romance was slow, and to me, very believable.  Sophia's back story, or more specifically the trauma she experienced, bothered me a little, but it wasn't really a factor in my like or dislike of the story.  Of course, being a contemporary romance, expect those moments when you want to yell, "Talk to each other!!!", but rest assured those issues are quickly resolved.  Great overall story!

To purchase on Amazon:  http://amzn.to/1m7Iaac

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